I spent this week separating my storyboard drawings into different layers to use in storyboard pro next week, and hopefully, animating will start!

Also did some more color studies. They looked so right to me…until 5 minutes ago. Hrmmm… Still needs more contrast. I doubt I’ll color the animation, but I want a solid colored sketch or illustration to go with it.

Storyboards! 20 frames total, so far. It was pretty fun sketching them out. I think it flows fairly well—not perfect, but getting there.

Next week will be spent learning a new program, if all goes according to plan!

This is mainly a color/style study for my characters. The retro colored-and-hatching Dr. Seuss-ish style I wanted to try looks better than I expected! There’s still tons of tweaking to be done, but I think if I want to turn this story into anything that moves, I need to get…moving (ugh).

I’m a tad behind on the schedule, definitely have to catch up on storyboards/environments by Tuesday so I can start working in storyboard pro, or maybe some other software.

Here’s the character designs I’ve sketched so far!

Updated with gant chart!

The project I propose is titled “The Not-so-mean Orc”. It was a story a friend of mine wrote for me to illustrate a while back, and it would be a great surprise for him if I actually began the steps of making it into an animation!

What I promise to deliver by the end of this project is a short animatic. The plan is to have characters and the storyboard with key frames hammered out first, and the rest of the time will be spent building skills with a new program, likely Storyboard pro.

A visual style I have in mind is something reminiscent from my childhood. I always loved the pages in Dr. Seuss books (examples included) that would have really dark blue with yellow, dark green, or red. The dark colors gave such innocent books a rather creepy feeling, especially with his use of hatching lines. If I have time, I’d like to evoke this mood.

And here’s the story!

—-

Page 1-2: “Once, not very long ago, but very far away there was a mountain called Soretoof Peak.” A tall single mountain rises up from a dense forest. A mountain range can be seen in the horizon.
Page 3: “Soretoof Peak is generally agreed on to be a bad place to visit, for any reason.” A closer up view of the mountain, with a large crude carving in the face side of the mountain that resembles an Orcish effigy.
Page 4: “Mostly because a tribe of Orcs live here, and everyone knows Orcs are smelly, big, and all around mean and not fun to be around.” A closer view now, showing Orcs in their village on the mountain. Fighting, cooking, racing, and general stupid activities can be seen being performed like pig-wrestling, or who can drink the most slop.
Page 5: “All except one young Orc named Gromkull, who it turns out has a secret. He is a not-so-mean Orc.” A smaller, but still pretty big orc sits on a stump. He’s holding out his left index finger out which a butterfly is resting on. This scene should have a ‘disney Princess’ feel to it, with cute animals gathered around this huge hulking orc in a forest.
Page 6: Another, larger Orc comes crashing into the meadow from behind Gromkull, he’s ugly (even by Orc standards), had a magnifying glass attached to his right eye, and wears stitched together clothing of leather and fur, almost like a hobo/barbarian. “But unfortunately for Gromkull, Orcs love to fight. The others pick on him often.”
Page 7: The larger Orc scares away the animals and gets in Gromkulls face, yelling and screaming, spittle flying all around and bad breath hitting Gromkull in the face. Gromkull looks annoyed, rather than afraid or disgusted. He’s a head shorter than the other Orc. “This bigger Orc was Gurzt, a bully and very smell Orc. This is probably because the only animal he likes are pigs, which he wrestles for fun.”
Page 8: Gurzt rears a fist back to punch Gromkull in the face, still just as ugly and mean as ever. “Being not so mean, Gromkull doesn’t like to fight. The others pick on him because of this and try to take advantage of it.”
Page 9: Gromkull roars as loud as he can in Gurzt’s face, stunning him. Gurzt looks like he’s seen a monster. “Thinking fast, Gromkull decided to use a roar he had learned from being around the bears, and the lions, and the fearsome Boogatons of the Mountain.”
Page 10: Gurzt is running for his life out of the clearing, back the way he came. Gromkull looks pleased with himself and smiles, huge jaw turning and slab like teeth sticking out of his jutting lower jaw.
Page 11: Gromkull turns around to see a large lion sitting by the stump, waging it’s tail and looking innocent. It was the one that had scared off Gurzt, not Gromkull. “Then again, Gromkull is still an Orc, his animal roars need some work.”