Here an interesting interview with Paul Simon – to whom I wish a warm Happy Birthday !

Found via Pencils.com

I’ve switched to a Wacom tablet years ago. However, I’ve yet to discover the best ergonomic solution for me. My right shoulder has been trying to tell me something for a few months in a row and I had to become really scared before I was willing to really listen.

I work on a large Wacom with a dual display setup. That means broad gestures. Not good.

I believe we are not meant to sit in front of a couple of flat panels for 10-14 hrs a day. But I do it, and so do many others in this industry. First there’s the job – and then you go home and you work on your own stuff. To many of us that ‘stuff’ means working on the computer again.

Stretches will help but that’s not enough. I speak from experience. If you’ve been doing this for only a couple of years, or if you’re still very young – please don’t take this lightly and start taking care of yourselves NOW.

There’s rumor of a magic table you can buy these days that lets you adjust it’s height at the push of a button. It’s not cheap. Strike that, it is cheap if it allows you to work comfortably. I’d be writing this post sitting /standing at it if I weren’t packed and ready to change countries again.

By the way, that person Kenny is addressing in the video is none other than yours truly. I have been a subscribed member to KennyRoy.com since November 2010. There, shameless advertising. Because I am learning from him still and I so admire his passion for animation.

( This illustration belongs to him and not to me ).

I was familiar with his design work as a production designer ( remember Lumiere?, or Mulan? ). He even designed some fonts, in case you didn’t know – but I am sure many illustrators/animators/designers have followed his work for many years.

For the past 4 years Hans Bacher has been putting a lot of effort into posting tons of stills from a variety of animated feature films. Mostly Disney shows, but not only.

He has also been devoting time to re-creating backgrounds that can’t be seen anywhere else, as far as I know. If I understand correctly, a lot of artwork is gone for good. Or maybe it is being archived somewhere, but I can’t have access to it.

You can also read stories you’ve never heard before, about his experiences in the industry or about his talented friends/co-workers. Every image posted has a story behind it that you can learn about. His home in virtual space is friendly, go visit.

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To see more of the artist’s work, please visit her virtual studio.

If you have any interest in 2D animation and if there’s any shred of hope left in you that this is not a dead medium, please watch this presentation. It will bring you joy, I swear.

But regardless of the medium the film is made in, every animator/filmmaker will find little treasures in this 50 min presentation. If you have the time and the curiosity, you can even follow the progress of this film here.

I have updated the link under Mike Nguyen’s name, as it initially pointed to July Films. It will permanently reside on this blog under the Get Inspired topic – for as long as he writes/teaches/shares his thoughts on traditional animation ( and other magical things ).

You will find his posts not only inspiring but also very informative. If you find any other virtual place where one can learn more about 2D animation ( and I’m not talking about the usual suspects’ blogs here ), please let me know.

The website is Rainplace. And I think it’s one of the best blogs out there.

Behind the Scenes with an independent 2D Filmmaker Hosted by The Creative Talent Network from Creative Talent Network on Vimeo.

When the idea of making a short film first occurred to me I remember checking the public library listings on the subject. There weren’t many around, believe me.

Starting to work on a 3d short is a very gratifying process. Those who did it know very well what I’m talking about. Failure to finish such a project could derive from a variety of reasons. Lack of time,  lack of funding, lack of energy, losing interest, circumstance, poor evaluation of skill and available resources etc.

Depending on how much time you have on your hands and how skilled you are – you can see it done fairly soon. It might take one whole year, sometimes two years. If you team up with other artists perhaps you could see it done in just a few months. Plus, if you go this way and are willing to share the credits with other people, the quality of the short can be way higher. While I admire those who have managed to pull it off by themselves and themselves alone, I believe that no one can really master all the skills required to finish a short film.

Inspired 3d Short Film Production was truly inspirational to me. It is also a great read .There are loads of links/references to CG shorts that made it to different festivals. After only a few short years from the date the book was published – the animation world has seen a tremendous evolution. The bar has certainly been raised.

The book is, however, very fresh. It is cleverly organized so you can go straight to the chapter that interests you at any given time.

Each chapter goes into an in-depth description of the different creative stages one goes through while making a short film.

