Cumulus: Character Design

Cumulo pictures describes the in progress animated short, Cumulus, as: A story of love, clouds, and a grumpy bird.

And he is quite grumpy. Perhaps with a capital 'G'.

Penwyn, the young protagonist, provides quite the nice counterpoint with her unflappable, adventurous sprit. I think it was the relationship between these two polar opposites that gave Ioan Holland's script its dynamic force and truly what enabled me to become invested in the characters themselves.

 I was given a lot of freedom with the designs - with Penwyn, I tried to get the idea of 'adventure' across: messy hair, loose fitted clothing, trainers without socks or, if she had to wear them, she would soon forget she was. Here is a child who doesn't mind getting sand in her shoes!

And then there's Mr B, a bird with a distinct chip on his shoulder. Voiced by the very talented Wayne Forester, this character was an interesting one. There were a range of choices: sea-gulls (ideal for that 'don't mess with me!' vibe), Gannets (for that elegant look in flight), I even considered the tufted puffin, because it makes a growling noise. Sea-birds have a distinctly proud look to them a lot of the time, but it couldn't just be that. Enter the blue-footed booby, with its strange way of waddling on intensely blue feet giving the character that touch of awkwardness that I was after.

So here we have Mr B, the native Californian who thought Wales would be a calmer, safer place to raise his small family.