Ferdinand-China Shop

The China shop was a challenge. I designed the four walls, then designed smaller "movable" display units, as I weren't sure what business Ferdinand would be doing. Scale was a huge consideration, as Ferdinand was the largest character, and was going to interact with the little old lady who was vertically challenged. The various china pieces had to scale to each other, Ferdinand and the lady.
Originally the whole shop was going to be revealed wrecked, but budget contraints won out and we hear most of the carnage O/S, with just a few items and the broken front window in the film.  I originally designed the front window as round, as it seemed more quaint and to match some of the other window motifs. The back door, I wanted to feel like a prison door, with the tiny window, etc.

Ferdinand

The final look of the Ranch (Finca) that I came up with for Ferdinand. Keeping it simple and in the  Spanish style. Modern day, but with a traditional aesthetic. It had to have angular, utilitarian (threatening-unfriendly) design motifs to contrast with the rounder, and curvilinear (friendly/homey) farm that Ferdinand calls home.

Ferdinand- vehicles

 I started on Ferdinand in 2014. We had a few style guide pages put together that were really helpful, including a proportion break-down indicating we would follow a "big-small-tiny" theme. We had a couple of rough character designs done, but not a full line-up, so I couldn't key off any specific character motifs. There was an early draft of the script I could reference, but no idea as to the era/time, just location... "Ronda, Spain". These were my very first pencil sketches.

Ferdinand - Distant countryside treatment

Early attempts at stylizing the BG elements. I had just one tree to work with, as that had been identified pretty early on as to the simplicity the AD was looking for in all the BG elements.  That tree was a great example of the large-small-tiny design mantra, (it was not my design), but it really helped me get to the style quicker.
The factories amidst the regimented Olive trees was an earlier idea, one that was supposed to show Ferdinand's transition (on his transport to the ranch) from the rounder, saturated and friendly landscape he was used to, to a de-saturated, angular threatening area where he was headed.
Started to play with cloud/smoke shapes through these as well.

Ferdinand-Ranch Lobby

 The Ranch Lobby.

Ferdinand-Ranch Kitchen

Interior of the Ranch kitchen. Didn't want it too fancy, the word utilitarian was used to describe how it should look. A working ranch that would need to have the capacity to feed farmhands, etc.
I liked mixing up the cabinets, and the curtains to give it that eclectic quality. I think the wall tiles were lost for the final.

Ferdinand - Abattoir

The Ranch Abattoir....simple was best. Too complicated and it started looking like a factory, but it had to look menacing and different from all the other structures in the film. The first few sketches were too reminiscent of labor camps, just too dark. I thought the height of the "chimney" , the tiny windows and the barbed wire was enough.

Ferdinand-Ronda

                                                         (1)

(2)

I wanted a rhythm of simple buildings for the small town of Ronda.  Simple, open walls punctuated with Spanish motifs, and no more than three stories in height so they would contrast with the taller Madrid structures. I thought there should be a similarity to each other, but didn't want a repeating pattern, esp. when the chase and capture scenes occurred. By using the iconic black wrought iron railings, flower pots, and Terra-Cottar tiles, I hoped to visually tie the buildings together. I did an initial drawing (1), then worked that tiny sketch into a street facade (2). I then had to break out each building, designing the four sides of each initial "facades"repeating the same elements/motifs. I was limited to five buildings, so I tried to make sure each facade had a variance that when rotated could be assembled and combined to represent a number of different street configurations.

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

Once I had these, I could keep grouping until I got a "block" that looked random. Five buildings with four facades meant we had a little more architectural imagery to work with.  (8-9-10).

Set dressing just had to track the drainpipes/canopies and the occasional gutter collisions, etc. Overall it worked ok, and we were able to keep the large-small-tiny, simplistic look we wanted for Ronda.

Ferdinand- ElPrimero's Convertible

... lots'a fun with this one. I combined elements of three classic sports cars, yet tried to remain true to the big-small-tiny theme. I love how the severe vertical of the character fits into the extreme horizontal of the car, absurd! My AD knew his cars, so this one got a lot of attention and with the help of a talented modeling team, it felt like we came up with a hybrid car we all wanted to see go into production.

Ferdinand, came out Dec.15.2017.
It was the last film I worked on while still with Blue Sky.  I had more fun on this film than any other film I've worked on to date. I love the simplicity of the characters, the styling, and the storytelling.
I saw it with a full theater of kids who were held for the entire running time with no bail-outs... even the parents managed to keep off the cel phones!J ust a great experience, and a film I am really proud to have worked on.

Ferdinand - Sweet Ride

...the Cattle Truck morphed (through many, many, many) iterations into the modern cattle trailer seen in the film. This "vehicle" was described by one of the characters in an early script as "a sweet ride", so the name stuck through production.