Follow Crowkit's training-arc from kit to warrior as she faces many opponents and becomes a strong and fearsome warrior!
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Due to the clan's warped beliefs and views of her being an ill omen to the clan and their bond with corvids as well as her pale, glaring pelt being a danger if she ever were to join patrols, hunts etc; Crowsong grows up not only shunned as is, but alienated from warrior duties and indirectly punished by being forced to "train" and battle from a far too young age.
Her father, Raveneye, never so much as laid a paw on her during his unofficial mentoring time (albeit forced and enabled the constant training watching on the side) until the day came when determination, the wish for acknowledgement and a rightful warrior name had finally led Crowpaw past all but one final challenge: him.
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𝗗𝗘𝗦𝗖𝗥𝗜𝗣𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡-
• IT'S HEREEEEE OHMYGOODNESSS this has been the biggest and most challenging project I've ever faced but I've learnt SO much and had a blast (and sometimes absolutely not) working on it! Learning After Effects for the first time along with puppet tools and more was scary but a perfect opportunity! I've had this project in mind for over a year but I'm glad I waited until I had more animation experience! It's not long but keep in mind ever single frame are hours worth of work each!
• I tried my best to show different age stages! Weepingwind's death & Ashkit's birth happen somewhere inbetween these scenes as well! I had this project in mind when hosting the "Waiting In The Wings" MAP too so you might recognise the beginning of that vid correlating a bit to the beginning of this one!
• I specifically went for a comic styled aesthetic to honor comics for the impact and source of inspiration it had on me and my art growing up! My first real interaction with the online world and fandoms was stumbling across the pretty well known Rainbow Dash AMV that used this song so I'm very happy to get to feature it in my biggest project to date♡
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• Song : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pmZKkb_UAg
• Frames : Animations play at different rates (between 8-1 fps) // Video is playing at 30 fps // Canvas is 3840 x 2160 px
• Programs : ClipStudioPaint (backgrounds & Character Animation + After Effects (editing/tweening)
• About : This is a one person project featuring my own original characters based on warrior cats. Everything you see is hand drawn including the backgrounds without using any 3D models nor refs! 2D backgrounds were edited in a 3D space/camera for the depth/parallax effects!!
The complex shots even have individually shaded irises, pawpads & teeth!!!
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𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗦-
• More about Crowsong here :
https://toyhou.se/8291174.crowsong
• More about side characters /Corvidclan directory here:
https://toyhou.se/9127126.-corvidclan-
• More animated content about Crowsong's calling :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ouJrlyrSGA&list=PL-lokFmRc7x1ws_Wn6jXn7nHn8ZWxEHK_&index=1
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𝗜𝗠𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗔𝗡𝗧-
!This video material and the characters featured are copyright protected; Reupload/edits/reactions using this material is not permitted regardless of credit & will be copyright striked!
I'm an independent artist whose works mean everything to me, please don't mistreat/use my characters and art
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𝗦𝗢𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟𝗦-
• Patreon : https://www.patreon.com/louixie
See lots of behind the scenes from storyboards, wips and even tutorials/breakdowns of shots from this project + lots more!
• Socials : https://linktr.ee/Louixie
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Thank you for watching! And a special thanks to my wonderful patrons, without their support this project wouldn't have been possible!
Show me how to lie, you're getting better all the time And turning all against the one is an art that's hard to teach Another clever word sets of an unsuspecting herd And as you step back into line, a mob jumps to their feet Now dance, fucker, dance, man I never had a chance And no one even knew it was really only you And now you'll lead the way Show the light of day Nice work you did You're gonna go far, kid Trust deceived With a thousand lies and a good disguise Hit 'em right between the eyes
Hit 'em right between the eyes When you walk away, nothing more to say See the lighting in your eyes See 'em running for their lives Clever alibis, Lord of the Flies Hit 'em right between the eyes Hit 'em right between the eyes When you walk away, nothing more to say See the lighting in your eyes See 'em running for their lives
Comments
Made my PC suffer by animating it in high res so make sure to watch in full quality, even better on a bigger screen e.g. a computer C:!!! (Also noticed that watching on my phone the colors got really pale and washed out so the quality is def better on a pc)
I really like how this creates a sort of... explanation for Crow's abilities. For a while I didn't know how a single cat could have possibly managed to kill a whole clan but if she was forced to fight her clanmates from a young age (possibly even facing more than one opponent) then she would have not only developed her abilities but known exactly how they all fought down to a T.
