Mitchell Hammond

Ellen Madnar Concept

Here's an early design for Ellen Madnar, daughter of Metal Gear engineer Drago Petrovich Madnar. Because the animation has no dialogue I thought to give Ellen a locket containing a family photo, given Petrovich has been shown along with Big Boss earlier in the animation the viewer will recognise him and hopefully make the connection.

From here on I'm going to primarily focus on animating, seeing as that's what this whole thing is about. I think I'll continue with another character sheet...

Just a big ole' Robot

I'm currently working on the 3rd shot from the storyboards, so hopefully I can get this shot animated this week and I'll have a little bit to show. Also I've got a few more illustrations to draw for the Ellen Madnar character sheet so look forward to that. I've also found a part time job at a print shop so I've got that helping me a little bit each week. Things are coming up Milhouse for the time being. Anyway stay tuned!

Nuclear Warhead Launch Storyboards

Sorry for the wait, this took longer than I thought. There's around 60 shots in total, for the most part I'm going to use them but I always find myself improvising at the last minute but hopefully you can get an understanding of what I'm going for.

People have been a bit confused by this sequence, believing Big Boss really is launching a nuke on civilization. This scene, including every Metal Gear TX55 scene leading up to this, is nothing more than a visual representation of Metal Gear'...

Shotmaker Concept

Here's the concept design for Metal Gear's first boss in the entire series, Shotmaker. About seven or eight years ago when I was more active on Facebook somebody messaged me wanting their likeness in the animation, similar to how the Fox Engine at the time was scanning in real people into MGSV; little did he know I'd give him such a prestigious role!

Design is still open to change as I'm not quite at the point in the animation where he makes his debut. But now with this done I ne...

A Big Boss Welcome

Okay so this illustration was originally for the welcome note when you become a member but for whatever reason Patreon's means of doing so is broken (whether dragging the image into the editor or via URL) so I thought I'd just make him into a new post.

As of this posts creation in the coming week I want to complete a character sheet for Shotmaker, the first adversary from the original MSX game so stay tuned!

Relaunching Patreon

It's been over 3 years since I shut my Patreon down. At the time the amount I was making had dropped significantly to the point I felt like maybe I wasn't worth supporting anymore.

I've recently been made redundant from my job, I don't expect to make a living through Patreon or anything but even a little bit of money coming through helps.

Going through the relationship manager here on Patreon there seem to be many who have joined under the 'free' option but from now the media post...

Tank Lasered WIP

Here's a mockup for the shot. The Metal Gear sketch to the right is reused from the 'Metal Gear Turn' shot so I might just copy and past it over as it will be a static image. There's still so much more that needs to be drawn for the background here like the background cliffs and such, so I better get my ass to work. Simply drawing this up may take all week so we'll see how I go.

Laser Aim Complete

Another quick little angle, the following shot will be a wide shot where the laser blast will immediately hit the tank. But before that, I'll need to draw everything up, so I'll post a thumbnail sketch tomorrow. Until next episode...

Laser Aim WIP 2

I've finished drawing the new version of the close up, hopefully I can complete it this weekend. The gun will turn to the position you see right now and the lower right cannon will point straight and the shot will cut the moment a blue light can be seen emanating within the barrell. Until tomorrow...

Laser Aim WIP

The thumbnail sketch is a revision of the second image as its really just a blown up version of a previously drawn shot which not only do I feel is lazy but lacks the dramatic close up of the former. Anyway, time to drawn this up. Tomorrow.

Depressed

Lately I've felt less productive, less drawn in by my work. I'll admit that a big part of why I work on this project, and why I've kept it up since 2014, is because it serves as an escape from the reality around myself that I don't fit into. Cliche artist mumbo-jumbo I know, but I've always felt alone and alienated and those feelings have expounded recently in life. 

While many know and support my work online, in the real world nobody cares, nobody relates or respects it, and sure ...

Metal Gear Turns Complete

A very short shot, about a frame shorter than the previous one, but the next closeup shot of the gun getting ready to fire it's laser blast should make up for the overall momentum of the scene. Welp, without further a doo-doo, sleep time then I'll post a thumbnail of that close up tomorrow.

Metal Gear Turn WIP 2

Welp, I've drawn the bastard, now to animate him. Think I'll use roughly the same amount of frames as the previous Tank shot and will cut right before it comes to its stop to focus on the gun turning into frame before firing it's laser. Back to work.

