Wednesday, January 04, 2012

Creative Pursuits

For the last while, I have been busy with a myriad of projects. Much of it is the typical fair in business, managing and building interactive online resources and doing print design and layout. Usually workload ebbs and flows, so when it’s ebbing, I punch out an illustration to upgrade or maintain my drawing/illustration skills. This results in the above image, which I titled “Twitter”. I printed up a batch of postcards and I am using them to mail out for marketing purposes.

I do all my illustrations digitally, and have been working primarily in Corel Painter. I managed to grab onto one of the first available Wacom Cintiq 24 HD tablets, and I have to say it has performed fabulously. Very well built and it inspires creativity.

Filling available time with both 3D exploration and supplementing it with 2D illustration at times appears to be an exercise in futility. 3D work and anything animation related is great to work on, but in this local market, there is little to sustain it. My “Chicken and Cow” proposal that I sent into the NFB is drifting, no response either or, because the word is that the local branch is overwhelmed.

So dwelling on what would come of it, I thought perhaps I should just focus on some sort of outcome that I can turn out efficiently and quickly. Not that my Elly Frankenstein initiative gets toasted, it’s still on the goal list, something else more immediate may make sense, a short term goal. So based on the style and approach I derived with the “Twitter” illustration, I’m plugging any free time towards doing a children’s book. I already have the concept in progress, titled “Jerome the Unicorn: Another Ordinary Day”. Text is written, and I’m current working on the cover illustration. What works well for such a project is that there are a finite number of illustrations, and it is fairly easy to track progress.

Friday, October 21, 2011

State of Mind cover

Working towards a style that fits with the nature of the story, I find is the most difficult challenge. I’m not entirely sure if the above image works for me, will have to let it gestate on my mind for a few days. I wanted o pull off an illustration that had a more graphical style, comic like but with more detail.

I have been pondering on the idea of shifting the book towards being a young readers novel rather than a graphic novel. This would allow me to deliver the story as one book rather than the three or four books it would take as a graphic novel. I have done some initial conversion of the script, and it flows well, and jives with my writing tendency.

As the work year rolls in, I hope to continue to roll out the pages in between everything else. If anything, I have a solid start on the cover.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Into 2011 and the Pixar Animation Class

It’s been a busy year with plenty of work combined with hosting glitches that turned my blog into somewhat of a mess. Got the blog issue resolved only recently, so now I can post in confidence again.

At the end of July, I attended the Pixar Animation Master Class in Montreal. Met a bunch of great folks, and gained insight into Pixar’s way of thinking when it comes to story development. For them, success with story revolves around their process of story boarding and how every shot is critiqued and prepared for development. There were two presenters who took a day over the two-day session. Neither of them worked on Cars 2, so that may provide some insight on the class, but I would say both sessions were fabulous.

Along with a half a dozen e-learning projects I worked on over the course of last year, I also developed another animation short submission for the NFB. On many of the projects this year, there was an ongoing agriculture theme. This led me to evolve this new story idea, which I initially titled “chicken and cow”. It’s a story that explores the ongoing shift in society from being largely rural to predominantly urban. Here in Alberta in 1908, only 9% of the population lived in cities, whereas today it nears 86%. That’s a dramatic shift. The story takes place in the 1950’s, and focuses on the relationship between a chicken and cow, and how they are affected when a changing environment forces them to deal with it. The chicken is rather resistant, and cow, well she’s more inclined to explore her options. Much of the story will evolve from both the inner conflict of the two characters, and their initially defined dependence on each other. The character arch, and how events unfold will determine where the story goes as it impacts them. I developed an illustration that opens a window to possible outcomes, which I entitled, “Urban Cow”.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Graphic Novel script, first draft

The first draft of the script for the Elly Frankenstein graphic novel is complete. It was a long process, and I estimate there will be much more fuss undertaken in review and editing. My policy is that it will get done when it gets done. I don’t believe in ripping a script and series of images together then throwing it out to the public is a good policy. Taking a journey through history, any great success comes from effort, experience and time. There is enough mediocre productions spread across many disciplines to confound society with more of the same. I don’t intend to add to that.

