Background with meat.

As promised, here's another background. The meat was a last minute addition; I felt the bg was a little too spartan so I painted in some meat in Photoshop which I think sets the mood nicely for this scene.
The radiating lines were inspired by Ward Kimball's artwork and films from the 1950's. Which I think he got from a lot of British graphic design from the 40's. This was never used much by anyone else so I thought I'd revive it as an homage to him.

Plug!

As I work away I just want to draw everyone's attention to a great artist and a good pal of mine, Mark Ackland (see photo).


He's got a new blog that is awesome!
I'm a big fan of Mark's and I had the pleasure of working with him last year on a TV special called "Wayside" with another great guy, Riccardo Durante (see photo).



These guys are two of the coolest guys working in the "biz", together they created a show called Gruesomestein's Monsters which is pure genius.

Hopefully all of you out there will get a chance to see "Wayside" which was produced for Nickelodeon. It was directed by Riccardo, with all of the character design by Mark. I did storyboards and character layouts on it which was a blast...below are some of my layouts. Enjoy!





All right end of plug, now back to work for me. Hopefully the next time you hear from me it'll be with more "Waif of Persephone" updates!

One more...

new_revAPCcover
Originally uploaded by pyatyletka.

This is the cover for the DVD release of the Ren and Stimpy: Lost Episodes that I worked on in 2003. I think this set is coming out in November or December...

For lack of anything better to post...

hires_ult-1 copy
Originally uploaded by pyatyletka.

Haven't had much time to paint any new bg's for the film lately...so I decided to post some of the other work I did this summer....This is the cover for a Ren and Stimpy box set that should be coming out next year. Painted the old-fashioned way...with paint, sweat and tears.

My Plog is Worth.....

I've added a strange feature to the sidebar...a thing that calculates how much a blog is worth depending on the number of links to it....now if only I could turn that into real cash......

Backgrounds cont'd...

4-4
Originally uploaded by pyatyletka.

Tuesday morning

4-3
Originally uploaded by pyatyletka.

Another background.

The paintings for this film are done as a combination of traditional and computer work. I start by blocking in the main areas using cel paint on illustration board. I try a variety of techniques, mainly starting with a large area wash of the prominent background colour. I then start on filling in some texture and colour to describe the different surfaces and areas of the scene. My attempt is to use colour and treatment to describe the setting and mood of the scene, I find this is the easiest to do using paint and brushes...it's how I still feel the most comfortable working.
After I am satisfied with the intial stage, I scan in both the layout and the painting, import them both into photoshop and put in the lines and smaller details. I find this is the easiest to do with the computer because A) you have the ability to edit yourself, thereby helping to eliminate the chance of ruining your painting and B) you can zoom in nice and close and get everything to look just the way you want it.
This way I find I get the best result...it is also how I am doing the animation in a way; starting traditionally and finishing digitally.

All in an attempt to make it look "old-timey".

Ha ha!

ig
Originally uploaded by pyatyletka.

Here it is!!! The absolute, most ignorant drawing in the whole film!! It's for a deliberately bad dance scene, hence all the symmetry and blunt drawing....just thought I'd share! Good night.

Cheer up!

Another setup.
Approximately half of the backgrounds have now been painted. Only about 75 more to go...

sun
Originally uploaded by pyatyletka.

Another couple of cel setups.

Here's another couple of finished bg's paired up with the animation-cel setups!

I like the way this one is looking with the combination of greens. I always find that green can sometimes be overused and turn super garish. I try to use a lot of grey mixed in to keep everything tonally muted. Like a golden book.

perse
Originally uploaded by pyatyletka.

This one is a bit warmer, more browns and oranges. These are easier to work with since earth tones are naturally muted. Of course the danger there is that everything can easily turn into a muddy mess.


anim
Originally uploaded by pyatyletka.

Ah, the struggles with colour!