Pandora's Box (Animation Project): Scriptwriting, Storyboarding, and Concept Art.

Hello fellow animators and Greek mythology enthusiasts.
I've talked about my recent writing and editing projects I've been working on. So, I thought it would be a good time to do an animation project post. Two years ago I announced that I was going to be animating Pandora's Box, but I didn't give any other details about it, so I figured it was time to tell you...

The scriptwriting portion 

This was the first time I wrote a script for something (besides a one woman show that I had worked on more recently in the summer of 2019--more on that later...). I might have to rewrite the script in some ways, and add some scenes into it, but so far I think it is a good first draft. 

I would like it to make it flow in the same ways that some of my stories do. Perhaps, I could make it a little less comedic, because I want it to be more serious. I find that when I write conversations, they tend to be a little weird, often with comedic elements, even when it is not intended. The reason I might have accidentally written it that way was that I had been writing a serious story before I wrote the script and wanted to write something more light-hearted...which isn't exactly what I want the whole script to be like. (I want it to have light-hearted bits, but as a whole I want it to be serious and have an epic feel to it). I am aiming for the script itself to be a little like the the movie Clash of the Titans (the 1981 version, not the new one).

(Image from Rotten Tomatoes, https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/clash_of_the_titans)

I like how they took Greek mythology and retold it. Though, there were some minor changes to mythology, they didn't make it a different story or mess up the Greek Gods' family tree (like Disney's Hercules does). I also like the High Fantasy feel they gave the myth, and I would love to apply that to Pandora's Box. 

I also want to have a subplot with Athena and Artemis in animated movie, because it was not brought up as much as I would have liked in the first draft. And since Pandora was the first human woman on Earth, Artemis and Athena would be obsessed and excited over her. 

Another issue I still have with my script is the timeline. As far as I am aware, it is never clear  in mythology when the various gods or goddesses were born, but I am sure I can create a timeline for it. For example, Artemis and Apollo have to be born before Hermes in order for him to steal the cows, and Hephaestus has to be born before Athena in order for him to crack Zeus's head open and allow her to come out of it. And since in some versions of the myth of Prometheus (which is before Pandora's Box) Athena is there and breaths life into Prometheus's creation, she has to exist around this time...
The only period of time when it is clear that Artemis and Athena are not there at all is during the battle when Zeus dethroned his father Cronus. But that was only because at the time Zeus had not exactly been married yet and had no children. (And he married Metis later...) But in terms of timeline I really like how George O'Connor handled it in his comic book series Olympians, because he had certain times that all the gods came in, and he also figured out what myths the different gods should or shouldn't be in. 

The storyboarding 

One of the panels from my storyboard. 

Storyboarding is very different from actually animating but it at least helps you get from here to there. At the beginning it feels a little like you are making a comic in some ways without there being any actually speech bubbles. The thing about storyboarding is that it has to be rough drawing and you shouldn't do an overly detailed one. It's almost like plotting out a story, except that it is telling you where the characters will go, and how the character gets from A to B. And then after you're done with that, the actual animating comes in.

I began by putting the storyboard frames into the frames of the animation, though 

my animation will not be drawn in the same way, as the storyboard frames are drawn. The storyboard frames are just there so I can figure out where the characters are going.

For anyone who is interested in animating and wants to know what app I am using,
I am using Sketchbook. And I used Sketchbookx (a different app) to the draw the background. 

I then began inserting the images from the storyboard into the frames. This took a little while to figure out, since I had never used it for storyboards before. 

Hermes will not be floating (at least not floating and unable to see his lower half) in the actual animation 

My intention for the story board was to get something like this near the end: 

You can also watch it here

          Though I must keep in mind that the storyboard above is probably a final and complete draft story board and not what the story was originally like. There were probably many other storyboards before it. But I was aiming for the feel of it, though mine probably isn't the last storyboard because I might have to rewrite the script (and take away some of the narration).

After that I added in some keyframes, to make it move and not jump from frame to frame.

The next thing I did was to try to make basic frames in between the keyframes that showed how the characters flowed within the scene. Once I finish this one storyboarding for the whole script, I will be able to go in and make animation that feels as if it flows well.

Concept Art... 

In order to actually animate the characters, however, and not rely on my quickly drawn sketches for the storyboard, I have to figure out what exactly they look like. Of course this may change and grow as I am developing them...But here is the current view of the characters... 

I actually looked at several sculptures of Artemis to draw her. She will probably get a more distinct design over time, but this is what I have currently. The statue references I used were this and this. 

But this is my second concept drawing for Artemis, though I might keep the statue-like face while still making her more tough and less delicate looking. Or maybe instead make her look like this (even though I didn't use a statue as a reference): 

I am thinking that Aphrodite will have a different facial shape than Artemis (whether it be that I decide to make Artemis have the facial shape above or not). 

 As for her hair, I was trying to give her two different shades of red that made a cool pattern throughout. However I also seem to be referencing in her hair the fact that she was a cause of a war, the Trojan War to be exact, and that a lot of blood was spilled over that. (Also one of the people she loves is Ares the god of war). 

I think when I draw Hermes again, I'm going to make him tanner since he is the messenger of the gods, which would mean he would travel a lot.  But this is a basic starting point for his concept art... 

The next thing I want to do is what I did in the photo above, drawing the character multiple times. This was very helpful in developing Gletta's current appearance. So I assume this will also work with the concept art for the Greek gods and goddesses, and even for Pandora herself. 

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Who is your favorite Greek god or goddess? And what is your favorite Greek myth? (I plan eventually to animate every Greek myth.) 

-Quinley