Ade 
Ayo
The InvestiGator: Closing in on a character design.
Our Latest Cartoon Pitch: Up Late…
Giuseppe (30s) is in a dream, in a bed, in a hospital, in a coma, surrounded by his loved ones…due to a drunk-driving incident.
Giuseppe begins by hosting plain old crappy guests, whatever he can scrape up, but as the episodes play out he hosts odder and odder celebrity guests — ‘Lil Wayne,’ ‘Beyoncé,’ ‘Maybe Matt Damon’ — some of whom turn out to be the Spirit Goblin in disguise who is trying to advise him on what he should do to make amends and put his life back together. The object of his affection, a lady bartender, appears on his show as well in oddly confusing ways.
A inebriate layabout hosts a late night talk show from his crappy apartment, which could actually just be a dream or that he’s stuck in a purgatory-like coma.
An Explosive Scene
What happens when you’re no longer a controlled pawn in a war?
“Melton Cartes’ Oxygen Wars has all the earmarks of a classic. Mr. Cartes has been able to combine the human emotions of wonder and the search for peace with the all too prevalent human lust for war in a way that can be understood by every generation. Though Oxygen Wars is set in a time that is centuries in our future, then as now, war rages on. And although Cartes’ warriors are genetically created, the soul of man is with them. This is a sleeper that will wake your heart and imagination. It is a must read for science fiction buffs and also those of us who enjoy reading of the triumph of the human spirit.”
— Jeanne M. Evans
Using his newly woken instincts, Angus has achieved something no one has done in a long time, a reactor meltdown of a terraforming plant.
Buy Oxygen Wars now from Amazon or your favorite online book retailer in paperback or e-book.
#conceptdrawings, #productiondesign, #sciencefiction, #novel, #scifinovel, #clones, #digitalpainting
Oxygen Wars, the Novel
Check out my novel, OXYGEN WARS, available from all online book retailers, paperback and ebook.
War has finally become corporate —
There is a significant difference between waging a war and winning a war. Technology will make the former an automated function while the latter will remain the responsibility of humans. Automation will make it easier for corporations to direct their will throughout the universe while the price, as usual, will be paid by the pitiful foot soldier.
Angus…
Faraway in a distant future, a desolate dirt planet is home to thousands of human clone soldiers fighting an endless war in fully-mechanized, armored atmosphere suits. Damage sustained to one soldier’s communication system during battle renders him invisible to his comrades. Unrecognizable without his communication chip, Angus is on his own.
Monica…
Injured during battle, Monica is found by Angus buried under debris. Alienated from their fellow soldiers, they are free for the first time in their lives to question the relentless automation that has driven them. As they learn the truth behind the war and their forsaken world, their dormant humanity finally awakens.
The Screenplay
Oxygen Wars is an idea that first took form as a screenplay with the collaboration of my friend and frequent writing partner Daniel Merritt. We had this idea way back in high school. As time goes by, this concept gathers more and more pertinence, particularly as the world becomes more aware of the privatization of security and military forces.
Reviews
The novel was originally published through Heliographica Press, when I was part of that startup. The following reviews are from the Amazon page for the first edition.
“Melton Cartes’ Oxygen Wars has all the earmarks of a classic. Mr. Cartes has been able to combine the human emotions of wonder and the search for peace with the all too prevalent human lust for war in a way that can be understood by every generation. Though Oxygen Wars is set in a time that is centuries in our future, then as now, war rages on. And although Cartes’ warriors are genetically created, the soul of man is with them. This is a sleeper that will wake your heart and imagination. It is a must read for science fiction buffs and also those of us who enjoy reading of the triumph of the human spirit.”
— Jeanne M. Evans
— D. R. Smith
“Angus 7873 begins simply as another soldier in another war in another place. The author does a masterful job in transforming this human clone soldier into a quite believable character. I read few science fiction books because I often get lost in the details of the numerous gadgets, plot twists and similar matters that are possible with that genre. Oxygen Wars, however, has a crisp plot, few characters and was a good three sitting read for me.”
