Quest for Animation Glory

Earl

2011-12-12T16:27:00.000-05:00

The blog has gone quiet, but the quest is still going strong. I've been busy moving to Vancouver, starting a new job at Sony Imageworks and blaa blaa. I made this in Illustrator over the weekend, based on my favorite coconut monkey carving that I got from an old neighbor that passed away.

Claritar

2011-06-09T15:12:00.001-04:00

More Pasadena Poeple

2011-02-18T15:18:00.000-05:00

Landfill

2011-01-31T00:35:00.000-05:00

Documentia

2010-12-27T22:56:00.000-05:00

Some of you that know me may know that I have a rare condition called 'Documentia'. My documentia was acting up over this holiday weekend and so I drew this.

Before you go feeling sorry for me or feel the urge to start a fund-raising foundation, you should understand that this condition isn't a bad thing....it's actually not even a real condition, I just like watching documentaries, and while I was watching, I was doodling, it's a side effect of my Documentia medication.

This drawing was inspired by the "Radiant Child" documentary. Any good documentaries you would recommend?

Rainy Day People of Pasadena

2010-12-18T16:01:00.000-05:00

I had a few minutes at the studio yesterday to draw some people outside the window. The guy at the top left kept ringing the door bell at this building and nobody answered, he'd get frustrated, then he'd ring it again with a smile on his face, he'd wait 30 seconds, get angry face, then do it again.

Old Nintendo DS paintings

2010-12-06T01:27:00.000-05:00

I found some old color sketches on my Nintendo DS memory card. The first one is from our the kitchen in our old apartment. I think it was somewhat overcast that day, but everything had a bluish tint. The second was from the amtrak train somewhere between LA and San Francisco. Hills with endless Chaparral. I'm no painter, but I like the simplicity of these.

Barthalomew the brilliant

2010-12-02T01:43:00.000-05:00

Dateline NBC

2010-11-07T13:37:00.000-05:00

Slow Friday night at the Gormans'. I ended up watching this Dateline NBC episode about.........yes.........you guessed it......a mysterious death that wasn't quite what it seemed. I was on the edge of my seat the whole hour. "They seemed like the Ideal American Family.......until one day"

Seabiscuits

2010-09-17T16:38:00.001-04:00

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. I can't use the excuse that I've been super busy with work. More like, moderately busy with work and visiting family and friends. I'm excited to be starting a couple new projects soon. One project will be a 'traditionally animated' short film for Duncan Studio. A pencil, giant stacks of paper, and some very talented animators and artists...... I can't wait. Here is a random drawing I did on my recent flight to Indiana. I have no idea why I drew these 3, but there's got to be a story there.

Figure drawing class - July 18

2010-07-19T18:33:00.000-04:00

Well, it was good to be back, drawing in a classroom setting. The charcoal drawings were quick 30 second poses, and the pencils were 5-10 min poses. If you want to draw better and there is a figure drawing class open in your area, I highly recommend going. I knew I should be going pretty regularly, but I always found some excuse not to. By the way, this is a just a portion of the drawings, there are plenty of crappy ones, too.

I forget the exact quote, but Glen Keane or Art Babbit, someone said,
"Every animator has at least a hundred bad drawings in them. Once you get them out, you can start making the good ones."

*Perhaps someone can help me out with the exact quote?

Figure drawing class tonight

2010-07-18T16:53:00.000-04:00

I signed up for a figure drawing class tonight... it's been awhile. I was looking in the closet for an old pad of newsprint, and I found some drawings that I don't even remember doing. Hopefully I'll have something to post from this class tonight.

Optimistic Beard

2010-05-18T12:32:00.000-04:00

Random drawing from a while ago. I remember sitting down at the computer and googling random words until I found an interesting face.

Dance Thumbnails

2010-05-05T23:42:00.000-04:00

I've been studying a lot of dances recently for additional game animations. Here are some thumbnails I drew while trying to figure one of the dances out.

