Freshly Squeezed

fashion in animation

2011-10-08T18:19:00.000-07:00

I really love fashion. Let me just put that out there. I don't think I have the best sense of style, and I don't follow all the designers very closely but I really love someone with spot on style. Trendy, Classic, Urban, Casual, Preppy, I love it all! Like I said, I'm not the most fashionable person, but I'm so happy to be welcomed into the chaotic fashion industry that I sort of fumbled into for my day job.

Due to my infatuation with this form of design, I really want to incorporate interesting fashion into Arrival. In no way am I setting out to create this ground breaking collection of pieces, however. I really want to use the characters' clothing as an expression of seasons changing, and I think it would add a new layer to the protagonist's personalities. What I AM setting out to do however, is create a collection of outfits that seamlessly flow into each other- specifically with color. My theory is that it'll help pull the numerous time jumps together a little bit more, and the viewer wont feel as disoriented when the scene changes.

You other animators out there are probably laughing at me b/c of the detail in these outfits. You're probably thinking "YOU FOOL. TOO MUCH DETAIL. THE ANIMATION WILL KILL YOU." However, I HAVE A TRUMP CARD MY FRIEND. That trump card is the simple and weird fact that I absolutely LOVE to animate clothing (see almost every other post where I go on and on about it).

Even if you don't like the outfits, I hope you can get wrapped up in the story that will be presented as well :)

the boards

2011-10-03T20:14:00.000-07:00

I'VE FINALLY COMPLETED MY STORYBOARDS!! The story is finally complete and in a place that I'm happy with! Of course there's a COUPLE of small edits I have to go back and do, and I'm sure I'll find some more revisions to make once I've made the animatic. However, I think it's safe to say the story is LOCKED! I've scanned some of the boards here for you to see without giving away anything.

(Obviously I've only picked out the ones I like since I don't want you to see the ones that look like dirt.)

From here on, the next step will be a final animatic, the layouts then animation! not many steps, BUT SUCH A LONG WAY TO GO!

I WILL finish this film. It means everything to me...

memories in shadow

2011-09-28T08:12:00.000-07:00

I recently had to have my computer fixed (for a billion and one reasons), but now that he's back to me I can share with you some of the work that I did during that time!

I started actually doing detailed drawings of some of the more complicated interiors- these three specifically are of the same room shot at different angles for one scene in the film. I absolutely love the contrast that natural lighting gives to films (ex. Maboroshi) and for this environment it's really important to the development of the mood.

A little bit of tweaking will probably be done before I actually do the final colored versions of these, especially since I might decide to draw them bigger-not sure. However, I hope that the somberness I'm trying to express reaches you!

hair toss

2011-09-16T05:50:00.000-07:00

I really wanted to start off this post by saying "SO....blah blah blah..."

But then I realized how many posts of mine start off in such a way; this made me depressed.

THEREFORE I will start this way :) Here's another REALLY SHORT animation test I did for Arrival. I had actually finished it a while back but had some issues with After Effects. I wanted to have a background with it but I got lazy and just kept it as is (also all the backgrounds I made for it previously sucked).

I have a pretty long amount of time off of work ahead of me so I'll be working on Arrival and doing my best to finish up DYDIC? (FINALLY!!)

testing testing 1,2,3

2011-08-24T12:29:00.000-07:00

So, as promised here's a little treat for you! For the past couple of weeks I've been putting together some test animation for Arrival and I'm pretty pleased how it came out. It's not perfect, but I learned some good techniques about how to make it look like there's a lot more going on than there really is haha.

I was also going to have the clouds move left to right (or visa versa) but it actually ended up looking rather cheap and very boring. So instead I have the clouds pulling back slightly as the camera zooms in- also known as a "Dolly Zoom." It blurs reality every so slightly and it makes the background seem much more vast.

Basically the point of this was to see how detailed with the actual animation I could get, while finishing it within a reasonable amount of time. I have another, quicker set of animation to clean up as a test, but I'm going to take a bit of a break for the time being. Enjoy!

oh HI, I didn't see you there!

2011-08-08T12:55:00.000-07:00

"OH HOHOHOHOHOHOOOOO"

SO! I'm still here hahaha. I haven't really posted in a month but there's a very good explanation for that, and you'll see why soon. Just hang in there for a bit longer while I finish everything up. Expect a new post by the end of the month :)

CIAO :D

two worlds

2011-07-07T17:22:00.000-07:00

Two mood studies I did pretty quickly (obviously I still need a lot of work on my cityscapes...) Inspired by the awesome new BRAVE poster from Pixar. The top one is definitely stronger, but I'm not completely disappointed in how the other one came out. hope you like them!

vanilla and sand

2011-07-03T11:06:00.000-07:00

So I've been away upstate for the past week, not thinking about anything but the kids I was working with, but I'm finally back in NYC! I recently saw this photo that had this really GORGEOUS sandy, vanilla color to it and I decided to just do a quick sketch using the same palette (perfect for summer!)

I really love the maturity that these colors lend to my style, since I'm normally all about BRIGHT, FUN, EYE POPPING, colors haha. I think I'll be utilizing these more in the future; the color experimentation continues onward! Let me know what you think!

5000 THANK YOU'S

2011-06-21T17:11:00.000-07:00

I just really wanted to say THANK YOU SO MUCH for following my blog and finally allowing me to hit 5000 hits!

It may have taken me 3 long crazy years to even get here, but I made it. WE made it! Furthermore, while my blog might not be the coolest, most interesting, or by any means "the best" out there (as exemplified by the previous statement), I'm just so happy that you're all coming back and looking at my work from time to time, watching my shy little film evolve.

Thank you for sticking with me

Thank you for growing with me

Thank you for supporting me.

This film means so much to me, and while it may be a couple of years yet to its completion...

when Arrival is done it will be for you.

(you will be seeing these images again in the near future, unmasked and a little more confident)

city sunrise

2011-06-20T09:29:00.000-07:00

I have often said that I would start doing more concept art for the city scenes in Arrival

Now, while this is true... DAMN SCENES IS HARD! :(

I've been looking at a lot of art work of cityscapes and I've decided that this will be my new main focus. SO, without further ado, here is the first one!

Oh dear lord it's so awful, but I was trying to focus on the lighting and color schemes, since I'm not entirely sure what kind of palette I wanted this particular section of the film to have (excuse). In the shot's defense... it looks pretty good as a thumbnail!

..... Small steps. Small steps.

perfect future

2011-06-20T09:14:00.001-07:00

"...in a perfect future, I would lucky to be with you again, forever."

just a quick sketch before I hit the gym

color split

2011-06-15T13:50:00.000-07:00

Again I'm just playing around with the colors here. Trying to better understand how colors might change depending on what kind of objects the light has to pass through (in this case a pink veil). I'm also, once again, just trying to figure out the logistics of field depth. It's hard! I found if you blur the wrong areas it can look like you're looking at something really really tiny, like a miniature set. I still have a lot to learn but these exercises are definitely helping. What do you think? :)

sketchbook tear

2011-06-11T10:19:00.000-07:00

Just a little checklist I made for myself; It's been sitting above my computer for some time now. I have so much to learn about animation (and everything else), and I hope sharing this little reminder inspires you to learn more everyday! :)

beyond the veil

2011-06-09T22:25:00.000-07:00

Wow, realized I hadn't done a new post in WAY too long. Thought I'd whip something up quickly for you all. I've been thinking about the cinematography of my film a bit more, recently. I finished the rough storyboards, but it's looking pretty plain so I've been looking at a number of music videos for some inspiration. A lot of really simple music videos have some great cinematography and lighting so I've been trying to study the depths of field: Where is the focus? Where are the shadows? What kind of forms and compositions do they make? Where do the shadows look LEAST appealing?

