Wednesday, February 29, 2012

A Bubblin' Crude

Could this be an honest to God journal entry? Eh, nearly. It's going to be shorter than the average, but at least it's a break from storyboards, amirite? A break from storyboards not unlike the one I got to take today.

Our regular readers, or as I like to call them "Angelo, Jared, and Sam," may remember me describing some work I was doing on the scene in which Dorothy and Scarecrow rescue our friend the Tin Woodman. They may also remember that I rather quickly handed that work off to Drew. And my goodness, the things that man has done. If he were an effects artist for the mafia, I would owe him a minimum of two internal organs. I still may, we haven't really discussed it...

Totally worth it.
That's an older image, the forest has been further fleshed out and beautified since then. But since I passed off my parts, that work has had nothing to do with me. It's all the domain of Master Morin. He's been sending me images and videos, and we discuss them, but he's the one busting his ass. Though as we start finalizing these shots and preparing them for render, I'm back in for a moment to work on one missing element.

How DO Dorothy and Scarecrow rescue our friend the Tin Woodman? All together now; anti-depressants. Of course, they have to oil him in up order to get that lantern jaw open. Until this point, the shots of oiling have been decidedly oil-free.

But not... pixel free...
So I'm going to handle the squirting oil animation, and I've been working on that today. Sort of in a look development stage at the moment. This is my first time attempting this particular sort of animation, and I'm trying to best determine how to emulate the look of oil.


That's actually the third revision of my first attempt. I initially had the second squirt swing up with the can and hit the knee, but after two gos I decided that didn't look right. So Scarecrow's just a klutz. The spread of the first squirt is a little fast, as well. This is the shortest, simplest of the shots, and once I feel like I've nailed this one I'll move onto the rest.

And that's my big, exciting update for you. At least I didn't draw it...

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Storyboard Panel of the Day

The flashback sequences rank very highly on the list of scenes I'm anticipating the completion of.

They're hopefully gonna be pretty cool. Baum gave us good material to work with, and I think they rank among Sean's stronger adaptive moments.

Monday, February 27, 2012

Storyboard Panel of the Day

There seems to be an inverse relationship between the amount of time it takes for me to figure out and draw a shot and how good the end result looks.

Did you know I only do the line after the picture because it makes it easier to insert the image into the post without the Blogger software pulling a Busey on me? If I have my way, you never will.

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Storyboard Panel of the Day

Wait a minute, didn't she get him off the pole like a week ago!?!?

Cut-aways, they're not just for sitcoms anymore.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Storyboard Panel of the Day

This shot will contain another fine example of Mariellen's sterling Scarecrow hand acting. Seriously, if the whole acting thing doesn't work out, she would have no trouble finding a job modeling work gloves for Duluth or something.

You're welcome. I don't charge extra for the career contingencies.

Friday, February 24, 2012

Storyboard Panel of the Day

So now I'm just contriving ways to break Steve's back...


Enjoy the house while you can, guy.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Storyboard Panel of the Day

I hope you're all on board with the idea of Scarecrow moving in ways no human ever could.

If not... Probably just erase this one off your, "to see" list. If it were ever there in the first place.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Storyboard Panel of the Day

Drawing Scarecrow is way more fun than drawing the Tin Woodman.

I mean... You guys have seen what happens when I try for a straight line, right?

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Storyboard Panel of the Day

I've actually been drawing Dorothy's face as it appears in the raw footage.

We've had to composite in CGI features for all the footage and images so far...

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Storyboard Panel of the Day

I love Scarecrow. Scarecrow's been my favorite since I was a kid.


Don't tell Lion or The Tin Woodman.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Storyboard Panel of the Day

Whoa! Who's THIS guy!?!?

No seriously, who is that? I only really skimmed the script...

Friday, February 17, 2012

Storyboard Panel of the Day

History will likely not remember me. The relentless advance of time has forgotten better men. But if I have ANY legacy in this world, let it be this; Should you ever find yourself in a position where somebody asks, "Sir or madam (hopefully they can tell), is this enough bonnet?" The answer is forever, "No."

ALWAYS more bonnet. Remember this, please.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Storyboard Panel of the Day

Hey, scene 9, blazing right along! The rest of the scene 8 images were just more of the same, really. It's an actor scene, not a director scene.

True story, I'm so afraid of beetles of various types that the mere sight of one in my living space is enough to elicit a woman-like scream. And yet I love ladybugs. They're adorable. Go figure, ay?

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Storyboard Panel of the Day

Oh my Gob, scene 7!!! Well, it's actually scene 8. But it's the seventh scene, because we already decided to cut scene seven.


Can't cut THIS scene, though. No fantasy adventure film worth its salt doesn't have a conversation over breakfast!

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Monday, February 13, 2012

Storyboard Panel of the Day

Munchkins are awesome.


And also Amish, maybe? Though I guess pretty much everybody was Amish in 1900...

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Storyboard Panel of the Day

Finally, get that gorram white witch out of my damned movie.

This is the first time this has been necessary, mightn't be the last. Usually I can tell if two separate plates are going to play nice like I want just by looking at them. This time I could not, so I took five minutes and spat out a test. Thought an actual color image might make a nice change of pace for my cool blog friends.


Was I right?

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Storyboard Panel of the Day

I just realized this is like the worst web-comic ever...

You guys should go read xkcd instead.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Storyboard Panel of the Day

Here's our big Stanley Kubrick shot...

Because I centered something in the frame... We still like gross oversimplification, don't we?

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Storyboard Panel of the Day

I actually drew something for pleasure today!

It was not this. But we're nearly through scene six NOW, baby! Won't be long before you're seeing Scarecrow! Everybody loves Scarecrow, don't they? I think they do, because he's pretty much the only character anybody wanted to audition for... Seriously... We could've damned near cast the whole film with Scarecrow hopefuls. What the hell, right?

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Storyboard Panel of the Day

Here's a shot that's more blatantly Denslow homagery. Gotta make some alterations because he illustrated a book, and we didn't film in super-mega-tallscreen. Expect more of this from time to time.


But not TOO often. This isn't WATCHMEN, amirite!?!? Yes. Yes, I'm right. You don't need to answer.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Storyboard Panel of the Day

Sorry for the delay, but I was fixing a dryer.


That's right, I can do stuff like that... Your move, ladies.

Monday, February 6, 2012

Storyboard Panel of the Day

Figured it was about time to prove that there IS going to be some ACTION in this movie.

Maybe tomorrow you'll get to see the shot of her taking the left one off...

Friday, February 3, 2012

Storyboard Panel of the Day

I want a staff with a C on top. Then I can use it to snag folk.


I'm away from home for the weekend, so unfortunately this is the last update until Monday. Drink it all in, folks, then come back fresh in a couple days.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Storyboard Panel of the Day

I had a really hard time figuring out how to handle the shoe hand-off with only one of our actresses present. And it was our first day, to boot.


I want to do a comic book where everybody's face is just the guide lines... It will be an exercise in meta story-telling, very post-modern. We'll call it, "Drawing Criticism"... IDW, you guys want in on this? Image..?

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Storyboard Panel of the Day

Hopefully having little moments of interaction like this will help sell all our characters existing in one space at one time.


I mean... They WERE all there in the same space at one time... Did I just spoil the magic?