Someone at work forwarded this to me so I thought I’d share. Over 6,000 paintings were created to make this 5 minute film. According to the director, they made a really basic 3D animation (mainly for timing) and then painted over the rendered frames. It’s a pretty nice piece of work which took 2 years to make. For you prog-rock fans out there, see if you can spot the King Crimson references.

Every now and then I might post something that has nothing to do with animation. Not to worry though. Diversions are a good thing. Really. For me they help stretch the creative muscles or contribute to “filling the well” of my own creativity. So I guess in that sense it does kind of relate to animation. Especially since so much of this craft is about observing the world around us.

Today’s diversion is a video that’s been floating around for a few months. You’ve probably even seen it. This is the first time I’ve seen it though and it’s TOTALLY amazing! Maybe because as a kid I was really into skateboarding. I used to live in the east bay on top of a pretty steep hill that I was always trying to skateboard down. But it was NOTHING compared to this:

Yesterday I traveled downtown to visit the Cartoon Art Museum which is featuring the exhibit, The Art of Coraline. It’s a great show which has almost 80 different pieces from the film including drawings, storyboards, puppets, sets, costumes, and more! Unfortunately, photography is not allowed so I was unable to capture any pictures.

When you enter the exhibit, the puppets and other 3 dimensional elements are in the center of the room with the surrounding walls featuring all the 2d artwork. I was immediately blown away by the puppets design which are both amazing and beautiful on an artistic and technical level. There’s also a fascinating handwritten journal by one of the people responsible for designing and implementing the armatures for all the characters. Lastly, the walls are covered with some phenomenal 2d artwork (concept art, character designs, storyboards, etc.) from artists like Dan Krall and Shane Prigmore among several others.

The exhibit is only open for 2 more weeks (ending on February 15th) so definitely check it out if you have a chance. Then go check out the film when it opens on Friday, February 6th!

A friend at work forwarded me this video called “Immersion”. It was created by photographer Robbie Cooper. The piece is an entertaining, up-close look at kids faces as they play video games. It also features some great face reference. Check out some of the mouth shapes going on. We tend to focus on the eyes, but in this clip the mouth (along with the tongue) is really expressive. Take a look:

Immersion

This was initially posted on Cartoon Brew but I couldn’t help give it a mention as well. All of Walt Stanchfields notes have been put together and are being published in 2 books which are supposed to be released around March! Like many other people, I used to download and print Walt Stanchfields notes from AnimationMeat.com, so I’m real excited to see these being made available in book form. Besides the Illusion of Life or the Animator’s Survival Kit, these notes are some of my favorite reference material. If you want a copy you can pre-order Volume 1 and Volume 2 from Amazon now.

Happy New Year! For my first post of 2009 I’ve uploaded a polish pass on my shot. Thanks to everyone who gave some very helpful feedback. I added some clothes to Bishop and also started developing the room set which I’ll take a little farther when it comes time to render. There’s still some work to be done like fixing a few more pops on the knees (they seem more noticeable now that the character has clothes). Take a look and feel free to leave any feedback.

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UPDATE 1/11/09: I’ve replaced the original video with an update consisting of changes from all the feedback I got. Thanks again!

Just wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Holiday Season! Best wishes for a wonderful holiday filled with family and friends, laughter, love, peace and happiness.

Just thought I’d spread the word about a really great idea Stephen Gregory has come up with. He’s going to tutor one lucky student for free! Yes that’s right, FREE! That’s not even the best part. He’s also going to post all the tutoring on his blog for everyone to see and learn from!

I was lucky enough to be tutored by Stephen last year and it was a really great experience for me. We focused mostly on the area of polish since it’s an area that I really wanted to work on. One of the shots I did is posted in my animation section.

I think this is going to be a tremendous resource for anyone interested in learning more about animation. Definitely check it out! Or if you’re a student, APPLY!!

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BTW…I’ll have a polish pass on my shot here soon. Just been crazy with work and the impending holidays…

Well, work continues to be intense as we finish up on Sims 3, but I managed to finally get a refinement pass on this thing. I went from step to spline and I think the biggest challenge was trying to retain the overall feeling that I established in my blocking. It’s easy to start losing the essence of what you set up if you’re not careful. I really focused on the hip/torso/head relationships to make sure the mechanics of these were working as best as possible. After that I moved on to the legs and arms. I like where things are going, but the animation still needs LOTS of work. Here are a few things that I noticed right off the bat:

1. Beginning walk is still a little off. Legs are popping all over the place.
2. The anticipation around frame 56 is a bit too quick; pops a little too much.
3. Offset the arms more going into the pose around frame 72. Right now they hit at the same time.
4. Lots of arcs to be tracked and fine-tuned.
5. The end walk still needs to be pushed farther to feel more determined.
6. The face can be pushed more and with more asymmetry – Needs more details.

Well, that’s what I have at the moment. Check it out and see what you think. As always, feedback is gladly welcome and appreciated!

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Last night I had the wonderful opportunity to see Richard Williams speak in San Francisco! He was promoting his new DVD set, The Animator’s Survival Kit: Animated which I hope to be able to get at some point. He showed clips from the DVD set (all of which were pure GOLD) and then spent most of the night talking about animation and answering questions from the audience. He even signed my beat-up copy of The Animator’s Survival Kit!

It was an amazing experience for me to see this animation legend in person. Even though I’ve never met him before, I feel like Richard Williams has been a teacher to me. So much of what I initially learned about animation came from his book (and The Illusion of Life). It’s nice to see that he still has so much passion and enthusiasm for the craft, while also being very willing to share his vast knowledge and experience. All in all, a very inspiring evening for sure!

UPDATE: Fellow AM’er Alonso Soriano posted some great notes of the lecture on his animation blog. Definitely worth a look!