The Artwork for Babylon Beyond!

 

It took me a few days, but by goddess, I did it!

I'm taking a class entitled "TV Animation Lab."  The name explains itself.  The objective is to write a pitch for an animated series for television.

During the first class, I only had a vague idea of what I wanted to do.  I have several ideas for feature length animated films, but television?  This was a new challenge.

Or maybe not.  Maybe not so much.

For years, I have been struggling to make a fantasy epic about a certain Sumerian goddess.  I wrote many drafts of the script.  I even had a reading live on stage, and it was received well.  The actors enjoyed performing the roles.  I was encouraged to go further.

The problem was the logline, or the pitch.

I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to encapsulate the story into one sentence.  There were so many characters, so many locations, so much story.  I was completely baffled.  If you stopped me in the street and asked me what was the script about, I'd probably take fifteen minutes.  By the time I finished, you would be gone.

In addition to the screenplay, I wrote several comedy skits involving Inanna.  I even filmed and edited three of the skits.  I posted them on YouTube.  They were simpler and light hearted.  The actors, the crew, and myself had a great time producing the three videos.  Again, I am proud to have made them.

Which brings us back to the class.

As the teacher explained what the class was about, I was already brainstorming ideas.  The Inanna YouTube videos immediately sprang to mind.  I grabbed several scraps of post-it slips and scribbled out the logline and synopsis for what I would call Babylon Beyond!  The exclamation point is part of the title, in case you were wondering.

In the next two weeks, my classmates were presenting their work on Zoom.  Some only had text.  Others had illustrations to go with their writing.  Upon seeing the art, my competitive spirit kicked in.

What most people don't know is that I am an artist.  I majored in visual art at the LaGuardia High School for Music, Art, and the Performing Arts.  Upon graduation, I turned my attention to film production at Hunter College CUNY.  Apart from some well rendered storyboards, my artistic skills atrophied.

I took a Master of Fine Arts program for TV production at Brooklyn College CUNY.  Again, my aptitude with ink and paper, brush and canvas, and scribbles and doodles began to waste away.  At the most, I'd idly draw the occasional X-Wing Fighter or the outline of Darth Vader in the margins of my notebook.  Well, there was this one ink sketch I made of Steve Dillon's character Jesse Custer from the comic series Preacher.  What became of that sketch?  I do not know.  If anyone possesses it, hold on to it.  It may be worth a fortune - to Steve Dillon's surviving family anyway.  RIP Steve.

So I went to the local convenience store and purchased graphite and charcoal pencils, 50 hued pack of Crayola magic markers, and a twelve inch ruler.  I salvaged an old sketch pad from the belongings of my high school days.  The end result?  Well, see above.

It was the most stressful experience I had in a long while.  Four days.  Four days of penciling, inking, and coloring one character at a time.  Four days before the next class of the TV Animation Lab.
I fretted and bellyached over it for those four days.  I would write anxious text messages to Susan, who would assure me the final composition would be fine.  She told me to avoid perfection.  Sure enough, the end result isn't perfect, but it will suit its purposes.
I took a picture of it with my smartphone.  Then I emailed it to my laptop.  I doctored the image using a tint called "vivid" to sharpen the colors and contrast between one character and the other.

Now the "final" draft will be presented, along with my pitch, to the Lab.  I posted the work on DeviantArt and Stage 32, the site that hosts the class.  Almost immediately I received four out of five to five out of five stars from my fellow screenwriters.  Again, the accolades that encourage me to continue.

Note that I put quotation marks around the word "final."  That's because I don't think I'm done with the illustration yet.  I plan to paint a background where the Ishtar Gate melds into the Brooklyn Bridge.  The sky will be midnight blue and illuminated by swirling stars reminiscent of Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night.

Anyway, that's the plan.

I'm not done with this illustration.  I'm not done with Inanna.  I'm not done with her story.  One way or another, I will give her her just presentation.

And who knows?  Maybe I'll win an Emmy.

- JJB