Strangers on A Train

Strangers on a Train, from the original script by Raymond Chandler and Czenzi Ormonde

The Boxer by Alan McKenzie

The character of 'The Boxer' was created by Artist Steve Parkhouse and Alan McKenzie in the late 1980's. I decided to try my hand at storyboarding a section of the original script, published in the srd edition of his book 'How to draw and sell comic books'.

Why? It's Kung-fu and the main heroine is blind. Literally all I needed.

Cumulus: Storyboarding the Adventure

Cumulus, copyright cumulo pictures, Alison Moon 2017

When I was approached late 2015 to create character designs for the characters in Ioan Holland's 'Cumulus' I was pretty exited. I think it was the words: 'anime-style' and 'she gets lost in the clouds'.

In other words, it was a return to what I like most about being an illustrator: story telling through pictures.

From the original character designs, featured here, I then worked with Ioan Holland (the director) and the background designer, Merle Hunt, to plot out the first sequence of events in an initial storyboard (left).

As the project grew, it was an interesting experience to work with a team that had started to even become international - learning more about animation with its benefits and limitations, navigating time differences and working with a much greater input from other artists than I had previously been used to in freelance/ commission work.

Very much as exciting an adventure as the protagonists!

Cumulus: Character Design

Cumulo pictures describes the in progress animated short, Cumulus, as: A story of love, clouds, and a grumpy bird.

And he is quite grumpy. Perhaps with a capital 'G'.

Penwyn, the young protagonist, provides quite the nice counterpoint with her unflappable, adventurous sprit. I think it was the relationship between these two polar opposites that gave Ioan Holland's script its dynamic force and truly what enabled me to become invested in the characters themselves.

 I was given a lot of freedom with the designs - with Penwyn, I tried to get the idea of 'adventure' across: messy hair, loose fitted clothing, trainers without socks or, if she had to wear them, she would soon forget she was. Here is a child who doesn't mind getting sand in her shoes!

And then there's Mr B, a bird with a distinct chip on his shoulder. Voiced by the very talented Wayne Forester, this character was an interesting one. There were a range of choices: sea-gulls (ideal for that 'don't mess with me!' vibe), Gannets (for that elegant look in flight), I even considered the tufted puffin, because it makes a growling noise. Sea-birds have a distinctly proud look to them a lot of the time, but it couldn't just be that. Enter the blue-footed booby, with its strange way of waddling on intensely blue feet giving the character that touch of awkwardness that I was after.

So here we have Mr B, the native Californian who thought Wales would be a calmer, safer place to raise his small family.