Tigers' Dance Animations

2010-04-22T15:18:00.000-04:00

There are many 'emotes' in the game. If you feel like screaming there is a scream animation. If you feel like practicing Kung-Fu, there is a kung fu animation. If you feel happy, there is a happy animation. And if you feel like dancing....

Gorilla boss

2010-04-16T12:31:00.000-04:00

More Loadbar Animations

2010-04-13T12:48:00.000-04:00

A couple more loadbar animations from the kfpw. Viper was the most challenging to break apart into pieces to re-use. She changes shape so often and her body is always tapering in or out. But I will say, Viper was the most fun to animate.

Loadbar Animations

2010-04-10T20:18:00.000-04:00

To keep players entertained while waiting for kfpw to load, we created a series of loadbar animations with the 'furious five' characters. We had a unique challenge of making these animations fairly long, but keeping the file size very, very small. So, we roughed these out to get the performance right with the brush tool. Then made 5 or 6 shapes to describe the monkey's main body parts (head, tail, chest, leg/arm, foot) and then re-used, overlapped and skewed the same body parts over and over again until the whole body was filled in. Since Flash allows you to instance the same symbol (movie clip or graphic)as many times as you want without adding to the file size, we were able to keep the files small, allowing them to load quickly.

Here is monkey

Croc Boss

2010-04-08T16:21:00.000-04:00

One of the many cool villains in kfpw is the Croc. Here is one of the croc boss entrances I animated in one of the mini-games, followed by the rough animations I did before filling in the the character shapes. The red lines are tracking my arcs on the sword and a few other parts of the character.

More to come...

Kung Fu Panda World is Alive!

2010-03-31T16:20:00.000-04:00

I've been animating for the past 9 months on this game.
www.kungfupandaworld.com
It's a massive multiplayer online (MMO) game for kids based on the Kung Fu Panda movie from Dreamworks. It has been a lot of fun and I'm excited to see it up and running. Our in-house animation team got to animate a huge variety of characters on this game(mostly in-world): Characters with 2 legs, 4 legs, no legs, wings, huge gorillas and tiny chopsticks fighting over a dumpling. Great experience and great game. If you have some free time, go there and check it out. Wander around, practice some kung fu, fight some croc minions or play some mini games.

One of the animators that I work with developed some really useful tools for the 'flash character animation pipeline'. He's now allowing anyone to download and try them out for free. I can't say enough about how helpful his tools were while working on the game.
Autotweener
Art Brushes in Flash (new)

I'll try to put together some of my work from the game so I can post it here on the blog. You can, of course, see the finished animations in the game, but I also have lots of thumbnail sketches and roughed out animations that I'd like to post.

By the way, I snapped this photo a couple of weekends ago at Dreamworks while checking out a special screening for "How To Train Your Dragon". I wasn't sure what to think from the watching trailer, but I must say it was really well done with top-notch animation. I recommend.

A House

2010-03-24T18:33:00.000-04:00

I found this drawing in an old sketchbook and really liked it, specially since I don't do a lot building/structural drawings. I remember wanting to develop it further, maybe recreate it in 3D, or something. Anyway, it's just a quick doodle, so I decided to add some color for now.

It's funny how you can look back on something with fresh eyes and have a completely different appreciation for it. It's like I don't remember drawing it, so I'm looking at it completely objectively.

Life

2010-03-23T14:02:00.002-04:00

"Life" just started on the Discovery Channel. The most bizarre and interesting animals out there, all in HD slow-mo footage. Amazing. Here are some quick sketches I did while watching the other night. The bird on the left does this strange courtship ritual with their significant other where they run across the surface of the water together in perfect synchronization. Watch it!

Sidenote: Next Monday, I finally get to show what I've been animating on for the past 9 months...

Busy

2010-03-04T19:58:00.000-05:00

Thank you for the great comments everyone has been leaving lately. There have been some questions about my materials I use to draw or software to animate. So, I'd like to answer some of them. I animate in Flash for 2D and Maya for 3D, with the exception of the occasional animation in After Effects or Nuke. I almost always draw quick, people, observational sketches with a pen. I have a nice Faber Castell 'S' PITT pen. If I'm drawing from my imagination, then I almost always use a medium-hard pencil H's or F's. If I like the drawing, I will sometimes refine it with a soft 4-6B pencil. If I add color, I usually scan in my drawing, set the drawing layer (in Photoshop or Illustrator) to 'multiply' blend mode and add color on layers below that.

