Ocean Voyager
Featured in the Smithsonian's Ocean Planet exhibit, Ocean voyager teaches kids about ocean ecology and ship navigation. With my background in scientific and technical illustration, the producer, Judson Rosebush decided I was the ideal candidate to create the submarine, illustrate and animate the scenes of ocean life.

The Sea Scout
With a submarine and a rich underwater world to design and animate, I needed to create a style that would be cost effective and could be completed by the opening of the museum exhibit. I designed and illustrated the submarine using Photoshop gradient fills and lighting effects placing elements on layers for easy editing.

The Bridge
I wanted a hi-tech look to the sub but I felt that an all digital interface wouldn't be as much fun as analog dials and levers that animate. It was challenging to fit all the required controls on the bridge and keep then legible at 72 dpi. I animated bridge windows view to make the sub appear to dive and travel into different habitats.

The Science Lab
It was my decision to hire actors to play the crew and rotoscope them since it would be faster and cheaper than drawing and animating their characters and would go well with my realistic looking sea life animations. I used video footage provided by the Smithsonian to create looping and linear animations of the underwater world.

The Pod
Players clean up toxic waste, investigate undersea volcanos and thermal vents using the robotic arm. Arpo the seal runs about the ship creating havoc and the crew scrambles to repair hull damage and remind the captain to surface for air or refuel. The CD-ROM has thousands of animating Director sprites.

The Journey
The Sea Scout include plan drawings that kids can print out. The crew quarters and lab contain books, videos and CD-ROMs that are rich in information and images provided by the scientists from the Smithsonian that provide clues to learn navigation, to overcome obstacles and to complete the tests in the lab.

The Production Team
Design, illustration and animation: Kathy Konkle
Produced by: Judson Rosebush. Rotoscoping and production art: Amy Morawa. Programmed by: Matt Schlanger and Andy Hunt