I like the idea of you using the boy scout character to play the guide to the life-cycle and I like the sweet bit of business about him earning his 'nature' badge. I've two concerns - the first is in regard to your production strategy; you suggest that the cub scout character would be 2d animation, and the slime mold lifecycle would be cgi : this is certainly sensible, but you'll need to ensure of your animation strategy for the character - i.e. how simple or complex it's going to be. 2D animation is as time consuming as 3D, and comping everything together is also going to be new territory for you, so I suggest you start work now on figuring out exactly how you intend to animate the 2D elements. The second concern is one of style, as I think - to bring these two worlds together, you're going to need a very strong, distinctive style, and in terms of your creative development, I'd like to see you spread your wings a bit; there's a nostalgic 'golden age' vibe about the idea of scouts, so I wonder if looking at some more vintage/retro elements might be useful and inspiring - flat colour, strong line-art etc. I'm looking at your thumbnails, and already everything looks a bit too generic - I think if you're going to mix your media, you should consider a bolder, more stylised universe:
and in terms of the life-cycle itself, if you've established a strong, bold, simplified art style for the 2D world, then matching the cgi with it gets easier - for instance, look at these examples of 50s prints for organic + colour + line art:
My broad suggestion is that you can stylise your visual concept much more broadly, particularly in terms of the relationship between your 2D world and the CGI components. I also think there's something 'retro' about the whole idea of scouts and badges etc. and I think you can use that to your advantage,
OGR 06/03/2015
ReplyDeleteHi Dan,
I like the idea of you using the boy scout character to play the guide to the life-cycle and I like the sweet bit of business about him earning his 'nature' badge. I've two concerns - the first is in regard to your production strategy; you suggest that the cub scout character would be 2d animation, and the slime mold lifecycle would be cgi : this is certainly sensible, but you'll need to ensure of your animation strategy for the character - i.e. how simple or complex it's going to be. 2D animation is as time consuming as 3D, and comping everything together is also going to be new territory for you, so I suggest you start work now on figuring out exactly how you intend to animate the 2D elements. The second concern is one of style, as I think - to bring these two worlds together, you're going to need a very strong, distinctive style, and in terms of your creative development, I'd like to see you spread your wings a bit; there's a nostalgic 'golden age' vibe about the idea of scouts, so I wonder if looking at some more vintage/retro elements might be useful and inspiring - flat colour, strong line-art etc. I'm looking at your thumbnails, and already everything looks a bit too generic - I think if you're going to mix your media, you should consider a bolder, more stylised universe:
http://comps.canstockphoto.com/can-stock-photo_csp6488475.jpg
https://m1.behance.net/rendition/modules/28273981/disp/6cbed9b36e0482202ddfb08c3310d55c.png
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kQiYdNEq0CY/0.jpg
http://www.animationresources.org/pics/upany09-big.jpg
http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/eraproductions.jpg
http://30.media.tumblr.com/OpR8XzxPehlep9tnHmLWW1Myo1_500.jpg
and in terms of the life-cycle itself, if you've established a strong, bold, simplified art style for the 2D world, then matching the cgi with it gets easier - for instance, look at these examples of 50s prints for organic + colour + line art:
http://atticusandfinch.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Anonymous.jpg
http://www.anglianfashionfabrics.co.uk/assets/userfiles/image/029.JPG
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/42/6f/3f/426f3f1183f69a5e3a3d00f73956ef25.jpg
My broad suggestion is that you can stylise your visual concept much more broadly, particularly in terms of the relationship between your 2D world and the CGI components. I also think there's something 'retro' about the whole idea of scouts and badges etc. and I think you can use that to your advantage,