Subin Yu , home

Character design, 2017-2018

My Little Guardian Angel, Graduation Film Cast

2017-2018

A 3D graduation short at Chungkang College of Cultural Industries, 2018, and the 2017 pencil designs behind it

Subin Yu (유수빈) wrote the story and designed the characters for My Little Guardian Angel, a 3D graduation short finished in 2018.

Colour drawing of three characters: a boy with orange hair and round glasses in an orange sweater, a small winged child in a pink sweater standing beside him, and a girl with long dark purple hair resting one hand on a wall.
The three leads in colour, drawn in March 2017.

The hero, turnaround and acting (pencil)

Working pencils for the lead. The back views and the jacket lettering are drawn for the modeller rather than for the screen.

Pencil front view of a boy with his hair swept up off his forehead, standing in a zip jacket with his arms at his sides.
Front view.
The same boy in the same standing pose with his eyes closed and a small smile.
Eyes closed.
Pencil drawing of the boy with one hand raised in a wave and his mouth open.
Waving.
Pencil three-quarter view of the boy with his arms folded and one eyebrow raised.
Arms folded.
Pencil side view of the boy holding a small ball in both hands in front of his chest.
Holding a ball.
Pencil side view of the boy with both hands on his hips and one eye shut.
Hands on hips, one eye shut.
The same hands-on-hips pose with both eyes open and a closed-mouth grin.
The same pose with a different face.
Pencil back view of the boy standing, with block lettering and a patch drawn on the back of his jacket.
Back view with the jacket lettering.
Pencil back three-quarter view of the boy with his head turned to one side.
Turned three-quarters away.
Pencil drawing of the boy seen from behind, bending forward with one arm reaching out.
Bending to reach for something.

The girls and the smaller boys

The rest of the class. Ages and builds are kept apart so a wide shot does not read as one child copied across the room.

Pencil side view of a girl with a long braid, eyes closed, lifting one hand to her pursed lips.
Blowing a kiss.
Pencil drawing of a freckled girl with wavy shoulder-length hair, in a cardigan with patch pockets and a skirt, her arms held in front of her and her eyes turned aside.
Looking off to one side.
Pencil side view of a girl with a short bob, eyes closed, holding a cup with a straw up near her chest.
Holding a drink.
Pencil back view of a girl with two long braids, a bag hanging from one shoulder, leaning forward as she walks.
Seen from behind.
Pencil drawing of two girls walking hand in hand, the shorter one with a blunt fringe holding a book, the taller one carrying a bag.
Two classmates walking together.
Pencil drawing of a curly-haired boy with his eyes closed, holding out a folded note in one hand.
Handing over a note.
Pencil drawing of a small boy with short side-parted hair in a collared sweater, looking up and to one side.
A younger classmate.
Pencil drawing of a curly-haired boy with wide round eyes and an open mouth, one hand up at his lips.
Caught out.
Pencil drawing of a scowling child with a long dark fringe over the eyes, in a dark hooded top, kicking one leg out.
Drawn mid-kick.

The guardian angel

The smallest character in the film and the one who starts everything.

Pencil drawing of a small winged boy with curly hair propped on his forearms, legs bent up behind him, looking out with a half smile.
The pencil design.
The same winged boy in colour, with orange curly hair, blue eyes, a purple sweater and transparent dragonfly wings.
The colour version the 3D model followed.

Extras

Nine background children, three to a sheet. They fill the classroom behind the leads.

Pencil sheet of three classmates side by side: a girl with her hair pulled up and a sour face, a girl with twin bunches smiling, and a short-haired boy standing straight.
Three extras on one sheet.
Pencil sheet of three more classmates: a boy with spiky hair in a sweater, a girl with two braids and a pleated skirt, and a curly-haired girl grinning.
Another three.
Pencil sheet of three classmates: a girl with ringlet bunches holding a flat book in front of her, a child with a straight bob standing with both arms down, and a small boy raising one closed fist.
The last three.
Film poster: the small winged boy in a purple sweater hovers against a row of blue lockers while the orange-haired boy in round glasses walks past holding a notebook, the title written inside a chalk speech cloud above them.
The finished film's poster, a 3D render by the team. My Little Guardian Angel, Yu Su Bin, Lee Mi Jeong, Park Go Youn, Chungkang College of Cultural Industries, 2018.

My Little Guardian Angel is a 3D short that three of us made to graduate from Chungkang College of Cultural Industries in 2018. A boy who spends every break drawing by himself in the corner of the classroom gets a guardian angel the size of his hand, and the angel sets about moving him towards the girl he keeps looking at. I had the story and the character design. Later I wrote my thesis on how children's animation still hands out one kind of face for the good child and another for the bad one.

The class had to work as a group before any single drawing was finished, so the children are different ages and heights and no two silhouettes repeat. The hero is narrow and keeps his arms close to his body. The girl holds still and looks straight ahead, which is most of the reason he cannot get near her. The angel is small and nosy, and he behaves like a younger brother who has decided to help whether you asked or not. Once the shapes held, I drew everyone again from behind and in a few poses, with the jacket lettering and the shoe soles readable, so the modeller had something to build from.

The coloured lineup comes first. Under it are the turnarounds and expressions for the hero, then the girls and the smaller boys, then the angel in pencil and in colour, then the extras three to a sheet. The last image is the finished poster, rendered by the team and credited to Yu Su Bin, Lee Mi Jeong and Park Go Youn.