Once the script has been revised to my liking, and character sheets are drawn up, then it will be at a place where it can be shopped around. But in the immediate future, I’m tending to service work. A line of flash and print design projects will keep me busy particularly up through mid summer.

I am greatly fond of the work by Jamie Hewlett, who has made great strides in further developing the Gorillaz brand image. It is something truly unique when music and art can be combined to create something alternate to the mass of commercial work that is unleashed as culture. Great branding equals great results, and this is an example of a visual style that wins big rewards from my point of view. I developed my own illustration of one of the Gorillaz characters, Little Noodle.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Template for 3D modeling in Maya

There are a combination of resources that has inspired me to build a 3D model of what I would define as a “Wind and the Willows” archetypical character. Not long ago, I completed a series of animals modeled in 3D. Many of them were or the fur bearing type, i.e., wolverine, otter and a coyote. Add to that, I have been reading A History of Happiness that explores the psychological condition based on religion and other events that shifted its definition within the documented history of civilization.

In the 18th century, there was a shift in the westernized societies sense-of-self following the Renaissance that was no longer defined by religious doctrine. Personalities that had a significant influence on the human condition were Voltaire and Rousseau. They were countered by the darker tendencies of La Mettrie, Sade and Casanova.

Voltaire reflected on conditions that promoted understanding for the common good of all. His dialogue trended towards civil balance, and exposing and eliminating corruption and behavior that is in all intent, self-serving and malicious. On the extreme,  La Mettrie, who was a contemporary of Voltaire at that time, believed that happiness should be pursued at all cost and at whatever negative impact it may have on others. La Mettrie, from my perspective, represents the dark side of human nature, the primary behavior that thrives and defines antagonism, the prototypical villain. He did spend much time in jail, due to his unsavory exploits, and yet he enjoyed and thrived in a society that supported his philosophical directives. It was a confused time of both enlightenment and disregard.

Villainy is commonly regarded as a practice undertaken by beasts, those that prey on the weak and helpless. In La Mettrie, I would envision him as a lesser threat, more along the lines of a ferret. They tend not to appear dangerous, but when they become aggressive, they attack continually. Above are the studies of my beast, garbed in his best 18th century apparel. Templates are drawn for importing into the 3D application for modeling. I have elements completed on the body and the head. I have been working primarily in Maya 2011, which underwent a significant improvement on interface. It now feels like a high-end 3D application.

In the capture of the 3D model in progress is half of the head, then it is mirrored to fill out the other side. Once the head is done, it will be attached to the body, which I model separately.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Elly Graphic Novel introduction

At last, this is the official release of an Elly Frankenstein sample. Much head banging went into pulling together what I would define the direction of the graphic novel as a whole. My intent, within a short few frames, is to capture the personality of Stitches and Elly. I penciled many pages, but it just didn’t seem to capture the dynamics of the relationship. But this is it!

Pace of the events, and structure in each frame combines to create a directive. I believe fractured personalities creates great conflicts, tension breeds a continual barriers to achieving goals, enacting change, and I wanted to bring that out right and the beginning. With a huge hill to climb, both Elly and Stitches have a long journey ahead of them in order to find balance. Stitches has to deal with his ongoing limitations and psychological distractions, and Elly is confronted with a creation that just doesn’t quite fit with her expectations.

Personally, my next journey is to go through all that I have written to date, and infuse it with direction. Bring that tension, and expectations that the characters possess and build it towards the climax that I already have plotted. But, now I have something that provides credibility to my idea. Now it’s time to go searching for an agent and a publisher.

If anyone logging onto this site have any perspectives, feel free to leave comments.

Friday, March 05, 2010

Character Development

As a creative, it’s easy to get swayed by the impression, the work that other artist do and in some regards it’s great to have so much varying art at the tip of your fingers. On the other hand, when you are illustrating characters that should appear appropriate in your world, you tend to find yourself going in too many directions. Spinning around, having to say, alright. Lets just get this working … enough is enough! The characters have to respond to the message and the story. So I went back at it, drawing Elly in a different light.

