Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Where's Joe?!??! He's Knee-Deep In Bacteria.

Believe it or not, I'm still lurking about. But check it. I have been researching and starting to get the pencil fired up on bacteria. Yeh, that's right, bacteria. Do you have any idea how small those things are and how many of them I have to draw before you guys can see anything? Man, cut me some slack. There's about a TRILLION little bacterium on everything you touch and now I've been tasked with drawing 'em. Maybe this is Kev's passive-aggressive way of getting back at me for the production art for Morty's room and the crack about it taking him 467 hours to model a cake that took me an hour to draw? Either way, here I go...back to the microscope, i mean, drawing board...rendering bacteria.....one, two, three....four billion, two hundred million....four billion, two hundred million and one......

Monday, March 28, 2005

Soo-Prize! Soo-Prize!


Well, I figured I'd add a little sumpin' sumpin' today. Here is a render of Morty in his natural setting. The usual disclaimer applies: Not fully textured; Not fully lit; Not fully finished. (but it IS getting there)

This is a render at HD resolution (1280x720), so if you're on a small, antiquated monitor, go out and get yerself a biggun' already... yeeesh. And while you're at it, pick up a dang TiVo... they're giving these things away in Happy Meals already... what's the hold up?

Getting Close

Joe and I have been tweaking the lighting and textures on the living room set in trying to get it ready for prime production. We've definitely made some progress, and once we add various sundries to his home, it'll be almost there. We will have to spend some time gathering real-world textures for things such as the wainscoting and carpet and other décor. Once we are both happy with the mood that is set by the lighting, I'll post some more images... things are really coming along, and looking good. We're both excited to finally see it come together, and can't wait to show you our progress, especially since what we've shown so far isn't even close to what we want for the end result.

Look for an image or two in a day or two.

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Living Room Fly-Thru


It's not finished or lit, but I figured I'd render a fly-thru because I'm just too impatient to wait until I'm done. Yes, it's true, I have Tourette-like work habits, but the advantages are you get to see incomplete stuff in the mean time.

Fun Fact: I forgot to resize the ceiling in this animation, so you can say Morty has a convertible living room.

Enjoy. [3.5 MB]

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

What's In Store

Ok, I know the posting of actual movie content has been kind of sparse this past week, but rest assured, we're going as strong as ever. Joe's about to begin his next great piece of production art, and I've been plugging away at building Morty's living room set. I have a lot of the main props built (those that you see in this production sketch), but we might need to add a few more items to make it look more lived in. Right now, my computer is chugging away at a fly through of the unfinished room. That should be done in the next day or so. I will post that as soon as it's done.

cya then, then.

Monday, March 21, 2005

It's That Time of Year...

...When the earth crosses the part of it's orbit that hurtles us toward warmer weather (at least for the lucky few in the northern hemisphere), and for those of us in Michigan, that's a big deal. Yes, spring. It's still cold as a corpse outside. Raining like a mug. But spring will bring us good things. We're talking three good months of solid production. It just gets me all tingly to think of the stuff we have in store. Spring? I LOVE ya!

Okay, Joe will be along shortly to tell you all why spring sucks. Until then, enjoy the love while it lasts.

Saturday, March 19, 2005

Living Room Test


It's still coming together, but here is a test render of my progress so far. The curtains still need a lot of work, and I need to build a lot of the decor and furniture yet. But you can get the basic gist of what's going on here. Some of the textures are probably temporary for now, and the lighting might change appreciably in the future. And I still have to figure out how to do carpet. I'll keep ya posted...

Friday, March 18, 2005

Relax, it's coming.

Ok, so I didn't get as much done on the set as I hoped I would. But I will post some props that I made tonight. Not that I made them tonight, but that I'll post them tonight. I'll see if I can get a complete set render by Sat or Sun. Thanks for checking back, tho... now GEEEET!

Thursday, March 17, 2005

Kev's Day Off

Nothing to exactly show today, but I do have the day off, And you know what that means? That's right. I get to work almost non-stop on the Living Room Set for Morty's apartment. And do you know what that means? That's right, again. I'll have something to show you, patient audience, tomorrow. And you know what that means? No, that's not what THAT means, you should be ashamed of yourself. Anyway, where was I? Ahh yes. Knowing what something means. Umm. I lost my train of thought.