Planning ahead, organizing yourself, making a realistic schedule, setting a deadline, creating the assets ( modeling  characters/props/sets, rigging , texturing  ), creating the animatic, animating your shots, lighting them – these are all covered in the book.

The magic of this book, the way I see it – is that while the authors describe the sometimes daunting process of making a short film, they also describe the beauty and glory of it.

If you’re curious and want to read a few excerpts – you can do so on Jeremy Cantor’s website, where he has generously made the first 3 chapters available in .PDF form.

You can buy this book here.

The AnimSchool team seem to have done a fantastic job – the character is really appealing and it was modeled/rigged in XSI. As a former Character Modeler I must say XSI was always a pleasure to use. Bigger studios will usually have a few XSI licences for their modelers, even if most of the work is done in Maya.

I have also animated using XSI ( thank you, Animal Logic ! ). From an animator’s point of view – I dare say the differences between software packages are not that significant.

I am looking forward to seeing a Maya version online soon – but for now I’m happy to play with this one.

Check this link out – www.imajunation.com for more from Junaid Chundrigar !

Sheeped Away from Junaid Chundrigar on Vimeo.

How could one not like this ? This is one creative pig – on a mission. I thoroughly enjoyed  the short.

You can read about this short here.

Have a look at an interesting approach to character design. The article and artwork belong to Tracy J. Butler and you can read it here.

Overcast from Cartoon Brew on Vimeo.

I’ve ended AM with the Polishing and Portfolio class – and had Keith Sintay as a mentor. What a way to finish this program …

For the curious – check out a condensed list of Keith’s work here. For those who want to spend 10 more min watching great animation, have a look at his reel.

I have looked for his name in the credits for many years. I have read his posts in the Animation Mentor newsletter. I have watched his e-critiques from day 1 as an AM student. All of them. Some shots that he helped students with made it to the Animation Mentor Showcase. At the end of March 2011 I have checked my calendar at school and saw my name in Keith’s class. I smiled gratefully.

The Q&As were fun. Keith is a funny guy who will pepper his time in the online class with tasteful and witty jokes. By the time everybody is done laughing, he’s already explaining something serious.

He teaches through examples. It’s the best way, if you ask me. Having worked for so many years as an animator ( 2d and 3d ) he finds it easy to come up with a solution for you. There’s nothing in this craft that he doesn’t have an answer for. There’s nothing in this art that he’s not curious about. I admire that.

If you don’t get stuck, he quietly coaches you, always encouraging and very open to whatever you might want to animate. I have never met any other animator who was more willing to help you out.

I wanted to start a new acting shot – mid term, mind you. I wanted so much to animate a dramatic piece and had the line ready. Keith Sintay did not deny me the pleasure. I thank him heartily, because although I rushed the costume and the set and showed him a half baked blocking – he saw the potential in it and elegantly pushed me to finish the shot.

Based on his suggestion I’ve reconsidered the posing of the character. It was vital to the shot and I’m happy I could come up with some good secondary action. I had 2 failed attempts on the facial animation ( a crying lady is darn hard to animate ) but by the 3rd week I saw Keith pleased. It is probably the best piece of animation I have at the moment.

To sum it all up – I left my student life at AM with almost all my shots polished, a strong new shot and I have made a friend. Thank you, Keith.

I’ve started an additional acting piece while still an AM student.
I got attached to the dialogue line a while back and wanted to animate it. It’s a sad, extremely emotional line that I thought would be challenging.

The shot is done, it is being lit as I type.
This will either open or close my 2011 reel.

Here’s a screen shot of the character.

I’m also the proud owner of his book, Simplified Drawing for Planning Animation, which is a great learning tool for any animator ( aspiring or accomplished ) and which you can buy here.

I was grateful I ended up in his class ( you don’t get to choose your mentor at AM ) and I knew I’d be in for a treat.

The Q&As with Wayne are simply great. Some are lectures that he prepares beforehand, some are lectures that he creates on the spot based on questions he receives from students.

Wayne advises you on having a solid planning before anything else. I’ve invested a lot of time in this and I’m glad I did. I was beyond happy he agreed with the dialogue line I chose. I had a blast animating the scene.

It was a good opportunity for me to go deeper and really research my characters. Wayne encouraged me all along. I had a story, a full description of both characters, minimal character design that I hope enhanced Bishop and made him look unique. I also modeled a set to place my chars in and I started to animate the most complicated piece I’ve ever worked on.

