Tortoise and the Hare - Polished Designs

Figure Invention for Animation - Character Design

For this week, we made some themed character designs. I decided that I wanted to center my designs around the tortoise and the hare. I think there's more to be told about that story, and I can relate to it on a very personal level. Plus, there are built in design conventions because these characters are traditionally opposites.

The tortoise and the hare in their most literal forms. I was thinking that this would be a 1930s kind of era, where the hare is a smooth talking conman and the turtle is a mild mannered bank teller, something of that nature. Of course they get involved in some kind of crazy heist, maybe the furry critter mafia... haha.

Here are the tortoise and the hare as... sort of, RPG type characters. The hare has legendary precision and a bladed bow. Her eyes can see the finest detail, and she's fast! Hares have distinctive feet, so I had her store her arrows in bands attached to her boots. It looks kind of impractical, but I feel like it's interesting! Meanwhile, the tortoise is a brute-strength, slow moving kind of guy. Defense is the best offense; when he takes his shell off his back, he can protect himself easily! And when he's not protecting himself, he bangs his shield like a taiko drum to attract enemy attention.

Finally, the pair appear as a high school mystery crime fighting duo! I designed the hair as a peppy, "alternative" kind of girl with her own sense of fashion. She wears a pair of jet boots... what else would go with her theme? The tortoise is a time-sensitive jock who reluctantly finds himself involved in the crazy mysteries of the town, often serving as the voice of reason and the more responsible of the duo. He's got a futuristic shield made from the same technology as those jet boots, maybe it has some other functions, like lock picking.

Figure Invention for Animation - Historical Redraws

So, our assignment this week was to take some famous photos from history and re-draw them, and to use value. Here is my first approach.

So this is actually a picture of a woman visiting Pablo Picasso during his studies... but artists drawing artists is pretty boring. So I decided I wanted to depict a father daughter relationship at the dinner table. I started the piece thinking that they'd just be eating, but then I wondered why the girl was hovering over him in my piece. Can you decipher what's going on here? It's subtle!

If you hadn't guessed, don't feel bad. I placed the fork in the father's hand the wrong way after watching Planet of the Apes. Getting warmer? It's a daughter trying to help her father battle Alzheimer's. I hope the emotion comes across!

Last of all, I had to take a stab at the photo that literally everyone knows... the famous sailor kissing photo. During my research, I found that apparently this wasn't a romantic reunion at all, but rather it was a sexual assault on an unsuspecting nurse by a drunken sailor. America, you disappoint me. Luckily, the Disney romantic in me tells me to ignore that and create my own story... a post-war lover's kiss. All their friends are happy for them!

Figure Invention

Hey there, thought I'd do a post on my classwork. I'm being trained by the wonderful Helen Chen, and last week, Shiyoon Kim came and did a demo. So honored to be training under such talented Disney artists. Anyway, here's a sketch dump.

 Figures in motion!

 Experimenting with different face styles and exaggerations.

 Curves and angles! I here I wanted to convey a twist motion.

 This is using a different style of color than I'm used to, but the figures and pose turned out nice.

Finally, some misc doodles and notes. That's Will Ferrell in the bottom right there.

 Notes about actions and meaning. Primary and secondary action are just as important for board artists as they are for animators!

 Finally, here are some random people.

Various Sketches

Hey, so sorry for the late post, but I've been extra busy with work and class these days. Time for a sketch dump.

Here are some hands, very important.

And these are cafe sketches of various people in Burbank. This was an assignment for class. I promise I'll get a scanner someday.

Let's finish off with some pose studies!

That's it for now!

Three Reviews in One

Alright, I've got to do some reviewing. In the past couple of weeks, I've seen like five movies and played like four new games, and while I'm not going to cover all of them in this post, I just gotta get some things off of my chest. Now be warned, these opinions might be unpopular, but I'm tired of praiseworthy works of art getting ignored while B list gets all the attention and revenue. The intention of this post is not to reverse an inevitable situation with the product sales, but to point out the flaws in the judgement of the mainstream consumers of entertainment. Let's start with the most recent. And in case it wasn't obvious, spoilers ahead.

GODZILLA

Don't let this nice desktop background fool you; Godzilla is nowhere near this height. He even gets crushed by a building in the movie, owch. However, he is the biggest Godzilla to ever grace the screen, and although his shape makes for some excellent framing, he certainly needs to lay off the radioactive nachos. Despite his positively pear shaped person, he manages to look pretty cool swimming around and fighting, even though the movie asks me to suspend my disbelief and ignore everything I know about science. I'm supposed to believe that he lives in the ocean and swims like a pro even when his limbs aren't built for it? He eats radioactivity from the earth's core, eh? I'm no zoologist, but an "alpha predator" like him seems highly improbable.

