Gameplay Storyboards (I guess...)

The latest project for my Storyboarding & Animatics class (which is a class under the Academy's Game Design branch) was to create a set of "gameplay storyboards" for a final boss fight based on a bullet-point script of gameplay actions.  We were also given character and environment designs for the level.

What is a "Gameplay Storyboard", you ask?  Good question!  One that I asked myself, in fact.  I asked my instructor.  He did not know.  I asked Google.  It didn't know, either.  So, I don't know what to tell you.  I guess sometimes the Academy teaches things that are so cutting edge, they don't even use them in actual studios, yet!  Is it exciting to be a trend-setter?  Always.

Anyway, I did the best I could with what I was given...I guess.  I dunno.  Whatever..

Gameplay - Boss Fight Storyboards

Indiana Jones and the...Iron Giant?

Now this is an interesting one.  For my Advanced Storyboarding class, we had to take two different movies and do a Glee-style mash-up!  Well, I suppose it really has nothing to do with Glee, but my group chose the classic Indiana Jones and the brilliant Iron Giant.  We then had to develop a storyline that would weave these two worlds together.  The assignment itself, then, was to create a trailer for this new film.  Granted, movie trailers are never storyboarded (unless it's some sort of teaser trailer featuring new, exclusive footage), so it's kind of an odd idea to storyboard a trailer.  Still a fairly fun process.

Here's the synopsis we developed:

• Indiana Jones is a professor at Marshall College in Connecticut. We see him heading to his classroom holding a newspaper; headline reads “Victory in Europe Close”.
• Jones enters his office to find a U.S. Government Agent awaiting his arrival.
• The Agent informs him that, while victory may seem close, they have learned of the Nazi’s final, Hail Mary pass: they are constructing an Iron Giant. An ally believes that she has discovered the location of an ancient power source that the Nazi’s need to acquire to power their Iron Giant.
• Jones is sent to war-torn Paris, France, where he is paired with a cynical, fiery redheaded symbologist. She explains that the Nazi’s have been deeply studying ancient symbols and legends that tell of a mystical power source that could wipe out entire civilizations. Using their combined knowledge, the two decipher the location of the mystical power source, but discover too late that they are being watched. A motorcycle chase commences with the two proving themselves victorious in escaping.
• The two unlikely heroes next head to the Arctic. Here, they find the mystical power source, only to have it taken from them by the overpowering Nazi soldiers that have tailed them. The two are left to freeze to death, but wittily escape certain doom.
• With the Nazis now in possession of the ancient power source, Jones and the Symbologist have no choice but to head to the heart of Germany, deep into the Nazi stronghold. It is here that they discover the already-­‐built Iron Giant, now being powered by the mystic power and ready to defeat the Allied Forces.
• Can Indiana Jones stop this menace before it’s too late??

 Here are the Beat Boards I first developed:

And here are the thumbnails for my version of the trailer for Indiana Jones and the Iron Giant:

Indiana Jones TM & © 1981-2012 Lucasfilm Ltd.

Iron Giant TM & © Warner Bros.

Find Your Pot O' Gold

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone!  Here's a fun, interactive illustration for all to enjoy.  Simply print it out, cut up some old photos of yourself and family/friends, then paste your heads on the leprechaun bodies!

May the luck o' the Irish be with ya!

Fuzzy Fury Rescue Friends: The Storyboards

IT'S FINISHED!!!

After really working out the story since the start of this semester (and an intense 3-day push at the end to finalize the boards), the storyboard sequence for my Fuzzy Fury Rescue Friends: The Great Unicorn Rescue thesis story is finally complete!  And boy, are my arms tired!  89 shots; 229 boards total.  (I was only required to have 30-40...oops)

I was able to end last semester with a lot of momentum with the Rescue Friends, so it really feels like it's been quite the journey to completion.  Are there things that could be better?  Of course.  But, to paraphrase Pixar, storyboards are never finished, they're just released.  On to the next thesis project!
Fuzzy Fury Rescue Friends - Final Boards
I hope you enjoy my labor of love (labour, if you're British)!  Please let me know what you think!! :^)

Disappointed...

The Lorax, in it's second week, beat the box office take of John Carter's premier weekend.  I loved the latter, but was not impressed with the former.

I guess orange is the new red this year?  I've never understood fashion...

"Just repeat after me: 'My name is John Carter.  I speak for Barsoom.'"

Go Barsoom!

Tow Mater Soup, Anyone?

Here's a fun little illustration I drew for "Mater's Food Drive" at the Disney Store, where I work.  Just done to help create awareness of the collection box for Cast Members within the store.  Maybe some day, my artwork will be seen by more than one store...

...a man dream, can't he?

All done digitally.  The background is a repurposed image of Mater and McQueen on the railroad tracks that I had to do some fun "Clone Stamp Tooling" to.

For the actual, printed version, I made the soup can a separate element and Mater's tow cable is made of brown packaging tape.  The cable can be reeled in as cans are collected!

Tow Mater and related elements are all © 2012 Disney • Pixar

[*SIDENOTE: I can't claim creative rights to "Tow Mater Soup".  Full credit goes to my co-worker, the amazingly delightful and creative Yesenia Chavez.]

Go West, young man!

Haven't you been told? California's full of whiskey, women, and gold!

...and at least one of those elements made it into my Western Story boards.  This was done from a generic script for my Storyboarding and Animatics class.  We were also given character designs (of sorts) and an interior design of the Sheriff's bedroom.  Boards were done digitally on my Cintiq.  First 18 pages are the final, clean-up boards and the subsequent 18 are the roughs.

Western Story Boards

SpongeBob SquarePants - Sandy's Rocket Storyboards

As promised, here are the SpongeBob storyboards for my sequence of "Sandy's Rocket".  Interestingly enough, everyone in the class chose this exact part of the story!  It's funny how varied we all were with our staging and acting.  Such is the life of a board artist, I suppose!

Unfortunately, we were only given one additional week to do both the rough boards AND the final, cleaned up boards.  Not nearly enough time, and I still don't know the characters well enough, so I'm not very pleased with the final results.  Still, it was a fun ride for these two weeks.

The first 18 pages are the final boards, done with pencil on paper, followed by the rough boards, done digitally in Photoshop on my Cintiq.

SpongeBob SquarePants - Sandy's Rocket Storyboards

SpongeBob SquarePants and related characters © 2012 MTV Networks, A Division of Viacom Inc.