commercials

Commercial Animation from handdrawn on Vimeo.

  I did this about a year and a half ago... I think. It was done in such a whirlwind of freelance that I am not quite sure-- commercials are an interesting world. It fun in a way because you get to do lotsa styles. On the other hand it's usually a breakneck pace and hard to really finesse your work to a quality of polish you'd like. I think most of us prefer features though!     

Walt Disney Animation Studios

  It has been a LOOOONG haul. It has been a lot of years, a lot of wondering, waiting, and perseverance but the day has finally come that I can announce that I will finally be starting at Disney Animation as a hand drawn animator. 

  It's a looooong story as well, which perhaps in time I will tell on this blog, but for now, I celebrate! See you at the Producers Show!

GOONIES!

Last year when I was working on "Coraline" in Portland I took one Saturday to make a little day trip. It was fairly lonely for me up there (6 weeks is such a short time to make friends), so this seemed like a good way to spend my day. Anyone in their 20's probably at least remembers the movie "The Goonies", if not fondly remembers it. I am one of those who's kinda a nerd for the film. So, I plotted a course to go an visit Astoria, Oregon. The drive there alone was a amazing enough. I didn't have any directions to get to the landmarks in the town, so I just bummed around and looked for the most likely spots where they would have filmed. The first thing I found was the museum where the "dad" worked.

Ok, here's the real thing!

I didn't have to look too far for the next movie location! Right across the street was the jail! Completely old, blue for some reason, and obviously hadn't been in use for a long time. I wonder why they keep it? For nerds like me?

  OK, so then all I really cared about was finding the "goonies"house, and "data's" house. This part took forever, and ummmm, the houses were in less than safe looking areas. I basically was going through trial and error in finding the house. I started looking for a neighborhood that felt right. But once I found that, the streets were so stinking twisty that it was near impossible to remember my way out let alone find 1 famous house. I was about to give up, the sun was setting and I couldn't find these house for the life of me until I see a sign that says "all Goonies vistors are welcome... Please park at bottom of hill". Low and behold the house had been right above me on a private road, ahh, success!!

  So remember this incredible view in the film?

  My lighting is not anywhere near as cool, but the view was so iconic it was hard to miss!


  So, I wasn't expecting to find a house that looked even remotely like the one from the film.

Holy crap! It's practically unchanged!

And what about "data's" house?

Besides a mild paint job (or years of the sun bleaching that electric blue away), practically also untouched!! So cool!

So anyway, no art this time. Just movie nerd stuff-- hope ya'll enjoy!

a break from your regularly scheduled blog post...

 

 I hate to do this but I am afraid the tutorial that I just started is going to have to take a back seat for a while. Sorry!! I thought I was going to have more time to finish it, but somethings have come up recently (good things :) ) that are going to prohibit me from finishing it just yet. I am starting about 3 weeks of design/animation work on "The Wall and the Wing" for Laika next week, and then after that will most likely be starting something very exciting! But will wait to share that with you all until it's official. So, until then I may post little pieces of animation, designs, or little thoughts on animation from time to time. Again, I apollogize for not being able to finish the tutorial as promised, but if at all possible I intend to continue when I can. Thanks for your patience everyone.

P.S This is just a little piece I did for fun-- I am still getting used to the whole painting thing :) 

Starting your Shot: THINKING, FEELING, AND PLANNING

  As I have done this type of series of tutorial post's before some might be wondering why I am doing the same thing again. Well, the answers kinda several fold I suppose. First, the original intent of this blog was for hand drawn animation information. 

  We live in an animation world where chances are if your an animator 

you're doing CG and if you still draw for a living you're doing design or boarding. I know not everyone falls into these catagories, but it seems to be the overwhelming majority. I've seen such a sparse amount of hand drawn animation info out there, that I felt for those who genuinely still love this art form and don't want to see it die. 

