North Pole Air Control Devlog - October 2024

finishing storyboards, heading into art direction!

Hello Bloggerfolk!

(and happy halloween, again!)

It’s time for another NPAC devlog, where I encounter something truly terrifying - fitting personal art into a fully packed schedule!! MWAAHAHHA *lightning*

Anyways…. when we last talked, I was wrapping up the boards, which now, are pretty much set. They’ve made it through a couple pitch rounds with friends, mainly to make sure all the jokes are landing (and hoo boy, there are few things scarier than telling a crowd your completely untested reindeer jokes). But the good news is that some jokes landed, the ones that didn’t were workshopped, and it’s now approximately 23% funnier! I think? I’m letting the boards sit until we get character voices and music demos in place and then can make an animatic - so you’ll have to wait a bit before it’s really watchable.

Speaking of character voices, I’m still casting for those! I wish I had a wider network for this sort of thing… The character voices are very specific (especially since Holly’s Australian and needs to be able to sing), and while I thought living in Music City would give me an edge here, I kinda feel at a lost for who to reach out to. We’ve had some solid auditions so far and I’m actually pretty close to casting Holly, though with actor records still set sometime for Dec-Feb I still have a wee bit of time. Still, it’s been electrifying to hear what very well may be these characters’ voices - casting Holly has been especially rewarding!

I’ve been reviewing these boards and auditions with my composers, Kaleb and Kennoniah (who I’ve discovered are not just Lipscomb alumni but also childhood friends??) We had a lovely afternoon recently where I pitched them my boards so they could give feedback, hopefully a welcome break from the feedback I’ve been giving them! We also listened over the demos for each of the short’s three songs. We’re still finessing the songs as we move towards their final arrangements - I’m trying not to be too picky, which is tough because these tracks are the foundation for the show’s musical identity and I really, really care about that. But I know I have a tiny budget and propensity to fall in love with temp music, so I’m trying to be careful.

While waiting to hear new demos and auditions, I’ve moved on from storyboards to art direction, especially with regards to the show’s background style. Thankfully, the character designs provide a solid keystone to build off of, but it’s still been a challenge. I want to push myself stylistically into something new and rich, but also craft a style that isn’t terribly time consuming. Recently, I’ve been drawn to work of the Golden Era illustrators, particularly J.C. Leyendecker. I love his stylized colors and shapes - and his glossy sheen is perfect for this art-deco take on the North Pole! It’s been challenging to find out anything about his process - it seemed like he really wanted to show the world only a perfect final product, while trying to hide the numerous studies and missteps it took to get there. How relatable! For NPAC’s style I’ve been hoping to mix a Leyendecker foundation with loose linework on top, similar to Disney backgrounds from the 60s.

leyendecker santa

I’m pushing pretty abstract with NPAC and am wondering how much I can get away with - could I actually leave parts of the painting unfinished to imply depth of field (distance from camera focus)? Or does it need to be more cohesive so that the world is believable? I’ll only really know by making test pieces, but I barely have the time (and none of the interest) in doing tests - I just want to make finished BGs for the show, now! It’s here when I feel my lack of time most acutely… coming up with a whole new STYLE and making multiple tests is something I can’t easily fit into hour-long sessions before work. I really need a few whole days to puzzle things out…

101 dalmatians art

To make better use of the time I have I’ve pivoted to designing the other “characters” in the short, which is a bit more of an objective task with an already defined style. It’s a bit of a spoiler to say more here, but if you’d like to see what I have so far you can see the Secret Art Haul below! I should have more details in the next update…

All in all, I’ve truly been feeling the limits of my time this past month - I’ve been busy most nights, out of town most weekends, and so all I have are my little working hours in the morning. I’ve never done a project this big with such tiny hours, which wouldn’t necessarily a problem, if not for the December 2025 deadline which seems more improbable by the day. I think I’m gonna have to hire on some people to help, which I’d actually be quite excited about. It’s so rewarding to see a project grow past any individual contributor, and able move forward even when my time (or a teammate’s time) grows limited. My life is back to being crazy busy, working in the mornings, going to my job, dashing from thing to thing, but I relish skating between the appointments. I think it’s the one thing that convinces me that I could be a showrunner someday - while I hate deadlines, I love the fervor of being in the thick of it!

What’s next for NPAC? We’re close to having final demos for all the songs, and casting for our leads, so hopefully that! I’ll also have finished up on the characters and maaaaybe figured out the backgrounds - it’s so hard to rush this part of the process… As autumn sets in here I’m already feeling a welling up of vintage Christmas spirit I hope to put to good use in this project - I’m hoping to harvest the wealth of inspiration that can only come while creating a holiday special during its appropriate holiday season!

For paid subscribers, there’s more sketches and boards below. If you’d like to check it out, sign up here!

Thanks again for your readership and support! See you in the next one!

-dh