Storyboards! Monster High - Freaky Fusion.

STORYBOARDS! Monster High "Freaky Fusion" 

When we were working on this film, I really wanted to work on this sequence and greedily, took it for myself, to see if I could storyboard a romantic scene.

Here's the set-up: So Frankie is all upset about her heritage and wondering whether she is just a piece of parts  - since she is really just made up of different human's body parts... does she have a soul?

In the script: (a strong script, btw) the things written were the dialogue, and the acts of Neighthan approaching, Frankie grabbing Neighthan, (but not the pop-off hand bit - I added that myself), and then Frankie electrocuting Neighthan. From there, it is my job as a storyboard artist to bring this scene to life so that it is just not a bunch of 'talking heads'

INTERPRETING THE SCRIPT: here's how I decided to visually depict the words  on the page.
I set up the super-wide shot to show Frankie really small in frame - really show that she is feeling 'small'

  Neighthan, the 'love interest' approaches her and tries to strike up a conversation with her - as 'love interests' should do.

Frankie isn't even thinking of romance at this moment, so I had her physically leave the side 2 shot and create physical distance from Neithan... with their dialogue continuing over the extreme wide-low-angle shot of the set - for even more 'distance'   She does come back to continue her conversation and at this point I also wanted to reiterate the romantic possibilities of the moment by surrounding her in 'Twilight-esque' string lights and candles

She moves back to Neithan and when she actually refers to herself as 'parts' I had her look at her hand and I made it  'pop off' and start to stroke Neithan's hair.  This was for a reason. I wanted to make her hand the 'catalyst' to spark the romance - to awaken Frankie to this person in front of her, and get away from from her introspection.

 She again breaks free, separating herself to continue her self-exploration, and when they sit up against the wall, I had Frankie slam her 'hand' down onto Neithan's hand. This again would give her 'hand' an opportunity to awaken Frankie to the romance... she finally notices what is happening, and her sparks fly... electrocuting Neithan in the process.

She goes to see if he is alright, and he awakens to finish their conversation...

 we finish on a shot of Frankie and then the wider shot of the set, including a 'heart shaped' whirlpool of lava..

On the very last shot of Frankie, I had her eye direction look down and to her left. In doing research, this eye position usually means having an internal dialogue. I closed out the scene, 'bookmarking it' the same way I started it, with a wide shot of the environment and bats wiping frame to black. :)

Life Drawing with Lots o' Boots!

 

 

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Life Drawing - AstraNaught!

Life Drawing! The model reminded me of Sandra Bullock, so I drew her as an astronaut in some drawings :)

Max Steel Storyboards - episode 15 'Driven'

I created this storyboard sequence for the opening for episode 15 of Max Steel. One of the greatest things ever is that I got free reign to create shots, camera angles, as I saw fit.  And I thank my Supervisor and Director for allowing the freedom.  Basically in storyboarding for - the script says, 'car chase' and its up to us to create the sequence. Also, see the previous post for the animation and dialogue. Enjoy!

Max Steel: Driven (Episode 15)

I got called upon to storyboard the 'Opening' (the story bits before the opening titles) for this episode of Max Steel.. Check out the opening 2 minutes in comparison to the storyboards.

Max Steel Storyboards - Truckstop (Bonus Clip)

Here are the storyboards I directed / drew for this Max Steel short, Truck Stop.  While working on these, I had total, free reign to tell the stories the way I wanted.. and of all of them, this was my favourite. It allowed me to really show some cool action shots and camera choices.

Originally, I had the boy at the end cry because his balloon popped AND his ice cream fell and NOT because there was a truck gonna run him down... !  I also boarded the ending with a bunch of balloons flying into the sky, but whenever something doesn't make the final cut, I'm never upset -- the entire animation process is a collaborative effort - although my choice of an interracial female couple with an adopted son DID make the cut! Yay!  Fun Times!

The final animation can be seen here:  Max Steel - Truck Stop

Max Steel: Truck Stop (Bonus Clip)

Here is the animated clip of the animated Max Steel short, Truck Stop.  For these shorts, we had a crew of 3 animators, myself (storyboard/directing) and a fantastic Director.

Max Steel Storyboards - Last Requests

Storyboards I created for the Max Steel Bonus clips: had an intense time (tight schedules), but it was a great time doing these.

Final Animation here: Max Steel - Last Requests

Max Steel Storyboards - Tour Of N-Tek

Here are storyboards I directed and drew for the Max Steel bonus clips - check out the finished animation here:
Tour of N-Tek - Max Steel (Bonus Clip)

Painting from Life - Digital

Here's a digital life painting from today. My set-up was an Intuos 3, MacBook, and Photoshop CS2 - I had 3 crashes early on - and I'm pretty sure it is because years ago, I spilled coffee into my Intuos 3 - and after taking it apart to let it dry, it's always made some weird things happen in Photoshop - randomly. For instance, all I could do at one point was write 'Notes' on the image. Restart computer. Then, the laptop just had this crazy horizontal grey blanket come down over the entire screen, saying I had to restart the MacBook... crazy voodoo stuff like that... anyhoots... here's a gif of the images: 

and a breakdown of the process today:

The first 15 minutes was the drawing stage, getting it all down.

I had to expand the canvas as her foot was too close to the edge of the canvas. There's a real easy way in Photoshop to expand the canvas without going to Image Size, Canvas Size etc... hit the 'C' button for Crop, and simply drag out the crop tool outside the boundaries of your current image file to wherever you want.. hit the 'Return/Enter' key and BAM! instant canvas expansion! a 'Reverse Crop' if you will! 

Under the drawing layer, I blocked in the local colour of the skin- and picked out my colour palette, the magentas were for the cloth around her... and the image on my laptop DID NOT look this 'orange' I swear. it looked way more naturalistic on the laptop screen.... 

More blocking in the hi-lights at this stage and local colour of the cloth

After blocking in, I looked and had to re-establish my linework - I also noticed that I had 1 too many layers on the abdomen area - I corrected the abdomen and other areas with linework again.

 For shadows, instead of directly painting them in, I made a new Multiply Layer and made a lasso selection of the shape of the shadows I wanted - under the neck, and under the chest - pick the same local mid-skin tone and fill with a Gradient (set to - fade to transparent). When filling with the same local colour onto a Multiply layer, it will come out darker. And heading into the last hour of the pose, I made sure to start detailing the face.

The session was done after 2.5 hrs - but less with breaks in-between - the total sitting time for the pose was about 110 mins. I made sure to detail the feet - I love drawing feet and hands - and I try not to ever neglect them - as they are an infinitely rewarding challenge. Rewarding in that, I gain more knowledge and new poses for them by never neglecting to draw them. I also made a lasso selection and gradient filled the hi-light of her hair.

 I also did a lasso shape on her abdomen and right leg - and filled it with transparent gradient with the hi-light colour - and played around with the opacity of it 

Overall I think I have to be mindful of the warms and cools more - you can see a hint of it there in the shadow on her upper chest.. more of that - and I would have liked to add some more hi-lights, leading the eye from the top of her thigh, to the abdomen, to the chest and into the face, so that it would create an arc going upper right - but hey.. that's something to think about for next time! Cheers!