This is a project worked on over 10 weeks developing my own cartoon and taking it through every step of the design process, including characters, environment, story, and culminating in a full storyboard for a scene from it.
Each stage presented a new challenge, but proved to be very rewarding for a story I am very passionate about.
This is the second stage of the project, where I focused on the environment and set design of the world of Sullivan Swift. I separated this project into three phases, reachable with the buttons below.
This cartoon concept is set on the University of Houston campus and uses downtown and the greater Houston area as its main stage for the story. As such, all environments are either based on or heavily referencing real life locations in the city or on campus.
The first environment explored was Sullivan and Donald's college dorm. Research into UH dorms, as well as different dorm configurations, were explored when designing this area. Its space was expanded to be more spacious than the average dorm to make additional room for character acting. Special attention was paid to environmental storytelling, use of foreground, midground, and background, and light sources.
The next area developed was a wide shot designed for a camera pan. This shot is of the Buffalo Bayou and takes inspiration from the Waugh Drive Bridge and the park just next to it, as well as the trails that snake alongside the entire bayou. Adding characters in perspective scale was important to this project, as well as making them all look like they belonged to the same world.
The Last area designed was another major character location, Professor Herring's office. As a old professor and retired detective, the room had to feel like a spot of knowledge and achievement, but also of curiosity and morbidly eccentric style. I wanted it to feel like a place students can go to to escape trouble just as often as get into it.
