Here is some of the work I did for Henry Selick's cancelled project, The Shadow King. Most of this artwork was produced between 2010-12.
Digital
Ink & Graphite
Digital
Ink
Digital
Art Director, Tom Proost (left) lines up a test shot. Here he's building the set to camera, meaning that the set will work for one angle. Sometimes a few angles. But, the goal is to translate the artwork faithfully. I learned a lot from Tom.
The finished Test Shots (Night & Day)
The large moths are rigged with fine wire. Curtains are digital. The chimney smoke was built from cotton and put on a rod connected to a motion-controlled motor. As it spun frame by frame the "smoke" would appear to be going upwards. Movie magic for $6.00.
A kind of colorscript made up of main locations.
Scale foamcore models would usually be made at 1/4 and 1/2 scale to work out design and camera layout. I would take photographs of them to use as a base for illustrations. Similar to using a digital pre-vis model, but more fun and immediate.
Spider webbing test. Artist Robb Kramer devised a way to dress sets with webs using a container of rubber cement attached to the end of a drill. When he powered the drill, this fine webbing would spit out of the container.
I sculpted a small model of logs/coals in clay, then cast it in clear resin, painted it and underlit the logs using LED lights. The idea was to add hand-drawn animated fire later.
Two Scenic Artists assemble a run-down theater set for review.
Set lighting plus some digital enhancement, featuring stand-in puppets.
ORGANICS
Some greens samples created by artist Rebecca Stillman, using dyed fabrics, faux furs and real preserved plants.
A tree I made using a small branch, wire and paint.
A digital paint-over of a garden set to illustrate the way we could group foliage in a simple way.
This character maquette is 1/4 puppet scale, so it stands about 2 1/2" high. I made this little garden with faux-fur, fabric and styrofoam. Then I placed it in a fish tank, pumped it full of fake fog for atmosphere and took photos in different lighting setups.
Working on this stop-motion animated feature was one of the most creative experiences of my career. Though the project was cancelled, I learned a great deal and am proud of what our small art department helped create.
