Harry Partridge

For this module I need to list various artists and analyse/research them, so I thought I would list one of my favourite animators at the moment, Harry Partridge. This is mainly because of the quality of the frame by frame animation he creates, the use of dark/absurd humor in his animations, and the great, weird colour palettes he uses. Among my favorite animations of his are 'DR. BEES', the 'Starbarians' series, and 'Hitman Absolution: Hiding in Plain Sight'.

I mainly like this animation due to the fact that it's just so silly, and slightly dark, but it fits Harry's style so well. The animation is about a Wasp-themed super hero by day, Dr. Bees by night, and follows various scenarios involving bees. There are more videos involving Dr. Bees by Harry Partridge, but this is still my favourite.

This is the first episode of Starbarians, and is where we meet the two main characters, and see them 'face off' against an evil-doer. My favourite thing about this episode is the take on typical evil-trap type situations often seen in films. 

Week 2 Overview/Targets

During the second week back, I was mainly working on developing my character both visually and story wise.

Early on in the week, I started coming up with ideas for my characters. One of the main ideas I came up with for a character was a person/thing with a T.V. for a head. My initial idea for its emotions and such was that as its mood changed, the images/images would change on the screen, as well as its face changing. The same goes for the antennae of the television, it would change shapes depending on the mood. For example, if the character is angry, the screen would show flames coming from the bottom, and the antennae would scrunch up and look spiky. If the character was sad, the screen would show rain, with water dripping down from the top of the screen, and the antennae would flop down in front of the screen. Ultimately, I decided not to use this character for my animation, or at the least, not as the main character. We also felt like the idea was too similar to characters from the past, like Evil Edna from Willo the Wisp.

Instead, I decided to use the character I made in Illustrator last week, the Slime Skull character, which is still to be named. I did this because after speaking with Dave, we both felt like the Skull character was the more creative character with more scope for an animation. Through the week, I began to flesh out my character, as well as starting to think of what kind of body he would have, since the original design did not include a body. For the body I thought of having it be in a similar fashion as the skull, made of slime, and to be strangely proportioned, at least to the point of not looking human (when not in his disguise, which I will get to). Because he is made of slime and generally a bit weird, he feels like he needs to fit in with 'normal' people, so he wears a disguise. The disguise consists of a large overcoat, large glasses, and possibly a hat and mask. While in his disguise, his proportions would also change to more of a 'human' shape, so that he fits in and doesn't bring attention to himself. I have yet to actually design and draw out my character in Illustrator, but I feel like I now have a better idea of what my character.

Targets for next week:

• Draw out my character in Illustrator, getting a better understanding of what his body is going to look like.
• Finalize a possible story for the character, as I only have a basic understanding at the moment