Layers Upon Layers Until There's A World
Added 2020-10-28 23:34:07 +0000 UTCIn this image, you can see various background layers I've created for the next episode of Power Corrupts. As a one-man animation team, before I can even begin animating, I have to think of all the different settings and angles of those settings I need to create. I use about a dozen different programs to do that. In the old days, scores of people would hand paint static backgrounds. Once I render a background, I consider where characters will be. In many cases, I will want certain objects in the scenery to obstruct them: a railing, table, fence, etc. So, I use photoshop to chop up those backgrounds into layers and then sandwich the animated characters (which are many layers themselves: arms, legs, the face alone is maybe 50 layers, etc) into the background layers, which gives the illusion that they're integrated into the background and not just slapped on top of it. Adding shadows and lighting further integrate the characters. I've got most of the characters done. Now, I need to construct the various scenes with them. Normally, that would be a simple matter of consulting the script and knowing the exact scenes I need to make. In this episode, however, there are several montages without lines, so the script can't guide me, and I have to get really creative with it. It's fun, but difficult.
