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todays update will be about a scene i had finished months ago…or so i thought.

This week I did an over pass of all the scenes and all animation for FRANK, I was doing edits on a scene I was not happy with. In the process I ended up redoing some if not all the animation. I started redrawing some of the keys when I had the idea, Do I even need this scene? Could I tell this part of the story better? as I often ask myself. And so I went back to the original animatic and boards as I often do when not sure what move to make. The original draft is longer but as I’ve mentioned before on this blog I always feel like its the truest interpretation of what I want to say. It being longer has lead to many cuts being removed or redesigned.

In this scene FRANK plugs the device into the wall using a usb. We focus on FRANK with a neat camera swipe.The other version (original) focuses equally on both FRANK and the device. FRANK plugs the device into the wall but the cord is already at his table and its done off screen with the shot ending on the device and what it wants. Both these scenes work great but I can only pick one. One almost fully animated while the other (longer) cut has to be animated from rough keys to final passes.

As post this I have not decided which scene to go with, I need to give it more time and think about it. I do not mind adding more time to the production and animating a few new cuts, but at the same time I need to stay on schedule.

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final draft of the scene

todays update is about one of the opening scene. Above is the final design still for scene. Below are a few different variations of FRANK smelling his roses.

We start with the first draft I did on a very old piece of hardware, about 3-4 years ago when I started putting together a rough animatic. My goal was to capture the movement of both FRANK and the roses.

1st draft, done on a very old cintiq about 3-4 years, got it from a friend as payment for a job

Next we have the 2nd draft done about 2 -3 years go, this draft is just cleaner but the movement stayed the same.

2nd draft, done about 2-3 years ago on a 13 inch cintiq, borrowed from a friend

We finally we have the 3rd version done about 2 year ago. Same movement but the roses have been cleaned up and detail has been included, making the next pass to be a simple clean up pass.

However the roses have been reanimated, I wasn’t happy with the shot so i decided to redo it, in the past I would have dreaded reanimation a shot, but after spending so much time with this project and my goal being to make it the best possible, I really did not hesitate on the idea. Once I said, I gotta re do this, I simply went and started. I knew it would take some time but it would be worth it. As of this post its almost complete.

3rd draft, done about 2 years ago

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todays update is a oldy but a goody, MOOD BOARDS!

A mood board for those who dont know is a study of the films mood. through the exploration of color one can set the mood of the scene. I made this about 2 years ago, i think i have uploaded these before but they are so good that they deserve a second mention.

old mood board study

old boards

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todays post is about animatics! this is the 1st time im posting any animation for the film on this blog. its something i look forward to doing more of especially after i start coloring the cuts. below i have FRANK smelling his roses and walking towards the window.

this cut is one of the opening shots of the film, this is the 2nd pass of animation with one more final pass left to do

this was the 1st pass of animatic edits for this scene, these are not the original boards, these where a more updated design to the boards, maybe the 2nd pass instead of the 1st. the 1st pass was done in green pencil, but these are just boards and no animation

this was the 2nd pass of animatic edits, but its actually the 1at draft of animation for the scene. i think this is one of the 1st scenes i animated about 3 years ago on what is possibly the 2nd cintiq ever made, ancient piece of tech but it served me well. FRANK smelling his flowers and walking off

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tonights update is some old color study thumbnails from about 2 year ago. some ideas for colors for FRANKS apartment. these designs have change and so have the colors, but i enjoy looking at them because the 1st draft of anything is usually the closest most honest depiction of whats in your head.

FRANKS apartment color studies and pots

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tonights update is a few drawings of some plants and pots, FRANKS room has a variety of plants. over the years i have drawn a few plants but mostly sunflowers and roses. deep down i think FRANK is more of a cactus man. i will be doing some more experimenting with plant designs once i have finished all my animation clean up, which is going really well, i have made much progress over the past few weeks and with this corona virus lockdown happening right around this time im sure i will find my self behind my desk animating for longer periods.

cactus plants

variety of plants

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today post is just a few images, some color and some black and white. I have been working non stop on clean up and its moving along very nicely. im excited for future post’s because i will be updating some animatic stuff and some rough animation very soon. stay tooned!

FRANK color study

FRANK animation frame

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todays post consist of some thumb nail color studies from a while back. i think these are from maybe 2 years ago. i had finished the 1st pass of back grounds on paper and gave them a quick simple coloring just to get a feel for the colors i was gravitating towards. the colors im currently experimenting with are different but i do love these 1st drafts.

color study

color study

newer color study

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i am terrible with setting deadlines, there i said it. i am pretty good at meeting them when they are set by a 3rd party but if i set it, i struggle with meeting them. this applies to my film. i have been working on it daily for a little over 3 years now. that's production work, pre production took longer then that but thats for other reasons.

well im ready to finish this film and set it free in the world, in order to do that i have to set a deadline and i have to work my ass off and try my best to meet the deadline. last week i was going through my scenes thinking it would take me about another year to finish it, i had given myself 2 week to finish every scene. thats 25 scenes 2 weeks per scene, equals a bit over a year.

to my surprise when i actually started doing the final pass, i was knocking out scenes very quicky. i think i did 2 scenes in a night, needless to say i was elated! this has shorten my production time by more then half. my new goal and deadline for final animation is may or june, definitely before summer.

im super happy about this, this has given my a new motivation. i am aiming to premiere FRANK before the end of the year, yay!!

the night i started doing the final pass

one week progress, as you can see the green ones are complete and ready for color

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tonights update consist of the phone/gameboy

color study from about 1 year ago

from the beginning i knew this device was to represent what we all have grown so dependent on, our smart phones. something fairly knew which we’ve gotten really attached to, some of us even have serious health side effects because of them. this phone/gameboy was something i was strongly pulled towards when first conceiving this project, partly because i really enjoy drawing it and partly because like most of us i use it daily and it has changed my life in many ways.

i think its very important for us to understand what this device does to our brains, that being said they arent a bad thing if you maintain a health balance.

below are some ideas of the evolution of this device, im almost sure what design i will go with but i still have some doubts at times on which version i like more and although all the animation involving it is pretty much complete.

1st draft of game boy, way back in 2015

this draft was more in the smart phone direction

smart phone design also

gameboy design with smaller controls and larger screen

gameboy design with different buttons

closer to the final design, kinda looks like micky mouse..lol

had settled on this one but recently changed my mind…again..

i selected this as the main distraction in FRANKS life because i strongly feel that this is/can be a distraction in most of our lives. its cool and new and can come into our life without warning, it consumes all our time and attention thus ending with us ignoring whats most important to us. this is what this little thing represents in my film. i hope i can accurately convey these thoughts with these drawings in motion

color study

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todays update consist of a few drafts of the final (?) shot of this project. here we see a few different thoughts on what the final shot would look like. i am almost done with the backgrounds, they are taking longer then hoped but what doesn’t when it comes to making art..

thumb nails of what the final shot could look like, along with some some rough key frames of the animation

a value study and the original final shot for the animatic but not the storyboards

a version closer to the final layout

some where along the process i decided to flip the building. i wanted to convey a sharp and un natural feel, something is out of place in the end, which is how the after math feels when we screw up in life. I also decided to distance the city, it suppose to give you a feeling of disconnect as well. does it do that well?, im not entirely sure, now that im uploading this im having second thought about its effectiveness…lol. there is much work left to be done but as always i look forward to taking it one day at a time.

a more updated version of the final layout.