ecks workin' it

Rough rough pose stuff...

because I know how you're all excited to start production...

What 6 minutes of animation looks like.

Eternal Court

change the floor to doted line ..and also fix the columns for the entrance

Numero Deux

The other view Tony suggested we have for the design pack.
In general I wish I could fill it up with way way way more kindergarten paraphernalia, right now it seems way too... manageable. Tried to avoid using anything that wasn't funpack. For now. Unless everyone likes it the way it is.

Fixed the clock hands, slanty composite of the desk and the ceiling.

One view of the classroom.

Ms. Ecks' view from her desk.

Fixed the tables.

Master Painting Possibilities

As far as paintings of JUST heaven go, I'm finding it nearly impossible to dig anything up. Got some ideas for angels (both adult and cherub) and angels in heaven.

Technically Cupid, but same ageless yet defined body type.
Pseudo-sexualized beautiful figure.
Obviously, with these first two - can't really parody/reproduce for our purposes because they have the wrong setting.
This is the piece I personally feel we should look towards as a group if we go in this direction.
More examples of hot men in clouds, not particularly heavenly though.
Not a great photo, but if you notice the angels holding up the pillars... I think that would work also.
Great inspiration for cherub babies.

And a couple images just for fun!! Nothing to do with preproduction for the film.
Mel's photo with the sweet, adorable nuns! We are sneaky.
Makes me laugh, especially since the arrow pointed north.
Maybe has a little bit to do with preproduction - a prison door which reminds me of the concept piece Hernando drew for Ecks' classroom.

Story Revisions List

Due: Tuesday 2nd

Leica 2

Advice from Chuck Jones

Something to keep in mind for our film, especially when Ecks is realizing that she's screwed in the eternal court... Fast forward to 2:20 to see what I'm talking about.

projectionist re-worked

re-did him....tried to keep it like in the funpack but to do that in the style of mrs. Ecks is not the simplest thing...at least not for me. so this is what i have for now. If someone else wants to take a stab at it feel free.

Judge touched up

I revised him a bit. But for the most part I keept him the same. Reason beeing that his shape and the shape and proportion of his limbs while they look humanish (except proportions) there is something not human about him. I don't remember us disgussing if he is human or not. will a human judge another human? so i thought why not just look humanish but just something wierd about him. like he doesn't belong on earth. Also i left the top of his hair preety flat looking since it goes with the very flat style we have.

ToyCage and Eternal court design I did a week ago
Cage

Entrance
different view, add a jury box in there..also change the pillars a bit taller compare to the bottom one
This is my design for now..inspire by Amber's round pillars.

stuff stuff stuff

Blogger seems to be hating me today, it's taking an insane amount of time for my stuff to get uploaded... Just some very rough pen doodles for you guys, let me know what you think!


A page of girls. Tried to remember Angela's designs while I was doodling, didn't visually reference them though.


Crappy sketch of me thinking "does Ecks look like a pug in profile?". Kinda scary.


Ecks that I drew I forget when. Trying to make the old lady as opposite as possible (big round nose vs. small angular, round glasses vs. angular, no neck vs. yes neck, lips go in vs. lips go out... but as Adam's keeps telling me, I need to get to nailing down a distinct silhouette for her that does the same thing her face is doing now). And birds. Birds are fun.

You guys been to Hans Backer's blog today? I'm in LOVE with this lady. Love it love it love it. And this is just plain pretty. Kind of a nice palette for the Eternal Court maybe (including the white)? You tell me, colour retarded here, hahah!

Projectionist design progress

Still in progress but before I go back to the drawing board I was hopeing to get some feedback. I took the design in the funpack and pushed it a bit. I was thinking the eyebrows to go down to his beard almost covering his full face, but when they raise they reaveal big owl-like eyes.

Judge design

Just a design I did based on the funpack Judge. I'll still tweak some things like the top of the hair but i wanted to get some feedback before.

Lorenzo Mattotti

I want to share these images by Lorenzo Mattotti. They are what originally inspired me to suggest that the projectionist be an element of the layout.

Eternal Court Research and Roughs

First image is what I am proposing for the Eternal Court design. It has art deco design and architectural elements which will help identify it as being a courtroom. What you're seeing on the "floor" is a reflection.

Next two pages are research sketches with a few notes about what they might be used for. Mostly just included for the curious to see.


The jist of how I envision the projectionist and the additional columns being situated within the space. I prefer the round columns to the square ones. Columns would need to be treated as an overlay and the big guy needs a better way of being part of the floor which is not a bottom half of stone. Maybe his colour just blends right in to the floor and he has no reflection? Maybe with no bottom line to disconnect him?

Let me know your thoughts on whether this direction has any legs.

roughly rough pack ecks

Rough Colour Keys

My first pass at colour keys.

Made from Angela's board.
Autumn colours.
Made from Sheng-han's board.
Winter colours.
Made from Henry's board.
Spring colours.
Made from Alex's board.
Summer colours.

Leica 1

Like Melanie always says, I was having fun


What do you guys think?

Ms. Ecks Design

‧ Round earrings
‧ Smaller head in relation to body
‧ Thicker neck
‧ Nose looking less upturned/young
‧ Big glasses
‧ Pointy lips
‧ Doesn't take care of herself
‧ Extremely flexible mouth
‧ Replace follow through of jowels with chin area
‧ Neckline is a v-neck
‧ Boots are ankle boots
‧ Feet are tiny
‧ Swirly-doos on knees and elbows
‧ Belly bigger than it is right now
‧ Eyebrows and hair need to match in terms of treatment and messiness
‧ Hair flat across the top of the head
‧ Pear shape body OR with hump in the back
‧ Insinuate eye bag to be painted back as a darker area? One eye bag or three?
‧ Needs at least tentative clean up rotation and action pose

These are what I wrote down at the meeting, Mel probably has more. Putting this up for the curious and the absent, it's not something we are revisiting until after the break.