Now, whether or not these questions have been answered through this one sketch is subjective haha, but it was definitely a good learning experience. I learned what kind of colors make the picture look hokey and what colors make it look muddy. I really want my film to look as though it's been shot in real life, and hopefully this was a good step forward!

romantic McQueen

2011-05-12T11:55:00.000-07:00

My favorite piece from the collection

I finally got an opportunity to check out the Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty installation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art today. First off let me just say, this exhibit is huge! I wasn't really expecting there to be so many pieces on display. Secondly, everyone who has the ability to should go and view this amazing collection of work. I had to get there when the museum opened just to beat the rush (even though by the time I left it was packed) but it was totally worth it. Each room is carefully curated into a very in depth (and yet somehow "tip of the iceberg") view of what it might be like to attend one of the late Alexander McQueen's shows.

Now, yeah, this is an animation blog- but I am OBSESSED with drapery and drawing clothing so I jumped on the chance to go see this. I've never felt so moved by fashion before; maybe it's because he's dead, or maybe it's because he's really just that much of a genius, but I found myself getting somewhat emotional looking at these pieces.

These are just a couple of sketches I did while I was there. It was a bit difficult since there were no benches and the lighting was dark. Also there was a good amount of ppl later on and my sketchbook didn't have a good backing to it (These are either really good explanations for any weird proportions, or really poor excuses for them just being awful). I might go back again soon to sketch once more and better prepare myself.

Again I suggest every animator, and illustrator for that matter, go and see this installation- you might walk away with more than you bargained for.

If any of you like the visuals from Tarsem's films,

you'll get a little teary eyed looking at some of these pieces.

Also as a small update- work on DYDIC? is moving along (slowly but surely) and Arrival is also finally in the animatic stages! The story boards were finished last week and now I'm doing my first rough cut. Stay tuned....

kitty kitty

2011-04-16T08:39:00.000-07:00

This is a commercial spot I did a while ago for the Discovery Channel. It's been about a year since the ad aired and I'm PREEEEEETTY SURE the contest is over so....TAH DAH haha

Enjoy :)

Special Thanks to my cat Pepe for ever so graciously modeling for me

youtube

2011-02-04T07:52:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to let you all know, you can now watch my film Juxtaposed on youtube (again)

After a small but modest film festival run, I've decided to put it back on the interwebs.

I think it's safe to say that my film has run its course and I couldn't be happier with it. 'Juxtaposed' is taking it's final bow and taking it's resting place on youtube. Enjoy, friends :)

light & dark

2011-01-18T18:50:00.000-08:00

I wanted to work a bit more on the contrast of the different settings in Arrival. Both locations (city and the country side) mean completely different things to the protagonist so the colors and the textures need to reflect that. I'm obsessed with concept art that has good lighting in it, so I'm trying my best to learn the ins and out of light and shadows.

I realized how easy it is to paint wood. I thought it was going to be really difficult to depict the wood grains, especially in the old boat, but it turned out to be much simpler than it looks. These are still very rough (since they're done at a quarter of the size of what I'll actually paint them in for production) but I'm nonetheless pretty happy with how they turned out otherwise.

However, I still need help learning to paint fabric. I LOVE drawing fabric and rendering it in pencil, but when it comes to digital painting I'm completely clueless. I think I might do some fabric studies for the next post. Look for it!!

back alley

2011-01-14T18:32:00.000-08:00

I needed to take a break from other work, so I decided to fool around a bit more with some concept art for Arrival. It's nothing special. It's just a really rough sketch of a back alley the characters might walk through. Hope y'all like it!

good bye 2010

2010-12-31T14:22:00.000-08:00

So this is the last post of the year!

I've been working like crazy on this one scene and it's near completion! Just thought I'd share some of it with you :) It's basically just a breakdown of a spinning scene. I added a background mainly so it's not so boring to look at, though I'm kind of liking it so I might use that as a building block for the actual background animation

Have a Happy New Year everyone! Thanks for following my work, I only hope to share even more with you in 2011!

the world through glass

2010-12-12T07:20:00.000-08:00

Just a small update, since it's been a while!

Finishing up one of the last scenes! It's the home stretch! I still have A LOT to do but I'm determined to finish it by the new year (or at least a little right after). Can I do it?

In this scene the character is thrust upwards towards the sun so you can see the clouds shooting past her. I had recently seen this great photograph (desktop wallpaper) of a shot looking through a blue glass bottle. It's so beautiful and dreamlike that I decided to model this scene a bit after the photo. Hope you all like how it's coming out! Root for me!

the thick of falling

2010-10-18T13:08:00.000-07:00

Another animation breakdown of a scene for Do You Dream in Color? with hands grasping at the air. There's about 60 drawings of hands altogether for this scene, but this is my favorite part. Below is a first person view, if you were submerged in water and looking up at the sun. Playing around with the colors is probably the most exciting part of animating for this film. I'm usually so literal so it's really great just kind of organically choosing color stories.

The rush of air

these were moments we once knew

2010-10-08T08:05:00.000-07:00

I FINALLY got around to doing some Arrival sketches in my sketchbook! It's been quite a while though! I'm starting to think that because of the "real-life" content of the film that the preproduction work is going to be shorter than normal; you can only do so much planning until you hit a point where you start over designing. At least this is true for me... I think a little bit of spontaneity is good to have haha.

Most likely I'm closer to the story boarding process than I want to admit, and it might even be the next thing I end up doing. Look for some caps (all without giving too much away of course)! I guess the development stage that I'm in is simply a lot safer than actually boarding/animating so I'm scared to be leaving it so soon. I really would like to do some more urban concepts but because that section of the story is so murky, it'll probably be better to simply cross that bridge when it comes.

Now I just have to muster up the courage to start those boards... AHHH! 하이팅!!!!

*ps- I figured out how to keep the image enlargement intact. SOOOoooOOOoooooo... problem solved... cajun style.

anatomy of a water splash

2010-10-05T13:11:00.000-07:00

I'm still here.

It's been quite a while. Almost an entire month- wow. BUT I am not coming empty handed.

Firstly- just to get it out of the way haha, I have a couple more sketches for Vai Moana. Probably the last for a while. I shouldn't even be close to focusing on these ideas seeing as I have Do You Dream In Color? and Arrival way in front of the line haha.

So I've been itching to post up some work from DYDIC? However I've been pretty weary since I don't wanna give too much away of the finished product. I have a couple of scenes colored and composited! This is my favorite part of animation; once you see how a scene looks when it's been finished it definitely helps motivate you to finish the leftover work you have.

In the scene I'm working on there's a big water splash I thought it would be fun to show you what that looks like when you can see every frame right there in front of you. Now I'm definitely not the first person to ever do this, but I have to say, the image itself could stand as a piece all on it's own... interesting concept. All the animation I'm doing for DYDIC? is based on emotions and movement- so the colors are more dependent on the energy behind the object (hence why the water is a bright pink as it's rushing upwards).

Close-ups:

*Sorry for the wonky layout of this blog post. For some reason when I move images around in the editing portion, they lose the ability to be clicked and enlarged. I wanted to have a different order for this entry but then you wouldn't have been able to click on any of the images, if anyone knows how to fix this please tell me! (It's probably something really dumb too....) BAH!

Until next time, y'all

well, I must be leaving now. Satoshi Kon.

2010-08-27T12:57:00.000-07:00

Satoshi Kon 1963-2010

I have been meaning to make a post of this ever since it happened but I wanted to be sure on specifics and obtain more info before I did. However, after reading what I'm about to share with you, I feel that now is as good of a time as ever. I would like to apologize for how jumbled this may seem, but it is hard to think straight at the moment.

