Layout - Nearly There

Layout continues. 75% of the film has now been blocked out in 3d with decent cinematography. I also re-boarded one last scene with rough drawings. Basically I produced a few dozen of these thumbs, then just played with them in the timeline. It's a travel sequence, so I was able to approach it differently. Worked out pretty well.

In other news, I did manage to spend some more time thinking about the characters, their motives, and formalizing their profiles (which included some reference gathering). It shan't be long before I'm knee deep in design. So much to do! I'm hoping that I can bring in some more artists. :D

For interest (and because I don't know what else to show), here are some reference pieces. I did most of my reference gathering a long time ago, but I figure people don't really talk about this part of the process very much. It's basically the point when an artist is studying and exploring ideas in the real world. Sometimes this is in the form of photos the artist takes or finds, and sometimes its with art (for some inspiration)...

I did not take this photo. But it's pretty, right?

I didn't take this one either, but I love the mood here. Bonus points if you can tell what this is from!

This week I'm going to wrap on the last tricky scene, which has a lot of players, props, angles, and shifting cameras. It's at the gas station, which features interiors, exteriors, and looking through windows to view important actions. Layout, I'm finding, is like solving a puzzle that you haven't made yet. The complex scenes can really have a lot of inter-dependencies.

Bailey

Mountain Love

Happy Tuesday! Concept:

Mood!

If you follow the main blog, you'll know that I've been making daily sketches. I've actually been using them as a way to subtly test ideas and technical approaches for Hunted. I don't know why, but I've been on a massive atmospheric perspective kick. Stylized distance indications, simple shapes, textured planes, and triad color palettes make me unusually happy. So, expect to see more of my attempts at those things.

I'm not much of a character artist, so I tend to stay away from that. But I do enjoy environments, even though I suck at them. That's why the film features the setting as heavily as it does. That's also why most of the concept art is of mountains, flora and buildings. Below is one of the many reference pictures I took in the Rockies a few months back. The day was coming to an end and a storm was brewing overhead (hence the dominance of ambient light). It was also very high up (~11k ft). My California-accustomed lungs were working overtime that afternoon.

Looking east across the land of my people.

Bailey