P.S. You guys rule. Thanks for all the support and kind words over the last month or so... Joe really needs the attention. See ya tomorrow!

Sunday, March 13, 2005

I Worked This Weekend. What Did You Do?


More production art for you...Well, really it's for us, but you get to take a look as well. Cheer up. In the end, it's all for you to ravenously consume. Bon appétit...[Click for larger image]

Friday, March 11, 2005

FAQ posted

HEY! In case none of you noticed, we threw up a FAQ over in the light brown column to the right. For now it has a few questions in all, but we'll add to it as soon as we feel there are actual questions to be answered. So stop sending questions such as: Why is Joe such a Jerk? or: Does Joe need a hug? or: Is Joe real, or just an existential manifestation of my inner aggressions? Because the answer to all those questions are an emphatic and resounding: 42.

ok, so I stole that one from Douglas Adams. But it works.

Wednesday, March 09, 2005

Hey, Kev? Good Luck With All That...


I take pride in breaking kevin's balls. To that end, i created this piece just to turn the knife a bit. He told me it was time to start developing the look for morty's living quarters. We argued about it for an hour like we always do, but then gleefully, i chained myself to the drawing board for 9 hours in order to churn out this set piece. I'm sure you know by now that i am the surly, unmanageable one in this odd couple pairing and because of that, you're probably asking yourself, "why is joe, of all people, gleeful?"...Well, it's simple. Every pencil stroke, every move of the paintbrush and every swath of color i lay down with a marker exponentially increases the amount of work kevin has to do and, not so secretly, that makes me happy...in a dark sort of way. hey, kev? you wanted a set? You got one...good luck working for the next 467 hours on modeling the cake....I'm gonna go relax until the middle of April...[Click for larger image]

Is He Wearing Pants?


I like to think that he isn't, but that's just me.

One day, in the not-so-distant future, we'll all be traveling by pneumatic tubes AND I'll have finished this Morty model. Then I could get started on texturing this guy AND shoot on over to Joe's (via Toob Technology™) in a matter of seconds to pick-up the set design plans for his apartment. (Donny thinks, "Vacuum!")

Ahhh, the future looks bright. But for now, it's dark out, and I think I'll hit the sack.

Oh, by the way, I'll be moving his arms above the blanket tomorrow. Not sure what's going on under there right now, so I'll just leave him be.

Tuesday, March 08, 2005

Get Off Us, Already...


Alright, so...we're working....ALRIGHT?!!?!? WE'RE WORKING. It's been a couple of days since we've posted anything of substance, but we've been in the heat of crankin' out some great stuff for you to eyeball shortly. In the meantime, here's a sneak peek at the storyboard for infamous shot #22. Now, stop clamoring for more....(all three of you). [Click for larger image].

Monday, March 07, 2005

State of the Union

Just wanted to keep you people posted. Joe's currently doing an elaborate illustration of Morty's surroundings in his assisted-living apartment. It will help me tremendously recreate the set inside the computer. And I'm currently dragging my butt in trying to finish the Morty character himself... complete with wheelchair, hair and an old worn out blanket. Please keep checking back, we should have some very cool stuff to show off this week... maybe even as soon as tomorrow.

ALSO, feel free to use this spot as a sounding board as well... tell us what you like, don't like... is there a way for us to improve on the project, the site... anything! Lay it all out, you're not gonna hurt our feelings. Well, you might hurt mine, but certainly not Joe's. So let him have it.

Thursday, March 03, 2005

IV Bag


Welp. Here she is in all her glory. looks like a bag of urine if you ask me. Gives me the creeps. To me, IV bags have always been unsettling in a bodily fluid sort of way. Now I'm gonna take in my fluids the old-fashoined way... extrovenously. [cracks open a can of Pepsi]

More Production Art


I've been spending time figuring out establishing shots for various parts of the film. Here's a work in progress on where Morty lives. It's real rough. I'm sort-of thrashing about here, striving for the right look. The next step on this piece wil be to tighten it up, maybe add some color and the detail that Kev needs to model accurately. As always, there's more to come...(click for larger image)

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Prepare to be WOW'd

I'm finishing up a model of an incredibly exciting IV bag, to go with our wheelchair. It'll amaze you... it'll amaze your friends. So watch this spot for some updates, folks. Wouldn't want ya to miss all the excitement.