Moho Forum

Hi All,

My name is Brent and this will be my production diary for a 26-second sequence I am producing for an independent music video.

I will be posting both pre-production art (character designs, storyboards, layouts, background art) and progress/production art and animation. Your comments and critique are welcome.

The artist is Lanre Obisesan from Buffalo, New York and the track is called Yewande. Here is the segment I will be producing animation for:

http://www.brentlowrie.com/Yewande/Yewande_animated.mp3

The schedule for this production is extremely tight (two weeks) so I may not have as much time to explain process as much as I'd like but I will try my best. I will also try to reply to comments as best I can as well but forgive me if I am too verbose in my responses. After the sequence is locked and delivered I will try to espand on process stuff I might have missed during production.

I hope you enjoy the journey, it's likely going to be a wild ride (at least on this end )

Good luck -- look forward to looking over your (virtual) shoulder...

So here's the scoop. I submitted an initial character sketch and a deposit invoice to the client a few days ago and haven't heard from him since. Learning the hard way a long time ago, I won't proceed too far without a deposit from a new client so here I sit, not idle mind you, but I don't have anything else to show right now.

Perhaps, I'll start another thread and show a little run cycle I did for a video game. Cheers!

Brent Lowrie wrote:Perhaps, I'll start another thread and show a little run cycle I did for a video game. Cheers!

Post away! That's one of the things about animation -- it's endlessly interesting, and there are thousands of ways to do it!

So things are finally getting rolling...

Here are some progress images for a concept drawing of the main character, a loose caricature of Lanre'.

and here is a cleaned up version created in AS...



The other images were created with Artrage 2... if you don't have it, get it!

If you are interested, you should check out Lanre's website for a taste of his music. http://officiallanre.com/ Very sweet neo soul sort of vibe. I will be posting some storyboards soon as well so check back again.

Hey Brent,
I have some questions about your final AS image render.

What fill variations have you used in the various shapes?

In particular - the faux bevel and shade on the fitted cap
- and the pigmentation on the skin.
- from the image it appears a contiguous pigment filter has been applied to the colours on the skin and clothing - how have you achieved this and is this intended? Because it makes the skin and clothing appear to not be seperate.

That's a very well drawn character. I'm sure your client will be pleased with it. I share Lordstok's curiosity about how you filled and painted your character. I'm betting you used shading for the bevel on the hat and "splotchy" for the fill. Whatever you used it's to really good effect.

Thanks for the comments. I used a combination of a gradient fill and a splotchy effect on the face and shirt - a gradient and shading on the beanie. When you see Some of the backgrounds you'll see thel tie-in. I an going for amore earthy or organic look within the clean cartoon line. So yes, it was intentional and I'm glad you appreciate it, Cheers!

Brilliant use of the splotchy fill effect! Fantastic.

I often wondered what I could use that effect for. It is perfect. Gives it a very subtle "natural" media look.

At first glance it actually looks like it was drawn on slightly textured wrinkled paper... or an uneven watercolor wash. I actually thought it might be a scan.

-vern

Thanks Vern

As much as I would like hand-paint every frame that wrinkles paper look is what I am after so I appreciate your picking up on that. I am really excited to get an image up with the background treatment I am thinking of... just a matter of time and time is what I do not have a lot of. I will have more up tonight... a layout for each scene. Oh, ya, here is the shot list for those who are curious:

Sq1sc1 - camera pans left to right over the rooftops of an urban downtown - steam rises from rooftop vents

Sq2sc1 - Lanre' and Wally driving down the street in a 745 Bmw/ Lanre' is looking pre-occupied and depressed

Sq2sc2 - Lanre' & Wally see an S-Class Mercedes Benz pull up in front of a club door

Sq2sc3 - Lanre's expression changes as he recognises a familiar face in the Benz

Sq2sc4 - Lanre's ex gets out of the car with help of the other guy

Sq2sc5 - Scene fades to Lanre' in the alley performing song while Wally looks on

Sq2sc6 - Scene fades to Lanre' shouting Yewande from mountain top

Hi all,

Here are some storyboard panels:

Sq1sc1 - pan L to R over city rooftops:


Sq2sc1 - this comes later in the video so we revisit the end frame from sq1sc1:


Sq2sc2 - BEV of Lanre's car driving down street:


Sq2sc3 - shot of Lanre' and Wally in car, L looking distracted and depressed:


I have a few more scenes to compose, which I will pos when I am done. Then it will be production art. I have another artist helping me with the background textures. Cheers!

Hi Brent, beautiful work you have done here! I saw you're using the splotshy effect, bevare! I have been using it and if you have any camera movements the splotschy effect follow the camera and it will not stay where it should stay, I have not found any way to fix that, maybe there is, if you find it please let me know, I really like the effect and would like to use it more often.

cheers ulrik

Thanks ulrik!

I am not planning on any camera moves in scenes using the splotchy effect but I really appreciate the heads up. Actually for this production, it would be welcome to have the texture moving, depending on the way it moves. I suspect AS applies the effect like a full-screen overlay which stays put while the objects move under it.

Anyways, thanks for the comments.

Here are the rest of the storyboard panels (as limited as they are under the circumstances)...













I hope you enjoy the images. I am starting production art tonight and will have some of it up tomorrow. Cheers!