New Flushed Away Trailer and Site

Flushed Away now has an updated site that you can wander around in.



From the front page of the site, you can also view the brand new Moviefone trailer, that runs just a little over 2 minutes in length.

The more I see of this film, the more I can't help but feel as though it's missing some of the charm that some of the other Aardman films have, and I think (as much as I hate to say it) that this is due to the fact that it's CG instead of clay.

There is just something about knowing that the characters are actual physical things, rather than generated on a computer screen, that just can't be changed. It's one thing if a style begins with computers, because your mind associates it as being the norm, but when something like the Aardman clay style is mimicked using computer graphics, my brain just keeps telling me that something doesn't look right.

If the film has the standard Aardman charm, in terms of humor, which it looks like it does, I'm sure it will be more than enjoyable, but even coming from a guy who loves computer animation to death, I wish they would have stuck with the "if it ain't broke don't model it on a computer" philosophy.

Make your own judgment by swinging over to the site and having a look at the trailer!

10 Quick with Ruel Pascual

Today's 10 Quick comes from the talented Ruel Pascual.

Ruel has worked for Blur for the past 3 years, on projects such as "In the Rough" as well as animation for Disney on the Mickey show.

Take it away Ruel... after my first question, that is...

1. Tell us a bit about yourself.

I was born in the Philippines in the early 70's. I always loved to draw ever since I could remember. I watched a lot of Anime, Disney, WB cartoons growing up. My step father was in the Air Force and so we lived in Japan for about 3 years. Which was awesome! I was into modeling gundam kits, RC cars, break dancing, BMX bikes, and skateboarding. Then we moved to California in the 1986 at Edwards AFB, where I went to high school. Fast forward to present date… I’m married, love to cook, travel, play guitar, tennis, art, movies, animation and sleep.

How did you break into the business?

I kind of got into the business a little late. After high school, I worked as a graphic designer for 2 years, then I started to freelance doing portraiture. A couple years later I thought about going to an art school to learn how to draw and paint better. I took a summer figure drawing class at Art Center in Pasadena. Around that time Toy Story came out! I was amazed by it. It made me fall in love with animation again. I didn't have enough funds to go full time at Art Center and they didn't have a computer animation program. So I moved to San Francisco and enrolled at the Academy of Art College. There I learned the fundamentals of drawing, painting, and animation. After graduating I got my first gig at a game company in Burlingame called Cinemaware. The company didn't have another project line up so I started to look for a new job. I got an email from Blur Studios and was hired to work on a Mickey's Twice Upon A Christmas. I have been at Blur for 3 awesome years. About 2 months ago my wife was offered a program director position at a radio station in Las Vegas. Now we are gonna be living there. Got a new job at 3d Site and working remotely from Vegas.

2. Which of your work are you most proud of?

The animation that we did on the Mickey show was super fun. I learned a lot from working with some amazing Disney animators. Also the short film that Blur created called In the Rough was great to work on.


Watch "In the Rough" by clicking here!

3. What are the main tools and/or programs you use to create your work?

The first software I used to animate with was Maya. Then I learned to animate in 3d Max. I dabbled a little bit in Softimage XSI. Now I am working in Houdini.

4. What's a typical day in your life like?

I wake up 7:30 a.m., but don’t get out of bed until 8 a.m. I get into work at 9 am. Get my coffee and bagel and look at my schedule and plan my shots accordingly. I draw little thumbnails and act stuff out before I block out my shots. I walk over to my sup to look over my drawings and ideas to get approval to start first pass animation. Then lunch! An hour later back to animating. I leave work around 6 - 7 p.m.





5. Who or what are some of your artistic influences?

Movies, artist, animators, friends,colleagues and life.

6. Would you say that you're a 3D artist who dabbles in 2D from time to time, or a 2D artist who happens to work in 3D?

I’m a 3d artist wishing I could animate in 2d.



7. What are 3 of the best things about your job, and what are 3 of the worst?

Best: Creating content that’s entertaining, working with talented people and learning from them, being able to animate for a living.

