Unit 10: Minor Project - The Draft Animatic

Hello Everyone,

Here is a sample extract from my latest contribution (31/10/13) direct from Polydoodle Pictures Studio Blog. The video below shows Sammy Butler creating the first draft of our animated short "& Son". Check out the full post on our studio blog!

EXTRACT

"The video above shows a bit of the editing Process with Polydoodle Pictures Sammy Butler. She is working in premiere putting all of those stills in one by one. The next stage in the process is drawing over them but we will get there. I thought I would just go over it a bit before revealing Sammy's already released initial draft. I think it is Act 1 just leading on to Act 2 right before the second prank from Benjamin. In this case though I have to say we have avoided the "little shit" territory we previously found ourselves at with his character."

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Unit 10: Minor Project - The Draft Storyboards

Hello Everyone,

Here is a sample extract from my latest contribution (25/10/13) direct from Polydoodle Pictures Studio Blog. The video below shows Sammy Butler walking us through the draft storyboards for "& Son". Check out the full post on our studio blog!

EXTRACT

"The video above is based entirely on our first draft storyboards. I wanted this mainly so when we are sitting around at Week 15 wiping the sweat from our brow we can look back at this for some nostalgia. It is not only to show how far we have come but also to somewhat explain the storyboarding process for people who have yet to come to grips with its benefits. I do let my introduction trail off throughout the video just to let Sammy explain a couple of details in the short, things you will see come Q2 2014 next year should they make the final edit."

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Unit 10: Minor Project - Main Characters - Head Tests

Hello Everyone,

Here is a sample extract from my latest contribution (24/10/13) direct from Polydoodle Pictures Studio Blog. The image below shows a sample of my final head tests for all main characters, this one in particular is Benjamin Badgersworth.

 

EXTRACT

"The image above shows the head tests I conducted for Benjamin. These basically continue from M and are a little jumbled but I figured as long as the letter is there it doesn't matter. The girls gave no opinions on these but I quite liked Q. S was a very close second mainly because I loved the curly locks. I wasn't sure if these curls were something we were showing on Benjamin before or after his Fathers adjusted personality but never the less I couldn't resist trying out lots of things with his hair. I also tried a few slight feature adaptations, I kept making the eyes progressively bigger with the forehead for example!"

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Unit 10: Minor Project - Barnabas Experimentation

Hello Everyone,

Here is a sample extract from my latest contribution (18/10/13) direct from Polydoodle Pictures Studio Blog. The image below shows feature tests I conducted to explore Barnabas's possible facial characteristics.

 

EXTRACT

"The image above shows 6 facial tests that I conducted on the IPAD. I just wanted to play with features here, I wanted to see what would happen if I made the head bigger, made the eyes smaller. Shrank the head, strengthened the chin, weakened the chin, etc, etc. I didn't want to give up with just some basic ideas. I didn't start trying to change the nose significantly because I kind of liked the thinner nose... Still I explored the alternate in the next row of sketches and found something I liked even more... If I'm honest I liked E but that would only work as a child... Note the size of the head and eyes!"

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Unit 10: Minor Project - Final Forms

Hello Everyone,

Here is a sample extract from my latest contribution (18/10/13) direct from Polydoodle Pictures Studio Blog. The image below shows the form Army, which lead to our final form choices for Bernard, Benjamin, Barnabas & Young Barnabas.

 

EXTRACT

"We started out with what I like to call the Form Army... There were 20 variants of Benjamin's final form and 20 variants of Barnabas's final form. This not only allowed them to choose Bernard and Young Barnabas's forms but it also allowed Chrissie and Sammy the option of changing our chosen forms for Barnabas and Benjamin with one of the others. I wasn't against anything here as I knew the forms were sound just slightly deviated from each other... I didn't rock the boat too much on these alternates just to keep the form and character feel intact."

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Unit 10: Minor Project - "Benjamin" Rough/Z Sketches

Hello Everyone,

Here is a sample extract from my latest contribution (14/10/13) direct from Polydoodle Pictures Studio Blog. The image below shows some rough sketches for one of & Son's chief characters "Benjamin Badgersworth".

