Hellboy Animated

Background Extras

Sorry, nothing to report on The Phantom Claw.  Mike was crunched with Lobster Johnson stories and Darkness Calls scripts and then a production emergency on BALTIMORE, all projects that I'm anxious to see.   But after I rewrite the script and distribute it I'm sure it'll just mean more waiting for a decision so Mike isn't holding anything up.

I went back into the script and decided to replace generic cannon fodder with characters with names.  It means nothing to the story and you'll never hear them referred to by names but it helps in the casting, recording and design phase if specific characters are called out.  That way be don't have men voicing women and the like.

To keep it straight in my head, I did quick doodles of a number of character types to help me track who was in what scene and when they should die.  I put them all in white lab coats with a variety of dress underneath.  The group from the 1944 flashback is more eccentric.   But these won't necessarily be the final character types.  We'll definitely put more variety into their heights, for instance.  There's also a sketch of a Zinco employee in goggles and gas mask.  But I don't like this design.  Just playing around with shapes and ideas, playing with a pencil.

The little guy above is just plain fun to draw. -- Tad

DON'T READ THIS!

This stuff is okay to read, but don't mess with that mystical scrawl over there.  God knows what texts Mignola scavenged to get them.  Better safe than sorry.  Read them silently.

I've gleaned these from the pages of Hellboy comics and from Rasputin's diary which was included in the Director's Cut of Hellboy, the movie.  These are purportedly they symbols early alchemists used as they sought the secrets of the universe.

Why are they here?  Well, much of THE PHANTOM CLAW revolves around the use of Vrill Energy and the "mecha-glove" that Rasputin used to summon Hellboy.  Although he wore two gloves in the comic, Mike liked the comparison with the Right Hand of Doom that Guillermo used in the movie so we'll have Rasputin use just one in the animated universe as well.  Anyway, the glove is still intact!

When the glove is activated, electricity will arc around it but this technology combines technology AND the occult.  So image little electrical effects that form mystical symbols in the air before disappearing.  A cool idea from Mike that I think we should be able to carry off. 

But that's not Vril.  Vril is an unlimited energy source that bounces in and out of stories of Nazi mysticism.  You can read all about the book that first popularized Vril on Wikipedia.  In our universe, it is the energy required to bring Hellboy to earth and is sought after in the present by Von Klempt, Zinco and Rasputin, and each has his own plans for it.

And my plan is to illustrate that energy with the fabled "Kirby Dots."  Click on that for an explanation on how to draw them in comics, courtesy of PencilJack.  The start of my own notes on that are below.  The key is to remember that the dots are negative space, not the shapes to be animated.  If you focus on the dots you'll get animated balls where really it's just sort of a texture to the energy.  I sense a future production headache right there.  Later -- Tad

His Infernal Machines

Well, it turned out to be a working vacation.  In addition to approving artwork via laptop on another project, I finished the script to The Phantom Claw.  So the script is in Mike's hands right now and I await his notes.  There are many added scenes that weren't in the treatment, most about Kate and Hellboy but some added paranormal elements and villain motivation.  Fingers crossed.

Of course, Mike just got back from the London production office of HB2.  I'm sure Guillermo ran him ragged so I'm not sure he's even awake yet.

Meanwhile, no green light yet but when I have time I proceed as if we have one so that means organizing reference for my crew.  As I've said previously, The Phantom Claw highlights the "mad scientist" side of Hellboy and nobody designs a mad scientist lab like Mike Mignola.  This collage, along with several others, showcase the retro look to the equipment that Rasputin and his followers used to bring Hellboy to Earth.  The images should not only help the design of background layouts but a variety of props too.

As Mike has also mentioned in various interviews, Hellboy: Blood and Iron has the feeling of a Hammer film and The Phantom Claw will have more than a wink and a nod toward the classic monster movies of Universal Studios.   So I've also been watching The Bride of Frankenstein and Son of Frankenstein.  Those films had fantastic art direction, twisty staircases, incredibly high ceilings, and strange shadows.

Too often, animated backgrounds smack of rulers and T-squares.  Hallways are rectangular, furniture generic.  Mike and I hope to use the Universal masterpieces to inspire the crew to create a truly unique Castle Drachespitze, the scene of most of the action.

So the delay may end up helping us gather all the cool reference we need before the starting gun.  Once production starts, there's little time for this sort of thing.  But now, with two movies done, there aren't as many questions as to what a Hellboy movie should look like so there's lots of icing we want to add to our cake. --Tad