I think I hopefully got a grip on her and I am now moving in the right direction. Image A, above, was an interim version. I even began creating a painted version of it. Once I got half way along, it still didn’t quite jive. So back to pencil … and I came up with image B. Then it started talking to me. Something about Elly needed to be off centre. Her spirit thrives on indie nature. Rough around the edges. Actually, more like fractured.

Rather than being ideal, she should more reflect the styling created by the Comic Book Illustrator Roman Dirge and his fabulous Lenore series. Or Jhonen Vasquez, creator of Squee, Invader Zim and Johnny the Homicidal Maniac. It also smells a bit like Tim Burton. I wish to bring out the dark side, and allow Elly to find the way to the light. There is a touch of madness in her nature, perhaps like all of humanity. Spending the entirety of life trying to find purpose. Upon this thought, I scripted up a scenario, the awakening of her creation, Stitches. Blocked it out into pages, and I am now in progress penciling out the page and they should appear here in their final form.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

The Third Option

There is much to debate when it comes to story development and delivery, no matter what format its final form may take. I hear a lot these days on character driven stories, and then opposite feedback supporting plot. I believe both are important in varying quantities dependant on the nature of the story. On one hand, without well-developed characters, the audience has no reason to care for the outcome. No vested interests in seeing the character arise from their struggle to hopefully achieve their apparent goal. Without plot, there is no momentum that retains the audiences’ interest. Momentum is a direct result of a character’s capacity to overcome the obvious.

Events in the story allow the characters to modulate between progressing forward towards their ultimate goal, and experiencing setbacks that erect barriers. Strength in execution comes as a result of veiling the character’s true goal in the character’s false perception of their limitations and capabilities, and in truth, the character’s initial directive may not be their goal at all. Their true desire lies underneath this mask of superficial societal expectations that are a result of their lifetime exposure to malformed ideals. It gets a bit complicated, but human nature is that way. The human machine spends the entirety of its lifetime being configured to the cultural norms that surround it. Prolonged exposure to stupidity begets stupidity. It’s only through the divine will of the character that they find the strength to overcome their limits. But even in the process of pushing through those barriers, personal foibles evolve from their sense of self, lack of personal value that limit their progression forward. They erect their own barriers. This complexity in character development doesn’t happen over night, it has to be massaged into the story. The writer has to develop a relationship with the characters, so that they gain insight of how that character will realistically react given the issues they have to deal with. This leads to the character’s need to make decisions.

The direction or choices that the character makes is what will eventually sculpt the plot of the story. Based on a range of possible choices that are defined by the character’s collected capabilities, they may choose the obvious, the contradiction or the third option.

The obvious is a result of an accumulation of superficial events that has transpired over the course of the story or can be perceived as experiences that has occurred in the characters lifetime prior to the story you are presenting. This results in a predictable story, and in most cases it is an unsatisfying experience for the audience. No Stars.

A contradiction comes from an underlying capability or limitation in the character’s personality and is alternate to what lies on the surface. This is the subtext. I.e., This character, at first, appears to be spineless, but given that they lived a life of harsh realities, they have more grit then what they exhibit due to their impressed humility. This contradictory choice at this point of the story, doesn’t make sense to the audience, but as the story progresses, the true nature of this character comes to light and it all comes together as the story wraps. This can be predicable, in some cases and can be equally boring as the obvious, but in doses it can be crafted into a relatively satisfying story. Two stars.

The third option is a result that comes from unpredictable circumstances. Either forces take place within the environment, that are outside the characters control, that alter the direction of the plot, or the character exhibits a fractured personality that could result in them making a myriad of possible choices. This results in characters that are the most fascinating, because they are unpredictable. Their internal nature is constantly being pulled by many competing forces, not just the predictable good and evil but also the slightly insane. They are a whirlwind of instability that constantly clashes with the expectations of society, and also their own expectations. Examples of this are Mel Gibson’s character in Lethal Weapon, or The Joker in the most recently released Batman film. Complex, unpredictable characters makes a great story for the audience, because they are drawn to the conflicts that reside within these people. In most part, these characters reflect the true nature of society as a whole as they try to grapple with their own human foibles in daily living. Four Stars.