Worst: Software getting in the way of the art, surrendering animation due to deadlines, being full after lunch.

8. Tell us a bit about your new job at 3dSite. Any projects you can speak on at this time?

It is a very chill working environment and super talented people that work here. I can't talk about the project, but it is very cool to be able to work on it.


Watch the Psymon Unhappy animation by clicking here!

9. You are also an amazing painter. How long have you been painting? Do you ever have any gallery showings?

I don't consider myself an amazing painter by far, I still have a lot to learn about the craft, but thanks for the compliment. I've only been in gallery shows when I was in school at the Academy of Art. I am slowly trying to get myself back into painting again. I'm setting a goal in a year or so to be showing in a gallery.



10. How is Las Vegas treating you compared to California?

I am actually still in California at the moment. I'll be moving to Las Vegas in mid July to start work offsite. I live close to the ocean out here California. So Las Vegas is gonna be a big change of scenery.


Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my silly questions, Ruel!

If you've got a few moments to spare... heck even if you don't, make some time and swing over to Ruel's Site to see his other amazing work!

Thanks again, Ruel!

Planet One Movie

It's odd how I can stumble around the internet, often seeking stories for this blog, and suddenly find something that I had no idea even existed. A case in point would be the company Ilion Animation Studios, which I had no idea existed until today, and their upcoming theatrical release, "Planet One," which I also had never heard of until about 10 minutes ago.

Here is the blurb on the company from their "About Us" section of the website:

Based in Madrid (Spain), Ilion Animation Studios was founded in 2003 to create state of the art computer animated movies for theatrical release.

Ilion Animation Studios is the theatrical animation company started by the founders of Pyro Studios, best known as the creators of the international hit videogame series Commandos. Both of them are subsidiaries of the Wisdom Entertainment Group of companies, an entertainment conglomerate devoted to the development of hi-tech products related to videogames, animation, interactive and wireless entertainment. With offices in 15 countries Wisdom Entertainment is one of the world leading companies in digital content creation and distribution.

So now you know about the company too. But what about this "Planet One"? Well, take a look at these:









Now... aren't you interested too?

Swing on over to Ilion's Website, click on "Feature Film," and read all about the movie. Here's a quick blurb:

On Planet One, the locals have two antenna, eight fingers and tons of fear about alien invaders. They live in a world like our suburban 1950's, with sci-fi flicks, gory comic books and paranoid army generals barking about monsters from outer space. A young inhabitant, Lem, thinks that space can be wonderful, but he lacks the courage to even move out of his parents' basement. Then one day, out of the sky, an alien ship appears with something funny written on it: NASA. It is piloted by astronaut and ladies man, Captain Russ Baker. Russ had expected to plant the American Flag on a baron planet, only to land at someone's backyard barbecue. Now his new friend, Lem, must keep Russ safe from the authorities and help him find his ship to get back home.

Much more on the website!

Team Fortress 2

Working in the games industry myself, I really don't post a lot of game art on this site. It's not that I don't care for it or anything like that, but I work around it all day, and so I prefer to focus on the film industry with this little blog instead.

That being said, there are things like the following video which simply can't be passed up:

What you have just witnessed (if you watched the clip) is a character montage for Valve's upcoming "Team Fortress 2" that was just announced. Way back in the day, I worked for Sierra (who published Valve's previous titles) and we always got calls and emails about when Team Fortress 2 would be released. There were even some screenshots that made it out and a couple of videos. I can tell you they looked NOTHING like what is in the video above, and I for one couldn't be happier.

The clip above shows an amazing art style not seen in a lot of games. The characters almost look like a mixture of "The Incredibles" and a war game.

Now obviously it's hard to tell about any kind of gameplay from the clip, but since it's Valve it's probably going to be pretty darn good.

Bravo to the folks at Valve for stepping out with something new and fresh, in terms of art style, rather than just another FPS.

I can't wait!

Monster House Concept Art

Chris Appelhans has posted some of his amazing concept art for the upcoming Monster House movie over at his portfolio site:





Certainly worth your time!

Tons more MH concept art and character designs here!