On Tuesday, August 24th, 2010, in my eyes, one of the greatest animation directors of our time passed on into the next world. Satoshi Kon was at the young age of 46 when he died, to the surprise of many, due to pancreatic cancer.

I could go on an on about why I love his films, and which one is my favorite (Millennium Actress), and how Perfect Blue was one of the films that inspired me to do what I do today- but instead I would like to point your attention to his farewell letter. Before he left us, Satoshi Kon wrote a rambling letter (which has been so generously, and nicely, translated by makikoito.com) to his friends and family.

Perfect Blue

Millenium Actress

I urge- even beg all of you to read this letter as it is a beautiful look into the mind of someone who has come into the realization that they have so little time left on earth. About half way through I began to cry, it felt like I was watching him slowly die (as it is a long letter) but cruelly sitting back and doing nothing to stop his inevitable fate. The letter was posthumously posted on his blog for those of you who can read Japanese. But if you need an english translation, you can go here; Makiko Ito has also provided some translation notes for things that may seem confusing.

My classmates and I were incredibly fortunate to have met Satoshi Kon when his film Paprika appeared a couple of years ago, and listening to him speak was like admiring a vast amazing landscape; all you can do is stare, and hope that you remember every last detail when it's time to leave.

Paprika

For those of you who are wondering what will happen to his film due out soon Dream Machine, we can only sense a bittersweet emotion in that if it is completed will it truly be his work? But if not, we can only speculate as to what wonders it would have shown us.

Dream Machine

In the end he chose to gracefully leave us and this world behind him. And while his final sentence may read to be a casual goodbye, it hits you as profoundly and sturdily as the gravity that draws our feet to the ground:

じゃ、お先に。

Well, I must be leaving now.

Mr Kon,

さようなら...

(You can read a nice brief obituary at the NYTimes website)

seasonal wardrobe

2010-08-08T11:40:00.000-07:00

Taking a bit of a break from the Do You Dream In Color? work; thought I'd do some more clothing concepts for the two main characters in my next short, Arrival.

There's one sequence in the film where they go through a whole slew of different events so I've been thinking of having their clothes change with the seasons. With that being said, I haven't decided if I want their clothes to constantly be changing even outside of this sequence or if I want them to have that standard one outfit. It's a tough one! I love drawing clothes but I also understand the practicality of having a main style. This also justifies why I didn't go to crazy with some of the ones shown here.

Almost done with rough animation on DYDIC?!!! :D

sleeping with the sea

2010-08-04T20:34:00.000-07:00

New sketches based on that other film idea I have, which by the way now has a name!

Vai Moana: Sleeping with the Sea

I probably won't be able to do anymore actual work on Arrival until the end of the year, unfortunately. Things are happening!! But expect for the new year an ABUNDANCE of story board shots and maybe even some...dare I say...ACTUAL BACKGROUNDS??

The Do You Dream In Color spots have to be done by Nov-December ish so I'll be consumed in that (Rough animation 70 percent done! wahoo!!! Can I finish by my deadline for next weekend?? Fingers crossed...). So since I won't be able to really work on Arrival for the time being, I figure I can just play around with whatever ideas I feel like; I'm really running with the direction the story is taking with this one and can't wait to really get it moving (in about...oh say... 6 years?)

So just as an idea- here are my projected completion dates dates (worst case scenario haha) -_-;

1) Do You Dream In Color?: Fall 2010 (released in 2011)

2) Arrival: Fall 2012 or Summer 2013

3) Vai Moana: 2016

So... ya'll are just gonna have to wait patiently. Animation is werk!! ::hands on hips::

I've been advised by some people to make shorter funnier content with faster turnaround periods- But I have to say I love this whole process, and while of course I would love these things to be done tomorrow, I wouldn't trade any of the time I spend on it for the world....

What do you think? Short and funny- Fast! Or- slow and heartfelt with a little patience?

business man

2010-07-17T08:01:00.000-07:00

After about a year of using the excuse "Oh my business cards are still being made, please take this postcard instead," I've FINALLY actually ordered a bunch. I personally like to use OvernightPrints.com, not because they are speedy or anything as their name might suggest, but they have the PERFECT matte card stock.

Glossy in general is very tricky and if not used properly it will look really cheap (in my opinion). But the same thing goes for matte- if the matte is too...well... matte like, it'll just look like you printed out your cards from a xerox machine. OvernightPrints has this really awesome matte card stock that has a little bit of a sheen to it. It's the perfect middle ground for postcards and the like.

This is going to sound like a total plug for the website but, whatever; You can actually receive $15 off of your purchase from now until the 18th (tomorrow) if you use the code 15ALLWEEKED and if you know me at all, this is the ONLY reason I got them at all recently haha. I promise you I only seem so cheap in retrospect...

So- with that being said, because I'm a such a "frugal" person, I will now have to wait 2 weeks for the economy shipping to come through and deliver my lovely gift. tic tock tick tock

la derniere minute

2010-07-09T06:40:00.000-07:00

About to leave for Cape Cod this weekend with the family (too much traveling- after this weekend consider me done). I thought I'd leave you all with some more stuff; I've definitely been getting ahead of myself with this new (old) idea about the fisherman. It's been in my head a lot lately so rather than ignore it due to other priorities I figured I would just crank what I have out and then leave it alone.

The shorter boy in the middle was actually supposed to be the main character when I started drawing him, but then he ended up being a bit too "cute." The problem is that I LOVE his outfit hahaha so I'm thinking of integrating him somehow. The color schemes are goibg to be very, greek summery (white and BRIGHT true blues). I want it to look blazing hot in this film, with the whites almost being over exposed so the other colors pop. Hope you all like it :D

This last picture is a gift I'm drawing for someone, in its rough stages. The pink stripe will be painted (it's PSed on right now) and this is only a close-up of the girl- there's more beyond her. They'd better like it!!!!!

vaimoana (blue ocean)

2010-06-25T10:10:00.000-07:00

So remember how I had that old idea about the man who fell in love with the Ocean? We'll it's been in my mind a lot as of lately (even though there are a BILLION other things I am/should be thinking of instead). While I had some free time the other day I drew up this sketch that's been in my mind for a while. It's the main character running along the side of the road while the Ocean follows beside him.

Obviously this project won't happen for a really long time (since I have two other films to finish before I even really begin pre prod. on this one) but I think I found a really interesting story with a twist ending that I'm satisfied with.

I'm going upstate for the week, so before I go I will grace you with the little 5 min sketch I drew when I should have been eating my lunch.

do you dream in color?

2010-06-11T12:26:00.000-07:00

Prologue: I recently got a part time job at Tiffany & Co. with my good friend Brian, and it's been really great. The design offices for the new leather accessories line is such a different setting from the animation world, but I love them both.

I was working normal hours for 2 weeks, but I've just got an extension for the summer and I now have mondays and fridays to work on another project that I would love to tell you about!

I've been tacked on for a while now as a guest animator for the independent documentary called "Do You Dream in Color?" The film is about a small group of blind teenagers and their inspirational stories. Some of teens have been keeping dream journals and myself along with some other california based animation studios (I'm so alone over here on the east!) will be animating their dream sequences.

I'm so honored to be working on this project and today will mark the first day of real animation for me!! I'm always so nervous to start animating but I can't wait to get this ball rolling.

Check out their Kickstarter page WE HAVE A WEEK LEFT AND 98% OF FUNDS RAISED!!!! PLEASE CONTRIBUTE IF YOU CAN!! You can also check out their trailer below.

