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From Alicia: I was in foster care for 6 years before landing "forever" at my grandparent's, Alice & Augie's, a foster home out in the boonies of Manitowoc, Wisconsin (one quarry south of Netflix's Making a Murderer). At any given time there were around 13ish kids, plus or minus two depending on the day. We grew up on six acres of wild woods and corn fields near an active Quarry. Our summers were filled with blasts from the Quarry that would fill the air and shake the ground. Those blasts were a backdrop to pretend war games of Little Kids vs Bigs. We shared everything; Imagined worlds, secrets, cigarettes, laughter, food, clothes, beds, nightmares and trauma. This is an important story to tell. There are more than 400,000 foster youth in the US - not counting those that aged out. If more than one Quarry Kid gets together, we'll talk story for hours - reminiscing about our time there, the ways our parents fucked us up, and how damn lucky we were. We had the best worst childhood kids like us could have. Only a Quarry Kid could tell this story - and I am a Quarry Kid.
Early senior year of high school a rep from the Art Institutes spoke to our class about their school and summer teen workshop. Until that point I hadn't given much thought to college. College felt like something that wasn't for people like me. But I was painfully depressed in Manitowoc, and as I sat listening to the representative from AI speak, I saw an opportunity. I saw my ticket out and a chance at a new life. My family didn't own a computer. We didn't have money. So I spent the year, picking rocks for local farmers and working at the grocery store. I managed to trade my way up to a functioning computer with a rip-off copy of photoshop, and enough money to pay my way through the summer teen workshop in "THE BIG CITY" of Minneapolis. Unfortunately I got sick with bronchitis in the days leading up to it. I tried my best to hide my sickness from my Grandma, but because we shared the living room as a bedroom, she heard my breathing in the night. She woke me up at 6am and told me we were heading to the doctor. I cried. I thought my escape was over. I missed my greyhound out. But even though my Gma hated driving and hated cities more, she drove my ass all the way across Wisconsin to AI where I won a $5000.00 scholarship. My life is so good now. I love animation because it gave me a life.
WHAT I LIKE:
• The Eyes – The dark lines above and below the white are real nice. I also love the shade cast from the upper lid and simple dot highlight. I also like that the iris is either very small, or not there at all.
• The textured crayon-like redness on the noses and cheeks. I’m a sucker for red noses… but I think the way it’s handled in these illustrations is better than going full on red nose.
• The way black hair is portrayed – texture but with a generally clean shape to the hair with a few wisps similar to the white people hair.
• I like that younger characters have the same size head as older characters. It’s mostly just their body’s that get smaller.
• I dig the lips on the characters that have lips. Might be nice for some of the characters (not all) as another feature to define them as different.
WHAT CAN CHANGE:
• The head shapes and body shapes are fairly generic. There are 13-ish characters, so playing with more variations on the head shape seems to be a good idea.
• I don’t need any highlights on the hair/skin/body. Eventually these characters will be built in 3d where some of the shading will be generated. Although it wont be your standard “photo-real” shading. It will be 3d made to look 2d.
• I like the variety of nose shapes… but again, I think playing with more variations will be a good idea because of the number of characters involved.
WHAT I LIKE:
• The variety of hair styles. There are a lot of characters and I think the number one defining feature for each character will be their hairstyle. Some longer hair styles would be nice for bg characters… but i do love the idea of keeping our main character’s hair short for ease of animation.
• Again – I love that the younger kids have the same size head as everyone else… it’s just the body that gets bigger or smaller depending on age.
• Love the texture on the redness of the face (again lol)
• The mouth (when opened) is pretty much spot on to what I think will work best.
WHAT CAN CHANGE:
• I like the clothing (hoodies, shorts, hats, etc) , however the clothing is a bit too detailed in these designs. I don’t think it’s important to show all the stitching and wrinkles in the fabric. And there are wayyyyy too many stickers/patches.
Sketch Approved – AR
AGE: 9 years old
TIME SPENT AT MURPHY HOUSE: 2 years
HOW HE SEES HIMSELF: As a cowboy rockstar – hat, spurs and all.
HOW OTHERS SEE HIM: (Adults) As an up-to-no-good hood-rat, even though he’s never lived a day in the city. (Kids) A renegade of mischief. Fun but dangerous to hang out with. The little kids fear him.
