Alien Sculpture

Okay, I've been working on this alien character for almost two years, and it's time to publish something. I call her Athena. She is actually composite creature, composed of  7 separate organisms. I've decided to set the canon for her origin; "she" brings herself together, after several failed attempts by Herman Bear. This is their attempt at an anthropomorphic form, after looking at Herman, and, uh, one particular "swimsuit edition" Herman had on board his ship.

When Herman Bear becomes stranded on the planet Solstice, he first believes the native life forms are unintelligent, and they seem to prey on each other regularly. He later realizes that the creatures only combine, separate, and then recombine to sustain and nourish each other. It's also how they communicate. He tries to "build a being", but is never completely successful. But soon after Herman's meddling, the separate creatures get the idea and come together to form Athena. The butterfly/flowers soon learn to speak. Their "legs" are formed from large lampreys, the feet are simple, shoe-like snails, and the body and head are one unit, like a large, uh, potato with a beak. The beak is actually a large claw the body pod uses to drag itself over the ground.

After pages and pages of sketches, I finally committed myself to their forms and proportions. The figure is just under 9 inches tall, carved from styrofoam, wire and plaster. I also roughed out a Herman Bear figure to get a definite size relationship. I'm struggling to make him more refined as well.

I'm working on the next model, with more detail and posable joints. At any rate, when these seven organisms come together, they become the forerunner of a new species on the planet Solstice. She/they eventually become the good will ambassador of their world, the possible matriarch, and perhaps even the custodian of the planet's future. And Herman Bear has a companion, so he isn't left alone on the planet. She/they teach how to survive. And more.

I must admit, I got the inspiration for this from the old animated Star Trek series episode "BEM". (Bug Eyed Monster). But I think I'm original enough with this creature, and her motives and origins are quite different.  http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Bem_(episode)

(Now I even see parallels to Voltron, and other anime' where separate components come together to form a greater being. But this isn't quite the same case here.)

All images copyright Ken Roskos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Crj0V_R77Ns

Herman Bear on the planet Solstice

Here's some sketches from July in Canada...

Herman Bear lands on my new planet Solstice...

I didn't want him to be alone on the planet,
so I gave him a new companion.

(Cubcake is also there, but I'm not sure I'll keep her in the story.)

 

The bear has to make a new friend, literally! Herman assembles "Athena" from different organisms to build a composite creature. Sort of a cross between Larry Niven's Pierson's Puppeteers, and Sylvia the "Zbornak" from Disney's "Wander over Yonder".

http://larryniven.net/puppeteer/pupbod.shtml

(It's a long story)

When Herman first sees Athena, she is just some kind of seed pod that drags itself along the ground with some sort of beak. Herman has to put her together as an intelligence test designed by other aliens. Enjoy!

Wander over Yonder - the Gift

I guess I'm projecting too much of my own ideas onto Wander over Yonder. They could have had a real cliff hanger with Sylvia seriously considering getting back together with Ryder.
Spoiler Alert!

Disney might have added more depth if Ryder did have some redeeming values, instead of being a selfish jerk. The "B" story could have been Wander's comical attempts at being the tough guy to win Sylvia back. Wander could have teamed up with the giant space slug that was sneaking up behind him to eat him.

(art copyright Disney)

But we have learned more about Sylvia, after seeing "The Rider" episode. She was turning into quite an outlaw after leaving her relatively happy world of Marshfalaffle Apple Meadow. But being with Wander let's her share in his magic, and so she can tolerate most of his goofy antics. For instance, being decorated with jingle bells as they deliver gifts throughout the galaxy.

Wander is still a mystery, and maybe he should be left that way.

It leaves some things to the viewers imagination, and makes the show more fun.

Happy Holidays folks, I'm still trying to get into the spirit out here.

http://youtu.be/1Ji0f869QlU

Wander Over Yonder - The Liar

Here we see Sylvia in "Loch Ness Monster mode" as she rescues some little Tiki guys. They are trying to escape from an erupting volcano which is about to blow it's top. She swims away frantically as giant flaming boulders rain down from Mount "Krak-yer-big-toa".

(Spoiler Alert) 

Having reached the mainland, Sylvia thinks the excitement is over and heads to a beach side bar. She's unable to relax when she sees that Wander has gone back to rescue a momma bird and her chicks.

