Some challenges that I faced was creating the female figure, facial features, color, textures, wind design, and adjusting keyframes. I drew the female figure on paper to get the outline first. On paper it is so much easier to generate ideas and concepts, but the problem was that I was not so familiar with procreate and its tools. Filling in the color was definitely the second hardest challenge during the process of this project because I was not sure which type of paintbrush, size, and opacity to use. Drawing the facial features was a challenge because of how detail I ended up working with. I have always enjoyed creating figures through realism or semi-realism, for example, here I choose to go with a cartoon like digital drawing with some realistic aspect instead of a regular cartoon character. Since I went with this semi-realistic approach, the hair texture had to have a good amount of detail, and since I was unfamiliar with procreate, this was a frustrating experience. For this project, I really did want wind flowing across the screen because it fitted and was part of the composition, the problem was designing the wind element. Designing the wind element was a struggle, because the wind element is not just one simple design as it heavily depends on the art style. I used procreate to create the drawing but had to use adobe after effects to create the animation with keyframes. This process was definitely the most difficult as it required me to separate my drawings into many different layers in procreate before transitioning over to after effects. Using and adjusting the keyframes was a tedious and frustrating process.

The goal of this project was to create a ten second animation based on a subject that was interesting to me. I choose music as my subject because I listen to music every day, there is no day that I missed. To me, listening to music inspires, motivates, and disciplines me. Without it, I highly doubt I would be a creative person or even interested in art. For this reason, I thought this project would be easy since I picked a subject that very much interests me, but that was not the case. I wanted to create a composition that was about music but with another aspect that could help evaluate this topic. That is why I chose the female figure because I know a lot of women love listening and singing out loud compared to us guys, I know this from experience as I have lived in a household with mostly all women growing up. I also like and prefer drawing female figures because in my experience it is much easier to draw compared to male figures which require much more detail, especially in the skin area. I wanted the animation to be lively, vibrant, and joyful, that is why I chose it to start from the bottom right corner and finish at the top left corner. I also wanted to expand my experience in the digital media field, so by participating in this project, I was able to do so.

Although I faced a lot of challenges during the process of this project, I did find the solutions to complete my composition like how I intended it to be. Considering the time I had on this project, I had chosen to go with a side view of the female figure. Once I was satisfied with the position and drawing of the female's face, I began separating the layers and started creating the remaining aspects and elements. I figured out the coloring technique used to cover the areas that required it, on procreate. This was done simply by creating an inner closed outline of the color I wanted filled, then I dragged the color from the toolbar into the closed outline to fill it in. As for the shadows and glossy areas, I just figured out how to create them from my previous lectures and personal drawings. To get the hair texture to look as semi-realistic as possible, I had to go with a brush and adjust the area of the brush many times to create the illusion of highlights and shadows. I also used three different shades of brown during this texture process. Everything was drawn in procreate so I had to ask myself, how will I draw the wind element? The wind designs were interesting to look at, especially after I put hours into creating each section. I didn't want to create something too silly like a grey circular cloud or three straight white lines to depict wind. Instead I drew two different sections, one section had a light white gradient brush effect, and the other section was made with a special elemental brush that procreate offered. I altered the design of this special brush to add this windy looking stroke. I had two different sections because they both had two different brush strokes and I wanted to add variety. My final solution for my last problem was the adjustment of keyframes. Using after effects, I was able to learn how to use the keyframes, I figured out how to position each layer with a keyframe, and repeat with almost every single layer in order to create the animation. For the majority of this composition, I used the anchor point, position, scale, and rotation keyframes to create this animation.

In conclusion, this project was done in procreate and animated in after effects. All the drawings were made by me, which makes me feel proud and honored to see my work come to life in this animation. This project introduced me to the field of animation and although it can be a tedious and frustrating process, the outcome truly was worth looking at. I hope to continue working with more projects similar or if not even more challenging than this as all these challenges help me expand my knowledge in the digital media field.