The Helm...Animated!

I am getting excited about the animation of The Helm I'm working on with Joel Brinkerhoff. He sent me the first lip sync test last night, which was awesome, and I can't wait to see more. Back when I was a full time animation director working at Will Vinton Studios, I got to see this kind of stuff come together every day, but I've been out of the field for over fifteen years now and I forgot how fun it is to watch the characters come alive.

I'm tempted to post tests of the animation here, but it feels like that would spoil the surprise. In the meanwhile, I've posted these design sketches Joel did to translate Mathew from comic book illustration to 2-D animated character.

We decided early on that we shouldn't try to duplicate the awesomely detailed art of Bart Sears and Randy Elliott, but should instead take it in a more animation-friendly direction that would best capture the sense of humor of the story.

Well, that's all for today. I hope to have more animation related news soon.