...keep on truckin...

...wow, been a while since i posted anything here - feeling overwhelmed with the amount of work still ahead, however, thought i should share some progress...

ruff layers for the lab intro scene prepared with Photoshop to see how the composition looks

a little color to the latest revisions on the Snaps design for the last scenes

 some notes & reminders on the Specimen character

another of the lab scenes prepared with Photoshop to see how the composition looks

Lastly, a ruff pencil test for the current shot i am working on:

...Deadlines, Deadlines...

...Been a while since my last post, fall semester starts up in less than two weeks - set the first day of classes as my deadline to have my entire short film on the paper and tied down with the exception of the heavier bits of character acting... suffice to say, my mind is going in several different directions at one, so i will just present the current pencil test that i am checking over this evening... 

...first off, we have the revision pass on the initial fetus development - following the effects animation of the synthetic DNA vial in the previous post, we follow bubbles that issue forth once the new & improved synthetic DNA catalyzes within the wombtank up to an umbilicus from which the first signs of life emerge into a seemingly successful specimen...
...then, after we realize that the Geneticist's high hopes seem doomed once again to failure, (the first few stages of development are where the previous specimens have been developing flaws, as symmetric growth becomes restricted - this new & improved synthetic DNA prototype hoped to resolve these unwanted effects...) however, during the very final teeny-weenie critical stages of cranial development something goes wrong...       

...and now back to work for me... deadlines, deadlines...

...so, some of you following this blog may be asking the question, "what is this all about...?"
...basically, this is a blog for the production of my traditionally animated thesis film that i am producing while receiving my MFA at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco... what inspired this post was something i came across earlier tonight posted on facebook - it is an article from The Top Information Post, about Genetic Engineering, located here:  http://topinfopost.com/2013/07/31/darpa-to-genetically-engineer-humans-by-adding-a-47th-chromosome?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+topinfopost+%28The+Top+Information+post%29

...so basically, the idea for my thesis was probably seeded & given it's initial nurturing while i was in undergraduate school studying the studio arts & digesting a certain Critical Art Ensemble manifesto (The Flesh Machine) at the same time as i was reading the first publication of David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas - fast-forward to graduate school, where i had decided to pursue traditional animation for the first time... when it came down to the last minute & i really had to commit to the subject for my thesis film, all the other ideas just started to become irrelevant, as this really sharp image of this little designer baby, defects included, suspended by a synthetic amniotic fluid in a womb of glass & steel refused to be ignored... 

...so with all that said, here are some really ruff pencil tests that i have been working on in which the synthetic DNA vial is being inserted onto the control console for the womb-tank & the initial stages of the designer fetus' development, along with the geneticist's reaction to the possibility of his life's work resulting in success - (a little disclaimer, these are first pass ruffs with a very loose sense of timing - at the moment, i am in the process of very roughly getting everything off the animatic and onto paper/exposure sheets, so a lot of this still needs critique from my mentors, charts, breakdowns, etc...) anyways, hopefully you will enjoy...

...Hey there my peoples, haven't posted in a bit as i have been recently putting myself through daily sessions of reproducing frames from animated films to build my production skills in digital ink & paint... looking at the previous post's color test, you can see there's been a lot of improvement in only a few weeks... these latest character designs are still developing, however, reflect much more strongly the direction i will be going in for the overall visual style of the film as i continue to learn more about the production process...

Geneticist color test WIP  (June 28, 2013)

Snaps color test (July 1, 2013)

...testing new blog...

...not quite sure how all this blogging stuff works yet, so just winging it at first to to find out...

...figured with CTN coming up in November i would get started on a website for my animation & visual development so i can have business cards ready...

...anyhow, here's a look into a character color test i am currently working on for my thesis, a short traditionally animated film titled, Strangely By Design...