A while ago, I started noticing that some well-known artists were creating "Voice Claim" videos to show their audience what their characters sound like. (Thank you, @indieyuugure for the inspiration to do this!) And after watching their videos, I thought to myself- "Hmm... I want to do that!"
So, for the last few months, I have been searching and gathering intel trying to decide what my characters from my story, "The Strength in Weakness" would sound like. Finally, I had all my voices picked out.
Then the new year came, and with it, a whole new burst of creative inspiration and drive. One of my main goals this new year, was to practice animation more. And then it clicked: I was going to animate every scene I had picked out for my characters.
I have been working for the last week on this video, and now I can finally present it to you all!!!
~VOICE CLAIMS FOR "THE STRENGTH IN WEAKNESS" CHARACTERS~
Leonardo - It took me a LONG time to figure out my Leo's voice. In my chapters, I describe his tone being cool, calm, and very gentle. However when he's angry or feels threatened, his voice sharpens like the edge of an icicle. This specific tone was NOT easy to find in a VA- A tone that can be as tender and smooth as silk, while also snapping to cold and commanding in a mili-second. I went through many options, but eventually landed on the cool, kind voice of Kirby Morrow, from Scott in X Men Evolution. :)
Raphael - THIS DUDE- THIS....MUTANT- Took the longest to find his voice. Apparently looking up "Brooklyn-accented character" was as useful as a UNO card in a game of poker- A huge part of me wanted to just steal the voice of 2003 Raphael- (Cause he's amazing), but my stubbornness to keep the voices unique won out against that. Eventually I had two options left- Christian Bale in Newsies, or Renegade Knuckles from Sonic Prime. I couldn't find enough audio to use for Christian's voice, so I chose Renegade's instead. Vincent Tong delivered his gravelly, Brooklyn/New York accented lines in a way that fit perfectly with my version of Raph. :)
Donatello - It did not take me that long to see how perfect Jack De Sena's voice was for my version of Don. Sokka, (the original character voiced by Sena), is my favorite Avatar character- and his passion, intelligence in engineering, and squeakiness were just too good not to pick for my angry, freckled genius. :)
Lotus - My precious little oc took a bit of time to get the right voice.. In my story, (at least where I'm up to), she's mostly quiet, but has her explosive moments of suppressed anger or bitterness. She's also quite passionate and argumentative when it comes to someone "lying" or "manipulating" her in any way. She's very conscious of everything happening around her, always taking note of changes in emotions, attitude, and body language. This took a bit of searching, but eventually I found the perfect tone and attitude in the voice of AJ Michalka. :)
Michelangelo - After finding Kurby Morrow's voice, I remembered that his character in X Men Evolution had a little brother... With a chill vibe... and a surfer dude tone. And I was sold on the relaxed, surfer dude, innocent voice of Matt Hill. :)
Originally, I wanted to animate and record the voices for my Splinter and my main villain, Specter. But um... Life got busy again- as well as I was too scared to try drawing- NEVER MIND ANIMATING- Splinter... Soooooo yeahhh that didn't happen... But hope you guys enjoy this all the same. :)
