Here’s a quick update of our Halloween poster, from 2013. ;) You can found the original version on Galou’s tumblr (right here, alongside the roughs !)
Oh, and yes, Auriana’s costume is Rekkit Rabbit, another show directed by Jean-Louis Vandestoc. ;)
This poster was created by Noon (thumbnail), Kuri (Clean-up), rough design by Bénédicte (who still need a tumblr…) and Galou (who also colored it).
more Lolirock concept…
For the first one, the girls were more like “hich school” girls. For the second one, the designers tried a “royal” style but it was too complicated
As you can see, we were sure that Iris would be in pink… But we hesitated for a looooong time for Talia, and most of all, for Auriana ^^”
Designed by Bertrand Todesco and Benedicte Ciaravino
Color by me :)
Creating a character is about design, but also about finding the right colors ! It was Flore’s job to do so, and she probably tried EVERY POSSIBLE color. Afterward, a lot of exchanges and teamwork to chose the best one amongst all of them ! ;)
And to think all of this is merely the tip of the iceberg… Thanks again for your work Flore !
On previous post (from Bertrand), you could see a fraction of the main pack, with turns, expressions and posing.These are the basic everyone needs in order to draw the character in the style of the show. However, on LoliRock, Bertrand went further.
We all knew our characters were very difficult to draw. Even very skilled designers such as Bertrand, Benedicte and Galou had trouble with them, during the whole production. So Bertrand created the construction model sheets above, in order to help everybody : the construction sheets are giving rules, while the “Do & Don’t” sheets help to avoid the most current mistakes… and as you can see, it’s easy to do most of them.
I’ll be honest, we don’t do this on every production, especially in France where budget are very limited. There is, most of the time, some “Do & Don’t”, but they’re created by the director or animation supervisor, and just before / while doing the animation. Now, putting it in right the main pack, and this much ? Well, some might consider that “overkill”, yet I’m sure most of our designers and animators would disagree and were glad to have all these details right from the start. It helped them to avoid many “off model” retakes, so it was definitely worth it. (Edit : after reading this post, I had a message from Julien Maret, one of our animation supervisor, who confirms he uses these sheets every day. ^_^)
Iris’s construction sheets were the first one Bertrand created, because you know, she’s the main character and we weren’t sure we’d have the time to create these sheets for other characters. Then, we did, and then he repeated his process for Talia, Auriana… and other to come very soon ! ;)
Lecteurs francophones ? Voici la version française du texte ci-dessous.
Lolirock characters
BONUS : group posings
And here’s a little bonus, still from the main pack.
As other model sheets from the main pack : Line by Bertrand Todesco / Gaëlle Autin / Bénédicte Ciarravino and Color by Flore Pipari. Teamwork !
lolirock characters
3/ Auriana, princess of Volta
Here are Auriana’s model sheets from the main pack. Enjoy ! ;)
As other model sheets from the main pack : Line by Bertrand Todesco / Gaëlle Autin / Bénédicte Ciarravino and Color by Flore Pipari. Teamwork !
BACK TO 2011 !
THE CREATION OF LOLIROCK - PART 4 : MAGICAL !!!
In parallel of creating the casual outfits, I worked on the magical ones !
1/ At this stage of the development, the series’ concept was pretty blurry. The magical outfits have to be girly, shaped like princess dresses. But it’s so unpractical for action ! so I shorten dresses as Milla Jovovich in “The Three Musketeers” (very bad movie i know). The producers and head of merchandising (now really in the loop) liked the bows on the very first proposals (cf. PART 1) so I kept on drawing bows and drapery/folds. Regarding powers, at this moment, it was some ice/crystal thing, so I drew 6 or 8-pointed star (as snowflakes) as their Ephedian symbol. Powers’ FX are star shaped. Star shape is also still in their eyes.
2/ Afterwards, I tried to invert things : ice-like square shapes for the silhouette and round shapes inside, adding heart shapes. and I replaced classic crown by a heart-shaped crystal crown.
3/ the 3rd picture is the result of the first step of what would be a VERY long development ! Fortunately, at this moment, former BASKETEERS teammate Benedicte Ciaravino joined me in the adventure.
4/ As I assign one main color for each character in their casual outfits, I decided to do the same for the magical outfits. Producers found the idea too japanese/manga/anime. Director Jean-Louis Vandestoc and I had to fight for this idea. It also seemed important to give each girl one symbol/shape. Do notice that Iris is the only princess to have 2 symbols : heart and star (in crown and powers).
5/ 6/ 7/ 8/ Little by little, bows will disappear in favor of symbols. And drapery will become transparent fabric. Star shapes then symbol shapes in eyes will disappear too. You can see (and it’s just one little part of the iceberg) we made a lot of searches of silhouette shapes and details on dresses, depending on notes and hesitancy of the producers, helped by a toy consultant.
9/ Almost the final version ! It’s March of 2012 ! FINALLY ! Please notice that Auriana and Talia used to have white bodies and colored skirts. The director made this change to give more importance to Iris. She looks brighter.
And the little last-minute changes is on shoes. I love low boots. But the producer though it was so dangerous that girls with small and loose shoes can run and jump : they will be injured ! it’s impossible !
HUH ? Aren’t we in a cartoon ??!!
