Bunny has a Producer

It's been a long time in announcing, but it's official Michael Pattison, "Geordie" to those who know him has taken on the role of Producer on Bounty Hunter Bunny. He will be instrumental in getting the production organized and subsequently finished for release.

There are a few details to iron out so hopefully we'll have a tentative completion date soon. Geordie's role will free me up to finalize the last of the art duties and settle down to directing and raising the last of the funds.

I worked with Geordie when I was directing episodes of the Flying Bark series Enyo and found him to be very creative and intuitive in the film making process. A perfect sounding board for ideas with no hesitation in voicing his opinion. Welcome aboard Geordie, I'm happy to working with you again.

Our first goal this month is to model up the bar tender pictured in the above revised storyboard, which will complete character modelling on the film and make way for previz while skinning the characters and texture mapping the sets.

This film has been too long in the making, but the hard part is almost out of the way.

The Desert Set 2

It still needs some fine tuning and  dressing but the desert set for the opening scenes of the film are almost ready for texturing and lighting.

I've purposely stopped myself from over modelling the mesas and other shapes. When looking at some of Maurice Nobles desert designs I found the simple shapes he used to stylize the environment in the Road Runner shorts are so striking and effective in evoking the harsh desert landscape that a similar approach would help in realizing a more cartoon world for BHB. The trick is to think cartoon not  reality.

The Desert Set

With so much storyboard work to do it's been difficult finding the time to tie up loose ends on BHB. But I'm getting there. With Steve Cypreos giving so much of his spare time to finishing the blend shapes for Stinky and helping me finalize the Interior Saloon set, I've put aside the re-boarding of Bunny's entry in the saloon for now in favor of finishing the desert set.

All the elements are in place, now for the smoothing and fine tuning. Things are finally falling into place and this part of the journey is almost done, then comes the texturing and lighting. The funds I raised early this year through Indiegogo will help with that.

P.S. Am planning another campaign soon.

Reboarding and Set Building

It's been much too long since my last update. Lots has happened, first I've been inundated with storyboard work which has been keeping me busy and  away from the film. Yet, on the plus side I am raising some funds to help with the completion of the project.

About a month ago, I was convinced by my previz artist Chris to rework the interior saloon segment. That was actually good for me because I've been thinking about it for a while. When I originally started the board it was meant to be a one off short, almost a homage to Warner Bros. Obviously as it grew so did the vision, without giving anything away the changes factor that in. The decrepit old guy up top is the result of that change. He won't move much, just his left arm and eyes.

So there's that, but in the mean time sets have been polished off and are almost ready for texturing and the first third of the short is being prevized.

I'm excited about the new direction, it's more me while still paying tribute to the stuff I love and grew up with.

Only 3 Weeks Left

It's kind of disheartening to be so far into the campaign and no real progress. I'm not really sure what that means, other projects have money being thrown at them, maybe I'm doing something wrong, maybe it's my pitch . . .  I have no idea. Simple explanation is, people either don't get what I'm trying to do or just hate it.

The monumental indifference is overwhelming, especially from a large portion of friends and family. OK, I do have support in other ways from some friends who have offered to work on spec and that's exactly how we're going to move forward, unfortunately that path is slow as we all need to work and pay our bills.

Until another solution presents itself spec it will be, I certainly promise to share in the spoils, if any. I love the character and see where it will go, it will be finished come hell or high water.

There are other stories and characters in the Bounty Hunter Bunny universe, like Cairo, which I'm itching to get to.

I am considering one more campaign later in January, well after the holiday season . . . .

Moving Forward

Crowd funding campaigns are a lot of work, a lot of posting, re-posting, e-mailing and updating, made more difficult by having to meet work deadlines at the same time. Leaves little time to actually work on the project, but somehow I'm still getting stuff done.

I was  floored last week, here I was thinking I'm going to have to do this the hard way and take on extra storyboard work to raise the funds I need and suddenly the fund campaign jumps above $1000. Thanks for the vote of confidence.


Anyone thinking about getting involved and making a contribution, I've put up an option for adding $5 to the till and for anyone going $50 or more you will in effect get your money back once we make a decent return plus 10% interest, along with the other listed perks.

If you haven't checked it out yet, click the image above.

Thanks to the funders who've taken the leap of faith so far and the people who have shown support via blogging, sharing and sending me positive feedback. I promise you the show will be finished.

Gun? or No Gun?

 Been sketching Stinky's holster today and can't seem to decide if he should have a gun in it or not. I went for putting the holster on his shoulder, with his pants half falling down having the holster on his waist would look messy and awkward. I kind of like having that big gun there but on the flip side it could say more about who is by him not having a gun but just the holster.

Maybe he lost it or something, maybe he stole the holster without the gun, not sure yet. He is supposed to be a huge, filthy, smelly dude who could easily knock out a horse. What do you think? Feel free to make a suggestion.

FYI, although not in the animatic I'm going to have flies constantly buzzing around his head and maybe a subtle odor vapor.