Dr. Wright... Uh-gain!

I'm feeling better now, as if real progress has been made. A selection of rough development stuff above... looks as though I was drawing heavily upon early Hanna-Barbera there. And below, what you see I still wouldn't consider quite final, as I still want to mull it over and sketch ol' Wrighty a little more to see how he can be handled in 3D space and how rapidly I can bash out a drawing. Anyhew, feast away.


And Merry Christmas one and all - here's to hoping that you all have the hap-hap-happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap danced with Danny fuckin' Kaye.

Advanced Reading and Purdy Pictures

I was milling around the internet the other day and fell into an all-too-familar time-sapping trance, specific to internet surfing - what I like to call 'The Wikipedia Effect'*. Bouncing from one hyperlink to the next I came across a few artists/works that warranted a sly right-click/'save as' proceedure and thus, I present to you some artwork that has helped me to further develop the aesthetic of my character designs [most notably Dr. Wright's] and also given me food for thought regarding inspiration for the overall, final aesthetic.

Firstly, Dr. Seuss' book Gerald Mc Boing Boing (1950) with illustrations by Mel Crawford [he's also illustrated alot of Hanna-Barbera-based books incidentally]. I've been toying with the notion of creating a 2D animation without any outlines, promoting simple, yet strong chracter design, partially for the challenge, though I don't know how workable it'll be. I don't know whether Genndy Tartakovsky [Samurai Jack, Dexter's Laboratory] was at all inspired by work such as Crawford's, but it does remind me of him somewhat.


Next, a shot from UPA's Academy Award winning short (1951) of the book which carries a similar aesthetic [though the characters do have outlines.] What I'm more concerned with here however, is the stark simplicity of the layouts. Superb three-dimensionality and the sad mood of the scene is achieved through bold, basic tonal blocks and minimal line.


Finally, the front cover of the second [and final] issue of Dell Comic's Kookie (1962), created by John Stanley. Similar stuff going on here, albeit with more tonal detal and a rougher overall texture to the piece.


And there we have it, the so-called food for thought, some of which I have been putting into practice along with what else has been picked up along the way so far. Next up, more Dr. Wright designs.

*Not specific to using only Wikipedia, but the whole interweb. This and many other unique and useful phrases can be found in The Oxford English Dictionary of Fryisms.
Available in 2009 from all good book retailers.

To The Dumping Ground... A Prospective Shot

With a proper title that doesn't infringe on record-related copyrights [probably] and a character design for Dr. Wright that is fast headed for 'final', the old blog header has been relegated to The Dumping Ground for those interested in the relics of this project as a new header solidifies my intentions further.

Oh, and of course, the work that went into the old header served a dual purpose. It's an illustration of the penultimate shot of the film where Mrs. Wright gets an unwarranted surprise as her husband's mutilated genitals are revealed to her in their full glory. So here it is, as if I'd reached into the future with all my might and dragged a high-definition screenshot of the film back into this blog for full scrutiny of all its errors and short-comings.


Lions, your feast is piping hot... well... microwaved to buggery.

A Potential Title

For those who weren't already aware, Never Mind The Bollocks is a 'working title', meaning that it is subject to change. It was one of those epiphany moments when I woke up this morning that I could feel a new title stirring in my mind.

The result? Natal Attraction. Don't ask me where it came from, but it was just there. I'll mull it over and we'll see, but personally, I'm liking the sound of it. And whilst we're on the subject - obviously its a pun on the Michael Douglas/Glenn Close flick Fatal Attraction (1987), and out of curiousity I looked up some of the theatrical posters and came across this one... well, it's the main one:


For those few of you who still remember my recent animatic and haven't gone into therapy, it appears I've inadvertently referenced this [seemingly by fluke, as I don't recall this poster/cover] in one of the final shots as Dr. Wright's tackle 'rips' in two. Oh well, nice accidental homage. Maybe I should reference more heavily from here on in.

So, any thoughts or comments on the new title, let me know. Got a pithy title suggestion? Jot it down and I'd be more than happy to have a gander.

