Fisthead pilot/sneak peaks

 Fist of all (spelling error is intentional), Here is a video I made to peak your interest and keep you reading.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ShaIecnVOo

 Watch this and revel in the new and improved animation style of fisthead.  It takes longer but it is more refined and less sloppy.  I LOVE it.   Anyway, I did this to experiment with some new ways of animating clean that I originally wasn't used to.  Something as simple as sketching it out beforehand, then zooming to 800% with brush 4 makes for an astoundingly more clean line.  I learned this at Augenblick studios where I have been interning on the second season of Ugly Americans (Comedy Central).  I figured I should put this experience to use and it definitely makes for some smooth looking stuff.  (for reference, see my demo reel (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcFaWdTIFOM)  I'm big on volumizing and sketchy lines.  But I enjoy being able to do clean stuff as well.

Hey there felluz and babes.  Sean, here with the local news on Sean.  I've been working hard with Matt (voice of the fist/pinata/brain collective member) and Frank (writer/animator/brain collective member) and we have just about finished the first rough draft of the storyboards.  Most of the gags and story is assembled and we may have found a new member of the crew (hush hush).  (it might be a writer). This (if it happens) will allow the writing for dialogue to happen MUCH faster.   Either way we are well on our way to assembling this pilot.  I am meeting with DuArt Thursday to talk over sound production and a tentative production schedule?  Also, the Fisthead facebook page and growing youtube support makes me wet myself daily!  So strap on the diapers kiddies, lets take this fist for the long haul!   For those of you that actually read these paragraphs- I put that in for you.   You thought it was going to be boring information? Well I just ad-libbed. 

Anyway,  we are getting ultra pumped for this and look forward to actually producing it (which will most likely result in re-animating the old short and making the animation better (which I am totally down with because I am assembling a TEAM of animators to work on the project.)  I cannot pay you but you will be credited with having been associated with the rise of the fist.  This is an honor that is designated for only a select few.  Anyway, enough of my babble.  Here's some rough drawings and shit for those of you interested in my creative process.  (Or for those of you who doubt I am working on Fisthead at all.   This may contain a few little spoilers.  But I like to keep interest peaked so I can't help myself.

(above) This is how I storyboard and plan layout.  I separated the foreground elements from the background elements.    I also started planning out some little characters that can be running around (fat tourists, fire-eaters ect.)   The rest of my storyboards in my sketchbook are kind of cluttered and you can't understand them. (the above are just plans for the storyboards)  (to the right) is a more cleaned up board for fisthead (not finalize but more formal with script and directions accompanying it.)  This is the step I am on currently.





Now I want to show you how I plan the fight scenes and you aren't going to understand almost any of it.

I LOVE fight scenes.  I used to take martial arts and I can't get enough of it.   In my mind, this is how it seems logical to plan it out for me.   step by step shapes and movement and arrows and notes. 

Now for a sneak peak at some characters from what will be the first fisthead episode.

I won't say their roles in the new shit but I promise, it will be funny.  It is already making me laugh.

Lastly I will end with a detailed drawing that plans out both the death of a character and a graphically detailed situation fisthead ends up in.   This is the treat you get for scrolling down this much.

Alright everybody,  thanks for the support!   And expect updates from this as well as some other projects in the works soon!

currently listening to: Crustation- Purple

Fisthead on Facebook!

This is my shortest post over! Like fisthead on facebook please!



http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fisthead/176173739116552

Get semi-regular updates on the Fist himself!

Works in Progress and Drawing what I know

Alright. I thought I'd start this post off with something finished, and fresh (as opposed to the last one where it was like 3 paragraphs before you got to see anything.

This is a tattoo I designed for my buddy Paul.  He wanted a grandfather clock that was metal as shit and had no numbers on the clock face.  This was a small paying commission but its a gratifying thing to look at and my buddy is going to have it on his arm forever.  That pays off, man.  So this is going to be the 3rd tattoo I designed for Pauley Dunleavy. 
           
