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 Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2005 7:20 pm
So I'm contemplating a Flash movie. Don't expect it to be done for the next forever ... it's a huge project and I am bad about completing huge projects in a timely fashion. Besides, I am dependent on the availability of my voice actors. It's got a hugely dorky premise: the background story for a Werewolf: the Apocalypse character I created. If you've played WtA, you might recognize the character as a Metis. I'm not planning on it being more than 7 minutes or so, but even so, that is a lot of animation ahead of me.  This is the main character/narrator, in the style I plan to draw the final frames in. A few animated sketches.(Requires Flash Player.) Also: by no means perfect. This is the underlying sketch layer of the animation, so it's not going to show up in the final product. It's just the guideline for the finished drawings, and an example of the style. The problems I see (yes, of course they'll be fixed, I just don't want to tweak sketches) are 1. The antlers don't follow the head well enough, and sometimes seem to elongate or jerk around, 2. The antlers in general ... aren't very static in shape 3. His tail gets bigger and smaller at some intervals. Yeah, it's going to take forever. sweatdrop
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Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2005 9:26 pm
It's much cleaner than a lot of animated Flash sketch stuff I've seen. I guess that's nice. His anatomy does seem to stretch in ways that don't make sense, as well as the horns (as you mentioned). It's alright. None of that is really a big deal to me.
The only thing that bothers me is the style you've chosen to render it in, and I understand that it's rather a moot (and possibly insulting and juvenile) point to make. It's like.
It's a furry drawing.
I don't mean because it's of what is obviously a wolf-creature standing on two legs. That could be an anthro illustration. Whatever. What I mean is that it is in the style that defines "furry". You know what I mean, I think. I hope. The only thing that's really bothered me about furries has bothered me purely as an artist, and it's been that so many people in the fandom draw exactly the same way. It's disgustingly incestuous. Instead of taking influences from other places outside the fandom, it's all about drawing like so-and-so, with the subject matter of so-and-so. It's tired. It's trite. It's a waste of skill.
But don't let me get you down. If you go through with this, a lot of people will be impressed with you. You have a wide target audience. And if it's got a good story, even I would think that a good story could make up for exceedingly generic art.
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Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 9:30 am
It's not a moot point. While this project is still in its infancy, everything in it can be subject to change, really, and if the style is truly a problem, it's not as though I can't change it. The reason I posted here was for comments like that. wink Ironically, I've actually made the same observation about furry art, but I was under the impression that the style parodied here was a lot more popular. I'm not worried about trying to fit within "furry" parameters, though I suppose werewolves fall under that umbrella. The majority of the characters are going to spend their on-screen time as humans, though. Anyway, it's not as though the current art is really key; it's malleable. The style I'm using isn't innovative, I realize, but really I'm not sure how to go about making it moreso without detracting from the characters' features and making them less expressive. (Suggestions?) Most importantly I wouldn't want the story to have to make up for the art; I'd like them both to be interesting. So if the art is lacking, I won't hesitate to change it (so far there's not much to change). I hadn't really considered a fanbase; mostly I considered the project for the entertainment of my gaming buddies. But because not many of them have an eye for design, I'm not really about to go to them to ask what to change (it'd also ruin the surprise).
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Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 5:41 pm
Esmoth It's not a moot point. While this project is still in its infancy, everything in it can be subject to change, really, and if the style is truly a problem, it's not as though I can't change it. The reason I posted here was for comments like that. wink I'm glad you weren't offended, that was my biggest worry. Quote: Ironically, I've actually made the same observation about furry art, but I was under the impression that the style parodied here was a lot more popular. That's really common as well. It depends upon the "faction" of furry, I suppose. There are a lot who have a really strong Disney influence (your character is a good example), and there are those (often younger) furries who go for the big-eyed anime MASTERPIECE LOLZ thing. It seems to me like there are more furries who prefer the Disney style, possibly because it's what they grew up with. Quote: I'm not worried about trying to fit within "furry" parameters, though I suppose werewolves fall under that umbrella. The majority of the characters are going to spend their on-screen time as humans, though. Anyway, it's not as though the current art is really key; it's malleable. The style I'm using isn't innovative, I realize, but really I'm not sure how to go about making it moreso without detracting from the characters' features and making them less expressive. (Suggestions?) It's not that it's bad. It'll do the job. It's just really generic and has negative connotations attached to it. I might say "Just draw it differently", but that's rather unfair of me. I also wouldn't want to see you go from something clean and easy to look at to something incredibly messy and "edgy", because that would be distracting.
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Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 5:44 pm
The Iconoclast I don't mean because it's of what is obviously a wolf-creature standing on two legs. That could be an anthro illustration. Whatever. What I mean is that it is in the style that defines "furry". You know what I mean, I think. I hope. The only thing that's really bothered me about furries has bothered me purely as an artist, and it's been that so many people in the fandom draw exactly the same way. It's disgustingly incestuous. Instead of taking influences from other places outside the fandom, it's all about drawing like so-and-so, with the subject matter of so-and-so. It's tired. It's trite. It's a waste of skill. To be somewhat off-topic, I completely agree, which is why I stopped drawing (and associating with, for the most part) furry art. Though, I don't think the style is necessarily a bad thing. If you can make it work and it's comfortable enough for you to work with, then that's great. To be honest, I don't know if you could change it to fit what you're going for (or what it seems like you're going for), so you may as well stick with it (unless anyone else has any suggestions!). I like the way you have it so far, though! I've wanted to try animating stuff in Flash, but everything I've done is silly and pretty horrible.
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