Christopher Dickens

Animation BDes (Hons)

I am an animation student specialising in background design and concept art.

About

Christopher Dickens

I am drawn to the visual development of storytelling, and am interested in exploring the different ways to set a scene.
Over the last year I have dedicated a lot of time to the group graduate film "Sickly Sweet", where I designed the environments, colour script, layouts and the eventual coloured backgrounds, which in total was 62 shots.
My personal projects included visual development for Roald Dahl's "Charlie & the Chocolate Factory", if it were to be developed into a hypothetical 2D animated film. This project included a lot of world building with the various character and environment concepts, which I also created backgrounds from based on hypothetical scene storyboarding. 
Another personal project "Ember Apocalypse" follows title character Ember and her cat in a zombie apocalypse. I created a mask turnaround for the main character and also developed other props, such as makeshift weapons, as well as exploring Ember's home setting.
Throughout these projects, I have enjoyed exploring colour and style, as I feel it has continued to develop my skills as an artist.

Establishing Shot, Sickly Sweet

An overview frame of a medieval village with tall buildings at night. The village has a strong blue atmosphere with some moonlight reflecting on the rooftops

Establishing shot overlooking the town for my group film, Sickly Sweet

Sickly Sweet Layouts

Character Concepts, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory

Five golden picture frames horizontally decorating an orange wall, each containing an image of a golden ticket holder

Concept piece of the five golden ticket holders.

The Large Television

A shot showing a large pink metallic rectangular 60s style television machine in the centre of the frame with a bright green/blue screen lighting up the room. A black table is sitting close to the right with a bucket of popcorn resting on top

A painted layout from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory derived from storyboards.

The Chocolate Room

A wide shot of a valley with round meadows and mountains at either side, a chocolate river runs through the middle of the room and meets a chocolate waterfall at the back. The meadows at either side are decorated with bizarre, sweet plants, and the floor is pathed with large cookies.

A painted layout from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory derived from storyboards.

The Bucket House

A dishevelled townhouse stands alone in a snowy street at night. Two windows are lit with a warm yellow glow from inside. Similar structures are seen placed all around in the distance. In the close foreground, a dark car sits stationary with a heavy pile of snow resting on top of it.

A painted layout from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory derived from storyboards.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Concept Designs

Ember Character Sheet

A female character is in various poses with black hair, a purple and black shirt with a white Ghostface scream logo in the centre, black boots and navy ripped jeans. Separated from the character are an array of props, including a makeshift scythe created from a red stop sign and blue road sign, a metal facemask, a hunting bow, and a flaming arrow.

Design sheet for the main character Ember and some props associated with the character.

The Treehouse

Low framed black and white value shot of the interior of a treehouse. A bed is close to the left with a mask resting against it. A thick sturdy branch comes up through the floor and out the ceiling in the centre and a window lighting up a desk is in the back. The desk and wall are covered with paint bottles and makeshift weapons like a workshop.

Layout key for Ember’s treehouse

Ember Apocalypse Concept Designs

More of my work can be seen on my Instagram and my portfolio website, linked here, which I actively keep up to date.

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