Thought I’d try out some new techniques with the wacom gear. So this is basically an improvised person done on a single layer in photoshop… A really interesting way to work, it turns out. Maybe that’s why it’s popular among lots of digital artists? Oh well. FUCK! it’s 3 AM?! DAMN. I need to get some sleep!!!
So. This sniffle that I mentioned in the last post seems totally have left me. It has been a dreary week. Nothing to do but to wait it out. But it did give me a reason to watch some of the old Adventures of Sherlock Holmes series from the latter half of the 1980’s.
It seems to also have driven my latest spurt of productiveness. 12 shots animated in two days. Personal record of mine, I guess. At least in this project.
Anyhow. I have found my website somewhat lacking during the last few weeks. I seem to have gotten fond of the look of having black&white illustrations spreckled around the front-page. But during these days those have been too far between. I decided then to rectify the matter by doing this piece, inspired by the very same series that I have been consuming. Not entirely happy with it. But will have to do as I need to get going to not miss another days of work that I actually get money from.
Be seeing you!
/PS
Do not wonder about the sudden strangeness in my writing-style. It will pass. I just have this tendency to get influenced by the creative works that I listen to. It is fine in times like these where it livens up the vocabulary in a silly way… but please don’t catch me after a marathon of Mr Bean-episodes… that is not a sight to be seen lightly…
So it’s the end of september. Took a slight hiatus on updates due to 20th being my birthday and all. But thanks to that I have also decided to treat myself to a new toy. It really is a nice one. Heavy and big. But nice. And I do not know how to write that without it sounding inappropriate.
Todays teaser-screenshot reveals Agent Johnssons inevitable return from the last episode. But how. Why? That is for you to find out when the episode finally is finished.
Now I just want this damned cold to shake off! GADDAMIT! Sniffle!
Be seeing you!
Another week. Another bunch of shots done. Continue reading P6 PROGRESS 140914
Wow, I always forget that it’s been almost 10 years ago now since that trip a couple of friends and me went to tokyo. And soon after, back home. I did one of my earlier attempts at a classic matte-painting. Not really perfection. I just got a sting of nostalgia when I stumbled over this pic while was looking for sound-effects on the hard-drive.
Now, back to work!
Slowly but steadily it progresses. Continue reading P6 progress 140906
So finally I can say that the first cut of the animatic is done for Potterthon 6. It’s about as complicated as ever. But I have some faith in it… I think. But at least it means that I can finally start animating!
So they made a TV-show out of the french comic-book anthology that made it’s name with wild stories. Fantasy-filled panoramas and… that one thing that drove more boys to buy the volumes than the violence. Tits. A healthy dose of cleavage and bulbous behinds on female cover-art-models… No I’m not a male-chauvinistic pig. At least not most of the time. But there are a few things that bring out the low-brow in me. And Heavy Metal is one of those.
At least that’s what I remember it as. As I was too young and lived out in the swedish contryside a publication such as Heavy Metal wasn’t exactly common knowledge to me. There was some old animated movie that I was too young to see (more on that one in a coming post) but all in all. I was oblivious to the revolutionary work this magazine is supposed to have done… with the help of boobies. I have since seen both the classic animated omnibus called simply “Heavy Metal” and its not as fondly remembered semi-sequel/partial-remake Heavy Metal 2000. And I can wholeheartedly say that this new series, in short, falls flat on its face in almost every regard. I will go through it episode by episode (the season only consisting of 6 episodes) and try to make my points to where it succeeds and fails. But mostly fail.
Written By: Guillaume Lubrano & Justine Veillot Based on “King’s Crown” by Jim Alexander & Richard Corben from Métal Hurlant №142, and (Vol.2) No. 10,[7] and (hardcover) No. 2
Kicking off the season is a story detailing the succession of the crown from an ailing king to his heir. This heir is selected through the process of an annoyingly talky tournament of fights where only the king is still left standing alive. I really should have started to suspect this series when this episode started. Cheap. Cheap is the word. The only word that came into my mind. Simplistic and un-inspired photography. Depressingly lack-luster script and laughably cheap visuals. Yes, there is a twist at the end. But the whole execution just failed to make me care the slightest.
The Twist: The successor has his brain swapped with the dying kings gray matter. Thus ensuring eternal life for the lord who instated this rite of succession.
Written by: Guillaume Lubrano, Justine Veillot & Dan Wickline Based on: “Shelter Me” by Dan Wickline & Mark Vigouroux from Métal Hurlant №142, and (Vol.2) No. 9,[8] and (hardcover) No. 1
This second one carries the torch from the last one further down the drain. Basically dropping any semblence of what I have come to expect from the title “Heavy Metal”, it is a cheaply made single-room story that would be better of as an episode of Twilight-Zone than on something like Heavy Metal. We follow a girl who is saved by a slightly sleazy-looking neighbor from certain death by nukes. Throughout the episode it is kind of telegraphed that the saviour is kind of sleazy. Even creepy. That he might have just lied to our protagonist about the nuclear holocaust outside in order to foster an unhealthy dose of Stockholm-syndrome. To get the girl who is hinted at being slightly underaged into bed. But just like the first episode it’s all shot, acted and edited in such a lack-luster way that I struggled to keep any interest. And the fact that I predicted the twist was just tiresome.
The twist? He actually was a pervert pedophile AND the nuclear holocaust is actually true. Double Wammy and I just wish it was made more interestingly.
