It has been a life long dream to make comics, cartoons and animation. I remember times doodling flip books in the corners of my elementary school text books and then making my own flip books. Last year a close childhood friend sent me one he found in storage that I made when I was about 10. I was a cheesy Robotech Mecha fighting off Zentradi Battle pods. But I digress.
I was tasked with creating an story board and Animatic for my StoryBoarding and Animatics class at the Art Institute. The project started with us having to create our own fairy tale with as twist. I chose Rapunzel, not that I particularly liked the story but I thought it would be short and less complicated to tell. Boy was I wrong....
This "Ish" was hard as "uck"! I never made an animated sequence before. I watched enough cartoons and documentaries to understand the concept. And am a supporter of Don Bluth's Dragon's Lair movie so I got a lot of good perks that teach animation techniques. But as for using Adobe AfterEffects... the Art Institute said pretty much "Watch this 5 min You Tube tutorial made by some other student who really cant teach that well but has a good grasp on the concept" After watching said video about 10 times I was both frustrated and discouraged. But Darth Maffett does not quit! so I did what I do... put my nose to the grid stone, pour be a few shots of Whiskey and started at it.
Another challenge was after we got our final story boards approved, the final assignment in A rough Animatic was due 72 hours later. Luckily the instructor gave some extensions. But that really didn't benefit me since I have other classes and other deadlines. So I had to push this one out in 72 hours.
I did learn that I can make animatics but that it takes some time.
My plan is to make future mini issues and plot points in Soul of a Hero into animatic / motion comic format.
Shouts out to Jermica, JazMan and Jabbar for being my voice actors and Renee for the moral support!
here are the story board panels
