This is the third part in a series of posts that will reveal some of the character, prop and shot design work that I did for the upcoming Weinstein Company/ Kanbar Entertainment production:Hoodwinked Too: Hood Vs. Evil.

I have to make this brief.

I started a new job at Disney this past Wednesday (working on a sequel to Tinker Bell), I am swamped with other freelance work (children’s books, more work for Legends Of Zork, a graphic novel etc…) AND I moved this past weekend.

Needless to say, I haven’t had ANY time to work on personal stuff or put much time into editing podcasts (although I do have two new episodes very close to completion…)

So I thought I would just post another character redesign that I did for Hoodwinked Too.

This sheep appeared as a “crowd” background character in the first film.  The character is still just an ‘extra’ in our film, but its role in our film is more significant.  The role is also hilarious.  I don’t want to spoil the joke, but it I will say that it cracked me up when I heard about it and I laughed even harder when I saw the scenes in which these sheep characters appear.

I was assigned the tasks of upgrading the surfaces and generally adding more appeal to the design.  I used the face of my dachshund (Sydney) as a guide for adding more personality into the design of the sheep.

It took me a long time, working in Photoshop, to develop the right kind of brush for painting the wool.  In the end, I used a combination of that custom brush and some photo texture overlays.

I also approached this redesign the same way I approached the redesign of Japeth, although I spent much more time on Japeth.

I actually love the way this character turned out.  Also, I like the looseness and collage aspects of the painting.  I think it has a really interesting weirdness to it – and that weirdness works because the character is supposed to be a sight gag in itself..

…at the risk of sounding a little rambly, this reminds me of when I designed the star of my never-got-finished student film, Stay Cool.  People would just look at the character and laugh.  I suppose that is an indication that you’ve achieved a successful character design – when people respond to an unmoving image of the character with the desired response.  If that response is strong, I suppose that’s even more of an indication that you’ve succeeded.

I will try to get a podcast out this week.  I have so much that I want to share with you about my life as of late.  I also want to talk more about my job on the new Tinker Bell movie and about the TV projects that I am developing.

If you’ve written me recently, I apologize for not getting back to you.  I will be doing another listener mail episode soon and I’ll cover a lot of your emails then.

Write me soon and let me know how things are going for you… …creatively and otherwise.

Thank you all for caring so much.

Here’s a detail of the sheep’s face:

Thoughts?  Suggestions? Critiques?  Email me at coatley [at] mac dot com.  You can also find me on Twitter, deviantArt and Facebook.

NEW BLOGS OR PODCASTS AT CHRISOATLEY.COM EVERY MONDAY!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

IN THIS EPISODE ::

ArtCast #15 :: Interview With Rafael Rosado: Storyboard Artist for Animaniacs, Teen Titans and Venture Bros.He is currently producing his own graphic novel for First Second Publishing.

I had the enlightening experience of interviewing him a few days ago and now, I have the joy of sharing some of his wisdom with you.

Raf is still working on his website so I will try to post some of his drawings and storyboards on my site as soon as possible.

Find me on Twitter or subscribe to my blog and podcast to receive word when that happens.

Read the rest of this entry »

Well, my friends…

What else can I say?

I’m done with this crazy illustration.

Its been a LONG time coming, I know.  But finally…  Finally, its done.

I’ll be podcasting about this piece in future episodes of my ArtCast, so I won’t go on and on about it here.  But I will say this:  I’m happy with the way it turned out.  My disconcertions with the piece remain as stated in Episode 14 of my ArtCast but I think I revived it and, in spite of the fact that it ended up MUCH, much tighter than I had originally planned, I think it works.

Not my best piece by far, but its done.  Phewie.

Okay, new podcast next Monday.  I promise.

Thanks for reading/ listening/ watching/ looking.

Until next Monday, go well.

Below are some detail images.

This is the second part in a series of posts that will reveal some of the character, prop and shot design work that I did for the upcoming Weinstein Company/ Kanbar Entertainment production:Hoodwinked Too: Hood Vs. Evil.

