This is a note from my daughter’s lunch this past year. Post-it® actually. It survived one of her days, though slightly milk soaked at the time, so I scanned it. This is the “Chip Cat.” I typically used him to remind her to check the “secret compartment” of her lunch bag. Anyhow, I’m waiting for feedback on a project and decided to color it between calls. Dig.

Long story short, I collected a list of comments made by students during final presentations last semester. Why? Because the moment was ripe for documenting all the things you shouldn’t do during a final presentation. In fact, I could have sold tickets. In the spirit of keeping it short, and dodging another rant, I’ll end with “There’s more.”

In-progress character development rough.

Download iPhone/Touch version ( .mp4 - 14.7MB)

A cut scene I would have loved to color.

I came up with the above after being asked to create a “small, cute toy that looks like it could be found in a Discovery store.” A special thanks goes to Photoshop CS3’s new “Smart Object” feature for DOF situations like this. I’m now able to convert assets within scenes, such as the blurred figure in the background here, into “Smart Objects” allowing multiple adjustments without harming the original art. “Adjustment Layers” set to “Hue & Saturation” also play a major role, in conjunction with “Smart Objects,” when subtle color treatments are needed. Sure, “Photo Filter” is better in many ways. However “Hue & Saturation” can ease the revision process in ways “Photo Filter” can not. For example, the toy in this scenes was changed from purple to green at the client’s request. Did I have time to repaint it? Not exactly. So, an “Adjustment Layer” masked to the toy’s outline was added and the “Hue” slider took care of business. Note that this isn’t the best foundational approach. Repainting is the preferred method. But a deadline is a deadline and sometimes a zero footprint approach to effects is better than not delivering.

Though extremely fun, a few recent projects required 4 all-nighters over the past week ‘n a half. I am, again, blogging on 2-hours of sleep. The above is a minor supporting image used within a concept GUI and part to a few elements I’ll post. Of the 141 exploratory sketches created 72 lead to full-color scenes. It was around this same time yesterday (11:00pm), when the remaining scene count was 14, I calculated the production pace required to complete the scenes by the 3:30 deadline today. With 15 - 20-minutes towards refining roughs and 30-minutes for coloring I would have approximately 3-hours of fat on the clock. But only if I worked non-stop. No emailing, no surfing, no phone calls. This also meant the 4:30am production speed would have to mirror the fresh, well-caffeinated 11:00pm pace. This, of course, isn’t realistic at all. Hence the 3-hours of wiggle room. Anyhow…I finished at 3:00. Only 30-minutes early and way, way, too close.

…first, and likely last, map illustration in PS. Dig.

This is a “high fidelity” treatment. For a storyboard that is. The previous post showed a (or my) typical rough sketch and color treatment. Due to the time it took me to color the above I’ll always remember it as my most irresponsible moment during this project. You see, to meet the deadline I calculated no more than 40-minutes could be spent coloring any given scene. An egg timer, fresh drink, and steady stream of jams (or other) generally helps production move along smoov. Well, for this particular scene I spent 1 hr. 15 minutes coloring it -and knew the whole time I was screwing up but simply didn’t care. Probably because I was having fun. Anyhow. Enjoy. More soon.