The Colors of Autumn

I love it when the leaves change color in the fall! I always feel so inspired to use bright warm tones whenever I look out the window and see these trees on campus. I was thinking about having the film take place in the middle of Autumn just so I have an excuse to use these kinds of colors.

Inspirations for the Bakery

I was searching around the interwebs for some reference photos to help me with the kitchen drawings. I found these beauties.

Bakery Museum in Pleszew

I found these two at VintageBread.com . There is a collection of beautiful old photographs of bakeries and pizzerias.

http://www.vintagebread.com/

Bakery Layouts

Here's a sample of the new batch of layouts for the bakery in Macey's Windmill. There's a few more to do so I felt the need to stop by one of my favorite cafes to grab a bag of "inspiration"... ^^ Yummy, yummy inspiration!

Whoa boy, doesn't that pecan roll look good!! =D

Inspirations for the Witch

Miyazaki's Spirited Away and Disney's The Emporer's New Groove are some of my favorite animated movies. I thought that these two Oldies but Boldies have the right stuff to base my witch character from. The big difference is that these two characters are big talkers with big personalities. My film has no dialogue so my witch doesn't get the clever, authoritative, and intimidating speaking parts that these two get, which help flush out their character. The witch from my film is a little more sinister and cold so I'll have to show her personality through her dark demeanor.

Yubaba from Miyazaki's Spirited Away

Yzma from Disney's The Emporer's New Groove

Nippen the Cat

I am a lifelong lover of cats. I have had them my whole life and it would be insane of me not to weave my appreciation of cute kitties into this film somehow. Macey's cat, Nippen, is her friend and her delivery partner. When it's time to make a bread run, Nippen lets his wings out and they fly to their customers. He plays an important role in the film as a personification of instinct and good judgement as well as Macey's fuzzy little guardian.

Choosing a breed for Nippen was no sweat. I had a cat in mind that was big, powerful, sturdy, smart, loving, fluffy, friendly, and had an instinctual knack for the outdoors. It's the Maine Coon.

Nippen has to be a big and powerful enough of a cat to carry a little girl. I know, I know. Even the strongest house kitty on earth couldn't move a human child but use your imagination! It's a movie! I figured that the maine coon was the perfect design for Nippen because of their big muscular bodies, soft fluffy coats, and large expressive facial features. Also, Maine coons are one of the few breeds of the semi-long hair group that come in solid colors as well as patterns. I'm still not 100% positive on the color (I'm thinking white or cream) but I am sure that he'll be a solid colored cat with no markings or patches.

I didn't take the photos. I googled them.

Acrobat Studies and Inspirations

Cookin' up some character studies! It's one of my favorite parts of a project. Drawing those acrobat poses were really fun. Even though there are many acrobats in the film, I can't help but think of them all as the same character. I had a lot of fun doing these figure studies and I can't wait to animate this creature.

The acrobats in my film aren't exactly your typical circus performer. I guess if you cross a gymnast with the Shinigami from Death Note, you would get something like what I'm trying to make. Creepy, yes?

Acrobat from Bravo Parties

Ryuk from Death Note