Here was the initial sketch that I came up with for this project:
(Yeah... it's hardly a contender for the Archibald Prize)
I imported the sketch into Illustrator and started blocking out the main shapes and layers. I also adjusted the character proportions with the help of some visual references.
Afterwards, I imported the layers into After Effects and started animating!
In order to reveal the girl as she emerged from the water, I used a series of mattes created from path and shape layers. The strands of hair floating on the surface were achieved through path animation, displacement effects and matte chokers.
I've detailed the method used to create stylized water in the video below:
