The Bewitching Beast Brigade

Summary:

Three young heroes by the name of Melony, Amy, and Penny venture out to defeat a monster that's been terrorizing their community. While some members may act a bit overconfident for the job, they all soon realize that they may be in over their heads for the challenge that lies before them. Together, they try their best to overcome and slay this beast, but it's not until they truly work together as a team that they prevail. While it may have been a bit of a struggle for them, in the end, the team laughs together as victors, proving themselves as capable adventurers.

The Bewitching Beast Brigade came together as a passion project after joining my friends in creating a thesis film that celebrates the characters that we've created over the years that were most personal to us. For years, these characters have slowly developed and grown into who they are today. Created at a time when my artistic and animation skills weren't quite the best, but my passion for storytelling and creating interesting characters was flourishing. For many people, these thesis films provide an opportunity to fully be able to create something meaningful and artistically beautiful not just for others, but for yourself. What I wanted to accomplish was to create a film that celebrated these characters and my growth over these past several years and indulged in a passion project that's genuinely special to me. 

   Production and Development

The world of The Bewitching Beast Brigade follows the story of our three main heroes, Melony, Amy, & Penny, as they fight and find their way through this strange magical world they live in. What I wanted to accomplish with this film was to provide a taste of what that world and those characters had to offer.

When starting production on The Bewitching Beast Brigade it was my first attempt to genuinely flesh out the characters and story into a cohesive world. While I had been drawing and developing these characters for years, only recently was I able to start to really piece together a story and setting that helped expand the world and this film was an avenue for me to put that work and development into a singular project. The Images above were some of the first style frames created for the film and helped me gauge what I wanted the style to be. 

Character Designs 

When developing their character designs I wanted to capture a similar feel to the fantasy and magical shows that inspired me and provided great inspiration for the overall style of the film. Shows such as Hilda the Series, Steven Universe, and The Owl House all capture a sense of mature storytelling mixed with a young, childlike, adventurous atmosphere. Because of that, my designs are incredibly colorful, bright, and soft while still carrying a sense of seriousness to them.

Backgrounds

When it came to backgrounds I wanted the characters to exist in a setting that felt open and vast. In this film they’re traversing out into the unknown to kill a monster in its natural habitat, but I didn’t want the location to feel cramped, boring, or dreadful. The characters in this film are excited to fight and feel confident in their mission, and I wanted the atmosphere and the mood of the backgrounds to reflect that. Because of this, I took great inspiration from the backgrounds of Steven Universe, which consistently imply that sense of seriousness and weight to their backgrounds, especially their war-torn settings, but still give a sense of openness, color, and excitement.

Final Words

While The Bewitching Beast Brigade has definitely been one of the most intense projects I’ve worked on, I can genuinely say it’s also been one of the most fulfilling. It’s been a pleasure being able to bring these characters and this world to life in a way that feels fully put together and thought through. It’s been an absolute joy to work and collaborate with so many wonderful artists, musicians, and voice actors for this project, and being able to dedicate so much time to these characters that I care so much about was such a wonderful experience. Thank you all so much for taking the time to view The Bewitching Beast Brigade, and I hope you’ve enjoyed this little glimpse into the development of the project!