This is an illustration I made for an insurance company a few years ago. I was going through some old files and stumbled on it. It seems to give the sense of busy, which is what I am right now. It's an animated gif that I created in photoshop. Basically you feed 5 or 6 versions of a drawing into photoshop and it loops them.

Frog Princess....I mean Frog Girl

2010-02-12T18:51:00.000-05:00

Last year while on vacation at one of the lakes in northern Indiana, there was this young girl who would catch frogs every night with a flashlight and a bucket. Not only could she catch them, but she could also stun them by rubbing their bellies.

Venice Beach Art Wall

2010-02-09T12:44:00.000-05:00

A couple of weekends ago, I rode down to Venice Beach to draw. I found a nice spot to sit and watch the graffiti guys working on the Art Wall.

History Channel!

2010-02-04T22:04:00.001-05:00

The History Channel has some new programs we've been enjoying at home. Here are a couple of characters from 'Pawn Stars' and 'Pickers'

Ludwig and his elephant

2010-01-26T17:03:00.001-05:00

Getty People

2010-01-13T16:47:00.002-05:00

After a long Christmas break, the quest continues, as I try to dust the cobwebs off. Here are some people that held still long enough for me to draw them. The highlight of the day was the guy wearing heels and carrying his wife's purse.

Hand Gestures at the CTN-X

2009-11-24T21:09:00.002-05:00

I attended the CTN-X animation expo this weekend. With all of the great panel discussions going on, it was a perfect time to draw and watch the hand gestures of the different speakers. it seems most people have similar hand/arm movements, but the subtle differences in the tension in the fingers reveal the unique personalities.

Football Sunday

2009-11-02T11:57:00.004-05:00

They didn't broadcast the Colts game here on the west coast, so I was stuck watching a couple of teams that I didn't have much interest in. So I started drawing...

Disney Animation Boot Camp

2009-10-23T15:57:00.010-04:00

Not long before March 25, 2002, when Disney announced they were cutting their 2D animation department, they had a 2D Animation Boot Camp for new talent. This is not to be taken lightly. Disney put the recruits up in a dorm in Monterey, CA. They were taught by some of the Disney greats, including Walt Stanchfield. A co-worker of mine was selected to be one of these new talents back in 1997 when he was in college. He shared with me his stories and his official boot camp binder.

Pretty damn cool.

This is a huge binder, loaded with great advice and techniques for beginning animation artists. I can't imagine how cool this might have been to be a part of. This is the same year Disney put out Hercules. This is also 5 years before they gave 2D the axe and 10 years before they resurrected it from the dead again. I don't have the time to scan the whole thing (though I wish I could), but I wanted to at least scan a small sample to share with any of the animation fans out there.

I have no idea if they still do this sort of thing for their new3D animators, but I doubt it.

Oil Pumps

2009-10-17T21:18:00.002-04:00

Costco Folks

2009-10-16T17:08:00.001-04:00

Airplane wing of the 737

2009-09-24T01:45:00.005-04:00

I'm becoming more familiar with this guy

Waiting for an oil change

2009-09-12T16:55:00.002-04:00

Two things you may run into on the sidewalks of LA

2009-09-02T02:29:00.005-04:00

guy waiting

2009-08-27T00:26:00.002-04:00

people

2009-08-19T01:46:00.004-04:00

people at the laundromat, and a wheel

people at the OSH outdoor store

Painting

2009-08-16T22:09:00.002-04:00

I have lots to learn, but I'm enjoying the process. He was inspired by a bad guy in a 70's James Bond film that I caught on TV the other night.

Drawing

2009-08-08T15:06:00.005-04:00

Comic Con!

2009-07-26T23:03:00.005-04:00

I had the pleasure of attending Comic Con this last weekend. I didn't know what to expect, but within 10 minutes of entering the convention center doors, I met Bill Plympton and got an autographed copy of his Dog Days DVD. Needless to say, it was very cool. I got to meet a lot of VERY talented artists and even some famous folks. Here are some of the nice artists who signed my sketchbooks

Bill Plympton

Ronnie Del Carmen

John Kricfalusi

Kei Acedera

Bobby Chiu

2009-06-12T18:41:00.004-04:00

So it turns out that the monkey animation test I did, got me the job! But....I can't put it up on my blog, nor anything I'm working on for awhile. The project is hush hush for now, but I assure you it has been a lot of fun to work on. Here are a couple o f people waiting for their food at a restaurant up the street.

sketch update

2009-05-25T12:08:00.005-04:00

Some of these are from a nearby coffee shop, where I was sitting there looking around for someone to draw and realized that I had sat down across from Michael Strahan. Unfortunately, he was a quick mover and didn't stick around long enough for me to get a sketch of him. Though there were some good candidates that day; birds, young people, old people, people carrying boxes, shopping bags, etc...
I find it a lot easier to draw people here in LA than anywhere else. Most people have on the 'big city blinders' and don't pay much attention to the people around them. I think it's an adaptation to being surrounded by people, everywhere, all day. Whatever the reason, it makes it easier to draw them because they don't notice, or care. There are definitely a lot of interesting looking people here, and you don't have to go far to see them. I can walk outside my door and draw the cleaning lady or walk outside my building and draw people walking their dogs or the building painters across the street, Or the mechanics on the corner....
With all of this at my disposal, I guess I should be drawing more!

Next Post:
I did an animation test recently for a job with a cool monkey rig built in flash. It was a lot of fun, it should be up in a few days.

girls

2009-05-07T16:11:00.002-04:00

some new stuff

Background

2009-04-28T13:22:00.004-04:00

I was going through some old boxes that I haven't looked through in a while and came across a few gems from college. I found this background study I did for a class where I was experimenting painting on cells. This was a study taken from an episode of Samurai Jack. It was done with chalk pastels and for some reason, I just really like the feel of the chalk and the mix of colors. Another gem in the boxes, was a VHS tape with my first hand-drawn animation attempts on it. At some point, I'll transfer this amazing(ha) animation to digital format and post it on here for everyone's amusement, including my own.

Ed from Intervention

2009-04-21T15:42:00.003-04:00

straight ahead animation on the DS

2009-04-20T20:11:00.004-04:00

I just started drawing mike wazowski and 500 or 600 frames later, this is what I came up with. fun excersize with a simple character, i guess. i don't know if i'll ever get around to finishing it but it was fun to animate. it could use some in-betweens and music...

character designs ideas...

2009-04-09T02:14:00.002-04:00

I was going for "sexy"...

ladies at the laundr-o-mat

2009-03-31T01:31:00.003-04:00

mopping, sweeping, eating, putting on make-up, playing video games and watching their "stories" on the spanish channel... these are just a few. I had a lot of time to kill waiting for our laundry, so there are more laundry lady drawings where this came from.

Intervention Guy

2009-03-24T13:19:00.003-04:00

This guy is from an episode of intervention last night. I think he had more problems than his 'addicted' wife.

Some Drawings

2009-03-17T14:58:00.002-04:00

Waiting for the bus, riding the bus, shopping at the outlet mall and getting my oil changed...

Hand Gestures

2009-03-16T19:21:00.006-04:00

Hand Gestures
I came across this today and had to pass it along. This is an amazing video analysis of hand shapes and gestures. She (Emily Maynes) goes through lots of gestures and variations. It's very interesting how doing the same gesture but at different heights or distances can mean so many different things.

Wrapping up...

