New Method of Getting Into Space - Slingshots

Here are some more animation stills from the film.They come from a segment on the Science of Rockets. Bleeph tells about a testing program he was part of for using a giant slingshot to escape a planet's gravity.

Jules Verne Animation Stills

Here are some still shots from a section of UG3 that talks about the influence of literature on motivating humans to go into outer space. This is the title screen. I tried to give it a feeling of the time period while still using my cartoon style.

From 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

From Journey to the Center of the Earth

From 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

 From Robur the Conqueror

From 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Introduction to Earth

 One of the segments of the film is an introduction to the planet Earth. I've animated it to a 70's "Keep On Truckin'" kind of tune.

 The Sun.

 The Moon has to orbit the Earth so what better move to give it but a..... Moonwalk. This was actually very tough to animate, but I am happy with how it turned out. I might post a short animation of it later.

Finishing up the orbit while showing how long it take for the Moon to "slide" it's way around the Earth.

Animation Stills - Footling

Here are two more stills from the animation of Bleeph's sports career. This one is called Footling. It's a mixture of motocross on flying surfboards and throw in some whale sized carnivores. Fun.

Animation Still - Jammeljip

In one segment of the film we compare the race to the moon to a sports competition. Since the ones telling the story are aliens we have them bring up alien sports. Here are a couple of still shots from the animation demonstrating the sport Jammeljip.

As you can see, Jammeljip is a lot like Earthling tennis, except for one difference...

...You don't have to worry about the ball chasing you.

The First Rocket

Even though I've been busy with the Kickstarter Campaign lately I've also been able to complete one of the segments from the film. This is "The First Rocket" which tells the origin of where rockets were first invented. It was animated in Adobe Flash and runs just over two minutes. The first shot has a storyboard version of Screever. This will be replaced with a puppet version of him for the final film. Also, there will be some soundtrack tweaks.

Animated Announcement for Kickstarter Campaign

We just launched our Kickstarter Campaign to raise enough funds to finish the film and begin the marketing plan in earnest. To start things right I created a short animation staring Thunderstone and Fang. The campaign runs during the month of May, so go check it out while there is time. Also help us out by sharing the video from Youtube, or from this post - even the link to the Kickstarter page itself - with your connections online or through email. We've got cool rewards that are a lot of fun and when UG3 becomes really big, the things we've made available in the early stages will be worth lots of money. You know they will.

 

Click Here To Go To UG3's Kickstarter Page

 

 

Award Winning Bugs

Our last film was a half hour educational comedy called BugWorld. Like UG3 it was a blend of 2D, Stop-Motion, and 3D animation, along with traditional puppetry; and it covered the realm of insects, arachnids and other creepy crawlies. BugWorld made its premier at the Los Angeles International Children’s Film Festival and won a Best Film Award from Kids First – the largest film organization in the world for children and teens.  Below are a couple of segments from the film.

The Lowdown on UG3

 

Ultra Galactic Gung-Ho Gurus 

Episode One: 

Ready, Set, Launch!

No, that isn't the synopsis. That is the title. Here's the synopsis:

An interplanetary team of reporters called the Ultra Galactic Gung-Ho Gurus, or UG3, are on their way to cover the hottest story in the galaxy – The Premier of a new flavor from the Spewberry Soda Corporation. In route, bungling occurs and the team is stranded in orbit around a planet they’ve never heard of – Earth. Rather than rescue the hapless reporters, the studio executives order the UG3 to investigate this planet and report on it instead. Soon a surprising fact is uncovered – Earthlings are on the cusp of being fully fledged space explorers. Pulling from the Earthlings’ history, science, literature and art the UG3 compile a story that spans thousands of years and attempts to chronicle how humans are finally able to break the bonds of gravity and begin their adventure into space. 

The Belly Button of The World - Youtube Channel

This was posted many months back. I'm reposting it here because it is now on our new Youtube Channel - where I'll be posting further video updates and linking them here and on Facebook.

It is a short we did in about 6 weeks (part-time hours) to test out the animation and compositing techniques as well as the writing and character development.

If you socialize on Youtube and you like the video help spread the word.

New Character Pose - Thunderstone

This is the last of the Poster/promotional poses for each of the crew. To see the others scroll down to previous posts. This, of course, is the Supreme Host of the Show - Thunderstone.

New Character Pose - Dr. Mucksluff

This is Dr. Mucksluff's Poster Pose.

New Character Pose - Fang

I'm gradually posting new poses of the characters. These are done for promotional purposes like posters, etc. Here's Fang.

New Character Pose - Screever

Here's Screever's new promotional pose. He's showing off his new pencil attachment.

New Character Pose - Bleeph

I'm currently working on some promotional materials for the film and have designed character poses of each of the UG3 crew members. This is Bleeph's pose created entirely in Flash.

Animation Layouts - "The First Rocket"

Here are some layouts for the segment of the film that tells about the origins of the first rockets. These where created in Adobe Flash.

Model Sheet - "Yow"

Starting to animate some segments of the larger film. Here is the model sheet for a Chinese street performer. His name is never mentioned in the piece so I just gave him the name Yow. Once you see the segment you'll understand. The segment is called "The First Rocket"

Screever - Hand Puppet Version

Here's the hand puppet version of Screever. Due to all the challenges and details, this puppet took about 1/3 longer to make than the previous two puppets. His cyborg arm has a removable hand so that we can give him other functions. One of his specialties is that he creates illustrations and graphics for their reports. He'll use the special features of his arm to create these in unique way. I'll also be making a larger stop-mo version of the arm so we can do close up shots of the arm changing.

Blepharon - Hand Puppet Version

The next puppet I made after Thunderstone and Fang (see previous posts) was Blepharon or "The Bleeph". One particular challenge was that he's a little more rotund than the other characters. Hand puppets usually have most of the audience attention on the face, since this is where they do most of their acting. So I cut back on the torso size. 

It's important to keep the weight down on a hand puppet whenever possible since even a few ounces can make a big difference on how long a puppeteer can keep a puppet elevated without wearing out their performance arm. Oh, and I decided to leave off the one exposed tooth since I had used that element in the Fang character.

Fang - Hand Puppet Version

Here's the hand puppet version of Fang. The colors on her clothing have been changed slightly from the Flash Animation Character sheet below.

 

It's both challenging and exciting creatively to take a 2-D version of a character and interpreting it three dimensionally. To see other entries regarding Fang click on the keywords highlighted below.