Too often, stories are presented with results than stem from characters that make black and white decisions. Simplifying human nature to being bad or being good makes for a boring experience. Then there are stories that arise from the masses, and bubble with unpredictability, thus mirroring human nature in its true form. In scripting a story, a character can be crafted so that their decisions can be initially defined by their upfront appearance, then shift over the course of the plot and evolve to be something that is far more dynamic. In the end, efforts equals results and the third option will reveal the desired results.

Friday, December 18, 2009

My Process in creating a Graphic Novel, Trial by Error

As I push through developing this graphic novel in between other projects, I have a tendency to consistently think through the process and even make correlations with daily life. As the writer and illustrator, there is the visible construct and the intangible concept. The constructs are the sketches, the paper and the visual images that I lay down on paper, and the intangible is the conflict and the story that results from the protagonists struggle to overcome known and unknown barriers. The more I work this story over in my mind and on paper, additional conditions, personality quirks and situational conditions begin to manifest and find their way into the plot.

Above are the pencils for page 1. Given it’s the first page, I am nitpicking over details. Working over the elements to ensure they work for me, nothing like being self critical. But it’s now at a point where I feel I have a base to evolve from, the other pages are moving along a lot faster. In the end, I really have no idea how many pages it will take to complete the story. I work on an 11 x 17 sheet, which I scan in to the computer. I will import the page into Manga Studio. I may convert the line work in Photoshop so that it is blue in tone, so I can better separate the base from the black line art I will add overtop. Once in Manga Studio, I can ink and how that will transpire, I am unsure because there are many ways to ink, many ways to block out the image. Initially, I will plan that the entire story will be black and white, which is typical for a book of this nature.

For me, story is a reflection of the real world, and in this case, it’s current human conditions compressed into an alternate reality. At this point story-wise, I am quite unsure what events I may introduce to build out the characters and provide situations that help define their personalities and their relationships with others. That will come when I get back into scripting mode. What I do find intriguing, is in the process of creating a story, for me there still remain many unknown events that may befall these characters. The primary character has a perceived goal, but that goal initially is unknown to him within the structure of the story. Many ways, in the real world, we go through our daily routines with some perception of where we want to go, often our real goals remain buried as we struggle just to exist, pay the bills, pursue “stuff” or become overly involved in directions that is not our own. The primary character “Stitches” has a whole heck of issues to contend with if he hopes to resolve his dilemma. Some of them are derived from the world abroad, but the real big issue resides within him. It’s hard being a fuzzy stuffed rabbit in a big world of fearful and intolerable people.

I’m always pushing the story around, and I do spend time exploring how others derive and develop their stories, and not-surprisingly, it is quite varied. I don’t believe, in all cases that comics or their derivatives are the best-written pieces of literature. There are a few lights that shine very brightly, but many fall into that stereotypical bla, bla, bla with not much direction or character development. Story is the most critical part of any media project, may it be film, a novel or a comic. I say, master the art of story telling first and foremost, and discover the process that gives life to the characters you create.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Initial pencils

As I work through the initial pencils of the Elly Frankenstein pages, currently working through page three, I feel a twitch of excitement, wow … penciling pages, it starts to take form. In my mind, I’m getting a sense of where I want to take it style wise based on what feels right for me and who my intended audience is. The process of formulating these pages isn’t necessarily coming naturally, second-guessing composition, framing and page flow. In itself, one panel may look fine, but in context of the entire page with flow of the story, character positioning in the environment, it can throw everything else off. Detail begins to add up, and I do understand it is essential where necessary when an environment has to provide the reader with a sense of place and time. I want this to be done right the first time; each element is critical to the overall success of the project. Everything has to be given its due, or in the end, it will all come tumbling down like a house of cards.

