Scene 16—Luthor Layouts

I've FINALLY moved on to scene 16 which is one of my favorites in the film: a pan from Luthor's discarded clothes on the floor, to his wiggling toes, up his body, past his red shorts to a hold on his face at which point he does an LL Cool J lip lick.

One thing I learned from doing the first 15 scenes is that the proper planning up front will save a lot of time in the end. The primary challenge of this scene was to place Luthor properly onto the bed background that had already been created for scene 12 while also fitting his feet comfortably into the frame:

Scene 12 background adjusted for use in scene 16.

These are the rough versions of Luthor's placement on the bed. They evolved from rough to more polished as I figured out the best solution to the problem:

First attempt: figuring out perspective and the pose.

Second attempt: one of four drawings used to make a quick reference animation.

Third attempt: prefer the laid-back pose but the spread legs aren't fitting into the frame the way I originally planned and imagined it.

Fourth attempt: I was happy with this until…I wasn't. His legs are supposed to be in perspective but they just seem too short.

FINAL: Once I elongated the legs, it came together with the other elements of perspective and pose.

I'm slowly beginning to embrace the reality that EVERY animated element of EVERY scene will require this type of exploration to find the best solution. If I accept this idea, it'll make animated filmmaking a lot less stressful!

Tomorrow: a video of rough animation from this scene.