Grease Pencil For Ideation

Sprite Fright is the new open movie, now in production. You can follow its progress here on the Cloud.

In this article, we share a new production lesson from Lead Animator Rik Schutte. Throughout the making of Sprite Fright, Rik has created multiple videos on diverse subjects -- from a walk-through on cartoon poses to using Grease Pencil for smears.

Rik’s most recent advice is again based on Grease Pencil. In this short video, he explores Grease Pencil as a tool for providing suggestions to the effects department. His example is drawn from the film’s opening, in which a snail is smushed underfoot by rowdy teen Rex -- setting up Sprite Fright’s theme of louts versus nature.

The video covers:

• Benefits of GP. For example, no need to develop simulations just to convey an idea.
• Workflow tips, like using the 3D cursor to start drawing from the right spot.
• The drawing process, frame by frame.

For even more Rik, see this post in which he introduces Sprite Fright’s style guide.

To keep up to date with Sprite Fright’s final closing weeks of production, see the regular logs.