Episode 35 Production Report
Table of Contents
This production report article aims to centralize all the screenshots and mini production updates I've shared on the blog and social media into a single place.
Concept Art
Here under studies early concept-art for episode 35. a montage of roughly 30 Sketches, featuring Pepper at various ages, Arra dragon, Carrot and Torreya (a new character), Arra's pilot.
Sketching and design process for Arra the dragon and Torreya.
Research for Pepper, and the new character Torreya.
Scaling study: research for dragon VS their pilots
Rendering test and color test for Torreya.
Early sketch for Arra the dragon.
An early concept art and rendering test. As I liked it, it went directly into the webcomic as is.
Storyboard
This new episode will contain a long scene in introduction: a chasing scene over the clouds. This setting in the scenario made me feel about how isolated and vulnerable Pepper is. A situation I needed to explain a sudden switch of behavior. But I had trouble to put the ambiance I had in mind on paper, and even more I had trouble to find good view angle for storytelling this new story.
So I took a new approach: I put the story aside, and decided to do thumbnails of the "key moment" of the story. This pass helped me to find the precious panel: the one I really wanted to draw for this new adventure. After that, I could copy paste them on the page layout and articulate with filler in between to explain the story.
Thumbnails and values
General workflow overview
Here is the workflow I'm using for this episode, and the key four production steps broke down:
1. Black and White thumbnails enlarged
2. 'Wireframe sketch' ; solid structure redrawn over the thumbnails turned bright and yellowish
3. Speedpainting under the structure, reusing the values of the thumbnail
4. After flatting all; paint over and details.
Making of screenshots
One of the challenges was to convey a feeling of speed; adding rain effect particles in post-production helped a lot to achieve that.
The final, in Krita
Post-mortem
While this workflow was pretty fast for scenes in the clouds, it proved to be very complex by the end of the episode. I encountered problems with constructing and structuring the characters, resulting in facial expressions that weren't well constructed. A lot of paint-overs on top weren't enough to save them, and it left a bitter taste in my mouth.
However, some panels turned out to be very good, with a lot of poetry in their rendering and color, like this sunrise on the lake's beach, with the golden hour colors. This was a very complex shot that, in the end, didn't take as much time to render as expected.
the four steps (click to enlarge)