There’s something so sad about knowing that these battle moves are supposed to be used against other Clans or wild animals. That you’re supposed to learn this to be able to fight with your Clan against your opponents, that’s how everyone else was taught. But Crowsong’s clanmates don’t want to fight with her, to charge into battle by her side, to cover her back while fighting any opponents. So she never learns to fight with a partner, to watch someone’s back, to turn her back at all. It’s her against the world. She knows everyone’s speed but not to match it, knows everyone’s swipes so she can dodge them, knows everyone’s style so she can work against it, but never with it
It's crazy to me how Raveneye had the gall to dress it up as "training" when in reality Crowpaw was fighting for her life every time. Their claws aren't sheathed, they repeatedly aim for her throat. Every clanmate she was up against was trying to kill her and maybe that was Raveneye's goal, for a tragic "training accident" to be rid of her. It's even worse if Crowpaw didn't even realize this, at least at first when she was still very young. Just me theorizing, but man, besides the kits that died, I don't feel bad one bit for what ends up happening to CorvidClan.
I find it very poetic and interesting that, by making her face nearly all of her clan in combat, Raveneye gave her the means she needed to wipe out her entire clan. Training nonstop from a young age teaches you how people fight, how they move, how they think; and you can clearly see Crowsong uses the knowledge she gathers from her clanmates to eventually defeat them in combat. By shunning her, bullying her, harrassing her nonstop they molded her into a weapon tailor-made to kill them all off, and they got no one but themselves to blame. That's just a theory, tho! I appreciate the air of ambiguity left in these AMVs, can't wait to learn more about Crowsong!!
One thing I noticed is that during the 1:1 fight scenes with the apprentices Jackdawpaw (the cat with the big eyes) doesnt seem as into the fight as the other two. While the other two appeared incredibly confident and very obviously taking down Crow with ease, there is no scene where Jackdaw has Crow pinned down or very obviously defeated her. This can be one of two things 1. Because of his difficulty showing emotions, there was no need to "show off" like the other two have. Hes more focused on the fight, and because hes naturally really mellow on the outside then it explains why he wasnt grinning or showing malice 2. He was actually having a bit more trouble fighting Crow. According to his toyhouse page his lack of visions and only being able to see blurred colors means its VERY hard for him to interpret his surroundings when theres a very bright color in front of him. Like white. So out of all three of them, Jackdaw would have a harder time simply beating up Crow and winning the fight. Obviously hes still a formidable fighter with his hearing and smell, so he still would have won, but maybe he hasnt quite learned to hone in on those skills yet? I may be reading too much into this but its a little thing i picked up on. This video is so rich in detail and emotion between all the characters especially Crows growing rage
I know for a fact that there’s a 12 year old out there somewhere watching this and years in the future they’re going to credit this as their inspiration to start drawing and animating Your art is absolutely amazing and you’re no doubt an inspiration to so many people!!
I love how this AMV demonstrates her getting more and more frustrated, and how she pushes herself to try and beat those against her, until she’s so angry that she challenges her father and leader, leading to immediate regret as he gives her the scar she’s seen with when she’s slightly younger. It’s a very well-shown escalation, especially since she’d be high on adrenaline from the other victories. She doesn’t think, and her father is quick to make her do so, even if it’s too late for her to. Edit: Another detail I love is how she’s always aiming for the eyes in her final blows (like the song says to do). Then, when she yells at Raveneye, we see only his injured eye as he turns to her (Which reminds me to how in the start his sightless eye is open while his sightful one is closed before also opening, which is interesting because it suggests he can’t close that one, always having the eye that can’t see looking out into the world while he closes the one that can see. It implies something interesting of his character, especially considering his name.), and then he scars her eye—specifically the right one, which is the same eye as his sightless one. Something tells me it’s symbolism for what’s to come, or maybe that Crowsong is more similar to her father than she thinks.
I actually think ive rewatched this like 50 times now and im still blown away by how good it is
Honestly, I enjoy how you included Jackdaw in the PMV enjoying beating Crowsong. A lot of people assume that being disabled makes you a better person/more empathetic to others disabled, and as someone disabled who has been in disabled filled spaces, I can confirm that it’s a dangerous stereotype. Just like the other cats assuming Jackdaw can’t fight would be dangerous, Crow assuming Jackdaw would sympathize with her would be just as dangerous.
