Currently in Production

News

04/11/05

Geez, this is web page is behind. Got a rough pass of the first act done and I'm now onto tweeking it until I get a final. Still need to finish rigging the heron, and doing more knotwork for the borders. Still need to create a blog-like object for the news on this page. So much to do and so little time to do it. Frankly, I blame Warcrack! ;p -- Smudge

11/05/04

Finished the first 'Buttery Spirit' model. I've uploaded a test render of him to his section. 'Buttery Spirit 02' should be posted by the end of next week. I'm still hopeing to have the first act done in January. So far so good. -- Smudge

10/18/04

Finished the 'Mother' model. Now it's onto the 'Buttery Spirits'. Things are moving along, and I hope to have the first act done by the end of January. Here's hoping! -- Smudge

9/17/04

(I really should write a php blog for this section....) Been working really hard on the models all this time. Got the 'Son' and 'Father' done, and I've started on the 'Mother'. Modeling is slow and time consuming, but that's because I'm not cutting corners and trying to do things right the first time. In the end, I think the results will be worth the extra effort. No rest for the weary! -- Smudge

4/30/04

Been working really hard here. Since James rebuilt my main work machine, progress on this short is going to be much faster. I've redesigned the Fay model since I couldn't come up with a skirt rig that I liked. So, off with the thin white chemise and on with a much more fantastical outfit. Her model is now done (Yeah!). I've also posted the final sprite models (1 & 2). Now it's onto the son. -- Smudge

11/13/03

I've added some character designs to the site. More will come in future weeks. --Smudge

10/27/03

Welcome to my new animation project, "The Stolen Child", story and art by me (Smudge), with music by the very wonderful and talented Heather Alexander (from her album, "Wanderlust", used here with permission).

Quick history of the project; This is actually a very old project for me, one that I started as a 2D, hand drawn animation back while I was attending CalArts. However, health concerns killed any hopes for a traditional animation career and life took me into other directions (mostly 3D game animation). Times have changed since then and I now feel my skills are finally up to what this story needs and I'm restarting the project, in 3D computer animation.

If all goes well, I should have some shots to display by January 2004, and I hope to have the production of this 5 minute short done by Mid 2004. Until then, here are some test pics I've done trying to set the style for the piece. I hope you enjoy! --Smudge

Character Designs

Fay
Fay (old) The main fairy of the story. Tall, willowy and graceful, she's one of the 'grey-folk' out of mythology. Instead of greys, I'm swinging her color palate more to blues. It's to give her a more mystical look without turning her into a little grey-man alien.	Fay (new) The new and improved Fay! With less skirt action!	Fay (Final Model) The final Fay Model.(Took me long enough, *blarg*) Test walk cycle MPEG1, 2.3mb

Son
Son The main character of the story. I'm seeing him more as a young adult, probably about 14 or 15. He's going to have red-orange hair, green eyes, and rather greenish-red tones to his clothes. Very earthy, but more colorful than his father and mother.	Son (Final Model) The final Son Model. All nice and textured like. Test walk cycle MPEG1, 422kb

Father & Mother
Father Large and Ox-like. His colors tend to run in the brown/red range.	Father (Final Model) The final Father Model. Grumpy, isn't he? Test walk cycle MPEG1, 632kb	Mother Willow-like and fragile, I wanted the 'Mother' to hold a more simplistic earthy charm than the ethereal 'Fay'.	Mother (Final Model) The final Mother Model. Delicate, yet honest. Test walk cycle MPEG1, 421kb

Fey-Folk/Spirits
Sprites Fay has a variety of 'little helpers' throughout the film. (Why do something when she can sent someelse to do it for her...) The Sprites are two of them. They tend to be her 'good' little helpers.		Buttery Spirits If the Sprites are Fay's 'good' helpers, then these are her 'bad' helpers. These little guys whisper all those naughty thoughts into your ears, buttering you up to do bad things by give you bad ideas. Test Walk Cycle MPEG 1, 421kb

Other Critters
		coming soon
Highlander Cattle Dang, these things are feral looking. I've actually had to trim down the hairyess in the design. I am suppose to be modeling this in 3D after all....	Highlander Calf Still hairy, but on a cuter scale (if you want to call cattle cute that is).	Grey Heron I really love Herons, all sleek and raceing like. I'm really looking forward to animating these guys.	Trout "Blub, blub." What more can I say except that they're trout-like and swim around a lot. --Come on, they're fish after all.

Screen tests

Pre-Production Screen Tests
			coming soon
Screen Test I put together this render as a screen test to make sure all my elements were working correctly. Was rather happy with the results. Ended up using it a an add for the film on the Ebin & May DVD.	BG03 An early background in the short. And here is the final pre-edit animation shot: BG03.mov Quicktime, 583kb	BG12_0189 Another test shot, this one more of a bust shot of 'Fay' with her sprites.	Coming Soon Coming soon.

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