John Lasseter had it all figured out in 1994

Kind of nice to see an old interview like this one. It reminds you of how young the CGI animation industry actually is...  I spotted the clip at the Speaking of animation-blog, BTW.

John Lasseter – Tricks to Animating Characters with a Computer – SIGGRAPH ’94

Simpsons a la John Kricfalusi

John Kricfalusi did a Simpsons intro sequence recently (I think this episode is airing now in the US). His style is just so far out and so whacky that you can't do anything but surrender and be totally inspired by it. Have a look at these short clips from cartoon brew.

John K. Simpsons Opening — Storyboard/Animatic from Cartoon Brew on Vimeo.

John K. Simpsons Opening — Rough Animation from Cartoon Brew on Vimeo.

John K. Simpsons Opening — Composite with CG BG from Cartoon Brew on Vimeo.

Read the whole interview with John Kricfalusi at cartoon brew here:
http://www.cartoonbrew.com/tv/exclusive-john-k-talks-about-his-simpsons-opening.html

It's a wrap !!!

Yeah, it's a wrap! Animationmentor is over, I finished class 6 a week ago ...and now I have the pleasure of titulating myself as a character animator. :-)
It's been a wonderful 18 months at school, I have learned a LOT, made a bunch of new friends and will now go on to (hopefully) find some use for my newly required skills.

I can tell you that it sure was nice to have a week off, though, and catch up on some very badly needed sleep... but now I am back at animation desk again, ready to rock n roll.

This is what my demoreel looks like right now. I will sure work some more on these shots, but I'm also thinking of starting up some new ones, soon.

Beautiful, beautiful arcs!

Have a look at these ultra slow motion clips... those arcs are so beautiful!
And here is a good tip; turn that damned music off, it's just so distracting! :-)

Polish on class 3-5 shots

Halfway into the finishing 6th class of Animation mentor! Only 6 weeks to go and focus is now completely on the process of polishing you shot to final.

This is some recent polishing work that I have done to my shots from class 3. With the help from my awesome mentor, Kenny Roy, there are some significant improvements, I think. :-)




This is also class 6 polish of my work from class 4-5, the "bankrobber".

Insight into an animator's work at crunch time....

This interesting article I found in Brendan Body's blog...

It's kind of a diary with detailed notes from the animator's process behind a shot for "the legend of the guardian", from start to finish. It is packed with detailed process notes, communication with the director and even time stamps so you can see the time taken!  Very informative for a guy like me who hasn't been working in that studio pipeline environment yet...  This is a good description what the normal work week looks like, I guess.

And it is also confirming something my mentor, Kenny Roy, said the other day - the process of animation isn't straightforward, as in "going from a perfect blocking pass to a perfect blockingplus version straight on to the perfect polish".  It's a process of tweaking and making changes until it's finished...

http://brendanbody.blogspot.com/2011/06/week-in-crunch-part-1.html

Report from Annecy 2011

When I arrived in Annecy late at monday evening, the outside screening of "Rango" had just started in the park outside the festival centre. I was struck by the cozy atmosphere immediately. There on the grass were literally thousands of other animation enthusiasts, students and profesionals crammed together. There was so much people that you couldn't see the grass they all were sitting on.
Didn't catch much of the film though, dubbed to french and with no subtitles - but the whole thing was still an experience in itself.

My visit was kind of short, I was there only for three days. But I tried to get to see as much as possible in that short time and used the time quite efficiently I think.

Some of the highlights from the screenings (remember I only saw a fraction of all that was offered):

Of the short films the one that made the biggest impression on me was "la Détente" produced and directed by Pierre DUCOS and Bertrand BEY. A fantastic, highly visual story on the subject of war. A french soldier becomes paralyzed with fear during bombings in the first world war. He escapes into his fantasy where the war takes on the form of a toy-world.

This is the trailer.



On the feature screenings I really fell in love with "the rabbin's cat", which later also got the crystal award of the whole festival for best feature film. The story is about the very unlikely situation of a family cat who swallows a parrot, thus gains the ability to talk - and wishes to convert to judaism.
The film is based on a comic book by Joann Sfar and directed by Antoine Delesvaux and Joann Sfar.

This is the trailer for "le chat du rabbin"



I joined several screenings in the television series class, since that is where my own main interest is. Some stuff was really good there - and some of it I utterly hated.
One of the more fresh experiences was an episode from the british/french production "the amazing world of gumballs". Normally I'm not too hot on cartoon networks style of children's animation. Too loud and too busy for my taste. But this was something I really liked, mostly because of the craziness of the story and for the cute main characters. Story turned out annonyingly thin but nevertheless I found it very entertaining, it made me smile.
Produced by Dandelion studios, directed by Mic Graves and Ben Boquelet




There were also numerous masterclasses and talks about films and animation. I got to see a couple that I really enjoyed. On wednesday there was a 3 hour seminar on four different productions, presented by its producers. We were shown material from the development of the films and got to hear a little about the processes behind each of the productions.

On thursday there was another presentation that focused on VFX and animation, also very interesting, even if it's not my primary field of interest.

