The blueprint

JR, Mike, and Steve met today to clarify the blueprint of the project. This image is a photo of Mike’s notes. Everything clear here?

Sketching

Lots of sketching lately. I’m gonna know a lot more about rabbits by the time this project is over.

-ML

finding our character’s look

Doing some sketchbook work tonight.

At our last meeting, we looked at different rabbit art (from the mockups) and started to try to define what our character will look like.

When we talked about color, JR favored black fur with white patches, which I really like because it will be distinct.

I’m thinking I’m going to have to make some style sheets for the other artists who will work on this project.

mockups and first Art

These mockups created by Mike are intended to show what a cd booklet for this project might look like. This mockup has layouts for two different songs and a credits page. A unique art team would depict each song in a series of images, with some lyrics accompanying them.

None of the content on these images are ours- this is not intended to be something we actually use, it’s just collected scraps of images from the internet so that we could all understand what we’re talking about creating. Mike put these together in Adobe Illustrator.

This next image is Mike’s first finished drawing of the project, an iconic rabbit staring (eye to eye) toward a large musical note. Rabbit wants to get this tattooed on his arm. If that happens, you can be dang sure, we’ll post it here. This image was penciled by hand and inked in Adobe Illustrator with a Wacom tablet.

more progress

We met again today and moved forward quite a bit. Everyone showed up with new work.

Steve brought a ridiculous forest sound beat. We’re looking at using it for the first track because it’s so atmospheric and at a tempo that could lead the listener in. He also left Mike and Rabbit with an early collection of the 5 beats we’re likely to use. These may still change a bit, but now we’ve got something we can listen to while working.

Mike brought art comps of what the accompanying booklet art could look like. The plan is to use multiple artist teams (one per song). Mike’s art direction responsibilities will include working with these artists to ensure it all flows together and has a common voice. Mike also brought the first finished drawing of the project (will post soon).

JackRabbit brought what was needed most, the core of the narrative that the 5 songs will be built on. After discussing Rabbit’s ideas, we fleshed out the outline of the entire EP, including our first draft at which guest rappers and singers will go where. This answered a lot of questions and allows us to see/hear what the project will look like as a whole.

And we went to what’s sure to become a new tradition: Tacos y mas. Fresh Mexican food within walking distance of JackRabbit’s.

cool interlude

Mike, Steve, and IZK found themselves teaching to kids at the artlovemagic kids workshop today (artlovemagic is a multi-arts massive love fest that Mike is a founder of).

About 30 area kids came through and learned music from a set of teachers that included Steve and IZK doing a hiphop class that covered the basic of beats, sampling, and lyrics. Good times.

this story from artlovemagic covers the day in a bit more detail

Meeting:May 9th: with Boulet, IZK, & DTOX

We met again today and had a few guests that we’d like to see involved with the project. Joshua Boulet is a local comic creator, and IZK and DTOX (aka the Davies Bros) are local rappers and artists. All are close friends.

During this meeting we covered the basics of the project again and went a little deeper into how we’d actually execute it with the music. Mike also brought drawings to share to start to define the visual look.

Josh drew this image of IZK, Mike, JackRabbit, and DTOX in his sketchbook.

Meeting – 5/12/10

The three of us met for our second formal meeting (the first being a handful of weeks back in PPV to kick off the idea of the project).

Here’s a list of things we agreed on:

Our guiding themes:
Aesop’s Fables
Nature

Core story:
Our main character, a rabbit, runs through trials and tribulations, meeting a host of other animals, eventually learning something for the effort.

Working Principles:
4 or 5 songs
story driven
accessible to hip hop crowd and non-hip hop crowd
utilize friends as guest rappers and guest artists
overall the project comes out charming and uncommon
(it doesn’t sound or feel like any other project in our cannons)

Specific ideas we all liked:
beats should incorporate actual nature sounds
both the beats and the raps should be cinematic, story driven
the first song should lead the listener in
the last song should celebrate the character’s learnings

Steve’s beat titled David 3 was suggested for the last song

male rappers guest as animals
female singers guest as nature’s choir

the females would be prevalent on the last song

The project

The goal is to produce an outstanding hiphop Ep with a decidedly different feel. Story based, nature/animal themed, and attractive to a wide audience. Creativity reigns and the natural world is our guidance.

The project is a collaboration between three Dallas based creators:

JackRabbit James Clark – rapper

Steve Wick- producer

Michael Lagocki – cartoonist