Test Cells!

I know you all saw me post the animatic for "Sprinkles For Bravery," last time, but SfB is going to work out to be seven-plus minutes long. Too ambitious for a first-ever attempt at the medium.
What I have here is a keyframe from a different animation which I was developing in secret. This one is called "That Lion Is A Hater" but that's a working title.

I really haven't been sure how I would render these sketchy images for the final animation: these are experiments to help me settle on a style. I don't exactly like the fully-colorful one above but I put it here for posterity. I'm a lot happier with this second attempt.

The short starts out with her talking to the audience as if she's recording herself by webcam. But then . . . something cra-a-a-a-azy happens

The villain is a lion, just like real life.


The hero:

Sprinkles For Bravery

Hey there, been a while huh? Guess what? That animatic I've been flouting for the last two posts? It's Done! Hoo, I'm so excited! Want to watch the whole cartoon, minus sound, with only sketchy representations of the images existing somewhere in the hazy region between storyboards and keyframes? Well you're in luck!

Just click right here!'Sprinkles For Bravery' - Watch Full Storyboards!

Here's a proof of concept with the Kid Shift character running on endless loop.

See you next time!
-JoeW.

Animatic Storyboard PART TWO! ftw.

Hello again, dear readers!
Thank you all, everybody who gave feedback on the new work! I've been putting this blog together in a vacuum for the longest time; it's great to finally get input from real-live humans and not just the imaginary ones.
Response was so positive, in fact, that I decided to finish up production on the second instillation of the story: what we will call Animatic Storyboard: Part Two! This one was a lot more work because I only had bits and pieces of the artwork finished beforehand, so I had to fill in huge gaps with new art.

Click here to watch PART TWO!!

Part Two; Second Act; Segment #2/3: this new instillation is many things but nothing if not a continuation. If you're reading this for the first time, I insist that you wait to watch this piece until you've seen Part One first.

-JoeW.

Another Storyboard; this time better.

Well! I liked yesterday's update so much I decided to have another one! Here is another animatic storyboard for you to watch. I'm not embedding this one here, though. You'll have to click this thumbnail to be taken to a separate page to watch it there.

Click here to watch!

This storyboard was made a long while after the one in yesterday's post. Today's characters were derived out of those from yesterday, though I ended up making so many alterations that the only ostensible similarities remaining are that one is a girl, and the other is diminutive. I doubt I'll ever have the time or resources to take this short to final, but if I were to try, the characters would look a little something like this.

Neu and Kid Shift, respectively

OKAY: you win. here's a giant robot.

If it isn't loading, just give it a sec. It's a big file, it takes time. It plays on a loop so if you want to start it over from the beginning just... um... refresh the page or something.

Observation + Scenery = OBSCENERY

ballpoint pen each 20 to 30 minutes

Rainbow Of Bleh

Well, it took a week to work up courage for it, but I've just finished coloring the first piece.

Happy with it? Not the word I'd use. Turned out better than it might have, that much reassures me. Some things work, other things don't It's good news, though, because now I know what to try and what to avoid for when I do this sort of thing again. I feel much better, more comfortable, about this method of working. I'm quite looking forward to the next one.

Who Drew Two New for You? [a Clue: t'was me!]

First, I've worked that Clinton sketch from the previous post.

Clinton

Also look at this other weirdo. It's about time things got uncomfortable, did anyone else feel that way? Just me? Here's something I noticed when I was a kid--if you ask people to describe what they think the Boogeyman looks like, every single person will tell you something wildly different. Some people see him with horns, someone I knew thought he was a businessman who wanted to bury her in the yard. We all know Tim Burton's sack full of bugs.
Anyway, when I was a kid, I always thought the Boogeyman would look something like this:

Boogeyman

I hope the things I draw aren't in some Freudian way cryptic expressions of what I have inside me, because I'm pretty sure this one would mean something bad.

Clinton

This man is named Clinton, he lives across the street from me. I think the landlord must pay him for something. He's a class act, that Clinton. I'll miss him after I move.

So It Begins

This thought came to me, feeling at my worst, like a breath of fresh air: Why not just draw?
To my way of thinking it's been two years since I last finished a drawing. At work I deal in vector points --tiny little headaches made of math. Then, in private time, I scheme these projects so grandiose, so sprawling in their scope, they'll bear nothing worth showing for five years at least. The formula would read thusly:
Workaholic Lifestyle X Two years = No Returns to Show For It.
Artistically this led to a malaise. Eventually, having sacrificed everything else to gain momentum, I had nothing left to do but wallow when that momentum ran out.
Then the thought occurred: Why not just draw?

So I drew this.



This started out a gesture of a boy in space, gazing leftward, no idea who or where or why. After him I saw a hole in the composition, so I filled it with a girl. Continuing in this manor, soon enough, I filled the whole thing in and felt contentment, a long time coming.

I wouldn't call this image great, but there's potential here. I'm pleased with how the background came out. I'm still not confident about coloring it. See some later entry for that noise.

HELLO.

My name is Joe Wierenga. I'm developing a drawing style. Let me tell you some things.

I started this Project on my 24th birthday, April 12, 2009.
On that date I'd been an art school graduate just a little shy of two years --from the Maryland Institute College of Art, with my B.F.A. in Illustration, back in 2007.
Now, on my 24th Birthday, I live in New York City
I work in videogames

See my artwork from the time before this blog at:
http://www.joewierenga.com/