That leads me to the main problem I have with Godzilla: it begs and hopes that I, as a member of the audience, am a moron. Whether it's the confused motivations of the characters, the strange narrative, the bumbling behavior of the soldiers, or the fact that this movie really wants you to like its subject matter to the point of forgetting the payoffs, I am forced to reconcile my intelligence with the pseudoscience being thrown at me. And the fact that Bryan Cranston doesn't make it through the second act and also doesn't ever see godzilla bothers me, even if it is only a personal complaint of mine.

Do you want to know whose motivations make the most sense in "Godzilla"? Are you sure? Because it's the bad guys. Or at least the creatures that the film wants you to dislike. And yeah, the MUTOs (aw no mothra?) are assholes, but everything that they do is consistent with them trying to continue the existence of their species. I can't even say the same for us humans; our solution in the movie was to bomb them with the very fuel they need to survive and hope that there weren't any humans nearby. Godzilla has no real business rising out of the sea to fight them other than the fact that the audience came here to see a monster brawl. Is Ken Watanabe (who played his role very well, by the way) supposed to be a scientist? Why does he only offer overly Asian adages and vague Darwinian common sense to the military commanders in charge of saving us?

 Alright, that's enough of the criticism. To it's credit, godzilla looks immensely fantastic, and even though the design is a little on the Barney side, the big guy has never looked more real. There are some nice things happening with the cinematography too; there are a couple of excellent shots that pay homage to the older godzilla movies. Last of all, the fact that the giant monsters pretty much ignore us humans until we piss them off is excellent.

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2

Onto Spiderman 2. Seriously, come on people. This movie was way better than I expected. I'm not sure where to begin. Maybe I'll follow a similar format as I did with Godzilla, bad first, then the good.

First of all, there were some who were misled (by the trailer) to believe that we'd see Doctor Octopus or the Vulture making an appearance. Although I was not fooled, I totally understand this. Shame on you Spiderman trailer editor! However, there was still a surprise villain in there at the end. The movie's pacing was questionable at times, but honestly, this is how a comic book movie typically feels. We should all take off our rose colored lenses and look at Raime's first Spiderman again, or even at Marvel's Iron Man movies. The plot was, at times, convoluted, and there was some truly unforgivable camera work in the movie's opening during Richard Parker's plane battle. Oh, and as a huge fan of the more traditional mutagen-laced Rhino, I was disappointed to see that they just threw Alex into a silly looking mech. Top it off with the heart-wrenching death of one of the more well developed characters from the Amazing-verse, and I can see how this movie isn't getting rave reviews.

But the bad ends there, at least for me. I think it probably goes without saying that I love Spiderman, and I particularly love the fact that this movie stayed true to its classic roots. From Peter's romantic gesture to Gwen with his webs to the framing of her final scene, to even the characterization and development of electro. "But Trey, Godzilla also stayed true to its roots". Yeah, it's a bit hypocritical of me, I admit it. I'd argue that the very idea behind the godzilla franchise is ridiculous and beyond simplistic, and that spiderman is a more real and more well explored universe. But that's an opinion. And we're about to go all out on the cold-hard facts.

The fact of the matter is, the storytelling is there. And story is huge for me. The characters have very real and believable motivations that make sense. Electro's story is built around Max's mundane existence and the idea of being noticed and accepted. Meanwhile, Gwen is fully prepared to accept the drawbacks of dating a superhero even though Peter has reservations. She is motivated to continue her education, and you can feel that need to solidify her relationship with Peter, who pushes her away despite his desire to be with her. Peter's focus this time around seems to be about unraveling the mysteries of his parents' disappearance, but it's more than that. With the nods to Aunt May and Gwen throughout, it's clear that Peter is trying to create a mindset that works for his human side and his Spidey side; he needs to face this dichotomy and he needs to have the answers to who he can trust. And throughout all that, the surprise death of Norman Osborn throws Harry into his own character arc as his company tries to undermine him and leads him down a path that dooms him to follow in his father's dark footsteps. This was well-established despite never having seen Norman become the first Green Goblin. Aunt May even has her own arc that deals with her trying to find work and deal with the men in her life moving on in one way or another.

The visuals are fantastic, the music is there, the cinematography was awe-inspiring and comic booky, going as far as Action Man/Sherlock spider sense zooms on certain parts of the scene in slow motion. Spidey has some absolutely hilarious quips throughout. Peters actions as Spiderman are very justified; he feels like a teenager with a good heart who became a superhero, not some self-righteous vigilante. And let's not forget the on screen (and off-screen) chemistry between Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone. This movie does not ask me if I'm an idiot. This movie asks me questions like "did you notice the way we foreshadowed this scene?" or  "you cool with electric eels being part of the origin story for electro?" To which I responde "YES, and YES, gimme those eels Spectacular Spider Man style". This movie is amazing, maybe not perfect, but quite amazing, and I have yet to read a review that uses anything other than the writer's personal opinions to prove otherwise.

