Finally, an Update!!

It took me way too long to realize this blog was put on my business card, yet I haven't touched it in 2 years. That being said though, I will be making a mission to keep this blog alive and well. With what you might ask? Well 2 years is a long time which means there will be a lot of new project posts from here on in: news, updates, behind the scenes, progress content and maybe even v-logs (I will be feeling that one out.)

I have many, many film ideas and a future main project I'd love to get going in the near future. The one you can expect a lot of right now though, is "Shift!"

Working Title Design

"Shift" Character Line Up

Shift is not just a short film I'm looking to make on it's own, it's to serve as a sort of introduction to a much bigger story I have been working on for a few years now. This main story won't come for a while yet. There's a lot to be developed and I need to decide how to tell it. Webcomic/Print Comic? Animated? I'm not sure. Still a lot of decision making to be made, but I digress.

Summary: A young shapeshifter, part boy and part lynx, struggles to find his place in life. He doesn't make a very good hunter as a human and easily pushed around by the other animals. It isn't until he rescues and befriends a deer does he begin to discover who he really is and find his purpose.

It was difficult to not share more of the story, I'm very excited about this and what you'll find when the story's revealed! However, more and more will be shared with each post. I am currently in the middle of CTNX and have already been very inspired to really buckle down and commit not only to this film, but to sharing more of my process and getting others involved as well. I will be making it a goal to post bi-weekly to start, with hopes of making it weekly. By August, when I will be exhibiting at my first convention ever (Liberty City Anime Con), I hope to have a lot of material to share from storyboards to "teaser" posters and prints. So here's to 2017 and what's to come for Shift!

Production Still

First official film still!!

I'm not quite up to coloring yet though, but within the next week or so I'll be getting there. Changing my course of action now though. Instead of photoshop (like this still was done in), I'll be doing the whole film in Flash. Hoping it goes well...it MUST! 

My thesis film is keeping me plenty busy, along with the other school work and outside work I have to do. However, I promised I'd keep this blog active and I plan on sticking to it this time.

I won't have much to show for a while, however, I will show a small scene, one of my personal favorites, that I storyboarded for Bear Appetit. I won't show anymore than this because I don't want to give anything away! 

This was the third and final boarding for this scene. Originally, she was just going to shimmy up the fridge, but my advisor and I both agreed there needed to be a lot more of rampaging bear time for this girl to really learn her lesson. Some of this, unfortunately, had to be cut out of the film because it was running way too long, but luckily not too much. 

Coming Soon!

So, Thesis Year has finally begun and my film "Bear Appetit" is underway! I'm currently still in the storyboarding/animatic phase. Right now just trying to whittle down the film from 5:30 to 4:00. It's turned out to be quite a chore, but I'll be happier in the end. But right now, it's still all a surprise! For now..the most I'll show for now until things are set in stone is the characters that'll be in the film:

The actual animating is due to start around Halloween the latest!!

Thesis Year!

I now have a solid reason to update this blog more regularly. From now on, this will be my "production blog." So any films that I'm working on, or any production work in general, will be on here.
I also have NOT forgotten about Totem. The whole film will probably not be found anywhere online anytime soon, but I will work on perhaps whipping up a teaser just to show how it looks now. 

In other news, summer is moving fast and thesis year is just around the corner. I got the green light for my film idea, but I won't be telling too much about it yet. It's a surprise! As a bonus though, here's a first draft of one of the characters who will be in the film:

I will be posting stuff as soon as I get things rolling but for now, I'm just announcing what will be on this blog from now on. I'm hoping that should make it lot more interesting to look at. 

Third Year Film

Once again, it's that time of year where I must make a "short" Short animated film. This time, I have the absolute pleasure of working with one of my good friends and classmates on this next film: TOTEM.

During one of our Wildlife Watercolor Painting classes, we had to take a trip to the Museum of Natural History. There, we began tossing ideas back and forth and came up with a common interest and inspiration: Northwest Native Americans. So during break, we had some lunch and wandered over to the Pacific Northwest section and studied the clothes, houses, jewelry and, of course, totems. We did our research on color choices and what animals were often represented in the totems and boiled it down to 4: Eagle, Salmon, Bear, and Coyote, 3 of which are the main characters of the film. 

I am trying not to talk about the film too much because I feel I shouldn't really talk about it until it's complete.  I will, however, show some of my rough, unofficial concepts of the characters.

Coyote Early Concept

Eagle Early Concept

Bear Early Concept

Unfortunately, my scanner isn't working with my new laptop, so I had to rely on my phone to take these. Thank goodness it takes good pictures! 

This was the final color scheme for Coyote, but in his final design, his face looks more like the original sketch. 

With the designs just about set, and storyboards currently being drawn, the film is coming along nicely! As the film gets closer to completion, I will be posting some stills to show how it looks. Stay tuned!

Happy Belated Holidays/New Years! 

I remember saying several times that I would update more. I understand a bit better now why I haven't (but will soon!) First reason is that, being a student, I am very limited on time, so other that class assignments and exercises, I really don't have any spectacular artwork or animation to show at the moment. The second reason is that I haven't had any exciting news just yet, but that's what I'm working on this semester. I really need to buckle down this year as far as jobs and internships go and a lot of my New Years resolutions involve overcoming several personal obstacles that have been in my way of getting closer to a job or internship for a long time. 

I won't say anything more though; don't want to jinx anything! I hope that in a few months or so I'll have something come up and therefore, will be able to put this blog to better use!