CGNetworks Reader Project :: Kevin Hanna
Creating "The Tinker"
By: Kevin Hanna :: Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3
Date: Thursday, 30 October 2003

About the image
I'm not one to get overly excited about movies before they've come out. Too many over hyped disappointments have forced on me a "wait and see" attitude. I'm not going to brave the freezing cold in long lines on opening day for the next adaptation of my favorite comic book, remake of a childhood television show, or even the spiffy one about the clever talking dog. I will however set up a tent in front of the theater weeks before it comes out if necessary for The Incredibles, the new movie from Pixar, directed by Brad Bird. Pixar is my favorite animation studios and The Iron Giant, Mr. Bird’s previous film is my all time favorite movie. Brad Bird was able to take a story about a giant robot fighting the U.S. army and turn it into a very touching, human tale about a boy dealing with life. This speaks wonders to his abilities as a film maker and had the same heart that Miyazaki's films have.

I was with my family when I saw the trailer for The Incredibles, preceding Finding Nemo. My kids were bouncing out of their skins when they saw it. My wife was trying to get them to calm down; their response was to point at me, who was bouncing higher than all of them combined. After seeing my favorite CG human to date, Mr. Incredible, I really started to wonder; “What do other characters from this movie look like?“ I haven't modeled many stylized characters, which is odd because I'm a huge fan of people like Bruce Timm, Will Eisner, Mike Mignola, Jamie Hewlett, Michel Gagné, Russell Patterson, Jill Thomson, etc (the list goes on). All are artists known for their iconic or graphic imagery rather than their photo realism. I decided to give myself a chance to explore that style.

Cartooning in 3D is difficult. Things that can exist with ink and paper don’t necessarily translate into three dimensions, compromises have to be made. The trick is making the right compromises where otherwise the characters will have realistic and cartoon like aspects, but having the appeal of neither. They often turn into some sort of disturbing meat puppet. I wanted to keep as many of the cartooning principles as I could, like curves on straights and geometrically simple shapes. I needed to do this while still making something "real" that can be animated.

Design
As with any character design, it's best to design him/her on paper first. Deciding if a 3d model wears gloves after you already modeled every finger nail is enough to send one over the edge. trust me on this.