Here’s a short storyboard sequence that I like a lot.  Michael Spooner suggested we go for a silhouette on this shot and it really stands out.  It gives a nice break from the otherwise thick atmosphere of the room.

Click on the detail below to see the full image.

To see more go to the Br. Thomas Page or click on the Br. Thomas category to the left.

So this is the space Br. Thomas walks through every day on his way to work.  If you can’t tell from the images (but I hope you can) he feels a little out of place in such a beautiful and austere environment.

The challenge for me in these boards has been to establish a somber tone to the scene and create an almost overwhelming expansiveness to the space.  I really want Br. Thomas to feel small and insignificant in the shear weight of all the beauty, history and religiosity.  Light and shadow have a lot to do with this as well.  The church fathers are merely stone monuments but for Thomas the long shadows they cast only serve to increase his already heightened sense of not belonging.

If you click on the 8 panel image you can see the entire story sequence.

To see more go to the Br. Thomas Page or click on the Br. Thomas category to the left.

It’s sooooo nice to get back to work on this after a crazy three weeks of wrapping the semester.  I’m still trying to figure out just how much of my preliminary work to post…and when. I’m posting the first completed sequence of storyboards (completed for now anyways).

This is the third scene in the film in which Br. Thomas  is headed off to work.  It is his first encounter with the dragonfly…who is about to make a mess of his tidy little life.  I’ve had the overview of the story written for almost a decade so you can imagine how exciting it is for me to see these shots emerge.

The story itself isn’t changing but with each new story panel there comes new layers of ideas and meaning.   The biggest change in this sequence is the addition of the animals.  I realized the action was moving forward too quickly to properly introduce the main characters.  They also serve as a great prelude to the second act where these animals are joined by there friends to help Brother Thomas celebrate his day of unabashed epiphany.

If you click on the 8 panel image you can see the entire story sequence.

To see more go to the Br. Thomas Page or click on the category to the left.

This is the third and last installment of the story beats.  Brother Thomas wakes up in a field and finds that once again he is late for work AFTER blowing off the entire day before.  With great trepidation he makes his way past the august aisle of statues, up the stairs, and into the scriptorium….

You probably can’t tell from the beats exactly what happens next but you’ll just have to wait until I can board it.  In the meantime enjoy the pictures and the next time I post it will be with a first draft of the storyboards from the first act.

Click on the images to see the full page.  To see more go to the Br. Thomas Page or click on the category to the left.

Even though the story arc for Br. Thomas is firmly in place the second act leaves lots of room for development.

Basically Thomas blows off work that day and finds great joy as he celebrates his freedom with the animals, which ends in a moment of epiphany.  From there he sits down to reflect, observe, and record what he has experienced.  He paints late into the evening, changing his palette as the light changes, and finishing his work lit by shafts of moonlight filtering through the trees.

As you can see from the beats I have plenty to flesh out.

Click on the images to see the full page.  To see more go to the Br. Thomas Page or click on the category to the left.

I’m coming to realize that I can’t simultaneously post finished images AND move the Br. Thomas project forward (not while having a family-life and keeping my day-job).  So for the time being this blog becomes a forum for posting works in progress…mostly related to Br. Thomas.    Here’ a page of rough beats for the first act.  This hits the major story points and starts to give some sense of cinematography and pacing to the piece.  I can’t wait to start refining these images and start filling in what happens between the beats.

Click on the images to see the full page.  To see more go to the Br. Thomas Page or click on the category to the left.