Hey guys,
Here are some gesture drawings that I did at work last week. Each of these are 5 minute poses.
Last night I felt like trying to draw a cartoon human and I came up with this drawing of Rachel Alucard from Blazblue. I like how this turned out for the most part, but I still feel like I struggle with drawing people much more than I should be.
Here are two more pictures from the wrap party. Dan, Mike and I got there just in time, as Princess Tiana had to leave right after our picture was taken.
Hey guys,
The Princess and the Frog wrap party was amazing! I feel so honored to be a part of Disney and to have been there. First off the film is awesome! It's a true Disney movie that's worthy of standing next to the classics. Watching it made me feel like a little kid again, excited about the next Disney movie. I highly recommend seeing it at least once when its released! Princess and the Frog looks like the start of something great at Disney. I've always loved Disney through the good times and bad. Disney films have made me who I am today and I am truly honored to be here.
Anyway, the party itself was beautiful! I've never been to a wrap party (or any real party for that matter) before so I had no idea what to expect. All of the food was New Orleans style. It ranged from gumbo and po' boys to hurricanes, blackened catfish and jerk chicken. There were tarot card readers and photo opportunities with some of the characters from the film. Not to mention the building itself was decked out like the bayou, a voodoo emporium, and a palace. I really cant wait until next year's wrap party for Rapunzel. That one will be even more special since my friends and I would have actually worked on it (I still cant believe it)! Unfortunately my camera died early on that evening so I had to take pictures with my phone. They really don't do the place justice.
Hey guys,
Oh snap, check out how my fellow TDA's and I will be arriving to the Princess and the Frog wrap party this weekend! We'll be in the black Escalade EXT, complete with scissor doors!
http://lahopper.com/main.php#/vehicles
Hey guys,
I have some drawings to show from the past week or so from work and my trip to the equestrian center. I really enjoyed drawing horses last week and would love to go to the zoo to draw the animals there. I just need to tear myself away from my new PS3 and BlazBlue long enough to do so, lol.
In other news, my fellow TDA's and I finished our first production assignment earlier this week! All of our mentors and the directors really liked everyone's animation which was awesome. It was great having my work reviewed and approved by a director. Lol, I felt like a "real animator" as everyone clapped upon the director's approval of our work. The project will be online within the next month or so and I will definitely post a link to where it can be "viewed" once it's been released. =D
30 sec to 1 min gestures from Disney's Improv Gesture Drawing sessions:
Horse Studies and Gestures from last Sunday's trip to the LA Equestrian Center:
Hey guys,
I was able to go to life drawing today and was pleasantly surprised to find a costumed model. He was dressed like a renaissance clown of sorts although you cant really tell from my drawing. The front of his suit had the big fuzzy pom-poms that the clowns/harlequins of that era wore. Anyway, I really like how my portrait turned out and feel like todays session was pretty successful. I just wish my scanner was large enough to capture the whole drawing.
Hey guys,
Disney's released the first five min of Princess and the Frog! You can check it out here if you haven't seen it already: http://www.traileraddict.com/trailer/princess-and-the-frog/first-5-minutes I'm extremely excited for this film and cant wait to see it in the theaters! From what I saw as an intern last year, this is sure to be another Disney classic. I hope it does well though and that the audience will support the studios wonderful return to 2d. I know I'm going to see it at least twice!
I just finished a commission for someone on Deviantart that I thought I'd share since I like how it turned out. I'm still way too slow, but I think I'm getting better at cel shading. =D
Hey guys,
Check out this excellent Podcast sponsored by AnimationMentor:
http://www.animationmentor.com/landing/becomeanimator/podcast.html
It features previous Disney Talent Development artists who have now been at Disney for up to two years. This is a great way to find out more about Disney and to hear about the experiences of people who've been through the program and are now full time employees.
Hey guys,
My scanner has arrived and is now hooked up. Here are some of the drawings that I've done within the past few weeks...
From a Disney life drawing session:
Quick sketch before bed:
Stylized life drawing:
Gestures from the car wash:
Hey guys,
I just wanted to happily announce that I've quit playing Wow. My account's been canceled for the past few weeks and I just deleted the game and all of its related files/folders from my computer. I didn't bring any of my consoles with me to Burbank and I'm not sure I trust the mail enough to have them shipped here, so tomorrow will be the first day of my video game free life.
