Application of Pre-production

Purpose:  This section shows you how closely the final outcome of movie scenes and character designs resemble their pre-production counterparts.  In the true nature of compare and contrast, we'll let you decide whether the artistic department working on The Dragon Born has taken a step back or a leap forward since the project's humble beginnings (Both during and after the production of Ninja Gaiden 1).  While storyboards do exist for The Dragon Born, the director and head animator both agree that it would better protect the fans' interest if storyboards of scenes of critical importance to story or action were held away from view until the movie is finished, or at least until a later date.  This section gages whether or not early artistic impressions held their weight through the production of the movie.  This section is due to be constantly updated until the film's production is completed.

-Jason "Gorosaurus" Meckes
 

VERSUS Stance

I confess that this is not a legitimate comparison.  The image to the right was done by Matt Burkett (Z-man), and it borrows heavily from the visual style of Kitamura movies.  The image was made as a bit of an early hype for the movie (Though shown out of public view).  What looks to be an early drawing of that pose was actually made by me months after seeing Matt's image.  Done from memory, it does resemble the original fairly well, to my surprise.  Had this of been done in reverse, it would've been a textbook case of the proper compare/contrast structure I'm aiming for in this section.  Ah well, maybe next time!
 

Ryu VS. Ryu

To the left is an image of Ryu as seen in the original Ninja Gaiden movie.  To the right is an image of Ryu from The Dragon Born.  While they both display the same basic qualities and shape, the design has certainly changed in time.  'My' Ryu has always been a pale-white asian boy, but I oddly gave his skin a radiated quality for his first outing.  Skin, no matter how pale, really shouldn't shine brightly in a very poorly-lit cabin room.  That color is now considered his 'outside skin,' meanwhile, as displayed in the right image (During a nighttime thunderstorm), his skin will be generally darker for the duration of the movie.  The 'mask' itself has a much more prominent mouthpiece in the newest incarnation.  While the original did admittedly sport this feature, it was very slight, and only noticeable during talking scenes (Also of note - The head 'sphere' takes the excess off the original's chin and applies it to the modern's forehead).  The eyes still have their bright-blue intensity, but the slightly-folded forehead gives much more depth to the shown countenance.  The nose also makes a debut, though is covered towards it's end.  I feel that these changes have been a tremendous step forward in Ryu's changing image, though is quite possibly not the final design.
 

Ragdoll

Here we see a fairly mid-way version of Kulrohen who's gotten the upper hand in an early-movie battle.  Mid-way denotes that the design of Kulrohen shown there is not what is now considered to be the 'final' version, though it is fairly close (However simian) to the finished product.  The poor ninja in his hand isn't held quite as high up in the cinematic version; this is to properly convey how The Dragon Born doesn't care about touting his strength and power when it comes to battle - he's there to check if his victim is indeed decimated, letting the outcome of the battle show who was the more impressive.  The proportions in the concept image were skewed for both characters, and, when you take into account that the ninja is closer to the camera, the finished image shows their real sizes. 
 

Kulrohen Approaches

Here we see that things haven't gotten any better for our ninja hero.  The Dragon Born has thrown his limp body in front of him and now closes in, sword in hand.  In the concept drawing, we see a sleeker Kulrohen already atop the ninja, wielding his sword in a menacing position.  Other than the position of the characters, very little has changed from concept to finish with this sequence.  Sure, Kulrohen has filled out a little more, and luckless Larry lies limp below higher than before, but I think that this piece demonstrates the perfect usage of preliminary art:  It aided in speeding up and aligning the animation process.  SUCCESS!
 

Storyboard:  INTRO

This is an odd 'storyboard' format for the intro sequence of The Dragon Born.  I'll let you make your own notes of what has changed from storyboard to finished product, otherwise I'd just bore you all.  Most of the scenes stay faithful to what the storyboard dictates, with only small (And expected) changes throughout.  The biggest change if the change from a bird's eye view for scene 3 to a slightly-less-extreme angle.  In the final product, there are several scenes scattered between those you see here.
 

Air-Dragon

In this preliminary drawing, I envisioned a massive Kulrohen towering upon the seemingly helpless ninja below him.  I really wanted to show that this was a warlord - and one to be reckoned with.  Although I would've loved to see how the finished product would've looked had I kept that perspective, I instead did a complete reversal on this scene.  The scene goes by so quickly that if you blink, the entire effect will likely be lost, so it's a bit of a risk on my part.  However, I am content with the finished product.  Perhaps if I have a little free time during post-production, I'll give it a whirl in it's original perspective!