Here’s looking at me Gabe Askew’s exercise in self study
The animator’s version of the maxim, “no one knows you better than yourself” could very well be, “when you have no other model, draw yourself”. That was Hornet director Gabe Askew’s reasoning behind the main character design in his new video “Ten by Ten” for indie band Bluebrain. The video is full of rich visual metaphors that tell an economic allegory. Namely, Askew used his own experience weathering the recession to dream up and create the story of a man at sea, where his self-styled protagonist overcomes various obstacles to repair his damaged ship. “I wanted to have something that wasn’t too cartoony,” says Askew. “That’s always the difficulty when designing a character for a serious animation: How do you avoid making it look too child-like? I removed some of [the protagonist’s] features, like his mouth, so that it would simplify his face and I gave him a paisley texture to avoid him having solid-colored skin, which would give it a cartoony look. Making it more puppet-like gave it a little more serious look.” The video also examines the concept of time via visual devices, like a giant hourglass in lieu of the ship’s smokestack. “It’s basically to show that the ship, like time and his life, is forward moving and can’t turn around very easily,” says Askew. “He’ll continue to have these struggles, but it’s about turning a bad time into a good opportunity.” Q
hornetinc.com

PepperMelon pulls strings for Fox Italy
Buenos-Aires based PepperMelon literally looked to the cosmos to inspire its new set of bumpers for Fox Channels Italy. The intro and outro bumper, and a fresh set of four idents released in April, feature astronauts landing on a moon and discovering an ancient, discarded jukebox whose dusty nameplate reads “Retro Classifica”, the name of Fox’s new classic programming channel. Like a musical ecosystem, the moon’s flora and fauna have evolved to take on characteristics of the music that emanates from the jukebox. It may sound fanciful, but the design is rooted in a very real hypothesis. PepperMelon EP Fernando Sarmiento breaks down how String Theory informed the project’s design: “It’s inspired by the work of [theoretical physicist] Michio Kaku. String Theory says that everything is made out of [strings] and that all particles are vibrating constantly [as if] creating music. Our idea brings in String Theory – everything is music and these plants have taken on this musical form. They go to the jukebox naturally, like a flower [orients itself] toward the sun. We referenced string and wind instruments, like flutes, violins, cellos and harps. It helped us create the whole vibe of the piece.”Q
www.peppermelon.tv

Nathan Love sees red in Dante’s Inferno
Hell and violence. Those were the cues given by EA and Perspective Studios when they commissioned NY-based animation studio Nathan Love to creative direct 12 narrative cinematics for the newly released videogame Dante’s Inferno (directed by Hopr). The game play revolves around Dante’s journey through the nine circles of hell. But what’s hell without blood, fire and brimstone, all of which influenced the color scheme of the environments. “All of the flashbacks [we created] are actually depicted in scenes on tapestries that Dante sews into his own chest,” says ECD Joe Burrascano. “So all the tapestries are blood-soaked, and you enter the first narrative by transitioning through his chest. The idea is that the color palette is red and everything else is accent colors within that to either bring out more blood, fire or rain – everything had that blood-red tone throughout.”Q

> Online: For a closer look into Nathan Love’s cinematics, including a gallery of style frames visit www.boardsmag.com.
www.nathanlove.com