More Applejack Sketches

Exploring around the closed-off world that this talented band begins in.

Eventually they'll hit the road, starting at fun joints to make ends meet.

First spending countless hours hanging out and making loud music, mixed in with food trips.

It's all about the Dark Knight!

Over the weekend, I went to see Medieval Times + Batman Rises for my friend's birthday. The first sketch came about because our yellow knight was wickedly awesome, but got destroyed by a cheap knight on a horse. There were no other knights as wolverine-like a fighter as he was, so alas we were sorta rooting for the bad guys... The bottom one is fun doodle! Two kid bickering, because of a out of control rocket.

Applejacks - Desert Stampede

(Click to ENLARGE, much better in high resolution)

Done originally as what should have lead up to a portfolio piece, but had left it alone for months. Mostly because it was really busy with many dark lines, and equal lighting. It sort of looked a little dull! Played with the color overlay to get an atmospheric vibe with the canyon walls and giving a shade in the front helped out the composition. Really glad I came back to this and finished it!

As far as the story of the Applejack's goes...they eventually leave their RC hometown in a fixed up shaggin wagon. Their poor sense of direction leads them into a misadventure, involving rounding up a herd of cattle (farm in a desert), who in turn, stampede them through desert canyons. Their make shift escape plane begins to fall apart upon take off. Mag (the machine) flings himself to hold the wing together. They redirect the stampede back home through flight!

Dog Canyon Exercise :P

My storyboard teacher gave me a note to utilize the entire space to help my storyboards become more cinematic. Having the characters move toward/away from the screen is helping open up a lot more options for storytelling. Am pretty curious if using a long down shot of a barren desert underneath the dog's house would help to better sell that there's nothing to eat.

On the road to Storyboard Boot Camp

Keep in mind, it's made-up.

I always went with my best friend to the movies throughout my teenage-hood. If I had an itchin' for "Over 9000 Zombees", she would always be with me. And usually, this was on a Tuesday night. Films like "Teamwork in the Spotlight" and "Hidden Secrets" was packed with enough pathos to have us watch it more than once.

"We may have stitched arms and limped movements, but we can't be

ripped apart when united. Hands in, everyone!"

"Grandma carried that box through everything. And we needs 

what's inside. Please stay focused for once."

While my best friend re-experienced the movie, I kinda started noticing patterns in the shapes during certain shots.  Some shapes almost looking like a huge NFL-lineback next to a smaller track-and-fielder, even though they were of the same height and weight. Sometimes I felt a bit of apprehension, and sometimes I understood the moment a lot easier. At the time, it didn't occur to me why the filmmaker would do this, he must have been crazy.

But it drove me crazy to not know it when I was in storyboard boot camp many years later. While it wasn't the most important thing. It was damn important enough to seek everyone's advice, where the multitude of possible compositions confused me even more.

With a hodgepodge of logical compositions selected, I loaded my boards and made way to the presentation room. Nighttime assured quiet "able-to-freak-out-as-I-thumbtack-my-boards" time. If I didn't select the right compositions, would I be caught red-handed?

Lucky for me everyone complemented on the pretty boards (YES!) and could mostly tell what was going on. I survived the pitch, and with hopes of less insanity in the boarding phase next week.

Xerox'ing storyboard drawings was the next step towards becoming a full fledged storyboard artist. The machine ambushed me with paper storm the night before the next pitch. Why must you be so hard!?!