Smudged- Unfinished Short Film
After visiting my first animation conference in late 2018, I returned back home inspired to do an animated short, and I teamed up with my friend, Bellamy Brooks, to work on it. The short is called Smudged, and it's the story of Harper, a young woman with a big imagination, who emerges from the shower with smudged makeup and finds herself suddenly immersed in a fantasy of epic proportions!
(And yes... yes, the story is based on real events, in which my husband found me posing in his towel and smudged makeup after a shower. What's the phrase? Ah yes: "Write what you know." )
3D Sculpt by Bellamy Brooks. Texturing done collaboratively between me and Bellamy. We’re going for a crosshatch look- Harper and Finn live in a creative space together and the world being a little “drawn on” reinforces that feeling.
The Animatic!
My animation progress so far, with 3D timed animation, board, ref footage, and VO generously given by Cory Phillips and Danielle King) Final animation intended to be varied frame rate- mostly on twos. No more smooth auto-interpolation in the final!
Character sheet of Harper. Harper is short, and has big, fluffy, barely contained hair, just like her big, fantastic, barely contained ideas!
Character sheet of Finn. Finn is a little more restrained, but don’t be deceived. There’s a bold adventurer in him too!
Set design work. I wanted the set to feel like an extension of the personalities of Harper and Finn. For example, Harper’s side of the counter is a disaster zone, and Finn’s is immaculate (and being encroached upon by the ever-expanding Harper mess).
Harper's rig. Used Advanced Skeleton, and added custom rigging for all of her props, and custom switches for her outfit changes.
A very early storyboard rendition for Smudged.
For fun, and to take a little break from all the rigging, and boarding, and animating, I made some illustrations to place in our set- two vacation pictures, and two parody magazine covers, reflecting our characters' interests.