Storytelling - Nursery rhymes

 After choosing a nursery rhyme to base my storyboards on, I began to sketch rough finelined post-it note drawings as a guideline for the final storyboard. I based my storyboard on the rhyme of Jack and Jill, in which I thought I would be able to fit the key action points, within 12 panels.

1-6

I began the image sequence, with an extreme long shot as to show the audience the surroundings before going into a long shot, revealing the main characters of the plot. Panel 3 shows the characters walking up the hill before the introduction of the snake, which Jack steps on and is attacked by the snake, making him fall down. Jack lets go of the bucket before he falls down, leaving the bucket to hit Jill in the face and come tumbling after Jack.

7-12

In the more edited version of the storyboard, I need to add more detailed angles and shots to make the animation more interesting, remembering to keep the rule of thirds in mind.


Before I started adding more detail to the storyboard, I created character design sheets for Jack and Jill, as to have a reference throughout the process. 

Character Design: Jack

I thought about designing Jack in an aged style, making the chin more formed with more detail to shading and hair, however I felt that this did not work well due to the nursery rhyme originally being aimed at a young audience. Using a more simplistic and child like design to Jack worked well with the storyline however the storyline itself would be aimed at an older audience due to the slight violence of the plot; Jill getting knocked out via bucket. Keeping a simplistic style in mind, I alternated between two illustrative designs. One being simple with the facial features and not adding a nose to make the drawing seem younger and cuter, the other being more detailed but with a rounded face and characteristics to the facial features which seemed to outshine the previous style, especially when I added colour to the lineart with letraset Pro Marker pens.

Character Design: Jill

I then began to design Jill, similar to the character designs of Jack. After drawing out the illustrations, I felt that the last design had a young audience appeal and gained more characteristics than the less detailed sketches with lack of facial features. Not only did the addition of colour help to make this decision but the last design linked well with the Jack character design, and could be seen as twins/siblings.