Again, I want to thank you all for participating in what I think was a very critical program for your development as a commercial artist. We at SWSCA were very excited to offer this information to you all and we hope that you found something helpful and inspiring to push you (and your business) to the next level.
I sincerely mean it when I say that it has been a pleasure getting to know you and I am excited about the different paths you all are on as well as the work you produce. As an instructor, especially when participating in a DVD/video program, it is difficult to discern whether or not the techniques I'm demonstrating are being understood and put into practice. The live webinar gave me the opportunity to work with you all in "real time" and to watch your development happen and it was very rewarding for me as well.
One of the secrets you all will learn is that if you master anything, you enjoy it. That goes for business as well. Don't stop pursuing more information about how to streamline your business operations while maximizing your profit. We scratched the surface where it came to things like creating your own I.P., creating additional markets for your company's services, and creating and selling through the Internet.
You (and I) were fortunate that Shannon Gans, John Ales, David Sanger, Erich Litoff, and Matt Winston added their experience and insight to different aspects of the business side of commercial art and I can't thank them all enough for WANTING to be there and speak to you all. I learned a lot! I also can't express enough the gratitude I have for the technical team at the SWSCA for putting this all together. What you don't see are the dedicated folks rushing around behind camera, trying to solve problems in real time as they happen. This is new. This is cutting edge. And like Stan Winston himself, we always strive to break new ground.
Also, I have to personally thank Christopher Vaughn, the production manager, who has been so great keeping the lines of communication open between us, making sure the webinar was organized, and had my back the entire time. He's a rock!
So in a couple of weeks, I'll be looking at your final assignments and reviewing them. I look forward to the consultations I have lined up with many of you. What I'd like you to do is to send Chris an email prior to our meeting and let him know what points you might want to discuss with me so I can be prepared and we can make the most of our hour together. Okay?
Lastly, I need to address my two students whom I sadly missed this last class, Jorge and Athenea. I don't know whether it was a technical matter or not, but it was a bit frustrating not being able to see and talk to you both. Don't be discouraged. You still have time to complete the assignments and I truly hope that you both will. I want to see more artwork from both of you. It doesn't have to be 20 images. It can be a simple sketch. I just want to see where you are and I'd like to know what you hope to accomplish. We're here to help, not judge. So do what you can, and we'll help where we can.
I look forward to speaking (and working) with you all in the future!
P.S. - To all of you who were watching/chatting - I forgot to thank you, too! We all love getting questions during the webinar and appreciate the comments both positive and negative. Like you, we're learning how to make these experiences the best they can possibly be and it is with your input and critiques that we get better.
We'll be doing this again soon, so if any of you were a bit frustrated or unsure about whether or not you wanted to participate, I hope that this past experience will encourage you to sign-up for the live participation in the future!
Thank you all so much, I hope you had your questions answered and like David Sanger said, if there is something we skipped or missed, ask. It might take us a day or two to get to you, but if we can answer, we will.
To be clear - here's what I like about what Shelly has done:
1.) I like that there is nothing human about it. It is definitely a creature 2.) I like the array of the tentacles and the mouth 3.) I like the Tremors-esque tongue
What I'm not wild about -
1) The little face beneath the mouth (although I guess I like the idea of the face being below the mouth - if you can make it work)
Use this as a DEPARTURE point citing the pictures from Charlie and Peter as well.
I totally agree with Shannon regarding the fact that there's nothing human about this guy whatsoever. That adds to it's appeal. You could add alittle history to this fella perhaps with old war wounds or scars. Perhaps one of his tentacles had been cut off or damaged in the past, but has grown back... deformed but more viciously serrated. It might add to it's character, that he's weathered the tide abit. Maybe it has lost a tentacle all together, and that shows due to a badly healed scar. I like his wee gills (i'm assuming they are gills on it's torso). I like your character description aswell and the idea that this guy doesn't seem overly imposing at first... until of course, he opens his terrifying maw.
Yes, they are gills. I figured he may be alien, but we are also talking about a boat, so he may have lived underwater at some point. I also wanted him to be almost slug-like in form since he is big, but can fit in between the overhead pipes: something with mass, but that can kind of re-form depending on its surroundings.
For the record, my husband did the initial sketches. I did the fine-tuning, detail and coloring. I told him I wanted his help (he's better with creatures, I'm better with people). I did a few sketches of my own, but had him read the script without showing them to him. When I saw his sketch, it was very close to mine and almost exactly what I had seen in my head. It's great to have someone with his skills on my team.
Peter, I like the idea of some battle wounds, but I'm not sure how well it would translate in a sketch. I'll play around with it a bit and see if I can incorporate some of that into my final homework. The hardest part has been trying to give it a larger mouth without directly using what I've seen in your sketches.
..... soaking it all in and redesigning our creature closer to what Shannon is leaning towards.
BUT FOR NOW...here are some links to some promotional videos for our attractions featuring our sets, make-up, and creature suit from week #1's homework photoshoot.
( some silicone masks and body props featured were purchased... sometimes its cheaper to not "reinvent the wheel" when building full scale attractions).
We wanted to share the set concept we bid on for the corridor. We proposed to build it with pneumatic movements for the " Lunge" in the script page, as well as liquid C02 blasts for the stabbing of the tentacle into the pipes and general atmosphere, we also had a dripping/ water atomizing system in the bid as well.
Any feedback from David Sanger, Shannon Gans, John Ales, Erich Litoff, etc.. on our weapons or set bids would be very appreciated.
