-The Invincible-

Now that I have something that you could call a basic storyline, I wanted to get a better feeling with the first 10 scenes of the first act. I am not trying to fall in love with these scenes;) but I'm just trying to get a sense if my story is taking the right turns. This thumb is one of two images where an emotional change took place. A positive change to be exact.

This is a sketch for my main character, as he finds himself in a carriage with his father after (!) they have been robbed.

-The Invincible-

The last couple of weeks I've been working on the story outline. And I have to admit. Writing a good story is really really really really hard work. The toughest part for me at this point is identifying the weak parts, how to spot them and how to make them stronger without getting too emotional attached to the story and the characters. Especially to the 24th version;)
Anyways...here's some visual development for the girl in my story!

-The Invincible-

-The Invincible-

There are a lot of other characters in this film. This character is one of the gatekeepers of the city. Needless to say that there is a lot that can go wrong when 'the going gets tough' when your job is mainly about sitting around and killing time...

-The Invincible-

So I've been working on my story for a couple of weeks now and things are really coming together. What has 3 weeks of story development done for me? Well, although I'm constantly rewriting it and probably will be for the next coming months, it made a few things very clear for me. I now know what I want out of my main character. And this is really important for me, because this makes it a lot easier to spot weak elements in my story.

I'm leaving story for what it is right now and I'm going back to the drawing board. I have to get a better understanding of where my story is taking place. I need to get a sense if my story fits the size of my locations. And the other way around. I still don't have a clue wether my main character has to travel and how far. If he has to travel miles and miles before he arrives where he needs to be, maybe I have to double the size of my setting.

Stay tuned...

-The Invincible-

-The Invincible-

I'm still in very early development and you understand I won't be posting everything I create but here's a sketch from a scene somewhere very early in the film. Our main character has to escape from an angry crowd inside a tavern. At the moment I'm still working on the story so my guess is I won't be posting new artwork very frequently the next coming weeks.

-The Invincible-

I'm planning on beginning working on the story when my historical research is finished. There is a lot in history that can initiate or help my story so I don't want to begin a complete ignorant.

Not only am I using artwork to straighten out some historical issues, I'm also planning on using a lot of visuals to challenge or define my story. There is a section that can be very dangerous or scary. These visuals help me to get the answers I need. How dark and how scary do I want this be? Do I need real monsters or do I want it to be realistic? After all, anything can happen in feature animation...right?

For your consideration, my plan is to aim for 90 minutes and I want the piece to be ready somewhere around 2016. So that should give me some time.

So stick around, it might get real...

-The Invincible-

Like I said I've been doing some historical research and there is very little known about a lot of stuff from the period around 1600; The period where my story is taking place. Simply because it isn't there anymore and there seems to be very little documentation. I've created some artwork to check for historical accuracy. This is one of them.

I will be talking to some people who are (so I'm told) the only people that can help me with this...I'll keep you posted.

Color Keys -The Invincible-

Color Keys -The Invincible-

Color Keys -The Invincible-

Couple of weeks ago I decided to create my own personal animation project with the working title: "the invincible"

At the moment I'm doing a couple of things at the same time:
I'm doing some historical research, I'm working on a story and I am creating some keys that illustrate the dramatic key moments and locations that are important for the project. I am in still in very early visual development phase and I'm not worried about touching different styles so I can still move freely through the story.

Delicious!

Color key for a new "Delicious Memories".

Late august in holland

This is how one of my holiday afternoons looked like yesterday. It's just a color and paint excercise, but I wanted to share with you some 'late august in holland' because it is just to beautiful to let it pass...

NIght in a museum

This is a detail from a bigger scene. Just wanted to show you because I like the lighting that is coming from the back and the atmosphere it creates. It's the same kid from "color palettes" (2 posts back) only a bit older...

And a view from the ground...

These backgrounds will not appear in the game as they look right now. You have to buy the game if you want to know how they will look;)

View from a tree

Something I'm working on right now for a game called "HEART-Medicine" which is a working title. It's a view from a treehut in the backyard. It's a background so bear with me;)
Enjoy the view!

color palettes

It's been a while since I posted something but that's just summer I guess...In the meanwhile 'm working on something right now for which I'm putting together some color palettes. I'll be posting some more from this in the near future.

Forest

surface & texture

Light these days (on the edge of spring) is just plain awesome! Just before the sun sets, the magic just comes pouring in through the windows. I'm going to do more of these simple color sketches.

more...

From drawing to painting

(sketch by Dirk van Dulmen)
Lately I've been discussing the differences between a sketch and a painting. With this one I tried to stay as close to the sketch as I could. I picked this sketch out of a dozen other faces on the same page, because it had something I liked. By staying so close to the sketch I hope that it keeps that something I liked in the beginning.

Example: As you can see his face (on the sketch) has no eyebrows. When I'm adding paint, should I decide on adding eyebrows in the final painting? I think not. I'm not discussing how one should use a sketch or how to interpretate a sketch.

I'm just thinking: If you want to stay close to the 'magic' of a sketch it's best to stick to the original creative decisions. So, no eyebrows.


Another thing I tried to do is to push the character's personality and translate it in the painted version. His reddish cheeks with little highlighted spots enhances his innocence and with that, still fit the sketch but communicates his character in a stronger way.

Contour Continuation

I created some visual development background art for a game that was never released. As you can see, it goes from a paradise like forest on the left going to a more evil place on the right. I thought I was pretty happy with some parts of it, until last week I found an interesting post on contour continuation by Frederick Gardner that I just wanted to share with you. If you look at my background pan after reading his post you can notice some weak spots.

"I started using this "Contour Continuation" technique as a background designer at Warner Bros Classics. Contour Continuation is the lining up of shapes to continue a contour (or directional element) across the composition. Sometimes this technique is extremely successful and beautiful, other times, it is subtle and almost invisible."
"I have used "Contour Continuation" to create a flowing rhythm to the composition. As the camera pans through the scene, the landscape "flows" by the camera like water so lacking in the environment. Pay particular attention to the dead tree branches hugging the contour of the hills behind them."

How to become awesome! part 2 (and in black and white)

One thing I noticed in the last few weeks is the excitement with a lot of people on the internet about working from B/W and adding color later on.

I learned this from Bobby Chiu as well, and I have to say that I immediately started working with this, but I did it the other way around, because I never got the colors right after adding them to a B/W image. Instead, I use(d) it to check the values of the colored image. In my opinion the only reason to start in B/W; Because of the values.

The values of your original B/W image are different from the colored image (I prefer to check values of your colored image by adding a black layer on top and the blend mode on color, instead of turning the saturation down). Just check it yourself.

Experimenting with technical theories is what you should do. Understand them. Don't expect these kind of trics to do the magic for you. Make it work.

Back in milk business

I've been trying to get that feeling that you're really in the scene. I began working on the car and especially how the car feels when you're looking at the house alongside when you're standing in the shadows in front of a big mansion.
If you know what I mean. Again, first draft. Below, previous version, above, new version. Also, somewhere I have to make a decision which part needs the most detail, contrast and/or saturation; What should attract my attention? I think I'm going for the house right now. Or at least the entrance of the house. The front door.