Animatic - "MIYOKO'S THIRD MISSION"

Originally an assignment from my Acting for Animators class. I decided to use my character Miyoko for a short vignette putting her through an emotional journey. I may put full in-betweens and color it someday.

Drawn entirely in Adobe Flash.

(C) Nicolas Martinez

DEVELOPMENT SKETCHES- Vera

A bunch of development sketches of my character, Vera.

(C) Nicolas Martinez

ANIMATION - Principle Compilation

Animation Principle Compilation from Nicolas Martinez on Vimeo.

A compilation of different animation principles.

In order of appearance:

-Pendulum, Loose Joint
-Pendulum, Sturdy Joint
-Heavy Ball Drop
-Light Ball Drop
-Heavy Ball Drop
-Loose Wave, Cloth
-Jointed Wave, Arm
-Bird Flight
-Water Splash

New Additions - Character Design, Animation

CHARACTER DESIGN

aka "Mimi"
(I wrote the name in Katakana [mainly used for foreign words] to emphasize her Western half as well)

Gender: Female
Age: 28
Hometown: Tokyo, Japan
Current Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Height: 5’1” / 1.54m
Weight: 120lbs./ 56.7kg
Hair: Black
Eyes: Reddish-Brown
Body Type: Curvy, Voluptuous
Ethnicity: Japanese, Caucasian

    Miyoko is a Half-Japanese Half-Caucasian woman, reserved, quiet but also very cunning. She doesn’t really express her feelings that much in public as she maintains a polite demeanor. She works as a waitress at an upscale lounge while working part-time as an assassin for the Japanese yakuza. Silent killings are her forte, particularly with knives and poisons. With ninja-like methods, she has been a favorable hire for criminal circles. Her personal intents are never evil. She believes her certain people deserve to die in order to protect a greater good.

    She was originally born in Tokyo, Japan. Her Caucasian birth father abandoned her Japanese mother when she was pregnant with her. For seven years, her mother had towork as a maid in order to raise her. She has never met the father, whom now is only with her in her genes. Often times, Miyoko never got to play with her after an exhaustingamount of work. Her mother never intended to have her, so their relationship was very shaky, often neglectful. At age 12, Miyoko gained a Japanese stepdad, an up-and-coming businessman who was vey sharp, and got along very well with her. She became very fluent in the English he taught her on the side.

            Throughout her childhood, Miyoko learned the hard way that she will never truly be Japanese, especially biologically. Her Caucasian genes caused her to be a little taller than most of her classmates. The way her curves developed was not very common in Japan, making her more self-conscious. This affected her performance in running, volleyball, and other high-performance sports. She was never really accepted among her classmates whom all had the same skinny build. She was often ignored. All through school, her grades would slide back and forth much to her parents’ and teachers’annoyance. To console herself, she would hike into the forest and admire the plants. She picked up on the different types of species and their functions much quicker than she ever did in school.

            At age 14, she and her family moved to LA on the stepdad’s account for business opportunities. She got to be much more comfortable with her surroundings, especially with her body type being accepted more, and the looser aspects of her school. She was surprised to see her grades being better by their standards, though she didn’t seem to care much. Being in America also made her appreciate her Japanese roots better, so her relationship with her birthmother improved. A financial crisis in 2008 forced her out ofcollege after a year and a half, and his father was forced to borrow from the mob. Whenthe collection wasn’t met, Miyoko caught wind of a planned assault. She eventually foiled it and made dangerous enemies since. She has then joined the yakuza in Californiato continuously protect her parents, as well as earn a princely sum of money in the rackets. With their helped, they moved her parents back to Japan, and Miyoko remains to stand guard as well as adjust to her new home.

    Her initial job as a waitress doesn’t pay much, which is why picked up part-time assassinations with handsome payoffs. She is highly skilled with knives and poisons. She can swiftly toss a knife across 15 yards, and not make a sound. This skills makes up forher inability to move fast, as well as her aversion to loud noises. She keeps a small dagger with her for emergencies. Part of it was originally self-defense from a young age after unwanted harassment for her body. Her interest in plants and nature made it easy for her to figure out different mixes of poisons, especially what would have a masked flavor and not leave a trace after taking effect. Silence is her main forte. After coining the nickname, “Mimi,” the yakuza often hire her to assassinate and/or seduce their rivals. She is grateful for the consistent volume of work, but is personally torn up inside having to stoop this low for money. Her clients’ notoriety keeps her from doing a bad job as well as getting killed by her rivals. Her emotional paths are a mystery as well. After such time implementing her deeds, she fears expressing her deeper emotions. Even for her closest relations, she is prepared to kill them before they know what she's really like.

Likes:
Her Japanese heritage including history and lore, plants and nature, knives, poisons, light classical music, playing the violin and the shakuhachi (Japanese Flute), white wine, men, the security of money, learning various subjects on her own.

Dislikes:
Guns, loud noises, running fast, driving, fast cars, being mistaken for Chinese, structured learning environments, displaying deeper emotions to her closest relations.

Miyoko (C) Nicolas Martinez

ANIMATION

Jump Rope

Wave Principle - "Duck"

Maggie Turnaround

Walk Cycle "Maggie"

 Maggie Walk Cycle from Nicolas Martinez on Vimeo.

Character Model Sheet - VERA

Age: 26
Gender: Female
Height: 6' / 1.83m
Weight: 165 lbs. / 74.84 kg
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Black
Body Type: Tall, Slender
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Nationality: German

Originally from Germany, she always had a reputation of being mischievous, spritely, and very temperamental. Her earliest crimes included stealing small objects which drove people crazy. Her parents were a father who worked in a factory and a mother who was a housemaid. They were hardly in contact with Vera, whom she felt disconnected with her. She immigrated to America at age 7, once again gaining more notoriety at school and on the streets. She bullied her schoolmates into respecting her after being made fun of for her then-thick German accent and mannerisms. At 18, she sought out the mob and quickly became a notorious hench-woman and criminal in her own, and since became respected and feared within the underworld. She separated herself from her parents once her business became more apparent.

Vera is an upbeat and excitable girl. She gets pretty talkative when feeling casual, but when angered, she can get quite destructive. Her anger is one of the reasons for even her boss's intimidation of her. Her loyalty goes out to her bosses whom she feels are her father figures, and sees to it that the job is done quickly and efficiently. She often works alone and gets really impatient in group of people, especially when being told what to do by other people. She is quite cunning when solving problems, and enjoys carrying out murder plots. Weapons such as Tommy guns are her forte, and she keeps a switchblade in her garter for emergencies. However, her main weakness is her vision is solely through her left eye while the right permanently hides behind her bangs. She never even takes off her hat in public. Her short temper will get in the way of her biggest goals, often causing small setbacks in her work. Despite the culture shock from her youth, she is still proud to be German, and holds on to various mementos such as old records, German literature, a handmade dirndl, and her prized antique beer stein which she never drinks from.

LIKES: Jokes, weapons, pastries (particularly cream puffs), alcohol, fast car rides, dancing, swing music, her German roots and mementos.

DISLIKES: The Law, rival femme fatales, taking orders from non-employers, taking her hat off in public, disorder, being called a Nazi since she’s German and bombastic.

Vera (C) Nicolas Martinez