Written By: Guillaume Lubrano & Justine Veillot Based on: “Red Light” by Geoff Johns & Christian Gossett and “Cold Hard Facts” by R.A. Jones & Matt Cossin from Métal Hurlant №141, and (Vol.2) No. 2 (“Red Light”),[9] and (Vol.2) No. 8 (“Cold Hard Facts”),[8] and (hardcover) No. 1 (both)
Oh, for crying out loud! Here we get not one but two episodes shot in the same disinterested way. No inspiration no nothing. I admit. I haven’t actually read any of the comics these are based on. Maybe they are fantastic. But from what I have gathered from snippets in featurettes surrounding the two movies they seemed to be at least drawn in a way that made the images pop. But here we are stuck with a man in a prison that is bathed in red light. And a limp attempt at a head-twisting ending on a future utopian society built around ruthless efficiency. Sigh… Why am I even bothering?
The Twist? The imprisoned man was a space-alien on a human-colonized planet . And the cryo-sleeping man was Walt Disney. And I should probably vacuum my floor.
Written by: Guillaume Lubrano & Justine Veillot Based on: “3 on a Match” by R.A. Jones & Ryan Sook from Métal Hurlant №139, and (hardcover) No. 1
Hm? Some actual sleaze? Hey, at least something is going on here! Some of the outrageous stuff from the films have actually leaked into this dry and dreary series! I wonder where that dominatrixing female officer is taking this plot? I mean. It could be anywhere. It could be an adventure of excitement. An adventure of stringing men along and then devouring their souls. It could be… A random run-in with the Metal Hurlant space-debris destroying the space-station and killing off everyone except thre people on a life-craft. Three assholes. None of them neither bright, charismatic or even the slightest bit likeable. They end up murdering each other in search of enough air. And I realize that I haven’t tried out my internet-box in a while now.
The Twist? The third asshole of the bunch turns out to be still alive as he was able to get to the piece of ship-debris that hurt the oxygen-supply of the life-craft in the first place. That thing was a tank of oxygen. Oh, and did I mention that the last time we saw him he was tumbling out of control outwards into space. Away from the ship that had the oxygen tube lodged into it…
Written by: Guillaume Lubrano & Justine Veillot Starring: Joe Flanigan, Kelly Brook & Charlie Dupont Based on: “Les Maîtres du Destin” by Alejandro Jodorowsky & Adi Granov from Métal Hurlant №143, and (Vol.2) No. 10 (as “Masters of Destiny”)[7]
So I was dreading another 20 minutes of tedium (at least it wasn’t a 40 min episode show). But then I saw that it was based on a comic by Alejandro Jodorowsky. Ok. I haven’t been the biggest fan of the guys work. But at least he makes interesting visuals and I would love to see what he could have done with Dune. I know he didn’t direct or write the episode. But I’ll take this over the prospect of another borefest any day. The episode itself is actually something that I would have expected to see in the animated films! Strange imagery. Space-thieves. Outlandish creatures. And a bit of sleaze and violence spicing things up. The things I didn’t really enjoy was the execution. It felt more than a bit talky at times. But it’s easily my favorite of the series.
The twist: There is none, actually. If I’m not counting the fact that the episode was watchable, that is. It’s also the characters they decided to portray on the disc-cover. A bit misleading.
Written by: Guillaume Lubrano & Justine Veillot Based on: “Le Serment d’Anya” by Julien Blondel & Jérôme Opena from Métal Hurlant №146.
Could it be that they saved the best for last? The fifth one was actually watchable. Could this be the new Tarna-successor? Holy crap! Rutger Hauer is starring the episode! But no. It’s kind of an anticlimax of a series finale. There is some Heavy Metal imagery here. But it all devolves into a rehashed “we can’t kill Hitler as a kid! He’s only a kid by then!”
The Twist: The target of assassination was Little Kid Hitler. Why does that sound like a zany japanese game-show?
The short verdict is simple. Apart from the fifth one it’s pretty much forgettable. And I hope to dear FSM that they stepped up their game for season 2. So I can actually start to enjoy more than parts of one episode.
Be seeing you!
During a drive last sunday midnight I managed to get a cloud of thunder right above me. I also happened to have my 7D on my passenger seat. So it was just a quick setup needed as I switched to the Samyang 8mm (Famously, thunderclaps are kind of unpredictable in both placement and time. so I took the lens that has almost 180 degree of vision)
Just set it up on the dashboard. Nothing more or less. I then filmed until I saw a flash. Stopped the recording and started a new one. That way I didn’t have to watch 40 min of black sky for around a couple of seconds worth of flashes while editing.
I may return to these files when home just to process them a bit with Neat-Video and some other corrections.
Work on potterthon goes on!
If all you want is to see the pics. Then here they are.
Well, as some may have heard. I have taken up a day-job at the migration-office in Kramfors. This has resulted in me driving each week from my home town of Östersund to the slightly smaller town of Kramfors nearer the swedish eastern coast.
I want to calm the worries. I’ve seen the third Evangelion-film and have written about half of the text that’s going to go with that drawing which I will draw during the coming week. I have also made an animatic for Potterthon 6 which will be the foundation for the animation that I’ll be doing while away from home.
But these weekly trips on the swedish highways have made me appreciate that there are some darned pretty sights here. And some of the times I just have to stop the car and snap some shots. This makes a trip that my mom does in about two hours into a trip that frequently takes 3+ hours. It’s longer. But I think it’s worth it.
This’ll be just a quick update on the progress of Potterthon.
I have finally sat down and drawn the storyboard needed for the animations. 12 pages in total. I think this may be a personal record for me. Why this long? Well, you’ll just have to wait and see. 😉
Be seeing you!
