Please note: every video below is also on Padlet.
I have split the content from Out of your Head into 3 sections to show the production pipeline and the chronology of how we worked throughout the project:
- Pre-Production
- Production (current)
- Post-Production.
WEEKS 4-10: (15/12/25-30/01/26)
Planning for the production side of the project began just before the holidays, and we created a task-list of what to do during Christmas break as shown below:
During the holidays, I downloaded ToonBoom Harmony (the software most of us would use for lineart) and watched a tutorial on how to use it, before animating a boil of the character Leebit from the K-Pop franchise SKZOO to send to Sophie to colour.
Lineart test by me.
Colour test by Sophie.
Initially, we had decided that I would lineart and Sophie would colour scenes, however since Sophie had a lot to cover with backgrounds (she designed all of them!) I ended up taking on both lineart and colour (which was honestly more efficient in the long run).
After returning from my holiday, I felt bad as everyone in my group was working so hard, and I wanted to take some of the weight from them and help. Therefore, I got started with animating scene 2 on Toon Boom Harmony.
Our tasks during the week we returned to university.
Firstly, I began drawing keyframes (this took me around 2 days to complete), as shown below:
Scene 2 Keyframes. PLEASE NOTE: The video is pixelated and I don’t know how to fix it.
After drawing in the keyframes, I finished in-betweens (which took me another day). I then used the colour palette that Berni collated from her animation of scene 1 and applied it to my own scene (both Phool and the box). Afterwards, I sent the animation to Berni for compositing.
Scene 2 lineart and colour.
After animating scene 2, I was also given the task to draw scene 10 (rough, lineart and colour). Since we hadn’t actually established the creature’s colour palette, I was told to use the original palette that Zeng Zeng made for the ‘bargain deal’ idea, as shown below:
I began by using the animatic as reference and traced rough outlines of the creature using the same brush size I used for Phool (not realising I should have increased the size since she’s a much larger creature than he is and a thinner brush line would make her look disproportionate).
Scene 10 from the animatic (a still, did not have to be animated)
Rough sketch of the creature with colour swatched in as a test.
Scene 10 coloured
Later on, while comparing our progress with the rest of the group, we realised that there were some inconsistencies with our animations as we relied on the animatic as references (we didn’t have anything else to go by). One of the main ones was that the hand used to spray Phool was meant to be the creature’s right, not her left. I tried to alter it on ToonBoom by flipping the hand, but it ended up looking wrong, and after trying to sketch her right hand for far too long I gave up and removed her hand entirely.
Moreover, we didn’t know what the colour of the spray bottle was, therefore in her scene Zeng Zeng coloured it with a purple nozzle and water inside (light blue). We really liked the design, but Berni wanted the colour changed to reflect the colour palette of the background more, alongside removing the water as it would be more complicated to animate (which was definitely true). The rest of us didn’t agree with the former, and while Berni was adamant to have the colour changed, it didn’t feel significant enough to warrant one, especially since there were already so many more serious inconsistencies such as the hand placement that I discussed above, and we still had our animations to finish. Therefore, we reached a compromise, and retained most of Zeng Zeng’s design while removing the water.
This is what scene 10 looked like after the changes:
Since a cohesive colour palette was not established, I used my scenes to create one for the group to use. I then updated it later on with features from my later scenes that I wasn’t able to add before, while also adding the new colour palette of the spray bottle.
Original colour palettes for Phool and the creature
Updated colour palette for Phool, including the new design for the spray bottle
We did encounter a few instances of miscommunication within our group, which was perfectly normal. However, it escalated and essentially exploded a few weeks into the new term, which was necessary yet highly inconvenient. To overcome this, Jess suggested we create a chart where we allocate tasks to each person to be completed by a certain deadline (in our case Wednesday 28th, which was the week after by that point), and colour-code whether the person has finished their task or not. We created an equivalent below:
As you can see above, I still had scenes 3 and 4 left to lineart and colour before sending them to Berni for compositing. I was in the process of completing scene 3 at the time, and had to animate each component incrementally before moving onto the next one, hence the various versions shown below. I began with animating the hat since it was the element that I felt the most worried about, so by animating it (alongside the small mushrooms and moss on the hat) first I saved myself a lot of hassle later on.
Scene 3 iteration 1: hat
Scene 3 iteration 2: body
Scene 3 iteration 3: hands and spray
Scene 3 iteration 4: face
Scene 3 iteration 5: colour
Scene 3 iteration 6: blush and highlights
Scene 3 iteration 7: mushroom
Scene 3 iteration 8: water
In regards to scene 3, I was told that if it ever got too much (since I had to take my time with the scene in case inconsistencies arise), someone else could animate scene 4 in my place. It took me almost a week and a half to animate scene 3 due to its sheer intensity and constantly checking for and replacing errors, Therefore, I did end up asking someone if they could animate scene 4 instead.
REFLECTION:
In terms of software, ToonBoom took time to get accustomed to as I was so used to Clip Studio Paint as my preferred program for animation. While I did get used to it after a short while and its user interface became much easier to navigate, I did come across a complication when animating the second scene. For some reason, I had two save files of the same animation, yet only one of them was up to date. Therefore, I clicked ‘save’ and closed both windows before reopening them and checking the file once more. But for some reason, the outdated version was saved instead! I felt extremely panicked because I had finished all of the lineart of Phool by that point, and I genuinely felt as though my life’s work just went down the drain (dramatic I know). Thankfully Berni was there to help and told me that ToonBoom never necessarily deletes work and there’s always a backup somewhere. I ended up finding the lost frames in a backup file and imported them into the scene using the drawing substitutions tab.
Miscommunication became a huge issue in this stage, as whilst we were working on our respective animations, we did need clarity in order to keep everything as consistent as possible. Since we slightly underprepared in the pre-production process, we underestimated just how disruptive this would become to our workload. This was especially in regards to not creating a proper character, expression or height comparison sheet for both Phool and the creature since we assumed we didn’t need them. This impacted my groupmates who merely had the animatic to rely on and were drawing the rough animations from scratch. Therefore when they presented their progress with their respective animations, our groupmate pointed out many details that we never previously established. This led to an array of misunderstandings and a lot of friction within the group that continued despite attempts to resolve it and communicate better.
In general, the production process was exhausting yet highly rewarding. It was good to work on our respective animations in our own time. Whilst lineart was challenging, I learnt so much about how to draw faster and more efficiently, whilst retaining everything laid out in the rough animation. At times I did struggle with consistency, as in scene 2 I relied heavily on the rough animation and ended up drawing the eyebrows with different sizes in each frame! Moreover, I do highly regret not finishing scene 4 by myself, as everyone was burnt out and I should not have used it as an excuse to ask someone else to complete it instead. Next time, I want to handle my workload better and find ways to reduce burnout without procrastinating or offloading my own tasks onto others that are just trying to finish their own. Despite this, I believe I did a good job and was able to replicate the artstyle of the animation to the best of my ability.