Robin Hood Panel

Posted by on Oct 31, 2011 in illustrations | 0 comments

W ork done on an animated comic in conjunction with Studio Mercenary, and Sole Suspect studios, for the Robin Hood foundation located in New York city. Looking at the final line work here you may be a bit confused as to what is actually going on and why some things are transparent. If you are at all familiar with animated comics you can understand the complexity that is involved. For instance, what you are actually looking at is three separate layers all placed together to give you the full view of the panel. The layers are separated into background, mid-ground, and foreground; and even the three foreground characters are all done separately so they can operate independently of one another.

When viewing an animated comic you will see that all the elements move independently of one another, and that the characters can even move, which looks marvelous on screen. In order to achieve that beauty of motion, however, the pieces must be made separately and then animated as the animator sees fit. Separately! That’s the key. So what you are seeing is three separate images, all done separately from one another, but done in such a way that when fully assembled they fit perfectly together. This takes tremendous time for they all must share the same perspective and common ground, or else it won’t work correctly.

 

Also you’ll notice that the limbs on the characters are detached. That’s because the animator, in this case, Studio Mercenary, will need to animate them in the final production. So the parts that will be animated must be able to operate freely from the other pieces. Again, separately is the key! So while it may look weird here, it’s because ultimately everything must be ale to move freely from each other. That is how the beauty of motion in the animated comic is achieved.

 

You’ve been professional and your work has been great… These look great. Thank you so much.  I’m impressed that even after you were given a late start you still made it by the deadline.  I’m pleasantly surprised!
Carl Huebner Studio Mercenary Animation Studio