I would love to share with you some of the concept art (not featured in the trailer) but it's all being kept very secret (or at least we think it is). SO instead I'll share with you a picture of the snack that the directors (Abigail Fuller, Ivy Dickerson, and Norma Saldivar) sent me today! I was working at home when my buzzer rang and there was a food surprise waiting for me from Kitchen Cold- the food was great and I'm so honored to be working with three amazing young women on this project.

Here's to the long hard road to Sundance- we can do it ladies!! :D

cafe boobs

2010-05-29T06:29:00.000-07:00

My friend Itai, brought to my attention that Beware has posted an awesome animated short called Cafe Allonge. The short tells the story of what exactly happens when a guy sees a girl with nice breasts.

Can't say that I relate for various reasons (haha) but it's nice insight to this sort of occurrence. The short is animated incredibly well with some really ncie CG backgrounds, and in generally it's just really really funny. Specifically this scene....

Enjoy!!

style frames

2010-05-21T21:12:00.000-07:00

Not much to say.

Enjoy the concept art :D (some are more finished as others as you can see haha...)

tales of earthsea

2010-05-17T08:22:00.000-07:00

Goro Miyazaki, the son of the famous Hayao Miyazaki, will be getting an American distribution of his film Tales of Earthsea from Disney later this summer (August 13th). This is a very interesting decision on Disney's part seeing as Earthsea was notoriously bad; It won a couple of Japanese Razzie Awards when it premiered in 2006 including 'Worst Film' and 'Worst Director.'

Although Earthsea had some outstanding box office kudos, the film had such mixed reviews I'm surprised that it's receiving screen time here in the states. I personally didn't think the film was that terrible (the backgrounds were beautiful and the animation was really smooth), but I guess we'll have to see how it does in August.

Let's not judge it too much based on the fact that he's Miyazaki's son. I think we should all perceive this film clear of any previous bias to his father's work :)

For those of you viewing my blog posts via facebook, check out the japanese trailer here

For those of you viewing right from the blog, enjoy below!

casting call

2010-05-06T15:19:00.000-07:00

I've been moving a bit slowly on updates and film art but I have a little prepared for you.

Above are the brand new character and color designs! They might change a couple of times again before the end but only slightly. The two male characters have both their summer and winter clothes shown. I'm thinking of brightening them up a bit for the end- I have so many more character boards to make T^T

I tried to hold back on the shading- when it comes time to actually animate and color I'm going to kill myself trying to shade in all of their clothes. You have no idea how hard it was though holding out from rendering the heck out of these. The entire time I kept wanting to add shadows all over the place, but then I thought of thesis year, and how I cried from so much coloring; it became much easier to hold back after that.

The other drawing is of some more environments you might see. No one make fun of my birds- If you know me well enough, you know I CANNOT draw birds... dunno why.... it will be a problem later on I feel.

FYI: I LOVE DRAWING DRESSES. I can't express this enough! I'm sorta sad that this film only has one female character in it- because then I would just put EVERYONE in dresses.... maybe my next film will just be about skirts and gowns.....

....

seriously...

Also this song has been on repeat for ohhh say..... the past 5 days....

spirited away at the NYICFF

2010-04-28T09:43:00.000-07:00

Spirited Away will be having a rare screening this weekend at the New York International Children's Film Festival at the IFC center (323 Sixth Ave and West Third)

The showings are as follows

Saturday & Sunday (11am)

May 1-2

May 8-9

You can click here to purchase tickets (12.50 for adults)- they'll be sure to sell fast though! Make sure you go and see this film on the big screen if you missed it when it first came out, like myself!

stay with you

2010-04-20T21:40:00.000-07:00

As promised- here's some more character design and background art!!

The backgrounds are moving slowly into the urban area. I'm basically procrastinating because I'm incredibly nervous to start working on them. As you can see in the last sketch, I attempted to start a city block and then got really frustrated and moved onto a hillside scene... relief!

I realized just how many kinds of environments I needed while I was working; the settings have to make a smooth transition from the middle of nowhere to a bustling city. Therefore, farms and hillsides became the new focus for now.

I also took a scan of the cover of my notebook just for fun. I'm happy with how the font came out. Moleskine Notebooks are the best!

DRAW BACKGROUNDS FROM MEMORY PEOPLE. They come out the best and have the most meaning :)

More to come soon!

always

2010-04-18T20:00:00.000-07:00

water works

2010-04-18T08:15:00.000-07:00

Playing around with different ways to depict the water. I might change how much water there actually is; It's interesting to have it up to waist level but at the same time, I like the idea of it only being about 6 inches deep- it looks more endless in a way.

The last shot is just of a kitchen. I love drawing cluttered rooms- though you want to die when it comes to coloring haha. Hence the black and white...

For next time I'll have some cityscapes- I've been focusing a lot on the look of the country side, and now I think it's time to move on to buildings and urban life. Also I'll have some more character designs up.

...I hope you'll still read these entries...

more more more

2010-04-15T05:22:00.000-07:00

Here's some more concept art I've been working on. I have all these great old Moleskine journals that I haven't used so I decided to dedicate one entirely to sketches for the film.

I've been playing around with the design for the mother's dress. I decided the old was a bit too boring but I still haven't exactly decided on the perfect dress- I'll have to do some color palettes to be really sold on it. The car (if you can't read my hand writing is a 1968 Morris Minor 1000 Traveler. I know next to nothing about cars but this car is so charming! The frame that you see around the body of the car is this beautifully light stained wood, and the rest of the car is potentially a light green. BY THE WAY: car tires = NOT EASY TO DRAW???? whaaaaa??? I redrew those tires about 50 times because all the previous ones looked like saggy bagels. I still don't think they look quite right...

The other designs are just of the house itself. I have pretty much ditched the whole lighthouse concept and now it's merely just a house in the hills, but when it rains it turns into this little tiny pond. The base of the house is on a concrete platform with a series of water ways so the water can pass easily through. None of this is really necessary to the actual film but I really wanted to understand everything about how the environments work. I'm focusing a lot more of mood through setting for this piece so I want the backgrounds to have purpose and look like they could all really exist somewhere.

Check back for more soon- I have a couple of PS files to upload for next time

Sorry about the scans- the paper is sorta thin and you can kinda see the page underneath, but I didn't want to blow the images out to get rid of it :/ Also they're pretty large so you can read my notes (not that they're that important really....).

hillside

2010-04-06T10:50:00.000-07:00

Well it's been a couple of months since I've had any updates in regards to my next film. However, now that I have all this (unfortunately) free time, I thought I'd get some work done.

My last film had only a few backgrounds in it and they were mainly water and cloud elements. "Arrival" will be set in a much less whimsical environment so I definitely need to brush up on my painting skills (pun not intended...or was it?).

The two top elements were done in PS really quickly to get used to the idea of drawing earth and other objects. I love paintings that have really amazing lighting so I tried to convey strong light sources in both- the idea of "building up" in these pieces helped immensely, specifically in the second.

The road concept was just something I was playing with, but the hilltop piece is an actual shot in the film- the pencil drawing is just a quick sketch of a scene I've been thinking of adding near the middle- however the storyboards aren't done yet so everything is subject to change. Hopefully by the end of this month I can have an actual finished rough cut of the storyboard! Let's not hold our breath though....

I'm still working on a bunch of images- my next post will probably be just a compilation of concept art. Look for the update :D

random updates

2010-03-26T14:55:00.000-07:00

"Samus Joins the Fray"

So I've been sort of lacking on posts (I didn't even post about who won the Oscars haha) but I've been in sort of an art slump lately so animation news updates were getting screwed over also :P However, I've been working on some personal projects- new film, freelance, and what not so I thought I'd share a bit with you

I've been trying to get better at digitally painting in PS b/c it's definitely something I've always wanted to do well, and this is my first attempt (above) and doing something more "realistic." It's just a fan art piece of Zero Suit Samus as she appears in SSbros. She's looking into the distance and you can see one of the battle stages in the background.

