Leap of Faith

This was completed a few weeks ago for a character design competition hosted by AnimationRigs.com. The theme of the competition is "Master & Student".

I only found out about the competition 2 weeks after it had started. It took a lot of restrain, but I managed to refrain from jumping in immediately with the first ideas I had (which were all completely cliched anyway). I knew I would need a strong idea that I cared about if I wanted to finish the race. It would have to be something worth sacrificing sleep for and worth doing even if it didn't win. The competition was merely an impetus to actually get something of my own done by a definite deadline. Of course, winning a Cintiq (or an Ipad) would have been really SWEEEEEET too!

The idea I eventually settled on tells the story of a young piglet who receives flying lessons from a reluctant old goose. On the big day of the piglet's first flight, however, they run into unexpected dangers that put the little piglet's courage and faith to test.

I thought a lot about what I wanted (or did not want) in my piece. I wanted to steer clear from any Oriental martial arts theme. I also wanted to make sure that no one confuses the relationship for a parent and child's (not that it wouldn't be acceptable). The idea of the characters being of two different species (or ethnic backgrounds if they were humans) grew out of this thought.

Anyway, I'll be happy to hear any of your thoughts on this. Congratulations to all the winners! Their winning pieces can be viewed here.