FOX!

Sometimes I focus too much on drawing and forgot to have fun! so here is the 1hr quick fox art!

New project!

Have been busy working/taking class/freelancing! Finally got some times to update my new project! It's based on brothers Grimm's story: "Bremen Town Musicians". I went straight to character design this time, just couldn't stop myself to explore the character first! 

The rooster is probably my favorite character so far. His is a bit crazy, sensitive, and full of curiosity. He is blind so he needs to walk with the white cane.

Here are some quick ideas for the shots.  

CTN2014!

Had lots of fun at CTN this year, so glad to see Glen Keane and Mike Gabriel in person, and super inspiring talk. Also met Britnney Lee, Dai Tsutsumi, and so many talented artists!

Glen Keane's Ariel

Q&A

with Britnney Lee

with Mike Gabriel, the director of Pocahontas

RexArts Studio

I've been busy on starting up my own studio, here it is!

it's located on 744 Alabama St. nothing there yet, I'll decorate the interior soon!

My Piranha first storyboard

So here is the My Piranha's first storyboard, it's rough, timing isn't perfect but the overall idea is here!

https://vimeo.com/96554410

story moments 02

Here is another cinematic painting I did(90% done). Feel more confident to paint the way I intend to.

Line drawing is always important to me, it gives enough information when I jump to the painting process

value&lighting

My Piranha first layout

Finally it comes to the full painting part! start from the color thumbnails:

I'll choose the button left, since this scene is going to be in the deep rainforest, we won't be able to see much sunlight, mostly are reflective colors from leafs.

clean line drawing

with value

not quite finish yet, it's fun to add the subtitles, looks like watching a film on tv!

story moments

Back to work on the story moments. This time I arrange these in order.

another test of styling

here is another one I did recently. I want to see how it looks with 2d character rendering in watercolor-ish background. It's fun to do the characters this way, first I've never done it before, second, it reminds me again how much I love the approach of 2d animation. I just love the way it looks! Because of the style, it always took me extra hrs. to polish the background(even this one is not 100% done). I'll have a fulling painting soon, very excited.

painting test

Before I start doing the cinematic moment painting, I wan to do some painting test. I want my background to have a watercolor painting-feel. Since I'm doing everything on photoshop, I'm trying to make it as far away from digital-look as possible. I focus on the technique than make pretty layout, so I wasn't thinking about the composition when I did these(I should)

Mika,Papa's hands and feet

keep drawing, drawing and drawing. I need to get used to draw these characters. the next step should be the final design. here's the detail of each character's hand and feet(will need to be simplified more after)

cinematic moments

I keep telling myself do not dig-in the characters design too much at the first place. Has to look at the project as a big picture, taking care everything equally first, and then back to the character more. Here's some cinematic moments I did(not following the storyline)

character explorations: Ocelot and piranha

Ocelot! is pretty much like an indoor cat. it's size isn't as big as people thought.
I'm so glad my cat can finally do some help for me. I took pictures and do a lot of sketches. also, get back to the fundamental, study the anatomy again.

then I play the shape and adding the design

heads

I nail down the design quicker than I thought.

thanks to EA, I had experience designing fish. so I get this guy's design down pretty quick too.

Plant design

what kind of plants living in amazon rainforest? hundreds of them! I want to choose more interesting looking plants for my project. so I picked some and do it with my design approach.

character explorations: Mika and Papa

Mika: it takes time to get used to drawing kids. I look at photos, videos, and do sketch based on the reference. I want to make her looks adorable and moves like a kid living in wildlife.

Papa: Since he is a fisherman, I want his hands and feet with square-ish shape, but rounded body overall to show his harmonious character. 

My Piranha project working progress

Finally get some times to update my personal project that i'm working on recently. the story is set in 1947, it's a short story about two Indian(Tapirape) living in amazon rainforest.

a 4 years old kid Mika is a lovely girl with pure heart, love taking care of animal. Papa: 30 years old, fisherman, would give everything to protect his daughter. One day, Papa and Mika go fishing together just like what they do every morning. Mika coincidentally find a fish on the boat and she takes him home without telling her father. What she doesn't know is, this fish is a piranha.

An ocelot: Gulu who is full of curiosity, and he likes staying around Mika's family. For Mika's safety, Papa is always being vigilant, so he doesn't want any animal get close to Mika. Gulu is trying to warn Mika how danger the fish is, and want to own Papa's trust.

Alright, enough with my bad English. I want to dig in to another project like I did for "the Legend of the White Snake". I enjoy designing characters, set, cinematic moments for a story. So I'm excited I finally have this chance to develop another animation project. The project is still in early stage, I'm doing a lot of studies and sketches: