Things Happen in a Place

 I want to get more precise about the kind of storytelling we want to do, so that we can evangelize it, and so that we know how to talk about it internally and with others. There's a certain quality I want to isolate, which is a story that is wholesome, yet mature and smart. Dark things can happen and they're dealt with, but the overall tone and theme is never bleak or nihilistic.  It's often also aimed at children and families, but it's never bland or saccharine. Examples: Pixar movies, Miyazaki films, Avatar: TLA, Stardew, Hades, Portal, and this weird kids' band called the Okee Dokee brothers. Most Pratchett. Most of The Muppets material. It's a type of storytelling that's adult without being edgy, and childlike without being reductive. Smart, wholesome Storytelling. Wise Storytelling.  I'm still working my way through what it is , but I think I have a better handle on what it isn't, so let's start there. A lot, a LOT of fantasy/scifi/genre ma...

Wendall was a sheep-whisperer. Being a horse-whisperer would have been better. Horses have a sense of the heroic, a sense they share with us. Give a horse some inspiration, and it can perform feats of greatness. A sheep's response to inspiration is, "Well isn't that interesting ," and very little more. Wendall the sheep-whisperer tended the sheep, no surprises there. He talked to them, feeling his way through sheep grammar, trying to grasp what sorts of phrasings might unlock a sheep's imagination. Grisha had broken off a Knobblerod of her own and joined Wendall in the pasture over the last couple weeks. Wendall was odd, but he had good hair and a rich mother. And Grisha was a girl who didn't leave options unexamined. Wendall, in a calculated move, ceased his conversations with the sheep during this time, leaving in its place a distinct lack of conversation with Grisha. Mornings were growing flat and awkward, afternoons more so. Grisha looked out at the trees ...

 Okay, so-- build something out real quick. See what a face generator (in a style that's not exactly Wildermyth) could look like. Do they have pupils? Who knows. What a bunch of weird dooberheads. This experiment involves cardboard-texturing most things, almost no outlines (instead relying on shadows/shading), and yeah, beady eyes vs. one style of pupiled eyes. Everything here is swappable and recolorable. (which means almost 500 layers in the PSD between the six of them!) also not playing with bodies/clothes at all yet. Thoughts: I tried to add some shadow colors, like some pink in the noses, cheeks, etc., but everybody's skin still looks monochromatic and grayish. Nate says there are things with layer style that we can play with to try to avoid that. I'm intrigued.  The attempt to make things papery and angular translates to kind of a weird look. Stilted or something? "Soulless" might be a little much, but... I'd want everybody to be a little "warmer,...