SOMEWHERE

Out There

Is a personal project I started developing in my spare time. The character design is by Itsacat, based on a sketch for a project that never came to life. I fell in love with the character and, from there, built a small story around him. With this project, I challenged myself to handle every stage of the process, from modeling and rigging to final animation and compositing.

Huge thanks to my friends for the chats and for sharing thoughts during the process, to Buck for the support, and especially to the one and only Laurens Lammers, who did the wonderful soundtrack and sound design.

Studio: Buck Role: 3D Designer, Rig, 3D Animator, Comp

Meet our little star! This handsome fellow is full of curiosity, a true gentleman, and at times, a bit pompous. He is a fine representation of his kind and certainly believes he's the best singer in the neighborhood!

The Bird

The Story & Animation

I wanted to create a very simple narrative that captures and summarizes a bird's routine in a fun and engaging way. Along with the simplicity of the story, as the look and feel is rough and paper-like, I also wanted to think about the animation as something that could be built with stop-motion. The animation should be worked in a more snappy and less smooth way, aiming for a style that could be easily achieved in the real world, making the whole set more believable. Here is a quick storyboard and animatic that illustrates some of the key moments I wanted to highlight.

Breakdown

Here is a look at some of the rigs and setups I created for the bird, branch, and worm. Perhaps the most challenging part was creating the rig for the wings, especially being able to control the wing's behavior, going from a bendy and smooth profile to sharp edges for the moments when they unfold and fold.

Sound Design

The sound design and soundtrack are produced by the one and only Laurens Lammers. I couldn’t be more happy with the final result and grateful for the work and dedication he put into this project.

PLay me ↓