Pages

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Forgotten Miracle Illustrations


Forgotten Miracle Trailer from Forgotten Miracle on Vimeo.


If you haven't heard from me over the past few months, it's probably because I've been working nonstop on illustrations for a documentary film called Forgotten Miracle. The film chronicles the 1960 US Olympic hockey team -- the first of only two hockey teams to bring home the gold for the US (the second being the much-lauded 1980 "Miracle" team). But the 1960 team had its own miracles; it's a David and Goliath story but this time Goliath is played by the Canadians.

The film was produced and directed by Andrew Sherburne and Tommy Haines, who also co-produced Pond Hockey. They asked me to illustrate several scenes in the film where they're short on actual video footage (it was only the first televised Olympic Games, after all). The drawings -- around 60 total -- are blended throughout the film and serve as recreations of some of the great stories told by the Olympic players.

The illustrated scenes are animated in a motion design sort of way -- the pencil drawings were produced in layers so that Sherburne could create a 3D motion design effect in AfterEffects. It's hard to describe, but you can see some of that subtle movement in the trailer.

Anyway, the film was a ton of fun to work on, and I highly recommend getting a copy for the rink rat in your family. I'll probably have a few copies to sell at conventions this spring, but if you can't wait until then, you can purchase a copy at ForgottenMiracle.com. (The DVDs ship in early December).

Some teasers:





2 comments:

Daniel Olson said...

Man, this looks great Kevin. Did you do the colors? If so, what did you use? I can't wait to see the whole thing!

Kevin Cannon said...

Thanks, Dan! The pencils are set over a base color in Photoshop, and then I built up white layers underneath to add highlights. I'm thinking about writing a blog post that details the whole process, but that'll have to wait until after the holidays...