Lack of Updates

I apologize for the lack of updates today. I had major network issues all day that prevented any kind of uploading of files or posting of messages.

So let's pretend this day never happened and start fresh tomorrow!

Pure Inspiration

It's demo reels like the one created by Ernesto Esteso that get me really excited that I signed up with Animation Mentor.



Peep Ernesto's amazing student reel here!

Frankly, not everyone out there (me included) is going to have the level of talent that someone like Ernesto may have, so who knows if I'm even capable of that level of work. I'd like to think I am, but it definitely shows me where the bar is, in terms of where my work needs to be to compete with fellow students for a job in the industry.

On a more personal note, things are going along great in the whole AM process. I just found out today that my application for student loans was approved. The only things I have left to do for the most part are to get myself a webcam (recommendations most certainly welcome), and wait for classes to begin in September.

I can hardly wait!

Upcoming 10 Quicks

I just wanted to give everyone a quick preview of our upcoming "10 Quick" interviews for the next few weeks.

7/20/06 - Ruel Pascual - Ruel is a former member of Blur Stuido, having worked on their In the Rough short as well as various game trailers and a Disney project to boot. You can check out his website HERE.

7/27/06 - Kyle Dunlevy - Kyle has a really amazing portfolio of work posted on his site, including his wonderful Robin Hood ads. He's currently employed for Lucasfilm in Singapore.

8/3/06 - Jeff Fowler - Another Blur Studio employee, and one of the driving forces behind my favorite animation in quite some time, "Gopher Broke," Jeff provides a really great interview that you won't want to miss. Peep his site here!

I've also got requests out for more "10 Quicks," so we should have at least enough to take us through the summer and then some! If you are an artist in the industry, be it a modeler, animator, texturer or anything else for that matter, and you'd like to answer 10 Quick questions for us, drop me a line!

And just for fun, here's "Gopher Broke":

Monster House Movie Clips

Yahoo! Movies has posted 3 short but sweet clips from Sony's upcoming Monster House movie.



The film opens this Friday, and should be quite a hoot.

Watch the clips by clicking here!

BY DAVE: A Much Less Offensive Monkey

I decided that I just couldn't stand not having pants for Monkey, so I modeled him some clothes. As you can see, he's now got a snazzy tank top, fresh new pair of pants and some of the most shiny shoes money can buy.



I know that last time (which was only two days ago) I said that you probably shouldn't expect another Monkey update for a while, so I won't say that again.

Oh... and to all the ladies out there, Monkey is single.

EDIT: I posed him a bit (though there is no bone system in place), textured his shirt, and gave him an untextured can of what most likely isn't soda.



He looks really stiff, but without bones, it's tough to do much with him. I'm hoping to get some kind of bone system in him over the next month or two.

Ice Age 2 DVD

According to DVDActive, Ice Age 2 should be hitting DVD shelves on November 21st.



Here are some details per DVDActive's site:

Extras will include commentaries by Director Carlos Saldanha, Producer Lori Forte and the Production Team, an all-new Scrat short ("No Time for Nuts"), three all–new Crash & Eddie Stunts, a Crash and Eddie Blooper, introductions to the new characters, and a Silly Sid & John Leguizamo featurette. Completing the package will be storyboard to final shot comparisons, Lost Historical Films on the Ice Age Period: The Sloth "Nature's Lovable Lisper", multiple set-top games, a sing-along, footage of Scrat on Family Guy, and a look at The Simpsons Movie.

Somehow I managed to miss this one when it came to theaters, even though I enjoyed the first one a great deal. If I remember correctly it was around the time that I was having some emergency surgery, which is probably about the best excuse one can come up with for missing a movie. So I'm excited for the DVD release for sure, even if $30 bucks seems a bit high. I'm sure it will be marked down at least 10 bucks at places like Best Buy.

For more information on the DVD, visit DVDActive's site.

Pixar Spotlight at Screenwriting Expo5

Pixar is going to be spotlighted (and rightfully so) at this year's Screenwriting Expo for their wonderful storytelling abilities.



