Opening Scene Thumbnails II

I'm convinced that my recent meditating and studying of the conscious and subconscious is helping both my day job AND this project!

Example: last night I was still struggling with this new opening scene. I decided that the thumbnails I posted yesterday were not going to work in silhouette. I needed a new solution.

I paced around the apartment consciously thinking about the problem. Soon after, I meditated for 10 minutes then went to bed.

Within 10 minutes of getting into bed, a solution popped into my head! It was the result (I firmly believe) of my subconscious mulling over the problem. The beauty of this new solution is that it satisfies all of my criteria…plus solves some other problems: it reads clearly, it allows for me to keep the credits on the t.v. (which I really like), it clearly sets up Luthor on the edge of the bed, it provides a reason for the lights being on in the room which means I don't have to figure out how to make the room look dark.

The hopefully LAST thumbnails for the new opening:


Would you like to see these thumbnails in animatic form?

Opening Scene Thumbnails

Honey and Luthor are kissing in extreme closeup. Honey moves out of frame, leaving Luthor behind. In the next scene, she enters the bathroom then we pan to Luthor sitting on the edge of a bed. The visual/storytelling problem: is it clear to the audience that Honey and Luthor originated on the edge of the bed in the prior kissing scene OR is it necessary, for clarity, to show the audience the environment of the characters and their physical relationship to each other?

I made an executive decision! I decided that, indeed, the audience needs to see—before Honey moves to the bathroom—that she and Luthor are kissing in a dimly lit bedroom, on the edge of the bed.

Below are some thumbnails/gesture drawings I used to develop this new scene:







Next post: this new scene in the animatic!

Final Animatic—New Opening Scene

I have officially started the final animatic. This will be the last "rough draft" of the film before I start the really good part…animating!

Below is the new opening scene. As I said yesterday, it's shorter than the first version which gets the story started sooner & grabs and holds the audience's attention faster. 

Should I change the opening to this new version or keep the original?


FINAL Animatic Has Begun!

Thanks for your patience as I took a break from this project. It was helpful to not think about it purposely; by doing so, I ended up thinking about it unintentionally and coming up with some great improvements!

The first change will be the opening. I—and others—really liked the original opening. It was, however, a bit too long; I was showing too much unnecessary information before getting to the important part, the characters.

My next post will be a video of the much-simplified opening. I think it's better because it immediately puts the audience into the story. Here's a screenshot from the new opening:


Version 1 Animatic Feedback

This two-week hiatus from the film has been beneficial in a lot of ways. First, I'm back to exercising. Independent animator M dot Strange posted on is blog the importance of not letting your fitness go while working on your film. I see his point and am working towards balancing the project and exercising.

Second, I've allowed my brain to randomly think of improvements for the film. I already have several pages of notes of changes in addition to the feedback I've gotten from friends & strangers. Here's some of the feedback:

1. The film moves well but could be a little overlong at 5:13 minutes.

2. Some of the camera moves are overdone and draw attention to themselves.

3. Honey shaving in the bathroom is too unlikely. It would be better to have her in the shower shaving.

All of this is helpful feedback so thanks to all who took time out to get back to me!

I'm currently working on the character designs and will post those once they're completed.


Animatic Version One—Completed!

I set the deadline for Monday, Sept. 5, 2011 for this animatic…and I made it! The sense of accomplishment is HUGE. I didn't realize how heavy the self-created pressure was until I completed this animatic. With a combination of realistic goals and taking massive action, I was able to complete this stage.

Below is the animatic. NOTE: it's (mildly) NSFW.



PLEASE post your suggestions, comments and feedback. Any and all comments are welcome. Thanks and enjoy!

Clean Animatic 69% Done!

With a new-found intensity, I'm now 69% done with the clean animatic. By the end of day on Sat. 8/13, I intend to be ONE WEEK ahead of schedule to complete this by Aug. 31.

It's too late tonight for me to make a video of some of the new scenes but I'll get that to you soon.

Artistic Anatomy Part 3: Brow & Forehead Planes

We learned the bones of the front of the skull. We learned the muscles of the brow and forehead. The final aspect to learn is the planes.

First, some information about the image below. This model is known as the "Asaro head," conceived by the painter, teacher and writer John Asaro.


Full Asaro original model head.


Booklet that comes with purchase of Asaro original model.
Comparing this model side-by-side with the skull model FINALLY made me begin to understand the planes of the head. That's why, in addition to recommending that you buy a skeleton, I also recommend that you buy (or make your own) model of the planes of the head. Having these three-dimensional objects available to touch, light and closely examine will make learning to draw infinitely easier. I bought my Asaro head—original model—from Planes of the Head for $98 (free shipping!) which comes with a booklet presumably illustrated by Asaro. There's a variety of other models offered, too.

Onward to the planes. Here's a closeup of the model's brow & forehead planes:
Closeup of Asaro head's brow & forehead planes.

Brow & forehead planes colorized for emphasis.



Notice how they conform to the curves and landmarks we studied on the skull. If you project the angular planes onto the curved skull, it would look something like this:


Corresponding area of planes on skull.


See how clear this is when you put all of the elements together!

A quick review:

Bones






Muscles






Planes






Hopefully I'm making this information clearer for you and not confusing! Keep in mind that I'm NOT an expert in this area, but simply learning as you are while hopefully providing some insights I've picked up along the way.