Tomorrow's also important because I'll gt my first assignment at Disney. I wont be using any of the Rapunzel characters yet so I'll ask if I'll be allowed to post the progress of my tests here. If so, you guys can expect to see some poses and walk cycles in the not too distant future. If not, no worries either since I would really like to do some 2d animation in my free time and will post that here once I start. I want to have a decent amount of good 2d animation to show the guys at Disney in the hopes that they'll let me work on their next 2d film once Rapunzel's finished.
Besides, how can I be at Disney and not do some 2d?
Hey guys,
Things are finally starting to settle down move-wise for me. I'm just waiting on my car to arrive and for my internet to be hooked up in my apartment. Then that'll pretty much be it.
I'm thoroughly enjoying being back at Disney! I met my mentor today, its Doug Bennett one of the supervising animators from Bolt. I'm really looking forward to working with Doug and cant wait to receive my first assignment! =D
Hey guys,
Sorry for the lack of posts! I'm in the process of moving in/furnishing my new apartment in Burbank. My internet there wont be set up until the 18th (how will I survive?!?!?!?) so my access will be limited to only while I'm at work. I drove by the studio yesterday while running my errands. I'm really excited to be returning to Disney, it's great to be back!
Hey guys,
I just found out the book I illustrated back in June/July is being printed and will ship on September 15th! If anyone's interested in picking up their copy, you can do so here: Weezer the Sneezer Finds A Home.
After days of reading Drawn to Life and drawing nothing but animal characters for Deviantart commissions, I've been itching to do some life drawing. I knocked out a few pages tonight that I have varying degrees of happiness with. I've also been really admiring Chris Sanders' style and worked on a few attempts to emulate it.
I've been wanting to work on my feet, hands and faces for some time now. I feel like I have a better understanding of the structure of the foot but I'm not 100% confident yet. I still feel like I'm missing a few more pieces of the puzzle but I'm getting there. The leg in the center is from one of Chris Sander's drawings. I wanted to see if I could copy his style from an existing drawing before trying to apply it to a drawing of my own.
My attempts at trying to get more appealing leg shapes.
A 10-20 min drawing. I didn't think to time myself, so I'm not sure exactly how long it took.
Finally, here are my attempts at drawing in Chris' style. Lol, now I need to learn how to draw heads, hair, and faces to go with them...
Hey guys,
I'm really enjoying being able to draw something everyday. Doing commissions has been keeping me pleasantly busy. Today's commission was to design a steam-punk hyena character with two costume vairations. I drew a quick hyena sketch in preparation using this photo as reference. I'd say this character has been the most difficult one I've ever had to draw since I've struggled with drawing clothes for years. Once I get some extra cash I'm going to get a book on drawing clothes/folds and I'll do some studies to remedy that. I really cant wait to get to Disney and participate in their daily life drawing sessions!
While doing research on steam-punk related props and clothing, I stumbled across this awesome website called Crabfu SteamWorks. It features functioning steam-punk robots built by a guy who also happens to be an animator and a concept artist. How cool is that???? I'd love to build a robot of my own if I had the knowledge and resources for it.
Hey everyone,
There's an awesome video on Dr. Facilier from Princess and the Frog online at CartoonBrew. I remember being blown away by rough pencil tests of him dancing last summer and even more excited from seeing Dr. Facilier finished and in color. I can't wait to see the finished film. I attend one of the wip screenings last year and was very pleased. It was awesome to see the bare bones of the movie and now it's super exciting to see various finished clips. Princess and the Frog looks beautiful and I think it's an excellent example of the glory of 2d animation at its best. Every time I see something from the film, I'm reminded of why I got into animation in the first place and what an honor it would be to work at Disney. I still can't believe I've accepted a position at the studio of my dreams!
Katie and Tobermorey are the property of Stamps at: http://www.tobermorey.com/index.php
I've decided to give Twitch an upgrade from his previously drawn self. He was lacking in the anatomy/structure department, lol. I'm really enjoying being able to draw freely now without having to worry about turning it in as an assignment! It's still hard to believe that I'm finished with school. Part of me is expecting to return to class in the fall, lol. I guess that's somewhat true since they have a huge amount of classes at Disney. I will definitely be watching new lectures and re-watching the ones I saw last summer once I get there!