We'll post some creature stuff later this week too.
Thanks to everyone involved in this Webinar so far, David Sanger, Shannon Gans, John Ales, Erich Litoff ,Chris Vaughn.we got so much out of it !!! That goes for our fellow students too, its been great seeing everyone's work and hearing everyone's questions. I think we all agree that taking the pro/ high level version of the class was well well well worth it! And of course a huge thanks to Shannon Shea for sharing his experiences and knowledge of not just practical effects, but the business end of it. Knowing these little secrets ahead of time will surely help us avoid a few novice mistakes along the way.
I'm completely creeped out and disturbed watching your Headless horseman videos. Thanks for that
So, is that an actual ride? I mean, is it an attraction setup specifically to scare the living crap out of you? Looks like fun..
In the 3rd video, around 30 seconds in, your creature suit looks amazing. Awesome. In the same video, there are some wet, slimey eyeballs or something going on (around 1:48 I think). Lots of horror goodness to feast on. Thanks for sharing that.
Yes, it is a seasonal Halloween attraction going into its 22nd year. Its grown in the past 10 years to have 8 attractions within itself, each themed differently. We change out sets and props more regularly on the hayride from year to year, and continually add layers of detail to the 7 themed haunted houses and cornmaze.
Thanks for the compliment on the videos, we design the attractions to be entertaining with storylines and scripts...but people come to us to be frightened first and foremost
American Made Monster Studios Inc also has a sister company Sunshine Tee's and Embroidery. That company prints and embroiders custom designs.Having been in business since 1971, no order is too large or too small.
If you are interested in branding your companies logo design or creating IP contact them at :
Comments
I'll write more tomorrow.
Shannon
Again, I want to thank you all for participating in what I think was a very critical program for your development as a commercial artist. We at SWSCA were very excited to offer this information to
you all and we hope that you found something helpful and inspiring to push you (and your business) to
the next level.
I sincerely mean it when I say that it has been a pleasure getting to know you and I am excited about the different paths you all are on as well as the work you produce. As an instructor, especially when participating in a DVD/video program, it is difficult to discern whether or not the techniques I'm demonstrating are being understood and put into practice. The live webinar gave me the opportunity to work with you all in "real time" and to watch your development happen and it was very rewarding for me as well.
One of the secrets you all will learn is that if you master anything, you enjoy it. That goes for business as well. Don't stop pursuing more information about how to streamline your business operations while maximizing your profit. We scratched the surface where it came to things like creating your own I.P., creating additional markets for your company's services, and creating and selling through the Internet.
You (and I) were fortunate that Shannon Gans, John Ales, David Sanger, Erich Litoff, and Matt Winston added their experience and insight to different aspects of the business side of commercial art and I can't thank them all enough for WANTING to be there and speak to you all. I learned a lot! I also can't express enough the gratitude I have for the technical team at the SWSCA for putting this all together. What you don't see are the dedicated folks rushing around behind camera, trying to solve problems in real time as they happen. This is new. This is cutting edge. And like Stan Winston himself, we always strive to break new ground.
Also, I have to personally thank Christopher Vaughn, the production manager, who has been so great keeping the lines of communication open between us, making sure the webinar was organized, and had my back the entire time. He's a rock!
So in a couple of weeks, I'll be looking at your final assignments and reviewing them. I look forward to the consultations I have lined up with many of you. What I'd like you to do is to send Chris an email prior to our meeting and let him know what points you might want to discuss with me so I can be prepared and we can make the most of our hour together. Okay?
Lastly, I need to address my two students whom I sadly missed this last class, Jorge and Athenea. I don't know whether it was a technical matter or not, but it was a bit frustrating not being able to see and talk to you both. Don't be discouraged. You still have time to complete the assignments and I truly hope that you both will. I want to see more artwork from both of you. It doesn't have to be 20 images. It can be a simple sketch. I just want to see where you are and I'd like to know what you hope to accomplish. We're here to help, not judge. So do what you can, and we'll help where we can.
I look forward to speaking (and working) with you all in the future!
Good luck to us ALL!
Shannon Shea
We'll be doing this again soon, so if any of you were a bit frustrated or unsure about whether or not you wanted to participate, I hope that this past experience will encourage you to sign-up for the live participation in the future!
Thank you all so much, I hope you had your questions answered and like David Sanger said, if there is something we skipped or missed, ask. It might take us a day or two to get to you, but if we can answer, we will.
Keep creating!
Shannon Shea
To be clear - here's what I like about what Shelly has done:
1.) I like that there is nothing human about it. It is definitely a creature
2.) I like the array of the tentacles and the mouth
3.) I like the Tremors-esque tongue
What I'm not wild about -
1) The little face beneath the mouth (although I guess I like the idea of the face being below the mouth - if you can make it work)
Use this as a DEPARTURE point citing the pictures from Charlie and Peter as well.
Good luck!
Shannon
S.
For the record, my husband did the initial sketches. I did the fine-tuning, detail and coloring. I told him I wanted his help (he's better with creatures, I'm better with people). I did a few sketches of my own, but had him read the script without showing them to him. When I saw his sketch, it was very close to mine and almost exactly what I had seen in my head. It's great to have someone with his skills on my team.
Peter, I like the idea of some battle wounds, but I'm not sure how well it would translate in a sketch. I'll play around with it a bit and see if I can incorporate some of that into my final homework. The hardest part has been trying to give it a larger mouth without directly using what I've seen in your sketches.
Very creepy.
S.