Below is the final with sound, by Swenn Mohn. I am really happy with what he paired with the animation. I think the sound compliments the narrative well. It's exciting to have a finished short film. I think I am going to submit it to student film festivals just to get the experience of doing it. 

I decided to name the film Day Lily. The daylily flower is often a representation of motherhood and motherly devotion. I thought it would be perfect in order to sum up the relationship between the characters and the setting. 

Below is the finish animation without sound. I am proud of myself for the way it has panned out. I think although it is very short it is still beautiful and coveys mother/daughter love. I am really excited to see the film with sound. 

As the semester is getting closer to an end I'm just focusing on continuing to add sequences to build the narrative. I'm finding having to constantly draw hands difficult and tiresome yet rewarding. I like that the film is made of many short and small shots because it helps with my animation stamina. On another note, I have sent out messages asking for a sound composer to add music to the film. I've gotten a response from a man named Swenn Mohn and I'm excited to collaborate and see how music supports/shapes the finished product. 

Below is my most recent draft of the animation. I am really happy with how it is coming together. I'm really loving some of the movements and how the style is shaping up. I have some things I need to edit like missing lines and rough filming (some of the boils are a bit shaky). I also want to edit how the girl runs to the mom (it's a little eh). Additionally, there are still a some scenes I need animate. I need a transition between the girl running and presenting the flower to her mother. I also need to add a couple more shots of them interacting and exchanging flowers before I get to them laying down in the end. The shot of the girl spinning also has more in-betweening done I just haven't filmed it yet. All in all I am happy with how it is coming and I'm excited to see how the rest goes. 

I am also just as I was before in regards to the use of color. My main focus is to get to all the animation and have a finished piece and then adding color (on the flowers for example) is an extra that I can play around with if I have time. 

For the past couple weeks I have been working on my final idea. I feel so happy because I love what I have been doing and I feel great about the animation. The film is about a mother and a daughter exchanging flowers. It's going to be very contrast and bare (in the way that it won't be too messy or busy). I'm hoping to subtly add color with the flowers as the animation progresses and then the final shot will be the pair laying down with all the flowers. First I was working just off the top of my head and I was liking it. I was just constructing what the narrative was going to be like and what kind of shots I wanted. After coming to some conclusions about what I wanted I came to the realizations that the shots I made with a reference were exponentially better (in my mind). Therefore I am moving forward with using references to get the quality of character that I want. Similarly, although both characters are naked I was originally going to draw both the mother and daughter without defining body characteristics but I've decided with the quality of line the mother would look better with boobs. Below I have my tests/shots from older to newer going upwards. 

The past two weeks have been 10x10 work. I absolutely loved working on it although it was very exhausting at times. I am a much more spontaneous artist/animator so I felt much more in my element than when doing the longer projects. It made me realize, though, that I'm not proud nor excited about the 2 characters and a setting work I've been doing. I want to work hard and push through and learn these skills but I also know that I need to be doing work that I feel good about. Because of this I am considering moving forward in two ways. Either completely dropping it and starting fresh again with a clean slate. Or finishing this one digitally, or at least refining the animatic and then working on a different story physically but with less pressure on myself. I'm not sure exactly what I will do but I can tell that I need a change. Starting this Monday I am going to make a plan and figure out my next moves. Fingers crossed I can figure something out.

Below are the tests/hand drawn sections I've done so far. I find hand drawn much more difficult and I know that it is a valuable skill to have but I do find it frustrating. The running sequences, for example, I am going to have to redo and study. In fact, I might have to redo all of them. I can see that I don't have timing and weight internalized yet and if I want to do this by hand on paper I am goin to need to work really hard. I am feeling very frustrated though. 

Below is the animatic for the final narrative I've committed to animating. I know that it's a lot to animate and that I am going to have to use a lot of Adobe After Effects to put it together. Because of that I understand that there is a chance I won't be able to finish but I am going to try to get as much done as possible. 

My goal is to focus on animating the two characters first and then move to complicating the backgrounds if I have more time. 

Below is a collection of original sketches/brainstorming. This includes some story boarding for an idea that was ultimately scrapped. I find that the I always assume my first ideas are the best ones but I quickly find that they aren't. If I expand my developmental stages I think I might be able to come to my "better" ideas sooner. I know that planning is not my strong suit so I want to practice this skill. I can definitely feel that I have grown since I started as an animator but it is definitely a work in progress. The rough storyboard for my second idea is also in these collection of pictures.