So in the 90s I was into this animated show on MTV called The Maxx (Yeah that's how old I am) which was an even better comic book series than animation, which pretty much influenced everything I do now. It was dark, weird, layered with meaning, featured a messed up anti-hero - Maxx - and the art was so cool. For me it was what the 90s was all about and why people are re-discovering the era. Culture was far less manufactured and sanitized, it was organic and if you dug deep you would find stuff like this.
I've been animating scenes from the comics, using them as literal storyboards and adding some cinematic adaptations to make it work for animation. It was important to me to get the essence of Sam Kieth's art and the surreal worlds he created. It's no joke how hard this would be to adapt into a full blown film.
I've been animating scenes from the comics, using them as literal storyboards and adding some cinematic adaptations to make it work for animation. It was important to me to get the essence of Sam Kieth's art and the surreal worlds he created. It's no joke how hard this would be to adapt into a full blown film.
If it's not already apparent, the film is built and animated in 3D. The Maxx character - adapted from STL files online was resculpted, modelled and rigged inside Cinema4D. Materials do a lot of the heavylifting for the art style. I wanted to capture the illustrative quality of the comics, adding halftones and paint marks. This carries through into the environments. Check out the below videos for some in depth behind the scenes.
Screenshots
This film veered slightly away from the comics and was the 1st one I made. It was a proof of concept in which I wanted to try out a lot of things, adding a motion captured character for one and exploring multiple worlds within one film. The impact and graphic style was something else I wanted to try, adding marks and scribbles and ink splats that felt like live drawing.
Screenshots
CREDITS
Executive Producer: Gus Karam
Production Co: Final Frontier / Cultlovesyou
Executive Producer: Gus Karam
Production Co: Final Frontier / Cultlovesyou
Character modelling, rigging, Texture, Look Dev by Tim Fox
Art direction, environments, 2D FX, comp by Tim Fox
Animation, layout by Tim Fox
Art direction, environments, 2D FX, comp by Tim Fox
Animation, layout by Tim Fox
Sound FX, Mixing and Mastering by DaHouse audio
Music by Thomas Fox
Maxx voice by Tim Fox
Music by Thomas Fox
Maxx voice by Tim Fox
Original The Maxx concept by Sam Kieth (RIP) and William Messner-Loebs
This is an unofficial fan-made piece of work.
No gen-AI used here.
This is an unofficial fan-made piece of work.
No gen-AI used here.
