Storyboard & Concept Artist
The Tragic Life of a Fishman
Director | Writer | Story Artist | Concept Artist | Animator | Clean-up & Colour Artist | 3D Layout | Compositor
Poster Design by Ruby Barry
The very first sketches of Fishman and Womanfish
Premiered at MIAF 2024
Duration: 5 minutes | Format: 2.5D Animation (2D Characters, 3D Backgrounds)
Fish: slimy, slippery, not good at walking, terrible at keeping a job. Men: ideally dry, usually walk to get around, need a job to live. Fishman: the worst combination of the two. He fails at everything he does, usually due to his fishy fins in place of hands and feet, the stench of his fishy head, or his general fishy slipperiness. Nothing goes right for him – getting ready in the morning, walking down a street, and going to work all end in catastrophe… Until he finds his perfect match in a river creature called Womanfish. He looks into her human eyes, holds her fishy body, and slides a shiny ring onto her dainty human hand. Maybe his life isn’t so tragic after all.
ofFISHial Trailer
Director's Statement
Throughout the making of “The Tragic Life of a Fishman”, I dislocated my toe, caught covid twice, commuted from over 100 km away by train, lived in a room with just a mattress on the floor for a month (drawing Fishman took priority over building the bed frame), and got harassed by eshays in McDonalds. Maybe if it was called “The Really Cool and Fun Life of a Fishman Where Nothing Bad Happens”, I would have been fine, but exploring a story where absolutely nothing goes well for the protagonist was a cathartic and greatly fun experience.
Fishman deals with themes of feeling out of place, not belonging and failure, but the humour in the film comes from subverting the happy ending that usually comes with these themes. Tragedy impacts everyone’s lives in some ways, and I believe that being able to laugh at your own shortcomings and stand back up again is incredibly admirable.
Having an entire year to bring a short film to fruition was amazing, and I am forever thankful for the team of fellow students that helped make Fishman’s life as terrible as possible.
CONCEPT ART
Character designs for Fishman and Womanfish
Storyboards
My favourite excerpts from the storyboards | Created in ToonBoom Storyboard Pro
My storyboard work on Fishman - not the final boards. The thumbnails on the right were given to my storyboard team so that they could choose the shots that interested them, while having thumbnails to work from.
Script
Animation
Roughs, Revisions, Clean-up, Colour, and Lighting
Work done by me unless stated otherwise in the captions
Animated in ToonBoom Harmony