It was good practice and I found that it's actually much easier painting this way as opposed to having everything outlined. I tried to keep it really simple so as to not kill myself on my first go. Hopefully you all like it :D

Also- "Juxtaposed" updates:

My film will be playing at the following film festivals this year: Roma Independent Film Festival, and Citrus Cel in FL. w00t!

waking sleeping beuty

2010-02-21T10:30:00.000-08:00

Apple Trailers has a preview up for the new documentary about the Walt Disney Animation Studios during the 1980's - 90's; the time when they created some of their most successful films. The "Disney Renaissance" is what really coined the term "disneyfication"and our views of the stereotypical Disney princess and the film focuses on this specific comeback period.

Opens March 26th in LA, NYC, SF and Chicago.

masquerade

2010-02-10T15:08:00.001-08:00

Paper faces on parade.

Just some quick stuff I did in PS for fun. Based on a picture of me and my friend in these creepy bunny and cat masks.

nom noms

2010-02-02T12:28:00.000-08:00

The Oscar Noms are here for Best Animated Feature Film of 2009! The nominated films are:

Coraline

The Princess and the Frog

Fantastic Mr. Fox

The Secret of Kells

Up is most likely the front runner here due to the fact that it was also nominated for a Best Picture award; only the second animated film ever to be nominated for that category along side Beauty and the Beast. In 1991 there was yet to be a Best Animated Feature category so the fact that Up was nominated for that particular award despite the fact that there is an animation category is a pretty big deal. However due to the unlikely fact that it will win Best Picture and if someone else wins Animation, it could prove to be a big disappointment. Fantastic Mr. Fox,being the "underdog," could change the whole decision as it has been receiving just as positive reviews.

I'm a bit upset that Ponyo did not receive any noms, I definitely think it is more worthy than Princess, but I am glad to see The Secret of Kells getting a bit of attention.

Here are the nominations for best animated short:

French Roast

Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty

The Lady and the Reaper

Logorama

A Matter of Loaf and Death

ginger

2010-02-01T12:52:00.000-08:00

So i just got some hard copies of a commercial that I recently worked on. I'm not going to upload it quite yet because it's actually airing right now, but I'll put up some screen shots.

The commercial was created through a company called relaTV out in Astoria and I was asked to be the lead animator on the project. It was produced by Fresh Step Kitty Litter and is airing on Animal Planet. I hope you all like it! There are definitely some things I would have done differently but it was a great learning experience. Check back in a while to see when I put up the full commercial.

Ciao

nyicff

2010-02-01T08:33:00.001-08:00

Summer Wars

Mai Mai Miracle

The New York International Children's Film Festival will be showing a ton of great films this run.

The two that stuck out to me are Summer Wars and Mai Mai Miracle. I don't know anything about the second one, the screen cap is just nice haha. Summer Wars, however, is by the same people that did The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, which is one of my all time favorite films.

Check out the ticket information here and maybe we'll bump into each other at one of the screenings! Let me know if any of you are going! Also both Kirikou and the Sorceress,

and The Secret of Kells (post screening Director Q&A) will be screened.

jumping ahead

2010-01-18T11:35:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I am well aware that I'm getting ahead of myself here but I just couldn't help it; Everyday going to work I have about 45 minutes of a commute to mull over different aspects of my film. One thing I just could NOT stop thinking about was the poster image for it. Usually I wouldn't make this until the film is completed but I actually thought this helped me a lot. I started liking more and more the idea of making it look like old photography. Seeing as the main character is a photographer I found this to be fittingly appropriate haha. It also serves as a vessel for me to just play around with the mood and design of the film, in general. It's going to be a much more mature step above Juxtaposed so I though a realistic portrait would be a good image.

Keep in mind this is not done. It's only a concept piece and will most likely get ditched/tweaked later on. For all I know the mom will be a man in a good two years time haha.

Here's the original drawing just for fun

th3rd and s7venth

2010-01-10T09:17:00.000-08:00

The Third & The Seventh from Alex Roman on Vimeo.

My friend turned me on to this video, The Third & The Seventh, that has been floating around the web as of late. It's an incredibly beautiful short film (about 12 min for those with patience) comprised of compositional studies from a photographic perspective. It's essentially different environments created in photorealistic CG, and they're all shown through different focus points as if shot through a camera.

This film is entirely CG and the quality is just amazing. I will admit, near the end, I stopped liking it as much b/c the director, Alex Roman, started to incorporate some more fantastical elements. It was executed well in the sense that we were eased into the more mystical scenes, but I thought it was a bit of a sucker punch to the idea that there is absolute natural beauty in the world around us (even though the obvious irony is that none of the shots are real). Regardless, the film is no less beautiful and inspiring.

Make sure to watch it in full screen as well- the quality is incredibly sharp and won't fuzz out on you. My friend who showed me this would also probably be upset if I didn't mention how great the soundtrack is...

"It's great."

arrival

2010-01-04T18:14:00.001-08:00

So over the holiday, I finally had the chance to sit back, eat a lot, and work on my next film. The character designs are going to change a bit from my previous entries about the film; I started to feel like they were a bit too childish for the somewhat mature story line I've devised. The story has also made a flip with who the protagonist is, though I won't really get into those things right this second. The image above and the one below are just different ways I can map out the climactic scene- I haven't fully figured out yet how I want it to be revealed. The second image below is a more in depth mockup of one of the storyboards I've already made.

Arrival is definitely an evolution of Juxtaposed, and there's a pretty good amount of similarities between the two films. I'm kind of treating it as though it picks up where Juxtaposed left off and you get to watch the boy grow up and experience the world for himself. The settings are also somewhat of a throwback to the first film, but reworked to fit with the new character designs.

Now the big unveiling of the plot! Oh yes, the plot!

'Arrival' follows the story of a boy who lives in a rather small part of his world- pretty isolated from anything beyond what he can see. Eventually he moves away from his mother and home to a much more chaotic environment, and there he discovers some undeniable truths about himself that don't really settle well. When he decides to return home to confront his mother, he learns an even larger truth; one that is bigger than himself and anyone else. A truth that he already knew, but had been forgotten with time.

Below are some more layout sketches. The best settings you can create are those that are inspired by, or are

direct representations of places you know. I've found even if there is one familiar object in the design, I can create a much deeper and more believable shot to go with it. All of the images below are based on things I've seen or have a deep connection with, and I'm rather fond of them! Take lots of pictures when you see something you like- they don't even have to be good ones- but they'll be handy reference points to look back on. You'll need them some day, I promise!

kurosawa powah

2010-01-03T08:39:00.000-08:00

To check showtimes for the Kurosawa Festival, click here

The Film Forum in NYC will be holding an Akira Kurosawa festival for the next four weeks starting this upcoming wednesday.

I had a rather long review that I was writing specifically for Kurosawa's Dreams, however it was getting a bit muddy and wordy. So in light of my good friend's advice I'm going to keep this short and simple! If you would like the extremely simple version my friend and I have concocted you may skip to the bottom**

If you haven't seen Dreams I really urge you to go see it, especially if you are a young filmmaker. The film is a series of eight vignettes based on, you guessed it, dreams, that the director has had, which he then brings to life using vibrant color palettes and eerie delicacy.

It might just be my affinity to the idea of something being both frightening and beautiful at the same time (i.e. the 1950's), but I have been inspired a great deal by this film. I won't bore you with disclosing anything explicit in regards to what I like about this film because you will like/not like it for your own reasons. However, keep in mind this is not a film that should be graded on its script or actors. They are merely moments that were born within, now living amongst us, that focus on what is fantastic and illogical in our otherwise 'realistic' realms. They are emotional pieces and downright visual eye candy. They are simply just dreams.

