Monday, February 15, 2010

Pilot Color

After the initial board pitch, Nickelodeon approved a pilot episode.


Above: The first color pass on the "El Tigre" pilot episode. Just putting up a lot of swatches to get an overall feel for the color transitions from sequence to sequence. These were later adjusted after talks with Jorge, Roman, and Dave. But it was a good place to start.





I was experimenting with making the flashback sequences in super limited color... almost like a comic book. In the end it was decided to keep them black and white by Roman, Jorge, and Dave ... which I think made the sequences more interesting.



Above: Here we were still experimenting with the idea of "colorizing" sequences according to the character. For example here we were thinking of coloring Rudolpho's superhero sequences in blue... to make them stand out more. Ultimately the idea was dropped early.







Above: The "Money Madness" sequence. Manny and Frida steal from all the super villians... Jorge wanted this sequence to "Melt the eyes of the audience" with it's powerful color.




Above: The final showdown with "Sartana of the Dead"

Below: A few of my exploratory pencil sketches for some of the locations in the episode. Sketches like these are made after reading the script... then handed off to Jorge, Roman, and Dave, often ideas are worked back into the boards and location designs... and sometimes they lead to other things. But it's a fun part of the process.