So yeah, I am really bad at keeping up with posts.  So this will, again be a big one I think.  Here is what is going on in my life.  I am slowly writing script and story for my Senior thesis "Megapope" with my voice actor Matt White. I am at a very wishy-washy stage where I make things and then throw them out daily.    But yeah,  I have the first draft of the theme song recorded but I can't upload it here.  I will find a way to post it soon.  Here is a sketch of the High Cardinals who will be the villains in the cartoon

I am also in later stages of planning the pilot episode for fisthead around that clip I already have completed.   I am also investigating an opportunity in New York.  Possibly enlisting the help of a company to help  this pilot reach fruition.   A meeting will take place in 2 weeks or so.  Anyway, yeah, I have been sort of slacking and enjoying summer so, other than sketches I haven't really finished anything.  For you fisthead fans out there.  Here is an epic work in progress that is coming along

This will be called "Triumph over Pinata."    But yeah, its almost done but I don't want to rush the drawing for the sake of this post.   And uhh.... Here are two new sketches for 2 comic books I am SLOWLY working developing.  The first is Nam again and the second is one about the cyborg mafia.

Now I am an avid doodler.  I love it.   I love doodling from things I know.  It seems more genuine and personal that way.  Here is a page of what i know. punks, metal, dinosaurs, and beef-heads.

Oh yeah, and for anyone who gets insulted my depiction of black people, fuck you.  I draw everyone gross. 
And I guess my last post is an ink drawing that is stil in progess that I think I am putting my my buddy Tony Ruffo's zine.  Its called "Glutton"

with this drawing as the final note, I will  show you recordings of this punk band I just started playing bass in.  Check it out-  http://www.myspace.com/vaticanhardcore

Comix and trying to keep busy

Hey suckahs, its been a long time since I posted.  I gues you could say I was taking a break from routine since school let out.   I have been busy since, nonetheless (as you will be able to tell by the length of this post).

I have also started officially interning for Augenblick studios in NY, working on season 2 of the cartoon "Ugly Americans."  So I am pumped.

Fisthead, my junior short came out sick.  Thanks to some good friends and a whole bunch of people i have never met who are interested in funny shit, I the views on my video have been climbing.  I think right now they are at 58,000 which baffles me.  That man people watching my shit is bonkers. BOnkdawgs.    At the begining of June I shall be putting it on Newgrounds.  I also am submitting it to the Ottawa film festival (although I dunno if they will appreciate all the artful metaphors and symoblism it puts out.Well, for the formality of it and in case you haven't seen it (or want to watch it again) here's fisthead in all it's glory:

fisthead

I wanna give a special thanks to my voice actor Matt White who does both main characters in the short and who I will continue to use in my films (because he's a fucking funny dude.)

And for anyone who wants the dl on the future of fisthead, I will continue it and it will be slow.  Most likely there will be a prequel that comes out next that sets up how he got in the predicament he did.  That animatic and the voices for it is already almost done being recorded.  Don't fret. 

Also, before I get into what this post is mainly about, I wanted to post this little loop that I made over the past two days.  I like it and I like that loops don't take a long time to do.  Its nice to see something that can last for a few seconds and is fully colored and cleaned up that didn't take a whole month.  So here, check this out


totumpunch

Alllllllright.  So I want to announce that I will be trying to get into some comic stuff this summer.  I have always loved comics and cartoons but I REALLY like the dark ones with crazy artwork like Berserk
(some of my favorite panels:
http://www.mangareader.net/96-1145-209/berserk/chapter-25.html
http://www.mangareader.net/96-1146-40/berserk/chapter-26.html
http://www.mangareader.net/96-1133-22/berserk/chapter-13.html

and Shamo.
http://view.thespectrum.net/series/shamo-volume-01.html

 as well as Battle Royale.   Movies like Akira and the Evangelion Series influence my style alot too.

I tell ya man. I can't get enough of that dark stuff.  So I am super pumped to announce that Me, Frank Gidlewski, and one surprise artist will be doing a 3 part comic release soon. We are in the planning stages.  It will be 3 separate stories in continuation in a series of releases (maybe 10-15 pages for each story for each release).
The story I am doing is based on the one I started drafting out for a serious dark/horror/action animated series called NAM.  Here is a sketch I did this week of the main character.  I have posted a picture of him in the past.

SO there is that. Also, on the horizon at some point is an idea I'd like to revitalize.  This is a series I started working out ideas for.  This was called MEAT.  Its about the dick of God.

Also, I found this Comic assignment we had to do for storyboarding.  I kinda liked it so here that is. BarbaRICK- Heromantic Escapades.  Its about a barabarian trying to date in the modern world only to have his chances ruined by various old-timey monsters.

I I have also started brainstorming what my senior film is going to be.  I have decided.  Its going to be called Megapope.  Here are some sketches of the main characters. I don't wanna give too much away before I have it all fleshed out.  I am meeting with my voice actor somethime this weekend to find out what this dudes gonna sound like. So these are sketches of the two main characters: Dug Teddly and Megapope.

More updates will come on all these things soon!  woooooo pumped.  Anyway, at the end here I thought I'd post some fun cartoons I've drawn recently.

Little Adventure Time shoutout hah.  I have been planning out some short skits to do over summer. expect to see some soon.  and alsooo for those of you who have seen "Obbie", I have planned out 2 new little installments, one of which features his brother Rubbie.  Here's a sketch of him amongst other things beneath:

Alright Ima call that quits for tonight.  Its waaaaay past my bedtime.  night suckas.  see you next week hopefully.

currently listening to- the birds waking up at 5  in the morning before I have even gone to bed.

3D Stuff

OKayyy. So i haven't had time in a while to post because finals are scraping me dry.  However, very soon there will be an eruption of finished work. I promise.   In the mean time, one of the first finals I finished is my character for 3D Modeling and Texturing.  I am super excited about this one.  Some of you may know I had been working on bringing fisthead into the 3D realm.

Here is an animated turn around.


http://www.vimeo.com/22974375

 I'm gonna keep this post short. keep in touch.
currently listening to Teen Cthulhu- Hillgiant Witch

Turnarounds

Oh hey, is that you over there? I didn't see you. I had to TURN AROUND.  Today I have some character turnarounds for you. I must be on a roll because I have once again stuck to my intended routine and am posting on a sunday (well I guess its technically Monday morning but oh well)  So0oo I'll update you suckas alittle bit on what I am working on.  This week I have been going nuts trying to get together my resume and put together a demo reel to apply to internships.  Here is a link to my demo reel for those of you that are interested.


http://www.vimeo.com/22226271

  I have just finished my last turn-around assignment for my moving art class.  I still have to make some detail adjustments and add some doodads onto each one but the actual turnaroudns are finished. We had to design a character and then take him through several eras while using the styles of that era to draw the character.  My character's name was LimpandLump.  Hes a fairly grotesque character who is made up of two siamese twins.   The small fat one, Lump, can travel anywhere on limp's body while attached by the skin.
Here is the original turnaround. 

This are several other styles on limpandump through the animation eraaassssss:

Anyway, I haven't posted any turnarounds on this blog that I had done so I figured I would post these little guys.  Hope you like them.   I personally am partial to the newest AHH! Real Monsters Interpretation but that might by my nostalgia acting up.

I am also working on a flash puppeting assignment for 2D class.  The bone tool in flash we are working with is shitty and hard to control but I have to do it so I decided to animate a city giant monster fight scene.  I exported a quicktime from flash (so there are some bugs and artifacts) but I wanted to show some progress I have made on it. It is unfinished but here is a preview of this little guy.

While I am currently working hard on finishing my fisthead short, I don't want to give any more away, so I wont post must more in the way of clips for that.  I may post a trailer if I have time to make one.  However, guess who is currently being modelled in Maya?

