My phone is dead, everyone. I lost my )@#*&$^ charger in Reno. I'll call as soon as I have my phone. Also, I'm having trouble posting images from the road. I've got some master designs worked up (we all do), but I don't have any way to get 'em up 'till Monday night. Does everyone have this week's designs worked up? Let's see 'em, boys and girls! The deadline approacheth. I really hope that everyone's designs rock with the force and fury of thunder, for if they do, so shall the film.

Ryan approved the new changes today, and everyone should be getting a script in the ol' email within a few days. The story is incomparably better and more compelling as well as, consequently, easier to tell! Be excited. Be awesome.

Expect drastic changes in story and design...

Okay.

Here's the deal. The visit to Pixar and the influence of the illustration kids has wrought some serious changes in where I and the majority of the crew want to take the film. I have yet to discuss these proposed changes with Levi or Eric, but they are REALLY, REALLY good changes, and you should all expect story and scheduling changes in the future.

Be excited. This is about to get really, REALLY good. Also, see Ratatouille as soon as you can.

-Jake

style guide

here are the style guides from everything from mountains to water - be practicing these in your space time :)

Bamboo test

This is NOT how the film will look, the colors aren't right and its just not the feel we want, but it is an example of bamboo movement.

The timing on this is horrible and there is a big mistake at the beggining, but this is an animatic of my scene. The finalized version will completly be redone, and the characters will be boarded on model (remember I had only a week and a half to finish this) Alot of this is terrible but it is my first completed animatic, even though it isn't in its final version.

Just an idea...could we possibly make yang more detailed for the boards? Please please please? At least for the close ups? Its so much easier to convey emotion in a stationary drawing when you can draw detailed. When animation starts, and he's moving around, emotion can be conveyed by a number of different things, including movement, music, and facial expressions...but I do admit, it probably is a bad idea, seeing as how I take too much time on everything anyways.....

For this week

For this week we need designs of the Master, the boy's house, and the landscape around it. Our initial idea was for the house to be surrounded by mountains and a bamboo thicket. We would like to keep it that way, but if you have a better idea Prove it! Seriously, if you have a wild idea for improvement go ahead and get crazy, but please only post it if you feel that it is an improvement.
Also, Jake and I will be starting the boarding process very soon. So keep those environments coming. We need master's house, bridge, tree stump area where the boy chops wood, and then every area in between which is supposed to be bamboo thickets. The boy leaves the house heading left and returns heading right so the map should go in this order

5 4 3 2 1
Treestump<=====bamboo=======Bridge<======bamboo=======MastersHouse
Treestump=====>bamboo======>Bridge

Primarily though, for this week, we Need the Master's house and the environment around it. Look at Jake's drawings to see what he has in mind. And by the way, the designs look nice! I'm excited to see what you all will come up with next.

Not evil enough...

Well, here are some ideas of where we could go with the boy's evil master. I don't know how evil he is supposed to look. Sorry these are blurry--I'm using the small scanners in the library and my sketchbook is too big. Frankly, I think the evil master looks down-right friendly in some of these (oops). The two basic ideas I had were skinny and fat. Skinny makes the master look menacing and miserly (a la Cruella Devillle), while fat makes him look like he's rich and gluttonous. I guess it depends on which side of the character we want to play up. Personally, I like the idea of a fat evil master with small hands (that indicate his lack of real power, because of his moral flaws). Also how big should he be in comparison to the boy? Does he have lackeys? Let me know what you think and I'll hammer out some more ideas. Also let me know what you think about color scheme. I'm thinking luscious reds and purples=rich, but yellow-green does make for a good evil color too...

The Challenge O' The Week!!!!

Hooookay.

This week's assignment:

--BACKGROUND--

--The boy's home and surrounding terrain.

--CHARACTER--

--The wicked evil master dude.

These are some of Simini's paintings from our sketchbook trip. They're not 'backgrounds for the film' per se, but more like nature studies done in her own style. Style after form. So NONE of these are supposed to be finished designs, just some research we've been doing...





This is Will's



These are my own sad attempts...

background fun

i am going to post the 'style guide' coming up real soon here... worry about both compostition and style but if you prefer, post your basic comps then go in and mimic the style in the pieces that you like most once you have it down better (that's what i plan on doing at least)

Oh, the meeting.

Bald boy LIVES!!!

This is incomplete, but I felt the need to post SOMETHING. I mean, LEVI, that showboat, has his friggin' animatic up.

So we had our first and only meeting of the Summer today. For those of you who missed it, THIS is the pertinent information that you need. I'm looking at YOU, Anthony and Ron. "I'm getting six wisdom teeth removed!" "I have to work to support my family!" WHATEVER. I've had enough of your sniveling excuses. Anyway, the information.

THIS SUMMER: We need concept art. Everyone who has publishing permission on the blog, PLEASE POST WEEKLY. The film will only rock as hard as the designs we pump out this summer... so let's own it. Let's work it.

IN PREPERATION FOR THE FALL: If you want to animate, then start drawing off of Yang's model sheet (first post). If you want to do background work, then check out books on sumi-e and get crackin'. Watercolor is the word. We'll be posting more about that.

Email me with questions.

a couple two tree backgrounds

here are some quick backgrounds that i whipped up - we are looking for simple things because we are gonna go through and make them watercolor soft soft soft soft looking... you may be able to tell from my clever labeling that the boy walks from the right panel to the left: as he comes over the first hill his head will disappear completely, then him as a big fat head will appear as he walks into the bamboo - and as he comes out of the bamboo into the 3rd panel he'll still be a big fat head (the path is heading the wrong direction [it needs to head from the bamboo towards the bridge]) then he'll once again disappear altogether and appear small as he comes into view on the cliff as he nears the bridge - in the last panel that bottom spike thinger is a river. yeah. neat. reading this entire post has probably been less fulfilling than you hoped. eh, too bad. shout out once again to myself for my clever labeling.

Background test...

This is a test that Levi worked up of how we'd like the backgrounds to work and move. The art is rushed, but the IDEA is the important thing.

As technical director of the film, I need paintings. I can compose some screen tests and composite some really flashy effects, but first I need some wonderfully done sumi-e landscapes, prefferably with rivers, streams or visible running water that I can animate. We're trying to achieve a living painting look...but right now we have to focus on story...which means it is going to be months before we can really start. It would be wonderful to have some landscapes before then! Post away, or give the paintings to Jake and he will take care of them.

Mom and Dad and a red table

Here be the preliminary(?) designs for the mother and father... they're really generic. EVERYONE is invited to submit new designs- just make sure they're historically accurate.

These are some test boards to see how the triptych (I have no idea how to spell that) format might work with storytelling and exposition.

House of something other than Flying Daggers... or wax.

Background tests. A mock-up, if you will.

Model sheet

This is the boy's model sheet... we hope to un-disneyfy it a bit before production, but this is the model that will be used for the storyboards. You are all invited to email me other designs if you think you've got a better idea, and Levi and I will take a look at 'em.