Hey guys,
I'm working on updating my freelance portfolio while preparing to go to Disney. Things have been really slow as far as acquiring freelance illustration work and I have one more month of rent to pay before moving to California. Here's a look at one of the new additions to my portfolio. Hopefully my new work will attract some clients.
Your dreams come true!!!!!!!!!! I just got the best phone call of 2009, I will be returning to Disney next month as a talent development animator!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! =D =D =D =D
Man, Siggraph has made me even more excited about getting started in this industry! I can't wait until I can be a part of some of the amazing productions coming up! I'd be happy to have a chance to animate the tiniest background character(s) and shortest shots in the film, just as long as I'm there and a part of the process. I seriously cant wait!
I finally found my sketchbook from my last quarter at SCAD and can now return to working on my drunk Norman scene. I've been in contact with Prof. Webber this entire time and he's really encouraging me to return to that scene as well. Now that I have all of my notes, I plan on putting it back in production tomorrow as soon as I finish my commission from Deviantart. I'll also be keeping my eyes and ears open for a phone call or an email from Disney, Sony, and Reelfx. My summer of animation unemployment may be coming to an end soon and I can't wait! =D
Hey everyone,
Siggraph's been a blast so far! I'm really glad that I decided to come. So far I've had my reel reviewed by two people from Disney, recruiters from Sony, and critiqued by the amazing Bobby Beck and Shawn Kelly! Bobby and Shawn gave students and alumni feedback on their reels during the AM Birds of a Feather meeting. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time to get to everyone during the meeting but Bobby and Shawn were nice enough to review the leftover reels out in a quiet hallway. I'm very grateful to them taking the time to review everyone's reel since mine was one of the ones that wasn't seen during the meeting. Surprisingly, they didn't have a long list of things for me to change. They both really enjoyed my reel which means a ton to me. It was truly an honor to have them give me feedback.
My reel was also received very positively by Disney and Sony as well. I'm hoping to hear back from both studios within the next few weeks. Hopefully I'll hear back from ReelFx soon as well. I had a great interview with them last month and I'm not sure what's happened...
Hey guys,
I cant wait for the job fair tomorrow! I found out that MPC and DoubleNegative are hiring too so I plan on dropping off a reel with both of them. On Wed. I also have an interview with:
I'm super excited and cant wait to speak with the representative from Sony!!!!! I think its awesome that so many studios are hiring right now. I hope I'll hear something good from one of them soon! =D
Greetings from Siggraph guys,
The Animation Mentor student showcase is now online. Check out all the amazing work here.
Congrats to everyone who's work is featured in the reel!!!!
After receiving some comments on the colors, I've decided to re-render my squirrely shot. Here's the new version:
Hey everyone,
Here's my polishing pass for the squirrely shot. Please let me know if this can be improved in any way. Tomorrow I'm going to work on modeling the tree branches, lighting and rendering. I will also be addressing any changes that might need to be made as well.
Hey guys,
Here's today's update on my squirrely shot. I'm still tweaking the arms, they've been giving me trouble for the past two days but now they're almost there. Once they're done, I'll work on the tail some more. I did a quick smoothing pass on the tail in the GE before closing Maya, but I didn't like it enough to include it in the post. Anyway, once the tail's been worked on I'll move on to polishing. =D
Oh, I didn't include the first section since I didn't work on it today. As usual, all comments/crits are highly appreciated!
Hey guys,
I figured out how to save my squirrely scene. I've kept the animation from the messed up file prior to him hopping out from behind the tree and then I started refining everything after frame 80 from a previous blocking file. Here's a look at how far I got yesterday. I've done a smoothing pass on the hips, spine, and head from f80-150. Everything's been smoothed from f01-80. Today I plan on smoothing his limbs, ears and tail. Once everything's had an initial plateau pass, I'll go through and start pushing the spacing, weight, arcs, etc.
Please let me know if anything stands out and/or can be improved, pushed, or toned down!
Hey guys,
I would have had a nice refining pass on my squirrel shot but I've run into a set back. I went to swap the ik arms for fk when the joints for part of that arm suddenly disappeared. Now Squirrely's arm bends at awkward angles and deforms strangely in ik and fk. I've emailed Josh about it with the hopes that he'll be able to fix it. If not, I'll have to redo everything that I did today. =(
Hey guys,
Sorry for the lapse in updates. I spent yesterday preparing my reel and paperwork for Pixar. I just found out that Disney will be looking for people at Siggraph and am now gathering my things for them as well. Once everything's ready, I'll resume working on the squirrel shot as it needs to be finished in time for the convention. Here's a look at my summer 09 reel so far. I'm going to add Cat Flap to the end of the reel as well. I've noticed that some of my classmates at AnimationMentor have done that. The dvd version will also have the option of watching the film by itself.