From the Screenwriting Expo site:

From the groundbreaking wonder of Toy Story and A Bug’s Life to the emotional depths of Finding Nemo and The Incredibles, Pixar Animation Studios has amassed a string of successful films that remains unparalleled in the history of entertainment.

Do not miss these once-in-a-lifetime events as the most successful company in Hollywood history sends its legendary creative staff to discuss cinematic storytelling.

Pixar Storytelling is not just about animation writing, but for every screenwriter seeking to craft the Four-Quadrant masterpiece.

Andrew Stanton and Brad Bird are going to be there giving presentations, and it seems like it could really be an amazing experience overall.

For more information, and to register, click here!

BY DAVE: Final Monkey Model

Or at least close...

This is pretty much it for the Monkey Model. I may have a few tiny changes that I make, but the next step is to get him textured and then start modeling some clothes and accessories for him.



For this final upgrade to Monkey, I created working eyes, hence the fact that one set of eyelids are open, and one are closed. I just wanted to show that he had independently functioning eyelids and pupils. I also mirrored him, sewed him up, add butt cheeks (hard to see in this view), gave him a belly button, finished his chin fuzz, and fixed his feet up a bit.

Oh... and I blurred his junk in this one on for fun.

You may not see any updates on Monkey for a while, as it will take me some time to get the UVs laid out and the textures done.

I'll update when I can!

New Ant Bully Website

The team over at Warner Bros. has completed the new website for the upcoming "Ant Bully" movie.



Overall the site seems to be pretty rich in content, with production notes, stills, video and other similar content.

Check it out here!

EDIT: Looks like the 2nd Ant Bully tailer is now up over at the Apple Trailers site. Click here to take a look!

10 Quick with Mike Walling

This week's 10 Quick come to us from Mr. Mike Walling. Mike has worked on such projects as "Robots," and "Jimmy Neutron," and is now a Senior Animator at Sony Imageworks, working on the upcoming "Surf's Up" film.

Mike doesn't have any large size images of his work on his website, but he's got some great videos, showing his amazing talent for animation. As you read through the interview, please make sure you take a moment to click the links and check out all of his fine work.

Take it away, Mike!

1. Tell us a bit about yourself. How did you break into the business?

I got into animation while re drawing a piece of art for a game company back in like "93" while working at a screen printing shop. I got a production assistant job at PDI just before Antz started production. I did that gig for about two years and got promoted to the production engineering department working as a render wrangler. I was responsible for comping data from various departments. This job gave me the chance to see how all of the other departments worked together and was a great learning experience for me. During my off hours I would use a work station and their rigs to learn how to animate. I did this for a couple of years but couldn't get promoted so I sent my reel out and was picked up by DNA productions in Dallas. You can see a more detailed bio at my web site www.mike-walling.com. The bottom line is, I had the drive and the passion and that got me very far. The rest was observing life and learning as much as I could from books, watching films and getting advice from the animators around me. I'm still learning as much as I can every day and am constantly challenged by the work I'm doing.



2. Which of your work are you most proud of?

For me Robots was when the lights starting going off in my head. I was learning so much in a short amount of time it was crazy! I think the driving force behind what I was learning was my supervising animator Mike Thurmeier. He was the first animator to open my eyes to making my animation more graphic. In other words he taught me how to make every frame a good pose with a nice silhouette instead of letting the computer do all of the inbetweening. I liked animating Big Weld because he was so round and was a challenge to pose. He forced me to animate with lots of arcs. I guess it makes sense, he is round so his animation should have been round! Ha ha..

3. What are the main tools and/or programs you use to create your work?

I work in Maya to do my job. At Sony there are lots of plugins that make up the tool set on top of Maya that allows us to do our job a little easier. I have used Lightwave and Messiah for the Jimmy Neutron movie and tv series but it has been Maya ever since! I like to dabble in Flash once in a while but only for fun.

