And finally: The Toad!

The Toad is a simple creature with simple needs. Will the fox make a friend or a furry Hors d'oeuvre?

Badges Badges Badges

Just got a test batch of badges back. Good news is that they look great. Bad news is that they're not good enough. I want them to be perfect - so I'm going to make some tweaks and get another batch done :)

Introducing: The Owl!

When the other animals run out of answers, they know who to come to. He is the keeper of information, literally, his library is vast. But this time, his books cannot solve this problem...will our hero be able to?

Introducing: The Goat!

The goat's massive horns and thick skull can smash through boulders, but do not think that this makes him dim witted. The fox must tread carefully both in conversation and literally as not to be squashed under one of his hulking hooves!

Introducing: The Trout!

This piscine powermonger is a purveyor of information. He knows the secret of the fox's quest, so will he help or hinder our hero on his journey?

Introducing: The Boar!

This mighty swine from the lowlands has much responsibility resting on his powerful shoulders. Will the fox be able to aid him in his hour of need?

Introducing: The Fireflies!

These little guys will help the fox in his darkest hour...

Introducing: The Stag!

This wise old creature has inhabited the deep forest for as long as anyone can remember. There's not a lot that goes on in the land without him knowing. With all his wisdom, will he be able to help the fox figure out the mystery of the earthquakes?

The prints are in!

Hot off the press, the prints have arrived. I must say, they've blown me away. I got them done at Image Science in North Melbourne and couldn't recommend them highly enough. The stock is beautiful, thick and lustrous: 'Museo Portfolio Rag' an ultra-matte fine art cotton rag paper with no optical brighteners at all. The colours are stunning and the characters and scene jump off the page. Lovely!

Test environment completed

This is the first full scene I've worked up. I'm calling this a test environment because I'm not sure if this is definitely going in the book, but this is certainly an example of the quality I'm looking for. Everything came together really well, I'm very happy with the results.

Introducing: The Crystal Spider!

This massive arachnid inhabits the wulfenite caves. She has lived there for such a long time that the crystals from the caverns have begun to form on her spinnerets. Her appearance alone scares most spelunking creatures out of the caves, but if they would stay and talk to her, they would be quite surprised...

Introducing: The Dire Wolf!

To be the leader of a pack of dire wolves, one must have a certain countenance. This is not to say he's the meanest of the bunch, but he's rather a no nonsense kind of canis lupus. Usually inhabiting the mountains, his pack is forced to retreat to the forest by the earthquakes and he is none too happy about his re-location.

Introducing: The Snapping Turtle!

He may look like a grump, but this ancient creature of the swamps has seen a thousand seasons come and go and is as gentle as they come. Years of solitude have left this soggy sage with an odd demeanor and a special way about expressing himself... will the fox understand his riddles?

Introducing: The Fox!

Meet the hero of our adventure! He's a tenacious and chipper fellow. Although he will have to travel far and wide, he won't complain! He's forever the optimist.

An early 3D paper test

This was an early test I did to see if I could get a nice looking paper texture for the animals and the environment.

After a lot of tweaking textures and numbers, I was able to get the look I was going for. :)

Some more storyboards!

Here's some more storyboards. These'll be going into the video! more on that later... WOOP!

Storyboards

Here are a couple of storyboards I worked up. Very rough - just to give an idea of the general vibe rather than the template for the final images. These took about an hour each. Fun to make! Will post some more as I make them.