  Secondly, and I say this with respect for the art form of computer animation (and those in it), but I was pretty tired of hearing and or reading of CG guys saying things like "CG is cheaper than 2D", or "we don't need models that squash and stretch because motion blur is the CG equivilant", or the worst one is "CG is more subtle than 2D". I could bark about these sadly misguided opinions all day, but that wouldn't be my point. My point is that those opinions are formed from people whom have either no 2D experience or who do not understand it at all. The people that do have experience with the art form ( Pixar, Dreamworks, Sony, Disney guys) probably wouldn't say such things. As the SplineDoctors have said on their

 site, I find it alarming when my students have heard more about people with famous blogs than they have about the nine old men. As convoluted as this is getting, here is the second point: I wanted to put accurate information out there that would inspire, inform and correct minds on the topic of hand drawn animation. I also feel that the legacy of the Nine Old Men is precious... nuff said.

  Thirdly, and lastly, I wanted to get back to doing tutorials because of how much I've changed and grown as an artist in the last year or so. I have been doing A LOT more than animating. As I have said before, the more you know about the whole process the more 

you can give to the specifics of it. My true life example is going from animation to design, and now back to animation. You see things differently once you've designed a few hundred characters in different styles. Certainly ones dratsmenships improves, but the way you think about things like staging, clarity, posing , all change. So as I work my way through a shot I hope to bring new light to the process as I talk (or write) out loud about it.

FOR GOODNESS SAKE, THINK BEFORE YOU ACT 

MATT!

 

 That's a little refrain I've heard innumerable times in my life. For those who know me I can be, uh, a slight bit absent minded. When I was a little kid, I got into a few pickles because of it. But never from malicious intent, it was always innocent at it's core. I just wasn't thinking about things before I did them-- and thus I heard this refrain over and over in my life until I finally started to see why it was important. 

  This refrain can so easily be adapted to animation as well! I think the number one thing I don't see in a lot of student work (and sometimes pro work) is thought. If you d

on't think before you act, you're gonna end up in a world of trouble. If someone asks you WHY you chose the pose you did and you cannot answer that question you probably haven't thought out your shot well enough. As always you have to temper this kind of advice with "... and everyone works differently...", but the point isn't HOW you do this it's THAT you do this. 

  Ironically this is the most important part of the process and yet it's the part we spend the least amount of time on. Now obviously if you sat around for 4 days thinking about a shot that you only have 5 days to do that's no good, but I know from personal experience sometimes I'm just way to excited to draw! Even if you have the shot crystal clear in your head, at least think it through and make sure your instincts match up with what is being asked of the shot.

WHY?

  Randy Haycock was kind enough to come and do a lecture for my CalArts class. Sometimes people with more experience than you are able to put thoughts into words that you have felt before but not known how to describe verbally. He said something his kids ask him all the time is "why"... it's endless, and irritating at times but should we not be as curious about our own shots? Here's a series of questions to always ask yourself BEFORE you start your shot:

WHY:

  Is this shot in the movie?

  Does the character feel this way?

WHAT:

  Is the context of this shot in the whole of the story?    

  Is the entertainment value of this shot?

  Is the subtext?

WHO:

  Is this shot about?

  

  Now that's certainly not a comprehensive list but it will definately get you into the right place 

mentally before you start your shot.

FEELING YOUR SHOT

  This is a topic that's a bit more on the cryptic side. Something you can't tell someone how to do, they just have to have the ability to do so. It can all be summed up into this 

thought: Are you able to feel and empathize with the character you are performing? You have to have some sort of emotional connection there. This doesn't necessarily mean you love your character in the sense that you'd be best friends if they were real. It more means you can relate to them. What makes a character relatable? Well, I think a primary one is flaw. A flawed character is one we can all identify with because we are all flawed. We see, sometimes, the same struggles in our own lives (wanting to be loved, fear of something, etc.) and can therefor put ourselves into their emotional journey. This is why the token villain that just wants to be rich or rule the world are not compelling in the least. We don't identify emotionally with those motives-- yes, we even have to identify to a degree with the "villain". What if he's the kind of villain who was just like you or me at one point and took a wrong turn? What if he's looking for love in all the wrong places, that adds sympathy which adds empathy and helps 

to make you care about them.  The animator AND the audience! 

PLANNING

  So now, assuming you've got the first 2 under your belt you can start planning your shot which means, yes, DRAWING! 

THUMBNAILING

  Everyone knows this step-- but so few of us really take advantage of it. Planning is everything, whether you do it on paper or in your head it's essential to the clarity of your performance. This step is like everything else in that you will make it your own eventually.

