Olive Sculpture

I sculpted her for clean-up animation. Reference makes our lives so much easier.

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!

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!

Tree King Variations

I'm lucky enough to get Zane Yarbrough to design my Tree King, and he's come up with some fantastic first sketches.

beautiful face and hands

Squashed face looks great. I can see Olive and him belonging in the same world here because of his face design.

Ahhh-chooo!

I love this smiley, friendly face. :)

I'm leaning towards the stronger, less skinny legs. I pictured him with a humped back, too.

I kind of like this idea of dangling arms. Can you keep playing around with it?

I can't wait to see more! This film just got ten times better already. I'm also painting one of Zane's sketch compositions, so stay tuned. :)

Olive crew and friends, feedback is greatly appreciated (especially from the Olive crew who will be modeling and texturing this beast).