Metal Gear Turn WIP

There's a couple of sketches here but the one I'm using for this shot is to the right, Metal Gear will both turn and raise it's body right before it fires it's laser beam at the previous tank, which you can see the smaller thumbnail sketches on the left being close up shots of said laser cannon - but those won't be used until the next shot. Welp, not much to say then that so let's get crackin'.

Tank Head Turn Complete

This probably took longer than it should, but alas I did it. Short shots like these are more for editing and transitioning to a follow-up movement rather than visual splendor. Anywho, up next I'll pot the next thumbnail sketch. Until then.

Tank Head Turn WIP 2

Thank you all for the encouragement on my previous post, you're always a good support team to me whenever I need a reminder to keep things in perspective. As for the current shot, it's almost done, just need to draw in the background then we can finally move on.

Small Update

I've seen some patrons ditch my patreon lately so I want to apologize for the lack of updates recently. The current shot I hope to have finished this week, I've been busy with work and a sprained lower back, plus a bit of depression but the internet doesn't take that serious so i won't go into. Again, apologies for the lack of consistency.

Tank Head Turn WIP

So like I said in the previous post, this will be a very quick shot of the tank head turning toward Metal Gear which will be followed up by Meal Gear turning toward it before firing a laser blast and sending it to Kingdom Come. Back to work.

Tank Crushed Complete

Finally done with this, I've officially cramped my hand and legs trying to get this complete on my days off but can't let that slow me down. Later I'l post a thumbnail sketch of the next shot which will have the grey tank turning it's turret toward Metal Gear right before... well, you'll see. Until then.

Tank Crushed WIP 3

Almost finished this shot, I have the next three days off from work so I hope in this time I can draw up and animate the two soldiers reacting to Metal Gear's impact. Welp, back to work...

Tank Crushed WIP 2

I've added two images, with and without Metal Gear. Now to actually animate the bastard landing. Not much else to say, really, hopefully I can get some of this moving by tomorrow.

Tank Crushed WIP

Thinking I might animate this in reverse from the point of impact, plus there will be a panning dip to emphasize the power of Metal Gear's heft. I'll draw in and animate the soldiers either side of the tank afterward, but all in all this will actually be a very quick shot in terms of duration however to make, as usual, might be a while. Welp, back to it.

Tank's Demise Complete

So that's pretty much it, just zooming in on still images blown up about 20 times their original size. Next up, the tank being crushed like a can by Metal Gear. I'll post up a thumbnail sketch next.

Tank's Demise WIP 3

Finished the Tank Gunner and his gaping maw. I'm at work now but when I get home today I'll combine both these shots into a rapid zoom in which will last less than 2 seconds.

Tank's Demise WIP 2

Finished drawing the top view of the tank, now to draw the close up of the Tank Gunner himself. Back to work.

Tank's Demise WIP

Wasn't sure what to call this one, but to the left is an aerial view of Metal Gear falling toward the Tank and to the right is the Tank Gunner's expression of shock before being crushed to death. I'm at work right now as I upload this but I'll start drawing it as soon as I get home. Thinking I'll create the left image as a very large picture so I can easily zoom in on it with the right image being it's own separate thing. Also I need to widen the Tank, too.

Metal Gear Drops Complete

So a very quick shot, I was going to have it completely fill the screen but I want to cut on movement to keep the momentum of the scene going. Tomorrow I'll start work on a semi-birds eye view shot from the point of view of Metal Gear as it comes falling toward the tank, with the camera zooming all the way inside the tank so we can see the gunner in shock. I'll throw up a thumbnail, it'll make sense. Maybe. Until then...

Metal Gear Drops WIP 2

Sorry for the lack of updates, just haven't felt like I've produced anything worth showing. This is very rough but I just wanted to get a feel for how it might look. Metal Gear still needs to come into frame a little clearer and of course I still need to create more frames for it to fall closer to the camera. Anyway, I'll have more of a fiddle tomorrow.

Metal Gear Drops WIP

Here's a thumbnail I've scribbled up, if you can't make it out basically the camera is pointed toward the sky and Metal Gear is going to slam toward us. Pretty simple shot, really, just have to now draw the bastard up. Let's see how far I get tomorrow. Until then...

Metal Gear Jumps Complete

Finally done with this shot. What was this, like a month? Eh, you guys are use to this amount of wait. Next up will be a shot with the perspective looking up as Metal Gear falls toward us, eventually landing and crushing the Tank. Should also mention that I've set my YouTube videos to private as I've had people reuploading my content with minutes of my work, I feel like the more footage I show then that means the more they'll take. I know, watermark my stuff I get it, but I don't want peoples...