As if I needed another project on my to-do list. 
I figure if I'm going to take another huge bite out of my spare time, I might as well go for broke. This new project is going to be huge, huge enough to make my once-ambitious dreams of redoing all the effects shots for The Doomsday Machine and all the years I've spent on the USS Grandeur look like a trip to the 'fridge on a commercial break. In fact, it's so huge that it almost certainly isn't even doable for one man and there are several other reasons why it will probably never come to full fruition, but for the purposes of what I am most interested in about this project, it doesn’t have to.
Ultimately, this would be a CG animated, feature-length film project along the lines of Wall-E or The Incredibles, but the ten-minute scroll of credits you see at the end of such films should provide your first clue why this really isn't something I expect to finish on my own. It would require the manpower and resources of a studio like Pixar or Disney to do it properly and in any reasonable length of time. Given the nature of the project and the right set of circumstances, I could actually see that happening some day if the idea were to occur—or be suggested—to the right group of people, but for my purposes at this point in time it’s really just a theoretical exercise.
I’m assigning myself the role of Art Director or Senior Concept Artist on this hypothetical film project. My task is to work up a whole bunch of design ideas and concept sketches for the characters, vehicles and environments required by the story. This is really just an elaborate excuse for me to play around with the Christmas present I bought myself this year, a Wacom Cintiq 12WX pen tablet, and immerse myself in the world of hand-drawn 2D artwork once again for the first time in many years. I suppose I don’t really need the excuse, but I figure a project like this will help focus my creative energies, and this is exactly the type of work I would probably be doing for a living if I had my choice.
So what exactly is this project about? Well, it’s a Star Trek adventure (surprise, surprise) set during the TOS era and featuring the original Enterprise crew. It is not, however, a story of my own creation; I am pretty much borrowing it wholesale from a Trek novel published back in the ‘80s, one of my all-time favorites and one that was virtually custom-made to be CG animated. Some of you will undoubtedly guess the title in short order, but I’m withholding it for now just because I’m curious how long it will take for the sketches I’ll be posting to give it away.
So, without further ado, here is the first character sketch I've been working on to establish the visual style for the film:
Obviously, the look I’m going for here is more stylized and cartoon-like, something closer to The Incredibles as opposed to an attempt at photorealism like the recent Beowulf. I believe the latter has its place, but I prefer to steer well clear of the Uncanny Valley for this type of story.
One of the things that makes this project so interesting is the wide array of creative decisions that need to be made. I’ve already decided to stick with likenesses of the original actors (meaning no disrespect to the ones cast for the new movie) and mostly authentic representations of the well-known ships, costumes, sets, props and so forth, but this story introduces lots of never-before-seen elements including a huge cast of supporting characters, several new ships and vehicles, alien creatures, robots, and a long list of planetary locations and elaborate set pieces. This being based on a well-known Trek novel, there are going to be lots of preconceived notions about what these people, places and things are supposed to look like, which should make for some interesting feedback from the fan community.
Speaking of which, I am definitely looking for feedback, especially on the stuff that is open to wide interpretation. I hope to post at least one new sketch every couple of days, or at least updates to a work-in-progress, so there should be plenty of material to mull over.
And for those of you who are still following my USS Grandeur project: That one is still on the front burner and is going to stay there until it's done. I promised a lot more frequent progress and that's what you're going to get. However, man cannot live by bread alone, as the saying goes, and I have to have some other creative outlets to stay sane and keep the juices flowing. This new project will not only give me a change of pace now and then but allow me to work on something other than just starships for a change and in other mediums besides 3D.
More to come soon, and in the mean time feel free to guess away at the source material.
I figure if I'm going to take another huge bite out of my spare time, I might as well go for broke. This new project is going to be huge, huge enough to make my once-ambitious dreams of redoing all the effects shots for The Doomsday Machine and all the years I've spent on the USS Grandeur look like a trip to the 'fridge on a commercial break. In fact, it's so huge that it almost certainly isn't even doable for one man and there are several other reasons why it will probably never come to full fruition, but for the purposes of what I am most interested in about this project, it doesn’t have to.
Ultimately, this would be a CG animated, feature-length film project along the lines of Wall-E or The Incredibles, but the ten-minute scroll of credits you see at the end of such films should provide your first clue why this really isn't something I expect to finish on my own. It would require the manpower and resources of a studio like Pixar or Disney to do it properly and in any reasonable length of time. Given the nature of the project and the right set of circumstances, I could actually see that happening some day if the idea were to occur—or be suggested—to the right group of people, but for my purposes at this point in time it’s really just a theoretical exercise.
I’m assigning myself the role of Art Director or Senior Concept Artist on this hypothetical film project. My task is to work up a whole bunch of design ideas and concept sketches for the characters, vehicles and environments required by the story. This is really just an elaborate excuse for me to play around with the Christmas present I bought myself this year, a Wacom Cintiq 12WX pen tablet, and immerse myself in the world of hand-drawn 2D artwork once again for the first time in many years. I suppose I don’t really need the excuse, but I figure a project like this will help focus my creative energies, and this is exactly the type of work I would probably be doing for a living if I had my choice.
So what exactly is this project about? Well, it’s a Star Trek adventure (surprise, surprise) set during the TOS era and featuring the original Enterprise crew. It is not, however, a story of my own creation; I am pretty much borrowing it wholesale from a Trek novel published back in the ‘80s, one of my all-time favorites and one that was virtually custom-made to be CG animated. Some of you will undoubtedly guess the title in short order, but I’m withholding it for now just because I’m curious how long it will take for the sketches I’ll be posting to give it away.
So, without further ado, here is the first character sketch I've been working on to establish the visual style for the film:
Obviously, the look I’m going for here is more stylized and cartoon-like, something closer to The Incredibles as opposed to an attempt at photorealism like the recent Beowulf. I believe the latter has its place, but I prefer to steer well clear of the Uncanny Valley for this type of story.
One of the things that makes this project so interesting is the wide array of creative decisions that need to be made. I’ve already decided to stick with likenesses of the original actors (meaning no disrespect to the ones cast for the new movie) and mostly authentic representations of the well-known ships, costumes, sets, props and so forth, but this story introduces lots of never-before-seen elements including a huge cast of supporting characters, several new ships and vehicles, alien creatures, robots, and a long list of planetary locations and elaborate set pieces. This being based on a well-known Trek novel, there are going to be lots of preconceived notions about what these people, places and things are supposed to look like, which should make for some interesting feedback from the fan community.
Speaking of which, I am definitely looking for feedback, especially on the stuff that is open to wide interpretation. I hope to post at least one new sketch every couple of days, or at least updates to a work-in-progress, so there should be plenty of material to mull over.
And for those of you who are still following my USS Grandeur project: That one is still on the front burner and is going to stay there until it's done. I promised a lot more frequent progress and that's what you're going to get. However, man cannot live by bread alone, as the saying goes, and I have to have some other creative outlets to stay sane and keep the juices flowing. This new project will not only give me a change of pace now and then but allow me to work on something other than just starships for a change and in other mediums besides 3D.
More to come soon, and in the mean time feel free to guess away at the source material.
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