In a tree.

Right over the mouth of the volcano.

Sylvia can only mutter to her drink: "Wait for me, tiny umbrella".

 (copyright Disney)

The action really begins as they struggle to rescue the family of birds from the volcano. When Sylvia says trying to save the birds is impossible, Wander chastises her with "I smell a big pile of  'can't do-do'".

The running gag is the momma bird keeps biting them to protect her young. (She thinks Wander and Sylvia are attacking her chicks.) The bird also delivers an electric shock which illuminates their skeletons. 

One baby bird runs off ("Gary") and hides in a hole in the side of the hill. Naturally, Wander and party pursue, and only to fall into some caves underneath the volcano.

 I kept wondering who the Liar was in this episode. It turns out that it's Wander. He swore that no one would die this day. Instead, it is Wander who turns out to be the Liar when they become trapped. 

Fortunately, Sylvia does not succumb to despair. She notices the hazards they faced before, and gets an idea. She makes a literal leap of faith, and takes them to safety riding one of the giant flaming boulders as Mount "Krak-yer-big-toa" finally blows itself to bits.

Their boulder crashes back on the beach, which also knocks over the bar. Fortunately, one of the little Tiki guys brings Sylvia her drink, complete with little pink umbrella. But before she can take a sip, she gets shocked by the birds one more time, only this time they jump on her out of gratitude.

Wander compliments Sylvia on her bravery and ingenuity.

Sylvia smiles and walks away, saying: "I never doubted it for a second".

With her back turned, her smile turns into a grimace of worry.

Thanks again to-

http://wandernews.tumblr.com/

Ernest and Célestine - Prejudice is Manufactured

Finally saw Ernest and Celestine. I can't say I loved it completely, but it was still a good team production from France, Belgium and Luxembourg. I had been feeling run down from work, but Ernest and Celestine had already left the Valley/LA area. I had to drive down to Long Beach to see it, but it was worth it. The version I caught was in English. Oh yes, spoiler alert for folks who haven't seen it yet.

(Artwork copyright-)

• La Parti Productions
• Les Armateurs
• Maybe Movies
• Mélusine Productions
• StudioCanal

http://ernestetcelestine-lefilm.com/
http://www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-film/feature-preview-ernest-et-celestine-62824.html
http://cinema.jeuxactu.com/video-conference-de-presse-ernest-et-celestine-9797.htm

In their world, mice fear being eaten by bears. Lauren Bacall  lends her voice to "The Grey One", the elderly matron mouse who runs the orphanage where Celestine lives. "The Grey One" reinforces their fears by telling the mouse children horror stories about the bears. In their initial meeting, Ernest attempts to eat Celestine, but only because Ernest is literally the starving artist. I think. Celestine brings Ernest back in line with a quick smack on the nose, sort of the way Dorothy did with the Cowardly Lion.

My feeling is that their prejudices are manufactured: Bears are portrayed as voracious monsters, and mice are shown to be greedy little parasites that would run amok. This seems to benefit the bears who dominate the surface, but the mice seem to be trapped underground. This obviously gives control to the leaders on both sides, and keeps each population subdued. After being underground all her life, Celestine is struck by the beauty of the surface world after the snow finally melts.

I like the matter of fact way in which one bear father runs a candy store, and his wife runs a "tooth boutique" across the street. Creative destruction is good for business it seems. However, the bear couple forbid their cub from eating candy. They have a little racket going, and they don't want their son being one of their victims. Strangely enough, getting new teeth is just like buying a new flash drive for the bears. Just plugin and go!

The emphasis on the mice children gathering teeth from the bears left me squirming in my chair a bit. The mice need replacement teeth, since chewing and gnawing is the only way to build and maintain their infrastructure. Dentistry is big business, and William H. Macy did a sublimely insidious job as the voice of the head dentist in the English dub. Most mice children are expected to become dentists, since so much of their population spend a lot of time in the chair!

I did like the open line, freehand artwork and the watercolor art style. All the animation was done on Cintiqs with good old Flash. With all the expensive overhead, and dependance on cutting edge technology and software, the production of Ernest and Célestine is a refreshing return to what makes us love animation. They still used current technology, but the story, design, color and character  animation make Ernest et Célestine a nice little gem.