Last week, I completed my first round of actual concept art for the film! I was focused mostly on the character designs, especially regarding line weight, color scheme and shape. I already had a general idea of the size, fur coloration and dominant 'mood' of both cats, so it has largely been a matter of figuring out how to best get these across.
Regardless, my conceptual process often begins with scribbling in my sketchbook, as seen below. For that first page, I picked up a copy of Alvin Davison's "Mammalian Anatomy: With Special Reference to the Cat" to clarify what sort of what sort of skeletal system I'm dealing and identify any false assumptions I have made about it while drawing cats in the past.
The face of the kitten as it appears here first manifested as a sketch in the sketchbook which I then fine-tuned for more anatomical soundness. Even still, I knew the big round eyes had to stay. I've been pretty convinced I want the black and white palette from the beginning, but tested a few different color palettes anyway in case a better option emerged.
You might recall from my first post that I already had one concept of the Ghost cat. I continued to explore that design here, trying out a thinner line style, color variations and methods of making him appear to glow. I'm leaning the most towards the most saturated one in the right photo, because it effectively sets the cat apart from the darker and more dull background while maintaining shades of blue that I like.
To finish things off, here is the first look at the characters within an environment! Going forward, I am hoping to inject a bit more "spookiness" into the shapes of the trees and a fogginess to the atmosphere. As for the colors and values, I think this is a solid start to what I am envisioning for the forest.
A lengthier update from me today, thanks for sticking around til the end! Concept art is one of my favorite stages of animation and game art, so I made a lot of it.
There will only be more of it in the coming months.
There will only be more of it in the coming months.
