These are the first concept storyboards that i roughed out. They tried to convey the feeling and movement of the film by building up to the climatic guitar scene, with a lot of close up foot tapping to build suspence. i think that's what's gunna keep the film going and the viewer watching. Jazz also drew up some storyboards, and we're collaborating at the moment to fitting them together, chucking unnecessary frames out etc.

 overall i'm real happy with the storyboards, but we've got A LOT of animating to do.

New Updates! Turnaround Touchups and Newspaper Logos

Have been working pretty hard over the last week or so, trying to juggle all of the assessment. So this is the first clean of the newspaper that Joe will be curled up under at the bus stop, showing him and his band at a much younger time, and establishing that he was in a band. It also shows the logo that will be the same logo tattooed on Richards arm. I called the band 'Heavy Hands' because of that late 80's/early 90's grunge scene that formed in portland, and those kind of mellow, murky names that came out of that time era. The skull was influenced from the Grateful Dead skull, but i also think the skull is awesome with the fire for some reason. it's badass in an ironic kind of way. I designed too other small logos incase we want to edit it.

These are the FINAL last clean turnarounds for our characters. There were a few small changes that needed to be made, such as Heather needed to have ears, as that forms the basic of one of the most climatic parts of the film. We also gave her a hearing aid to show that she was practically deaf, using the pixar film 'Up' for influence, as Carl the old man has a hearing aid in his right ear.

                                                                       Richards posture was changed dramatically. His belly was completely taken out to give him less of an aged effect, and also contrasting with Joe's belly, and his side on pose was considerabely changed from a weak pose to a bold, arrogant kind of chest stick-out. His extra hand was also added, holding the ipod.

He is amazing.

Script.

So many drafts/editing of the script is in progress. After meeting with Priscilla, Ben and I had alot to think about with our characters background arcs, their choices etc. We have decided on a back story and have re-drafted the script according to what we have come up with. I am liking how the script is developing and hopefully we will be happy with the next draft so we can lock off the script :D

Quick Colour Scheme test

Spent a few hours just colouring joe for a test colour scheme. Jasmine thinks we should wait till we work out the environments and the colours until we start colour schemes, and I agree with her, but it was still fun. These may even be one of the colours we decide upon. I intended to use the texture background for the background only, but i think it actually gives the character a good texture as well.

Fixed up Joe's Arms!

 Just made a small but significant change to Joe's arms on his front on pose. Before, his arms didn't quite look right, more like a gorilla. i just thinned them out and put them behind his stomach and it seems to be better now.

Alright! After a labour intensive, but very satisfying day, i've finished the character turnaround outlines. This is the final outline for Richard. Jazz and I agreed that we will use a thicker pen (size 14) for the outline of the body, and a thinner pen size (8) for the inner detail. I've never really drawn with different pen sizes before, but i think it turned out really well. I'm happy with how richard turned out, he has that arrogant, sophisticated business look about him, which kinda makes you hate him. I may work on making the legs a little longer, or the body somewhat smaller.

Heather Rosewood was a lot of fun to draw. I really wanted to stretch the boundaries of a stereotypical old lady. I made her tiny in comparison with Richard, at least a metre smaller than him. Her enormous glasses kinda give her a lovable feel, well at least i hope they do. I'm pretty happy with her overall. I decided to ditch the flowers on her dress as it really would've taken way too long to re-draw each one of them while animating.

I decided to do Joe last, because i knew i'd have the most problems with him, and i did. His moustache is extremely hard to get right, and i think his front on pose is a little strange, especially with his arms. I think i might have a go at changing them. Overall, this character took me four hours to draw, which is a helluvva long time. I'm now working on the colour schemes of each character, as well as building up the personal backgrounds.

Environment Influences

 Found a few pictures of environments that I could use for inspiration when drawing. This bus stop is the perfect style, as it's simple, and it's actually at a really good angle to work some perspective into. also, it's a really nice photo to look at. i can imagine it covered with snow, with enormous mountains looming in the background.

 Found this picture of a perfect idea of what i imagined the mountains in the background would look like. After a bit of quick photshopping, i coloured and filtered the image to how i imagine the colour palette of the finished environments would look like, something like this....

I used a light saturation, and a grain filter, which i think adds a new depth to the picture. I think for some reason it gives it a humbling kind of appearance. I hope Jazz likes it.

Finished Character Profile Sheets

The finished character profiles took a little longer than expected, but I'm overall pretty happy with the outcome. Jasmine's pretty pleased with them, which is really good. I experimented with a scarf on Richards neck to show his social status, but I don't know if it'll stay.








Sloppy Joe was originally the first character i designed, and I'm still pretty happy with his mellow, rounded features.









Heather was a lot of fun to create, because old ladies you can stick the stereotypes and exaggerate a lot of their features, such as her breasts, (though they may be made smaller) her tiny hands and feet, and her large glasses. The flowers on her dress might have to go, as i think it'll be too much work for it's worth once w e start animating. The line quality of all three may become much thicker, with inside detail staying a much thinner line.

Overall, we're both really happy with the outcome of the drawings.

Rough Character Profile Sheets

I've been designing the three characters that are gunna be interacting with one another with the idea of contrasting shapes and personalities in mind. For our homeless man, nicknamed 'Sloppy Joe', i've used mellow, rounded objects for his body features, as well as elastic legs that are very loose. This gives off his humble, quiet personality, which contrasts with Richard the business man, who has extremely chiselled features, especially his face. It's as if he were carved outta stone. Although his body movements will be fluid, there will still be a rigidness to his movements to express his built up, workaholic personality. Heather-Rose Wood, the old lady, is a combination of both, having extremely small, rigid legs, and a nice flowing back that gives off a decent line of movement. She is seen in the film as a kind old lady, and i didn't want to take away from that by making her rigid. In a lot of ways, i'm sticking to the old lady stereotype, giving her flower dress and an over-assortment of jewelery, to signify that she's obviously stuck in a past decade.

Production Schedule - First Draft.

Our current production schedule, it is only a first draft and as the year continues I am sure it will change, but at the moment we are both keeping up to date with the Pre-Production work.

Inspiration.

Tom Ward found the most amazing video! It has now become the inspiration for the style of our film :)

Pitch got the Green Light!

Ben and my pitch for "Morning Jam" got the green light on Thursday which we were pretty pleased about. We have basically started dividing tasks and have a pretty solid Pre-Production schedule planned out for the next few weeks. We will both be uploading and writing on here throughout our whole production to document it.

Current Tasks for Jasmine:

• Finish Production Schedule
• Complete 1st draft of Script
• Start Environment concepts
• Create blog

 Current Tasks for Ben:

• Complete Character Profile Sheets (for Homeless Man, Business Man and Old Lady)
• Character Turnarounds (for Homeless Man, Business Man and Old Lady)
• Start Environment concepts