As I build these panels, other plot ideas begin to percolate forth that may lend themselves well to events that may transpire later in the story, and I get this itchy need to shift back into scripting. Scripting is coming along, but I’m only into the early scenes of the spine. But the plan is to pencil and ink four pages so I can be passed onto an agent, then I will continue on with the writing of the story to completion, followed by editing … editing … editing. One thing I know about writing, is that any scene, paragraph or word is expendable. In the process of evolving the story, later events can have an impact on earlier events, sort of quantum in their nature, so I find myself going back and adjusting scenes. The entire story has to exist in it self as a whole. I won’t go into quantum of human existence and how it relates to story because it is a whole other extended story, too much to explain in one blog posting.

I have to give credit to Scott McCloud, today I found my way back to his site and it’s all brand new. Freshly designed and updated. If anyone is into comics, they have to acquaint themselves with Scott. He has definitely inspired the great alternate wave of graphic novel creation. http://scottmccloud.com/

Other projects continue to filter in, design, illustration and interactive media. The illustration work is great, because it allows me to exercise those illustration skills, explore other stylistic approaches and work on my human anatomy drawing skills. Very important to focus and draw, draw, draw.

Once I get the first page inked for Elly, then I will post it here …

Monday, November 23, 2009

Elly Progressing

With the script in progress, I’m getting a better sense of where it is all going. So in the pursuit of defining a style of the main character, it has been an ongoing shifting escapade of scribbles. From the outright silly to more realistic, more mature. I settled on a style that falls somewhere in between. The story is not ideal for wee children, but typically graphic novels don’t usually trend to this age group. As well, I have to consider whether I would go black and white or colour. Black and white is far more cost effective when printing and it is more common to have teen and adult materials done in this fashion. Since most graphic novels run about 150 to 200 pages, colour can get a bit up there in price when printing. So I have settled on b/w for now with a stylized Elly (above) that will work well in that format and for that audience. Now, begins the process of blocking out and building the pages.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Afternoon Excursion

This illustration is an evolutionary part of the Elly Frankenstein story. Both in style and concept. The grave yard always holds some mystical sway, and most cases it’s presented as a dark foreboding environment. If you are a practitioner of the obscure medical arts of reanimating life, then it’s a shopping mall for new parts. It all depends on your up-bringing. This positions Elly as a contradiction to the norm, whereas most society strives to fit in. Elly constantly ponders the idea of fitting in with the society that surrounds her, but whenever she touches it, she discovers that it leaves her cold.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Ottawa Animation Festival 2009

I had the opportunity to attend the animation festival and the television animation conference that ran from October 14 to the 17. Both events bring together a diversity of practitioners and enthusiasts who are whole-heartedly involved with animation. Animation comes in two flavours, commercial and unconventional. Commercial animation is targeted to a specific audience and usually falls into the realm of broadcast and its primary purpose is to derive revenue. Unconventional animation tends to be expressive and it thrives on it’s own. It can be revenue driven but not always. For me, the intention of this trip was to provide me with more insight of where Elly Frankenstein belongs, in print or in film.

The message that rang through loud and clear is that the animation business is a tough grind at the best of times. Success tends to come out of nowhere, and usually from the most unlikely people. This makes the industry diverse and rich in spirit, but at times it appears in many avenues, there are gatekeepers who attempt to keep the unconventional at bay. The internet has become a moderator to some extent, allowing practitioners of unconventional animation to expose their messages to a much wider audience.

One such creator is Don Herztfeldt. Much of his efforts are independent from governing bodies, so the message that comes through is his, and it’s honest and unrepentant. His sketches have more life to them than what comes through in regular TV fare. It’s not for younger audiences, but it’s honest and doesn’t attempt to manipulate us. Much of his ideas come through in bite size packages, which provide quick insight into human brevity. He works, in most cases, independently working over his traditional animation camera unit to pull out something that is untypical of what would be defined as traditional. The Internet has played a big role in disseminating his productions.

Another successful practitioner, Henry Selick, Director of Coraline and previously, Nightmare Before Christmas, in many ways reflects unconventional tendencies. Borrowing the Coraline story from Neil Gaiman, Henry put his own twist to the story and made it work for film. His craft is traditional, and his team has assembled wonderfully complex maquettes that reveal plenty of movement and expression. Both Coraline and Nightmare Before Christmas are examples of productions that have managed to escape the conventional white washing, and are able to bring forth a story that digs deeper into the dark labyrinth of human nature.