4. What's a typical day in your life like?

My days are pretty crazy! I try to see my little boy in the morning before work but sometimes he sleeps in. I get to work around 8am or so and need time to wake up! I hit the coffee pretty hard which helps a ton! I try to get some work done before dailies which is usually around 10am. In dailies the animation director and leads see our work from the previous day and then give us notes on what they like and what they think can be improved. It's mostly improvements though! Ha ha.. Once I get out of there I head back to my desk and implement my notes into my shot. I go to lunch around noon for about an hour. Lunch is a great time to get together with some of the guys in my group and talk about everything from life to the shots we are working on. It's nice to have people around you that can relate to the challenges that I face in my job everyday. After lunch I hit the shot again until around 2pm when we have rounds. This is where we meet in a small room (kinda like a sweat box) and look at the work I have done since dailies. After that I head out to Starbucks around 3pm for about a half hour with a couple of buddies of mine. Like I said before, coffee is life! Ha ha... So I finish up work around 7pm and head home. I get about an hour and a half with my little boy then get him off to bed. I then hang out with the wife for about an hour then start my Animationmentor.com duties if I have any that night. When I get done with that my wife is usually in bed so I like to hit the Half Life 2 for an hour or two. I usually get to bed around 1am or so. The next day it starts all over again! FUN, FUN, FUN!!

Click here to see some of Mike's amazing animation!

5. Who or what are some of your artistic influences?

I love any 2d animation art from any studio! I also love oil paintings from artists such as Vincent van Gogh, and John Singer Sargent. As far as 3d, I would have to say I am influenced by animators Doug Sweetland and Mike Thurmeier. The animation that comes out of their heads is remarkable.

6. Would you say that you're a 3D artist who dabbles in 2D from time to time, or a 2D artist who happens to work in 3D?

I am a 3d animator that dabbles in 2d for sure!! I got the animation bug late in life, much to late to learn 2d animation as a career. I am trying to draw more and just purchased Plastic animation paper which is a really cool computer program that lets you do full 2d animation production. Here is a link:

PlasticAnimationPaper.dk

7. What are 3 of the best things about your job, and what are 3 of the worst?

Dang! That is a hard question. Ok here goes!
1) Going to work everyday in shorts and a t-shirt.
2) having the flexibility to handle those little things come up in life and not worrying about getting back to work before I get fired.
3) creating animated performances everyday! I get to be creative everyday instead of going to a job where I have to wear a suit everyday.

1) Not being able to have full creative control sometimes.
2) having to make up that time I missed earlier to deal with life's little issues I mentioned before! Ha ha!!
3) When that shot is just working no matter what you try! I like the challenge but when that deadline looms the stress can get to you.

8. You've spent time as an animator working on Ice Age 2, Robots, Jimmy Neutron, Open Season, and now Surf's Up. Which of those projects was the most challenging to you and why?

They all have their challenges for sure! Jimmy was hard because I was still learning how to structure a shot from the ground up, Robots was hard because for the first time I was being forced to really think about performance acting and good physics. Open Season was hard because I came on to the project late and had to learn the rigs fast. They also had shapers that allowed us so mold the surface of the character to make better graphic shapes in the poses (you'll see when the movie comes out) and Surf's Up is challenging because the acting is so subtle and there is tons of subtext acting. Oh and did I mention SURFING SHOTS! I hope that when the dvd comes out they explain what we had to go through to get those shots done! Lemmie tell ya, making penguins surf is hard, but that's a whole nother story! Ha ha ha..

9. Now that you're working on Surf's Up, did you have to learn how to surf?

I actually used to make long boards with my dad so I did quite a bit of surfing over the years. But yes knowing how to surf has helped me get my head around the physics much faster and having a better eye when blocking out the board animation. I basically get the board looking good first then do rough poses on the character on the board then go from there.

10. Could you take a moment and fill folks in on what exactly AnimationMentor.com is?

I would love to! First off, one thing I would like to say about AM.com is that I am still impressed with the sense of community that is created by the staff and students. It is amazing!! Animationmentor.com is an on-line animation school taught by working industry animators such as myself. AM has this amazing site based on flash that allows us to work with students almost on a one on one basis. There is a lecture every week that the students watch, then apply to their shots. I then get the uploaded file once a week and then give them an on camera critique. I also do a live QnA once a week with the students on camera where they can ask me questions and I can go over clips with them. This is great because they can hear an industry person like me go over my shots as well as shots from movies like Incredibles or the old Disney films. The students also have a forum on the site where they can talk about anything they want. It is pretty extensive.