 Duncan Marjoribanks and Milt Kahl basically animate their shots twice. One in small size, and then for real. I mean, litterally every little arc, blink, everything was planned before hand. Others just thumbnail out their main story-telling poses and let the shot, as they animate, tell them where it wants to go. And a few don't thumbnail much or at all and plan it all out in their heads. The point is that all the great PLAN in some fashion. I tend to favor the second option highly. The reason is that I have to have the structure of my story telling poses to guide me, but want permission for spontinaity.  So here are my thumbnails for this recent piece of animation:

 

  As you can plainly see my objective was not to make masterful drawings. I was completely focused on gestures and poses that could sell the main ideas for my shot. Essentially, what

 these will end up being are my foundational drawings for my shot (storytelling poses). My shot will revolve around them. That's why it is so important to experiment at this point, because the further down the road you get the harder it will be to reinvent your shot if need be.

  In the next post will start to go into roughing in a shot... there is a lot to talk about in terms

of how to think about things but also just the practicality of "how do you do that"? A lot of it involves layering you thinking. So, as always, please please please ask questions for things that are unclear! Hope everyone gets something out of this! Cheers!

 

   

What!? Actual animation!?

1st pass from handdrawn on Vimeo.

  It's been a while since any of this has been on the blog huh? I have the tutorial about half way written, so until I get it complete check out this first rough pass that the tutorial will revolve around. Enjoi!

1-21-08

  On the occassion of my first day off from Curious George 2 I thought I'd post a little design I did for the film. I didn't get to do any of the lead characters as they were all done before I got on the film.  This guy is one sort of a secondary type, not quite an extra or anything. 

  The film was a good experience for me. I've only ever really animated, some of what I did at Laika involved design but not to this extent. This film was kinda like designing with training wheels on. I've never been impressed with my own drawing ability, so this was a little scary but it's not like I had to invent the shape language or anything. Like  I said, I just had to follow what Shane and Shannon so eloquently set up. I guess it was really more of a matter of living up to what they did, and also somehow getting everything past our creative executive. Not an easy challenge... can someone tell me why people with business degree's insist they know how to make films? I don't get it--

  So what's next? Who knows, hopefully something involving animation for a change!

P.S If anyone care's I've finally started updating my portfolio and reel blog. Click HERE to check it out, it's still being updated but it'll give you a little taste of things!

The Princess and the Frog

  Just in case you hadn't seen this yet, a little sneak peak at the "Princess and the Frog"-- I remember when I was a kid, my parents owned stock in the Disney Company and every year I'd beat my dad to the mail box for the "annual report" magazine they printed. It would typically sit in my lap, opened, during history as I pretended to look down and "read" the assignment. Ahhh memories!

  I've only seen bit's here and there from the film-- I know they are going for a very classical Disney look ala "Lady and the Tramp". I know very little about the story-- it just has to be great, no if, ands, or buts... too much is riding on this film for it to be "so so". 

  The funny thing is a lot of people outside of animation, I have observed, have been making a lot of comments like "why don't they do another "Beauty and the Beast" type film?"  or, "when is Disney going to do another fairytale?" Now, I'd be the first to say I'd LOVE to see animation, especially at Disney breaks down some content walls, but fantasy films are a major part of their heritage and I'd love to think this film will be a straight forward homage to that heritage. Time will tell I suppose... here's hopin'!

Coraline

   I am sure everyone has seen this clip by now, but if you haven't go here to check it out: http://www.neilgaiman.com/mediafiles/exclusive/Video/Coraline/sneak.mov

   I was privilaged to have worked on this film. I still can't say exactly what I did on the film (they are pretty tight lipped) but I can say it involved hand drawn animation and design. Looking at this clip is exhilerating! I didn't get to see any production footage while I was on the film (as it hadn't started yet), so this is a treat for me. There are so many films where the conceptual work is just incredible, but it never makes it to the screen. Well, this is NOT the case for this film.  I can't comment on the story, but I CAN say that I believe this film will be one of the best LOOKING films of 2009. Laika has so much potential, it's insane! I can remember just talking afternoon breaks, putting my jacket on and walking through the warehouse at Laika where all the sets were and being in awe of what they were doing. Man, I wanna say so much but can't! Well, this oughta wet your whistle for now. 

