As previously stated, in my Visual Elements of Story class, I've chosen to work on "Jack & the Beanstalk". We began the class by making a series of small thumbnail compositions using just simple shapes and value to show foreground, middle ground, and background and to create a focal point:
We then had to modify these simple shapes and add elements of our story, essentially creating storyboards:
Then he had us combine some of the simple-shape thumbnails to create stronger compositions. I also used this opportunity to further define my version of the story, which opened up some great new compositions for me:
From the aforementioned goings on, we had to pick our four favorite compositions and create a simple value study. These are all 3 x 5.5" in size, using just 2B, 4B, and 6B pencils. Hopefully you see that they all have depth and a definite focal point:
Next up, we're designing our characters. I believe that, once we have the final design, we'll do larger, full value studies using the final character design and eventually add color to create something really cool. Here's a sampling of my character design ideas for Jack:
