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Thank you to the wonderful people who helped me with this project. Those who always encourage me to follow my crazy passions and know when to pull

me back when they go too far.

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Contents

EnvironmentHoney BeeAngel BohGiantsThe themStory Beats First Concepts and Sketches

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I know these buildings, the twists and turns of these old streets; I’m comfortable here. Wait…here… How did I get here? Something is off, everything is just a little too pristine, too empty, too quiet. As I turn the corner, I just tell myself I’m being paranoid. Suddenly, everything goes black. As I open my eyes, vision hazy, I realize I’m covered in something warm and wet. I hear a heavy panting over my shoulder and come face to face with the largest dog I have ever seen. He tilts his head with his mouth open and tongue out, drool pool-ing around him, in what looks like a twisted version of a reassuring smile. As I reach out to pet him, he bolts down the street. “WAIT! Where are you go…” My eyes grow big as saucers as I realize in the middle of the city is a gigantic wall at least ten stories tall. An ugly cement eyesore, that looks like it grew straight from the ground. It cut through buildings, split trees, and destroyed cars. But worse than that were the guards surrounding it. Giant, menacing figures; with almost comical grins that stretched the whole length of their faces. Before I can even fully comprehend what I’m seeing, a metallic shriek pierces the air as one of the giants turns toward me and begins to charge…

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Where did it come from?Charm City is a once bustling city in the not too distant future. The once busy streets are now eerily quiet. The city is still as most are gathered about the Wall were supplies are given out to the trapped citizens. No one knows where the walls came from they seem to have sprouted from the ground with out warning. The city is now divided into different sects within the concentric barricades. The circles closest to the center are rumored to hold the richest of the citizens but all those on the exterior have lost touch with any caught in the inner most rungs. No one is al-lowed to move freely between the walls, there is only one way through and it is heavily guarded.

the CITY

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The outer walls of the city contain those deemed unfit to live in the inner rings. All food and essential supplies are brought through the walls to the citizens on the outside barriers. Homes are in a constant state of disrepair. The blockades prevent people from accessing many of the social services and materials needed to correctly maintain the ageing buildings. To help alleviate the problem the people were given temporary electrical shields to mend the cracking parts of their homes. These barriers though as they often short circuit leaving inhabitants out in the cold or even electrocuted.

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Though there have been massive changes within the city most residents seem not to pay much attention to their new situation. Each citizen was given a personalized floating media screen which constantly streams any media, advertisements, etc directly to them 24 hours a day. The residents are so distracted by their screens that most problems go unattended or even purposely ignored.

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a very special young girl.Staying true to her names sake Bee is small but full of spunk. Confident and secure she rarely reveals just how unsettled she is about her situation. She is on a journey. Lost within her own city she must figure out why everything has changed since she’s been gone, but no one seems to have answers. The only other person who seems to questions the walls is the stranger Angel. The man is strange and she is skeptical of his intentions, but it seems she has no other but choice than to join him on his search for answers. Adding to her irritations a giant slobbering mess of a dog has decided to follow her wherever she goes.

Honey BHoney Bee

Unbeknownst to her Bee has the ability to harness amazing levels of energy and use them to help her in battle. She must be careful though, her powers are unstable and directly tied to her emotions. She must stay in control or else she will explode, literally.

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Bee is intensely independent and rebellious. Never wanting to ask for help Bee sometimes accidentally get’s herself into precarious situations.

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While using hers powers Bee is superhuman. While using her powers Bee has superhuman agility, strength, and speed. In this superhuman form Bee is accessing an almost unlimited supply of energy fuelling her extraordinary prowess. Though her abilities make her an incredibly strong opponent she can rarely control when they will activate and often accidentally looses control.

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What does he know? Born in New York Angel initially moved to The City for a change of pace and a new beginning. He quickly decided to join the police force and then suddenly after years of service quit just a few months before the arrival of the walls. Ever since he was been living alone sketching his days away wondering through out the city. Somber, straight-edged and soft spoken Angel speaks sparingly often delivering insightful and my times unintentionally funny one-liners, but you will never caught him laughing at him own jokes.