 

NEW TUTORIAL! : solidity/turning trick

Hey man IT'S A NEW TUTORIAL! Had a lil' extra time so thought I'd throw this up. So, ever wonder how to get your animation rock solid? Oh, BTW, this is pretty much a tutorial meant and applicable for 2D guys! Sorry CG peeps, I'll do another one that applies to both! Anyway, beyond actually knowing how to draw... which brings me to a side note. These tricks WILL NOT make your animation better, they will only enhance to natural gifting you already possess to make your animation work flow easier and quicker. I had a student once that tried a trick once. He taped his model sheet to the back of his lightbox to control his sizes and proportions, as I suggested. He came back a week later and said "it didn't work, look! My character gets huge." Now, obviously he didn't really pay attention to his model sheet while he was animating because the model sheet doesn't lie, but that's not the point. These tricks are not magic tools that will make you a great animator, the are only extra tools to help your already existing talent. In a day an age where the computer is so much a supplimental part of life and a program exists to help assist you with everything I wonder if there is a bit of preconditioned mentality for us in animation. Anyway, just wanted to make that all clear.
So, ever been animating something that is moving a great distance. Not necessarily fast, just across the entire screen? Or, even harder, across the entire screen SLOWLY? Had difficulty getting those inbetween poses that are freakin' far apart to be solid? Me too... here's a trick. One day I was visiting a friend at James Baxter's studio. He was introducing me to James and I saw James sitting in his seat just tearing bit's of tape off and sticking the ends on his desk like the below photo.

Like so.... anyway, I wasn't real sure what he was doing I just figured he was taping something up or whatever. Well, then I ran into a shot later where the character had to move across the screen very slowly. I was having a bit of a time keeping it solid. I remembered what James was doing and I wondered if this was what it was meant for. So here's what I did. It is easier to inbetween something that is not moving much. So I of course nailed my Key's down like the below picture (BTW the way, these drawings are merely for drawing examples, not meant to be show pieces).

Then I very loosely and lightly nailed down where the inbetween would go. Like this:

Then I lifted the 2nd key off of the pegs and taped it directly over the 1st key drawing so the head shapes matched up.

BTW, you can still do separate charting. I wanted the heads horizontal movement to be even, and the head rotation to favor the first Key. So, chart and inbetween accordingly. Nothing has changed, it just got easier to do.

OK, now you take that inbetween pose and place it directly over the other 2 keys so that the head shape matches up with the two keys. It should look like the characters head is just rotating in place.

The corners of the paper your using should reflect your charts. If the horizontal path is even, the corners will be evenly spaced. I also added a bit of an arc so the paper dips ever so slightly.

Now, just inbetween as you desire!! It's pretty simple really. And trust me, it's WAY faster and more accurate than doing it the other way. Now note: THIS IS NOT TRACE AND PLACE! It's sorta related, but not quite the same. Trace and place will for the most part give you the paper cut out feeling of animation. Shapes won't change and it'll be solid, but unturnable (yes, made that word up :) ) and dead to look at. I hate that kind of animation-- sure it's fast, but, ummmmm, that's all it is. I do recommend ruffing out your shots without doing this. You should not be completely obsessed at the first part of the process with technical perfection, you can clean that up in tie down, which is what this trick is meant for! Anyhow this is the final result!

Hope you guys find this useful! ANIMATE WELL!

Some more OLD Animation

Looney Tunes Animation from handdrawn and Vimeo.


Here's another shot I did on Looney Tunes: BIA that never made it into the film. Not sure why, the sequence got used, and I even remember watching the great Tracy Lee clean up my stuff. In fact I even think I remember seeing it in color... hmmm, weird. I was always bugging those clean-up guys about drawing tips and stuff. Clean Up is one of those artforms that has pretty much become lost to the new generations. It makes me sick to think about it-- as an animator you KNOW how important it is to get a really stellar clean up artist to keep the original intention of your shot!
So this was a fun, simple shot. I remember this was towards the end of the film, being the new guy I hadn't gotten very many "sweet shots". Now I know, there are no small shots just small animators right? I agree, but you gotta admit you're never gonna grow unless you get some shots that have more meat to them. So I mentioned to Tony DeRosa that if at all possible I'd love to get something a little more substantial. Kindly enough he gave me this shot. He was looking forward to doing this himself, so it was a bit of a sacrifice for him to let me do it.
I did the shot in 3 days. I can remember trying make it last longer cuz I was having so much fun on it!
So anyhow, more coming so stay tuned!!

New... er, old animation!

Looney Tunes Animation from handdrawn and Vimeo.

So here's some more animation as promised! It's pretty old stuff (so please no uninvited critiques :), but still fun! I was 20 when I was working on this film (Looney Tunes: Back in Action) and it was quite the learning experience! Frankly, I was scared stiff the first half of my experience on the film. Coming straight from art school into having to meet footage qouta's, learning how to take direction and not take it personally, and relaxing enough to make great animation was fairly difficult for me to balance at first. Ya know, getting your animation looked at by nobody but you and your peers and then all of the sudden trying to please Eric Goldberg was, ummmm, daunting!! He was very gracious and patient with me though-- and I am greatful for that! I learned a lot.

To be honest I never really was all that interested in THIS type of animation. I wasn't a Looney Tunes nut growing up, I was too busy watching Pinnochio and studying Glen Keane and James Baxter. But I sure loosened up on this stuff! You really gotta know how to push shapes, and still keep things solid with this stuff. But it's really about comedy, and timing is the key. Comedy and Drama are 2 seperate artforms, but equally as challenging.

Anyhow have fun watching, this was my last shot on the film and you won't see it in the finished film because it the entire sequence got cut. That actually seemed to happen quite a bit to me on that film, bummer! Cheers!

getting closer to the finish line!

(Click on it to see it better)

Painting is fun! Especially when you stink at it like me and can make a bagillion mistakes on the computer while you do it! This design portfolio is getting closer to being done all the time! Have a great weekend everybody!

Artsy Fartsy Girl

Yep, I've been busy. Yep, I've been lazy with posting, and yeah I need to do better. Have been busy getting several portfolio's ready... here's a piece from the design portfolio. I always kick myself when I do design because I realize how much fun I'm missing out on man! PLus, it'll totally make you a better animator, or, well, artist in general!

Just got my contract to teach at CalArts again and was thinking about all the interesting art school students that made an impression on me. I guess this was one of them! Cheers!

Fin

from handdrawn and Vimeo.


Welp, here it is! Every time I watch it I either cringe, or feel some sense of accomplishment. Something I was aiming for very deliberately with this moment was a little bit more of a staccato style of acting. A slight bit more jumpy, quicker timing which is not normal for me. I love the more "graceful" look. I was trying some new stuff, trying to push myself into a little more unknown territory acting-wise. And I'm proud of that much, but because this could only get an hour here or there inbetween work, life and other things I feel it lacks in consistancy (mainly of model).
So, it's done and now lets move onto the next one! I've got a lot of ideas, it's just finding time inbetween animating all these commercials!! ugghhhh man, too much! Hope everyone digs it!

A bit better

This version definately reads a bit better. Man, me and color just don't mix! Anyway, thought I'd post the "useable" version of this drawing. Some more animation is coming, just as soon as I have time to post it. Later!

I'm lazy

Reaction
Uploaded by dreaminater

note: unfortunately the player converted this to 30fps, so it's not playing correctly. Youtube looses sync, metacafe deletes my files, vimeo turns the image pink... :( I'm working on getting this fixed!

I wasn't gonna post this till' it was done, but what the heck! Unfortunately it seems that the audio got knocked out of sync somewhere in the uploading process. I've been doing this at nights/weekends/lunch breaks... it's tough not animating for more than an hour. Either you wanna keep going, or it's really hard to turn your brain on all of the sudden on something different. I'm proud of it so far, but there are about 20 billion fixes I have in mind for it! I left the widescreen as see through so I could play with the eventual composition (there'll be a BG eventually). Hope you likey!