Hey guys,
Here's a look what I have so far. If you have any comments or critiques please let me know. I'm not happy with the tail twitch at the end. If I cant get it to work tomorrow morning I'll just remove it. I need this to be as good as possible since it'll be on my reel for Dreamworks and Pixar.
Here's today's update. I'm not very happy with the steps after he jumps out from behind the tree. There's something odd about his weight. Right now, there's a large spacing gap between the stretch contact and the down position. I'm hoping that posing out the inbetween will make his weight feel better. I'm also not too sure about the contact pose for the screen left foot. I've been having some trouble with getting him to swing his giant feet forward without them going through the ground. I've been using Crash and Eddie from Ice Age as reference since they have long feet with short legs as well. The motion blur had been getting in the way though, lol.
My goal is to pretty much have the blocking finished by the end of tomorrow. I'll post it in the AM forum for feedback before moving on to the refining stage. If anyone has any comments on this so far, please let me know!
I think I'm going to do things a bit differently with this squirrel shot. Dreamworks is accepting reels for Siggraph attendees and they ask to have everything in by the 27th. I'd like to use this squirrel test on my reel, but I know I wont have it finished in time since it's almost 30 seconds long. After much deliberation, I've decided to at least block everything out like the 2d version and then pick a section to finish off for my reel. My two choices are the beginning hundred or so frames and the part where the squirrel jumps across the gap and catches himself. I'd like to try to finish those two sections off as much as possible so I'll have some new content on my reel. It really sucks that I had to spend so much time doing freelance projects. I could have had a completely finished shot for my reel if I hadn't done them, but the bills had to be paid somehow.
Here's a look at what I've done so far...
There need to be some timing adjustments when he comes out and walks forward. I'm going to address those later though, as I'd like to keep everything in sync with the 2d version until I've gotten all of the poses in there.
I started working in 3d for a few hours before going to bed. Here's what I have so far. A few changes are in the process of being made here. The main thing is having him come from behind the tree convincingly. I'll also have him take a few steps forward to get to his ending position and to slow down his momentum from jumping out. I'd like the final version to incorporate my drawing as the background so it would look like he exists in that "world". I'd like to paint the background and then light him accordingly. I'm not sure how I'll do that though. I'm really unsure of how I'll get my 2d background and his 3d body to overlap properly where the two interact. If worse come to worse, I'll more than likely just end up modeling the trees in 3d and simply rendering it out normally.
Hey everyone,
I've decided to do a new test with Josh Burton's adorable squirrel rig. Here's a look at my very rough 2d blocking. It's filled with volume issues and a lack of breakdowns, but it gets the point across lol. Towards the end, he's much bigger than he's supposed to be which is messing up his line of sight with the acorn. Usually I'd fix this, but since its going to be a 3d test I wont have to worry about volume issues and such. Lol, I've also realized that when left to my own devices, I always come up with these short film length tests. =P
Hey guys,
I've finally finished all of my freelance work and am now free to animate. I'd like to return to my previous scene with the drunk character stumbling around. I cant find the sketchbook containing my notes on the scene though. I tried working without them but I don't like what I did and now I feel lost. I no longer have a clear idea of where the scene was going before, without access to my notes. I'd really like to finish the scene but I feel like I'm spinning my wheels with it...
Hey guys,
Its week two of my freelance illustration project which means its time to color! Hopefully I'll be able to color faster than I can draw, lol. I also have to draw two more images for my freelance mascot project and then ink/color the remaining five. The deadline for my illustration project is July 6th, so I'll be done soon. I cant wait to get back to animating! Taking on a second project has eaten up the rest of my spare time but it's also allowed me to have enough money for July's rent and thus granting me time to animate next month. Hopefully I'll get an animation job sometime next month so I wont have to take on anymore freelance projects; I enjoy drawing but I really love animating.
