Last week we posted the first of our behind-the-scenes with the Fighting Words team on their collaboration for the zany short THE STORY WILL BE REVEALED IN THE MOVIE and gave a peak into the sound recording process.

We've got another peak behind-the-scenes for you now, this time from Texture Artist Adrian Mulryan who's going to take you through the background design process!

Having worked on the previous Fighting Words project, The Battle for Ravenwind, I was approached once again to do the background paintings for The Story Will Be Revealed in the Movie. I love digital painting and enjoyed the opportunity to create the 2d style artwork used in the short.

I designed all the background paintings for the project in Photoshop, basing them on the ideas and drawings of the Fighting Words kids and with the feedback of our director on the short Craig Kane.

I worked on the background designs by myself, but was able to collaborate with the lighters working with my layers in Nuke, helping to advise on the layers, lighting and effects used. At least a little bit, anyway!

All of the backgrounds were divided up into layers, a separate layer for the back, middle and foreground elements, with lighting and atmosphere layers on top, this helps with the illusion of depth. As the camera moves, each element can move at different speeds, similar to traditional techniques used in old Disney films.

I personally don't use many layers on my own paintings so it was a challenge to mentally divide up these paintings into layers that would be useful to the project. I found using groups in the Photoshop layers palette can be helpful!

Effects such as water ripples and bubbles were later added to bring more life to the environments.

I have a love for the background artwork in the old 2d animated Disney films, it's what got me interested in working in animation! Working with similar techniques on this project was a joy. My love for digital painting and background design made working on the backgrounds in this short a terrific experience!

WATCH THIS SPACE for more updates on this year's short!

Fighting Words is a creative writing centre for children and teenagers, established by Roddy Doyle and Sean Love, and writing for an animated film is one of the numerous creative writing workshops they offer! 

Check out their website for details on events and how to get involved!