TUMBLR!!

Have you seen our Tumblr page??  If you haven't already you should come check it out!

 We're doing a lot of wip posts over there so mosey on over and take a look:

http://studiogattai.tumblr.com/

Animation Sneak peek!!

Holy crap have we been busy!

We're officially entering crunch mode on the project...What that means for those of you who don't know is that I won't be getting much sleep for the foreseeable future.  Hopefully that translates into a sweet finished product for you all to enjoy.

After completing the last layout image, I was excited for a little change of pace.  I decided I would do a quick rough animation of the shot.  As you can see, it's a fairly simple head turn.  This animation was both super fun and really useful.  It gave me a chance to take a break from drawing layouts non stop, and it also helped me work out some kinks in my 3d to 2d animation process.  I was able to see where I could simplify the drawings, and where I could re-use drawings of certain poses effectively to streamline the transition to 2d animation.  I was going to clean this up a little bit more, but because I got such a positive reaction to the rough animation from my first production test, I have decided to leave the animation rough like this as both a stylistic and time management choice.  I personally think it will re-introduce a nice hand drawn feel to the piece.

Below is the original 3d to 2d test for reference:


3d to 2d workflow "Use the Tools" from zero seven on Vimeo.

We're also going to be ramping up for Anime-Expo coming up in July.  This is the first year we'll be participating in the artist alley, so if everything goes according to schedule I'll have all of June to create some really nice print pieces for the con.  Keep your eyes peeled for more updates!!

Stay tuned...

-07-

Layout...

Alright, time for another exciting update!

introducing.....LAYOUTS!!

For those of you who don't know, after storyboards are completed the key animators are assigned layouts.  The layout is basically the blueprint of the scene.  It's what all the different departments get with directions on who handles what.  Usually at this stage, the animation director will check the key animator's work and make sure that all the characters are "on model".  After that the layouts are sent to the different departments and animation begins!!

Stay tuned for more next week!

-07-

Starting to come together...

Alright!  After all that work it's finally starting to come together.  It's starting to get really exciting now.  I have a little preview of the storyboards for the short.

For those of you who don't know, storyboards are basically a comic book version of the film.  Live action movies, animation and even music videos usually have storyboards.  This allows the producer to get a rough idea about the budget and the creator to lay out his vision so everyone can see and understand what's going on.  In Japanese animation, the storyboard artist is usually the Director.  So for a movie like "Princess Mononoke", Hayao Miyazaki would draw the entire movie's storyboards.  If you've never seen any of Miyazaki's storyboards, I highly recommend picking up a copy from whatever your favorite movie of his is.(Mine are Castle of Cagliostro, and Laputa: Castle in the Sky)  It is truly awe inspiring to see just how close to his vision the movies are.  For Japanese TV anime, there's usually an episode director who reports directly to the supervising, or series director.

We decided to shorten the project down to a music video format, so in total I created 35 pages of storyboards with a total of 70 scenes.(and that's only for 2 minutes!!)  A scene is defined as: "any time the camera changes", or, "any time there is a new background."  So there's still quite a bit of work ahead and I'm really gonna have to bust my butt if I'm going to make my July deadline...

Guess I better get back to it--

Stay tuned for more!!

-07-

"It's gotta have a robot!"

First look at the Pirate's raiding craft, I wanted it to have a very high performance custom feel to it.  Maybe I've been watching too much Fast and Furious...

I was actually quite influenced by the anime "Outlaw Star" when designing this mech.  I wanted to make something that felt like it had been customized a bit for racing.  I imagined that when these asteroid miners weren't busy mining asteroids for precious metals, they were racing through the tunnels they had created for fun.  Of course this comes in handy when they are forced to turn to piracy to survive.  I really do love mecha and I felt like any sci-fi project I work on HAS TO have a mech or robot or even both.  So here you go!

Stay tuned for more,


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Kiki

Let's face it... Kiki was never that great at flying to begin with...

Speaking of "Kiki's Delivery Service," have you heard that there is a live action adaptation of the movie set to release in Japan next month?  Here is the trailer:

I don't know what disturbs me more, the creepy CG version of Jiji the cat or the overly aged appearance of Kiki... or the fact that there is a live action adaptation at all!!  Personally, I find the original animated movie to be a beautifully craft film, and I don't know what the purpose of such a live action adaptation accomplishes.  Perhaps it's an attempt to reach audiences who normally don't watch animation, or maybe the film producers figured that today's kids haven't seen the older animated version and will see this version as new and amazing.  Regardless of the reasons, if you haven't seen the original animated film, "Kiki's Delivery Service," I highly recommend you check it out.  If you happen to see this live action version, I'd be curious to hear your review.

Saraba!!

Leather seats optional...

The interior of the Pirate's ship was pretty challenging and a lot of fun.  I wanted to put in details like exposed panels and wiring to show that this ship is designed with a function over form mentality to contrast the streamlined clean look of the Nobleman's ship.  Also, I designed this ship with zero gravity in mind, this allowed me to have a bit more freedom in how I arranged things like hallways and where I mounted seats.  In the "Interior Details 005" image you can see those seats are mounted in a cylinder.  That cylinder is mounted to the ceiling and allows the user to orient the seat in any way they like.  The docking hallway actually extends vertically from an opening in the top of the bridge.  Even though mechanical design is still challenging I had the most fun working on these sets.  Look forward to seeing them in action soon!

