Red Rum - A film about a deeply disturbed rodent

Why hello there. It is of nice of you to have stopped by for a little bit of SQUIRREL INSANITY!!! This blog is for the production of my short film entitled 'Red Rum'. It concerns a paranoid red squirrel by the name of Rum, and the stress that is struck into his life by a certain grey squirrel moving next door. There is also a funny looking fox, by the name of Fox, involved.

Here I shall showcase the progress of my film. And perhaps a tad of the insanity that shall come with making it.

Rum

Rum
This is Rum. The main character of the film. Which is probably quite obvious. Another obvious statement is that he is a red squirrel. And a bit mental.

Tuesday, 29 March 2011

ANIMATICO


So. Here is my animatic. I put some sound effects in, and even some squirrel 'dialogue'. There are still many sounds to be added but this is what I have so far.
Like my squirrel noises? I thought squeaky would be best, as they are squirrels after all. Just sounded like there was some lunatic in my house as I was recording them.

Thursday, 24 March 2011

OOOOOOH Colour

Yep. That's right! I did COLOUR today!!! I do miss colour. Here's a bunch of, well I guess you could call it concept art... I realised I hadn't actually made any images of my characters in their environments in colour. So that's what I did today.



 This is me trying out a colour scheme for the axe dream sequence. I thought I could do a teabag stained background, with the characters just line drawings with red blood. But I'm going to try a black and white effect with the red blood and see how that turns out.


This is a drawing of Rum's tree from the outside.


Rum running with his new found knife. 


And finally, Rum attempting to shove Fox up into grey squirrel's tree.

Tuesday, 22 March 2011

More Influential Stuff

Calvin and Hobbes. Need I say more?! I have loved Calvin and Hobbes for many many years, and own A LOT of the books. The crazy expressions and drawings from the comics have influenced the design of my characters for Red Rum. The mental faces that Calvin and Hobbes both make are amazing! Even though it's a comic, you can still imagine what they would move like if it was an actual animation. I love Calvin and Hobbes.




Model Sheets and Size Comparison





That's the model sheets for my three main characters, Rum, Fox and grey squirrel. Coloured in with pro-markers, I think Photoshopping them would have taken a wee bit too much time. And I prefer colouring in with pens or paint.

Thursday, 17 March 2011

The back cover from my one of my Red Rum sketchbooks. I enjoyed pinging red BLOOD ink at my sketchbook!!! And all over the floor of course... If anyone IS wondering what that red stuff on the studio floor is, be reassured - it is only ink.

Or is it?...

 This is the front cover for the same Red Rum sketchbook, kept me busy for a good day or two!
 Rum with the axe he dreams of.
Rum, most likely looking irritated by his misjudgement of axe sizes.

New Expression Sheets!!

Here is a NEW expression sheet for Rum and one for grey squirrel too. I just made these this week :-D




Here is a couple of my background concepts, and the working out of the axe scene with Rum. I am going for a heavy lined style for the whole animation and am trying to keep the backgrounds looking jaggy like the characters. That's the trees where Rum and the grey squirrel live. There is also the shed where Rum goes to find his axe.




Thursday, 10 March 2011

HEEEEERE'S JOHNNY!


Of course with the element of The Shining in my film, I thought it would be a good idea to remind everybody of that wonderful scene. Nice.

Now. Just imagine it with squirrels.
I think Kon from Bleach is a great character. I know it's anime and all, but his expressions and mad movements are nice. I think he's a good reference for Rum's character and personality. Quite unbalanced and mental with really quick movements. Not the best clip, but if you've seen Bleach before you'll know what I mean.


Squirrels are not stupid.

Yeah the video goes on a bit, but when he actually does the assault course it's good. In fact they probably more intelligent then people think...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TamMqvk4Bb8&NR=1&feature=fvwp

Storyboard COMPLETE

Yep. That is right. My storyboard is FINALLY all done. Nice one. IF I don't mind saying so myself. Just wanted to share that wee bit of news there... It has been a while since I said anything here. Shooooouuld probably update this more often.

I might put my storyboard up here. OR I might not. We don't want Pixar or anyone nicking my ideas. Which I am sure WOULD happen with my amazing film. Though soon I shall be uploading more new drawings, backgrounds etc. Hasta luego.