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This story is inspired by my own two dogs, Ryan and Bella. So for context, Ryan is the
older dog, he was here first and Bella came a few years later. Ryan was the ideal,
perfect dog, he was purebred and too smart for his own good. Bella however, is the
exact opposite. She’s a softie, the runt of the litter, a lapdog, she’s actually deaf, and
incredibly dopey. The way these two characters interact has always brought me so
much joy- watching their friendship grow. It’s something I want to share, and
something I want to remind people of. A bond is something that doesn’t go away,
even when life moves on- it’s always there, even in animals.

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Designing the dogs was difficult for me, it’s taken some time to really get to grips with
how I want them to look, the line between cartoony and realism. I liked the challenge
of using their characters and previous design lessons to work on the concept art for
the dogs. Something I was sure about once I’d started sketching was the idea of big
toony eyebrows.

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When designing the dogs, it was clear that they were going to have to be Cavalier
King Charles Spaniels. I tried a few other breeds but nothing felt quite right, the
nature of a Cavalier is actually quite distinctive- they’re diva dogs, they have some
different behaviours from other dogs and moving those specific personality traits
onto, say, a German Shepherd or a Doberman, just didn’t work. I knew Ryan would
have to be bigger and Bella would have to be a lot smaller- puppy sized. This lead to
me playing around with colour and shape to really get to grips with their designs. I
have included a few pictures of Ryan and Bella together, to show there are some real
visual differences between them that I wanted to exaggerate- like their colours,
markings, shape and size.

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Another design choice I made when differentiating between the two dogs was Ryan
wearing a collar and Bella not. The reason for this is Ryan is older, he’s sort of ‘earned’
his place in the house, his name is on the tag along with a phone number as if he is
truly a well-established part of the family. I feel these designs may change as I spend
more time on the project, but I’m really happy with how far they came to be the way
that they are here. Ryan sits tall with dark fur, a squarish build and a sharp tail.

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Bella was easier to experiment with when designing- Ryan came first and so her
design had to eventually end up being different, yet being able to match the style of
how Ryan had been portrayed- they have to appear like they’re from the same world.
But before this, it was a lot more fun to really play around with her personality in her
design, with dopey crossed and bulging eyes, skinny legs, messy markings- overall, a
much goofier look than her ‘big brother’ counterpart. They have to be able to look
like opposites as well as the same breed, so this has been a really fun challenge to
take on.

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Along with these designs are a few turn around drawings of each dog- Ryan captures
that larger, more muscly, squarish, typically boyish build.

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Whereas Bella is a lot softer and rounder, as she is a puppy, her markings are lighter
and messier- she’s not as perfect as Ryan and is overall more curved with a typically
more female design. Her paws are about the same kind of size as Ryans, to give the
typical oversized puppy look in areas, clunky paws for a clumsy dog.

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I spent some time looking at how the dogs would express things during the time
designing them- so some designs are still a bit rough around the edges and don’t
match up perfectly with the final designs yet. This is where I feel there is still room to
play with their designs. The expressions are quite toony and fun.

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Bella’s expressions will be a lot more curious, but obviously still sticking with that
rounder design. She overall appears to be a lot more joyful than Ryan, which will help
empathise their age difference.

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As mentioned earlier, Ryan will be wearing the collar throughout the story- whereas
Bella will not. So I feel the collar really helps represent that he is older and
established as dog of the house with the tag as well. I had a few designs in mind, the
bandana idea felt too playful to match his character. So I ended up really liking the
middle design, it feels really sleek and a little bit more modern- but this kind of collar
is typically worn by a much larger dog and is not all that common. I wanted
something a bit more classic for Ryan, to drill in that ‘older boy’ kind of look.

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So I ended up with the classic collar design. It has a typically more 'masculine’ look to
it, it’s dark in colour- blocky in shape to match Ryan’s character design. It has qualities
of a real basic collar design, as he is ultimately supposed to be the ‘ideal’ dog. And
he’s meant to be a bit older, so I want it to have a worn in look, a bit beaten up and
weathered, a classic collar and classic tag can help empathise the idea that he is older
and male, but I want it to have an extra edge to it with some damage. I think it
matches his personality nicely, this is important because it is essentially the dogs
clothes and should represent him subtly.

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Bella won’t actually be wearing a collar in more than one scene- there’s a scene
where they go for a walk; so she has to have one. But again, this is a good way to play
around with representing more of her character and using it as clothing. I played
around with the ideas of a few diamonds- to push the stereotype of her being female-
but it felt a bit too far and too grown up for a playful pup.

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So her collar will be a pale shade of pink, using the stereotypical ’girl’ colour to
exaggerate that she is a girl (incase nobody got it already). I also decided since she’s a
puppy- the idea of a fastening clip would be a bigger, chunkier- puppy friendly look.
For collars this small they typically fasten with a clip rather than a buckle.

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When it came to looking at dog beds, there’s a scene based around them waking up
in the morning when we meet them for the first time. In this scene I want to establish
that they’re normal dogs- I really liked the third column designs, but this would give
the wrong message around them being scruffy and a bit misbehaved and the design
is pretty dark, so the dogs would’ve stood out nicely against it contrast wise, but it
feels too dark. The bottom row of designs feels a bit too enclosed. The top design of
beds have a big pillow look to them, this would have purely been Ryan’s bed before
Bella came, which shows he’s well looked after and spoiled- to give an idea for his
attitude. My favourite design was the pawprint one as the dogs will look bright with
their fur against the light grey and the design is simple and classic.

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When designing the bowls, the main focus, like the beds, is for them to serve a
purpose. Again though I want there to be the idea that Ryan is ‘man’ or ‘dog’ of the
house, so I’m leaning toward the bottom row of designs, specifically the final two (11
and 12) as they show again that he is the only dog in the house and a bit spoiled. The
other bowls feel pretty generic, the final row of designs have a cool, modern edge to
them- along with being kind of minimalistic- which is another vibe I’d like to try and
keep going through my sets in the house as I don’t want to take any focus away from
the dogs unless its necessary.

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The entire beginning of the film will start in the Hallway set. These need more
development, as set design, as it turns out, is not a strong skill of mine. But the idea is
to have fairy muted colours to provide a relaxed setting and not too much detail as to
not take away from the dogs actions and the happenings within the film. Another
point about this set, is the idea that there will be one lead hanging up and one dog
bowl/ one dog bowl set (as shown on the previous slide), to exaggerate the fact that
there was previously only one dog. I want to add a panning shot before my first shot
on my storyboard, where we pan through the hallway to the dog bed, before meeting
the dogs and revealing Bella for the first time.

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I like the idea of having the bed tucked under the stairs- I see a lot of dog areas
tucked away here or built into the stairs. This is the perfect spot for keeping all of the
pets stuff out of the way, its realistic and honestly looks really cosy. It really appeals
to me and because I’ve seen it so many times it feels just right, out of the way and
cosy enough for the dogs to cuddle up in. It’s an entire spot that belongs to them and
lead out into the Hallway and the Kitchen.

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The sofa will be an important piece in the final scene, where Ryan is asleep on top of
it. It has to be too high up for a puppy to jump and I like the idea of the top, blue,
sofa. It looks big and blocky, to match Ryan’s character. I want the sofa to also appear
cosy- with big cushions and some texture that makes it feel real, maybe some slight
stains, like a home- not a piece of display furniture. (Ryan is included for scale.)

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There isn’t much exciting to say about the dog door. It just has to function- but it
turns out there’s a few more types of dog doors than I thought. There’s flimsy
material dog doors that curve and bend when the dog goes through it and doors that
open. But I need a door that can make a thud noise when Bella runs into it- it needs
to be a bit more robust for this purpose and to stand out more in the door. As much
as I prefer the minimal look- it isn’t as practical for the film. I like the idea of it being
more clunky and squared off, again subtly matching into Ryan’s design.

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These need a bit more looking into. I’d like to spend some time actually modelling
and playing with bushes to get a better idea, but as it stands they need to be cartoony
and bright, so the dogs can stand out against them. I want them to appear bright and
fun while also being fairly simplistic against the dogs animation, because all in all it’s
going to be a pretty fun scene- playful and cute. This will be where the turning point
for Ryan and Bella becoming friends will become more obvious. It’s almost in line
with being the climax of the film.

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