Concept Development

A big fan of fantasy, I like occasionally writing down some interesting stories, hoping some day I can turn them into animations. When inspirations appear, besides recording them in words, I also record them in pictures. This way my thoughts are expressed more straightforwardly and sometimes even more inspirations and stories emerge in the process of drawing.

This is a story happening in the world of insects – like a fairy tale. The original idea came from one of my previous illustrations called “On the Way I“. It is about a locust who loves playing guitar. The first time you see it – the little creature walking towards you playing his guitar – you know he was born to be an optimist. He makes you feel there is nothing to worry about in the world. Music is his way of expressing himself and in playing it he brings happiness to the people.

Sketches

The locust is a happy bachelor, a wandering singer; his guitar, rug and lovely straw-hat are all the possessions he has. He is always on the way somewhere, smiling and whistling, playing the guitar. He walks like he's dancing. Everybody can feel the happy mood. Since this would be our first time to see the character, I wanted to make him look mysterious. From my experience, making him walk out of a dark background produces more feeling of mystery than a bright one. It also provides some theatric effect. So I decided to use backlighting. To make the audience feel they are in the micro-world of insects, I placed the view point as low as possible – close to the ground – so that the flowers and grasses would all look as tall as trees.