NHKL

A while back I was asked to create some location designs and color script for a T.V. show. This was an established show, so the director wanted to keep the basic feel of the series, but push things a little bit further for the special. The time frame was super short, so I recruited a few friends, including my wife On, to help me brainstorm.

Above: Evolution of a location.
Above, some rough sketches for the "Bear Castle" location.  I was asked to do something in sort of my "normal" style, but different. It took me a few sketches to "warm up" to the world I was trying to create.

Above: An overview of the valley.
The characters in the story were at war, so I tried to contrast two different kingdoms, but also tried to keep them in the same world. We had a wide variety of location designs to make in a very short, and intense period of time. After the initial locations were designed, I was asked to create the color script based on the storyboard. The final show was to be made in flash. So I recruited On again, who is a flash master, to help me put the color script together using pre-made flash symbols.

Above: Tree experiments.
Since a good part of the story took place in the forest, I played with various tree shapes. The art director wanted something "flat but dimensional."   The trees above were found to be "too flat", but lead to some other shape ideas.

I always find it a fun challenge to build a graphic world for characters to live in.