Next: the eye & nose muscles.

Artistic Anatomy Part 2: Brow & Forehead Muscles

Now that we know the bones of the front of the skull, let's learn some muscles!

First, a quote from Andrew Loomis's Drawing the Head and Hands, p. 45 (a book I highly recommend. Downloadable pdf's of all of Loomis's books can be found here.)—"I do not see any material advantage to the artist in knowing the names of all the muscles and bones of the head, but it is of great importance to him to know where they are, where they attach and what they do."

I couldn't disagree more! If it's important to know where they are, where they attach and what they do, then you need to know what to call them. Muscle names often reveal information about where they are, where they attach and what they do so knowing their names is hugely beneficial.

Second, an awesome online resource for facial anatomy and expressions is Victoria Contreras Flores's ARTNATOMY/ARTNATOMIA (Spain, 2005) at www.artnatomia.net. This site is hugely helpful; it allows you to see the results of the contracting of each muscle. You MUST check it out!


The two muscles for this lesson, with accompanying images, are:

Corrugator
L. rugare—to wrinkle
origin: inner part of superciliary arch
insertion: medial skin of the brow
action: pulls skin of the eyebrows together causing vertical wrinkles on the forehead


Frontalis (Epicranius, frontal belly)
G. —epi, upon + kranion, skull
origin: cranial aponeurosis [a flat sheet or ribbon of tendonlike material that anchors a muscle or connects it with the part that the muscle moves]
insertion: skin of the brow
action: pulls skin of the eyebrows up, skin of the forehead down creating horizontal wrinkles across the forehead


Here's a page from Scott McCloud's "Making Comics" (highly recommended) that describes the corrugator, the frontalis and all of the other important expression-making muscles. I've colorized the two muscles on this page as I did on the skulls:

Page from Scott McCloud's "Making Comics."

Once you've learned these two muscles you'll be ready for the next lesson: planes of the forehead.

Is this information making sense? Do you find it helpful? Would you like to add to it or ask a question? Please post your comments!

Artistic Anatomy Part 1: Frontal Skull Bones

Hopefully convinced you that in order to understand the planes of the head we need to first understand the skull then the muscles.

Here's a front view of the skull with the bones labelled:


Note: the best way to distinguish yourself from other artists is to have a solid command of artistic anatomy (a goal I'm still working towards!) To that end, investing in a replica skeleton (the skull of mine is in the photo above) would greatly contribute to your learning. You can't touch nor examine closely a photo or illustration especially since most from the internet are low resolution. This is the skeleton I bought in 1997 for $349 from Evolution in New York City (notice that it's now $269; I paid $80 more and had to physically drag it home on the commuter train!) Despite not using the skeleton as consistently as I should have all these years, I guarantee that studying anatomy is infinitely easier by having a model to look and touch. See the bones in 3D makes them easier to understand and communicate on a 2D surface.

Back to the skull: as you do daily drawings of the front of the skull, memorize the names and locations of the individual bones. We'll start to build on that knowledge in the next post: muscles of the brow and forehead.

Would this post have been better in some way? Do you feel you're learning anything? Post a comment!

Until next time, happy drawing/studying!

The BIG SECRET Revealed!

So here's the big secret: you canNOT understand the planes of the head until you throughly understand the skull and facial muscles.





Not a big revelation?

Then why are so many amateur artists online venting their frustrations and confusion about not understanding the planes of the head? They, like me, approached this topic incorrectly: we separated the planes from the skull and muscles. This separation abstracted the knowledge; the planes ended up having no relationship to a real human head and became impossible to remember. On the other hand, when studying the planes while keeping the skull and muscles in mind, they suddenly made complete sense!

I searched numerous sources for this skull–muscle–planes connection—Reilly, Fixler, Loomis, Vilppu, Bridgman and the Famous Artists Course—but found nothing that clearly explained to me how all of the elements worked together.

Finally, I stumbled upon Jeff Jackson's blog, the first clear explanation I could find. Here he diagrams the skull, muscles and planes; his step-by-step instructional PDF on drawing the planes is also helpful and I recommend that you download both.

Following Jackson's example, I decided to break down every step of this topic into even smaller, more manageable steps. This method is helping me and I'm confident it will help you.

Next post: learning the bones of the front of skull.


Would you like to see improvements in these lessons? Tell me about it by posting a comment!

More Planes of the Head…PLUS!



Learning the planes of the head is hard.

I'll make it easy!

Follow my upcoming series of posts and you'll learn not only the planes of the head but about artistic anatomy, too!

I'll also tell you THE BIG SECRET to learning and understanding the planes of the head.

That will be revealed tomorrow!

The Brain & Caricatures

Photo: Joshua Anderson; caricature: Court Jones

I just read a fascinating article in Wired magazine about how the human brain recognizes faces and, by extension, caricatures. There are some helpful bits about how and why caricatures appeal and why we're able to recognize the subjects. Read the article here.

Clean Animatic—Scenes 1-32

Based on the feedback I received from my Muse (thanks, sweetie!) I revised the Luthor-reacts-to-sound segment. It was suggested to me that Luthor's reaction to the sound (the animatic in this previous post) was too extreme. I was thankful for that input because now, looking at it again, the reaction does seem extreme (or is it just really cartoony?) A new Luthor reaction is below: