Most Improved Student

I promised my WS3 class for ianimate.net I would post the most improved student during the term's final work here on the blog.  The class voted on the winner... and Chris McCormick won the vote!  Here is a link to his website in case you are looking for a very talented animator.  http://www.mccormickanimation.com And, below are his final exercises from the facial animation class.

iAnimate.net Workshop 3 Assignment 1 from Chris McCormick on Vimeo.

iAnimate.net Workshop 3 Assignment 2 from Chris McCormick on Vimeo.

I cannot say enough about his work and dedication.  The students worked from video reference of themselves, but Chris also infused his character's with a his own mannerism and nuance which gave his work a lot of depth.

The next block starts on the 29th, so sign up!  ianimate has 

some of the best teachers you can find out there!

Big Scary - Tuesday Is Rent Day

Big Scary - Tuesday Is Rent Day from Alice Dupre on Vimeo.

Terry Gilliam's Do It Yourself Animation Show

Monty Python - Terry Gilliam gives a lesson in cut out animation. 

Frame by Frame

 

 

All anims should have this one bookmarked...

Frame by Frame

Animator's Letters Project

This letter was found on the Animator Letters Project blog. 

Great inspiration here.

I dedicate this post to my students.

p.s. click on the images to read them at a larger size.


Transcript

PIXAR

May 17, 2011

To Whom it May Inspire,

I, like many of you artists out there, constantly shift between two states. The first (and far more preferable of the two) is white-hot, "in the zone" seat-of-the-pants, firing on all cylinders creative mode. This is when you lay your pen down and the ideas pour out like wine from a royal chalice! This happens about 3% of the time.

The other 97% of the time I am in the frustrated, struggling, office-corner-full-of-crumpled-up-paper mode. The important thing is to slog diligently through this quagmire of discouragement and despair. Put on some audio commentary and listen to the stories of professionals who have been making films for decades going through the same slings and arrows of outrageous production problems.

In a word: PERSIST.

PERSIST on telling your story. PERSIST on reaching your audience. PERSIST on staying true to your vision. Remember what Peter Jackson said, "Pain is temporary. Film is forever." And he of all people should know.

So next time you hit writer's block, or your computer crashes and you lose an entire night's work because you didn't hit save (always hit save), just remember: you're never far from that next burst of divine creativity. Work through that 97% of murky abyssmal mediocrity to get to that 3% which everyone will remember you for!

I guarantee you, the art will be well worth the work!

Your friend and mine,

Austin Madison

"ADVENTURE IS OUT THERE!"

Lee Unkrich on Win, Lose or Draw

To mark the milestone of reaching 100k followers on Twitter, longtime Pixar creative and Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich posted this “embarrassing” video of his 20-year-old self appearing as a contestant on the popular 80s game show Win, Lose or Draw.  Unkrich steps up to the board at 7:00. 

via the daily what

Teaching at ianimate!

Hey animators!
I have joined the ianimate team of amazing instructors
and will be teaching Workshop 3: Facial Performance

If you ever wanted to see what ianimate is all about or want to brush up on your facial animation for your reel, now is the time.
Submit your reel today here.
First class starts next week!

Facial acting and lip sync 

(Close up performances only).

Part 1: In this 7 week workshop, we will concentrate on polishing and fine tuning your close up facial acting and lip-sync. We will be working on how we can improve our overall believability and appeal by choosing sincere acting choices.   (cost $999)

Part 2: In this 7 week workshop we will try to chose a contrasting shot from part 1 to refine and control our Body Mechanics to help emphasize and not over rule our facial Acting.  (cost $999)

Chuck Jones, "I Dare You..."

Writing to a class of students in January of 1992 in an effort to promote the art of reading, legendary animator Chuck Jones recalls the books which helped inspire the creation of Wile E. Coyote and Pepé Le Pew, just two of the many cartoon characters he had a hand in bringing to the screen.

Transcript follows. Image courtesy of Davey, however the letter does also seem to be up for sale on eBay at the moment.


Transcript

January 24, 1992

[Redacted]

Knowing how to read and not reading books is like owning skiis and not skiing, owning a board and never riding a wave, or, well, having your favorite sandwich in your hand and not eating it. If you owned a telescope that would open up the entire universe for you would you try to find reason for not looking through it? Because that is exactly what reading is all about; it opens up the universe of humour, of adventure, of romance, of climbing the highest mountain, of diving in the deepest sea.

I found my first experience with Wile E. Coyote in a whole hilarious chapter about coyotes in a book called Roughing It by Mark Twain. I found the entire romantic personality of Pepe Le Pew in a book written by Kenneth Roberts, Captain Hook. I found bits and pieces of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and all the others in wonderful, exciting books.

I dare you all, test your strength: Open a book.

Sincerely,

(Signed)

Chuck Jones

via Letters of Note

Living Lines Library

 Lines by James Baxter




Lines by Andreas Deja



Rescuers Pencil Test from FantasticAdam on Vimeo.