I am mainly interested in the story behind the animation and I felt comfortable admitting this in Wayne’s class. His heart also goes to the story and it’s a thing of beauty when you connect with someone like this.

The truth about teaching animation – the way I see it – is that not everybody can do it. I’ve met exceptional animators who don’t know how to impart their knowledge or lose their patience somewhere along the road. Wayne belongs to that group of great animators who know HOW to teach you the tricks of the trade. If you’re already good at it, Wayne will help you be better.

If you ever go to AM, check out Wayne Gilbert’s e-critiques. You’ll learn tons. Also worth mentioning – Wayne is regularly invited to write a little piece for the AM newsletter, which is free for all. Subscribe and get it in your inbox monthly. Check the webinars that AM organizes regularly as well and listen to what Wayne Gilbert has to say about animation. You will not regret it.

For Wayne’s eyes only : I’m truly grateful for having had the chance to meet you and be guided by you. I will keep in touch for the rest of my life.

I did not know what exactly to expect from this class and I was unsure I would do great. Acting and instinct for it is not something a mentor can teach you in a couple of months.

However, a good and solid guidance can keep you on the right track.

I had a couple of ideas for my pantomime, they all involved kids – and the final choice was my little girl playing with makeup. Dave liked it and after a few weeks I had a cute shot. It’s on my reel.

The 2nd part of the class was the first dialogue piece at AM. What one is supposed to do here is have 3 lines of dialogue ( one person only ) and pitch them to one’s mentor. This involves planning, seeing if all 3 would give you pleasure to animate, shooting video reference.

There was a brief back and forth discussion with Dave and we agreed I would start to animate the lady on the phone ( also on my reel ). It had some humor in it and the char design seemed to please Dave also.

I shot different vid refs for it and at the end of the term I had the animation ready for lipsync ( the facial controls were missing on the rig in this AM class ).

I enjoyed the Q&As immensely, they were essentially a dissection of shorts or bits of animation that Dave carefully selected for us beforehand. It’s a great learning tool to watch a seasoned animator paying attention to certain things in a shot. You learn to spot mistakes and also detect the genius of an animator – tiny details that usually escape the untrained eye.

Here’s a screenshot from one of the Q&As. I’m very glad I got to work with you, Dave !

James Cunliffe’s Animation Showreel 2011 from James Cunliffe on Vimeo.

Unfortunately, you can’t scrub through this thing to really see the subtleties. Fortunately for me – I had the chance to frame by frame his work dozens of times while working at Animal Logic. James was one of the Animation Leads on the Legend of The Guardians show.

If I were to write here all that I have to say about him – well, you’d need a lot of spare time to read it. It’s all good things, by the way. No exaggeration needed, no augmentation of the truth. Those who know him and happen to read these lines will nod approvingly, I’m willing to bet you any money.

Unpredictable as life in this industry is – I can only hope to meet and work with some people again. A lot of times this actually happens. It’s a bizarre state of affairs that still amazes and puzzles me after so many years.

James helped me out a lot, this I have to say. He taught me a few tricks also. He encouraged me to really pursue animation at a time when I needed it most and for that I’ll be forever grateful to him.

To this day I am jealous of those who got to spend more time with him in the animation room – it’s very inspiring to see such a gifted animator coming up with ideas, finding workarounds and solving things, adding that elusive final 10% to a piece of animation.

Stay well, James, wherever you are.

If I pass by him, rushing somewhere, I feel ashamed I don’t stop to say ‘hi’ at the very least ( he’s a great conversationalist, by the way ). Winter is coming here in Oz and I’m not sure if he’ll keep coming to play everyday on the street.

It’s a strange, strange thing that happens on this street. I’m new in town but I’m not surprised – I’ve seen this phenomenon in other parts of the world as well. There are all sorts of performers here – I admire them all for the guts they have. The majority, I’m sure, don’t keep regular jobs. They simply do what they love to do for a living. Some are too loud though, I always walk a bit faster so I can leave them behind sooner and hear my thoughts again. I don’t know how to put this elegantly.

And in this crazy atmosphere, this loud crowd, this constant state of agitation, this maddening shopping frenzy people tend to get into on a pedestrian only street – I found Andy playing his Stick.

Listen to this :