I want to Storyboard this short story and all the scenes in sequence, hopefully in a decent quality of the story I came up with when I was in Middle School in the 90s.
This Charcoal Illustration was exhibited in Congress ("Eyewitness") when I was 15 years old, and it's my most beloved piece from that time period. It's weeks worth of work EVERY DAY.
The story is STILL very clear inside my mind, altho' even tho' I made this on pale cyan blue paper, I think I would probably go with a warmer tone.
I also have a whole sequence in mind for the little fox with Lively. The fox is freaking out from shock & awe of giant flying creatures coming out of the sky, and cowering beneath Lively's legs.
Even tho' I'm so critical, and so frustrated with 3D animation, this is something I would LOVE to do a hybrid using 3D modeling but with semi rhodoscoping over top in traditional animation.
It would NOT be long at all. It would be a very short story.
I've been mulling it over in my mind, and I'm divided on whether I would like this with electronic music, or more of a symphony, or a hybrid of both. If i went with an orchestra score I would want it to be similar in style to the film score by Klaus Doldinger and Giorgio Moroder (which DOES actually have small bits of electronic synthesizer fusion in it) for "The Neverending Story" but I could just as easily see/hear something just as nice done electronically like Erasure's "I SAY I SAY I SAY" album or their self titled album following that one. I am also fond of the hybrid sound in the 2 albums by "Akara".
THIS:
I just LOVE the energy in that! The strings and the horns!
I also like a bit of the old Dune soundtrack by TOTO but, probably NOT that.
I suppose I could stortyboard this one also, but I don't want it to be a total rip-off of the first one.
I'm hoping that once my semester is over by end of December, I can work on trying to come up with the roughs and thumbnails for the animated short. I do not know whether the short would, or could, actually EVER be produced, but it is my dream to do so hopefully before I die.
Like I've said, these are not the greatest storyboards. they also don't "flow" "correctly"... plus, my inking skills are terrible.
I had to ink these to shove them into my portfolio, to graduate, only to have them pulled and re-inserted, and pulled out multiple times by jerk, sexist instructors.
back then, inking was the rule... but, also, back then, storyboards were almost entirely done in blue pencil... I don't know whether that's still done today, but it's maddening. Blue is often non-repro and won't scan very well, because scanners and photocopiers have trouble seeing it. they also fade really fast, unlike red pencils which last.
This is my FAVORITE PART of the entire film/story!
This concept is pretty old, and I first started it in 1998. As you can see the 2 sketches above which I drew in Lewes Delaware after I came back to the USA from Germany, but I first dreamed it up around June-July when I was graduating high school in NJ, and then went strait into my Animation Scholarship Summer program at the UARTS in Philadelphia. I actually sketched this on the square, hard covered sketch-books they gave us from the UARTS. I actually started these sketches in Philly, probably in July, but never finished them until August... looks like a few days before I turned 19.
I was supposed to start at AIPH that week, but they screwed up my paperwork and I couldn't start until January... (the story of my life... always delays... and someone screwing something up...)
I actually drew up these rough storyboards/concepts on my own, and not as a school project... but, I had to shove them into being a project, kinda, at portfolio time... hence the reason why they are inked... and I HATE the inking!
Or course I would LOVE to redo them, eventually... however, I don't have the music composed for it yet. I think I will actually incorporate 2 songs here.
The first little song bit will be short and light, probably THIS SONG [demo]:
But, HERE are the Lyrics I WROTE for the song I want her to sing.
There's another part after this which I just haven't even storyboarded.
She will briefly meet back up with her dragon pack/flock and it will be a musical dramatic piece, and they will all part. they do all mutually miss her, but she isn't allowed to return yet.
That actually is what really shifts her to be motivated to do the right thing she believes in, and really becomes determined.
However, since the dragons reproached her and caused this, the direction she goes in actually puts a spotlight on her, which goes against their other fundamentalist ideas... So, they will try to lure her back... they'd originally intended it to be punitive and judged her as "not ready to return yet" because she was supposed to be "learning a lesson"... however, she actually learns far beyond their mental framework of thinking, and overcomes that...