Thanks for that extremely informative interview, Mike!

If you still can't get enough of Mike's work, then I suggest you visit his site and check out more of his great samples.

Thanks again to the super-talented and all around nice guy, Mr. Mike Walling!

BY DAVE: Monkey Wang!

Though he's not sewn together, and only has half a chin of stubble, here is the latest Monkey model.



He also has junk, and I deeply apologize to anyone who is offended by that. I didn't make it too graphic, it's really just a "nub" if you will.

He still needs lots of tweaking to smooth up his head some, and I've got to do some work on the front of his feet. I didn't model toes for him due to the fact that he will always be wearing shoes, or at the very least a pair of socks. I've also got to add a belly button at some point, as well as a pair of butt cheeks.

Oh the joy of modeling!

Over the American Idol

Animation World posted an interesting article by Martin "Dr. Toon" Goodman yesterday, in which he compares American Idol to Over the Hedge.



"What I did not realize until the moment that Taylor Hicks attained immortality (or what passes for such in today's culture) was why I somehow felt a strange connection between American Idol and Over the Hedge. Both of them are, at a very basic level, somewhat similar products with a similar purpose. They are also not exactly what they are presented to be. There is a superficial level sold to the public, but underneath, there seems to be another agenda."

The whole "Idol is like Hedge" thing is a bit of a stretch, if you ask me, but it's still worth the read, and I do think that Mr. Goodman makes some great points in regards to why we even need big name actors and actresses to voice the roles in today's animation movies.

Read the article by clicking here!

BY DAVE: 2 Arms for Every Monkey

The image you see below is my latest update to the Monkey model that I've been working on. For the new visitors to the site who think I'm nuts, I don't think that cashew-head shaped fellow looks anything at all like a real monkey, but instead is modeled after a character in an old comic strip that I used to draw.



I'm especially proud of his man-boobs.

Again, I know the eyes are way too reflective, and he only has stubble on half of his chin. After all... it is a work in progress. ;)

More as it's modeled!

Robin Hood TV Spots

Some really cute commercials from the folks over at Red Rover Studios in the form of these Robin Hood TV Spots:

I really love the facial animations in these, as well as the voice acting. Great stuff for a batch of TV ads, that's for sure!

Makes me want a muffin... or a cookie... or a cookie with 10 bags of sugar in it!

5 Fast with Jacopo Armani

Five Fast is a segment of the blog in which fresh grads or people with brand new demo reels can show their work and give others a bit of insight into what they had to do to create the reel, and where they plan to go with it.

Today's Five Fast is from Jacopo Armani:

1. Tell folks a bit about your reel. What are they going to see when they click that shiny "Play" button?

"Being a King" is a fantasy tale about the “unbearable lightness of power”. The audience is invited to wear the costumes of Robb the Jester, who is going to try in first person what is it like to be a king. The results might not be those you'd expect. This is my first short which I produced at the Vancouver Film School over eight months of sweat and efforts. It is a one person effort, although heavily supported by my peers and mentors. VFS granted me a festival scholarship due to the high quality of my work.

2. What's the one thing on the reel you're most proud of?

I worked hard on characterization and interesting acting choices. Therefore the opening shot with Robb's casual walk is in my opinion what animation is about: telling the character's attitude and mood using only images.

3. What's the one thing on the reel you struggled the most with creating?

The Waltz was the hardest shot to animate for sure! The biggest problem for me was the lack of references. I started to nail down the shot when I got a hold of good references to get inspired (I'm not a dancer at all!). When I storyboarded those sequences I thought they would have been fun and easy to animate, but, man, how I was wrong! Not only the movement mechanics required to have a very good grasp of dancing, but also the tempo and quality of movement had to fit into the character's arc. In fact during the Waltz, Robb is slowly getting drawn into his own fantasy. Thus at that point he is still half jester-half king. So one of the problems was: how to show his Jester's nature intertwined with his pretending royalty? I opted to have him being a bit clumsy but at the same time cocky as only a King could be.

