Allyssa Lewis

NBC's "30 Rock" Lip Syncing

Here is a snippet of the process I use when lip syncing. I was commissioned to sync some characters for the Super Bowl episode on NBC's "30 Rock".

Before I touch any project files, I look over the script. This gives me a pretty good idea of who is talking. I wasn't familiar with all the characters, so I did a little research online to help me put a face with the names given.

Then I play around with the character files to learn what mouth shapes are available for use. Each character had about 4-6 mouth shapes.

Time was of the essence, so while syncing, instead of taking several RAM Preview breaks, as I normally would, I waited until the final render, and took a lot of edit notes. It's not the most preferred method among individuals that tend to get antsy, but it is very effected in a crunch.

Lip syncing this project was a lot of fun. Not only did I get updated on some current pop icons, but I memorized the theme song to "Passions"! It's really beautiful.

To see the full animated clip, please click HERE to visit my site.

"Roll Yer Own" - show program

The show program that I designed

The orginal flyer

“حتى الآن لم” (“Not So Far”) - Short Film

Character Design

Mood Boards

Premise
Who says your soul mate has to live next door? Who says they have to live in the same country? When it comes to love and distance, even a sea in not so far. This is the tale of two giraffes that meet at the Red Sea’s edge. Shasmecka (“Princess” in African) is a young female giraffe who lives in the red savannah of Sudan. Amir (“Prince” in Arabic) is a young male giraffe who lives in the yellow pastures of Saudi Arabia. Both giraffes live at the sea’s edge, but unlike the animals surrounding them, they are single.

Shasmecka is seen drinking from the Red Sea. Zoom out to across the sea, and Amir’s head enters the screen. He too is drinking from the sea. At first they don’t notice each other, but then the wind picks up, and the sight of whirling leaves draws their attention. Instantly they fall in love! Both giraffes look across the water longing for the company of the other. The distance is great, but still they fantasize about being together. Amir looks down at the water. How will he get across? Both giraffes begin to frown. Then the wind picks up again, and a huge leaf falls to Amir’s feet. Shasmecka smiles as Amir rides the leaf to Sudan. The two are together at last☺. Who says a Sudanese and a Saudi Arabian giraffe can’t fall in love? When it comes to Shasmecka and Amir, even the length of a sea is not so far.

This is a semi-silhouette animation that’s mood is determined by color and sound. Shasmecka is in control of the red side, and Amir of the yellow. When the two finally meet, a warm sunset in the background is formed.

"You See When You Want To See" Editorial Comic for the Connector newspaper

Premise: This piece is meant to make a statement about people seeing the unpleasant things on life only when they want to. On several occasions we seem to have our eyes put away. Color Test 2: Here is one idea as to where I could go with color. I left the mirror blank so that I could paste an image in later (maybe I could use this for an ad).

Color Test 2: Here is one idea as to where I could go with color. I left the mirror blank so that I could paste an image in later (maybe I could use this for an ad).

Color Test: Lately, I’ve been coloring my illustrations with this four-step method. Keeping each step on its own layer defiantly gives me a lot of control when it comes to playing with color options. For this project, my primary colors are going to be red and blue-green.

Line Work: It was a little challenging to do all of my line work in Photoshop, because I wanted to achieve a Flash-like stroke. However, I didn’t want to go back and forth between programs (Flash for line work and Photoshop for color). Overall, I am happy with the way the lines turned out, but maybe next time I’ll use Toonboom.

Sketch: It took quite a few lines to get the correct perspective for this image, but I don’t like to “eyeball-average” those kinds of things.

SCAN Magazine International Article Winter 2010

Final Layout

Color Correction and Painting

Scanned Images: Water color stain background and pencil map

"Generate" Editorial comic done for the Connector newspaper

"Final Color"

"Sample Color"

"Line Work"

"Sketch"

"Let Mama Have Him" Traditional animation

"Rough Pose Test" ***Blogger is not playing this in real time!***

"Knock Out Finals" Editorial comic done for the Connector newspaper

"Final"

"Color Sample"

"Line work"

"Sketch"

"Bee Fauve" Editorial comic done for the Connector newspaper

Eavesdropping Rough Timing Test

Premise: A man listens to a conversation behind a doctor's door. He gets upset and begins to listen closer. The character in this animation was taken from a painting I did called "Dreaming of More Shuttles" back in September. It was quite a challenge to make the painting rotate, but I decided to use a paper-like 50's quick turn technique.

"Timing Change 2 and Color"

"Timing Change"

"Rough Timing"

"Dreaming of More Shuttles" painting I did for the Connector newspaper back in September