I thought some people out there whould get a kick out of this so I decided to post a screen shot.

Here is a little peek at my sketch book from this week:

This is DESSA- Data Entry Systems Analyzer.  She is a character design I made this week.  I wanted to make a cyborg type character with lots of wired and technical stuff.  This may make its way into a comic book I do in the future.

Annnnd to finish things off, here is a fun drawing I did.  theys are 80's gay bikers... and a man that got rearanged into a fish (most likely the cause of death).  This stuff is real werid but I love stuff like this.

Again, I am posting at 4:30 in the morning on a Sunday night so I need to sleep.  Peace suckas

Listening to:
Foo Fighters- White Limo
Florence and the Machine: The Dog Days are Over
Jedi Mind Tricks- I against I feat. Planetary

Character design shtyeeeeee

Alright, so this is the first time I have actually posted on time (I try to post on Sundays.)  I also, had all day to do this but I always seem to be doing these things at 3 in the morning on a school night.  Anyway, this week I thought I'd post some character design stuff I have worked on or am working on.  I have been looking over some old sketchbooks of mine and I found some cool stuff that would otherwise shrivel up and die on a shelf.  So to start this off I want to say that for a while I've had a strange obsession with tiki men/totum poles (whatever you want to call them).  I look them up and in my spare time I draw them. This goes back for a few years.  I don't know why I don't just SCULPT them.....but I like their dimensionality and fundamental graphic element.  When i draw, to begin with, I sketch out the volumes...so much so that my drawings look like a big scribbly mess.  But I like them. So I guess that might be the reason I like them.  They also break down animals and humans into graphic abstract, primal forms that I find intriguing.  The messages behind them have always drawn me to them, whether they are to ward off demons or whether they tell an ancient legend.  So here, I start off with some tiki dudes that I drew from reference:

Here are some old pages of original Tiki figureheads I found in some notebooks.

So I entitled this post "Character design shtyeeeeee correct?  Well yeah I started drawing some characters influenced by these strange heads and I wanted to backtrack before I posted what I was working on today so there was some context for these weird things.  Here you go.  I don't know what these are for but I think they are pretty cool.  I'll work them into something.

Here is another character I was sketching this week. He's going to be a redhead even though we were all tought to hate those.  He is forming into sort of an anti-hero. Maybe even a main character that you don't like very much.  Probly a teen gang leader in a rough part of a city?  Anyway- catch his vibe. Can you? It isn't happy... or at least, when it is happy, it's more insane than anything.

Next I wanted to slowly build my vimeo account I just got so0ooo I thought I'd take a film that I did and show some character design sheets I did for that character to show how it crosses over (a little insight into my process?)  So This is the little girl from my film "The Head".  It is about a little girl who finds a robot head in a sandbox.  She parades it around but becomes scared, and it comes to her resuce.  Its a simple story and is ore wholesome than I usually care to do.  But the robot transformation is cool as hell, so it makes up for drawing some cute little girl marching around everywhere.  Here are some design sheets for her.

I try to, in these preliminary drawings, flesh out her prevailing amotions throughout the peice.   Honestly, I will credit Miyazaki for his influence on this.  Mei from My Neighbor Totoro can be seen in this as well as some of Boo from Monsters Inc.

 http://www.vimeo.com/21908644

This is the video on my Vimeo account.  It may not be ready to be viewed yet because I just uploaded it.

Also, next week I will post my character Limp and Lump and their turnarounds along with their adaptations through several different historical time periods of animation (such as the 1930s,40s,50s and so on).

I wanted to post this illustration of a character I drew, because I thought it was pretty cool.  Its old but I like sci-fi so here is a space soldier

Lastly, I will post this selected favorite page of some life drawings I did in the past year.

Alright, I'll talk to you next week, those of you who actually read through all this.
-peace

currently listening to- Cowboy Bebop episodes while I clean up my animation.