4. Why 3D Animation? What is it that appeals to you about this industry, and what made you head down this road in the first place?

I've had a passion for 3D Animation since I was a teenager. It was back in the '90s. I learned by myself several 3D software at that time. Then when I had to decide whether getting a degree or trying this fishy and not fully developed career in CG, I acted conservatively and chose the degree. I was young, and to a certain extent I was wrong. After almost ten years of education in Computer Engineering I got a Ph.D. but still I wasn't fully satisfied with my career. Something was missing. It was the
call for storytelling and moving images, my old passion. I got a very good offer from my university and again the same choice showed up in front of me: continuing on the promising academic career I had or trying this fishy, new career which was CG. This time I made the right decision, the one I wanted in the first place. I ditched everything, packed and headed to Vancouver to study Computer Animation, filling the
gap of ten years of missed education. To be honest when I made this decision I didn't know much about the industry, I just wanted to tell stories in animation. Now that I know more about it, I can say that the nomadic nature of this work is a big plus: one year you are in Vancouver, another one you are in Milan, another one you are in Paris, and so on. You keep moving. Secondly you meet a lot people truly passionate about what they are doing. Finally it's all about cooperation and team work. It doesn't matter whether you are the most talented artist in town, if you can't work with a team you are out of the business. Just because one person can do only so much. With a good team the quality and scope of a project become exponentially bigger.

5. What would be your absolute dream job?

I have a passion for non-cliche' storyline and acting choices. Thus, I would love to work for a studio where innovative and compelling stories drive technology choices and not the other way around. A studio that fosters its own artists giving them opportunities of growth and new challenges, and that listens to their inputs.

Thank you for this opportunity, and keep animating!


Jacopo's Reel:



Love the animation, Jacopo! The waltz may have been the toughest to animate, but it sure turned out nice!

Make sure you swing over to Jacopo's website to check out more of his fine work!

If you're in a similar situation to Jacopo, and have a demo reel you'd like to show off here, drop Dave a line at davesj[at]gmail[dot]com!

Davy Jones

For the three people out there who didn't see the Pirates of the Caribbean sequel this past weekend, you missed out on what I consider to be the best special FX ever found in a film.



To be entirely honest, I'm still not sure if the character of Davy Jones was a mixture of live action and CG, or all CG. I think it was the latter, but the simple fact that the average person won't be able to tell speaks volumes about what a wonderful job the team at ILM did in creating the character of Jones. It was amazing sitting in the theater and watching him move on a big canvas screen and yet being able to know exactly what he smelled like and felt like. Not literally, but my point is that his skin seemed so real and familiar that you could smell and feel it in a sense without ever coming in contact with it.

It didn't stop at Jones though, as all of the pirates in his crew were amazingly unique in their own ways as well. The highlights for me were probably the shell head pirate, the hammerhead pirate, and the wall that held the torch and spoke to Orlando Bloom.

The film is totally worth the price of admission, providing close to 2.5 hours of entertainment, even at the current inflated ticket price.

If you have reservations about seeing the film, but are a fan of CG art in any way, you owe it to yourself to see this picture.

Interview With Jason Schleifer

Strut Your Reel has a great interview posted up today with Mr. Jason Schleifer.



Some of you may know Jason's work from a lesser-known character named Gollum in a low-budget series of films called "Lord of the Rings." He's an amazing animator and rigger, and also happens to be a mentor over at Animation Mentor.

Here is a snippet from the interview:

It's important to find what the key point is of any shot or series of shots you're working on and make sure that you get that idea across. Putting too much in the shot can easily overpower it and confuse the audience. Remember, they're only going to see it once, so just make it clear!

Read the entire article!

BY DAVE: A Little More Monkey Business

So Monkey was refined a bit more tonight, and given some teeth and eyes:



Obviously the eyes are a bit too shiny and reflective, but the textures are just place holders. I also gave him a bit of chin fuzz.

