Project Z.E.D - Tomoe Reveal Teaser
This is the first in the series of small teaser/reveal trailers based on my Project Z.E.D universe. The aim with this small series is to create visually stunning pieces of work without having to do too much animation work, while introducing a new character in a style that represents their personality.
The Breakdown
Using Blender, I created a scene that would be used for the background in the opening scene. With some basic modelling and importing some downloaded models, I created this scene. Once the I had the scene set up, I then went to texturing the whole scene.
I wanted to create a background that is similar to the painted style seen in anime but I’m not great at painting environments. So I decided to go down the YouTube tutorial rabbit hole and managed to find a way to create a procedural painted texture that could easily be adjusted per 3D object.
Once the previous scene was done I then moved onto the character animation. All of these were created frame by frame using Adobe Animate. I wanted to keep these relatively simple as the main focus of the project was to focus mostly on the art direction and the compositing.
With the scene now fully set up and fully lighted, I ran into another problem. Despite there being painted textures the scene still felt very ‘3D’ and not very ‘painted’ looking. Using photoshop I went over the edges in places with a soft brush to soften the edges to eliminate the ‘3D’ feel of the background.
With the animation done, I imported all the assets I made into the After Effects and started compositing everything together, enhancing the overall mood and quality of the imagery.