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Brother Thomas Film

20

Jul
2016

6 Comments

In Brother Thomas

By Steve Leeper

2016 Brother Thomas Teaser!

On 20, Jul 2016 | 6 Comments | In Brother Thomas | By Steve Leeper

Introducing the 2016 promotional teaser for the Br. Thomas project!  This teaser showcases the best of what we’ve accomplished over the last couple of years and gives a glimpse of the what’s in store.

I may be a little biased but I get goosebumps just watching it. . . I hope you do too!

Special thanks to all the folks who worked to make this happen and to everyone who have patiently been moving the Br. Thomas project forward.

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02

Jul
2015

One Comment

In Brother Thomas

By Steve Leeper

Guest Artist/DMA Alum: Shanay Anderson

On 02, Jul 2015 | One Comment | In Brother Thomas | By Steve Leeper

For her contribution to the Guest Artist gallery Shanay has chosen a pivotal moment in the film.  Br. Thomas’ epiphany where he sees for the first time nature in all it’s glory.

Shanay has captured the moment beautifully!

Thomas’ gaze moves our eye upward into swirling branches with shafts of light filtering through their jewel-like leaves, coming to rest finally on the dragonfly. . . gives me goosebumps just looking at it! 🙂

Click here to see more images in our Guest Artist Gallery

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26

Feb
2015

No Comments

In Brother Thomas

By Steve Leeper

Madonna and Child-Composite Breakdown

On 26, Feb 2015 | No Comments | In Brother Thomas | By Steve Leeper

The process of Compositing is basically the layering of many images together in a way that gives absolute visual control over final look.

You can see from the progression of images below how each new layer builds on the next resulting in a rich composite of color, texture and line.   

MC02_Composite Progression220w

The really cool part is that these images actually move!  More on that later.  I did the character and line work while Aaron Deal was responsible for the color and texture, and Jeff Morice created the CG dragonfly. I’ll be devoting at least couple of future posts to that process alone.

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23

Feb
2015

No Comments

In Brother Thomas

By Steve Leeper

Madonna and Child-Design Progression

On 23, Feb 2015 | No Comments | In Brother Thomas | By Steve Leeper

The above images are just some of the inspiration that went into designing the Madonna and Child sequence.

The following images show how the stained glass Madonna and Child have been evolving from my initial concept design to fully animated characters. These characters will eventually inhabit the 2- dimensional stained glass world of the film.

MC01_Post Panel1400w

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09

Nov
2013

4 Comments

In Brother Thomas
Concept Art

By Steve Leeper

Stained Glass Designs by Aaron Deal

On 09, Nov 2013 | 4 Comments | In Brother Thomas, Concept Art | By Steve Leeper

One of the questions I’ve been asking myself for a while now is “what does stained glass look like when it animates?”  My good friend/motion graphics artist Aaron Deal has been helping me figure that out.  For the past few weeks Aaron has been working on variations for the “Madonna and Child” sequence in After Effects.

Aaron was one of our early graduates from the animation department at HU.  Aaron currently works as a motion graphics artist in Indianapolis.

Click here to read more about team that’s coming together to make The Temptation of Brother Thomas.

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11

Sep
2012

4 Comments

In Animation
Brother Thomas

By Steve Leeper

Promo Teaser w/Phil Vischer

On 11, Sep 2012 | 4 Comments | In Animation, Brother Thomas | By Steve Leeper

After weeks of creating animatics and shooting interview footage we finally cut together a teaser that gives a great taste of the film we’re trying to make.

Special thanks to my old boss and friend Phil Vischer for setting up the teaser and for providing the commentary throughout.  I initially pitched the bare-bones concept of Brother Thomas to Phil over ten years ago while working on VeggieTales.  I can’t tell you how satisfying it is to have Phil’s full support for the Brother Thomas project.

The animation in the teaser is still at the storyboard stage and at this point the drawings are only sketches.  But something happens when you cut them together with a good sound mix.  It almost feels like a movie!

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20

Feb
2012

No Comments

In Brother Thomas

By Steve Leeper

Making Molds

On 20, Feb 2012 | No Comments | In Brother Thomas | By Steve Leeper

Last weekend was an incredible opportunity to up my moldmaking techniques… not to mention catch up with an old friend and his family.

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09

Feb
2012

5 Comments

In Brother Thomas

By Steve Leeper

The Monk Gets a Makeover

On 09, Feb 2012 | 5 Comments | In Brother Thomas | By Steve Leeper

I’m headed to Valparaiso tomorrow to start making a mold for the Br. Thomas makette.

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13

Nov
2011

4 Comments

In Brother Thomas

By Steve Leeper

Casting Brother Thomas-Makette

On 13, Nov 2011 | 4 Comments | In Brother Thomas | By Steve Leeper

You probably recognize this little guy from my profile image.  I thought I would post a series of turn-around photos of him before he officially goes under the knife.  I’m hoping to pull a mold from him in the next few weeks which means he’s currently in parts getting ready for his operation.  More photos of the process to come.

27

Oct
2011

One Comment

In Brother Thomas
Story Boards

By Steve Leeper

Act 2 Scene 1-Good Morning World!

On 27, Oct 2011 | One Comment | In Brother Thomas, Story Boards | By Steve Leeper

If you click on the 8 panel image you can see the entire story sequence.

Finally I’m posting another scene!  The second act has been the least clear in my mind since I wrote the treatment over ten years ago.  While the rest of the plot points were fairly well developed Act 2 was pretty much a note to myself that read “insert multiple epiphanies here”.  Finally I’m getting to see what these epiphanies might look like and how each one can build into the next… but I’m getting ahead of myself.  Those panels belong to the last two thirds of the act and are still pretty rough.  With luck I’ll be posting them in a couple of weeks.

These panels are the beginning of the second act.  The cock crows to announce a new day and Br. Thomas heads off to the cathedral with the best intentions of actually getting there.  Only this morning, with his head full of distractions, it doesn’t take much coaxing from the Dragonfly to get him off the path and running through a field of wild flowers, with his new friends closely on his heels.