They try to stop her from getting involved, and even welcome her back to distract her... but, she evolves beyond it, and sees past the extremes of what was originally meant to be safety and concern, and became stifling. After that, she will be able to shape-shift on her own.
Then, She and Lively can confront the main villain/antagonist.
I want the music to have a distinctly 90s European techno 4/4 beats sound/feel/vibe, but somewhat like a ballad.
I'm not sure whom I would pick to be the singing voice... I would probably want someone whom could sing like the late Melanie Thornton, may she rest in peace.
I've finally scanned these old vintage storyboards I did. I did these back when i was in college. the scene ideas had already been in my mind since about 1998, but they really started to become something in 1999 when I was in college in Philadelphia full time.
I learned a lot from an animation teacher, Sam, whom got fired.
Unfortunately, they don't actually "flow" "correctly" the way storyboards are supposed to... So, there's sort of fragmented... if anything, they seem to "cut" much like a music video style of editing would....
But, I want this piece to flow just right. Its especially meaningful to me. Also, this scene is crucial to other plot pivoting points in the story line.
Here is the rough acrylic painting version I just recently did:
I will eventually need to redo them.... however, I don't have the music for it composed. I feel that I will NEED that music in order to create the piece effectively. I want a whole song/musical part.
I want a song that is similar to this style, but I want to have something totally new composed:
I want this scene to convey the free spirited fun-loving personality of Djehkäujaa, my dragon character. However, she sneaks away form the pack/flock of the other dragons, whom have become fundamentalist isolationists, whom would frown upon her inter-species relationships/friendships with "silly creatures".
Djehkäujaa's openness in playing with dolphins and other fun-loving playful creatures plays an important part in the story much later on in the story...
There's a reason why the dragons are so rigid and isolationist... but, their stubborn rigidness will backfire... there's a lot of backfiring in this story...
It'd definitely not my best painting work. But, I'm so entirely out of practice. My spouse also threw away decades worth of paint brushes, vintage irreplaceable brushes, and vintage paints/pigments.
I'm also not a fan of painting on rough canvas, I like smoother ones, or illustration board... but, for landscape paintings I think either canvas paper, or canvas pages are good.
Here's the first try:
But, I really hated it. I went through hours upon hours for days worth of researching references.
I also was frustrated with my crappy quality brushes, paints/pigments, and my spouse's annoying compulsive need to feel in control over everything just killed and/or "interrupted my creative flow".
I wish art worked like a clock... but, it doesn't... not ur real art(the stuff ur not employed to do which had a different motive in being created).
When it comes to PAINTING I like to have a nice set up, that's all set up, free, and open, secure, and stable to flow... if that makes sense to you, GOOD. If not, don't know what else to tell you...
The act of setting up, and putting away, is cumbersome, annoying, meticulous, and drains me... so, I'll either get obsessed with every friggin detail of that, or get FED UP with all of that, that I become reckless, irritable, irritated, and drained from doing that, that it bothers my process.
As an artist, my spouse is the exact polar opposite, and I HATE IT.
So, I finally went back to try fixing up and repainting it after checking who knows how many styles of painting techniques FOR JUST CLOUDS, 2 days later...
The constant pestering me to PAINT PAINT PAINT "ARE YOU GONNA PINT?" or "WHEN ARE YOU GONNA PAINT?" was just so unbearably irritating and pressurizing, plus the fact that I ALSO STILL HAVE A LUNG INFECTION, and I WANT TO GO BACK TO THE GYM which I paid out big dollars to get a membership to, have massive panic over getting diabetes since I'm getting older, and him PESTERING THE SHIT out of my to GO TO THE GYM that I don't understand WHY HE DOESN'T UNDERSTAND! Also, in his mind, he thinks he's being helpful, supportive, etc...
When i first GOT my gym membership I was SO HAPPY! I was pestering HIM to drive me EVERY DAY, then I GOT SOME VIRUS, and just when I was recovering from it, I got sick again even worse 3 days later!
I'm so FED UP with poverty. It's like poverty is a disease its self!
