I think when a quick set of drawings can make a person 'laugh out loud' then you're probably onto something! The little sequence in which the ugly prokaryotic cell turns up and is promptly abandoned is very funny - I felt instantly sorry for him/it - reminds me of Pigpen from Charlie Brown:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLJQXiIlj8w
Indeed, there's something about your drawings that reminds me very much of the world of Charles M. Schulz - and that's a compliment. I very much like the idea of the cell being squashed and pulled apart by lab equipment as expressed by your drawings. I want you to move directly to a 'thumbnail animatic' - a really quick set of drawings + timeline + SFX to get the sequencing of your film 'out there' and tried and tested as soon as possible, to allow for discussion etc. prior to your production of a presentation animatic - just work quickly and commit your drawings to the running time.
In terms of design, I'd just avoid making the eukaryotic cells too 'brown' because they do look a bit too much like guinea pigs or 'mammals' - and this might cause some confusion. I suggest you just make them pastel or jolly or sweet-like in their colour to contrast with that sludgy green of the poor prokaryotic cell. Obviously, you'll need to establish an equally appealing way to convey the actual information re. the cell, and even though Meg tells me that you sometimes grumble about what is 'boring' about drawing frames over and over again, I can't help feeling that your world might also include hand-drawn animated elements - almost like 'living diagrams' or similar - using After Effects to composite hand-drawn elements into a Maya space... anyway, it's just a thought, but there is something so appealing about your line art and production drawings, that combining the two sorts of animation might be very dynamic and exciting...
OGR 08/03/2013
ReplyDeleteEvening Sam,
I think when a quick set of drawings can make a person 'laugh out loud' then you're probably onto something! The little sequence in which the ugly prokaryotic cell turns up and is promptly abandoned is very funny - I felt instantly sorry for him/it - reminds me of Pigpen from Charlie Brown:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLJQXiIlj8w
Indeed, there's something about your drawings that reminds me very much of the world of Charles M. Schulz - and that's a compliment. I very much like the idea of the cell being squashed and pulled apart by lab equipment as expressed by your drawings. I want you to move directly to a 'thumbnail animatic' - a really quick set of drawings + timeline + SFX to get the sequencing of your film 'out there' and tried and tested as soon as possible, to allow for discussion etc. prior to your production of a presentation animatic - just work quickly and commit your drawings to the running time.
In terms of design, I'd just avoid making the eukaryotic cells too 'brown' because they do look a bit too much like guinea pigs or 'mammals' - and this might cause some confusion. I suggest you just make them pastel or jolly or sweet-like in their colour to contrast with that sludgy green of the poor prokaryotic cell. Obviously, you'll need to establish an equally appealing way to convey the actual information re. the cell, and even though Meg tells me that you sometimes grumble about what is 'boring' about drawing frames over and over again, I can't help feeling that your world might also include hand-drawn animated elements - almost like 'living diagrams' or similar - using After Effects to composite hand-drawn elements into a Maya space... anyway, it's just a thought, but there is something so appealing about your line art and production drawings, that combining the two sorts of animation might be very dynamic and exciting...