I love that this also subtly explains how Crowsong managed to singlehandedly slaughter them all in the finale of her character arc. This brutal, unfair hazing thrust upon her by everyone in the Clan meant she knew exactly how every single one of them fights like the back of her hand (paw?), so she knew exactly what to do to kill them when the time came. edit: whoops somebody already said this. Oh well. I'd love to have been a fly on the wall when Raveneye finally had to face down his crazed daughter as the climax of all the evil things he's done to her. Maybe he was ironically the only one who recognized her at the end, it would have been some intense karmic retribution for him in his final moments
There's nothing I can say about this that would accurately sum up my feelings towards it so in honour of me rewatching all the patreon wips 1000 times and the finished product just as many, I'm gonna point out my favourite details LOL - Just the body language in the opening shot alone: the apprentices look confident while Crow is crouched defensively, Carrion is enjoying watching her son beat up a child, Rook seems more focused on actually watching how Chough fights, Coal appears to be observing out of genuine curiosity and not really rooting for either side, Onyx and Soot look like they might be discussing something amongst themselves. - The way Jackdaw and Talon look determined to genuinely hone their abilities while Chough looks like he's enjoying the cruelty more than anything else. Also how Jackdaw is the only one who appears to have trouble beating Crow because of his blindness probably messing with his depth perception. - YOU CAN SEE THE FOREST REFLECTED IN CROW'S EYES. - When Rook and Crow collide near the end, the blood splatter comes from Rook-- in the next shot Crow only has some small scrapes, but you can see blood running down Rook's face. - Crow's anger at the end only comes when she turns around and sees Raven walking away from her. Because she wants him to see how skilled she is, and he isn't even paying attention despite him being the one to kickstart this whole bloodbath in the first place. - Raven doesn't accept Crow's challenge. She wants him to fight her to properly prove herself to him, but instead of agreeing to a fair fight he turns around and gives her one solid claw across the eye to tell her to shut up. Not only do we see how Crow became capable of killing a whole Clan, but it's the first time we've really seen just how determined Raven was NOT to acknowledge his daughter.
What really gets me, is Crowsong knew she wasn't loved by her clan and at some point through the constant fighting probably thought that she had to earn her place as a warrior, that maybe becoming the best would of given her the acknowledgment she deserved. The attention she desperately craved as a member of the clan. This really shows how her transformation occurred to the blood thirsty Crowsong we know now.
THAT'S WHAT THE CLAW SCAR ON HER EYE IS! Can just imagine Raveneye scarring her and giving her her warrior name. At last giving her what she wanted - a name and acknowledgement - but instead of it being given with the praise of a father, it's given with scorn and a scar. Absolutely stunning animation as always. This story is so fascinating and I can't wait to see more of it unfold!
OH MY GOSH THAT WAS SO GOOD, THE PERSPECTIVES AND THE FIGHT SCENES THEY R ALL SO GOOD MY JAW IS DROPPED… I CANNOT STOP WATCHING THIS SLOWED DOWN SO I CAN STARE AT EVERY INDIVIDUAL FRAME!
After watching this several times over the past few days, I noticed something that I find pretty interesting - Crowsong's pupils gradually get smaller as the video progresses and she gets more rage filled in her. In the beginning, her pupils are pretty large (not to mention she looks more nervous), but as it goes on, her pupils get smaller until you can barely see them at all when she challenges Raveneye. This is an amazing animation, though, and I find it just super cool overall! I have to keep backing up parts just to watch the animation (for some reason, I think my favorite part is the "Trust deceived" piece where she slams down Jackdawgale and Talontail and then fights Choughsneak). I love your animations and I can't wait to see more! <3
Feel like I could go on about how cool this is for ages, this is such a well done project with soooooo much insane character actingg. It's so clear how long she's been put through this and how her fighting ability has built up over time, not just in general but her ability to fight each of her clanmates specifically. Especially with Choughsneak, it's literally like she's trying to fake him out at every turn because she's fought him so many times and knows his typical patterns, and you can see how frustrated and surprised that nothing is landing when he normally takes glee in beating her. I loveeeeeee when she strikes backwards at his eye, it takes so much confidence and self assuredness in knowing where he was going to be to pull that off when she wasn't even really facing him. Triple love how it harkens to her father too because he only seems to regard her with his blind eye, in general and before he strikes her at the end. Really incredible 10/10 can't stop rewatching, the motion blurs and details in your frames are incredible, you work with so many frames but really know when to punch movements for max impact, also your compositing on this with the background movement is crazy impressive <3 <3
I waited to be able to watch this on my computer rather than my tiny phone screen and I'm really glad I did. This animation is gorgeous and I know I'm going to be replaying it for months. I especially love the scene at 1:05 there is so much emotion
GOD THE ANIMATION! Crowpaw's rise to power is demonstrated very quickly but yet the timing feels perfect! I also had to laugh a little that everyone getting their butt's kicked was on beat to the music; that just puts a big grin on my face! Normally watching battles scenes like this is a little hard to follow because of how fast they move, but I didn't have to pause this one at all to keep up! Each snippet was carefully done to work in a 3D environment while staying true to the character designs! I'm honestly in love, and having seen the WIPs for this, I can tell why it took so long and see how much love it was given! Just when I think Crowsong's story cannot be built upon more, you find interesting ways to tell her tale! aGH! I'm just.. aGH! I love it! Such an inspiration!
The passionate rage on Crowsongs face during the last chorus is so good. Absolutely outstanding work. Not to mention the incredibly dynamic fights.