PRODUCTION - Animation and Concept Art

Although rotoscoping was accepted and embraced as a time-saving measure and quality retainer from the onset, the nature of the production meant that many parts of the animation still needed to be drawn by hand. Rotoscoping only covered the character's body animations, and were not involved in their clothing or hair. (This was one of the reasons why I was initially adverse to switching to Guardian Angel from Shards of Tranquility; as the latter was more optimized for rotoscoping, and did not require that many freehand drawings).

One of the most challenging parts to animate were the characters' wings. As per the advice of John Sinari, a guest lecturer that visited my animation class in semester A, I found that the easiest way to draw wings steadily between frames was to create a simplified bone structure first before animating.

Although Rotoscoping was important, oftentimes rough bone structures were still important and played an important role.  


On the other hand, bone structure was not always a savior. Some visual references could not be rotoscoped properly because the actress did not follow wardrobe instructions.