TALES OF THE ARUKIGAMI

Tales of the Arukigami is a 2D medium project created during my Junior and Senior year at Chapman University for my senior thesis project. The project was presented as a 2D animated motion comic.

RESPONSIBLE FOR:

Concept Art
Character Design
Production
Screenwriting
Audio Mixing
Video Compositing

Voice Talent
Illustration
Documentation
Directing

Development Info

Position: Project Creator

Genre: 2D Motion Comic

Timeframe: 1.5 years (Jan. '17 - April '18)

Production

julia-corsi-tales-of-the-arukigami-poste

Tales of the Arukigami (2018) is a 2D Motion Comic that was done for my senior thesis final project at Dodge College of Chapman University.

This project was a way for me to have fun with animation and the things I had learned during my time in undergrad.

The story pays heavy homage to some of my favorite works, such as: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Legend of Korra, FullMetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Mushishi, and Inuyasha.

Characters

Utagawa Chie is one of the protagonists of the story. The design for them came pretty quickly, and I was pretty happy with their design from the get-go, with few changes made down the road. Their personality, however, has yet to be developed reaching the width and depth that I'd be satisfied with.

julia-corsi-utagawa-jun-character-sheet.

Utagawa Jun is the younger sister of Chie, and the troublemaker of the family. Jun's design and concept actually came before Chie's, as the dynamic between the two was much different during the ideation stage.

The Utagawa Siblings weren't the only characters I created for this project, as during pre-production I went about the project imagining it as if it were a pitch for a TV series, and tried to tackle both width and depth with my content.

Environment

These were two of the more in-depth environment pieces I did during the pre-production/concepting phase.

I wanted Lantern Forest to have that fantastical mysticism about it, as well as encompass as many aspects of Shintoism that I could without overstepping my bounds.

Lantern Forest:

A dark, dense forest located in Southern Aeos. It is known for its bioluminescent flora & fauna, as well as the rare bioluminescent silkworm. True to its name, Lantern forest is also home to strings of lanterns strung up over many years.

A lot of the inspiration for this location came from a variety of sources, such as Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away, Mushishi, and The Legend of Korra's spirit world.

Storyboards

ToTA_1

TotA_2

TotA_7

ToTA_1

1/8

Concepting

Shot Process

Post-Mortem

What Went Well:

Concept & Development
Storyboarding & Animatics
Thesis pitching
Pre-production, Production, and Post-production
Engaging to audience
Organization of assets
communication with thesis advisor
Learning AE for VFX work

What Went WRONG:

Stayed too far on the safe side; didn't explore as much as I could've
Scope! I ended up having to cut things for the sake of finishing the project
Music. The final track I received didn't fit the tone of my film as much as I had wanted it to.
Lacking quality in Audio mix. Very much an afterthought for this project
Not utilizing animation as much
Conveyance for some things was not as strong as it could've been

For next time:

Really go for animation, not just AE animation
Got lazy because I was ahead of schedule. There was room for more refinement
Spend more time on refining designs. You might have a better one later on.
Be more open to outside help
trust people to get jobs done, especially those who offer to help you

Documentation

TotA_VisDevDoc

Development Info

Position: Project Creator

Genre: 2D Motion Comic

Timeframe: 1.5 years (Jan. '17 - April '18)

Production

Tales of the Arukigami (2018) is a 2D Motion Comic that was done for my senior thesis final project at Dodge College of Chapman University.

​

This project was a way for me to have fun with animation and the things I had learned during my time in undergrad.

​

The story pays heavy homage to some of my favorite works, such as: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Legend of Korra, FullMetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Mushishi, and Inuyasha.

Characters

Utagawa Chie is one of the protagonists of the story. The design for them came pretty quickly, and I was pretty happy with their design from the get-go, with few changes made down the road. Their personality, however, has yet to be developed reaching the width and depth that I'd be satisfied with.

Utagawa Jun is the younger sister of Chie, and the troublemaker of the family. Jun's design and concept actually came before Chie's, as the dynamic between the two was much different during the ideation stage.

The Utagawa Siblings weren't the only characters I created for this project, as during pre-production I went about the project imagining it as if it were a pitch for a TV series, and tried to tackle both width and depth with my content.

Environment

These were two of the more in-depth environment pieces I did during the pre-production/concepting phase.

​

I wanted Lantern Forest to have that fantastical mysticism about it, as well as encompass as many aspects of Shintoism that I could without overstepping my bounds.

Lantern Forest:

A dark, dense forest located in Southern Aeos. It is known for its bioluminescent flora & fauna, as well as the rare bioluminescent silkworm. True to its name, Lantern forest is also home to strings of lanterns strung up over many years.

​

A lot of the inspiration for this location came from a variety of sources, such as Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away, Mushishi, and The Legend of Korra's spirit world.

Storyboards

Concepting

Post-Mortem

What Went Well:

Concept & Development

Storyboarding & Animatics

Thesis pitching

Pre-production, Production, and Post-production

Engaging to audience

Organization of assets

communication with thesis advisor

Learning AE for VFX work

What Went WRONG:

Stayed too far on the safe side; didn't explore as much as I could've

Scope! I ended up having to cut things for the sake of finishing the project

Music. The final track I received didn't fit the tone of my film as much as I had wanted it to.

Lacking quality in Audio mix. Very much an afterthought for this project

Not utilizing animation as much

Conveyance for some things was not as strong as it could've been

For next time:

Really go for animation, not just AE animation

Got lazy because I was ahead of schedule. There was room for more refinement

Spend more time on refining designs. You might have a better one later on.

Be more open to outside help

trust people to get jobs done, especially those who offer to help you

Documentation