Stay tuned!

-07-

Hand to mouth on the edge of the Universe

We're finally to one of my favorite designs of this project!

The Pirate's space ship is something I wanted to be really utilitarian.  No wasted space and very functional looking, unlike the Nobleman's ship.  I included the extra detail of this particular ship having an older style warp engine that required the core be exposed to the low temperatures of space as a way to rapidly cool the engines and keep them from overheating after going into warp.  I really like the way this ship turned out and I can't wait to design more ships in the future!  Keep learning.  Every new experience is an opportunity for growth...

Stay tuned!

-07-

Always have an escape plan...

This week, we're going to take a detailed look at the escape pod airlock and the massive cargo bay.  Again, I wanted the Nobleman's ship to feel big and excessive to the point of there being wasted space, which is why I left the cargo bay empty.  He's so rich he doesn't need to haul any cargo and has plans to convert this area into a ballroom.

Stay tuned!!

-07- 

Continuing our tour...

Continuing our tour of the Nobeman's ship, this week we're going to have a look at the external and internal details of the ship's docking airlock.

Stay tuned for more next week!

-07-

The life of the New Nobility...

Last week we took a look at the exterior of our Nobleman's ship.  This week we're diving inside to have a detailed look at the ship's Bridge.

After finishing the character designs I went back and re-read the script so I could get an idea of what exactly needed to be designed when it came to the sets.  You can see the results above in the post. You can't truly understand the sheer amount of work that goes into any of your favorite anime productions until you actually set out to do something on your own.  Our "one shot" is only 10 minutes long and still there are a tremendous amount of designs that need to be done.  It really puts into perspective the mind blowing amount of work that goes into one episode, let alone an entire series.  Keep coming back for more and if you like what you see, share it with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr etc..  The more the merrier!

-07-  

The Rich live big...

I know I know, I promised I wouldn't miss any more weeks.  In my defense, I enjoyed myself a little too much on new year's eve and completely forgot to make a post last week.  Without any further delay here's the much anticipated Nobleman's ship:

I tried to make it big yet still made it look like it could be fast.  I pulled reference from many different sources, including racing boats, catamaran style yachts and even the space shuttle.  After that it was all my own imagination.  If I had the chance I would go back and design the ship before designing the interior.  I felt a little too constrained by my original interior designs since they were completed first.  So far this project has been a great learning experience!  Next week we'll dive inside so stay tuned, let's start the new year off on a roll!!!

-07-

The Working Class Heroes

Alright, here's the rest of our pirate crew!  As I mentioned in an earlier post, these guys are all formerly asteroid miners who lost their livelihood due to the political machinations of this story's nobility.  In order to survive they've turned to smuggling, piracy, and a host of other illegal activities.  When designing these characters I tried to give them a uniform yet unpolished look to contrast the nobility's lavish extravagant looking outfits.  The colors here will play a big part in telling the story of these characters.  Pirate B is pictured wearing an armored space suit which is closely involved in the film's final action sequence.  I shouldn't go into any more detail because I want you to have something to look forward to when the final film is released!

Starting next week, we'll be taking a look at the Nobleman's ship!

Stay tuned!!

-07-

We live to serve

As the image says, these are the Nobleman's Crew.  I wanted their uniforms to reflect the high society background they came from and also tie in to the design of the Nobleman.  I used elements of the nobleman's uniform and made sure that the Crew's look was a bit more subdued.  They live to serve after all...

Next week we'll have the rest of the Pirates!  Look forward to it!!

-07-

The Strong Sexy Female lead

***Warning!  The following post contains nudity***

Wow!  I'm truly sorry for keeping you guys waiting.  As I write this, I'm setting up automatic posts for the next few weeks so that I won't miss my appointments anymore.  With that said, let's talk a little about the post for this week.  Above you can see a little more art than usual.  I've posted some work in progress explorations to show you a little bit more about the process of designing a main character.  I wanted her to be strong, sexy, but not so sexy she's slutty.  That being said, you'll notice in one of the model sheets she appears nude on top.  There's a reason for that, but revealing that reason would spoil the story.  Why ruin the anticipation?  All of these model sheets are necessary for our animators to keep the character looking the way she's supposed to.  Even though we use CG as a base, it's still somewhat difficult to keep the characters looking the same, so these model sheets are a huge help.

That's all for now.  Feel free to leave comments and ask questions!!

Until next time....

-07-

Rich guy...bad guy

We're still having a few hiccups getting this content to you on time but you know what they say, "better late than never."  Today I'd like to introduce the antagonist of our story, the Nobleman.  It's hard to not be influenced by current events.  The way the super rich and huge corporations seem to be buying votes and writing laws that benefit them all while eliminating the middle class and creating a new type of "nobility".  I took that concept of a new "nobility" to the extreme with this character.  When I was designing him I really tried to keep these words in mind, excess, scumbag, hyper-rich.  I referenced Henry VIII for some of the physique and outfit(since he's a historically famous hyper-rich scumbag lol) as well as some former biggest loser contestants to get the body proportions right.  I really like this character and I'm happy with how he turned out.  I can't wait to start animating!!

More supporting characters coming next Wednesday!

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