TRAILER
ANIMATIC
(Audio not final, all rights reserved)
CONCEPT ART
Character Designs:
The characters in our film were designed by Alessandro Morales. Here are some of the early development sketches I did for them!
RAZORS
The first ever image I did of the character that became Razors. Goggles and a razor blade through the head was always a non-negotiable.
More attempts to nail down Razors' design. I was drawing a razor with straight edges at these beginning stages, but Alessandro made the much smarter decision to change it to the more distinguishable style of razor with small dips in the sides facing towards and away from the audience.
How does Razors' mouth work? I made sure this was one of the first things I figured out once Alessandro had finalized the design.
The first ever image I did of the character that became Razors. Goggles and a razor blade through the head was always a non-negotiable.
The image of Razors (which is the name of the character and the film) was one I'd had in my head for years - a man with goggles and a razor blade through his head was very distinct in my mind. Razors is our first film where I did not design the characters, but you can see that in these early stages of development, the basic details of his look were already understood.
Thumbnails:
Thumbnail sketches for the first section of the film. As you can see, many of the ideas were there from the beginning, as I wanted to keep it as authentic to my own subcosncious as possible.
This section is essentially unchanged in the final film. Probably an indictment of my creativity that I just kept the first ideas I had, but I like them!
I had the idea for this very unorthodox and complex shot while washing dishes and rushed to scribble it down!
Thumbnail sketches for the first section of the film. As you can see, many of the ideas were there from the beginning, as I wanted to keep it as authentic to my own subcosncious as possible.
Razors was an attempt to draw directly from my subconscious to create a unique narrative. and when I saw draw from my subconscious, I literally mean draw from my subconscious. I forced myself to sit down and illustrate any random images that came to my mind to create any sort of narrative I could. I didn't stop to second-guess or self-edit, I just threw it straight to the page. These are the very rough thumbnails that came from that exercise, and in an attempt to keep the film as authentic as possible, these thumbnails are very similar to the final film's shots. I more or less cleaned them up for the final production boards without adding anything that wasn't essentially already there.
If you're looking to see those final production boards, watch the animatic above or here!
Visual Development:
The Tower's general design was always the same, but I wanted to find an interesting shape to put on the head. In the end, that crescent-moon shape really spoke to me.
The final design we used for The Tower.
The "wall vagina", whose design was very difficult to get right. I wanted it stylized in such a way it didn't stand out for being too realistic and tried to nail down the form more than the actual details.
The Tower's general design was always the same, but I wanted to find an interesting shape to put on the head. In the end, that crescent-moon shape really spoke to me.
I am always heavily involved with the visuals in our films, but with Razors, since it had such a specific aesthetic, I did a lot more hands-on drawing than I usually do. You can see here as I try to find the best way to bring these odd ideas to the screen for my team!
Early Cubism Tests:
Here are the three things you'll see in all these explorations: Door, chair, aquarium. Those are pretty much the only things that don't change!
A very exaggerated wall shape, inspired by Tim Burton's "Vincent".
Drawing from abstract expressionists, I wanted to see how intense the background could be before it overpowered the props.
Here are the three things you'll see in all these explorations: Door, chair, aquarium. Those are pretty much the only things that don't change!
How do you make a cubist film? we were constantly asking this throughout the design process. Art director Liv Shaffer and I worked closely to give the film a unique visual identity. Here a series of early development sketches I did to try capturing the aesthetics of cubism (and a little mid-century modernism). They're incredibly rudimentary by design, as the idea was if the image could be understood in a simple form, it could then be abstracted.
POSING
Razors was our first film done completely with hand-drawn animation, so posing was very important to me. I am not an animator, so it was fun to get to draw these characters while trying to capture the kinetic energy.
This shot where Razors is vomiting a train into his chest was a difficult one to nail down. I did this initial sketch to translate the pose to the animator, Faith Nana. In the end, Faith readjusted the perspective to make it even more unsettling.
This is one of my favorite moments in the film, and it was essential the blood didn't flow in a realistic way. This odd, fractured design was not only much more interesting, but fit the cubist aesthetic much better.
Animator Luna Merry and I worked together to see if we could nail down how the cuttlefish, To, would look while vomiting.
This shot where Razors is vomiting a train into his chest was a difficult one to nail down. I did this initial sketch to translate the pose to the animator, Faith Nana. In the end, Faith readjusted the perspective to make it even more unsettling.
The Cubist Shot
One of the most talked about shots in the film is the shot where Razors goes all cubist. This shot was animated by Luna Merry.
Animation and Cleanup: Luna Merry
How did we do this shot? It all began with a very detailed diagram of the shot's components by myself. Luna took this and ran, creating an unforgettable piece of animation!
