Pepe and Lucas - Some Storyboards!

The average trailer Brain Zoo handles is usually between a minute and a half and two minutes, with more expensive ones lasting longer. For just a minute and a half story, I might need to create a couple hundred story frames. Pepe and Lucas was much longer and required a lot more work, probably more than for any other project I've worked on. We also had a lot more time on our hands and a lot more freedom, so the story changed often as we wrapped our heads around tone, character development, pacing, and length of time. Rather than show frames that made it into Pepe and Lucas, I thought it would be fun to show some of what didn't make it into the final cut.

Pie Launcher Sequence

I mentioned earlier when I posted the pie launcher that we had originally planned for the battle sequences to progress from small to larger, and from using standard props to more over-the-top outrageous ones. This would take about 3 bouts. Below, I've uploaded some of the early fighting and the pie launcher sequence. It was a lot of fun, but you can see how this would have quickly become the whole film.

  And from here we transition into the chase scene that's in the short.

Ending on the Magician

We also had multiple endings as we played around with how big a part the Magician would have to play as well as how much screen time to give him. Just like the pie launcher sequence, this ended up becoming too large and we really cut down the Magician's involvement to just the last minute of the short so we could maintain focus on Pepe and Lucas.

SPECTRUM WINNER!

You guys might recognize this image from this blog ;) It just got accepted into Spectrum 21! Another blog banner brings glory. I'll know it's a fact if my next banner gets in next year.

Congratulations to all the artist that got in this year! Check out the full acceptance list here:

http://www.spectrumfantasticart.com/spectrum-21.php

Just a fun fact, but the time I spent painting this last February marks the very first time I watched The X-Files, courtesy of Netflix.

Additional Future Monopoly Designs.

After a lot is purchased it transforms into a public park. On the low value end, the properties have less and less foliage or holographic foliage and on the high end, there's grass and real trees and fountains. You can see that even early in the project, the terrarium idea of protecting the foliage from the elements makes an appearance.

Additional Future Monopoly Designs.

My "Free Parking" structure. It kind of reminds me of Johnny Rockets. This was loosely based on several parking lot toys I've seen. I often find when stylizing things for "family" based properties, it helps to look not only at real life references, but at really little kids' toys, where they start to abstract down to only the most basic shapes. It makes making the jump to other styles an easier transition, while maintaining it's parking loty essence.

 Above are a series of empty lot "for sale" signs. Building on the idea of multiple levels and structures expanding and building themselves up level by level, we left the the surface as a translucent circuit board so you can see that there's a shaft below it the house/hotel might grow out of. I especially notice this now looking at the lot signs and trains, but aside from being more "family" friendly, we were really limited by time and budget and so we had to keep the shapes of our designs very simple. However, we ended up really putting a lot of time into the interior designs and textures, breaking things up with lifework, pattern, and color shifts. Our overall style owes a lot to these automatic constraints.

Future train designs.

Expose 10 comin' out!

Hi Everyone, I recently had the below pieces published in this years Expose 10 by Ballistic Publishing. You can order your copy here: 

http://www.ballisticpublishing.com/books/expose/expose_10/