I visited the MIFA area on thursday as well and strolled around among all the booths and stands. Stopped for half an hour at the Disney booth and listened to Paul Briggs who gave a speech on "the art of story".

And of course I met with all the other students from animation mentor who happened to be there, shared a couple of beers and talked animation. Too bad I only had a couple of days, it sure would have been fun to spend much more time together with them all.

The only thing I won't miss after my visit to Annecy is the bloody weather - it rained almost all of the time I was there. My feet were soaking wet for three days in a row. I hope for more sunshine on my next visit to the festival! :-)

polishing the shot from advanced acting class

Class 5 is close to its end now, just a couple of days to go. Indeed time flies here at animation mentor.

This piece is not by any standards finished yet. There are still lots of things to clean up and polish, textures that need to be fixed... the list is actually quite long. It will all be completed in class 6, or so I hope.

But for now, this is what it looks like.

(And if you are wondering why dad is rubbing his daughter's forehead in the last shot it's because he is smudging out a crayon mark that she has painted on there, a lightning bolt mark a la Harry Potter. She is obviously a Potter fan. I just haven't put the crayon mark in there yet...)

blocking plus, working in a stepped workflow

This is a blocking plus version of the shot I'm currently working on at animation mentor. Lots of stuff still to be done.... the next step will be to start blocking out some rough lipsynch.

And BTW, if you are wondering about why dad is rubbing his thumb against his daughters forehead.... The explanation is that there is supposed to be a handpainted bolt mark a la Harry Potter, that she has painted on herself using a crayon... just haven't put that in there yet. :)




I am trying hard to keep away from splining early this time. Following the recommendation from my mentor I struggle to learn how to "see" spacing and timing in stepped blocking. Man, that is hard to learn! And when I every now and then do switch over to spline to see if my judgements were correct more often than not I discover that I'm waaay off, having just looked at it in stepped mode.

It will come with experience, I guess.

Bankrobber, final (almost) polish from class 5

Well, this is almost the final version of this shot. There will be some more polishing and fixing with it in the final class of AM, but for now it is in quite I good place I think...

Annecy 2011

Annecy 2011, here I come!  Booked a (cheap) room at a hotel, got my airplane ticket  -  and now I am sooo ready to go! 

Emotions and facial expressions

Check this link out:
http://www.cedarseed.com/fire/emotut.html

Cool map of emotions and faces. Something to print out and hang up on the wall. :-)

Progressreel class 1 - 4 of animation mentor

Four classes completed, two more to go. :-)

This last term labeled "introduction to acting" had its focus on creating belivable and interesting characters, analyzing your shot, making creative choices etc.... and we have also started to get more into the animation of more complex hand-rigs and started exploring eyes and facial expression. And in the upcoming class we will be getting even deeper into all these things...

(As you can see in my "bankrobber" assignment we didn't even touch upon the subject of the facial muscles yet, only did eye movement, blinks and jaw rotation... that will come up in the next class...)


So in conlusion, some evaluating words on this class and my experience of it...
Apart from a couple of really, really good lectures I don't think I've learned that much that is completely new to me when it comes to acting and the process of creating character, really. Knew a lot of that stuff from before...
But I have learned LOADS of new things on the more technical side. I discovered how very, very sensitive the eye animation is, how tedious and timeconsuming the animating of all the joints in the fingers can be - and thanks to my mentor Nicole Herr I've picked up a LOT of good workflow tips operating Maya and working in the industry in general.

So it has been a really good 12 weeks!

This is my progressreel from the first four classes of animation mentor, starting with the newest material.

"Thought of you" - behind the scenes

You might already have seen this wonderful animated dance video by Ryan J Woodward, it has been posted a lot around the internet the last few months;

Thought of You from Ryan J Woodward on Vimeo.

But here is something you maybe haven't seen, a short "making of"-film, with some interesting insights to the process behind the film.

Thought of You - Making Of from Ryan J Woodward on Vimeo.

Class 4: Introduction to acting

This is an assignment from the "introduction to acting" class at animation mentor. It's still half-finished, there is no work done on the lipsynch nor the facial expression yet... so all that is still coming up. :-)



As a minor assignment last week we also had to work with handposes. So I made this still pose. "What's happening here?" you might be asking. - Well, either this guy is having a religious vision, God is talking to him from the clouds... - OR maybe it's the police helicopter just suddenly turning around the corner, catching him by surprise. Well, he has just robbed a bank, hasn't he? :)

More professional quality tutorials for AS

And right after that I said that there are no good tutorials around for AS I start finding them everywhere. :-)

Check this youtube channel out. I don't know who the author of the videos is really, but he made a good job out of it.
http://www.youtube.com/user/animationfun101#p/u/48/s3kXt9BCQK4

These tutorials are well adapted for the novice beginner, but there are actually a lot of good hardcore tips for the more experienced animator too, who is interested in advanced cutout techniques and efficient workflow in this specific program environment.

In this clip you can see how the "actions"-function in AS (recoradable and reusable bits of animation) can be combined in a clever way to achive efficient overlapping animation in the character. (Make sure you watch the videos all the way to clip nr 10.24)

More AS tutorials from Mike Kelley.

