2D in a 3D World

Ever since "Toy Story" made 3D CGI films a growth industry, we've had to put up with a lot of garbage from the Pixar wannabes, and not just bad animation-- bad plots, wretched character designs, uninspired writing-- the list is endless.

Of course, I myself have been a 3D dilettante ever since the acquisition of my Amiga 1000. It seems like yesterday when I would sit patiently for 30 some odd hours for my little 8Mhz 68000 to churn out a frame of animation. Good times, good times.

So over the years I've dabbled and tweaked and played with quite a bit of software, and I always keep getting drawn back to the question of style. I've always had a soft spot for traditional 2D artwork, and I still haven't seen a single frame of 3D that can convey the subtle expressiveness that Chuck Jones and his unit at Warner Brothers cranked out on a monthly basis.

As it happens, I submitted a script to Fox a few years ago when they had an open call for new animation projects. As it turns out, they went through quite a bit of labor and discovered this bright (sic) fellow named Seth MacFarlane (really sic). And as luck would have it, he already had a show on Fox, so it seemed fitting to just give him another. Though a bust in the in the competition, I've become quite attached to the little story that I churned out in two weeks.

Of course, what's keep me from making my own little movie, sticking it on YouTube, and becoming famous overnight? I mean, other than the fact that YouTube pretty much sucks away time like its great grandfather, the television. A more obvious reason is style. I've played with anime, primitive shapes, traditional CGI, even Japanese stick puppet theatre. None really struck me as a style that was going to work.

Until last winter.

After getting fired up by Scott McCloud's latest book (see previous post), I've done a lot of research and now, at last, I think I have an illustration style that fits the story.

So, here is the culmination of quite a bit of time laboring away to create some reasonable hacks to bring a 2D look into a 3D animation work flow. The first workable model for Candee Jones, a.k.a. Superchick.


More later.

Kelvin

All artwork and images copyright 2007 Kelvin Hickman

Life 1, Model Fight 0

Our long, national nightmare is over. At least, the model fight is for me. One of the reasons for the competition was to spur myself and other 3D artists to work through the doldrums that keep us from doing 90 percent of what we'd like to do (write a book, run a 10K, watch an entire episode of Boston Legal). But life comes at you fast (sounds familiar) and I have to admit I've been derailed onto other things. However, I can always bask in the glow of having created one 1/100th of the Shinto shrine I set out to.

Its not as good an excuse as getting hired by ILM, but it'll do.


One reason for my distraction was the publication of Scott McCloud's sequel to "Understanding Comics" . For those of you who haven't read his landmark deconstruction of the modern comic book, eh, graphic novel, then you've missed out on a fascinating journey through one of the most underrated art forms around. His new book, "Making Comics", does more than deconstruct-- it gives you practical insight into the creation of a comic, with a wealth of information. But don't fret, its not a how t0 book packed with obvious tips (Thirsty? Try water! In a Glass!). It continues his in depth analysis of the art, and explains why some things work and others work even better.

So, while I haven't finished my model, I think I've done something a lot more interesting--taken a stylistic step in CGI that comes close to what I've wanted for my long suffered short film.
But that's a topic for another post.

Soon.

Really. I mean it.

Kelvin