NERDs Boards & Sketches

Spring Semester has finally come to a close here at the Academy of Art, so it's time to post all my final projects.  First up is my Advanced Storyboarding class, and this is how I feel about it:

After working on my NERDs concept since spring break (5 weeks), I never really got it to a place that feels right.  My concept was still a bit raw when I first pitched it, so when my instructor and classmates started offering other ideas and comments, I feel my "voice" for the project got a bit washed out.  Perhaps that led to me never feeling fully passionate about the story, which lies in stark contrast to my Spaceman Do story for my other class.  In any case, now that I've crossed the finish line, I'm okay with what I've got, but I know it could've been much better.

So, NERDs is a television series concept that I developed revolving around three super smart, "nerdy"  middle schoolers who have been enlisted by a secret government agency, NERD (Nimble & Enlightened Research Division), to help defend America and save the world and such things.  Originally, I had titled it "The Three Four-Eyed Musketeers", but I think NERDs is just easier to say.  As I previously posted, there was originally some debate about their ages, based on my initial character designs.  My choices in clothing styles also lead to great debate about personality and time period for the show.  Some good came out of it, though, as I feel a "Mad Men"-era show actually makes for stronger story situations.  Also more research, which I had no time for.  Having to press on, I created a simple pilot idea that, through hour-long class discussion, lead me to write a different story involving our characters competing in the International Mathematical Olympiad.  I didn't have the time (or desire, frankly) to completely clean-up the boards, but here's what my final story ended up looking like:
NERDs Storyboard Boards were done using ToonBoom Storyboard Pro on my Cintiq.  And here are some of the final character sketches I did, once the script was written:

I still like the concept and the design ideas.  Hopefully I can someday revisit this, as I feel it would be good for my portfolio.  Time shall tell.