After spending a really blissful time playing Baldurs Gate 3 (what a masterpiece!) I came up with this little tentacle-mage animation. It was also a great opportunity to finally try out cel animation with Toon Boom Harmony. Great fun!
Let's see how it's done!
My first idea was creating a slightly grumpy but adorable tentacle wizard. I imagined simple shapes and expressive, almost dramatic movement to them - especially in the explosion part. So I started pondering how my wizard should look. Should he have glasses? A beard? Little fingers at the ends of his tentacle hands? All options are possible at this early brainstorming phase!
Once I found the perfect shape for my wizard, I started thinking about the aesthetics of the environment. I knew that the explosion would be a culminating point of my animation, so I picked it for my style frame. I explored several options for the colors and shapes. Eventually, I settled on clean shapes, magenta and yellow, and rounded edges whenever possible. Nice and simple, yet powerful!
Nothing beats a good reference, my friends. That's why, for the middle spell-casting part, I took those very professional photos to get a grasp on good hand positions.
And onto the fun part! I started animating my mighty tentacle wizard in Toon Boom Harmony. First, I created an outline version just to make sure that all the movements made sense. Then, I added colors.
I kept a similar workflow throughout the entire animation, sculpting the visuals by adding layers of colors, glows, and, let's not forget, those super fun electrical effects!
The explosion was the culmination of it all, so I made sure to add some dramatic robe flapping in the wind, a glow, and a fair amount of wiggle. I wrapped up everything with a black cloud of dust so the loop could be seamlessly completed.
And there you have it!
Thank you for your attention.