From Lemons to Lemonade

Hi, I would like to enroll the help of you awesome people on blender.

I have an idea that popped into my head and simply will not go away.

Imagine you’re sitting on a small lot of land. There is nothing around you but a fountain, a tree and a gazebo that is unfurnished. This is where you live, day in and day out, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. You, alone, with nothing. Never mind about food and restroom concerns, for this project, they basically don’t exist.

Every day, you wash in the fountain, lounge in the gazebo, rest under the tree and repeat. BORING!

Then, one day, as you’re sitting under the tree, a lemon falls and hits you on the head. You pick it up and are inspired! Then, you notice on the gazebo, a table! Where did that come from? On the table is a pitcher and a spoon!! Inspiration turns to action! Something new, something out of the ordinary! You hurry to the gazebo and squeeze the lemon into the pitcher and fill it with water from the fountain. You sit it down on the table to admire the mere fact that you were able to do something different.

The next thing you know, you’re not alone! Someone just came from nowhere holding a cup! You pour the lemonade and then, someone else! Another, another and another, they appear! Suddenly, you’re not alone anymore! There’s a party, complete with music and dancing and people all around! Your little world has become The World and you are President Awesome!


So that is the idea that came to me. But, I could really use some help making it a reality! This will be posted on my youtube channel as well as facebook and of course it goes without saying that full credit will go to whoever helps me with this. I’m currently working on a storyboard type video to show my vision. I could really use some help with this production since this will likely take time to create.

Also, anyone who works on this project with me will of course be permitted to post it wherever they see fit as well. The more posting, the more attention it will bring to all of us!

Thank you for your time and now I’ll take some questions…You, in middle row, left, what’s your question?

You will probably need to finish that storyboard quite soon. Here I am wondering, who is the main character? Why do they sleep under a tree (nature) yet have a this manmade gazebo around? Are they even human? How is the appearance of the first person with a cup enacted? Is it a comic situation? Like a cut to a closeup of a guy staring emptily at the lemonade? Then you need to start thinking about what kind of people you need for this project. E.g. facial expressions require tremendous experience in character modelling/animation. (Probably work with premade assets to iterate the storyboard beforehand)

Thank you for the input. I suppose you could say that this is conceptual. The main character is isolated which would symbolize the feeling we all experience from time to time. The people who appear would be basically just not there one minute, there the next. It’s sort of an enactment of “When life throws you lemons, make lemonade” while also giving a nod to the olden days and the lemonade stands that have all but disappeared.

The characters for the storyboard are being made with MakeHuman from http://www.makehuman.org which incredibly cuts down on modeling times.

As for the main character sleeping under a tree, that’s not necessarily the case. He rests there from time to time just like he plays in the fountain and rests on the gazebo.

Originally, I had thought to make it just a square plot of land with nothing but blue sky surrounding it, then when he made the lemonade and drank it, suddenly the rest of the world just began to pop up out of the clear blue sky. But, then I realized that the isolation isn’t so much cut off from the material world but more from the social world. So another concept comes into play, the saying “No man is an island.” Now, he is on an island alone. The people could swim up out of the ocean though I still think that just appearing in the blink of an eye would be more appropriate because most social isolation is of our own doing. So, when we open our eyes to the people around, we realize that we’re not so closed off as we previously believed.

It may help to understand that I am a recluse whose only real contact with anyone outside of my immediate family is through the blender community so that’s where the concept of isolation comes from. I could easily go visit the neighbors but for reasons I won’t go into, have elected not to. Now, I’m starting to realize that the isolation is not of the world’s doing, but of my own and I’m taking steps to re-integrate with people again. If this makes sense and helps to understand the concepts behind this animation. For me, the lemons were chickens and the lemonade is chicken eggs. Like with the lemonade stand, the chicken egg sales are helping me to open back up again.

As for the crew, I would definitely need modelers, textural artists, riggers/animators and since this is my first project, perhaps an adviser? Of course, I am always open to input from every source.

The storyboard will take some time to complete but it is in progress.

So he does not actually live there.

Don’t obsess over the quality of the storyboard. Make it quick. Especially if you have not yet grinded maximum skill level, failing often is infinitely better than failing hard.

No, he lives on the island, but doesn’t necessarily sleep under the tree. He just sleeps wherever he decides to. Basically, the point is that he is completely limited to what he can do when he has really nothing to do.

I’ve run into a bit of a snag with the storyboard. I have an acute inner and outer ear infection of the left ear as well as infectious conjunctivitis of the left eye. So suffice it to say, I’m in a fair amount of pain right now and it will take some time for the medications to kick this so I’ll not be in any condition to work on it probably until after my follow-up in a week.

Thanks for your interest and hopefully I can show you my vision soon.