Eyes: Construction and Pitfalls

In preparing this post I kept thinking, "ahhhh man I could be preparing this post for a year before i feel like I have something that does justice to the topic." So, I feel like what would be best is if I just break this topic down into post's and sessions. This first post will be about construction (how the eye is put together) and the general errors I see a lot in drawing eyes. The first thing for anyone to do who wants to really understand what they are drawing is to study the object thoroughly right!? You might be able to draw something from memory well, but unless you've got that reference and real life study in your brain it'll probably lack authenticity. Eyes are definately MY favorite part of animating close ups or medium shots. They give the term "working within the pose" a lot more meaning to me and open a lot of acting doors. The goal isn't to match life but to caricature it-- just like always in animation. There an authenticity to eyes that can be found though, one that seems to trigger something subconscious in us where our brains say " hey, I've seen that before." It can only help cross that barrier in the mind of "I know this is just a pile of drawing in some wear house to, man I am really understanding what that character is feeling".
In studying animated eyes I've found something really interesting-- I can't find one shot where any of the 9 old men did any eye darts. I am certainly not saying that their work was less because of it, but I think it's interesting that it's used more today and not really at all back then. If anyone can think of any examples I am missing from the 9 old men era that i am forgetting please let me know. Anyway, that's sidetracking. So, eye construction... I think it's important to know how the eye ball works within the socket, how far back it is in your head, how the muscles work. What I think is less important is all the inner workings (blood vessels, etc...) though not without value.

I think the first thing to note from the picture above is that the eye ball is NOT a perfect circle. Why? Because of the lense in front of your pupil. Check out the drawing below.

I don't necessarily always draw the lense, but I do draw the affects of it. Meaning, because your eye is not a perfect sphere there is friction on your eye lids. Your bottom and top lid with deform and bend slightly to the curve of your lense.

Below here in this pic see how the curve of the lid's follows the direction of the pupil. Not only is it what is physically accurate, but it also creates interest in the shape of the eye. A very basic drawing/design rule is uneven shapes. It's a very simple way to create dynamics, tension, a feeling of movement and life.

Speaking of pupil direction, check out this page below. In extreme up or down shots (imagine the eye is in a general looking straight position) how you draw the eye is important. Remember that the pupil and cornea are not on the surface of the lens. It's beneath the lens. If you flip your eye from the right to left rows you'll see the difference between a pupil that is "painted" on a flat surface verses the pupil that is set beneath the lens. You'll notice on the profile I didn't draw the literal lens sticking out from the eye. It's a matter of taste/and style sometimes.

As I said before a basic design and drawing rule is to keep your shapes a-symmetrical . This creates interest in your shape. In this case below make sure your shapes are not straight and boring, but also that the pupil direction is reflected in the overall shape of the eye.

This pic below is just to show you where and how the muscles connect to the eye. This is more important to inform how you animate your eyes than it is how you draw them. Notice how short those muscles are? Short muscles mean quick contraction which translates into eye darts. That's why your eyes move so fast. The eyes can move slowly, but it's not as often. Like everything, it's a matter of taste in the moment of choice.

Lastly, the thing to know about eyes is that their shape is created by the lids surrounding the eye ball. Not the eye ball itself... check out these pics of different people and note what kind of impression they give you as a viewer based on their shape.

I cannot communicate how important eyes are. Yeah yeah, we all know that you say, but really man! If they are the first thing we look at they must say some something pretty important to us as people. A lot of what I covered today was more on the technical "how to" end of things, but you gotta know this stuff to get to the artful parts of it all. Next post I'll post some screen shots from live action and animated performances that I feel uses eyes to their potential. Until then, thanks for hanging in there and reading all of this!

Eye, Eye Cap'N!

Massive post on drawing and animating eyes coming soon to a blog near you! I promise, have just been doing drawings, gathering reference material to make this one worthwhile for everybody. I haven't forgotten blogland!

Check it! YO!

(A young John Lasseter... haha, no joke!)

Check out this link:
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/VirtualPlayerFST.zhtml?c=129198&EventId=1486224&WebCastId=623469&StreamId=859281&id=&IndexId=&EID_TIK=&RGT=&RGS=&CTID=
Click on the section that says "Animation Overview"... it's worth it.

Pretty neat stuff man... Actually, more like a dream come true! I just don't sleep anymore man! Here I am writting this at 2 in the morning when I should be sleeping! But I can't, the dream is back...