Hey guys,
I haven't heard anything about a job yet. I got emails from Rhythm&Hues, ILM, and ReelFx but it was just a confirmation on receiving my materials. I saw a new post for Disney Talent Development animators on CreativeHeads.net today. I thought the TD animators had already been chosen back in May. Maybe they have two programs or something. I applied via the Disney website just to be sure though. I really hope to hear something good this time. The reel I submitted this time is much better than the one I sent back in January, lol.
Here's a look at yesterday's roughs. I just realized I'm behind though. I thought I had to do two drawings (as in one spread) a day, but it turns out I have to do two spreads a day to meet my deadline. Good thing I realized this early in the week, lol. I am really learning a lot from this project so far. I think I've already gotten faster since I was able to do these in literally a couple of hours.
Hey guys,
Here's a look at what I'll be working on for the next few weeks. They're roughs for a childrens book freelance project. I really under charged for these now that I've seen how long they're taking. I think I would be able to draw them faster if I did it on paper, but each image is 8.5"x5.5". I'm really bad at cutting straight lines so making 15 pages of that size would take longer that it should, lol. I also feel like I can get more detail at this stage from using a tablet since the size is so small. Paper and pencil is still my medium of choice though. I dont feel like I have a good workflow for working 100% digitally and like I'm really slow as the result.
Hey guys,
I am about to go to bed, but I wanted to share a small animation update with you all. I was frame by framing the Meet Buck clip from BlueSky when I realized what had happened to my work. I was watching the medium shot of Buck talking when something really hit me. I went back to the beginning of the shot and watched how Buck turns around in slow motion. He really leads the action with his head and then his chest and later his shoulders and finally arms settle into his final pose. That's what had been missing from my animation. I had been so focused on trying to get everything done as quickly as possible, that I was animating way too pose to pose.
After realizing that, I decided to work on my Norman scene before I got too sleepy to animate constructively. I think this is a vast improvement over what I had and definitely think I'm headed in the right direction. Thank you so much for opening my eyes, whoever animated Buck saying "weeellllll, he's dead. Welcome to my world. Now uh, go home"!
Hey guys,
Check out these two awesome clips from Ice Age 3!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDnRFjOi3rA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7iPS5dnynw
I really love the animation on their new character, Buck! I can see from that first clip that he's definitely going to be my favorite character. I think everyone who worked on this film did a fantastic job and I cant wait to see it in theaters!
In other news, I have an update on my job status. I was able to catch a freelance illustration project to work on for the next few weeks. It'll delay working on my drunk Norman scene, but I really need the money for rent. Industry work wise, I'm currently waiting to hear from ReelFx. I applied for their apprenticeship program and hope to hear from them soon. I also might have a position at a small traditional animation studio in Savannah. There aren't any guarantees of course but hopefully I'll either be at ReelFx or doing some 2d animation before July.
My list of possible studios has also grown since I last posted. So far the following studios have my reel:
Disney (rejected)
Dreamworks
Pixar (rejected)
BlueSky
Tippet
Rhythm&Hues
ReelFx
Blizzard (rejected)
Sony
ILM
MPC
Framestore
Blur
Insomniac
NaughtyDog
I've gotten some great feedback from Disney and BlueSky that I cant wait to apply to my Norman scene. I just need to hurry up and make enough money for rent so I can get back to animating.
Hey guys,
Sorry for the silence and lack of posted work. I've been really busy finishing up at SCAD and graduating. All of that is over now so I can focus on finding a job. Today I found out that I wasn't accepted into the program at Pixar. I'm currently working on getting packages together to send out to Sony, ILM, and Tippet. After I drive home from Georgia I'll have time to send out packages to the rest of the studios on my list. Once that's done, I'll resume working on my drunk norman scene.
Hey guys,
I heard back from Disney yesterday. They've decided not to go with me for their Talent Development program this year. I got some feedback though! They said to work on my acting and facial expressions. I'll make sure to focus on those things during my current and future scenes. You can apply for their program up to three years prior to graduating, so there's always next year.
In the meantime, I'm going to get some more flatbooks printed today so I can send me reel to ILM, Sony and Tippet. I also applied for the ReelFx apprenticeship the other day as well. I think it's time to start sending my work out to more places since I haven't heard anything positive back yet. I'll post more updates as they happen. Wish me luck!
Hey guys,
Here's an update on my animation. I've gotten stuck noodling with this guy in the first shot. After I make a few adjustments to his wine glass arm, and refine his face, I'm going to have to call him done for now. I really need to work on the drunk guy and both characters in shot 2.
