Summary of Narrative and Characters

The theme centers on the importance of balance and understanding that there is no cause without effect. 

Summary

The dark world, an alternative reality to the human world, is falling into chaos as the light from the human world grows dark. True evil is beginning to fester in the shadows of the light and the wall between worlds is weakening. Wicked men are causing a rise in evil monsters using corrupt magic in the alternate world, but the worst turn into demons and must be stopped before they destroy the alternate forms in the light world. In the epicenter amidst the chaos is the clock tower that resides in Alexander’s hometown. It was erected on the center of the worlds and if it were to crumble, the dimensions would collapse. A crack has appeared in the clock face, signifying the breaking down of the balance that keeps the worlds together. It is the job of the witch to keep the cycle going undisturbed, and as far as their bloodline is concerned, light and shadow were never meant to blend together.

            With the crack in the center of town, the darkness begins to seep through and cause further imbalance to the light world. In order to stop both worlds from collapse, Alexander must rise to his birth right as the medium between the two realms and purify the demons plaguing the dark world before time runs out. With the help of his familiar, Jahi (Jenny) and his best friend, David, they work together to protect the balance of light and dark.

Main Characters:

Alexander is a 16 year old trying to survive Witchlyn High School as a popular kid. With a talent in theater, he wishes for nothing more than to perform his way through school and be admired by his peers. Born with the gift of the medium, a modern term for witch, it is his duty to protect the balance of the light and dark worlds. He has shirked from the responsibility to accept his birth right for far too long; for fear that high school would burn his reputation if they ever found out.

Jahi, is Alexander’s familiar and is supposed to protect and teach him how to use magic. Playful and a little curious, she follows him around in either her creature or human form to make sure he stays focused on his studies of witchcraft.

David, Alexander’s best friend and theater classmate, is a drama king. He specializes in plays with dramatization and tends to be loud and obnoxious both in and out of class. Because David doesn’t believe in the supernatural, Alexander has used him as a means to ignore the duty of being a medium.

Working Out Ideas

I've been focusing on the environment for my art works because it is key to the design for my project. I was hitting a few road blocks last week, since my concept of using a dark theme has been overdone many times, and it also has quite a few cliche pitfalls that I could stumble into. After meeting with Heather, I was introduced to including art nouveau as a style for my dark environment. The following sketches were collected from various Google images so that I could get a feel for the whimsical design. As I sketched, I took some images and tried to apply the new technique on top, while a few are imaginative concepts.

After I felt comfortable with trying art nouveau, I created some clock tower thumbnails for an important prop I want to include in my imagery.

The lower left hand corner tower is based of a general line I like to use to create dragons, while the one beside it was based off of a tree.

There are 3 images I took from Google because each has something I want to include in my body of work.

 The Metra sculpture utilizes art nouveau, while having a hint of gothic. I'm interested in using this for my structures.

 This clock is perfect, being both whimsical and dark. It reminds me of the wispy black shapes I like to use in making eerie shadows and it looks great when it can have another purpose.

I thought the colors of this mansion were really beautiful and they inspired me to consider using a rich pallet for my environment.

BFA Contract Proposal

My work centers around showing characters and their interactions within scenes through illustration and digital painting. I want to create an environment and character designs as if I were on the production pipeline for an animated TV series, however, I intend to adjust the project to fit the BFA requirements. It will be a series of digital works that portray the concept of the story, where the protagonists travel throughout the images, although in some, the focus may be more about staging the environment.

My project will show the decent into darkness as the mundane world of my protagonist becomes consumed by its parallel. The purpose is to discover the unseen, while understanding that there is more than what meets the eye and show that light and dark can work together to achieve a common goal.

Aesthetically, the works shall be tied together by an animated style that I've chosen to fit the world. The dark world will have stylized tendrils and sharp edges which will be present in each piece to symbolize the bleeding of the darkness into the human world.

FINAL FORMAT

These digital paintings will be produced in Photoshop, printed and then mounted on the wall as if they were fleshed out storyboard concepts. The dark theme shall be shown spreading from left to right through the other images, while telling the story of the concept through imagery. The top left piece will show the split worlds, then, following down on the left square there will be an environmental study of the dark dimension. To the right the scene will change to a view of the natural world, except that in the shadows the darkness emerges. The protagonist will be shown walking through the various images, but then he stops in the middle fourth frame as he befriends a creature from the other world. The two characters will then be shown on the far right image cooperating in either a battle to beat the shadows back or integrating into the darkness world as it mirrors the natural environment of a common high school.

Top Left-  40 x 18
Bottom Left and Right- 18 x 22
Middle- 22 x 44
Right- 42 x 44



MATERIALS

- Scanner
- Funds for Printing
- Digital Camera

CALENDAR

Sept. 11-18 Research styles
Sept. 18 Complete protagonist(s) concept and rough concept of environments
Sept. 23 Finalize Environment shots
Oct. 2 Complete -Top Left
Oct. 9 Complete -Bottom Left and Right
Oct. 7, 9 MIDTERM FORMAL DEFENSE
Oct. 30 Complete -Middle
Nov. 20 Complete -Far Right
Nov. 28-Dec. 13 Adjustments, printing and framing
Dec. 9, 11 FINAL FORMAL DEFENSE
Dec. 17 COMPLETED

Self Assessment Essay

My primary focus is on the making of character or narrative pieces through Photoshop, some of which are expressed as digital paintings or illustrations. I make a lot of singular character designs that may or may not be engaging with their environment, however, I have put time into creating a graphic novel for my own personal achievment. There is no distinct style that clearly defines my work, even though influences can definitely be seen, but I do practice emulating styles to become flexible for the industry.

There are common themes that accompany my work and they are often centered on the balance of darkness and light, good and evil and even beauty and beast. I lean more towards darker designs because it sparks my imagination when I can't see clearly.

Tim Burton's work is most definitely inspirational to me, though his figures and forms don't always appeal the way his backgrounds do. Nightmare Before Christmas Poster
I found his 2D animated character works visually pleasing than his models, like the cartoon Beetlejuice.

The show Ruby Gloom, is more geared towards younger children, yet I love the design, the theme music and the simple character shapes of Scaredy Bat and Doom Kitty.