More Work In The Film Industry 1

Hi, everyone. Hope you’re surviving the summer heat. August is almost over. Next thing you know, it’s going to be Labor Day and the fall is around the corner with Halloween arriving in a few months. In a few weeks, you might be seeing Halloween decorations at your local stores, selling bags of candy, costumes and decorations.

But until then, let me lay down a few riffs as to what going on in the film business. Just wrapped up another illustration/storyboard job with filmmaker Barbara Davis at Whiteshell Films. Got the script from her and the job was to draw storyboards and concept art/illustration, based on scenes from the script, for her film. Read the script, analyzed the scenes and broke it down into an outline of shots, rendering the scenes into boards, drawing one transitional shot to the next. For the illustrations, I picked a few scenes from the script that were simple in terms of rendering, since there was a deadline for this project. A medium shot or a long shot with simple backgrounds, get it done in a few days.

For the boards, all in pencil. Tight renderings with notes written underneath each board, describing each scene for the film director and the cinematographer. They are going to need visual references to review, and to make sure that the shooting schedule runs smoothly. For the concept art/illustrations, went for a more cartoon/comic book pop style. Straight, crisp lines. No shadows. Did a few rough layouts/thumbnails and then commenced on the final illustrations. Started out with a non photo blue pencil to draw the layouts and then a 2H or an HB pencil for tight outlines or shading. After that, a few Micron pens-.005 tips- and a few brushes, maybe double zero or triple zero, for the inks. Brushes with very small, fine tips are great to ink tiny details on a pencil layout. Used Dr. Phil Martin’s bottles of black ink. Solid black ink.

I dig both pens and brushes. Both have different qualities/aesthetics when it comes to inking. With pen, you have a metallic tip that are great for line work and to refine thick/thin lines either in the foreground or in the background, after you used a brush. A pen can also smooth out any rough edges from any ink lines rendered from a brush. With a brush, you can create textures that a pen may not be able to capture. If I was to ink a drawing of rocks or trees in a panel, that would be the way to go. If there are incredibly tiny details to ink on drawings of furniture, machinery or round objects, a pen would be the alternative, using templates, to outline any lines of circles or ovals. One day, I want to get back into nibs and pen holders. Used them back when I was a student at the High School Of Art and Design. Even Rapidographs, technical pens I used back in the day. I dig pen brushes too, especially the Microns. A great substitute to regular brushes, if in a pinch, you don’t want to deal with ink bottles, brushes, a jar of water to dip your brushes in and rags to wipe off any excess ink on your brushes. No matter what, I dig’ em all.

Want to get back to write about style. I mentioned that I wanted to go for a- for a lack of a better term- cartoon pop style with bright pop colors for this job, no photo realism, no shadow or lighting in the rendering. No expressionism. Pop, bright tones. Something that could reflect the style/aesthetic/tone of the script. If I had to recommend comic book artists to check out, that worked, in a cartoon/comic book style, take a look at the work of Jack Cole on PLASTIC MAN, Dan De Carlo’s work on ARCHIE and anything by Alex Toth. There is a three volume set of Alex Toth’s work, on his sequential work, his illustration and his animation work. Published by IDW. If you can get that set- The Genius Series by Dean Mullaney and Bruce Canwell- I highly recommend it. Also, Art Spiegelman and Chip Kidd’s book on Cole and Plastic Man, and Archie comic books that DeCarlo did. There is also a book of his pin up art on Amazon. Might be out of print. I saw a copy of his book online priced over a hundred bucks.

It was a fun gig, doing the boards and illustrations. Being creative and getting paid to have fun. It’s a great feeling, man. If I get a chance, I would like to write about this work in the next blog, break down the job in a step by step format, writing about the thumbnails, pencils, the inks and digital colors. The process of illustration art.

A few days ago, a few film clients contacted me on social media, regarding more film/storyboard jobs. Interested in my work. Just emailed a budget proposal/fees on one project, and just got the script on another. Let’s see what happens. Nose to the grindstone, the focus. Never quit. Got to hang in there when all you hear are crickets. It’s going to happen, gotta roll with it. If you read this blog and you’re a filmmaker looking for a storyboard artist, you can message me on Linkedin. I’ll leave my contact info for you and would definitely be interested in talking to you, to discuss your film project or anything related to your film project.

And speaking of films, watching the movies by Sergio Leone, one of the great filmmakers next to Kurosawa, Welles and Kubrick, redefining the Western genre with a distinct visual style/mood/aesthetic/tone. In the middle of A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS on Prime and just finished watching the ultimate masterpiece -once again- THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY, also on Prime. If you have not watched this film, and you’re a huge fan of film/cinema, I highly, highly recommend this classic piece of film art. The ending is an incredible, methodical piece of visual storytelling at its zenith, with a unique music score by Ennio Morricone, to underpin the dramatic tension, as the films moves into the last few scenes before the ending; incredible and masterful, tight editing that builds up the tension to its explosive moment between the main characters of the film; the skillful directing by Leone, the design and compositional quality of each scene; and the incredible, minimal or intense acting performances of Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach-portraying the three main characters in the film- that displays an array of emotional qualities ranging from coolness to subtle tension/restrained nervousness, depending on the emotional/psychological state of mind that each character possess in the most pivotal moment in the film. All of the these elements- directing, editing, lighting, acting, music-makes the film one of the greatest classics in cinema.

Alright, folks. Time to wrap it up. Gotta run. Leave a few comments if you want to start a thread, riffing on films or working in the film business. Have a good night and talk to you soon. Have a great weekend.