Digital Experimentation

Bon soir! And like I promised... here is the image dump from the last couple months! I've been experimenting a lot, trying to find something I am comfortable working with.

I did this study of my neighborhood in LA as a way to build up my digital painting knowledge.

Donut fall in love with her.
She will devour your soul!

A little fun self portrait I did, haha.

This next batch is a fun bunch I did testing out a new Photoshop brush.

2D Prop Design

Hey there wandering eyes. It's been awhile since I've done an update here, so I thought I'd post some prop design stuff I did in January!
I've been occupied with some freelance work (which I'm excited to share once it goes public!), but I plan to do an update with an image dump soon of some personal work. I've been experimenting a lot with different styles and mediums, so it should be a fun one!

Mid-Metamorphosis

More concept art for my prehistoric world idea.
You may remember this guy from my first post.

I was craving to do more environment based work, so I sketched this up, scanned it in my computer and voilà!

Sorry for such a short post, but I'm not planning on doing more concept art for the project in the near future and I wanted to post this before I move onto the my main priority. I am starting to nail down some storyboards for my Outlaw project. I am hoping that I will stay more consistent and get that project on the road as soon as possible!

Morion Turtle

I guess I’m going to start doing more concept art for my prehistoric world this way… I will admit I am doing a lot of guessing on the anatomy…

This is a Morion Turtle! Nothing too fancy about this creature… just a turtle doing turtle things.

Thousand Legged Crow

It’s been awhile since I worked on any concept art for my prehistoric world idea… wow! 

I wanted to draw a weird creature really bad so I drew up this guy and tried to work out his anatomy… I’m not really sure if this is convincing or not haha.

The bones of this guy are full of holes, so it weighs significantly less than it appears. The 'Thousand Legged Crow' primarily travels via ground and can reach high speeds, due to it’s light bone mass.
It eats small rodents and fish.

Character Designs (Outlaw)

Just doing a little character design with watercolor.

Here are some more concept pieces for my "Outlaw world."

My "Sand Slug" concept.
You might remember him from this older piece I did.

Then there is another main character I have been developing...

I've been leaning towards having the story told from his perspective instead of the Outlaw.

There are a lot of ideas stirring around for this project... I am taking it one day at a time, but I am feeling good about it!

More Outlaw Art

 I was trying to sketch in marker more. Watercolor/Marker.

This is another concept piece for my outlaw project. Considering the main character is an outlaw, he faces challenges against ordinary townspeople as well, This shot is suppose to be a part of a sequence where they are trying to jump the outlaw at the bar, while he is enjoying a drink.

I did something different with this process so far as well… I actually started it out digitally, but my computer kept overheating… so I actually printed out the line art with a pretty low opacity, and inked it traditionally (the characters at least…). I then scanned it back into the computer, and finished it back in Photoshop…

Welcome to the Gun Show

I ripped my pants a few weeks ago… and I decided to make them cutoffs. No one thought I could pull it off.

I did.

With the extra scraps, I cut them up. Then I began to paint. This is the progression of a piece I made.

"Welcome to the Gun Show." Acrylic on Denim.

My finished concept painting.

The Predatory Hunt

I haven’t done any concept art for the “prehistoric” world for awhile… so I drew a couple of the “beast” cubs being hunted by one of it’s predators (which is some sort of land crab).

Happy Hour doesn't really live up to it’s name anymore.

Here are some progress shots of an acrylic concept piece I painted on cardboard!

A Typical Day (With Progress Shots)

I have a few saved versions on my desktop already, so I'll show some just to give you a feel of my process.

A Successful Day

Just some more concept art for my "prehistoric" world.

A few females and a pup rest by the lakeside as the males cook the result of a hard days work.

Byrd VS Gravity (A Stop motion short by Rob Sassi)

Like I promised, here is my post dedicated to my second Byrd short, Byrd VS Gravity.

Initially, I had no reason/will to continue using Byrd as a character. I didn't want to get caught up in the whole "Tom and Jerry" scenario and around the time Byrd VS Worm got finished, I had invested a hefty amount of time into it, that I wanted something fresh.
It all occurred to me while chatting with my good friend, Trung Le, that I could make the stories about Byrd, and not about the relationship of Byrd VS Worm.
I decided overtime that I wanted to make a few episodes about Byrds' first few days walking the earth, which would all happen sequentially.

I will admit, at this point, I have a small series planned out (no more than 9-10 episodes), but being one person and trying to work on my portfolio to get a job, etc, I haven't planned on pursuing past the second short as a of now. It would be ideal to have more people work on it with me, or to pitch the idea to a company, but alas, time will tell.

At the time though, I had to find a nice way to blend the ending of Byrd VS Worm and begin Byrd VS Gravity. That's when I thought of doing a short where Byrd meets some crows, feeling they might be alike and that he could possibly fly.

 

I studied the way a crow's bone structure was, so I could make a puppet that had accurate joint movements.

 

And added feathers with hot glue, one by one...

Above is a scene I animated with three flying characters... probably one of the more challenging shots I had on the film.

A shot of the rig. I just used a bunch of tied of strands of armature wire.

I guess something worth mentioning, is the final scene before the credits where you 'think' Byrd is flying. I shot that on three plates, being the ground plane, Byrd and the background. I've never tried to animate a camera trick like that before, so it was a learning experience all together. The hardest part, was trying to move the camera in space, along with the objects, to try to convince you they were moving together.

Anymore questions are welcome below in the comment section...
But otherwise, here is the link to my film!

Byrd VS Worm (A Stop motion short by Rob Sassi)

 Everyone starts somewhere, and my somewhere was a walking skeleton named Byrd.

I initially made this character as a joke in MSPaint, while sitting in computer animation class, waiting for the rest of the class to catch up.
My neighbor thought it was hilarious, and at the time I was looking for a character to work with for my animation 2's walk cycle... and if you know me, I enjoy taking advantage on an open assignment.

AND THERE YOU HAVE IT, THE DEAD NAIVE WALKING BYRD WAS CREATED...

But he wasn't perfect.

This was my first turn around I did with my initial design, but I needed to add more appeal.

 Of course, I was pursuing a more stop motion approach at the time so I pushed the sculptural feel of Byrd... and this is what I came to before I started to build him. Somehow, everything I do turns out cute... oh well...

I wasn't as keen to documenting my process as much as I am now, so I am sorry to inform that I don't have much to show of the armature I used for Byrd, etc...

Also, this was my first "real" short that I invested time into, and I literally had no storyboards! I pretty much just had the general idea, and went with it... There were a lot of little things I added on the spot... But I really enjoyed how this turned out under the pressure... but wouldn't recommend it.

I was still pretty new to animating with a puppet, so experiencing first hand what I could get away with and such, was a very exciting time!

I made a simple story, a character with a goal, and it was reasonable for one person to handle. I honestly never thought Byrd would become such a big deal (or develop as much as he is at this point in my head!), but apparently people are still talking about him at Edinboro, even now that I am gone.
I did end up producing a sequel named Byrd vs Gravity, but I shall do a seperate post talking about that project.

Thanks for the read, and below is the link to my animated short, Byrd VS Worm!
(Filmed Fall 2010 @ Edinboro University)

PS. I composed the music in this!