If you are interested in seeing more of the development work that was produced for our film, you can visit Ryan Carlson’s site. Ryan was the Art Director on the movie and he has posted many of his redesigns of the principle characters.

Ryan’s work is AMAZING. He is a dear friend of mine and I owe most of my success in the animation industry to him. I highly recommend that you spend some time studying his art. Pay extra-close attention to the economy of brush strokes in his work.  Download his images and zoom WAAAAY in and see how much he is able to define with so little effort.

As I mentioned before, Ryan and I, along with Jeff Siergey, designed a bunch of new characters for this sequel, but it was also a lot of fun to revisit the characters from the original film and give them a sort of budgetarily-inspired design boost.

I said last week that the new characters will remain secret until they appear in a trailer somewhere or until the release of the film in theatres, but there is one exception to that rule…

Today you get to witness a resurrection of sorts.  This post features a “Castaway” character that was cut from an intermediate version of Hoodwinked Too.

I did this painting over a VERY rough render of a VERY low-poly model that was provided for me by the production.

When I started this painting I had very little to go on and thus, I had to invest a great deal in the design of this character.  …and that is why I am sad that he is no longer in the film.

However, it should be stated that I completely agree with the cut.  Its just sad that The Castaway had to go.  I figured that since he is no longer in the movie, I may as well show you the design.

I think this character has a lot of appeal.  I love the proportional distortions and the overall silhouette.

I am guessing that it was Jeff Siergey (head of story) that came up with the inital sketch of the character (although I am not certain) but whoever generated the initial concept did sucha  great job of creating an intense, dynamic concept that the impact it lasted all the way through the design process.

As I was finalizing the design, I could still sense the ripple effect from the creative energy blast that was the initial concept sketch.

Thanks for reading!  There are plenty more Hoodwinked designs where this one came from!

I am still working on the next podcast for this month but I promise it will be released by next Monday.  Until then, go well.

Thoughts?  Suggestions? Critiques?  Email me at coatley [at] mac dot com.  You can also find me on Twitter, deviantArt and Facebook.

NEW BLOGS OR PODCASTS AT CHRISOATLEY.COM EVERY WEDNESDAY!

This is a VERY exciting moment for me.  Today I’ve decided to show you one of the character redesigns that I did for Hoodwinked Too: Hood Vs. Evil (The Weinstein Co./ Kanbar Entertainment).

My art director on the film, Ryan Carlson has posted many of his redesigns of the principle characters on his new website. Go there and be amazed.

…so I figured that I would follow his lead and post a couple of the redesigns that I did.

Ryan and I, along with Jeff Siergey, designed a bunch of new characters for this sequel (the new characters will remain secret for now), but it was also a lot of fun to revisit the characters from the original film and give them a sort of budgetarily-inspired design boost.

Japeth (above), the cursed mountain goat whose supernatural affliction compels him to sing everything he says, was an audience favorite in the first Hoodwinked. He will, of course, return for the sequel.

I began my redesign process by reading about and looking at photos of real mountain goats.  I realized that there were a couple of “goat” visual cues missing from the original design, so I addressed those first.

Below are some detail images (these can only be viewed in this post on ChrisOatley.com).

I spent the most time on the horns, since those swirly horns are a mountain goat’s most iconic asset.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

IN THIS EPISODE ::

Episodes ten and eleven of this show were the most spontaneous and unproduced, but they were perhaps the most honest of all.  It was those kinds of episodes that you have requested more of and so more of those you will receive.

Today I present to you yet another unprecedented episode.  I want to call this new species of podcast a ‘collagecast.’ That is to say that I bought a portable digital recorder and I have been recording on-the-go, at different points throughout the week.  At the end of the week, I stitched all of those files together and that is what you will hear now.

In the rest of this episode, I give a general update on my freelance and personal work, I talk about my recent struggles with the Hulk Vs. Wolverine painting, I share and experience that I had at an event that was held at The Academy Of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in honor of Disney Animation Legend Milt Kahl and I respond to a few emails.

Read the rest of this entry »