Character Designs

Cartoons!  Because - CARTOONS!

INDIANA JONES AND THE CALL OF CTHULHU

 So this is an idea that has been with me for a while and since graduating two weeks ago I needed to purge it from my system finally and make a poster of this fake dream project for myself.  I was an animation student and I would love to be put in charge of an animated Indiana Jones feature hence the style choice.

A few years ago at my old job I did a dry erase doodle and thought that the Lovecraft Mythos was the next logical place for Indy to go and apparently I'm not the only one to think so.   That idea stuck with me fueled by a hobby/obsession of collecting the coolest artifacts for an 8" Indy figure.  I love Indiana Jones but I've certainly not read all the books so this would purely have to be a "What If?" scenario in the timeline and with that in mind here's a quick run down of the rough story in my head while drawing this.  It's all pretty straightforward pulp stuff for the most part:


"In early 1929 Indiana Jones finds himself in Arkham Massachusetts attending a lecture at Miskatonic University where he meets Professor Hinkel and his protégé, a French student, Rene Belloq.  Professor Hinkel takes to Indiana and invites him to look over some of the weirder artifacts that he's come across  thus presenting a strange green statue of about 7-8 inches tall of a creature that can only be described as a cross between an octopus and a dragon.  He reveals that a large box full of notes and research into something called the "Cthulhu Cult" arrived on his desk one afternoon following the untimely death of a Francis Wayland Thurston.  Through the reading Hinkel found the name of a Detective Legrasse in New Orleans who originally possessed the statue and had agreed to let Hinkel study it for a time.  
Later that night professor Hinkel is discovered dead by Belloq and Indiana as three blubberous bug-eyed men, more fish than men, flee the scene and the ruins of the upturned office.  From there they follow clues left behind as they pursue the murderers to the Town of Innsmouth and barely escape alive.  
As the pair trek to different parts of the globe they are befriended by Rosalia and both men do their best to woo her.  In the climax of the story Belloq is offered up by the Cult as a sacrifice and Indy and Rosalia race to the ancient city of R'lyeh to stop them before they can read from the Necronomicon and awaken the Old One, Cthulhu himself..."

Belloq was awesome in Raiders and I love Indiana having a rival. The original idea in my head was having to deal with the horrors of the unknown while also dealing with your worst enemy.  However I never knew Belloq's origin story so I liked making one up especially if you think you're doing the right thing saving him and find out later that he's just going to make your life hell from that adventure forward.  Until the end of Raiders of course... It was a lot of work.  ENJOY!

P.S. Yes the Necronomicon is based on the Evil Dead version...Raimi borrowed it anyway and I just like how it looks.

The Other Creatures of Creature Feature

As the name says, other drawings that I did for characters in the Stop Motion short.  I actually sculpted the blob which was pretty accurate to the art but it got destroyed during the casting process.  Would have been cool to be able to put it with the skeleton puppet on my shelf.  It was surprisingly challenging trying to give shape to a shapeless creature.  Also I would have loved to have done the Mars Attacks looking guy but we had barely any time.  Scroll down to watch the video.    

RED Riding Hood

Been a while since I posted anything.  Quick doodle.   RED Riding Hood Designs.  Enjoy.

CREATURE FEATURE PREMIERE!!!!

After long months the short film is finally complete.  Watch it below on Youtube.  It is my first (technically second) foray into the world of stop motion.  The first serious one at any rate.  So go my friends!  Watch!  Enjoy!  Witness!  AND BEWARE! Click the title below.

CREATURE FEATURE!!

Animation Commences

Animation has commenced!  Here's a preview.  Enjoy.

Skeletal

I may do one more update after this about my class stop motion project.  I was just too excited to share the table that I made yesterday to hold magazines in the casting office where the Harryhausen-esque skeleton will be sitting.  It's glued together and I just happened to have a screw that was exactly the correct length to hold the magazines in place without going through the bottom.  Then I just tacked down some of the sides so they didn't spring up too much.  When I was a kid I wanted to do special model and miniature/practical effects for movies, then Jurassic Park came out and killed that.  So doing this class has me jazzed on ridiculous levels.  Enjoy.

As always click image for a bigger view.

SKELETON WARRIORS!!!

Finally finished it.  My Skeleton warrior type Stop Motion puppet for class.  I also made tiny magazines to go in the set.  Enjoy.  As always click image for a bigger view.

Skeleton Again

I need to finish it this coming week at least to the point of painting. 

Puppet Update

Finally got the head put together.

Skeleton Warrior

Progress on the Harryhausen type Skeleton Warrior for class.  "Carved" the shield and sword blade tonight.  Made a cast of a super sculpy skull the other day.  Needs a little clean up.  Need to push to get this thing done soon.  Enjoy.

Stop Motion Class and Harryhausen/B-Movie Tribute

Skeleton warrior and Ymur/Gill-man inspired monster. These are initial designs I did for my stop-motion puppet making class. They're slowly being refined.  The group project, much to my elation, is a B-movie/Harryhausen tribute. We'll see how it turns out. Enjoy.

"I'm Luke Skywalker I'm here to rescue you!"

Using one of the nine Luke Skywalkers on my desk, a doodle of my childhood hero as I try to grow as someone who wants to work in the animation industry. Reading Tom Bancroft's book "Character Mentor" and trying to apply the ideas discussed.  He has the same color boots and belt as the Micro Collection Luke Skywalker from my youth!

Monsters

Doodles from the sketchbook. Haven't updated in a while. Some random stuff from around Halloween. The Frankenstein Monster, Nosferatu, Creature from the Black Lagoon, War of the Worlds Tripod.

Skull Island Layout

Second layout class assignment. It might be cliche but my idea was that after a small plane crash this was the only way onto the island and the characters would metaphorically be swallowed up by the place.  Enjoy.