As one would guess, many hours have been spent from the rewording of Anna's script, (originally written as a book in Russian), and making story boards, to developing costume design for the characters and figuring out how we wanted to tell the story visually.
It is fair to say that every day in the last two years, minus a few days for a rare family visit perhaps, we have worked on this. Most days from dawn to late night, not to mention Anna's full time work. We have sacrificed travel, vacations, some family visits, or basically anything relaxing and enjoyable. I've even cut of movies which I have traditionally enjoyed. But perhaps that isn't much sacrifice these days. (Tongue fixed in cheek) Here is a photo of us having a script meeting on a pier in Seattle, where we had no choice being for business purposes.
When Anya asked if I'd be interested in partnering with her on the project, I was onboard. But there was one thing with which I felt overwhelmed. Character design. It isn't a strong point of mine, or should say that I take too long at it. This was a major project, and knew the time involved with this aspect. She agreed to accept the role of character specialist, and I would focus on the environmental and concept art. More on how we developed a character model in the next post.