My Scrapbook of Memories

My Scrapbook of Memories, a film by Thea Tsardoulias

After the death of her beloved grandmother, a creative young girl must complete a scrapbook for her grandmother’s memorial despite feeling sad. 

My Scrapbook of Memories is an animated storybook about childhood grief, aimed to help both children and their parents process the loss while remembering their loved ones. This film was created over the 2023-2024 school year, from boards and visual development to the final compositing. Originally, this film started out as a more experimental piece about a nonlinear narrative about growing up and experiencing loss, but it didn't quite hit the mark, so around midway through the first semester of working on this project, I scrapped everything I had done, and started fresh by directly confronting grief as a subject. While it was difficult catching up, I am so proud of myself for completing this film and for the lessons it taught me. Not only did it teach me how to be flexible and understand the scope of my project, but it also taught me valuable lessons about design, story, and what it means to grieve someone you truly loved.

The Process: Brom Boards to Final

Character Development

For character design, I drew many versions of the girl we could have had- some were more shy, some more curious, but each design I based off of either: a) Chris Sanders and Glen Keane's character art for a more Disney feel, b) Danny Hynes' character art for a more modern cartoon feel, or c) Cartoon Saloon's stylization. I ended up using a mixture of each style, but mainly relied on the influences of Danny Hynes and Cartoon Saloon to guide me when I hit roadblocks. 

Background Design and Development

For background design, I did a few different style tests in a similar manner to my character designs- but I ended up going for a more illustrative style influenced by Puffin Rock as I enjoy texture and lineless backgrounds. Overall, Backgrounds were my favorite part of this film, I enjoyed the process of going from greyscale to rendering and being the layout artist, background designer, and background painter all in one. You'll notice the lighting shifts as we go through our story, with warm tones and lighting representing the love and comfort the little girl feels for her grandma, followed by the cold, dark tones representing her grief, anxiety, and guilt surrounding the death of her grandma. By the end of the film, these two concept ultimately come together to represent both grief, love, and the acceptance of what is.