Design List

‧CHARACTERS‧

‧ Ms. Ecks [Claimed - Mel]
- Classroom, alive
- Eternal court, deceased
- Heaven, winged
- Character poses and expressions
‧ Two girls [Claimed - Mel]
‧ Projectionist [Claimed - Cristian]
‧ Judge [Claimed - Cristian]
‧ Old Lady (Beatrice) [Claimed - Mel]
‧ Cherubs [Claimed - Henry]


‧LOCATIONS‧

‧ Kindergarten classroom (2 views)[Claimed - Amber]
‧ Waiting room (1 view)
‧ Eternal court (2 views) [Claimed - Sheng-han]


‧PROPS‧

‧ Cigarette (Ecks)
‧ Magazine (Ecks)
‧ Drawing (Girl, Ecks)
‧ Marker (Ecks)
‧ Judge's "chair" (Judge) [Claimed - Sheng-han]


‧EFFECTS‧

‧ Inside of projectionist's mouth
‧ Memory correction


Edited with the adjustments suggested by Tony. We can always add things back in later if there's time or a need for it.

Well, she sure does have a butt

Starting by posting my sketches.
Giant blue lady on the right there had a fan. Apparently she's interesting! Red one is my favourite, to be frank.
Some giant floating heads I made to fit with the blue girl while trying to keep the visual interest.
Giant blue body with tiny red head.
Giant blue body with the thinner head from page 2.
And in light of the no-texture-no-colour-no-tone rule for tomorrow, the final one I'm proposing from me personally on this for tomorrow.
Unless someone convinces me otherwise.

Mrs Ecks Design for thursday

The line drawing for Thursday.....tomorrow. Thought I'd post it up because at the moment there's no word on my car. The mechanic said he's still looking for what is causing the problem so I don't know when I'm getting it back. So I thought just in case I'll post it on the blog. I took the same aproach but made a few small changes style wise and some small design wise. Feel free to leave your feedback.

READ THIS POST (AND LOOK AT THE VIDEO)

Alright, hopefully I got your attention and you're now commited to reading this wonderful post.

(A friendly reminder that you ahould be checking the blog every day. Just in case any of you forgot. And while we're on the topic, I added everyone else who wasn't on the e-mail notification list for comments posted on the blog. This should have been done a long time ago. You're welcome.)

Anyway, on with the actual point of this post. After viewing the awesome Vinni Puh, Amber pointed me to this awesome short of Sherlock Holmes, also in Russian (but with English subs). I posted part 2, but there's good stuff (and a hilarious moment) in part 1.

I know I'll be stirring shit with this, but I really like the look of it. And I think the animation techniques used would make for a great unified look, because everyone would be animating with the same "cutouts". End result - a tight looking film. It would make for a great experiment for us, as it would be a new technique. I understand that the group might be very much against it because of the limited animation style. I could defend this point by saying that tackling a style like this would look great on anyone's demo/portfolio next to full out animation stuff as it would show great versatility and an open mind, BUT I won't ram it down anyone's throat. This is a group project. But I'd really appreciate it if THE WHOLE GROUP would watch this example, and consider everything in it, from designs, to layouts, to animation, EVERYTHING.

And now, COMMENT!

mumbling? attitude ? so perfect

some AMAZING inspiration for ms. ecks from MATILDA!!!!!!!!

also, lookit that classroom~~ so bleak.. so awesome..

I LOVE THAT MOVIE!!!! that bitch still gives me the chills when i watch it. awesome acting. =D



here's another inspirational moment. it's storyboarded so well....

Vinni Puh & something equally relevant

I love this, especially the treatment of the characters - animation and design wise. So much expression with so little. The voices frikken awesome. And I don't understand a word of it!




Little girl inspiration, because we'll need it soon enough! :)


Once upon a time... from Capucha on Vimeo.

Thanks Amber :)

hi guys! i know due date is today, but can i get an extension for sunday night?? i also don't have a scanner so i'm not sure how to get them to you guys?? maybe i can find a kinkos tonight/tomorrow or something! i'll try my best for sunday night! is that okay?

Don't mean to disrupt the board work, but...

BBC 2008 Olympics
I keep saying I'm going to post, doing it now so I can close the browser and be done with it.
Example of flat textures in BG with the flat characters in flat colour. May as well not have any tone on them at all, all the gradients and soft edges. Take from it what you will.

Edited sequence

Hey guys (mostly Story crew)! I was looking over my sequence and thought I'd check if I understood what has changed in it alright. I also made a few minor changes in the order of the panels, added re-uses, planed to change the composition of the vertical pan (available as a wider shot for sc 11 and we can use a smaller field size for the sc 14 re-use), and I think I cut one shot as a result - is this alright with you guys? If not, I can make the original version as well. Lemme know?

*UPDATE* I also see a problem with the main judge using his hand to halt the projection in scene 5 - it defies the "puppet" logic that we're trying to establish in the scene. I'd rather draw him in a pensive pose instead, making his judgement. Any opposition to that?

*UPDATE NUMÉRO DEUX!* I feel a bit like a mom for saying this, but remember to use your own TV safe area (at least 90%, 80% and you should be more than safe - I forget exactly what the title safe area % is, but I know it's even less according to Mark, but I think I remember 70%...) when drawing your boards - it's not included on our group template!

*UPDATE the third* (I hope you're still reading) For continuity's sake, DOES THE MAIN JUDGE HAVE A GAVEL AT HIS CHAIR?? Or, you know, hammer space? You think Natalie's cool with hammer space?