"Epic" Pre-Vis Art
*Property of 20th Century Studios. No use or reproduction without the prior written permission of Licensor.
©20th Century Studios All rights reserved
©20th Century Studios All rights reserved
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Some of my drawings from pre-production on Epic.
2D Tests
I did a few traditional hand-drawn tests during pre-production on Epic. These three test were done pretty quickly to nail down some things before the characters were set-up. The Mub test was to done explore how much we wanted the arms to move and stretch on Mub and Grub, and how they might get around quickly. The Ozzy test was to see how much control we would need on his tongue. The last test was with the original design for Queen Tara, who was initially named Mab. In that design she was going to have a cape made that would continually move to emphasize the idea that she was the life source of the forest. She also needed to be athletic and graceful. The goal in this test was to see how the "ever-moving" cape would react when she needed to fight the boggins.
Paint-Overs
I had the opportunity during pre-production on Epic to work closely with some of the Riggers at Blue Sky. After the characters are modeled, the Riggers add all the manipulators that the animators will need to control the characters and achieve the best performance. Our role as animators during pre-production is to evaluate the rigs and communicate to the Riggers anything that we might need during the course of production. I would use Photoshop to give the Riggers a visual targets for what we were trying to achieve. The painting above was a suggestion for how the extreme "cheek puff" shape should look on Nim Galuu. The painting below was a suggestion as to how the generic Leafman's elbow geometry should deform when the arm is bent. The elbow on the left is the starting point without any blend shapes added. The image on the right are my paint-overs.
