BAFTA-nominated animators Myles and Greg McLeod (of Fuggy Fuggy fame) recently received funding for a digital short and have opted to share their development progress with fans through their blog.
The character development and layouts for The Moon Bird are gorgeous, but the real treat is their expose of the process (first draft: not so good) and their pitfalls along the way (there are several shorts, books, and other properties called “Moon Bird”).
We liked this deft observation:
Ernest Hemingway famously said that, “The first draft of anything is shit.” This has certainly been the case with some of our scripts. But you need manure to grow a good crop.
Sharing development details has increasingly become a default position for many artists and studios since it drums up early awareness and provides a cathartic opportunity for artists who would otherwise have their work locked up until a distant (if ever) release. The byproduct is great for the casual fan, but it’s even more useful for other artists as a benchmark, learning opportunity, and inspiration.
We are quite taken with their Brothers Grimm-inspired fable, if for nothing else its namesake.
