This is the unfinished head of one of two full-body suit monsters that will be battling in the upcoming video for Call to Awaken…
Be sure to ‘like’ the historian facebook page to get the latest updates and behind the scenes material…
So I’m building some more monsters. Specifically, Earth Beasts for the upcoming (and long long overdue) music videos for Earth Beasts Awaken. Here’s a timelapse of me sculpting the head of one of them.
Yeah, I said one of them. There will be several monsters. At this point at least 7 of them, but quite possibly 9 or 10. Some (like the one in the video) are just hand puppets, but several are fully articulated puppets or full body monster suits (like we on some godzilla type technology). Also they will be fighting, roaring, causing volcanic eruptions and generally disregarding human kind as anything worthy of respect.
Again, thank you for your support and patience. I’m doing my best to make these videos as well as I can with lots of monsters shot on location, and that all takes time. So stay with it.
Oh also I’m working on a new album, which will be released this fall and is called Gather Bones.
ohyeah, and I have most of a mix tape put together too.
and five other (non Earth Beasts) music videos shot.
Stay tuned.
If you click on the photo below it should take you to a facebook album of pictures of the location where we’ve been shooting the music video for “Call to Awaken”…
Be sure to ‘like’ the historian facebook page to get the latest updates and behind the scenes material…
I put this quick video out because the new historian facebook page hit over 100 likes. I also created a historian twitter feed – @greygriffon.
download Hyenas.mp3
(right click to download)
I’m still in post production on some new higher production value music videos, and I appreciate all the support and sharing of my work in the mean time. Thanks, and stay tuned.
Like I said a few posts back, I’m trying to do more quick live rhyming videos just to keep things moving while I finish larger projects. This is another one of those.
download Swamp Kung Fu (beat by MUJO).mp3
(right click to download)
I’ve spent a decent chunk of my life wandering around in reservoirs, creek systems, swamps, and rainy forests and I’ve always felt particularly in my element in those semi-aquatic environments. This rhyme and video are basically about that, and the creatures and ghosts I’ve encountered along the way.
I wrote this verse a while back and didn’t know what to do with it. Recently while listening to Mujo’s Lo Shinzuru beat collection I realized his beat titled “Sangwoon Hero” fit these rhymes perfectly. I got in touch with him and he gave me his blessing to put this video out. I encourage you all to check out his work and if you like his style consider showing your support by buying his beat collections on his bandcamp page, or licensing his beats for your own musical efforts.
Earth Beasts Update: I just got back from the mountains where I finished shooting the music video for ‘In Mountains’ from my old album Earth Beasts Awaken. I needed a few more shots that I wasn’t able to shoot last winter, and I am (finally) entering post production in ernest. I hope to have it done sometime in the next month or two. Here is a picture of the historian finding a mysterious blood-painting on a snowy boulder…
While I was in the mountains I also finished shooting a music video for my friend Steven Doman’s new album A Tertian Leap. The album is a spaced-out ambient mixture of instruments and electronic elements, so the music video we shot is an atmospheric sci-fi story about two people separated by an expanse of space. I’ve known Steven his whole life, and over the years he’s helped me with a ton of my projects, so I went all out on the video for him. Here is a picture of a crashed spaceship I built for the project:
So here’s the deal. I’m trying to make better and better music videos (like this one and this one), but as you may have noticed, better music videos take longer to finish. So, what I’m trying to do between finishing big projects, is to put out more regular quick rap performance videos (like this old one and this new one) and more frequent illustrations of dinosaurs and monsters and stuff like that.
download All Always Was.mp3
(right click to download)
all always was, and forever will be
in endless cycles of self destruction
and re-creation
Quick update: in addition to recently finishing principal photography on the first of the Earth Beast Awaken music videos I also just finished shooting a music video for a west coast underground rap collective called American Poets 2099. The track is from their latest release ‘Murderous Poetry’ and features the founding core members of the group; the infamous Warcloud (aka Holocaust, Acatraz, Robot Tank), Nova Kane and Pro The Leader.