**"Is liking filmses. It is the overjoy."

something borrowed

2009-12-19T13:15:00.000-08:00

Sorry, I'm a bit late on bringing this information to you since I found out a couple of days ago.

Ghibli recently announced their next feature length animated film "Karigurashi no Arrietty" which essentially translates into "Arrietty the Borrower." The film is based on Mary Norton's Carnegie Medal winning novel The Borrowers. However, unlike the book and that 1997 film with John Goodman (heh), Ghibli's film will be set in Tokyo Koganei 2010.

The film will be Produced by Hayao Miyazaki, and it will be the directing debut of Yonebayashi Hirosama. A summer 2010 release has been projected (so close!) and will have a running length of about 80 minutes. More updates as the news becomes available!

good bye

2009-12-16T13:03:00.000-08:00

RIP Roy

It was a sad day today in the world of animation; Roy E. Disney died earlier this afternoon at 79 years old. You can read the article tracing his longstanding impacts on the animation community here, at NYTimes.

review

2009-12-08T11:49:00.000-08:00

So, being the big sad lonely nerd that I am, I decided to catch a pre screening of Disney's new feature length animated film, "Princess and the Frog" last week after it came out in NYC.

Before you get jealous, I had to shell out 30 bucks to see this thing. Also, when I got there, I was embarrassed to find that not only was the prescreening mainly full of little girls with their mom's and friends, but there was also an 'after party' where you get to meet the princesses.... whoopie! Needless to say I skipped the after party and hid my entire self in a side row during the movie and my roommate won't let me live it down. Ok, now that you've had a good laugh at me here's my analysis of Disney's first 2D animated feature in four years...

Go see it. Whether or not you end up liking it in the end, it's definitely something to be seen. It is not the best film that Disney has thrown out, but it most certainly is a wonder to watch on a big screen. The art direction is absolutely stunning and in some of the scenes there is just so much depth, it almost looks like the screen has been pulled back like an accordion box diorama. Each scene is sprinkled with this subtle layer of dust and light which sort of just linger around the shot as though they were blowing away the cobwebs that have gathered on this old animation technique.

Depth!

Although all of the coloring has gone digital, it actually benefits to the film's look. Unlike Beauty and the Beast, when they digitally remastered it and we all cringed at how bright it was, since the best thing about that film was the dark grainy texture, Princess had the fortunate ability to be planned for digital painting. The backgrounds have beautiful lighting and color but they don't scream at you; they are so well integrated into the actual animation. One scene stands out in particular, when the main characters are at a masquerade; the scene opens and you see this beautiful green light coming off of a fountain and each character near it has been given a layer of green highlights. It's really quite lovely to look at how they all meld into the scenes.

The story was a bit wonky at times. There were a couple of instances where characters get upset or angry in a way you would expect from a story where everything's is based on miscommunication. However, the things they get upset over, they already knew about or had already come to terms with earlier. Therefore I found myself saying under my breath "didn't you know that....? Yeah... I'm sure you did..." Overall though it's a nice simple story. It doesn't take too much thought like many Disney films, however it is definitely a bit more mature. The Villain, Dr. Facilier, has this hoard of incredibly creepy, yet amazingly graphic, voodoo minions from the other world. They float around in shadow and can pull you into the darkness the one you cast yourself.

**SPOILER: There is also death! Never have I seen a Disney film where you see someone other than the villain meet a sad end. I definitely commend the team for this**

Tiana is a good role model for little girls, however she has a hard time letting herself have fun so she can be a bit of a bore, but it's good to see a Disney Princess that hasn't had everything handed to her on a silver platter

These things are seriously creepy

You can easily see the influences that John Lasseter has had on this film as one of the producers. The end credits look like you just finished watching Ratatouille, and the obvious choice of Randy Newman as composer. The Pixar style is there which is great, however, I thought they failed to bring in a lot of the witty humor that appears in all of their films. Princess wasn't as funny as it's predecessors and that really surprised me.

Newman's score is fun, but the main musical numbers are so-so and nearly forgettable. The theme song "Down in New Orleans" is unfortunately sung by Newman himself, and when we do get to hear the wonderful Anika Noni Rose sing the reprise it's for about 30 seconds. Probably the best number would be "Dig a Little Deeper" which has this incredible ending that gives you a wonderful high and sense of hope.

All in all, go see it. It has its flaws, but it also has a lot of expectations to meet so you have to take them with a grain of salt. Princess is a good start to hopefully what will be a long continuation of more 2D animated films. Let's just hope they aren't in the form of those awful straight to DVD sequels.

The Princess and the Frog opens world wide this friday, December 11, 2009.

rebirth

2009-12-08T11:33:00.000-08:00

Don't worry, I Haven't dissapeared completely- just moving around a lot so it's been hard to find a moment to sit down and blog. My friend Frances called me a lazy blogger and she's right haha. So I'm trying to get back into the swing of things. Here's a peek at my new sketch book; I'm working on a series of illustrations based on fashionistas coming out of these cloth like vaginas. Not really sure where this came from...

Working slowly on my new film. I've latched onto my friend Lisa Labracio to help me produce and manage the film. Also doing some concept art for a third, very short, experimental film. Not sure when it will see the light of day, but it's fun to keep busy.

I'll post a more in depth post within the next couple of days once I get settled back into this.

btw: new banner, new layout, new blog!

victory!

2009-07-30T20:48:00.000-07:00

"Juxtaposed" will air this Saturday August 8th, at 11pm on PBS

For some reason I didn't make a post about this a week ago...

For the past week, people have been voting on my film at Reel13.com! It's been part of an ongoing competition since last friday; every week Reel13.com has a short film competition. The film with the most votes gets to be shown on PBS/WNET the following Saturday evening at 11pm.

Plus I get cash which is always helpful hahaha.

"Juxtaposed" won by two votes!!! TWO! Thanks to all those who voted! It was a nail-biter to say

the least. I really appreciate all those who promoted the event and helped get this film some air time!

Thanks everyone, really. Drinks on me... in 30 years when I have a stable income.

**** Update 3.30pm ****

Why does my thesis advisor rock so hard?

also- Be sure to check out his site. Click here to visit the madness! You can connect to his blog from there as well.

ponyo tickets!

2009-07-23T06:22:00.000-07:00

Tickets for the first east coast pre-screening of "Ponyo" recently went on sale! Of course I already bought some (section one....is that good?) but you can buy them too! The screening will be held in the lovely Symphony Space uptown on 2537 Broadway (95th Street) on Sunday August 9th at 3pm. Tickets are only $15 and $0-$5 for members of NYICFF.

you can buy them here

***7.28.09 in all the excitement I forgot to post the link!!!***

Don't hesitate to buy tickets for this, it's gonna be goooooooood! It's "expected to sell out" so get them now!

Maybe you'll see me in section one... wherever that is...

juxtaposed at ABP!

2009-07-23T06:17:00.000-07:00

Juxtaposed will be having it's first non school affiliated film festival screening at Animation Block Party!

ABP is from July 24th-26th in Brooklyn, NY. "Juxtaposed" will be playing the first night which will be located at Rooftop Films. The following two nights will be at BAMcinematek. ABP wil be showcasing over 80 animated shorts and there's expected to be a great turn out this year so get your tickets now!

