KITTY CHARACTER TEST

Here I start experimenting in creating my Kitty character. I printed out some black and white images of some cats (gives uniformity and hides the fact some of these cats might be different breeds) and a copy of Stylist magazine and got collaging away. I played with adding pieces on - different shapes, positions, styles and either placed on top or cut and placed underneath to give some 'realism' to the surreal. I start looking of proportions too - like pairing a large head with the smaller body. Whilst exploring I played around with what I could do with collage such how to portray speech, having pieces cut out and moving (the mouth) and some kind of background cut out effect. SO MANY OPTIONS. 

More tests - cutting pieces out and trying to find a style out of the 'crude' cutting. I start to play around with ink just to bring some character into the images - I guess adding my own personality to these found images. Cat becoming Kitty!

Whilst playing around with inks I just randomly decided to draw my own Kitty head. It's definitely 'different'. I showed Hugo and Thomas my cats and they said the ink ones (ink mix with collage) have more originality and something new than the purely collage route. I can see that but I think at the time I had such a strong vision of this Quentin Jones-like animation I wasn't too sure. Ultimately I had a choice on which route to apply. We discussed for my presentation I should show my animatic and two tests of the different style and see what people preferred. This was a wise choice as A) I got to practise stop motion more. B) Best way to really decide what works.

So after my tutorial I quickly got on the go to produce my tests in different styles. I also decided to book out studio because I just couldn't get the set up right on home. For the ink-collage Kitty I've decided to for the majority have her own expressions etc done in ink. With only some parts being 'realistic' (body).

Here I've done a quick little test with a human eye on top. I'm not sure on the balance quite yet. Strange quirky with these added qualities or Kitty being purely done with inks to add some uniformity to her character. I know I ask myself a lot of questions and never answer any.