2009-03-12T13:05:00.008-04:00

The blog has been quiet lately, partly because of moving, partly because of learning and adjusting, but mostly because of the project I'm wrapping up on at the end of this month. As some of you may know, the movie is called Drag Me To Hell and it has been a great experience for me. I've learned an incredible amount in a short period of time and I'm excited to see something I've worked on in theaters. I have a new-found respect for movies and their creators. The process is very interesting to me and it seems that I learn something new almost everyday. This film is close to wrapping up, but I'm still in the thick of it working on some final shots. One of my shots will be unmissable if you watch the movie (hint: it involves an anvil)

But the Quest is still going strong! I'm still drawing and animating in my free time, just haven't found time to scan and organize for the blog, hopefully I will remedy that soon.

The Steel Dragon (aka the city bus, or how I learned to draw on bumpy roads....sort of)

2009-02-11T02:49:00.007-05:00

As in all quests, there has to be a dragon, and this quest is no different. Fortunately, this one feeds on compressed natural gas and quarters. So I summon the dragon a few times a week to get me to work. These are some other local folks getting to and from work on Metro line 14.

...sorry for the bad drawings, i'm a little rusty... more to come from the bus...

The Quest Goes On!

2009-01-28T01:50:00.006-05:00

Sorry for the lack of posts. moving, working, acquainting, etc..has kept me very busy, but I've managed to do a couple quick animations on the DS to keep the mind limber.

I've been taking the bus to work a few days a week, which has given me time to draw. So stay tuned for some bus drawings. Things are going well out here and the future is definitely looking bright for the quest.

The Animation Quest Continues in Los Angeles

2008-11-25T11:19:00.015-05:00

After years of practice, drawing, animating, researching, planning, pondering and patience....I'm officially making the move to Animation Town (Los Angeles). Tons of new challenges, adventures, struggles, and achievements lie ahead. I've got a VFX and animation job lined up and I start right away. Now, I feel is a time to celebrate the little victory of making the big leap and thank everyone who has a been supportive and helped me get to this point. (Which is probably everyone reading this blog) So, THANK YOU!

Bombingscience did a great interview with a friend of mine. Known as "6Cents", his graffiti is top notch, so if you aren't familiar, check out the interview and familiarize.

There will be plenty of posts to come, but in the meantime, here is a drawing I did a while ago that I thought looked like Andreas Deja, Disney animator extraordinaire. I also wanted to expand my color palette and try to get away from the typical colors I usually go for. So, to do this, I sampled colors from a really vibrant illustration with a broad color range, done by Sylvain Marc, and applied them to my drawing. It's rough, but just wanted to mix up the way I think about color.

bowling pencil test and reflections on the different methods of animating

2008-10-28T11:28:00.010-04:00

I had some time to kill on Friday and decided to brush up on the hand-drawn animation skills. I have a tendency to use Flash as a crutch sometimes because of it's quick and constant feedback, but I think that can create bad habits. This time I forced myself to guess at the timing and just start drawing. I pretty much got all of the keys and most of the breakdowns drawn before ever scanning them and checking the timing.
The more experience I get with Hand Drawn Animation, the more I realize how truly unique it is. You get so much more control and chance for expression since it's pencil on paper. But compared to computer animation, you're really animating in the dark. You really don't know what you have until you do that first pencil test. And even then, you're still speculating because everything is roughly drawn and it's choppy(on 4's or 5's). From start to finish, hand-drawn seems like it starts out sorta shaky and rough, but it just gets better and better from there, continuing to mold it.
Compare that to animating in Maya, where it starts out great with thumbnails, looks good in stepped mode, all of the poses seem to be working, but then when you switch to splines, it get's really watered down, and then you're wrestling with the computer to do what you want it to do, but can't seem to get it to do quite right.
Ultimately, I find traditional animating so much more personally rewarding, BUT until I get an assistant to do my clean-up and in-betweening, I'll probably stick with the computer.

The Poles Are In!

2008-10-23T14:57:00.003-04:00

Now in Color!

Could you please pass the punch

2008-10-15T16:38:00.003-04:00

The creature render is still in the works, I promise. 'til then here is a drawing I did during a meeting today. It is not an actual depiction of the meeting... but there was a lot of tension and agression in the room.