Talking about good tutorials for Anime Studio Pro I can of course not leave Mike Kelley out from my list.

This is one of the clips from his vimeo channel. Highly recommendable!

Character Rigging Tutorial Part 1 -- Head from Mike Kelley on Vimeo.

If you are interested in Anime Studio you can check out the so called "inofficial AS forum" too.... http://www.kelleytown.com/forum/animators/default.asp

Good workflow tutorial for Anime Studio

It's rare to find any professionally made tutorials, aimed at professionals, when it comes to one of my favorite animation tools, anime studio pro. (well, except for the two AS forums I often visit, there are loads of good and sound information, tips and advice. http://www.lostmarble.com/forum/ and http://www.kelleytown.com/forum/animators/default.asp)

This is one of the rare tutorials I've found just googling around...
It presents one way of working key poses, breakdowns, follow through and vector fixing in this vectorbased 2D tool.

Our Animation Process - Anime Studio Pro from A Man And Ink on Vimeo.

Cat out

Here is a nice work of cutout animation. It was made by ECAT animation in Argentina. Also have a look at Jorge Cuellar's blog at http://jorgemcuellar.blogspot.com/ There are some really cool sketches!

CAT OUT (2010) from catout on Vimeo.

Ehow: career options for animators

Here are some nice videos from ehow.com. Good, informative stuff to watch, especially for the young, aspiring animator.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGfaU5yJRfM&feature=list_related&playnext=1&list=SPB4D6DB894E474E2B

This is one of the clips in the series: "Career Options for Animators"

Heroes of my childhood

Let me tell you a little story.

Asterix and Obelix were the true heroes of my childhood. You know? The two gauls with superhuman strength (thanks to the magic potion made by the village druid) always ready to smack down any bypassing roman soldiers. I really loved those stories. And I still have ALL the comic albums in my bookshelf, the complete series!

The very first animation attempt I ever made was a shot with Asterix walking across the screen. I was about 9 years old and had decided to make my own feature film with Asterix and his friends. So I nagged on my parents for a couple of weeks until they finally bought me twenty celluloids and a couple of pens with ink that you could wash away with water.   (See? I was smart! I was planning to reuse those celluloids for the whole feature!)   I borrowed my father's double-8 camera, which you could cheat to take just one frame at a time if you hit the record button hard and fast.

And so I drew and painted my 20 celluloids with Asterix walking across the screen and recorded it one drawing at a time, slamming that record-button on my father's camera once for every piece of celluloid.  Then, after everything was filmed, the filmcassette was sent away to be developed at Kodak's factory somewhere in Germany, I think. I had to wait for over 2 weeks to get the developed film back, and by then I was shivering with excitement to see my completed masterpiece.

And yes, sure enough, my Asterix took his two steps across the screen........ but for some strange reason that I couldn't quite understand my hero kind of shrunk by half of his length while walking that short distance AND somehow he was also deformed into a increasingly shapeless blob by the end of this masterful 2 second shot.
- I was so disappointed! I put the celluloids and the pens in a drawer and didn't touch them again for almost 30 years.

But I never stopped re-reading the comic books.   :-)



Here are some fun interpretations of the two characters, made by different artists, googled from the net....

NOT for children

As a producer/director of children's tv shows, working at a public service company and often sitting in either end of the pitching process i.e. giving or recieveing a pitch depending on the situation... I must say I find this clip hilarious.

http://dauid.com/video/qt/barnen.mov

NOTE: you have to understand swedish to get the point. It's mostly dialouge anyway. AND you have to have a good stomach and not be sensitive to adult material, too. :-)

I'm pretty convinced that the guy behind this clip has had his share of experiences trying to sell his ideas to public service companies... (he is actually a accomplished animator!)

The title of the clip is "för barnen" ("for the children" in english)
Don't say I didn't warn ya.

The making of a commercial short from Aardman

This is a "making of"-film from Aardman, a commercial for a swedish bank, "swedbank".

- It just looks so fun to work with stop motion, doesn't it? Real materials, dolls you can touch with your fingers....
(- sigh, ...back to my maya blocking, staring at the screen....) :-)

The neverending frustration of a musician

Jeeeez - over a month since I last posted anything. Shame on me.

But - anyway....
Here is what I have been busy with lately. Right now I am in the middle of the "introduction to acting" class of animation mentor under the guidance of mentor Nicole Herr.

Here is the first assignment from this class; "Stewie vs. Bach"
If you ever have played an instrument you know how frustrating it can be at times :-)



As an extra bonus for those of you who are interested - here is the videoreference clip I used to study the scene.

Body language as presented by Desmond Morris

Desmond Morris, The Human animal, BBC series. Series in 6 parts, this is the third one "the language of the body". Good stuff for wanna-be-animators. :-)



part1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1IEfdsD5H0&feature=related
part2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLfbG8VTIyA&feature=related
part3: (this one) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDQklRKeF2g&feature=related
part4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa9XJA-czXI&feature=related
part5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeF7nOdqHfs&feature=related