“…the strength of this book is in the themes the author has selected. Specifically, rather than going with the typical good v. evil plotline so common in science fiction, the author chose to explore something much deeper: are we objective thinkers or merely doing as we’re told; do we live to work or work to live; the power of questioning society to assert our personal freedom. Although there’s plenty of combat and action in the book, it’s these solid themes that the average person will relate to.”
— M. Rozmarin
Our New Partner
We are happy to announce the addition of a third partner to AlbinoPigGorilla Studio, our great friend and colleague Tim Houston.
Tim is a very talented animator, illustrator, producer, and writer. He has a wealth of knowledge about live-action and animated movies, comic books, and games.
Launte and I met Tim when we were studying animation in San Francisco. When we formed AlbinoPigGorilla Studio earlier this year, 2018, we were in conversation with Tim on several projects. As time went on it became clear to Launte that Tim was, in one way or another, involved in our projects and probably should officially be part of the team and so he brought up the idea of formally inviting him to join us.
We’re happy to say that Tim has accepted and joined us and we look forward to making a lot of cool things together. First up, Tim and I are taking the lead in developing and writing the story for The InvestiGator, a story that is evolving into a fun, weird and challenging story of intrigue, corruption and murder.
Help us welcome Tim Houston to AlbinoPigGorilla Studio.
— MC
The InvestiGator: Rough Sketches Pushing the Look
One of our approaches has been to make InvestiGator top-heavy, kind of like Pixar’s Mr. Incredible; big shoulders, arms, with little legs. Another detail has been to make his head big and prominent.
But then we looked at making his body more “human-like” in proportions.
This drawing directly compares the big shoulders proportions versus the more human-like proportions.
Here we started exploring how to emphasize InvestiGator’s “crocodileness.” Here we removed the cartoony nose and emphasized the reptilian eyes/skull. These drawings were influenced by looking at pictures of baby crocodiles since nature has its own way of caricaturing the look of species across the planet; big eyes, larger head, minimized mouth.
Then we started to incorporate the signature crocodile facial feature of the “zig-zag” mouth line and we also started to consider how to treat the teeth. Do we include them, hide them, turn them into the line itself as a zig-zag? Do the teeth come out when he’s upset…? More things to consider.
So, these next drawings further explore the zig-zag crocodile mouth as central to InvestiGator’s character design, including what the corners of the mouth do in the neutral position/facial expression as opposed to smiling or reacting.
This last drawing is an attempt to focus more on the character design elements by simplifying the drawing tools. If you have a bigger bolder crayon, it’s harder to get distracted by details and hopefully easier to see what exactly makes InvestiGator The InvestiGator.
The InvestiGator: More Character Design Development
Here are some variations on The InvestiGator’s specific look and feel. The InvestiGator is not an alligator. He’s a crocodile and he hates being referred to as The InvestiGator.
Pencil of the Suicidal Bomb Disposal Chihuahua 
Pencil of The InvestiGator, more realistic, less stylized. 
Colored in The InvestiGator, less realistic, more stylized. 
Colored in The InvestiGator, less realistic, most stylized. 
Colored in The InvestiGator, more realistic, less stylized. 
Colored in Suicidal Bomb Disposal Chihuahua
The Chihuahua (like The InvestiGator actually) is from one of our character design challenges and in this case this was the result for a suicidal bomb disposal chihuahua. He might become a villain in one of the episodes we’re writing.
More to come.
News & Updates
We just turned on our site’s blog feature because we’re going to start posting updates as we develop our properties. If you follow us on our Patreon page or our GoFundMe page or Instagram or Facebook you’ll see basically the same stuff.
On Patreon we’re trying to have patron tiers, offering more to higher tier patrons than what is publicly available. But until that becomes more of a thing, we’ll probably just replicate post entries across the various platforms.
