background design

with the animatic complete, it was time to start fleshing out the backgrounds. i imagined this story taking place in an anonymous city (could be new york, LA, chicago) where ganesha would have his hands full. i specifically wanted the monk situated in a park where he would be closer to nature, but still close enough to the city where the story wouldn't feel disconnected.

a lot of my references came from internet sources. the bakery idea, for instance, came directly from an image search. but i needed some really specific shots and i didn't want to just fudge something together, so i went out on a photo shoot (specifically savannah's forthsyth park and broughton st.) to capture the angles i was looking for. i then took these photos into photoshop and warped the s*** out of them. i saved these out as JPGs and brought them into flash for painting. btw, chain-link fence, not so much fun to draw...

the following are progressions from the original animatic to photoshopped references to final painted backgrounds -