AND, since OI was sick, I couldn't apply for jobs, because I had no voice, and had puss coming out of me, and coughing. HOW long do u need to be married to a person to finally "get it" that I HEAL SLOW when it comes to respiratory illnesses???? Plus, add onto that the INSANE weather, the blizzards, and the perpetual cold, arctic winds, and deep freezes we just had! I can;t even go outside! The windchill is too cold! I'm an asthmatic. But, he will reak the fuck out when the kid has a toy that MIGHT agitate her asthma, or get up early in the morning to warm up the car, so she might not get an asthma problem... WTF?
Anyways, I went back 2 days later, and reworked it... this time I just fell back on some color theory... I couldn;t really get the painting to look like I wanted in my mind, but when I tried working with the colors based on the limited palet I have, and went with the color theory, it looked/felt a bit batter.
Since he was being such a snit over my paints being set up at the table, and I'm guessing it offended his ego's extended sense of control perceptions of his reality... I dunno... I just don't friggin' feel like fighting... because if I start fighting, I'm bringing the house down... and it's not worth it.
Also, my university application had some hick-ups which he also wants to be micro manager of, like I'm some helpless idiot child...
So, I moved it to the corner of the room where my daughter's computer used to be.
But, it's such an awkward spot, that I can't feel myself always wanting to go there...
I started another painting... then let it dry... But, I kinda "lost my vision" and lost my mojo...
Strangely, I actually felt the urge to work on it tonight... but, he kept saying he wanted to work in that corner tonight... 4-5 hours have already passed as I write this and he still hasn't...
I wanted to practice some clouds, or try some different ideas... but, I can't see them anymore...
I was wanting to do some scenes from my old concept storyboards.
But, my story concepts are kind of evolving... the fantasy aspect of it, is actually going a bit further now in my mind...
And, I think I want perhaps a Binary solar system, and extra satellites (moons) in the skies.
I keep seeing it in my mind that way.... and, it looks prettier each time I see it.
I need/want more "weird" and kind of strange, but beautiful....
Here's some weird inspirational references:
I went through a lot of stuff on DeviantART and put some stuff in 1 of my folder in my Favorites.
I also have a lot of stuff I found, and put into my FAVORITES on Flickr, including clouds, aerial, wide angle, dawn and dusk.
I pretty much know the gist of what I want, and sometimes its very clear, and other times its vague. Trying to get it just right, or getting it more well planned and thought out is a process I'm still trying to work out. I also don't have the music I want.
Some weird old 90s stuff from my teenage-hood:
I like this... its kinda old and dated, but I still like it. But, I don't want my story/film to look like this. I have my own ideas. Not interested in a beach scene. Nope. But, it has that "weird" and beautiful aspect I like.
Also, even tho' I utterly LOVE this song, it's not the music style I want for this scene either.
This is closer to what style I want, but I want to create a new original musical piece (BTW also 90s):
I've been trying to find an old vintage cable TV commercial for the Sci-Fi Channel from the '90s with the geese and the weird planets in the sky... But, I can never, ever find it. :(
That one is actually based on a dream I had when I was about 6 years old. This story I re-did for my Eyewitness project concept work... but, I actually was writing it, originally, for my dragon project...
It could fit to either one...
I've written a number of versions of the dream I had as a child, and published various short stories of it throughout the internet since the 1990s. I have no idea what happened to them since then, tho'...
Jump-jump! I jump some more! Jump-jump! Jump off the floor! A little higher! Gonna make it! A little higher! Time to soar! I take it higher! I make it higher! ********* Go forth! A little Further! Reach forth! A little farther! For myself, Spun it 'round! Come on! A glorious sound! Jump-jump! I jumped some more! Jump-jump! Launched off the floor! A little higher! Gonna make it! A little higher! And now I soar! I take it higher! I made it higher!
This one is meant to be more percussion/rhythm based. I'm not entirely positive about what I want to do with it... but, I have some ideas... This one is also for my character Djehkäujaa, but probably in her original dragon form. very highly likely as her original dragon form.
