Monday, December 20, 2010

Fall SOS Workshops #1 and #2 are DONE!


Well well well, two more workshops are done! There were some room confusions this time around, but all in all, you guys rocked as always! Super patient and always ready for 3 hours of laughter. :)
Can't believe 16 weeks went by already... Wesley Snipes would turn around and go: "WTF?" Good luck to everybody and some of you I will see in Spring!

Thanks!!!
JD

- pic source

Animation Mentor Newsletter - December 2010


If you haven't signed up already, I'd recommend you do it, there's always good info to be found. This month you get:

- The Gruffalo Magic
- Be the First to Hear What's New!(I believe sweet AM news are coming!)
- Chili Bandit: A Short Film by Animation Mentor Alumnus Phil Barnard
- Featured Mentor Jeff Joe, Senior Character Animator at PDI/DreamWorks
- Featured Alumni Alison Sanders, Animator at Tippett Studio
- Useful Tips for Animation Tips & Tricks with Peter Kelly

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Contest Ending Tomorrow

... meaning: Wednesday, 11:59pm. :)

Good luck!!!

VFX Law

There's a new site up, called VFX Law and it's an interesting source of information. I'll add that to VFX Soldier and TAG.

Rango Trailer




firstshowing is quoting:

animating using "cutting edge techniques" that "allow [them] to capture and translate every aspect of Johnny's performance, using it to drive the computer-generated character in a way that has yet to be seen."


That's right. Cutting edge keyframe animation. SPOILER! :)

Sunday, December 12, 2010

How to build your animation team - by Keith Lango

No budget exists that will allow you to build a team of 100% 15yr+ pros to get your film done. Every animator on a film needs to contribute footage, but not all footage is created equal. Many shots frankly don't need a superstar, and other shots can't be done by anybody less than amazing. You build your team in sections accordingly. The percentages may fluctuate some, but in general here's how you build a team, going from most expensive to least expensive team members--


Read the rest of Keith Lango's breakdown, very interesting! Thanks Ting for the tip (took me a while to post this...).

Ice Cream - by N. Pinet

Love the new winning clip by N. Pinet. Watch the November 11secondclub winner here!

Monday, December 6, 2010

Arthur Christmas - Trailer


Watch the trailer @ arthurchristmas.com

Awesome dog reference

Dog biting shark? Backflip at 2:15? I think there's reference for everything...

Thought of You

So good! Thanks Bernie and David for the tip!

Thought of You from Ryan Woodward on Vimeo.



Behind-the-scenes-work:

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

38th Annual Annie Nominations

Best Animated Feature

* Despicable Me – Illumination Entertainment
* How to Train Your Dragon – DreamWorks Animation
* Tangled – Disney
* The Illusionist – Django Films
* Toy Story 3 – Disney/Pixar
...

Animated Effects in an Animated Production

* Andrew Young Kim "Shrek Forever After" - DreamWorks Animation
* Jason Mayer "How To Train Your Dragon" - DreamWorks Animation
* Brett Miller "How To Train Your Dragon" - DreamWorks Animation
* Sebastian Quessy "Legend Of The Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole" - Warner Bros. Pictures
* Kryzstof Rost "Megamind" - DreamWorks Animation

Character Animation in a Television Production

* Nicolas A. Chauvelot "Scared Shrekless" - DreamWorks Animation
* Savelon Forrest "Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III" - ShadowMachine
* Elizabeth Havetine "Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III" – ShadowMachine
* David Pate "Kung Fu Panda Holiday" - DreamWorks Animation
* Nideep Varghese "Scared Shrekless" - DreamWorks Animation

Character Animation in a Feature Production

* Mark Donald "Megamind" - DreamWorks Animation
* Anthony Hodgson "Megamind" - DreamWorks Animation
* Gabe Hordos "How To Train Your Dragon" - DreamWorks Animation
* Jakob Hjort Jensen "How To Train Your Dragon" - DreamWorks Animation
* David Torres "How To Train Your Dragon" - DreamWorks Animation

Character Animation in a Live Action Production

* Quentin Miles - Clash of the Titans
* Ryan Page - Alice in Wonderland


Head over here to check out the rest of the nominations. Congratulations to everybody!!

Thursday, December 2, 2010

When Failure Becomes a Good Thing

Awesome analysis of "How to Train your Dragon" at storyfanatic.com.

Not every story needs to work out for the best. In fact, one could argue that greater truth can be found in stories that closer approximate the bittersweet moments in life.

In How To Train Your Dragon, things don’t quite work out the way Hiccup had intended. While smiles abound and the music swells, there still seems to be a sense of loss. The reason why this is goes far beyond the obvious physical changes: something quite meaningful has transpired.


Head over there and read the rest.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Paths Of Hate - trailer

PATHS OF HATE long trailer from Platige Image on Vimeo.



- found @ Cartoon Brew

Ted Lister - Fall Anim Contest Winner

Here a bit more information about the recent Fall 2010 - 100 Frame Anim Contest winner, Ted Lister:

I had a lot of fun with this competition. I'm a big fan of old airplanes and it was fun to incorporate that into an animation. The silhouetted aircraft is supposed to be a Supermarine Spitfire by the way. I didn't keep an incredibly accurate account of the time spent, but I'd say about 28 hours over the course of five days. I was out of town over the weekend, so I used that time to brainstorm ideas. I started thumb-nailing and animating on Monday, worked through the week, and then finished it up at about 10pm that Friday night.


So... a little about me. I graduated in 2006 from the Art Institute of California - San Francisco, where I got a degree in animation and met my wife, Sarah. I have since worked at a number of small companies, doing animation and a fair amount of generalist work. My most recent gig was as an animator at Offset Software working on "Project Offset." I was there for nearly a year and got to work on both in-game and cinematic animations. Since then I've been working on continually challenging myself and doing new and different kinds of animation in order to land my dream job at ILM. Thankfully, God has blessed me with many wonderful and supportive people around me. Above all is my wife, Sarah, who is always pushing me to be better.

When not animating (which is every now and again), I enjoy developing and executing short films with Sarah (live action and animation), catching up on the latest movies I likely missed in the theater (I try and get the important ones, I really want to see Tangled in the theater), yelling at our cats (they just won't get off the table) and playing the occasional video game well after everyone else has already traded it in.

KUNG FU PANDA - Holiday Special 2010



(Thanks Josh!)

Youtube doesn't allow long enough video's so here's part 1 and part 2


part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mdqdz6wfdJU&NR=1

part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wH98xgI7SI&feature=related

WB's Coyote Falls

Thanks Deepu for the tip!