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

Weren't expecting a game? Well don't go ape on me... ahah... cause Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze is BANANAS. It's good, I'm not MONKEYING around. I am so sorry about all of that. The fact is, Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, hereafter referred to as DKTF, has been a pure joy so far. Major complaints regarding the 3D DK series are as follows: "Donkey Kong is harder than Mario or Yoshi" "Donkey Kong's levels just don't quite add up to the creativity of Mario platformers" or "It lacks innovation, another platformer, great". Well I'm here to tell you that only one of those comments is technically correct.

DKTF is HARD. In the very best way possible. There are times in the levels where you die to something you simply can't see coming, but these times are rarer than they were in past entries. From the get-go, Donkey Kong establishes a language it uses to communicate to the gamer. It's a format that A) introduces a challenge at its most basic form... B) asks you to repeat a harder version of that challenge... and C) asks you to add innovation and reflex to an EVEN harder version of the challenge. This is a reinforcement that teaches the player that if they die, it's probably their fault. And it feels GOOD. There are a lot of satisfying skill moments in the game that make you feel powerful.

As far as the level design goes, this blows even New Super Mario Bros away. Each level has a unique feel, with recurring elements. You'll explore all kinds of places, from the seashore ridden with mangroves and crashed planes Bermuda-triangle style to the rustic banana temple ruins to a windmill town in autumn to an African safari that reminds me of "I Just Can't Wait to be King" to an underground rat cave to a treetop roller coaster to a crazy sawmill MAN I could go on and on.

You're joined by Diddy Kong, who gives a nice slow descent to DK with his rocket pack. But this time, you'll also encounter Dixie Kong, who adds a flutter jump to DK. Still want more? Cranky Kong adds a bouncy jump that can land on spikes! CRANKY KONG!

Complaints? Well, I wish there weren't any shake controls for player 2, and I wish that there was something other than the main adventure to do. But honestly, playing the levels is extremely satisfying, and there's tons of secret stuff to collect, although I have no idea what my motivation for collecting is.

Class Photos

I had such a great semester at the Concept Design Academy. It's great that I found a school that I can attend on weekends while still maintaining a full time job doing 3d work! I am truly thankful for my situation.

Here are some heartwarming class photos. D'aww.

I guess this first one was a serious one... haha.

Here's a photo of the class at the Bradbury Building. Ignore the red-eye!

Outside drawing organics. I like how we are framed by the trees!

Outside the Forest Lawn Museum. We're all super skilled at this point... obviously.

I'll be posting more on my blog soon, since I've enrolled for another class. The topic next time? Characters!

Sketching for Environments - Schematic View

So this week in class, we went over how to prepare a plan view of an environment. This skill is increasing in popularity due to the prevalence of 3D sets in productions.

I went digital with my first schematic, starting from this drawing I did in class during the demo.

It was challenging to keep everything from bending around, but this was a good foundation to go into photoshop with.

This is the studio of Animatic Media, a place I know very well after working there for three months. As much as I enjoy working in 3D software, I don't get to do any drawing or storyboarding, which is a bummer.

Next I got to finishing up a schematic of Crocodile Creek I roughed out in class. I wanted to try something with color, just to convey how I would want this place to feel. This was a color wash in photoshop, nothing special. Didn't have time to do a full painting. I also felt that the light would help infer how much cave cover there was in this place. It's becoming less and less of a creek the more I work on it...

Sketching for Environments - If There's a Smile in Your Heart...

...there's no better time to start!

Hey guys, time for another blog post!

Ed gave us a pretty unique assignment this week. And it involves a certain half-century old Disney property... Peter Pan and the strikingly varied Neverland environment. This is a great environment and I am surprised that I hadn't thought of doing a study of this before the assignment.

We were assigned two specific areas and a story moment.

My areas were Crocodile Creek and the Neverland Jungle. Thus my story moment was the pirates searching for treasure. Some background info... first of all, I watched Peter Pan for this assignment, twice, and I'm pretty sure they never actual visit Crocodile Creek in that movie. The most results that I found relating to it were from Jake and the Neverland Pirates, which present a very friendly and colorful creek.

I did a couple of studies with these open skies and sunny palms, but after that, I decided to focus more on my gut interpretation.

Looking for treasure is always an interesting topic, and since our camera can be placed anywhere that Tink can fly, I decided to show how easy it might be to rowboat past some buried treasure. But maybe this type of search was too reliant on serendipity, maybe the treasure wasn't hidden, but more guarded.

I wanted to put it out in the open, right next to the old Tick Tock Croc, here depicted in a more realistic style. Kind of like the way dragons horde treasure, even though this isn't really in line with the actual lore of Neverland, it was fun. I had trouble with the horizon line a bit here.

Both of these next ones use a similar approach, showing a fairy's eye view of a boat searching the shadowy waters. This version of crocodile creek is more like a caved lagoon area, with the bottom image being way deep into the cave, where in the foreground we see an alarm clock, a reminder of the terror that lurks among the bounty.

The jungle gave me a lot of trouble. I knew what foreground elements I wanted, but when it came time to draw the midground and background, I didn't know where my focal point was. I consider these a failure! I tried to reaffirm myself with the assignment and eventually found better compositions.