CTN Animation Expo 2012

Well, I'm finally recovering from CTN. Four hours of reviewing portfolios, two scary hours of drawing in front of the crowds and then my hour presentation on my new story theory. It was awesome! This was my first time at an event like this and I met so many old friends and made new ones. It was like walking around LACMA, incredible art wherever you looked. A big shout out to Tina Price and her whole crew who brought us all together. Thank you.

The first day a drew a story about my characters Iggy, the impulsive pig and Scared Bunny. The second day I thought I'd revisit Aladdin's Whole New World 22 years later and imagine what I might do different. I drew Aladdin and Jasmine riding the magic carpet over NYC. Jasmine's taking pictures with her iPhone and the Genie is acting like King Kong on top of the Empire state building. Also did a cool image of Jasmine hanging 10 on the carpet surfing a sand dune.

Hope to start posting some really cool stuff really soon.

AND DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE FOCAL PRESS CONTEST! See earlier post.

The Animator's Eye can see the light of day...

The Animator's Eye is scheduled to be published September 21, 2012. Here's a sample page. The five images on the right are flip books which run throughout the book. (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

Focal Press has posted the animated short with animatic insert on their web site- 

http://bestanimationbooks.com/

Music Score by Hans Karl-

http://www.hanskarlmusic.com/

And a very special thanks to Bryan Cox and Chris Siemasko ( http://www.chrissiemasko.com/) for adding some spicy special effects. And Audio Production Services by J. D. Stewart. And film editing by Ryan Glebas.

Yes, it's true.

You can see Iggy on YouTube. It's an 18 minute drawing lesson taken from the upcoming Focal Press book, The Animator's Eye. The book contains the making of an animated short starring Iggy and Scared Bunny as they learn the secrets of animated life. I can't wait to hold the book in my hands and flip the flip books.

Drawing tips and tricks- learn to draw Iggy

Yes, Bunny it is true, you are drawn on a sticky note. This is one of my favorite ways to work. I wrote my first book on sticky notes and storyboarded sequences on sticky notes while sitting in airports. They cheap available and easy to rearrange. I like drawing with Ticonderoga Redisharp + markers. They create an expressive black line, they're permanent, and no smell.

I'd actually love to have software where I could type and draw onscreen in the same program. So far I haven't found it. This blog was written in Literature and Latte's Scrivener. I drew the cartoons on sticky notes, then photographed them with a digital camera and imported them into the computer.

Dinosaur storyboards

Here's a sampling of storyboards from Walt Disney's Dinosaur. I thought we could have made the story more interesting by starting in the middle and slowly finding out how a dinosaur hooked up with a bunch of lemurs. This would have added some mystery. 

In this first sequence they find water out in the desert with the help of big feet. (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

We were going to have a volcano erupting and Aladar has to rescue Neera but this sequence was cut. A common occurrence in storyboarding.

The Wild Bunch Storyboards

Here's some storyboards from the Wild Bunch.  No, not the one about the cowboys, this involves a group of wild flowers.

Just a little bit of the violet tone is enough to suggest nighttime.

For those curious, I use Comic Life to assemble the storyboards and add the comic balloon text. (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

It's funny how characters take on a life of their own. I created these two- Iggy and Scared Bunny to star in this short storyboard. During the evolution of The Animator's Eye coming out this August, they took over. When characters really come alive they tell you how they'll act and what they'll say. They might even surprise you.

The story so far Iggy and Bunny have been captured by aliens and taken to court. Iggy demands a jury of his peers and he gets it. They still find him guilty. (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

The story starts on a classic dart and stormy night when Iggy visits Scared Bunny in the middle of the night. The bright green was so I could green screen in rain effects in the animatic.

My Alien Encounter- Space Chimps

For one year I got to be an Alien. I worked in Vancouver, Canada on Space Chimps. We had an awesome group of people from all over the world working together. Originally the movie was directed by Donovan Cook and Norton Virgien. Kirk De Micco finished the directing.

In the script the Space Chimps return to earth after their adventure but it wasn't a satisfying ending. They just safely land. In trying to find some drama or suspense, I came up with the idea that they forgot to build landing gear on their returning ship. This action involved the chimps that were still on earth because they had to steal a truck for the Space Chimps to land on while driving at high speed. This also worked thematically with Chimp Ham's character arc. In the beginning of the movie Ham doesn't want to have anything to do with his grandfather's space legacy, he's getting by in life as a circus chimp who gets shot out of a cannon.  Ham's problem is he can never hit the target. Now having become a real space chimp he must prove he can hit the target. Their lives depend on it. It was a fun sequence to board. (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

Pocahontas' Farewell Storyboards

We were barking up the wrong tree in comparing Pocahontas to Romeo and Juliet. Once we figured out that the ending was more like Casablanca it was child's play. (Well, actually it was still hard work.) We weren't creating a tragic ending, it was a bitter-sweet one. Here are my storyboards for the first animated Disney film that didn't end- "happily ever after". (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

Draw Different

I'm always looking to sharpen my skills and learn new things. I'd like to share a few. In the first drawing I drew a group caricature. I really focused on exaggerating the shapes that I saw. I paid careful attention to the angles because I often straighten them up. Walt Stanchfield used to always get on my case about that. I went for expression rather than accurate description.

Here's an inside look at a typical story brainstorm session. Lots of caricatures get drawn. It sharpens our edge. Don't you wish you could have draw like that in school without getting yelled at? (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

Another way to draw different is to use your other hand. I'm left handed so I drew these with my right hand. With practice you can actually get pretty good at it. Anything that breaks you out of ruts is a good thing. When you use your other hand, your brain is forced to pay attention and not use it's normal default mode. 

Here I was using a space box to help define the space. I thought what if Superman got stuck in a phone booth. It fun to add little stories to your drawings. I find I draw better if I have some story rather than just drawing a model.

Ice Age Crushes

Here are some more of my storyboards from ICE AGE 4. (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

Peaches has to learn things the hard way, just like the rest of us.