Glow Finger

2008-10-06T17:13:00.002-04:00

The Creature is Looming

2008-08-29T17:21:00.003-04:00

Some fellow coworkers and I have created a character in our free time at work. I have recently just finished animating it and is currently in the process of rendering. Here are some screen-shots until the animation is properly rendered.

More Character Designs

2008-08-07T10:47:00.002-04:00

Different client, 50-60's style.

character designs

2008-07-30T14:21:00.004-04:00

Here is something I've been working on for the Sauce. These are character designs for a farmer, wife, and his daughter. Since it's still in progress, I've only posted a small jpg teaser. These drawings are copyright Mediasauce.

I'm watching you

2008-07-23T17:48:00.003-04:00

Here's a (real) drawing I'm working on, don't know if it's done, but I like it. Any suggestions??

Jump, Clap, Hell yeah on the DS!

2008-07-11T15:29:00.006-04:00

I thought I'd try some straight-ahead style animation, working on turning people around in 2D. Used Animanatee, again on the DS. Don't know where the premise came from, perhaps influenced by the upcoming Olympics and the fact that it's Friday. Enjoy the weekend!

Thanks Coach

2008-07-11T08:59:00.009-04:00

...sitting in my grade school classroom, learning and practicing how to write in cursive, I thought to myself, this is lame, why would anyone want to write like this, I wanted to say the classic, "When will I ever use this in the real world?!" but I couldn't do it, because for some reason, I knew that I would use it for something. So this drawing is dedicated to all of the 3 lined paper out there feeling the neglect of children everywhere. This one's for you!

Oh, and also to all of those coaches out there who have a solution for any injury.

DS Drawings

2008-07-01T10:10:00.003-04:00

I was watching the Bachelorette last night with Stephanie (not by choice) and couldn't help but draw some of these characters.

Meeting time = Drawing time.

2008-06-26T16:35:00.003-04:00

I had some fun with these drawings. This meeting was perfect. People kept talking and expressing their personalities, but they weren't moving a lot.

People at the Indiana Fever game

2008-06-25T10:46:00.003-04:00

I brought my sketchbook with me to the game last night. I saw many candidates, but never found the time or space to draw. So, I memorized and then drew them when I got home. Kind of a fun way to draw from life and from your own ideals. Good memory excersize, too. Here is a "security"dude that I bumped into coming out of the bathrooms and a kid that sat next to us with an undying passion for the Fever. The last one I found in the moleskin that I forgot about, drew that a while ago waiting for band rehearsal on Mass Ave.

I've been trying watercolors lately

2008-06-22T22:03:00.007-04:00

I've got these watercolor pencils and crayons and they seem to allow more control than the traditional kind, which used to frustrate me because the lack of control, or experience on my part. Anyway, these pencils and crayons are challenging too, but fun to work with. Here are some more of my first attempts.

Stephanie is Graduating!

2008-06-19T10:06:00.006-04:00

In honor of her MA graduate show (and all of her hard work over the years), Stephanie has started a ceramics portfolio blog to showcase some of her accomplishments. Hop on over and check out some of her amazing work. Her show will be up from July 8-11, so if you're in the Ball State area from July 8-11, swing by and check out her show in person.

more Nintendo DS animation

2008-06-13T09:47:00.002-04:00

Joseph slams the tennis ball once again and...rejoice for video game sports.

cat sweater

2008-06-03T23:32:00.003-04:00

Thumbnails and rig testing for upcoming animation

2008-05-23T16:43:00.008-04:00

Nintendo DS + Colors! + Animanatee = portable brilliance

2008-05-20T11:27:00.009-04:00

I just got a Flash cart for my DS which allows homebrew programs, such as a painting program, colors!, and a flipbook program, animanatee. Love it. Here are some quick tests I did getting used to the programs. You can adjust framerate, pressure sensitivity, etc... Sorry for the bad compression, still trying to find a good one that works for youtube/google video.

working in color

2008-05-14T12:37:00.004-04:00

Color is an ongoing challenge, but a welcome one. I've got a long way to go, but I'm content with never conquering color. Here is a drawing I did a while ago and I've started adding some color in photoshop, just experimenting, not finished. Putting this stuff up on my blog allows me to view it more objectively, now that I know anyone can see it and comment on it.