PERSONALITY: Braggadocio, Loud, Instigator, always singing/humming a country song to himself, likes to play war games against the little kids. Loves to have an audience
Sketch Approved – AR
AGE: 9¾ years old
TIME SPENT AT MURPHY HOUSE: 3 years
HOW SHE SEES HERSELF: As an artist and a caretaker
HOW OTHERS SEE HER: (Adults) As a shy little girl (Kids) As the voice of reason – which isn’t always a good thing. And as the leader of the house and deck.
PERSONALITY: Sometimes a follower, sometimes a loner, and sometimes a leader. Likes to be around others, but also likes time alone.
Sketch Approved – AR
AGE: 8½ years old
TIME SPENT AT MURPHY HOUSE: Entire life. Born and raised.
HOW HE SEES HIMSELF: As a really funny bad-ass
HOW OTHERS SEE HIM: (Adults) As a cute and smart little boy with beautiful white curls. (Kids) As a friend. Unless he’s around Jameson. Then a foe.
PERSONALITY: A follower, likes to feel like a cool kid, kind-hearted, likes to play dress up and pretend games and loves to be around others.
Sketch Approved – AR
AGE: 7 years old
TIME SPENT AT MURPHY HOUSE: 0 years
HOW SHE SEES HERSELF: As lost. She know’s she’s strong and can get through this, but needs encouragement.
HOW OTHERS SEE HER: (Adults) As a shy adorable little girl (Kids) As the new kid. Mysterious. A new friend perhaps? Or a foe?
PERSONALITY: Luna is at a point of transition. She still has remnants of who she was – playful, optimistic, and carefree. But she will adapt over time into her new self – scared and cautious but full of determination. She likes to be around Mia, who looks out for her. She think’s Silas’s jokes are funny.
Sketch Approved – AR
AGE: 53ish
HOW SHE SEES HERSELF: As the head of the household
HOW OTHERS SEE HER: TBD
PERSONALITY: Almost always yelling, but caring at the end of the day.
Sketch Approved – AR
AGE: 55ish
HOW HE SEES HIMSELF: TBD
HOW OTHERS SEE HIM: Walks with a cane.
PERSONALITY: Quiet and observant.
HAIR: Long wavy poofy blonde hair.
EYES: Blue
NOSE: Somewhere between Henry’s and Eloise’s nose. Long and Narrow… but with a round button like shape at the end
LIPS: thin on top and bottom
SKIN TONE: pasty white
AGE: 24 almost 25- She had Silas (nick) when she was 16. In the pictures I have, she is 30 in the top and 14 in the bottom… so if we can find a way to have her age fall somewhere in between.
SIZE: About a quarter head taller than Eloise
CLOTHING:
TIME SPENT AT MURPHY HOUSE: All her life
HOW SHE SEES HERSELF: TBD
HOW OTHERS SEE HER: TBD
PERSONALITY: Passive. Nervous. She’s in a weird spot in her life. She’s quite young, becoming a mother at 16. She’s only 24 (going on 25) but she has three kids under the age of 10. She’s still naive about the world, but it capable of being a great mother. She lives in a trailer on the Murphy’s property until she can afford to get her own house on her own property.
Sketch Approved – AR
HAIR: Longer (bigger) than Jameson’s, but still fairly round
EYES: Dark brown
NOSE: long and narrow
LIPS: thick on bottom and thin on top
SKIN TONE: darker than Jameson but not as dark as Arlo
AGE: 11
SIZE: 5, nearly 5 and a half heads (taller, longer and more narrow than Jameson)
CLOTHING: Long black pants, loose but not baggie and a long-sleeve white shirt under a striped short sleeve button up like this.
TIME SPENT AT MURPHY HOUSE: 3 years
HOW HE SEES HIMSELF: TBD
HOW OTHERS SEE HIM: TBD
PERSONALITY: Chill. He’s a lot taller than the other kids so he tends to slouch a bit when he’s around them.
Sketch Approved – AR
HAIR: Long and dreaded a little bit on the ends
EYES: dark brown
NOSE: round and button
LIPS: thick on bottom and thin on top
SKIN TONE: Darker than Jameson and Everette
AGE: 7
SIZE: Shorter than Mia but taller than Luna
CLOTHING: A bright patterned polo shirt with baggy long blue cutoff shorts and striped socks. Basically this outfit but without the hat, watch, fox tail, and blue jean overshirt.
TIME SPENT AT MURPHY HOUSE: 2 years
HOW HE SEES HIMSELF: As a genius biding his time.
HOW OTHERS SEE HIM: As the go to person to get all the info you need for who’s done what, how to do something, or how to get away with something.
PERSONALITY: Chill but edgy. Likes the other kids, but feels too smart for them.
