A Pirate Captain with a tragic past

Sorry for the delay!  I promise I'll be getting on a more regular schedule now that I have a bit more work to show.  Today we have the finished model sheets for our "Pirate Captain" character.  For those of you who don't know, model sheets are used as reference so that the animators can keep the characters looking the same from shot to shot.  This helps adjust for the individual style inherent in each artist.  I was inspired by the story of the Somali pirates who were once fishermen until their trade was disrupted by over-fishing and pollution.  I imagined that our pirates were once a group of asteroid miners who were run out of business by the nobility and had no choice but to assume a life of smuggling and piracy.  I wanted to give our Captain a weathered look, like he had seen some shit, and referenced a little Bruce Willis while designing him.

Next week we'll have a look at the antagonist of our story!!

Until then, stay tuned!!

-07-

Crimson Sails

I'm excited to bring you an update on our newest project!  It's a stand alone episode for a sci-fi, space action-adventure that we may develop into a full series.  Since getting the workstations and office set up, I've been hard at work crunching on character/vehicle designs, refining the story and doing all the character setup in 3d.

I've always been really inspired and influenced by the first "Ghost in the Shell" movie.  I chose to reference that style because I felt it was closest to the aesthetic I'm trying to achieve.(stylized realism)

That's all I have for today.  Next time I'll have a bit more to show.

Until then, stay tuned!

The adventure continues...

Greetings!  It's definitely been a while since the last time we posted.  Big things have been happening here at Studio Gattai and we've finally gotten around to giving you all an update.  For those of you who didn't know, I have left my full time job in the animation industry in order to dedicate all of my effort towards getting Studio Gattai up and running.  I have a few updates today so let's get going!

ARAM...

First up I have an update on the announced series "ARAM".  We have decided to put the project "on the shelf".  This means that we're not quite ready to produce the series yet and we want to save it for a later date.  The truth of the matter is that the story just wasn't working.  Hopefully we'll be able to strengthen the story enough to bring the project back at a later date.

STUDIO GATTAI...

We've been able to set up a new studio space!  ShiroNinja and I have been saving our pennies up for this occasion and we were able to assemble some really nice computers.  Below are some pictures of the studio as it came to life:

Again, my apologies for the long absence, but hopefully now that we're working full time on our own original projects we'll have more updates for you to check out.

We've also opened a tumblr page where we'll feature more of our day to day art and work in progress reports as well as some silly stuff.  You can check out our tumblr here.

Figure Drawing: Curvy shapes

Hello friends!  Last Tuesday was figure drawing day with Dr. Sketchy.  We had two models:  one was petite, and the other was fabulously curvy.  The petite model was very energetic and provided us with some fun poses for gestures, but Zer07 and I quickly realized that we were unaccustomed to drawing more voluptuous figures, so this session was a great exercise in thinking out of the box.  Here are our sketches:

Zer07's gestures.  Top 3 poses: 1min.  Bottom: 2min.

Zer07's sketches.  Top 3: 5min.  Bottom 2:  10 min.

Shiro's 5 min. sketches

Shiro's sketches.  Top left:  10 min.  Top right:  15 min.  Bottom:  30 min.

Nin, nin!!

Raeden's expressions

Ossu!  Shiro Ninja here.  Zer07 and I have been hard at work on "Aram" and we've been continuing to fine tune our hero, Raeden.  Utilizing our character sheet and CG model, we created some more images which will be used as important references during the animation stage.  

 

More to come soon!  Saraba!!

Anime Corner: Watching "Sword Art Online" with a non-gamer

Zer07 and I recently sat down and watched the popular, yet controversial series, "Sword Art Online."  SAO is a story of a game creator gone mad who has trapped his players in a virtual world, where death in the game means death in real life.  

I was a bit hesitant to watch at first because of the gaming-centric setting, but I eventually found myself getting hooked and we watched to the end with a fair sense of satisfaction.  While I did enjoy SAO, I feel very conflicted about this show.  I'm of the mindset that a show should attempt to be as universally accessible as possible, and as a  non-gamer, I would have needed a manual to follow this show by myself.  Admittedly, I'm probably not the target demographic for this show... my gaming experience is mostly limited to Bejeweled, Super Puzzle Fighter, Super Mario Brothers, and Mario Kart!!...  I don't think I would have stayed with the show if I didn't have 07 next to me explaining the intricacies of MMOs.  Putting aside the heavy MMO references, however, the story is pretty compelling and had me hooked.  The stakes are very high with some characters undergoing interesting psychological transformations, there is a sweet romantic storyline, and the art and animation is consistently high quality.

Anime fans seem to either love or hate this show.  The second half of the show was arguably weaker than the first with an introduction of an awkward sibling romance and a less entertaining gaming storyline.  (While I understand why many Western viewers might have a problem with the brother-sister romance, this is actually quite a common romance sub-genre in Japanese storytelling.)

I recommend giving this show the "3 episode rule."  You can check out the full 25 episodes streaming on Crunchyroll.

Nin, nin.

Making a hero...

Greetings friends!!  Zer07 and I are working hard on our original animated series called, "Aram."  It's going to be a daunting task producing the pilot between the two of us, but we are really excited about this project.  We're currently in the pre-production phase, hammering out the story and establishing the look.  The first character we designed is our hero, "Raeden."  

Our plan for the animation process is to utilize CG models as a base for our characters, and draw over these CG models in 2D.  (You can get an idea for this process in Zer07's post:  3D to 2D workflow - use the tools.)  The hope is that by having CG characters as a base, we will be able to maintain a consistent style (what traditional animators call, "staying on model") while keeping the animation and aesthetic quality high.  

Here is the CG model that Unit Zer07 created for Raeden:

Zer07 has already finished rigging this model, which means that we can pose him and start animating him however we like!  As you can see, this CG model is low resolution, which means that we need an official 2D character sheet to establish the fine details that will go into the drawings.  (Traditional 2D animators use character sheets to make sure they are consistently drawing the character exactly the way they're supposed to look.  This is "staying on model.")  Below is my 2D version of Raeden:  

(He's wearing a skin-tight suit which will include some patterns that we have yet to design.)  Keep watching for more updates!