Nancy Heart... Sexy Clichés Galore

Again, this should've been posted about four weeks back, but it slipped my mind. A few designs of the villain, Nancy Heart at two stages. Here's the begining stages of Nancy:


And moving on a week or two, some more sketches of Nancy. Yes, people are undoubtedly going to draw comparisons to Jessica Rabbit. It wasn't my intention to create a 'knock-off' character, but then again Jessica Rabbit is a walking set of clichés herself, and likewise I'm creating a similarly sexy and dark character here, so this is somewhat unavoidable. Funny thing I noticed as I was drawing however is that her hair shape resembles the head of a shark slightly... So I'm going to play on that factor - she's on the hunt for her prey after all.


So, that leaves only Mrs. Wright (whom, incidentally, is the one in the banner at the top of the blog). I'll have some designs for her up real soon, along with the second pass animatic. Good times.

'Lovely Women'... Eighties Minges

Courtesy of Rob V's other half Charley, I have here a few sketches from an issue of DRAW! which includes the first part of Bret Blevin's How To Draw Lovely Women. I should've put this up a while ago as I've had these photocopies pinned to my wall for a while now (research purposes only!) and of course, they're highly relevant to the development of the characters of both Nancy Heart and Mrs. Wright.


That said, having designed proportionally more male characters in my time, I've found it remarkably easy produce some female character designs that I'm at least moderately satisfied with - far less of a struggle than what Dr. Wright has been.


So please, do enjoy these well-executed sketches of Mr. Blevins' - he's certainly got an eye for good female form.

Dr. Wright... Inspirations

As I dosed off to sleep last night with thoughts of my previous post and today's upcoming post mulling away, I gave some thought to exactly who is Dr. Wright? Take a deep breath, it's a long one...

As has been already established, our Doctor is a highly learned and aldulterous man. The storyboards from the past couple of weeks [a few coloured ones of those coming up, by the way] have enabled me to further build up this character through his varied facial contortions, but hey, they don't come out of thin air.

I thought to myself about some characters from film and television who could bear resemblance to Dr. Wright in various terms [see below] which could help to inform the development of his character.

First up, everyone's familiar with him, it's Basil Fawlty:


Then, perhaps less familiar, Bill Murray as famous film actor Bob Harris in Sophia Coppola's Lost in Translation (2003):


And finally, one whom I am not even terribly familiar with, Dr. Alan Statham from Channel 4's Green Wing (2004):


Now, I don't want to go into deep, profound character analysis and deconstruction here, I've merely listed these characters as; A. I find them each uniquely funny, B. They roughly match the age of Dr. Wright, and C. They all share frayed and amusing relationships with women or their spouses.

Looking over my boards/script, Dr. Wright can be seen as someone with a short fuse and something of a split personality:

• At the begining he is grumpy and at the end of his tether with life and marriage.
  
• Then, he recieves a message from Nancy, freshly invigorated.
  
• This is followed by mesmerisation with her stunning beauty, throwing any notion of his intellect out of the window to become a gawping neanderthal.
  
• Finally, in the third act, post scary-drugging, he is a broken shell of a man, now prepared to be humble towards his wife through guilt and remorse.

By breaking his 'modes' down this way, it can be better seen how he resembles each of the afformentioned characters:

• His 'Act 1-self' - the grumpy/mid-life crisis-y one resembles Bob Harris, who is also sick and tired of his wife, ultimately finding he is happy to be away from her in another country, if only for a little while.
• The 'End-of-act 1 into-act 2-self' is like Alan Statham, excitable, jumpy, and very horny - almost driven mad by it all.
  
• And finally, Basil Fawlty, who actually covers Dr. Wright in some capacity across the three acts. He resents Sybil greatly, driving him to undermine her and spite her at many a time [and always in vain, or ultimately to bite him back in the end]. He's got the short fuse as well, and when Sybil bares her teeth, or with the knowledge that she will rain destruction on Basil, he relents with his tail in between his legs ('Act 3-self', Dr. Wright).

So, there we have a very crude break down of some strong comedy characters. With these qualities in mind, I set to having a decisive bash at Dr. Wright's look. And the result... meh, I'm disliking it with each repeated viewing, in all honesty...