angel

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A few months prior to Bee arriving Angel was working in the his stations’ evidence locker to catalogue and stow the objects from a recently closed case. As he was leaving he noticed a sketchbook on the floor outside the room and was compelled to pick it up. Not thinking very much of it he took the book home and began sketching in it. That night Angel began to have the most vivid dreams about the city. In morning he awoke a little disturbed by the realism of the dream, but so in awe he felt he had to capture it within his sketchbook before the memory faded. Every night after Angel would go to sleep and the dream would pick up were he had awoken the night before. He continued to do this night after night thinking what a great story his subconscious was laying out in front of him. Angel became obsessed with his dreams compulsively sketching during every minute of the day. Soon Angel starting seeing the fantastical images when he has awake becoming engulfed in his fantasy world. He stopped going to work preferring to wonder about the city sketching. Aimlessly walking thought the city he became more and more withdrawn into himself. One day he was stopped dead in his tracks. His thoughts slowed for the first time in months. That wall....Those faces...That girl, he had seen them all before. They were there, all of them, in his sketchbook... in his dreams, but how? What did it all mean? He must find out who she is.

Angel soon learned that he too had to ability to harness his energies. Unlike Bee’s ability Angels power is tied directly to his sketchbook only being able to project his energies from its pages.

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Angel is always frantically drawing. Sketching is his way of understanding the world around him constantly doodling out notes, clues, and observations.

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boh

the comic relief.He can’t talk but he sure has a lot of personality. Boh the stray bulldog mix takes it upon himself to accompany Bee on her adventure regardless of whether she really wants him to or not. Always happy, appearing many times to be oblivious of the danger he and his new companions are facing Boh will often lag behind playing with children or chasing birds. Friendly and loyal Boh will protect those he cares for until the bitter end.

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Boh is a mammoth of a dog standing around 5 ft. tall on all fours.

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What are they?Exact copies of these grinning giants are at every wall within Charm City. They are hollow propelled by some strange science. Their faces stay glued in their wide smiles as their low echoing voices boom from their empty interiors. Eyes like video cameras dart around in their floating heads enabling them to look in any direction they please. The markings on their sides place them with their match. Beware, you will never find one without the other close by.

giants

The giants are composed of some strange living metallic rock like material. The glowing markings on their sides help to differentiate between the identical figures.

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These pig faced giants only appear at the most central walls within the city the behemoths tower over buildings looking like some strange sky scrap-pers on constant guard at their post. They seem like something ancient. A strange being plucked from bygone time. Usually quite static leaving most of the fending to its smaller counter-parts, when needed they are capable of charging threats at break-neck speeds .

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They were once like us. Their sole focus is to protect the Giants and Walls. The Them patrol the streets constantly, pursuing anything they deem to be in opposition of the new laws. Despite not having audible voices The Them seem to be able to communicate with each other through some kind of inher-ent mental understanding. Quick concise gestures are used to communicate with the rest of the residents within the city. Their judgements of guilt are quick and their pursuit unrelenting. Once you have been marked by The Them there is no escape. The dedicated pursuers will sacrifice life and limb to attain their target.

the them

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The Them are picked from the population of the city itself. No one knows why or how one is chosen to become part of this speechless brigade but once the match is made the transformation is quick. Some have escaped before fully transforming but all who do come back changed, lacking any full memory of their experience.

A full fledged member of The Them is genderless, on average standing at about 8 ft. tall.

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story beats The beats or main scenes of a story lay the foundation for the major occurrences within the protago-nist’s journey. Laying out the initial fight scene between Bee and the Giants was pivotal in conveying the lack of control Bee has over her abilities. The scene also cements her relationship to Boh as this is his first battle with the Giants alongside her.

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Another potential layout for an encounter between Bee, Boh, and the giants. This layout instead focusing on the dynamism and energy of the scene as opposed to her initial transformation.

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Layouts for key scenes help figure out mood ,composition, and main events within story. Charm City is fully of grit and drama so the scenes needed to be dynamic compositions full of action and intrigue. Light is also plays a large role within the story so the balance of light versus shadow was important to balance.

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Loose gestural digital paintings were animated and composed into a short credits scene for the story. The style of the paintings is to emphasize the grit and feel of the city while the clean text is meant to be reminiscent of the rigidity of the walls.

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first concepts Bee, Angel, and the Giants went through many integrations before a design was finalized. The design of Boh stayed pretty consistent throughout.

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Original designs for the giants were a much softer proportion, the edges were sharpened and the silhouette stretched to make them more threatening and formidable opponents.

Early design for Angel.The Them began as human police.

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Original design for cover image. It was decided that image was too dark and busy to a make an effective cover

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Charm City is a culmination of my thoughts and observations told as a fantastical tale. This is not the end for these characters just

the beginning.

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