Animation Test and blah-de-blah

I learned so much with this little test.

My "jump test" went out of control and turned into a jump and run test. I was testing out Olive's design to see how easy or difficult it was to animate her. Overall, she was pretty easy to deal with. I had a little bit of trouble with her loose hair strands (at times they looked like horns) but I think I can remedy it. The run was a challenge, because I referenced Edward Muybridge's photo sequences. My first pass looked as stiff as nails, so I added a bit more bounciness to her run and broke the joints in this one.

Click here to see! http://www.vimeo.com/27556857


Also, Flash BITES. I'm going to try to do most of Olive's acting shots on paper and pencil and try the walks and runs on Toon Boom.

Is anyone else having trouble embedding from Vimeo?

Cheers!

Tree King 4

This is awesome. I'm trying to choose between this one and TreeKing3 (AKA "The Fat One"). So many pros and cons to both choices!

Trees again!

In the previous style frame I used a grungy plaster texture, and in this one I'm using a crackled paint texture. I think the crackled paint reminds me more of Gustav Klimt's paintings. The cracks on Olive might be too jarring, but I'm not bothered too much by it unless I'm looking for it. I just wanted to stray away from the smooth "digital" look.

Without texture

With texture

A Fresh Batch of Zane Paintings

Zane doesn't want the tree to look like TreeBeard from Lord of the Rings. I forgot what TreeBeard looked like, but when I saw the pictures, a small part of me died. He looks a LOT like Olive's TreeKing because of that hooked nose and beard. D: See below...

So, we've been going back and forth about a fresh approach, which is taking a while.

TreeKing 1

I love Tree King 1's legs and root feet. This is a minor detail, but I really like the leaves that are just dots, instead of the natural leaves. The spherical leaves have a more Klimt feel. This is also your only painting with a sort of knubby nose, and I liked that nose in the tree sketches earlier. It's a lot more natural. Let's stick with two arms and squinty eyes though.

TreeKing2

 The TreeKing 2's body here is a much closer silhouette to what I was anticipating. I like how he's leaning over in his posture. He reminds me too much of a robot though and is lacking in that mystical quality. I'd like more of his head being shown.

TreeKing 3

I love Tree King3's crown! I also like his squinty eyes and mouth here. I really never pictured him being fat, Zane! Although, if he were fat, he would stand apart from the other trees and provide good contrast. I'm slowly warming up to this idea the more I think about it. I love the bark texture and colors on him. They're beautiful! Is his chin hollow?

Ok Olive crew, let us know what you think and please comment below! I'm trying to be more receptive to atypical designs for a truly unique visual experience, but in the end it needs to support the story.

Thank you again for the sketches, Zane! You rock!

Model Sheets Part 3 Facial Expressions

I've put together some roughed out facial expressions. I realized that I always drew Olive with the same expression, so I really needed to get these out. Drawing with a tablet is extremely difficult, but I'm happy with how some of the drawings turned out. Her range is pretty subtle...of course...but there are few extremes. How do you folks feel about the cintiq versus pencil looks?

I'm going to hash out some more action poses and visdev pieces while I impatiently wait for After Effects to arrive in the mail.

Also, my main blog is missngomer.blogspot.com now. My one year ownership for the domain name expired, and I temporarily switched back to blogspot because I wanted to use missngomer.com for a real website in the future. I typed my old URL in today to repurchase it and was dismayed to see that it was TAKEN. I'm so sad now. Whoever you are who bought it, I hope you're a Miss and a Ngo who loves puns too. >:(

Model Sheets Part 2 Action Poses

Action! I've come across an amazing blog that breaks down great key poses, and I tried to apply those principles in these drawings. I'm debating whether to keep those seams in the overalls or not. They help delineate form, but I don't think they're necessary. Thoughts and suggestions are welcome. Facial expressions are next, as promised.

Olive hears something above.

This is another style frame for my technical director Ryan, because we need to see how the gritty/chipped paint texture looks on the characters together. It's going to be tricky blending the two to match in the same environment, but it can definitely be accomplished.
Working on this film is so addicting. I also miss Provence dearly when I look up reference pictures for my forest. Nostalgic sigh...