I could talk on a dozen experiences that came from attending this festival, but what was more apparent and affecting to me is where my mind-set resides on the industry as a whole. Most notably, where Elly Frankenstein lives. Even though animation has it’s merits, Elly isn’t conventional or in the least, it refuses to be categorized. As I develop the story, it’s taking on a format that is evolutionary, and needs an extended story.  I believe it will come to life as a graphic novel, because in that format I can build a story and prove that it has merit.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Character Development and Scripting

I have had some time to further work on scripting and illustration for Elly Frankenstein. Working the concepts around always reveals something new that I feel inclined to either add to the characters style or the nature of the story.

The character style has gone back and forth and I don’t think I will have that fully resolved until I have a completed story. From my perspective, style has to reflect the nature of the story. If your characters have a silly appearance then it would be somewhat difficult to connect to events. Above is some of the initial sketches of Stitches where he took on a more cartoony type appearance. Probably would be fine for something that is conditional slapstick in nature, but Elly Frankenstein’s world is beginning to take on a more serious tone. I have invested more time in developing the story, which feels more like a graphic novel than anything else, and elements are tending to the dark side. The less than wonderful trademarks of human nature are beginning to reveal themselves in the story as it progresses. It feels right to me, and it adds depth that is not typical.

On the writing side, the story changes and evolves. I have been reading the recent released book “Directing the Story” by Francis Glebas. It’s focus is on story boarding, but Francis is a long time practitioner with Disney. With Disney, story boarding is the major process used for story development. It allows for a fluid approach to visualizing the events that take place on the way to creating a well structured and well-defined audience experience. There a few points I have been working into my story that I picked up from this book. Even though the book specifically deals with film, all points are perfectly valid with graphic novels, because they both rely on images to tell the story.

The points that I have been exploring are how to better integrate dialogue. With the characters, dialogue will ensue, but visually having talking heads jumping back and forth is not all that interesting and it can get a bit monotonous. So tips to resolve this at the beginning of a long dialogue sequence, initially pose an issue that needs to be resolved. At the end of the dialogue, this issue can come full circle to completion. The Second tip is to integrate action with dialogue, don’t you’re your characters standing around bantering, have them doing something. Film is moving pictures so make things move. For me, it makes a lot of sense. For more info, check out to book, I recommend it.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Rebuilding Elly in Maya

After much inspiration and the influence of ongoing 3D modeling work, I spent some time recreating an image of Elly Frankenstein. With plans to attend the Television Animation Conference in Ottawa in the fall, I plan on participating in the fast pitch sessions. If anything, I will gain better insight into the industry abroad. In Edmonton, we have a fairly small film industry, and exposure to international markets is minimal. Most work I acquire through the local film community is mostly after effects design and animation work on introduction titles and internal support visuals. If I hope to move more into the 3D arena, exploring outside the local market is a necessity.

The new version of Elly is more mature and on the cusp of womanhood. There are always great potential when building story around female characters around this age group because the potential for conflict extend from the internal to the external. There is a lot of growth that occurs between the age of 10 to 14, and this is ideal for Elly.

In rebuilding the 3D model, I plan to shift into Maya. I like the advanced animation features that come with the application, and the opportunity to work with a different environment is motivation enough for me. Lightwave 3D, which I have been using for many years, is a great tool, but change and growth is a good thing. Diversity keeps those brain cells firing on a regular basis.

On visual approach and style, I’m framing the constructs of my world with Victorian Steam Punk and organic growth from soil. The soil represents the origin of life. This theme defines the world that Elly resides in, thus defining the character and her environmental influences. I believe by having a clear definition of the world your character resides in helps to ensure visual consistency and brings credibility to your characters pursuits. As well, having world parameters will provide me with the wool to weave my story for the graphic novel. I do plan using the 3D character I build within an image for the cover of the book. Other themes that are prevalent are rebirth and the coming of age, fertility. I find it ironic that Elly, who is on the precipice of womanhood, takes liberty in giving birth to new creations at the time of the industrial revolution.

Along with other ongoing projects, I hope to get the modeling process going on Elly.