Sunday, January 11, 2015

What I have been working on...

I loved the Tim Burton "Dark Shadows" movie.  I viewed it 6 times when it was in theaters, and gleefully bought a DVD copy.  "Dark Shadows" is my "MLP."  Once, I was asked if I was excited about going to a local comics show by a giddy fan.  I said, "no," and was given a perplexed look.  Comics shows are work.  I can't remember going to a show, convention, event that wasn't "work related."  So going to a "Dark Shadows" festival is something I've put on a list of goals.  I want to go as a fan.  BID.

From the movie, I thought about developing an animated pitch.  Part of the problem has been developing the characters in the best incarnations.  Which version should be the inspiration?  So future posts may be of character development and look.  One caveat--I haven't seen the 2004 pilot, except what has been available on the internet.  I would like to see it in its entirety for comparison.  So I will admit that it has had little to no influence on my own DS reimagining.

For interiors, I would have to go with the sets from the Burton movie over any of the tv sets.  But for exteriors the clear winner is still the Carey Mansion.  I do think the "Old House" would need some modification to look more "colonial."  There also some other buildings on the "estate" to include, as the '90's revival had stables, and the DS '70's movies (using Lyndhurst) had an outdoor pool complex.

Here's what I've designed, character-wise, on Dark Shadows--the animated series so far.  This WIP needs about 5 or 6 more character designs.  I found when I started that it began to "balloon" with additional characters I'd like to include.  For these, I found that the original show would be the inspiration, such as Prof. Trask, Jeb Hawkes, and Adam.

One "character" I've had the most difficulty with has been "Collinwood."  I know what I would like to see in the design, but haven't found it, yet.  So I've used a photo of the Seaview Terrace for placement.  Sorry.

Here's the piece.  Click on the picture to see the whole thing.  Let me know what you think...

WorkingDSTAS photo DSTAS_WIP_zps9da0b07c.jpg

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Hey, it seems there is an audio only copy of the 2004 pilot episode. I'm not sure if it's the real thing, and the quality is pretty bad, but I thought you might be interested.

Here's the link: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xssxpn_dark-shadows-unsold-pilot-2004-audio-only_shortfilms