You can always order at the door but it's better to have them on will call

screening and ticket information can be found here

colors

2009-07-03T22:11:00.000-07:00

Finally got some more work done on the new film. These are the three main characters, the two on the left are the designs when they're older. Started working on the storyboards too- hopefully I can get a lot of the pre production done by the end of the year. Still working on the title though, I have a couple of things going around in my head but with this one, I really don't think I'll know what it'll be until I'm done with the story boards. (And in case you're wondering- the boy on the left is supposed to have a crooked chin. I think it's probably the best thing about him :] )

Check it out.

Eat it up.

new resume

2009-06-25T21:08:00.000-07:00

please hire me

ponyo

2009-06-23T10:02:00.001-07:00

Apple has posted the official English trailer for "Ponyo." Can't wait to get to see this on the big screen! Hopefully it'll be nominated for an Academy, but it's going against some stiff competition from "UP" which will be really hard to beat... The cast sounds great so far in respects to Cate Blanchett and Tina Fey. Noah Cyrus sounds really great as Ponyo too- it's a good match in my opinion.

click here to see the trailer

See it August 14th!

Also, just a nice little find; A.O. Scott from the NYTimes did a 4 minute video review of "Princess Mononoke." You can watch the clip here

success

2009-06-12T09:55:00.000-07:00

So I had been having a bit of a hard time coming up with a character design for my next film. Who knew that creating a little kid would be so difficult? After numerous versions though I finally came out with a design I am happy with. The designs on the left are when he's grown up and there's a magic costume change haha.

In other news, I've been meaning to post this for a while now but- FUTURAMA is back! ahhh 2010 will see the second Animated series to be revived due to DVD sales (the first being Family Guy). First off I'm pumped for this; I have that stupid trait of having to quote from Futurama, 30Rock, and The Office (basically you don't want to be friends with me). Secondly, I'm so surprised that it's happening so quickly. I mean, the last Futurama DVD movie just came out not too long ago and Matt Groening had an interview where he said they were thinking about bringing back the series but it wouldn't be for a really long time if it did. But I guess when you're talking to nerds, one year is way too long for us to have to wait.

Bet you're cryin' now, huh Fox?

first taste of summer

2009-06-05T22:20:00.000-07:00

So here's some new concept art for my second film. The story has changed a bit but the setting is very similar. I figure it'll take me a good three years to finish this film independently so I might as well start now. leave me feedback! I don't have an advisor really for this one so any criticism is appreciated. They're just some technique experiments, not necessarily shots from the film.

New thing- ethiopian food. Messy but oh so satisfying... Best place is up around west 107th street called 'Awash.' Endless nann!

good byes

2009-05-29T11:00:00.000-07:00

After 5000 hits, it was time to take my film off youtube. thanks everyone who commented on it! I'm starting to enter festivals so I have to keep it elusive haha. I'll post more info regarding festivals it will be playing in and where you can see it when it becomes available

Thanks again ya'll! :]

good eats

2009-05-17T14:14:00.000-07:00

I just downloaded this application onto my iPod which let's me write blog entries when I'm away from my computuer. Unfortunately I don't own an iPhone which would make this a little more useful but whatever. Regardless, I'm going to keep these kinds of posts still about animation instead of boring you with info about my personal life haha.

Disney has recently released two posters and for those of you who haven't seen them, here they are! One being for the hightly anticipated "The Princess and the Frog" the other being Hayao Miyazaki's new film "Ponyo on the Cliff." I have seen Ponyo and it's my new favorite Miyazaki film. The techniques he used in his animation are so unique and beautiful- and apparently he animated a lot of the water animation himself.

The new Disney film has so many mixed feelings being voiced about it that I'm really curious as to how I'll view it myself. Despite all of this, however, this poster is really beautiful. I think Disney is finally starting to do some things right. I'm usually so disappointed with their DVD covers and one sheet print ads because of the weird airbrush quality of them. But this poster has so much depth and mood that I would be a popmpus fool to not like it. Only time will tell if this journey back to 2D will be worth the wait, but I think no matter if you are exited for it or not, we have to be optimistic for what it could mean later on.

Feast your eyes!

::munch slurp:: yumm.

*posted from my iPod :)

the day after yesterday

2009-05-16T08:10:00.000-07:00

Today I woke up done with college forever... except for the fact that I still live in the dorms and will be working for them until the end of August for free housing... but other than that, I am done with college forever. It doesn't feel weird because it's over though, it feels weird because I have nothing to do. I miss all the pressure, and the work, and the anxiety, and the deadlines. I think that's why I'm starting another film, I love being busy. I guess that would mean that I should go out and find a job, which I am not against doing! So....

IF ANYONE WANTS TO HIRE ME YOU MAY EMAIL ME AT ALEXMYUNG@GMAIL.COM

It's ok- I'm not making a fool of myself b/c I'm acknowledging the fact that I'm saying this ironically. That's how it works right??

...

please hire me...

(on a lesser note... more production sketches. Still having a bit of a hard time with the story but I'm confident it'll work out in the end. Enjoy!)

close up

Also- Congrats Seniors of 2009! We made it out alive and only slightly less healthy!

shanks

2009-05-11T07:07:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to thank everyone for all of their support and love for my film. it's so weird for me to meet people who like what I do but it helps fuel my ego and drives me to make even better content.

My film won "Best Animation Design" and was nominated for "Best Overall Animation" but lost out to Jake Armstrong (whom you should all look into. His film is beyond this world). I was honored to be considered ranking among Rebbecca Sugar and Jake and Elyssa; all three are amazingly driven people and I can't wait to see what they do next!

I also want to just congratulate everyone in general. I hear nothing but positive reviews about the film festival this year and how it was "the best year to date." Hopefully next year will outdo us!

On another note, I'll be removing my film from youtube once it reaches about 700 hits. I want to enter it into some festivals and they only like young films so I don't want it to get too much exposure until then.

I'm also already starting pre production work on my next film (yet to be titled). It's about the Ocean and how she falls in love with a fisherman and his family. Here's some designs I've made so far. Enjoy!!!!

tah dah

2009-05-08T19:29:00.000-07:00

the 'ahead of you'

2009-05-05T08:27:00.000-07:00

Today is my first day as a non student. It's a bit weird because everyone, up until now, has been saying "you have the rest of your life ahead of you dot dot dot." Now it's the 'rest of my life' and there's no more excuses to allow me to put it off.

Had a pretty um.... interesting weekend. But at least some good came out of it (below)

I also finally got to see Nicole Perry's film "The Sunshine Girl" and I'm so proud of her.

Things I like right now?

-Strawberry cream cheese

-'Parks and Recreation' starring Amy Poehler

-The fact that the Freshman are checking out as we speak

Things I don't like?

-Reality

-The amount of money that I spend on my gym each month

-McDonalds

alexburger helper

2009-05-01T19:15:00.000-07:00

Just some work I did for other people's thesis films.

Mike's is just a still frame that he wanted to be really rendered out, and Nicole's were different environmental shots for a short animated scene in her live action film (they had more layers with glowing elements but my hard drive had some problems and didn't save what it was supposed to..... )

"Yay I'm helping" - Zoidberg

"Passin' on Class" by Mike Antonucci

"The Sunshine Girl" by Nicole Perry

in the words of mel gibson.... "freeedooommmm"

2009-04-24T20:48:00.000-07:00

It's over, it's finally over

After 2 years, countless hours of lost sleep and unbearable arm and back pain....

7 minutes of film have been born.

Here's the postcards I made for the film.

I also sucked it up and bought a domain name (but no hosting b/c I don't know what I'm doing....) and will hopefully have that up and running sometime soon. I'll post my movie on here/my website/youtube once it premieres on the 7th at the film festival.

STOP BADGERING ME. WHAT?

Things I like right now

-The Kero One Album (even though I just realized it might be christian rap....huh?)

-GarageBand Podcast recordings

-Papa Johns Pizza

Things I don't like right now

-My gut

-My iPod (why can't you be a phone, albern??)

