˗ˏˋSkullbøy Sports Animationˎˊ
Illustration - Kirk! Wallace ✦ Animation - Latham Arnott ✦ Sound - Jeff Guerra
˗ˏˋCharacter Creationˎˊ
For those of you who haven’t yet met him, Skullboy is Kirk’s imaginary (but very real) creative partner created in collaboration with brand / identity designer Richie Stewart. Skully started as a mark / logo for the illustration studio (Kirk in his basement) and represents the balance in everything, from the balance of organization and chaos, to life and death, happiness and sadness, stress and calmness, etc. The studio is based heavily on duality, knowing no one direction is ever the best, but exploring everything results in the appropriate execution.
"This lanky skeleton counterpart works with Kirk harmoniously to balance all that logic and organization to bring out the creative, wonked-out, energetic side of illustration studio trzøwn (studio name soon to change, more on that later). Think Calvin and Hobbes but one you can hire to make things and solve problems.”
˗ˏˋExpanding The Characterˎˊ
The reason I’m mentioning all of this is because I want this share my thoughts on the wonderful benefits of a good character design. Skully was born from Richie’s talents and ability to extract my thoughts, personality, and ideas into a simple one color mark and grew into a full bodied character with a spirit, voice, and personality with additions from myself and others.
From Richie's strikingly simple and unique design, I wanted to create my own fully illustrated version to be used around the site as a mascot. These sport images and animation later were an exercise and character study in furthering skullboy as a spirit.
Process from Richie's mark (left) to fully characterized (right)
˗ˏˋFurthering the Familyˎˊ
What makes skullboy and my approach to my business (hopefully) unique is the expandability of a team when necessary. For this, I asked my wonderful friend and excellent animator Latham Arnott (akamanchild) to see how he thinks he may move, what's his walk like? How does his face move, his expressions, is he goofy or accurate in his movements, etc. What he came up with was exactly what I had in my head, but never wrote to him. As we kept doing this we kept finding the character came to life on its own, rarely with any confusion as to how things would execute. Next, we asked Jeff Guerra (Bushwack Studio) to take a stab at what sound design might sound like surrounding the character and again we’re blown away with what he comes up with each time.
The point of this all is, it's been exciting seeing how everyone takes a different approach and adds something to this character and he feels very much like a collaborative project that everyone has a bit of pride and love for, rather than just one person. As a byproduct of all of these discoveries, the shift from my old studio name trzown, to Bonehaus will help further entail the gathering of many talents under one roof. Bonehaus is not only the literal house of bones where skully lives, but as I continue to work with clients and expand my need for help, I'm happy to consider the doors open to the infinite expandability to temporarily house talented friends to help tackle whichever tasks approach the driveway.
In Animated Graphics Interchange Format
˗ˏˋIllustration Prøcessˎˊ
Such as any personal project, the goal was to further our abilities and keep our noses in a new area of discomfort. For me, it was focusing on simple but extreme lines of action as well as creating a family of illustrations that felt they all belonged together while standing on their own. For Latham, it was finding a loop that wasn't just a boring ol' run. For Jeff, it was finally starting to play with how Skully's voice might develop.
˗ˏˋDetailsˎˊ
Lol ok thanks 4 watching please hire us if u want.
