199X, the day of reckoning. The Angels arrived to dispense judgement against the sins of humanity. In flaming meteors they descended upon the Earth, amassing into the Army of Light to destroy the world and pave the way for the creation of a new Heaven and a new Earth.

That was half a millenium ago. The new world order, with new lifeforms created using genetic manipulation, is now crumbling under the same human flaws that permeates Man's history. Elves, dwarves, humans and ogres alike live in a ever-degrading world of violence and war.

Salvation seems to lie in the unlikely hands of a rude and egoistic 400-year old mage called Dark Sneider (who is trapped in the body of a 14-year old boy) and his comrades. As our heroes seeks to destroy Anthrathrax (the resurrected God of Destruction, a biomechanical weapon created by the old world), the Angels descend from heaven once again to resume God's judgement. Will the 4 archangels (Michael, Uriel, Gabriel and Raphael) complete God's will and destroy all remaining life on Earth? Or will Dark Sneider somehow alter the divine plan? I want to know too!

I've chosen Kazushi Hagiwara's immensely popular manga "Bastard!! Dark God of Destruction" as the backdrop for my demo sequence. The comic has some of the coolest characters and art I've seen in Japanese manga, and the artist just takes his inspiration unashamedly from everything ranging from other comics and video games to Ultraman and Michael Jackson. The flight of angels gathering for our impending doom is just too cool to be animated in 3D. The release of Satan from his 1000-year imprisonment to fight the Apocalypse holds so much potential for a CG showdown.

But after 6 weeks, 12 shots and 40 seconds of animation later, I feel that i) the scope is way too big for me to portray adequately using the limited resources I have, and ii) I don't have the necessary knowhow and art skills to do Hagiwara's work any justice. I lost a lot of sleep but gained some valuable experience.

My plan now is to focus on a smaller section of the plot and adapt a short sequence for animation. It will be predominantly character animation, which was what I set out to do in the first place. However I will only attempt this after I try out a few other simpler projects.

I hope Hagiwara will continue drawing the Bastard!! series this year and not leave the plot hanging...

©1999 Pang Sie Piau. All rights reserved.

All works displayed in this gallery are copyright, all rights reserved. Under no circumstance may any part or whole of any image be modified or used in any form or medium, for any purpose commercial or otherwise, without my permission. My other works can be found at the Geometries site.