2 posts tagged “jj walker”

We came up with the idea of re-sampling the classic UPA/Mr.Magoo design of wild colors and asymmetric shapes, and build it with photographic elements within 3D modeling, all of it layered with a wealth visual effects.  A look that sets out to be both modern and familiar.

At the end of two months, we developed a handful of environments for the film and created this animation test, based on the Grand Royale Cinema scene in Hell's Kitchen, 1951. WIP, Work in Progress.

The context of the environments came to us easier as an ode to the rich graphic shapes of vintage Mr Magoo cartoons, interpreted with modern day technology, yet the look of the characters seemed to be more challenging, after all the screenplay profiles big personalities such as Stanley Kubrick, Hal Ashby, Peter Sellers, Stan Lee and Mick Jagger.

We looked at toon-shading, a cool technique that makes 3D originated characters look hand-drawn like "the deviants", in the scion commercials. The technique sort of tricks the eye as whether you're looking at a 2D or 3D character.
Yet stylistically they weren't right. We needed warmer feeling characters than the odd deviants...

Take a look at the character board that JJ put together, as part of our research:
 

We got in touch with a talented illustrator based in Canada, Antony Hare, who we hired to develop the look of the characters. He drew Kubrick(09) and Pacino (27) on the board above. We both thought his graphic and illustrative style was right on the money for the film, and we are still toying with the idea of populating our colorful environments with black and white characters.

Tale a look at the Hal Ashby Malibu Colony Pool House style-frame bellow: