beths-nua-blog

[beths-nua-blog]

"The audience's acceptance of Toothless as a main character requires a vast shift of perception: He must go from being regarded as an unknown, dangerous threat to a magical, charming creature in order for the story to work. 'We wanted to make sure his intelligence and emotional personality came through without anthropomorphizing him,' says Executive Producer Kristine Belson. To facilitate his connection to the audience, Toothless exhibits behaviours that a dog, cat, or horse might use when interacting with humans, with the hopes that the viewers will 'be touched by their recognition of this bond,' according to Head of Character Animation Simon Otto.”

The Art of Dreamworks How to Train your Dragon

[beths-nua-blog]

"'We tried applying a velvet like texture and irridescence, and we were finally satisfied with a skin that is more like that of a shark or stingray than reptilian,' recalls Head of Surfacing Sabrina Riegel."

The Art of Dreamworks How to Train your Dragon

[beths-nua-blog]

"'We had previously thought of him as wolflike, but then we discovered another big cat worked even better' recalls Director Dean DeBlois. ‘His colour was inspired by a black panther screensaver on one of our story artist's monitors.’”

The Art of Dreamworks How to Train your Dragon

[beths-nua-blog]

"The main dragon character in the film is the Night Fury, a species regarded by the Vikings as the most dangerous due to its reclusive nature and surprising, powerful fire skills."

"While Toothless may be formidable by virtue of his species, he proves to be an intelligent, emotional creature that just happens to have agile artillery."

The Art of Dreamworks How to Train your Dragon

[beths-nua-blog]

These are some screenshots I took whilst watching How to Train your Dragon to show how Toothless gives up and waits for Hiccup to kill him only for Hiccup to back out. This makes the audience feel sympathy towards both characters.

[beths-nua-blog]

"How would a wild animal act in captivity?"

“’At this point in the story we knew we had establish Toothless as a creature not a personality, so we brought in an animal behaviour consultant to gain some insight. She taught us that it would try to get away immediately, but for dramtic purposes, we thought that having Toothless be more nobly resigned to his fate, just laying down his neck to be killed, would be a draw for compassion from both Hiccup and the audience,’ recalls Head of Character Animation Simon Otto.”

The Art of Dreamworks How to Train your Dragon

[beths-nua-blog]

“Who would have thought a fire-breathing monster could be one of the most adorable on-screen critters since Babe?”

“But Toothless, the endearing dragon, possesses the best qualities of a playful pet dog or cat and the sense of adventure of a winged horse.”

“Watching him in action, it's easy to forget he's not exactly cuddly.” - Claudia Puig

https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/movies/reviews/2010-03-26-dragonreview26_ST_N.htm

[beths-nua-blog]

“It looks like a cross between a big bat and a beached whale, with the melancholy whimper of a dog and the whinnying spirit of a horse.

But the notion of having a pet dragon - just like a pet whale, or a pet lion - is a scenario that should appeal to children of all ages.”

https://www.sfgate.com/movies/article/Review-How-to-Train-Your-Dragon-3194704.php http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/steven_rea/20100326__Dragon___Fun_for_youngsters__with_message.html

[beths-nua-blog]

You could say the 3-D animated kidpic “How To Train Your Dragon” is “Avatar” for simpletons. But that title is already taken, by “Avatar.” - Kyle Smith

https://nypost.com/2010/03/26/dragon-breathes-little-fire/ https://www.metacritic.com/movie/how-to-train-your-dragon/critic-reviews

[beths-nua-blog]

'Dreamworks hired the directors of "Lilo & Stitch" to turn Cressida Cowell’s romp of a novel into an animated film and can’t be too surprised that they made, in essence, "Hiccup and Stitch."' - Roger Moore

https://www.dailydot.com/parsec/how-to-train-your-dragon-light-fury-sexist/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0892769/criticreviews

[beths-nua-blog]

“Night Fury. Designed by Chris Sanders himself, the Night Fury (Toothless is an example) is distinguished by its dark color, yellow eyes, small size, heavy chest and short neck. It flies higher, faster and longer than any dragon, is very clumsy on the ground and breathes an unconventional fire that explodes its target on impact!”

https://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=1e345a00-28e9-4fe9-8776-aa8af98c332f%40pdc-v-sessmgr06

[beths-nua-blog]

I found this comparison picture on google images from someones blog and I think it shows briefly some of the similarities between Toothless and Stitches character designs.

http://youbentmywookie.com/columns/i-can-train-dragons-now-give-to-me-toothless-8799

[beths-nua-blog]

“We looked at every vfx movie that had dragons in it— even Disney’s Pete’s Dragon—but clearly, we didn’t have to match our creatures to a live-action project,” says Otto. “The designs called for the dragons to be big and impressive and dangerous, but at the same time, we could have fun with them, because the movie offers a really fresh take on the dragon world. So we ended up with a creature who looks a little bit like a crocodile, flies like a humming bird and sounds like a Harley Davidson!”

https://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=1e345a00-28e9-4fe9-8776-aa8af98c332f%40pdc-v-sessmgr06

[beths-nua-blog]

“The directors believe that it was important for Toothless to be both mysterious and elusive—’almost a ghost of a dragon, so that even the Vikings would fear him,’ notes Sanders. He had to be black to be able to hide in the night and aerodynamically shaped to fly like a sparrow or a hawk. Unlike most other movie dragons that have been reptilian, Toothless also took its cue from slick mammals like wolves and black panthers. The funny thing is that when you first get a good look at Toothless, you are immediately reminded of Sanders and DeBlois’s previous otherworldly creature, Stitch. ‘I think different people see different animals in Toothless,’ says DeBlois. ‘He has these two enlarged black plates, which play the role of ears and key audiences to his moods. That could be the reason he resembles Stitch, because he had these big ears as well!’”

https://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=1e345a00-28e9-4fe9-8776-aa8af98c332f%40pdc-v-sessmgr06

[beths-nua-blog]

Character Research: Choosing my character

As soon as we were told about this task I immediately thought of Toothless as he is one of my favourite characters from my favourite animated film and I thought it would be fun to write about something I am already well informed on and give me a simpler idea of where to start this research.

I also think I chose to do Toothless as his character design is very interesting looking at the context behind where it came from and how he was designed. As well as his movement and believable it is, displaying behaviour from both wild animals and also domesticated ones.

[beths-nua-blog]

This character walk cycle that I did using the same technique as before where I drew it and coloured it on photoshop and then transferred it to TV Paint. I think it’s a good first attempt at a tidied walk cycle on TV Paint, however I think it isn't as smooth as I would want it to be. I also think that the size and thickness of the feet and legs could also stay a bit more consistent if I was to iterate it.

However a positive would be that I like the attention to detail that I managed as the thin headphone wire swings a bit as he walks.

[beths-nua-blog]

This is my character turnaround that I did quickly using both photoshop and TV Paint. I used photoshop to draw each frame and then copied them over to TV Paint as I prefer drawing on photoshop but I like to animate on TV Paint so I combined the two to make it easier for me.

I also think that the consistency of style for this is a strength as I struggled with trying to keep it consistent for some of it but I’m glad the finished piece is quite consistent.

If I was to iterate this I would change the shape of his hands and try to keep them in the same position by his side as the first frame his hands are flared slightly outwards so when the animation is repeating it makes him look like he's moving his hands.