The Neverending Story
Directed by Paola Hernandez, The Neverending Story (2020) is a fantastical short film that follows a scene from the 1979 novel, in which Bastian meets Grograman, who offers him a ride.
Sky Matte Painting
For this short, I developed a seamless, tileable matte painting of the sky for the use of the Lighting and Compositing Department in the final composition of the short. Fully tileable horizontally, this painting aided in the grand swooping pans of the short and allowed the camera to move freely.
Storyboards (First pass)
As the short developed, I was initially brought on as a story artist to create the storyboards and animatic that would guide the visuals of the short. A full-time student at the time, we eventually brought on a second story artist to help with the boards for the final pass as classes ramped up.
Above is the initial pass I created by myself for the short, which follows Bastian as he awakes in the Desert of Colors and meets Grograman. There was a challenge in getting the emotions and intentions of the characters visualized despite having an extra limitation of no dialogue, as this short was to be produced in a limited amount of time that did not accommodate finding and recording voice actors.