So I guess it's been a while since the last HV post. I've been busy with designing the interiors of the Alpha Centauri, designing how the weaponry would work, and what the other Whalers look like. (I also got sick twice, and went on travel)
We've already gotten acquainted with Asa, the lead baddie in this story so far.
Note: This design is the second revision, as each successive design had to be streamlined. I needed to edit out everything that made me tell myself "I ain't animating all that"
Look at my handsome trash prince son.
So we've got Asa, and even though the golden rule of animation design is "don't design on the panel" I designed his buddies on the panel. Sue me. I'll make a more official design image for those two goobers later. Right after I figure out what their names are.
Now I had to design the interior of the ship. Where are these guys gonna sit? What does the bridge of the ship look like? What is the steering wheel gonna look like?
These are some watercolor studies I made of the ship's interiors. I kind of wanted the bridge to feel somewhere between an Evangelion cockpit and a luxury yacht made for idiots. And it just so happens I've been on two cruises so far, so I'm quite versed in how fugly modern cruise ship design can be. Crass, ugly, commercialized. It looks vaguely like Baroque design barfed all over a shopping mall. I wanted that replicated in this ship.
Gross.
Also, while I wanted the laser cannon to be triggered by a more traditional trigger switch...
...but my animation partner suggested I use video game controllers, and that busted everything wide open.
Of course, a rich goober in the future is gonna get sold on a boat controlled by video game controllers. OceanGate anyone?
Now the antagonists of this mini-episode are evil gamers.
Do I feel bad about that? No. Am I worried I'm going to alienate gamers? No. This is a cartoon. Not a video game. Go play Call of Duty #6,839 and leave me to my whale cartoons. Will I welcome gamer controversy if it means I get more subscribers and follows? I am only human. >:)
I wanted the invading laser to feel devastating to the local sea life. Everything is all fun and games for the boys in the boat, but for the animals down below, it's apocalyptic. These poor animals are being vaporized for teenage thrills. I need the audience to feel how desperate it is to be an animal suffering this treatment and why they might want to assist a few renegade surfers in taking this ship down.
And that's why my talking whale sounds like a Cuban revolutionary.
Anyway, $10 Patreon subscribers are welcome to watch the Secret clean up of this animatic in full...
While the rest of you can watch the Death Laser Demo available to everyone. Enjoy!
See you next update.
-Love, Joolz