Monday, April 30, 2007

shadow play



Experimented with some little frog ideations..
I want my story to be about a shadow play performer who uses only his hands to create beautiful silhouettes. He rides a giant frog that holds a shadow play theatre on its back. They rest at docks to perform enchanting plays for people. They can also rest in the middle of bodies of water, and perform for sailors.

here are some in house drawings my performer, his theatre, and his beast of burden.. crits and comments welcome!!

jehan


4 comments:

Nigel Li said...

hey jehan. these are awesome. i like how you are pushing it and using a frog. im not too good when it comes to designing animals, but the chracter seems to be missing something. his shapes are appealing, easy to look at, but i dont get the sense that he uses his hands for the puppets. maybe he wears rings that help with the silohuettes he makes. maybe he has an extra joint, or he has arthritis from holding his hand in wierd positions for too long. i think that would help alot. also, watch out for the bag on his back. it looks like the same shape as his left sleeve, making it cinfusing. maybe clear up how that left arm connects to the torso. over all, looking really interesting.

jehan said...

you're so right nigel.. i planned to make his hands all gnarly and strange to contrast with his beautiful shadow puppets.. but just couldn't get it looking like i didn't draw it wrong =/ so i settled on normal hands and forgot to really play they up.. i like the idea of the rings and other things to aid in the shadows.. and the extra join idea.. i'll keep an eye on his back prop too in the final design.

thanks!

Dela Longfish said...

Jehan,

Over all I like what you have here. Using a frog as his pack animal is a great idea, I think it adds to a mood that is fun and unique. As a portfolio piece I think it is a nice contrast the tone of your Victorian pieces.

Nigel made a nice point about the hands, I also really like how you've shown him actually creating the puppet character. I had a little trouble telling that the backpack was a backpack.

I would like to see the cart on the back of the frog. It looks like you may have done that in the page with the ideations, but it wont open when I click on it.

jehan said...

thanks dela,
actually thing thing on his back is a bundle of straw.. i've seen this in many pictures of chinese fishermen and wanted to give him one too.. however, seeing as no one knows what it is, haha, i'll have to either rethink it or draw it better! i'm working on a drawing of the cart on the frog's back as we speak =D

jehan