EXTRACT

"The image above shows Figures A - H which is actually the opposite order of when they were created. F, G & H were actually the first and were done very roughly and quickly before I had even met to discuss art with my creative partners. I drew these just to get the idea of drawing younger kids. Dennis the Menace was the inspiration I also did these based on the notion that Benjamin was a teen, this has since been changed... I knocked up A from looking at the Z Sphere form posed (its actually based on Pose 2 of Benjamin's pose test post here.) I based the heads (B-D) on the head of A. "

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Unit 10: Minor Project - "Bernard" 3D Form Variants

Hello Everyone,

Here is a sample extract from my latest contribution (13/10/13) direct from Polydoodle Pictures Studio Blog. The image below shows Bernard Badgersworth's 3D form variants figures 1 - 5 (out of 20)

 

EXTRACT

"The image above shows Bernard's forms 1 - 5. In the early stages as per usual the top forms are usually very close to the original design. I tend to start not adventuring too far in the beginning. I later load up other ZBrush forms previously created and adapt them slightly to create a moving design. This is usually why the later designs get interesting. Of these ones Form 4 is probably my favourite, I like the podgy belly and the fact that the father is leering below Barnabas a bit... The frame is near identical but the flabby belly could be attributed to Benjamin..."

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Unit 10: Minor Project - "Young Barnabas" 3D Form Variants

Hello Everyone,

Here is a sample extract from my latest contribution (13/10/13) direct from Polydoodle Pictures Studio Blog. The image below shows Young Barnabas Badgersworth's 3D form variants figures 1 - 5 (out of 20)

 

EXTRACT

"The image above shows forms 1 - 5. Form 1 is probably the closest to the original Benjamin model. I just made sure I gave him a thinner waste so you could see the form translate to his adult form. Forms 2 - 4 were fundamentally made by increasing the length of his legs and trying to thin those down. I also tried adapting his physique a little more to cross over to the adult. Form 5 was a bit of a change as I started shrinking his arms and broadening his head back out. Part of me thinks Form 4 was the most successful for combining the two characters."

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Unit 10: Minor Project - The Polydoodle Chest

Hello Everyone,

Here is a sample extract from my latest contribution (06/10/13) direct from Polydoodle Pictures Studio Blog. The video below shows the art of Wood Burning for our Polydoodle Chest. Check out the full post on our studio blog!

EXTRACT

The video above shows the very first "Doodler" video of my business partner Ross Castle May burning the "Polydoodle" logo into a box that I purchased from Amazon. Over the course of about 2 hours the box was complete. The video is speeded up in certain portions because I figured people would just want to see the action not so much at its normal pace. I even knocked up the animated logo for the doodler which I had quite a bit of fun making yesterday ha-ha. I wasn't even going to make this video but after sorting out the logo I thought "what the hell...

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Unit 10: Minor Project - "Barnabas" Dummy Pose Tests

Hello Everyone,

Here is a sample extract from my latest contribution (05/10/13) direct from Polydoodle Pictures Studio Blog. The image below shows Barnabas Badgersworth's Dummy form poses based on reference starring.... ME!

EXTRACT

"The image above shows two forms which we were stuck at a crossroads with for Barnabas's form at a base level. From a front perspective the proportions merely look to be the only obstacle (check out Barnabas's base form post here). In truth at this point I was outnumbered 2 - 1 by Chrissie and Sammy on the base form for Barnabas being Form 2. It wasn't until I showed them how form 19 and 2 looked while posed that got them to reconsider Barnabas's base form. I don't like to toot my own horn but this just goes to show that posing these primitive forms helped us agree on the basic anatomical proportions of Barnabas. You can sketch it, but I modelled it, roughly."

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Unit 10: Minor Project - "Benjamin" Dummy Pose Tests

Hello Everyone,

Here is a sample extract from my latest contribution (04/10/13) direct from Polydoodle Pictures Studio Blog. The image below shows Benjamin Badgersworth's Dummy form poses based on reference starring.... ME!

EXTRACT

"The image above shows the base form we chose back on the previous form post but in a couple of elaborate poses. The beautiful thing about building models using ZSpheres is at this base level you can move spheres around like armatures and create basic movement and stances. The poses above were created just by rotating joints around spherical pivots (ZSpheres). You assign the spherical pivots by drawing them onto a base ZSphere. From there you pull out arms, legs, a neck, head. This model is quite basic but I didnt want to get into it too much... not yet."

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