Mood boards

Here are some mood boards that I made both for the animation and the comic.

Concept art

You may find here some other concepts that I developed, in the hope of coming up with some visual style that would properly depict the feeling of the world.

Ok, so I started with these kind of concepts, trying to get a geometrical look and almost flat colours, but I felt like there was something missing, some of that plasticity that the pencil sketches had.

After a couple more failed attempts I tried to come up with a style that would combine my pencil sketches with the digital paint, so I came up with these ones.

 But the results weren't what I was expecting from this.

I even tried to use the lasso geometrical kind of feel, and combine it with the style of painting from above.

Here's an example.

Then I realised I was involuntarily copying Jake Wyatt's style...in a bad, and non flattering way haha 

:( .

Here's an example of his work.

CLICK ME

AND ME...

Oh well, the search will go on...

The Shaman King

Have you ever heard of the Shaman King?

A long long time ago in a place far far away from here I stumbled upon an interesting animation. It was called the Shaman King.

It's the story of a boy and his friends who are revealed to be shamans, mediums between the world of the living and the dead, which have the ability yo unite with ghosts and achieve shared goals.

The story revolves around a competition between them at the end of which the winner will become the Shaman King, the God of this world.

I'm mentioning this as a great source of inspiration, both the animation and comic being full of ideas that reach into the real world and different cultures and into their take on death and spirits, but at the same time not taking them too seriously and keeping a playful element about it.

Click here for the link

And here for the comic

It is a good reference and a great example as what I have in plan for my project considering how much I plan on twisting and modifying the information from the references that I will use.

Elevator pitch and synopsis.

Allright.

Just before I start with the synopsis, I want to add a couple of words just so you know what the backstory is.

Em (our main guy) dreams of joining his uncle's biker gang.  When he comes of age, he leaves with the gang to ride in the desert, but at one point they stop at a diner. At this diner, he is being treated a glass of mead, which after drinking  has a bit of an unsuspected result.

Having his consciousness altered, he steps into a strange world, where he meets the Biker God. The god promises to bestow upon him gifts that will turn him into a true biker, and a way back to his world. But first, he is being asked to look for The Crow.

Elevator pitch.

"If you can't trust yourself, can you trust not trusting yourself?"

Synopsis.

On his journey to find The Crow, Em meets The Buffalo. The Buffalo is considered to be "the provider" in the native american folklore. He will guide Em on his arduous journey through the harsh desert and help him find Crow, and maybe something else as well.

Now... let's see how this turns out.