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...