Rustboy

March 24, 2002 12:40 PM

Rustboy, a short film about a Pinocchio/Frankenstein-esque robot child almost a year in the making thus far, has up until recently been illustrator Brian Taylor's personal side project. He's been keeping a diary of the process on his site and posting movie clips, storyboard sketches, and descriptions of how he achieves various effects the whole time. Followers of the site recently got the good news that Taylor has received funding to work on Rustboy full-time beginning in April. I've bookmarked it so I can check in every so often and say, "MAN, I wish I could do that!"
posted by apollonia6 (22 comments total)

Wow! Great link appollonia6. If I just had a tenth of that guy's talent, I would be a very happy girl.
posted by crustygeek at 1:20 PM on March 24, 2002

I remember seeing this a while ago - astonishing work. Such craft! I'm delighted to hear that others (with some $ to spare) have invested in his project.
posted by Marquis at 1:22 PM on March 24, 2002

The images kinda remind me of some videos by Tool. Cool! Sadly, the images are a bit to big for my home-dial-up-modem... I will surely check out the others tomorrow during worktime at university!
posted by swordfishtrombones at 1:28 PM on March 24, 2002

Excellent link apollonia6, saw it a while ago at either DiK or srf.stn, I am surprised it wasn't linked here until now.
posted by riffola at 1:40 PM on March 24, 2002

I've been following RustBoy for awhile now too. It's amazing to see this level of work coming out of one person. Great stuff.
posted by untuckedshirts at 1:41 PM on March 24, 2002

The amazing thing is that he's doing all that with Infini-D, which is a nice little program but can hardly compare to the high-end boys.
posted by rodii at 2:14 PM on March 24, 2002

shame that there is hardly a mention of a narrative. I am tired of technology and graphics driven projects, and 3D animation drives me nuts with its slickness.

Have to have a good story, its no longer enough to wow an audience with rendering abilities.
//M
posted by mook at 2:25 PM on March 24, 2002

Just FYI, Taylor actually does mention in the diary section that he's purposefully withholding info and details on the plot, instead focusing on the visuals and music on the site. This doesn't mean there's no narrative, or that he's not working as carefully on the narrative as he is on the eye candy. He probably simply doesn't want everyone to know the story months before they can actually watch it, which seems reasonable enough to me.
posted by apollonia6 at 3:14 PM on March 24, 2002

rustboy is fantastic, it's another confirmation that basic design skills and an ability to draw will get you much further in 3D than anything else.

this is a self link, and I'm not sure if it's allowed but I've just finished up a strange little 3D animation and the trailer is online at http://www.cleverlikeamonkey.com/showandtell/

the idea of a web diary and production updates is one we pinched wholesale from the rustboy site .. it's both good publicity and more importantly it helps self motivation
posted by mrben at 5:06 PM on March 24, 2002

mrben, looks great! Good luck. Keep us posted on how we might see the full thing.
posted by rodii at 5:37 PM on March 24, 2002

This is good news. I first discovered Rustboy last year some time, although I haven't been keeping up lately. I look forward to seeing the finished product.

Good work as well, mrben!
posted by RylandDotNet at 5:52 PM on March 24, 2002

That looks great mrben, can't wait to see the finished product.
posted by riffola at 6:38 PM on March 24, 2002

Brian Taylor also spearheaded, edited, and hosts Dodge Magazine, which I treasure with every fiber of my pixel-loving self.
posted by iconomy at 7:56 PM on March 24, 2002

The title sequence of Rustboy just made me settle in and smack my lips, as if I were about to watch the whole movie. The music, atmosphere and animation look like a hundred million dollars.

Mrben deserves a thread of his own, at the very least. The short extract has all the jittery pathos of David Lean's Oliver Twist. This has to be the best self-link of all time!

Thanks a lot, appollonia 6 and mrben. What a welcome antidote to Oscar night! :)
posted by MiguelCardoso at 12:13 AM on March 25, 2002

Dodge Magazine

Is there a non-microfiche version?
posted by HTuttle at 2:21 AM on March 25, 2002

Miguel's antidote to Oscar night remark nails it. I didn't see half of those movies, I don't care about them, but I'm looking forward to seeing this completed. Good stuff.
posted by dong_resin at 3:11 AM on March 25, 2002

HTuttle: nope - Dodge mag is all about the virtual pixels (or at least the first issue was).

I'm a big fan of Brian Tayler - we've had him linked up numerous times at K - and Rustboy just blows me away. Incredible attention to detail in his work.
posted by mschmidt at 4:42 AM on March 25, 2002

non-microfiche

It's funny you should say that - when I accessed the site last night to get the url, my first thought was that it had shrunk. I used to be able to read the introduction.

Then again, I am going to the eye doctor (for the first time ever) today to see if I need glasses.
posted by iconomy at 4:45 AM on March 25, 2002

.. thanks guys .. glad you like what we've been labouring over. we'll be trying to get 'Show & Tell' into various festivals over the coming months. I'll try to post where it'll be shown on our website as and when we know.

Eventually it will all be online, but not for a while.

I can't wait to see Rustboy either, it's great to see something made on a computer that feels crafted.
posted by mrben at 2:50 PM on March 25, 2002

hope to see it in the oscars! like it was weird seeing fifty percent grey nominated yesterday. good luck :)
posted by kliuless at 4:14 PM on March 25, 2002

If FPG can make it to the Oscars, I think Brian's got a darn good shot at it. The only thing that might get in his way is the similarity in his style to Tim Burton's, which is a real shame since both of them appear to be heavily influenced by Lane Smith. (You can read more about this is Brian's Diary section.)

Man, I can't wait to see this finished. I love this guy's work.
posted by dreamsbay at 4:24 PM on March 25, 2002

there used to be a 5 minute or so short movie starring rust boy on the site, i can't find it now. is it gone or am i missing it?
posted by o2b at 10:44 AM on March 26, 2002