Lines by Milt Kahl

The Living Lines website is an amazing library of animated pencil tests!

Banksy Simpsons

Sorry. I haven't posted much, lately. Been working a lot of hours and going to school at the same time. Been feeling like the unicorn in this Simpsons Intro.  

Go Banksy!

I guess Fox turned down the Rupert Murdoch portrait hidden behind the t-shirt scene or the skeletal dipping of the animation cel into the toxic drums.

 

Thought of You

Thought of You from Ryan J Woodward on Vimeo.

Gorgeous lines of action by Ryan Woodward. This just shows you how important reference is... but to not be a slave to it and to embellish it and heighten the entertainment with your artistry to create something really beautiful.

Thought of You - Behind the Scenes Preview - ROUGH CUT from Cambell Christensen on Vimeo.

Wisdom Teeth - Don Hertzfeldt

THIS IS A PAIN OF UNREASONABLE PROPORTIONS.

seriouslym this is probably the most disturbing of all Hertzfeld's.

He is the master of how long he can push a moment.

...glad he is back.

Yogi Bear Parody: "Booboo Kills Yogi" ending

I am not sure how this guy is getting away with doing this but... animator Edmund Earle, working in his spare time over the course of two months, put together this alternate ending to the upcoming live-action/CGI-hybrid adaptation of The Yogi Bear Show.  

**This is an independently made parody with no association to Warner Brothers or the producers and actors of the 2010 "Yogi Bear" film. This is a parody meant for adult viewing only as it may be disturbing to children.

Subaru WRX STI

 

Zoetrope style animation frame by frame on the side wall of a test track
driving a camera attached to a WRX one foot away from the wall. 

 

INSANE!!!

Animation Schools

People entering the field of animation are seriously spoiled!  There are so many good schools and so many resources out there for you!  When I started there were 3 schools - Cal Arts, Sheridan and Ringling and two books - Illusion of Life and Timing in Animation.  That was pretty much it unless you had a laser disk player and could go frame by frame on Disney movies to study.  Today, animators are opening schools left and right.  What better way to learn than working animators? and online!  anytime, anywhere!

Here is a list:

Animation Mentor was created by three professional animators who were working at Pixar and Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). They founded the school on the principle of teaching only the pure essence of character animation and doing it in a production-style learning environment taught by professional working animators. Students get an intensely focused program of structured assignments that teach students work flow, planning, and the principles of animation, and prepares them to succeed as a working animator in just 18 months.

 

There is a new online animation school set to debut in November called AnimSchool.

The JRA Webinar / Live Animation Demo will be a virtual classroom where we'll all get together 12 times a year, once a month for 2 hours. I will be taking "Animation Master Classes" and showing how I approach developing these ideas into dynamic sequences for either a showreel piece or a short film. I will be doing story boards, flipbook leica reels and animation performance solving in flipbook. You will log in to this "virtual classroom" and see my full desktop and hear me talk as I develop shots and solve animation. Included in the 2 hours will be a full half hour devoted to Q&A where you can ask me questions directly and I can explain with the aid of drawings how I approach these problem areas. The whole event will be recorded and available for download to both students that attend the webinars and for students in time zones that may miss the live event. The resulting shots of the class (not the full recording) will also be posted for anyone to see what the classes are all about

Script Swell

My friend Jay has a great blog where he 

posts scripting and other goodies that are very helpful!
He has gotten me out of a bind with his scripts many times.

Check it out!

Script Swell

He is on twitter too!

Simpsons Intro Ala Banksy

Gettin' Money With a Mouse and a Wacom Pen

Money Money Money - "Gettin' Money With a Mouse and a Wacom Pen (Fuck Comic Sans Fuck Papyrus, Too)" from Brad Chmielewski on Vimeo.

For all you motion graphics artists out there...

Strata #2

wowsie wow!

Quayola is a visual artist based in London. His work simultaneously focuses on multiple forms exploring the space between video, audio, photography, installation, live performance and print.  Quayola creates worlds where real substance, such as natural or architectural matter, constantly mutates into ephemeral objects, enabling the real and the artificial to coexist harmoniously. Integrating computer-generated material with recorded sources, he explores the ambiguity of realism in the digital realm.

Dictaphone Parcel

Dictaphone Parcel from Lauri Warsta on Vimeo.

Animated short film, Royal College of Art, London, 2009

Dictaphone Parcel is an animation based on a sound recorded with a dictaphone travelling secretly inside a parcel. As the hidden recorder travels through the global mail system, from London to Helsinki, it captures the unexpected. We hear a mixture of abstract sounds, various types of transport and even discussions between the mail workers. The animation visualizes this journey by creating an imaginary documentary.

Dictaphone Parcel was awarded the Passion Pictures Prize in London, in February 2010.