[INSPIRATION] Aardman Animations, Ltd.

Stop-motion clay animation isn't my specialty, however, I have been watching them since I was a young boy, particularly, Aardman Animations, Ltd. From Morph, to Wallace and Gromit I have thoroughly enjoyed watching their animated features, as previously posted I have been and talked to one of the storyboard artists from Aardman. I have been researching recently how Aardman do their pre-production, is it the same for clay-motion as it is for 2D?

During my research of Aardman Animations, I came across many different pre-production examples from the Aardman animation studio, ranging from character designs, character studies, background tests, concept art, storyboards and animatic panels. I found this very useful, as the methods to produce clay-animated pre-production is almost identical to producing traditionally animated pre-production, below are character design examples:

Backgrounds are slightly different however, as you don't keep redrawing backgrounds from different angles, backgrounds are just sets. Almost all the background designs I found have the same angle; an overall 180ish degree look at the room. Below are a few examples;

Storyboard panels and animatic shots are similar however, they have the characters in their 'on-model' positions, are finalized later. These are useful to see as I may be required to do a small animatic for the clay animation if the scene I animate requires it. Below are a few storyboard and animatic panels for example;

Overall, Aardman have influenced animators for many years, I am no different. The pre-production that Aardman create will be useful references to use when I begin to create my own pre-production for the small clay-animation. For the time being however, I need to focus my time and efforts on the actual animation, finishing the animatic for When Dreams Became Data is my number one priority.