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While I have some experience in hand drawn animation, with the Imagination Fund I hope to learn a new kind of animation called Character Rigging.&nbsp; Character rigging allows the animator to animate a 2D image by attaching a rig or “skeleton” to the image. This skeleton allows the image to be manipulated into several poses and animations without having to draw each movement individually like in traditional 2D animation. This is why it is sometimes referred to as puppet animation. This style of animation is used in many popular television productions like Peppa Pig, Bluey and many more.

New Skills

30 day Timeline:&nbsp;<ul><li>Week 1: Pre-production&nbsp;<ul><li>Pilot story boarded&nbsp;</li><li>Begin experimenting in Toon Boom Harmony&nbsp;</li><li>Have character 360 turnaround completely illustrated</li></ul></li><li>Week 2: Begin Production<ul><li>Characters will be fully rigged in Harmony, ready for animating by the end of the production week.</li><li>Record vocals needed for mouth syncing animation&nbsp;&nbsp;</li></ul></li><li>Week 3: Production Continued&nbsp;<ul><li>Begin scene animations&nbsp;</li><li>Complete background assets</li><li>Finish animations by the end of the production week&nbsp;</li></ul></li><li>Week 4:Post production&nbsp;<ul><li>Finalize any additional sound production (music, sound effects, etc.)</li><li>End credits added&nbsp;</li><li>Export video at the end of the production week</li></ul></li></ul>

30 Day Timeline

Hearing parents with deaf children are in a unique position. Most children acquire their first language by exposure to whatever is spoken at home. However, this exposure is not often available for deaf children, especially if their parents do not already speak sign language.&nbsp; In fact, in most cases, even after a child is diagnosed as deaf, most hearing parents never proficiently learn sign language. A 2013 to 2014 report from the Gallaudet Research Institute found that only 22.9% of families with deaf children regularly sign at home. This is concerning when the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders states that 90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents.&nbsp;Why is there this huge discrepancy in signing between deaf children and hearing parents? One of the reasons is the perceived difficulty in learning sign language. With Jonathan’s world, we hope to bridge this gap by creating a show that parents can watch and learn ASL at the same time as their children. Learning sign can be less intimidating when you realize, as an adult, you can pick up sign language faster than your toddler can or at least at the same speed.Another reason that sign language is often neglected in the home, is the misbelief that learning sign will prevent children from speaking in the future. This is false! In fact, learning sign language is not only a benefit for deaf children and their parents, but it's also a huge benefit for hearing children. Babies as young as 6 months can start learning sign language, allowing them to communicate their wants and needs way before they can verbally do so. Babies who learn sign language have been shown to have better communication, mood regulation and bond with their parents because they are able to communicate effectively, even in high emotional situations.One of the most impactful benefits of more people&nbsp; learning sign language is that it creates more accessible spaces for deaf people in hearing spaces.&nbsp; How wonderful would it be to give directions or answer a simple question for a deaf person you randomly meet? It's a luxury that us hearing people can take for granted.&nbsp;

Community Impact of Project

This series was inspired by my cousin, Jonathan, who was born deaf. Since he came into our family in 2016, we have learned so much about the deaf community and some of the unique challenges about raising a deaf child. One of the biggest learning curves for hearing&nbsp; parents is learning sign language or in Jonathan’s case, American Sign Language. Jonathan’s World hopes to become a fun tool for deaf children and hearing parents to learn sign language, using the same little boy that inspired our hearing family to learn sign language, my cousin Jonathan.

Project Inspiration

My Artwork

I love to illustrate the everyday lives of children and their imaginations. I also pride myself on creating diverse and underrepresented characters.

My Themes

My name is Kenendy Loraine Butler and I am an American graphic designer and illustrator with nearly 10 years of experience in visual communication. I graduated with a Bachelor’s in Art History and Studio Art from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. I am the writer and illustrator for the webcomic, Loving Hope. In the last 2 years, I have shifted my career towards children's book illustration with a special interest in board and picture books.

Step 1: Your past work

For my art medium, I primarily work digitally. My art programs of choice are Clip Studio Paint for my comic art and Procreate for my illustration work.&nbsp;

My Mediums

The biggest inspiration for my art are the cartoons that I grew up watching. Children's programs such as Little Bill, Blues Clues and The Powerpuff Girls have really shaped my current illustration style, as well as a lot of the Disney 2D animated films like Hercules, Mulan, and Beauty and the Beast.

My Inspirations

Jonathan’s World is a short animated series that teaches children ages (0-5) and their parents american sign language. Our series revolves around our protagonist Jonathan, who is deaf and how he navigates the world. This series will focus not just on vocabulary acquisition but act as a showcase of diversity in exploring the life of a deaf child.&nbsp;My goal for the 30 day workshop is to receive the funding to learn 2d animation rigging so that I can produce a short pilot episode, introducing the abc’s in American Sign Language.&nbsp;

Step 2: My project proposal - Jonathan's World

With the money provided from the Imagination fund I could pay for the expenses to produce the pilot episode of Jonathan's World. One of the highest expenses for the pilot will be the animation software, other supporting programs like adobe suite, and supplemental learning material that I may need as I familiarize myself with the programs. Purchasing these programs while also supporting myself financially can be quite the financial burden that the fund could greatly assist with. Along with the purchase of software, I would also like funds to hire voice actors for some of the roles in the pilot, including deaf voice actors for the characters that require it. It is important to me that I am hiring proper representation for the characters I am trying to portray. I also would like to have funds to consult members of the Deaf community for input. I am lucky to live in a city that has a Deaf institute and thriving community that I can consult, and I would like to be able to offer financial compensation for their help in accurately portraying the Deaf community, whether it is as a direct payment or a donation to the school.

How will the Imagination Fund help?

Over the last several years, more and more animated children series IP’s&nbsp; have started on Youtube and are successfully competing with their television counter parts. Some examples of this are CocoMelon, Gracie's Corner and Super Simple Songs. Part of the success of these programs is the accessibility for the audience. Jonathans's World also aims to host its series on YouTube for exposure to a greater audience and the accessibility.

Market Research

Jonathan’s World is a short animated series that teaches children ages (0-5) and their parents american sign language. Our series revolves around our protagonist Jonathan, who is deaf and how he navigates the world. This series will focus not just on vocabulary acquisition but act as a showcase of diversity in exploring the life of a deaf child.&nbsp;

Project Concept Art

Kennedy Loraine - Imagination Fund Proposal

Since Jonathan's world will be an animated project it will mostly utilize Toon Boom Harmony, an animation program that is standard in the industry. There will also be supplemental programs used such as the Adobe Creative Cloud, Procreate and Toon Boom Storyboard Pro for the background assets, sketching and storyboarding respectively.