HAIR: Fluffy natural hair that she does her best to slick back into a ponytail with a poof ball in the back. Occasionally- during visitations with her father, she’ll get it braided.
EYES: Dark Brown
NOSE: Wider button nose, like Eloise, Jameson, or Arlo.
LIPS: thick on bottom and thin on top
SKIN TONE: a shade lighter than Everette. Lighter than everyone (who is black) except Jameson. She is darker than Jameson.
AGE: 6
SIZE: Almost a whole head shorter than Luna. Stella is very small for her age. Though she is 6… she is much closer in size to the 4-5 year olds.
CLOTHING: Most of the kids at the Murphy house dressed for comfort. And for the most part Stella does to. But of all the kids, she makes the biggest effort to be fashion forward. She wears a jean dress with a T-shirt under it, kind of like this outfit or this outfit or this outfit. She was also always wearing at least one scrunchy around her writst.
TIME SPENT AT MURPHY HOUSE: 2 years
HOW SHE SEES HERSELF: TBD
HOW OTHERS SEE HER: TBD
PERSONALITY: Stella is bossy and confident. Often she is mistaken for younger than she is, which causes her to try harder to seem older. She likes make-up and fashion, but also doesn’t mind getting dirty.
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Max is one year older than Cora, however, he is very small for his age, and so he is physically the same height at Cora. That said, he needs to look a tiny bit older than Cora and one way to achieve that is to make him a lot less chubby than her. Both will be about 3ish heads high.
Outfit Inspiration: Can he have an outfit that looks like the outfit he’s wearing in the second photo? Blue sweatshirt and sweatpants set with stripes and a car on the sweatshirt and with shoes like these shoes.
Cora is one year younger than Max, but she is fairly tall for her age, making her the same height as Max. That said, she still has a lot of her baby fat and therefore still looks very baby-like. Both will be about 3ish heads high.
Outfit Inspiration: The shoes Cora wears should look like the shoes in the top picture or like these. Her outfit should be a striped dress like this.
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• In every episode someone has to jump off of something.
• In every episode someone has to start a fire (intentionally or otherwise).
• In every episode someone has to sneak or steal something.
There’s a knock on door. The boys scatter.
Mia: What the fuck did you do!
Kids smushed together on a couch. Kids smushed together at the foot of the couch. Kids smushed together on a lazy boy. Kids sprawled out on the floor. It’s movie day.
Luna is scared. Just one day ago, she was at home with her two brothers. But today, Luna is arriving at her new home as a foster child at the Murphy House.
There are many forts on the Murphy property. Big Mama’s Kitchen, The Slabs, The Sunken Shack, The Sylvester Tree, and Old Man Grape. But the best fort on the property dates back for three generations of Quarry Kids – Fort Fort. The Core Four spend the day working on updating Fort Fort’s lookout post, Tree Fort, while defending the perimeter from the little kids. One of the kids has a court date.
Mia runs Luna through the Ins-and-Outs of the Justice System at the Murphy house. One of the kids has a visitation with their Mom.
It’s an impossible mission, but the core four are about to bring freedom to the candy of the Murphy house. The parents of one of the kids just relinquished their parental rights – officially making them a ward of the state and giving them the option to be adopted.
A simple game of H.O.R.S.E. slips into a river of playful banter – that escalates into a war of one-ups – that spirals into one final and daring leap – all culminating in the collapse of the mighty tower. And not one broken bone…that we know of. Luna empty’s the garbage bag containing all her belongings – finally accepting that she’s going to be at the Murphy house for a while.
Food is a tricky subject at the Murphy House. Maybe we shouldn’t talk about it. Another kid has a court date.
An entire episode that takes place inside of Goodwill.
Six of the ‘big kids’ decide to put on a battle royal using only weapons built from items found in the garage. But two of the kids have already hidden their swords inside – and they intend to win.
The Murphy Kids never get to eat out. NEVER. Can you imagine the costs! But then the McBurger’s baby beanie’s craze infects the Adults of the Murphy House. And in the summer of 96, everything’s coming up McBurger’s.
The entire episode takes place inside of the ‘kids bathroom’ in the Murphy House. We watch a series of shenanigans take place including toothbrush shenanigans, five-year-olds running a drug ring, and the most epic toilet fire of the decade.
Tis the season for the quarry kids to start hunting down those hidden Christmas gifts.
A child leaves the Murphy Home.
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Alicia Allen
+1 612 2347883
Remote | Minnesota, USA
