The Evolution of Holmesville

"Holmesville...where everyone is home."

Originally, we were going to make The Lost Land of Yehey a children's book series because it seemed simpler and less daunting. But we rapidly realized that simplifying our story wouldn’t allow us to tell it faithfully. Plus, we didn't know a thing about breaking into the children's book industry! In fact, we had problems just deciding on what size to make the book. After a little back and forth, we realized that we should cater to our strengths, and firmly decided to produce Yehey as an animated series.  It's a much bigger undertaking, but it made the most sense because we both knew way more about animation, and could deliver a faithful telling of the story with all the depth and heart it deserved. Also, we could get it to the world easier via technology and social media.

Below is the visual evolution of Holmesville, the town where Markus and Chechi live. The images compare the book version and the animated version of Holmesville.

Original storybook sketch

Final storybook version used in the Yehey Trailer

The book version of Holmesville definitely has a more hand painted and organic feel to it. Also the texture of the paper really gives it a look of authenticity . There is something charming about this version, and we tried to transfer that over when transitioning to the animated version.

Animated pilot sketch

Final animated pilot version

The animated version received a bit of simplification to make production less daunting. It also received a bit of sprawling expansion across the valley floor.  However the Holmesville Post Office is still in the same place, along with the Hobak Volleyball Factory and Lolo's house. Things get a bit cleaner and more geometric in this version. However we tried to retain that organic feel by adding simple textures to edges and large expanses of flat color. We also added a few lighting effects to warm things up...it's quite cozy.

The Lost Land of Yehey Series One Posters

We are happy to share our first set of posters for season one titled, The Lost Land of Yehey: Curse of the Hunger Grass. Production on the first episode is already underway, and in anticipation for the season we created two posters in contrasting styles. Why? Well throughout the series there is a consistent juxtaposition of wonder & light against fear & darkness.  These posters mirror that dichotomy, and that's something you can expect to see as the world of Yehey continues to unfold. 

The first poster above focuses mainly on Markus and Chechi's hometown, Holmesville. This is the only place that they've ever known, and living in such a small town has made them yearn for adventure. Despite Holmesville being an almost idyllic place, it's not enough to keep them from dreaming of adventure in faraway lands.

The second poster focuses completely on the story and the antagonist, the Hunger Grass. All great adventures have their challenges and struggles, and the Hunger Grass will definitely test our heroes right out of the gate.

Francis Darville - Renown Medium and So Much More

A character and graphic design study for Francis Darville, resident spiritualist and shaman of the Yehey Expedition.  This would be a poster, lobby card or flyer for one of his live public seances, and is inspired by vintage posters and adverts.  Francis is a man of many talents, namely that of shamanistic practices and being a medium that can communicate with the dead.  He's quite the showman!  But this a gross exploitation of his spiritual prowess. However a man's gotta eat...or, not really since he's a living mummy, but you get the idea.