You can preview the album and support the artists by purchasing it here:
http://www.undergroundhiphop.com/american-poets-2099-murderous-poetry
You can also check out other American Poets 2099 stuff on their website:
http://www.knowthenames.com
I had a lot of fun shooting the videos and my thanks goes out to all who helped. I hope to have post production for the American Poets video finished sometime in the next few weeks. Stay tuned…
Here’s a video explaining what’s up and why you should buy one of these CDs:
I am no longer offering hand painted copies of Earth Beasts Awaken, but you still want to support the project, you can donate any amount of money by clicking ‘Donate Now’:
You can still download my album Earth Beasts Awaken for free, but for a limited time I offered hand-painted copies of the album on CD to raise money to finish the long overdue music videos that go with the album. Each CD was unique, featuring different monsters and slightly different background colors, but they all looked something like this:
I will be making three videos to visually supplement Earth Beasts Awaken. While each video will have its own storyline, the three of them together will also tell a larger story. I will be making videos for the tracks; “In Mountains”, “Call to Awaken” and “Mowgli”. Here are some brief descriptions and images to give you an idea of my vision for each of these videos.
In Mountains:
Trekking in the high frozen mountains, historian discovers strange symbols painted in fresh blood on snow-covered boulders and trees. As he follows the trail of glyphs, the blood begins to tell a story leading him deeper and deeper into the very heart of the mountain…
This video will be shot in several locations in the mountains east of where I live. In addition to helping to cover transportation costs for me and my crew, your CD purchases and donations will also help to bring the creature painting the blood symbols to life:
Call to Awaken:
Their sleep disturbed, the mountains erupt, and numerous earth beasts burst forth. As the winged beast unfolds his wings for the first time in eons, ancient images scarred into their membranes are illuminated by the setting sun, hinting at the story of it’s violent past…
This video will be shot in two locations in the desert that I have scouted for their stunning and rugged igneous geology. I will be constructing several puppets for this video, and I will be putting together a small crew to help me puppeteer and shoot the sequences on location.
Mowgli:
In a dark forest something is stirring. An arboreal humanoid who’s skin changes colors to match its surroundings descends from the trees and begins a metamorphosis which ultimately leads us on a journey of transformation and renewal through and ancient forest, and an even more ancient concrete jungle…
This video is by far the most ambitious. It will feature two forest locations, live-action creatures, post production visual effects and miniatures. Although somewhat daunting, I am most excited about making this video, and I have practical plans as to how I will achieve each special effect, creature and environment on a small budget. Your CD purchases and donations will make that small budget possible, and the more generous you are, the more quickly these videos will be completed as I will have to cut fewer corners while also being able to afford the time to focus on finishing these projects.
I hope this little bit of production art helps to get you excited about these videos without giving too much away. I really appreciate the support and encouragement thus far, and I hope this project seems worthy of your continued support.
Either way, I am fired up about finally finishing these videos. I hope you’ll help me make that happen.
Thanks,
the historian himself
This is part animation test and part rap video:
download Katana (Beat by Mike Kalombo – remixed by Historian).mp3
(right click to download)
One of the challenges inherent in animating really big slow moving characters in hand-drawn animation is that in order to make them look like they’re moving slowly, one must either draw a lot of drawings, or hold on each drawing for longer than one frame. If you hold on a drawing for more than one frame, the animation will look choppier than if you draw every frame… But drawing every frame takes a very very long time.
Most of the character in the above video is made up of cut out layers that are moved around and rotated in the computer, but for the perspective change on the bobbing head and neck I needed to draw the rotation of the characters face (well, faces in this case). So, in an attempt to get smooth movement in the slow parts of the walk-cycle without actually having to actually draw all of the in-betweens I drew ‘active holds’ on the key poses, and then deformed the key poses into each other using digital deformation tools. An ‘active hold’ in animation means drawing the same pose several times, so that even when the pose is held, the line continues to jiggle and pulse as a result of being drawn a bunch of times. By deforming active holds in the slow parts of the walk-cycle, I was hoping to achieve the look of individually drawn in-betweens while economizing the actual number of drawings I had to do. It sort of worked in some places, and but looks kind of wonky in other places due in part to the limitations of the deformation tools and due in part to flaws in my drawings. Anyway, it’s just a test, and what I’ve learned from it will effect workflow design for future projects (giant sauropod dinosaurs, of course).
Thanks for watching!