I feel as though I have been struggling with Dr. Wright's look from day one - when I put pencil to paper, something very generic typically results after a couple of minutes. The result below I still feel is somewhat generic and is far from final, but I feel it is a step in the right direction, afformentioned thoughts considered.

Let's Se7en

So, I was watching Se7en with a couple of my housemates last week... Neither of them had seen it and I thought they should be provided with a couple of hours of thrilling enlightenment.

A choice favourite of mine, director David Fincher (Fight Club, Zodiac) presents us with a gripping story following a murder case revolving around the Seven Deadly Sins, and visually, I feel this film can send a shiver up one's spine with its tonal choices, cinematography, and most intriguingly - the opening and closing credits! I'll begin with a few screenies of them:


The still images don't quite fully do them justice, though the haphazard composition of both should give an idea of the unpredictable 'film-juddery' motion exhibited. The opening credits is a jumpy montage of the killer's preparations as we see him (or her) snipping bits of text and photographs up, writing things in a packed notebook, developing photos and so on. Images of these various actions are luma-matted onto one another for one or two frames at various intervals, with uneasy film-judder prevailent throughout. It paints a vivid and unsettling backdrop for the rest of the film to come...

Speaking of which, it was only made apparent to me only on last weekend's watch of the stark choice of tone during the case investigation versus the penultimate scene where the killer has been apprehended. An example of a typical outdoor shot in the midst of the investigation:


Not only is it consistently pouring down throughout the investigation, the tone further reflects this, even indoors with a cooler, fairly desaturated palette. It projects a sense of foreboding over the impending murders and how it will all wrap up in the end - as Morgan Freeman's character William Somerset plainly states to his partner, "This isn't going to have a happy ending."

Furthermore, here we have the result within the last ten minutes of the film:


Phew, hop out of the cold shower and into the sauna, things are quite the opposite temperature wise in the tense finale. The rain has stopped and the setting sun beats down as the journey draws to a close and a critical revelation is made. The stark difference between the two palettes only serves to create further unrest as things are wrapped up. And then, credits:


Very sad, but I think this is awesome - the credits travel downwards, which is really creepy I feel... I've never seen that before. Like the opening credits, the visuals are gnawed and gritty, composed of off-cuts of the killer's prep work, interspersed amongst the text throughout. I love how the film insists on maintaining its atmosphere, even as the majority of the audience are leaving the cinema, something that I feel would be imperative to keep a tight reign on - no stone left unturned.

When all's watched and done, this film really reminded me of its relevance to informing my own work, and so, that's another one to consider in NMTB's visual repertoire. Character designs for Dr. Wright, Mrs Wright, and twisted surgeon Nancy Heart coming up.

An Aesthetic

Having started storyboarding, it's fast becoming apparent that I nail the aesthetic. As twisted as the script is (the level of which is somewhat new ground to me), I'm still aiming for some good laughs - the last thing I want is for people to wince at this and tug at their collars!!


So, where better place to start than with a look at an inspirational aesthetic created by Mr. John K. - most well known for creating Ren & Stimpy.


There are two main points to be examined here - firstly the humour exhibited in Ren & Stimpy is very typically of the 'gross-out/freak-out' variety and secondly, the poses/drawings are hugely exaggerated a lot of the time so as to exemplify this humour - oh, and let's not forget the psyched-out layouts that flash on screen during Ren's many spazzed out moments too (a possible device to consider for the tense moments leading up to and including the surgery scene in Act 2 of 'Never Mind The Bollocks').


As a child and up to now, this show, as one example of an aesthetic I would wish to draw inspiration from for my film, has never startled me or had me raise an eyebrow in 'wtf!?'ness - the work is so confident with its nostalgic 1950's styling and humour (even with an apparent lack of strong cohesive plot in many episodes) that it has always extracted belly laughs from me and the others whom I watch it with.


One to be watched closely for sure. In the coming days/weeks I'll also be researching relevant thriller/horror films that may also help me to develop methods to build suspense and tension in the plot, as well as expanding the aesthetic further.