New Collab film

Just finished a few pieces from the new film I am working on in class. I still have some other concepts I'm finishing up tonight/tomorrow but here's one character sheet and a speed painting of the street performing location the help capture the mood. The entire class will be posting to vitamagusfilm.blogspot.com so check it out.

The above character is a woman in her 60's that has been performing as a magician for over 40 years. I wanted an older woman that wasn't what you normally see in animated films; hunched, wrinkled, and eccentric. She should have a sophistication and refinement about her gained through performing her act for decades. A past that was filled with stardom and beauty in which she continues to confidently project.

My key influence was the beautiful 63 year old Jessica Lange. Another is a Canadian street performer by the name of Billy Kidd who along with Janelle Monae inspired the androgynous outfit. This adds an interesting character trait to her unseen history of struggling with not only trying to introduce magic to the world but also to stand out and become accepted. Billy Kidd stated in an interview "It's a boys' club,"... "I have to work harder and do different things." which is one reason for Kidd's androgynous persona.

Lastly the color pallet chosen is an example of how the world could look towards the final few scenes of the film. Bright colors that play with a high contrast complimentary pallet. This method is more about experimenting with hue contrast than value contrast.

After finishing the last environment frame I decided to do a quick concept of the little girl in the street to refine that sloppy painting. This idea of having a child being able to also see the magic everyone else overlooks was brought up in class and I though it was interesting and worth exploring. I wanted her forms to reflect the magician she is impersonating so I tapered her arms and legs to mimic the magician silhouette.

Newest Sketchkablam

So this week I FINALLY got off my ass and completed something more than a shitty sketch! The inspiration was "Smoking Conference" and all I could think about was those sad, sad rooms people cram into at the airport. I decided to go with a retro look since it was the golden age of travel. That and I was just watching Iron Giant. Oh I also wanted it look like a screen captured from a film. Enjoy :D

Aquarium Character Design

Grabbed my sharpie and threw down some silhouettes for the character in my aquarium short.

He is influenced by many things.  He has some eel, also threw in some some jelly fish and octopus/squid. Basically I was him aquatic-ish but to also have the ability to walk upright at the beginning of the short. Also flexibility is important because I want him to really squash and stretch.

When he returns to the water and loses his little suit his arms/legs will become him tentacles and he'll move probably similar to a squid. But this is all up in the air and animation tests will polish this chaos in my head.

Other character sheets and Zoe refined

The class was split 6 and 6 between frank and Zoe. He was my "favorite" but I felt that my Zoe would push me more since she is a more "realistic" character which i don't' do very often....

Frank is a volunteer firefighter. With a jacket on loan patched up with duck tape he acts like a hard-ass in front of the other firefighters. But when he gets into the heat he shows his true teddy bear character. Frank is passionate about helping all living things.

Here's the first pitch for Zoe. My professor wanted me to do some variation on her face since he felt it was very pixar-ish. I did about 5 new faces and landed on the second concept you see below. I am happy with her and looking forward to feedback tomorrow :D
Here are the revisions I made on Zoe. Next we move to color...but before then I am going to do some research on her accessories..some goggle and glove design, the little things y'know.

Idna Rough Character Sheet

First Character sheet is done in rough sketch. after we critique in class I will refine then do a color rendering of the chosen character direction. Stay tuned
Idna is a professional organizer specializing in Hoarding. (Guess where that inspiration comes from.) She is a cheeky British woman who will lose her calm demeanor in the blink of an eye only to revert back to her cheerful smile and diligence. She is also a stickler for enforcing strict organization rules based upon size, color, purpose, and even name of your household objects. Although quite temperamental her overall attitude is bright, and positive.

Character Silhouettes

Pick your fav

First project from my advanced character modeling class this quarter. I'm amped for this class even though I am in WAY over my head. Basically the class is as follows.

1. Design character from silhouette drawings, min of 25.(Never done this before and that shit is hard until you wrap your head around it)

2. Refine character in style-sheet.(no prob)

3. Render character in color. (no prob)

4. Model from super sculpy. (Luckily this winter break I experimented :D)

5. Model character in Maya (Never used this program OH NO!!!)

5. Detail in ZBrush (We will be learning yes!)

6. Paint CAD model in Photoshop. (Should be no problem)

7. Final rendering in Maya. (hopefully it's similar to Alias...)

But yes this should be a great portfolio piece so stay tuned I will be posting all my character development as well as sketch book exercises.

The refined character (I had to choose 3)