Based on the popular (and very well-done) movie DreamWorks How to Train Your Dragon, this new series on Cartoon Network has been simply fantastic! It truly raises the bar in terms of quality when it comes to televised computer-generated animation. Remember the year 2004 and DreamWorks' first foray into television animation with the NBC primetime series Father of the Pride? They have come a long, long way both in visual quality and storytelling. If you haven't watched Dragons yet, I recommend you head over to CN's website for the show and check out the clips and episodes they have available. Or just go on YouTube and watch it. It's worth your time!
Now, a year ago at this time, I had the honor of taking a class taught by three DreamWorks Story Artists (as chronicled here), one of whom was named Louie del Carmen. Louie has since gone on to work on a little show called Dragons: Riders of Berk. Heard of it? You should have! I was just talking about it above. This connection lead me to an opportunity to test for the series (fun fact: for positions on a television series, a storyboard artist often must take a test--exemplify your work, really--to see if you're a good fit for the style of the show, much in the way an actor would audition for a part). I was given the script late Friday night and was expected to turn in the finished sequence first thing Monday morning. On top of work and school, this was a tough weekend, but the most fun I've ever had! Once the dust had cleared, there were things I would've changed, to be sure, but the deadline is the deadline. And to answer the obvious question, no, I didn't get the position. "Too talented," I heard someone say. It was me who said that, but still.
Now that the episode the test was sampled from has aired (the pilot episode, end of Act II), I believe I am free to share my sampling with the world (in a not-for-profit way, that is). Go find the episode online and compare! Watch and see how they did something completely different from what I had boarded. The "right way", you could call it, though I don't care for labels.
Anyway, here's my work, which can also be viewed on my website, LoweQuality.com. As always, enjoy.
DreamWorks logo & Dragons logo and related characters © DreamWorks Animation
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