Ongoing project

So I've decided to re-create the Oni Ise Owo animation, because I wasn't satisfied with the first one. It was great to see through an animation production, but I feel I didn't do the story justice. There are a couple of reasons why:

-Most importantly I feel like the story failed to deliver its plot points effectively. Due to deadlines I couldn't add enough meat to the essential moments in the story. Every image needs to deliver the core story because there is no dialog or voice over.
-Loose character development. I felt like there wasn't too much reason why we should care for the artisan.
-The visual style which was born mostly from the limitations of the program (After Effects) can be expanded upon.
-There's only so much character and scene animation you can do with the paper-puppetry style of animating in After Effects.

Basically I've figured out the methods to rebuild the ship:

-I've rewritten the script
-The characters and objects they interact with will be created with a special blend of 2d and 3d animation. The style will still emphasize flatness of space, but will be closer to my original visual conception in terms of character emotion, atmosphere, and lighting.
-A new system of compositing and integration will allow me to bring in new scene elements like rain maybe and wind.
-Every single frame has to count toward delivering the story efficiently since it will be longer, but still about 8 or 10 minutes long.
-There will be a voice over this time, but it will be in Yoruba (hopefully courtesy of my Father), no subtitles. This is supposed to pull your attention away from the narrators words as a form of description. Instead it is to serve as a device for the tone of the movie giving it another layer or oral texture besides the music. Conceptually it supposed to place Yoruba in the confines of a forgotten language belonging to the Orisas (gods) letting the viewer feel like this a story of ages past.

I will post the plot synopses soon and there will be more patches and boring technical stuff on the way, but for now enjoy these preliminary sketches of the redesign for the main

Recent sketches

Just some drawing of a Yoruba god (Orisa), that may play a part in future projects. He is Soponno, Orisa of small pox and disease. I wanted to try and give him an unsettling look. I believe it was to make him creepy in the eyes.

Ascension

Well forget the pretentious title of the series. For me this was an exercise in understanding ways to realize a screen printing effect in Photoshop. It turned into the project you see in front of you now. They were created using lots of textures, scans of West African mat designs and my own original drawings, motif designs, and woodcuts. I wanted to create decorative work that looked like it could be a screen print on a banner or drapery, and I think I was pretty successful because most people at the bazaar thought they were. From the first design sketch to the three finished pieces let me know what you think.

Return of the Super blog!!!

Yes it has been a long hiatus, but I assure you it has been more or less productive. See I haven't had a working computer for several months, and now that I have one back its time to update with much vigor and fury! So I'd like to open up with work from Thanksgiving (the school's Holiday Bazaar). They are based off of stills from my animation so this should be a good transition from old to new. So I hope you enjoy!