This wasn't the post I planned on. I wanted to show some classic Milt Caniff to give you an idea of why all the classic comic book artists idolized him but storyboarding all day and scripting by night, all with a deadline, doesn't leave much time for blogging. Oh yeah, and it's Christmas. So apologies.
I'm enjoying the storyboard work and not the least because of the great storyboard crew that sits all around me, many of them producer/directors themselves. We're all using ToonBoom Storyboard Pro on Cintiqs and one of the cool things about it is that it's easy to share your work as you go along, not something a storyboard artist usually does. But we work to a soundtrack, add lots of poses so basically we're producing animatics. It makes for a great creative atmosphere and the swapping of ideas.
But one of the things we shared was the trailer for How to Train Your Dragon in 3D. Click on that and watch the trailer now. Go on. I think we were more excited to see this than Avatar. First, it's a new project from Chris Saunders and Dean DeBlois who gave us Lilo and Stitch, one of the freshest Disney 2D movies to come out in the last decade or so. It seems like this, along with Kung Fu Panda, really point a new direction for Dreamworks - contemporary in feel but without massive pop culture references. Kudos to Jeffrey for making a home for those guys.
Anyway, in the center of the trailer is a sequence where the hero and the dragon become friends. It is amazing what the dragon communicates, with absolute clarity, just what he wants the kid to do. There's heart, personality and a great deal of honest humor. Study the tilt of the head to the shoulders, the swallow, the lip smack, all the little bits that equal a personality. FANTASTIC! Plus you have that great Chris Saunders sense of design giving us a unique looking creature.
I've got nothing to do with the picture. I guess I'm technically working on a Dreamworks TV project but it's through another studio so I'm not beholden to SK or G. But I'm definitely going to make time to see this movie when it comes out.
Now go watch that trailer again! -- Tad
i saw the trailer about a month back . and i said.. wow that dragons a cousin of stitch.. so i went back to sander's site and there was a vague mentioning of him working with the script of an unnamed upcoming dreamworks project..
i just liked every bit of it..
i agree with your observation of the dragon 'urging' the kid to eat..then the weird lip movement.
real cool dragon..
im also a big fan of nico marlett and im looking forward to the art from this book..
i really like the way dreamworks are coming up with fresh stuff.
cool..
thanks for sharing tad..
i have some posting in my blog too
Posted by: manoj a menon | 12/22/2009 at 12:18 AM
wow tad,
this is a reply for 'too many headshots'..
you are just discussing all that i want to know precisely...its a dejavu ..havent i already written this in a post before..?
im working on a comic book of my own, ever since you had showed me a better way of approach than doing fan art.
so i did this 1 pager black and white and then since i myself was writing and doing the artwork, the mistakes were less evident.
the door slamming was not felt actualy.
i felt the girls slammed it themeselves from preventing any more 'evil' to enter the room.
i have the same opinion with the eeeeeeeeeeeeeee scream in the same page.
so very honest to show your stuff and then discuss them..
thank you so much
manoj.
Posted by: manoj a menon | 12/22/2009 at 12:33 AM