Animation food for hungry Maya animators

2008-04-28T11:06:00.004-04:00

I came across this excellent idea that Cameron Fielding over at Flip has come up with. With MEL script in Maya, he has programmed a window to pop up with all kinds of animation tips, inspiration, etc. whenever you need some.
Animfood MEL script

It's Alive!!!! My April 11 second club entry is alive!!

2008-04-25T09:51:00.004-04:00

April is complete! Thanks for everyone's feedback. A special thanks goes out to Joseph Cross for the rig help. He's a real surgeon, detaching limbs with his eyes closed. Thanks man.

Some work stuff... Perficency, Barking up a dead horse

2008-04-25T09:29:00.005-04:00

Here's a preview of what I was working on about a month ago, probably one of the most fun projects to animate that I've done here at Mediasauce.

www.barkingupadeadhorse.com

now i'm getting somewhere! (april 11 second club rough)

2008-04-16T00:00:00.017-04:00

Got some feedback and changed the ending. On to spline mode and lip sync.

Wow, I feel like I'm finally getting somewhere with these 11 second club bits. I've been struggling with these short acting clips for the last couple of months, but I think I've found a better way of working in Maya now. My last couple of attempts have been frustrating because I knew what these animations needed, but couldn't seem to get the whole 3d puppet to do what I wanted it to do. Anyway, I'm pleased so far with this month's attempt, BUT, it's not finished yet. I still have a lot of work ahead of me. Here is where I'm at so far.....thanks again for all of your comments.

April animation planning and some Florida drawings

2008-04-03T22:59:00.007-04:00

I'm off on the next adventure for the April 11 second club challenge. I haven't gotten started in the computer yet, just acting out and drawing ideas and listening to the dialogue a million times. Until I get some animation posted for this months competition, here are some drawings I did while I was on vacation in Naples, FL.

11 second club -work in progress

2008-03-27T23:58:00.006-04:00

4-3-08 UPDATE: Here is my final that I submitted, not polished, not quite were I want it to be, but I think I'm learning a lot. I'm having some frustrations with the rig, so, I'm leaving this one alone for awhile. Onto this next months animation.

3-27-08 Here's my WIP for the March competition. Think of some criticism and lay it on me.

stop, don't shoot!

2008-03-17T13:24:00.003-04:00

I drew this a while ago and wanted to give it some color, and I finally got to it. Although, I don't know if it's finished.

11 second club -work in progress

2008-02-27T10:13:00.008-05:00

UPDATE: Added a belly gesture or 2, smoothed some curves, and turned it in 2 minutes before the deadline! I'm gonna get started a lot sooner for the next time. I want to refine some lip sync and a couple other things i'd like to fix, but I'm proud of it. Check it out at and vote at 11secondclub.com

Smoothed a lot of it out, added a gesture or two, got some big guy chest movement. Ive got a few hours left for some fixes. Hit me in the face with some feedback. 2-29-08

Got some good feedback, added a gesture, fixed weird arm rotations, fixed some eyebrow inappropriatenessousity. I still want to get a bit more movement in the big guys chest. Also, skinny guys left arm is still a bit unnatural. Tonight, it's time to smooth the curves. 2-28-08

I've entered this monthly competition with the 11 second club, Here is my animation so far, still in linear mode and ready for refinement, I hope. I put it here for criticism to help me finish, this will also be on the 11second forum.Thanks for any feedback. 2-27-08

Drawings inspired by Nacho Libre

2008-02-25T14:30:00.006-05:00

I was watching Nacho Libre the other night with the sketchbook in front of me and this is what came out.

AM class 2

2008-02-04T21:30:00.002-05:00

UPDATE: Made some changes, thanks for the feedback, keep it coming.

