HAROLD AND
THE PURPLE CRAYON
★
KEY ART
Role
Designer + Animator
Description
Looping poster animation to advertise the upcoming film Harold and the Purple Crayon.
Programs
Photoshop + After Effects + Cinema 4D
DESIGN CHALLENGE
This brief gave me the chance to develop an animated key art poster, (with logo and adaptable for display at three distinct aspect ratios) for the Sony film Harold and the Purple Crayon.
I couldn’t have been more excited to work on this project! Not only did it allow me to develop character art (a longtime passion of mine) in a professional setting, I was also visually reimagining the wonderful world of “Harold and the Purple Crayon” while retaining the original spirit of the franchise.
As a bonus, the minimal style allowed me to rediscover Cinema 4D. Additionally, by combining my cinema render with 2D elements in Photoshop I was able to further develop my mixed media skills.
RESEARCH
What's the Film About?
Harold and the Purple Crayon is an adaptation of a children’s book series by the same name. In a similar fashion to it's source material, the movie follows the adventures of Harold and the creations brought to life by his purple crayon:
Plot synopsis: “Harold, a bald young boy with a love of drawing, fears that the birth of a new baby brother will ruin his life. With his magic purple crayon he retreats into a fantasy world in which a monster abducts his baby brother. When real-life complications occur during the pregnancy, it’s up to Harold to right his wrongs.”
What is the Audience Expecting from the Adaptation?
People around the world love the Harold and The Purple Crayon franchise because the world Harold creates with his crayon is fun, imaginative, and limitless. These are the key features that will motivate people to watch the movie.
In terms of genre, the film is being produced as a family/adventure film targeted towards households with young children. Because of this, it’s paramount that the key art appeals not only to young kids but their parents as well-the adults are the ones paying for movie tickets!
What Visual Language is Associated with Harold and the Purple Crayon?
“Harold and the Purple Crayon” has had many adaptations over its 68 years of existence, but there are some distinctive visual traits that the series has typically adhered to:
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The design style is usually very minimalistic
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Purple is a dominant color regardless of visual style
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“TR Kids” or a serif font is often used for branding purposes.
(Original book, 1955)
“Harold and the Purple Crayon”
(Simpsons couch gag, 2010)
“The Bob Next door”
(Television series, 2001)
Harold and the Purple Crayon
(Puppet show, 2019)
Harold and the Purple Crayon
Animation Goals
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The art should encapsulate the film into a single image
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The poster must stand out against the busy, cluttered environment of Times Square
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Key words: “Iconic,” “Imaginative,” and “Memorable”
INITIAL CONCEPTS
Concept 1: Crayon Wonderworld
In this concept the scale of the crayon is exaggerated, revealing various doodles inspired by Harold’s fantasy world within its purple borders.
Concept 2: Heroic Knight
In this concept, an iconic shot is developed of Harold, crayon raised as if it were a sword, heroically posing against the monster to rescue his brother.
Endless Opportunities
In this concept, Harold is running in full stride, trailing his crayon behind him. As he does, the crayon conjures up images of castles, dragons, and all other sorts of wonderful things.
Notes
When discussing these concepts with my director, we came to the conclusion that none of these directions were working. However, there were some interesting ideas present that could expand into more engaging concepts. Together we agreed that the white background, increased scale of the crayon, and Harold’s sketches should be experimented with more.
Revised Concept Sketches:
I incorporated the art director’s notes into some basic concept sketches to flesh out more interesting directions that better capture the film. While I was unable to get in contact with my director before the 1st pass, in the meantime I developed concept 2.
LOOK DEVELOPMENT
2
1
3
5
4
6
Cinema 4D Tests
Given that Sony works with CGI for their animated films, I decided to flesh out my concept in Cinema 4D to stay in line with their brand while giving the final design some extra dimension.
This was a bit of a challenge for me given that Cinema4D isn’t a program I have robust experience with, yet I learned a lot through the process. In Photoshop I drew over the render to give it some additional detail and a unique feel.
ANIMATION DEVELOPMENT
First Pass
Mockup from KitBash3D
Description
For the first pass I aimed to create a poster that would act as the foundation for the look and feel of upcoming passes. Focus was placed into ensuring that every element was clear, readable, and would stand out against the bustle of times square.
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While this direction is interesting, through our discussion my art director and I agreed that developing concept 6 from the revised sketches may yield better results. (Provided that for concept 6 more focus is placed into making the character and his clothes clear and readable.) From there we decided to develop concept 6 alongside this one. For this current direction, the eyes could be made more visually interesting, the doodles are a bit too simple as is. Lastly, making the logo larger and more readable on the poster seemed appropriate.
Footnote: Building Harold
Character modeling is an artform I’m unfamiliar with, so I decided to use this opportunity to learn more about the process. I began with blocking out basic shapes gradually refined the model from there until it was in a working state.
Second Pass
Mockup from KitBash3D
Mockup from KitBash3D
Description
For my second pass I worked to develop both directions. (With an emphasis on visual interest for concept 2 and an emphasis on visual clarity for concept 6.) The most important task at this stage was getting concept 6 in a solid state on par with the quality of concept 2.
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From here it was agreed to move forward with concept 6 only since it was showing considerable promise. Additionally, my art director and I determined that implementing more interesting movement to Harold before the costume change would emphasize the action and increasing the saturation/visual weight of the colors could make everything really “pop.” Adding a beat where Harold has no purple clothes would also heighten the narrative. Lastly, it was concluded that the logo could become more readable and that layering the crayon on top of it would give the poster a sense of depth.
Footnote: Animating a 3D Model Without Rigging (Also, Sparkles!)
Giving motion to Harold was such an exciting challenge! There wasn't enough time to learn how to rig the model from scratch so I worked within my constraints to find a different solution that would give the character life. I accomplished this my compiling all of my previous animation work into one asset and applying the puppet tool within After Effects to add some extra motion.
Additionally, I developed some sparkle animation assets and arranged them in my scene to give the transitions a little extra "magic."
Revision Pass
Mockup from KitBash3D
Description
For the revision pass I blocked out a significant amount of time to develop interesting motion for Harold. With my remaining hours, I applied some additional details (a moving hold animation on the logo, sparkles on the transition, color correction) to give the final poster a polished look.
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My art director and I agreed that at this stage the poster was in a finished state but I could still experiment more and refine the details of the final to see if there were any additional solutions.
FINAL PASS
Real World Application