-The brownies I ate earlier....

kit kat

2009-01-15T13:49:00.000-08:00

Let's take a break from thesis:

Just some personal art work.

Bend in the road

Follow the Leader

Self explanitory

wannabe concepts

2009-01-14T18:28:00.000-08:00

I made this image for one of the still frames in my film but my advisor and I decided that it didn't really fit the gracefulness of the mother character. It was a bit too disheveled and we were afraid that it would interrupt the mood of the film.

Can anyone say "Blooper Reel??"

...

Blooper reel...

"Where you goin' fool?"

i'm not dead

2009-01-09T11:12:00.000-08:00

Sorry, it's been a while. Had a pretty funky past two months besides thesis work so the blog spot has been rather neglected to say the least.

What's new?

Not much

Thesis. Something old.

Thesis. Something new

Money. Something borrowed? Sorry I'm not getting married. I've recently become addicted to NPR podcasts thanks to Kenny and I just listened to one on the War of The Worlds Broadcast from back in the day when everyone thought that NYC was actually under attack by martians. Apparently somewhere in Cuba I think they thought it would be funny to recreate the madness a couple of years later. 6 people ended up dead and the main broadcaster fled the country.

I would like to thank Tina Fey for giving me 30Rock.Beyonce/ BC Jean for "If I Were A Boy." and I would like to give a shout out to my roommate whom I hope learns one day how to clean.

Side note- I woke up to find my roommate sleeping with his door open. He was sleeping on an uncovered mattress in his clothes and his blanket was a foam mattress pad....so glorious.

Here's some more stuff from muh filmses.

All the things he had said...

Unfinished

One day all will know

Found

let me shine for you- oh oh

2008-10-28T15:16:00.000-07:00

I went to sterling state park this weekend for a little rest and relaxation with some of my friends. I've been in a bit of a creative slump as of recently and one day in the woods brought back that familiar feeling of impatience to start doing some work. Here's some of pictures I took of the park, with my new G10 camera. I hope they inspire you as much as they inspired me.

My feet as I relaxed by the lake

Some leaves ken picked out - after giving us an extensive background on chlorophyll...

Playing around with the ISO

Some more ISO tom foolery

What's on my mind every hour, every minute, every second.

I also had my voice over auditions on friday, I was more nervous then the actors hahaha. Nicole helped me out though and calmed me down. I had about 9 potential narrators for my film and I think I'm going to call back about 3-4 of them to record and then decide who I like the best.

I've never worn spurs

how do you feel?

2008-10-22T21:15:00.000-07:00

So this isn't my first completed background, but so far it's my favorite! it's one of the opening scenes. So here's an update- so far I've finished about 60% of rough animation. Hopefully as planned I will have it all finished by the end of november (fingers crossed) I am dying....

fatty

2008-09-18T07:10:00.000-07:00

Animators always joke about how unhealthy they are and how they don't exercise because of their work load. Due to this I always used to say "NOT ME!" I refuse to become like them and never work out for the rest of my career.

But in the last three weeks I've gone to the gym about 1-2 times a week....which is better than nothing, but when I used to go every day- it's a travesty. I can feel myself wasting away because of my thesis... I now understand.

Keep me in your prayers that I don't fall into stereotype

Amen

backgrounds

2008-08-12T19:13:00.000-07:00

This is just a little peek at some of the background work that I've been coming up with. I actually don't have many backgrounds- most of my movie is set against a white screen and then I have some scenes with crazy settings (most of which can be recycled). These objects will be used in the pivotal scene of the film where the light bulb meets his mother.

The backgrounds were created using water colors and gouache paints and I'll add the rest in with photoshop/ painter on my computer. The items in the front were painted larger and will be resized so I can place them where I want. I really wanted to create a concrete dock that looked really old and weathered. I was thinking of adding some graffiti also but i decided against it- it made the rest of the image look too cluttered and distracting. I love how raw and old concrete looks, it helps ground my characters a little and make them feel more realistic.

I have a deadline coming up this friday; I have to hand in some work to the animation dept. I'm a little behind my own schedule so I'm upset with myself but i have so much going on during the day with RA training so I'm incredibly tired by the time that I get back. Siiiiigghhhhhh........ deadlines...... I need to start trying more to meet my own goals- everyone root for meeeee!!!

noteworthy animation

2008-08-09T23:06:00.000-07:00

Based on the classic Chinese novel "Journey to the West," this is a BBC promotion for the Beijing Olympics. According to angryasianman.com it was produced by the same people behind the Gorillaz. The animation is so clean and fluid- it's a shame we don't see this sort of thing often enough. Instead we get Sketchers Z-Strap commercials done in Flash.

Also- check out themoviebox.net they have a link to the first teaser trailer for Disney's Princess and the Frog.

Disney's Princess and the frog (2009)

It's their first fully 2-d movie since their uh... box office hit... Home on the Range....

Disney's Home on the Range (2004)

The trailer looks pretty good... though I don't know how I feel about the whole Randy Newman choice. John Lasseter was quoted saying he wanted to use good ol' Randy over Disney veteran Alan Menkin, for the musical numbers, because he didn't want to seem repetitive... I mean... because you know, having already done Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Cars, James and the Giant Peach, and Monster's Inc. - Newman's practically a rookie! In his defense, he grew up in New Orleans which is where the whole movie is set, so he has that advantage... but even in the teaser you can see how pretty much any song he writes just sounds like he's talking.

spiceworld

2008-08-09T21:45:00.000-07:00

12.43am

I've been out since 9.30 last night watching the Olympics with a group of Chinese boys... Korean pride not welcome. The scale of the whole thing in general was so immense and vibrant- if you haven't seen it, good luck, and shame on you- youtube has taken many of the videos down so you'll have to settle on the NBC highlights their website provides (luckily I have my trusty VHS recorder... old school).
Sorry that was a side bar... back to thesis mumbo jumbo. I realized I never quite explained the story exactly (WHAT!? You didn't know it already!? Jerk). It's loosely based on/ inspired by the anonymous poem "Legacy of an Adopted child," and revolves around a little light bulb in search of his 'real' mother. I'm about a year into production come this fall and should start ACTUALLY animating some time maybe next week

Here's a story board of the scene I think I'll be working on

This story board is from the climax of the film. Here's the color pallet I'm utilizing:

Still needs some tweaking. It's a bit unfinished and not soft enough yet (so my adviser tells me)

Nervous...?
Yes....
Yes I am.

Enough about me though. Here's some other news.... about me! I start my 3rd year of RA training on Monday. 2 weeks of "what to do with suicidal students" and "how to be more culturally sensitive" sessions, it makes you want to inflict bodily harm. The one thing that I do enjoy however is the free food. My good friends at Hidden City cater the whole damn shabang and they have really stupendous make your own burritos.

Taco flavored Kisses.

bbo bbo bbo

laura laine

2008-08-08T10:11:00.000-07:00

Via John Sohn, I've recently become obsessed with the illustrator Laura Laine. Her work is so beautiful and melancholy. It's nice to come across someone to inspire you every now and then. I'm glad I can add her to my list of favorites. She recently just did some illustrations for the Zara Fall/Winter '08 line.

You can check the rest out on her website. The link is in "fish food"

Bring a change of clothes though- you might drool all over yourself

post cherry post

2008-08-08T09:05:00.000-07:00

So for some reason I can't choose more than 8 fonts... I can deal with it I guess : /
I'm incredibly Technologically inept so bear with me here as I try to make this happen haha-this is essentially just a tester post/ ice breaker.... I should buy a scanner...

Take a voyeuristic look into my desktop: haha you can see my previous screen shot attempt
...Pervert