Sophie Vickers

Sophie Vickers BA (Hons) Illustration with Animation 2020

My third-year project Buko’s World has been based in exploring the use of hand drawn illustration within immersive technologies. Buko’s World began with a drawing of an alien monkey baby which I decided I wanted to create a world for. I aimed to design a fully functioning world of organisms and habitats which an audience could experience tangibly. This led me to pursuing virtual reality as a medium. Through virtual reality I could actually build the world and have an audience actively experience it. Furthermore, I have been focusing on how I can keep my hand drawn illustrations integral to the work whilst using immersive technologies. I have spent the last year learning how to use computer software such as Maya and Unity to build and animate the world. All of the organisms, scenery and monkeys are hand drawn illustrations which I have taken into the 3d space. The overall end goal with the project is to create a fully functioning, animated experience in virtual reality. Although I no longer have access to the equipment, I am still working on creating 360° videos for online platforms.

In Buko’s World the monkeys spend the night foraging for food in the underground cave systems. During the daytime the monkey’s venture above ground to a harsh and barren landscape. Most of the organisms in Buko’s World cannot handle the harsh conditions above ground however the monkeys have a trick. They have formed a mutualistic relationship with a creature called the parasite. When the monkeys venture above ground they enter a dormant state and the parasite comes to life. My final animation will reveal this relationship and the daily life of the monkeys.

Moving forwards after graduation I hope to continue exploring animation within immersive and interactive technologies.

Contact Sophie

sophievickers670@gmail.com
www.sophievickers.com
instagram.com/aahhhhsophieart
www.linkedin.com/in/sophie-vickers-021964197
The way I constructed Buko's World was to first bring hand drawn illustrations in Maya and build the 3D world with them. I experimented with how the mixture of traditional illustration, 3D animation and virtual reality would work. Due to the current situation it has been very difficult to render full animations however I have been rendering still images from my scenes instead. This image shows one of the underground caves where the majority of the worlds organisms live.
This drawing was the beginning point of the project and remained a key reference throughout. It was a drawing from a train journey that I immediately knew I wanted to explore further. I named the baby alien monkey Buko and decided to build a world for him.
This is one of the still illustrations rendered from the scenes I created in Maya. In this image Buko and his parents are sat together.
This is another rendered still from one of my cave scenes. This cave is further underground leading to where the bioluminescent creatures live.
This is a still image from the scene I created for my 360 video. It shows the main cave where the monkeys spend most their time. They eat, play and socialise in this cave.
Within Buko's World the monkeys have developed a mutualistic relationship with a creature called the parasite. During the day time the monkeys venture above ground and enter a dormant state. The parasite then takes control of the host bodies and feeds on the sun. This is an image I rendered from an animated scene where the parasites grow out of the monkeys eyes.
Within Buko's World the monkeys have developed a mutualistic relationship with a creature called the parasite. During the day time the monkeys venture above ground and enter a dormant state. The parasite then takes control of the host bodies and feeds on the sun. This is an image I rendered from an animated scene where the parasites grow out of the monkeys eyes.
Although the end medium for my project was virtual reality, all of the final elements and world designing was done by hand. These are some of my initial designs for how the world might look.
These are some of the initial designs for the monkeys of Buko's World. I experimented a lot with how expressive these alien monkeys would be. However, I returned to the original drawing a lot as the severity in the eyes was appealing. This is an element I decided to keep as I developed the project. With virtual reality the stark eyes worked well as if feels as though the monkeys are really staring at you.
Since I had all these organisms I had created I decided to make a poster using them.
Vertical Gallery Video
Buko's World 360 Video Example - (View on youtube for 360)
2nd Year Final - Rituals Animation 2019
Next Profile