Nevermind, Iris will wear low boots in casual outfits :-)
Here a new part of LoliRock’s characters genesis, by Bertrand Todesco. :)
Today’s topic : The magical outfits !
Here are a few animation walk and run cycle we created, at different stages of the production.
While they’re not perfect, their main purpose was to try to help us understand how our characters could move, especially for the long hair and clothes. (Note : Iris’ curly hair were a nightmare to animate properly…)
We also intended them to be references for our animators in Malaysia, but in the end we didn’t : Main reasons are we didn’t have enough time to perfect them (and nobody wants references that they can’t trust at 100%), and also couldn’t create them directly into the software we use to animate the show (Toonboom Harmony), which would have been the real time saver here.
These animation cycles were created faster than light by Rachid Guendouze (Charadesigner and animator during the developpement), David Martins Da Silva (Animation supervisor who joined the team for a few month) and Julien Maret (Also animation supervisor, and still on the crew, providing us with terrible jokes each day). Thank you for your work guys ! :)
Lecteurs francophones ? Voici la version française du texte ci-dessous.
Let me introduce you… LOLIROCK
I’m working on the graphic development of this upcoming animated TV series for almost 8 months now. time flies !
LOLIROCK is the story of Iris, lead singer in a teenage pop band with Auriana (left) and Talia (right). Both 3 girls share a secret : they actually are magical princesses from another world !
What they came to earth for ?
Bertrand just posted on his tumblr some old designs. It’s basically roughs & clean of the very first poster we made to present the show. It’s very close to the girls final designs.
Oh, and on the second picture, you can see an old design of Amaru, from the time he was more hamster-like, and was also able to fly. ;)
Here’s a quick summary of all the concert outfits created on season 1… And as we’re currently working on season 2 new clips, here’s a little teasing of new outfits to come. ;)
Lecteurs francophones ? Voici la version française du texte ci-dessous.
More Lolirock stuff!
These were some old designs for the girls in casual and magical outfits!
Design by Bertrand Todesco and Benedicte Ciaravino!
I made the color research :)
There is more to come XD but it will be only a few of all the researchs I made for the show! There is so many versions of the magical girls that I could cover all the walls of my apartment with it!!! seriously!
Other color researches from Flore Pipari, to complete Bertrand and Benedicte’s character designs researches.
back to 2011 !
the creation of lolirock - part 3 : finalizing main charactersActually, the global design of the 3 girls came really quickly. I had then to finalize details, accessories and colors.
For example, the star shape in the eyes (the reason why the producers chose me in the first place) was now ugly and make the girls look like aliens (uh oh, they actually are !) or like they are into drugs (uh oh, they’re teenagers ! … just kiddin’)
Reference for IRIS is Taylor Momsen and Blake Lively from GOSSIP GIRL, Pixie Lott a Brit singer… Reference for TALIA is Betty Augier’s wardrobe on Amber Steven West, aka Ashleigh from tv series GREEK. Keri Hilson and Alicia Keys too… Reference for AURORA is all the other cool things I like and I couldn’t put on Iris and/or Talia :-) There’s maybe a bit of Leighton Meester from GOSSIP GIRL and a lot of Cat Valentine (Ariana Grande, what a name coincidence with Auriana!) from tv series VICTORIOUS, before she losts weight and sells millions of discs…
Speaking of VICTORIOUS, it was a great inspiration for the early posings I had to do for the promotion of the series to raise money from broadcasters and co-producers.
This last drawing remained the key visual for a while.
3rd part of Lolirock’s characters genesis. Step by step we get closer to the final designs. ;)
BACK TO 2011 !
the creation of lolirock - part 2 : talia and auroraYes, Aurora. it was her name then.
At the very beginning, I imagined Aurora as a black girl with a huge volume of hair. and Talia, maybe asian, with long straight hairs. Then I continued researches…
Round 2 of LoliRock’s character creation : Talia & Auriana’s first researches !
Little Auriana fanart from Julien Maret, one of our animation supervisor that joined our team a few months ago, bringing some freshness into the team.
As one coud suspect, Auriana seems to love earth music festivals. ;)
Lecteurs francophones ? Voici la version française du texte ci-dessous.
As for “Revolution”, the transformations were made early in the production process, before the episodes. Therefore, to find how we wanted them to look like, we needed to make additional researches and references.
That’s why we created the Key Color Boards above. Then, even though it could have been enough to work, we decided to push a little further and completed the full color storyboard for each princess.
On the long term, preparing these was incredibly helpful and time-saving, as all the researches for hook-up, fx, and backgrounds were done.
Doing these also allowed some test. For example, initially, we intended to put filter on them so each princess would be immersed in the same ambiance color as the her transformation background. We tested it on Talia, and then realized it gave the feeling she was “sort-of” already transformed, with the dark blue-purple hair reflection. For Iris and Auriana, we tested keeping the regular character colors, and it worked way better, so we decided this would be the final choice.
And about Amaru ? Well, as I explained in the previous post, his transformation was created on the regular production pipeline, alongside the episodes. By this time, we no longer needed colorboards as we knew how our most magical moments should look like. :)
These colorboards were created by both our background color team (Sylvain Fabre, Damien Hausson, Céline Lorthiois) and one of our FX men (Jullian Goff), from Christelle Abgrall’s storyboards.
Lecteurs francophones ? Voici la version française du texte ci-dessous.