Anyone who has seen the Olive books knows that the illustrations which bring the stories to life are of a traditional, 2D style (the way all animated films used to look). Thanks to Pixar’s 1995 groundbreaking Toy Story, the first feature-length 3D computer animated film, the majority of animated films are now being done in 3D CGI (Computer Generated Imagery).
I’ve been itching to see how Olive might look in a “Pixar-ish” style so I sought a 3D animator to interpret my characters. Through the Animation, Media & Entertainment group on LinkedIn, I contacted UK-based animator Simon Cornish to inquire about his availability to render Olive and Clark in 3D. When I saw his website, Itchy Pictures, I thought, “This is the guy for the job.” It seemed my destiny to connect with Simon since Olive is a brand of Itchy Dog Productions, my freelance business. Great minds, or at least itchy ones, think alike.
Other than classrooms of elementary school kids, I’ve never had anyone draw Olive before, so I was a bit worried about how another artist might interpret characters that are so near and dear to me. My trepidation was for naught as I was thrilled when I received Simon’s renderings. Now that my itch has been scratched and I know how she might look in this computer-generated medium, it’s time to forge ahead…
Thank you, Simon, for doing such a wonderful job with Olive and Clark. I’m hoping your work will help launch Olive and Clark toward big screen stardom!
Wow! They are very true to the book and still more….. Very likeable for a movie.
Thanks, Wenda–glad you agree! I think this proves that Olive has what it takes to make the leap from the pages of the books to the 3 Dimensional medium. I can already envision the rich backgrounds and flowing water, undulating marabou feathers and all that good stuff!
Yeeehawww! You’re finally on the right path mi amigo de ilustración! How much better could you have done? NONE, I’d say. In fact… I just did, didn’t I? Yep. You couldn’t have! Wicked good! Wicked good!
Fabulous renditions. My hats off to Simon for doing such a fab job on the 3D work. She is ALIVE!!
More to come – ‘dat is for sure! “. )))
Well, O’field sir, I’m still not sure what the course of my path is…I believe it’s defining itself on the fly (pun intended). This certainly seemed like a good route to take and I must say I really like the way Olive & Clark translate. In my mind I could always envision them in this style, but now it removes all doubt. The river ahead stretches out before me and it’s an upstream swim against a strong current that is always changing but never unrelenting. I’m meeting some wonderful people along the way, so in many ways my journey parallels that of Olive in the film…
Looks great, Kirk. Nice work, Simon. Looks like a good start for Olive’s film debut.
Thanks for the good word, Dean. Gotta start someplace, eh? I think Olive translates nicely to the new medium, thanks to Simon.