Rogerio surprised me today with his quick response on my characters. I then made my notes on each drawing and sent them back to get fixed up. I really enjoy Rogerio’s work, but of course, I expected no less from a master of character design. Above is Olaf and Ma, who both appear within the short.
I met up with a few folks recently to discuss the breakdowns of the BG’s and characters. Rogerio Noguiera, my character designer, is a friend I met while working at Warner Bros. I later found out, he was a big part in some of the great cartoon series at WB like Animaniacs, he’s definitely one of the best. My BG Designer, Antonio Connobio, really knows his stuff, I’m lucky to have him on board. Of course, I’m happy they’re both a part of my team.
I’ve been drawing breakdowns for Ivan, to better get a sense on how to make sure he’s functional. His hands, inparticular, are a very important part of his anatomy.
I’ve met up with my director, Gary Conrad, yesterday and discussed with him some things about my storyboard. He’s a swell guy, and he gave me a few notes to help out my pitch, it looks great! I can’t wait to pitch this again in it’s revamped glory.
Above, is the title I created for the cartoon. Though it may change, I do enjoy creating titles for my cartoons with a certain creative design that’ll fit to the idea of the concept.
It’s week three for the Ivan the Unbearable production and I have quite a nice cast of crew members to look forward working with for the remaining weeks. I’m hoping to get the great Jeff Doucett as the voice of Ivan the Unbearable, Tress MacNeille as Ma, and Maurice LaMarche as Bjorn the Troll. Time just flies by it seems, but there’s still alot on our plate.
Here’s another colored picture of Ivan, in a “mock” scene taken from the concept of the storyboard. Though the background looks dull, keep in mind that I haven’t touched base with a BG Designer yet. I expect to have the backgrounds in much greater detail.
I’m working on some “promo-esque” images right now to give an idea on the Ivan the Unbearable cartoon appearance. Ivan is going to have a very classic cartoon feel, with cel-shaded colors and wacky, detailed backgrounds. At the moment, I’m wishing I had a stylus; going back to the days where I colored pieces with the mouse is proving difficult recently.
Above, is a photo of the Pastel drawing I made to fill in one of the frames in the hallway. I haven’t used the medium in a long time, so I felt a little rusty with them (I used a box of pastels I haven’t even opened for the last five years I had ‘em)
I’ve very rarely spoken about the true origin of how Ivan came to be. In fact, I don’t have any known old drawings of the stubby viking anywhere. But it all goes back to the days of Junior High, where I was first introduced to an animation program on the Amiga Computers.
Ya see, Ivan used to be a ghost…
Yep, you heard me, Ivan was originally a ghost with absolutely no features other than his gloves, shoes, eyes, a vest and his top hat. As years went by, I started to dabble with the concept on Ivan’s past life, like; who he was when he was alive? This started to bring up all sorts of weird ideas, but the one that stuck on me was a Nordic background, a viking so to speak, where he himself was constantly bombarded with other ghosts. Ivan then became, “Ivan the Haunted”, and years afterward, [Read more…]
I’m, right now, at possibly my favorite section of the storyboard where I completely brutalize one of my characters in the short, named Bjorn (a big troll security guard.) Bringing up funny visuals for this guy is a must, for one; he’s a giant who’s getting a lesson in pain from a short, harmless, chubby viking. and two, I can’t stress enough that visual humor needs to still stay alive and well (spanning from classic Looney Tunes.)
Bjorn has really changed from my first original pitch, he used to be a writer for novels… Try explaining that to the rest of your Troll buddies at the bar.
~AWD!
Goodness, this week just flew by for me, possibly because of all the excitement. I’ve been cranking away at the storyboard, which is quite a task. Challenging, but very fun.
The above image is a concept sketch of how I envision “Ma”, Ivan’s cranky mother. Even if her son, Ivan, is a bumbling, walking disaster waiting to trigger, he’s still her son. But that doesn’t mean she has to look forward to it…
Yesterday I had a casting meeting, and I’m really looking forward to (possibly) getting the great, Tress MacNeille (Mom, “Futurama”) to voice my female lead.
Speaking of Ma, I want to take this opportunity to thank most of all, the folks who have always supported me in hopes to acheive my goals, my mom and dad. Throughout this production, I’m not doing this mostly for myself, but for them. I hope to continue with my career and make them proud, [Read more…]
