Synopsis
Vala the Witch just received her assignment by the high witches to create a demon by the end of the witching hour at 3 am. In a rush to complete it she faces some unexpected turns and with Vala’s luck will she fail or succeed?
A Witch's Luck is a 3D collaborative animation. Within a group of 6 people, we were given 10 weeks to create a one-minute long film. Taking on the director role my tasks cover leading the creative process of creating the artistic inspiration, storyboards, title sequence/credits, main character model as well as animation. As well as making sure all the animation, assets, and environment fit the style.
Inspiration Boards
The main character of A Witch's Luck is a witch named Vala. Her background is a witch in training, she's very witfull though is a clutz at nature, making her job a little harder. Coven the demon dog is what Vala manages to conger up, this puppy may be cute but hides a darker side.
The First initial drawings for A Witch's Luck. Drawing mood boards helped convey the feeling of the environment and characters. Of course, the harmony of both elements had to be taken into consideration, thinking about the personality of the character was important because then such traits would show how she keeps her home. Going through many designs for the house shape I've decided to make her home a curved small cabin because it gave a whimsical feeling.
Creation Process
Translating my 2D character into 3D was a challenge, though making Vala's 3D model was so much fun. I first started in Zbrush, after I finished all her assets I went on to retopologize her poly groups. This process took some time but when the model was in a good place I could then transfer Vala's obj files into Maya for rigging.
With the use of the Douglas the Corgi Rig by Brandon Schaal I was able to tweak some of his features to make him more feasible for my vision of the story. I added some switches and blend shapes to give him added teeth and later added a shaking feature to make them seem active.
Images and videos courtesy of and owned by Savannah College of Art and Design.