Let's talk more about Adaboy. What is it? What was your inspiration for it? How has the project evolved and where is it at today?
I've always been fascinated with ancient mythologies. From the Greeks to the Egyptians, their gods and monsters have consistently inspired my creations and kept my interest. I'm also a huge fan of comics and super heroes. I love that many super heroes (which are basically characters of modern mythology) were created as a result of man's scientific tinkering. Spiderman, the Hulk, Swamp Thing and the Green Goblin all meddled in God's realm, which lead to their current conditions. The story of Adaboy grew from the foundation of those ideas. I wanted to take a new look at science and religion and create a world where they collide much earlier. Our team used the following premise as the starting point for our story:
Before the dawn of enlightenment, a great war between the religious order and the Alchemists paints the landscape with chemicals and blood. The religious order's victory settled the region into uneasy peace. But it was short lived. A legion of ungodly creatures soon terrorizes the land and the outcast son of the most powerful Alchemist is the only hope for survival.
It has taken me several painful years to realize how important it is to push everything else to the background and focus on story. I often find myself thinking something we have all said at one point or another: “Why couldn't I have known that three years ago?” With that in mind I decided to reinvent how someone can gain access to the process of story development. At www.theadaboy.com viewers can follow the development process with behind the scenes access to world development techniques and watch the story evolve.
Looking at a final product and asking yourself how you can achieve something similar can be both intimidating and defeating. But, like most things, breaking it down into fundamental steps can be a great way to absorb the information and a great step towards mastering it. I think people will be amazed to realize how unpolished a story can be during the beginning and middle stages of the project's life-cycle. I know I have many more rewrites pending and bumps to overcome before Adaboy will be the type of property I'll be proud to show. I also know that the more I push to refine and the more critiques I seek along the way, the more I'll improve my chances to create something memorable. A property filled with compelling characters and believable world logic.
We are developing the story, the world and the main characters with the intention of aligning strategic partnerships to distribute it in a variety of media. With every asset, from raindrops to cities created in 3D, we will build an amazing library of sculpts which will afford us some incredible opportunities. We stand at a unique time in the history of storytelling, when more types of distribution networks exist than ever before. From film to video games, graphic novels to animated comics for hand-held devices, tangible to internet-based, the opportunities to get your story to viewers are expanding exponentially.
What is even more amazing is that software like ZBrush can be used as a common foundation of asset production for so many of them. I love the idea that as creators we now have an amazing variety of media distribution networks to choose from and that we can leverage our efforts to do so.
I do plan to add several videos explaining the process as things evolve, but you can start exploring the world now at www.theadaboy.com.
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