I've decided to give myself assignments and hopefully learn what I can from different challenges I can find on the internet, books, etc... This one is from AM class 2. Just a 180 degree turnaround. Here's where I'm at so far. I would love some feedback.

here is what's left of my christmas cheer

2008-01-25T18:20:00.004-05:00

i think this santa is highly influenced by a guy i play walleyball with. he's a little rough around the edges, the only difference is that his tattoo is a big, red number eight.

Blocking for skull thievery

2008-01-14T13:47:00.001-05:00

Here's a small preview of what I'm working on right now and I thought I put it on the blog and get some feedback before going into more breakdowns and polishing the animation. It's rough right now because I want to make sure that the emotions are clear and the idea is playing out right before i get to far into animation. One guy makes 3 attempts to get this skull. Each time he fails he gets more frustrated. This is attempt 2... Check back in a day or two for more progress

UPDATE: attempt #1 (blocking as well)is the right video

It's time for some animation!

2008-01-14T13:25:00.001-05:00

Here's a run cycle I started about 3 years ago. I wanted to try my hand at a 4 legged creature. So I modeled this dog, rigged him up and started him running. Anyway, I always wanted to go back and tweak a few things here and there with the feet push-offs, the up and down on the body and some of the secondary motion, so I did, and here it is.

drawing in a meeting

2008-01-08T09:26:00.002-05:00

I think the drawing on the left is inspired by my late 4th cousin named Harley. He was born with a cactus for a left hand.

left hands aren't just for holding a watch

2007-12-21T15:07:00.001-05:00

my left hand can draw too....sort of. The first guy was highly influenced by Sean Penn

muenstro del lago

2007-11-26T09:06:00.001-05:00

the bug

2007-11-15T14:35:00.003-05:00

This is the bug that is beating up my insides and threatening the integrity of my throat

waiting for "The Pixar Story" Documentary

2007-11-13T22:43:00.001-05:00

found some 'mall' people to draw whilst I was waiting for the big show(Pixar documentary at the Keystone Arts Cinema). I've noticed that I love drawing people with coats, thick clothing, layers, hats, accessories, etc. Perhaps this is an internal rebellion to all of hours spent drawing the oh-so majestic, $5/hour, nude college student. Although, I think I may have mastered 'the sitting man' from every angle.

One little thing can be so important...

2007-11-08T19:40:00.000-05:00

!!!

2007-10-18T13:28:00.002-04:00

In Progress Animation for Mediasauce

2007-10-03T22:39:00.001-04:00

This guy is trying to get across the room with all of these space heaters in his way. He then sees this woman frozen in a block of ice (hard to see) and jumps back.

....another pass

2007-09-20T23:03:00.001-04:00

Backgrounds

2007-09-11T17:10:00.001-04:00

Here are some backgrounds for an upcoming animation for a Heating/Cooling client. We're trying a new method at work, where we give each part of the animation process it's due focus and time. I definitely feel that dealing with each step seperately, has improved the end product, ....so far. I'm currently in the midst of storboards, ...more to come on that.

Color

2007-08-30T15:00:00.001-04:00

First of all, there are no right or wrong colors, but I think there are colors that just seem to work so well together. Color is a ongoing challenge for me. As soon as I think I've got it all figured out, I find a new color struggle. I look at it like a relationship of color, give and take, colors have to be in agreement and harmony. I tend to desaturate colors in order to get all of my colors in agreement with each other, but I learned with this illustration (and others) that obviously you can take it too far and you end up with a lifeless scheme. Of course colors will agree when they are so desaturated that they almost become the same color of gray. When everything is desaturated it's all 'give' and no take. So, as I began to (take) add some saturation into certain colors and areas, life and energy began to creep back into my colors. I guess I look at it like a hierarchy of color. There are one or two important color 'leaders', and then every other color has to support those leaders, but also do there own job in the right amount. If there's too much agreement....boring. Get some rebel colors in there to spice it up. All right, ultimately, formulas/books/strategies only get you so far, the magic comes from your departure from that. I did this a while ago and revisited the colors, recently. Hope you like what I came up with. This is more about me figuring this stuff out for myself by writing it all down, but I'd really love to hear some other people's approach to color as well. That is, assuming that people are reading this.