Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Some "Crash Nebula" leftovers

Here's some stuff I found in my "Crash Nebula" folder. ("Crash" was a pilot created by Butch Hartman and Steve Marmel. It didn't get picked up as a series but still airs as a "Fairly Odd Parents" episode.) These are some miscellaneous alien school kids. I always wanted to limit the alien races to just a few and then vary the shapes and sex of each race. I thought it would be a little easier to look at and create a more believable universe, (like Star Trek) but was outvoted by everyone I think.

This next page is of the headmistress of the school, named "Galaxandra". Butch and Steve wanted her to look like those tall white cloning aliens in Star Wars Episode2, (the worst of all 6 movies in my opinion.) I tried to add a butterfly approach to help distinguish her a little. There's a construction sheet as well. I don't know how much good info is on it, but I do like the fact that her fingers are longer than her palm. I'm going to try and remember to keep doing that.


Here's an attempt to have the overseas studio use a specific clean up line for the animation. Yeah Right! Wow was I naive! Of course all the lines had a normal even weight. And in hindsight who could blame them. It was pretty ridiculous to expect them to draw such time consuming lines on a TV schedule. Actually I'm not even sure these got sent, as the production staff was probably laughing at me for overkill! Ha! Ha! Anyhow, it's fun to look back on and remember how enthusiastic the small crew we had was on that pilot. May all focus test groups die!

22 Comments:

At 11:15 PM, Blogger OV! said...

BB!

duuuuuuude. what up.
these are nice model sheets man. i see you guys enjoyed your trip to the air show.

post your planes!

>oVi

 
At 11:05 AM, Blogger aintshakespeare said...

This is great! What a post. I love the instructional guides. The alien characters are also cool. The fire guy and the tree guy are very clever.

Episode 2 definitely was the weak link. It seemed too much like a video game. But then I was profoundly disappointed in all of the prequels.

 
At 10:29 PM, Blogger Howard Shum said...

Good designs!

 
At 10:17 AM, Blogger Nick Weidner said...

I admired the look of the Crash Nebula episodes right from the start. It had a bit more visual depth than Fairly Odd Parents and Danny Phantom but still retained that strong graphic style. Love all the alien races.

 
At 4:00 PM, Blogger Shawn Escott said...

Man! your designs are so fun and creative! Dog squid is awesome!

 
At 4:30 PM, Blogger Dougmian said...

Ben!
When I saw the "Crash Nebula" I loved the style of the drawing! It´s my favorite episode of Fairly Odd Parents (ok, Fairly Odd Parents is my favorite cartoon).
I always speak about that episode for my friends that work with animation with me.
I wait one day to be like "Ben Balistreri"
Thanks!

 
At 11:35 AM, Blogger Todd Oman said...

I can't understand why that show never made it further than being a pilot. Anyway the characters look great.

 
At 8:30 AM, Blogger flipstudios said...

great designs man. your style is so unique i love it. you've got one wild imagination. you were a perfect pick for this show. cheers

 
At 12:57 AM, Blogger Matt Schuler said...

Your character design is just so fun Ben!
I also had a fun time reading through the 'rules' of Crash Nebula and took some notes too!

-matt

 
At 10:42 AM, Blogger Richtoon said...

I LOVE the look of this show. Very crisp and organic at the same time. Reminds me of the Schtroumpfs... Why oh why was this show never picked up?? IT's fantastic.

 
At 5:26 AM, Blogger Frasier Olivier said...

I love your work...It 's very fun and expressif...
O.F.

 
At 6:52 AM, Blogger Randall Sly said...

I love the Style Guides Ben. Thank you for posting them.

 
At 9:19 AM, Blogger Roberto Ferrari said...

wow !!! awesome stuff...

roby

 
At 6:53 AM, Blogger Richard Gaines said...

Ben, these are great! The line work and forms boggle my mind. Everything is so squeaky clean! My stuff is waaaay too rough, and this is definite inspiration!!

 
At 3:51 PM, Blogger Ben Reynolds said...

friggin SWEET!!

 
At 4:49 PM, Blogger Mukpuddy said...

Dude these are awesome!! The headmistress designs are really cool!!

 
At 5:13 PM, Blogger Ben Balistreri said...

Hey I just wanted to thank everyone for all the kind comments. I never get around to thanking everyone individually but I really appreciate all the encouragement.

 
At 10:22 AM, Blogger Àlex López said...

Great designs, as always!!

 
At 9:06 AM, Blogger SHANE PRIGMORE said...

Damn I love your Nebula stuff man.That Tiger guy you designed for the show (not shown here) is one of myfavorite things ever. And Ben you are the master of the model sheet. Ever since school man.

 
At 11:01 AM, Blogger Edward Juan said...

Hey Ben sorry I never called you back. I submitted my portfolio to nickelodeon and they called me back already. So yeah! ALL UNDER CONTROL! Except I don't have my workpermit yet so I can't start my internship at Pixar. SUCKS!!!!! So I'm staying at a friend's in Glendale. If you are bored we can catch up on lunch this week.

 
At 8:44 PM, Blogger LanceThruster said...

Have any graphics/links for the "Lance Thruster" character voiced by Pat Fraley? THX.

LT

 
At 10:54 AM, Blogger Ben Balistreri said...

Lance was designed by Steven Silver. He might have some images on his website.

 

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