December 18th, 2010
Many christmas countdowns could be done with the beautiful drawings Manu Arenas has blessed this project with. Here are three of Jakob Schuh’s personal favourites.
Der Grüffeloadventskalendercountdown #17
December 17th, 2010
Above: Colourconcept for the lake by Neil Ross.
Below: An early sketch Manu Arenas had originally done for the film’s framestory (see Mother Squirrel in the background) ended up serving as the layout for Mouse’s lilypad-passage over the lake. See the German version of “The Gruffalo” premiere on Dec 24th 10.40 am on ZDF.
Der Grüffeloadventskalendercountdown #16
December 16th, 2010
Here’s a fun piece of preproduction (for Gruffalo completists): Before they started working on the music for “The Gruffalo” Jakob sent composer René Aubry drawings detailing how he imagined the music would span the film. A blithely un-musical piece of music writing, but quite close to how the different themes worked in the end. Below this, a repost from June 2010: René at his 30 year stage-anniversary concert at Peter Brooks’ legendary “Bouffes du Nord”, playing a sweet version of what he made of the green bar in Jakob’s drawing, the film’s “Mouse Theme”.
Der Grüffeloadventskalendercountdown #14
December 14th, 2010
Above: Some of the great work Harald Siepermann has done for the characterdesign of Owl, perfectly suggesting not only his design but literally his character. (click to enlarge) Watch the result on ZDF, 24.12.2010 10.40 am.
Der Grüffeloadventskalendercountdown #13
December 13th, 2010
In earlier versions of Mouse’s very first encounter with his imaginary “friend”, the Gruffalo’s hands were treated almost like characters of their own: They walked about, teasing Mouse, bullying him, and eventually chasing him down, all without much effort on the Gruffalo’s part. Sketches by Max Lang.