You guys have a great weekend!

The second Barnyard trailer is now up for viewing at Apple's Site, and frankly it's won me over.

While I still don't care for the almost plastic feel of some of the animals (like the cows), I actually found this trailer to be much more amusing than the first one. While many of the gags seem to focus on how animals would unwind, such as "Mechanical Man Riding" or "People Tipping," they seem to be executed pretty well.

Here are a few screen grabs from the trailer.











Barnyard Trailer Site

DragonSlayer

Here's a nice little piece from Robert Kuczera called "DragonSlayer."

It's pretty neat to see the large range of emotions that Robert was able to squeeze from only 8 minutes of film. It's like having a full length Disney Plot compressed down into short form.

Great landscape, solid models (the baby dragons are fabulous), and really nice texture work add to a solid premise. You'll also find some nice acting and some good FX in the form of the smoke and fire.

Well done!

After You

Great little short from Christopher Cordingley, called "After You," about to overly polite fellows just trying to get through a door.



I love the expression on the blue character's face as he opens the door, right after the other character smiles at him for the first time. It's totally that, "I'll be polite and tolerate this guy because I know that's what I'm supposed to do, but frankly he looks a little crazy" expression that I've seen far too many times in my life.

I would have posted the YouTube video, but the original was shot in widescreen, and the only one I could find on YouTube is a squished fullscreen version that just doesn't do justice to this great little flick.

So instead you'll have to click the link:

"After You" Short Film

BY DAVE: 3 Sides To Every Monkey

Not too long ago, I drew a moderately successful comic by the name of "Dog Complex." You can find the archives over this way. I use the term "moderately successful" because I had a pretty large number of readers and was even offered a syndication contract through Universal Press Syndicate and their UComics.com site. I stopped drawing it for a number of reasons, one of which was to once again turn my focus to the world of 3D.

So one of my first 3D tasks is going to be to model one of the old characters from my strip. His name is Monkey, and he's got a head shaped like an overgrown mutant cashew.



I just started on the model tonight, but as you can see, I've already got a pretty decent start. I went ahead and mirrored the half I was working on, so that you could get a better look at his entire head. Still some stuff to work on for sure, but he's shaping up pretty well.

Oh, and here's an old strip with Monkey in it for reference:



See... and you just thought I modeled his head wrong. ;)

10 Quick With Patrick Beaulieu

Today's 10 Quick interview is with talented Mr. Patrick Beaulieu.

When I stumbled upon Patrick's website, I was blown away by his work, as I'm sure many have in the past. I was all set to ask him to participate in the 10 Quick interview, when I saw this on his resume:

"Snakes on a Plane (2006) / animator (Layout)"

That sealed the deal. I had to get Patrick to do a 10 Quick no matter what.

Patrick was a bit concerned over the language barrier, as his first language is French, and I conduct my interviews in English. Once I explained to him that his English is FAR better than my French, he agreed to the interview! ;)

Honestly though, I think you'll find Mr. Beaulieu's answers to be quite informative, as well as inspiring. It's nice to see someone who has their priorities so in order.

Here goes...


1. Tell us a bit about yourself. How did you break into the business?

My name is Patrick beaulieu , I am borned in Quebec (Canada) in 1981. I've had been interested since I'm little about artistic skills so I decided later on to get a 3D formation here in Quebec city in 1999 at Institut Athena , at school I discovered animation and character creation so I decide to invest my time in animation and cartoon design . Im currently working at Ubisoft as animator. In my spare time, I like create cartoon character , make new animation and forever planning out my next project.

2. Which of your work are you most proud of?

Its Freaky bird. Ive created this character since a long time now, but I always prefer this one to all other character ive done. I don’t know why, but I really love this character , that’s was my first real character , that’s was the start of my style, so now I try to evolve with this style .. Im proud to all my character and animation to, I always try to make my best in what Ive created but, freaky will always be my best one.



3. What are the main tools and/or programs you use to create your work?

At Home, I always used 3D studio max. I used shag hair / fur for the fur or feather on my character… for the texture part, I use photoshop or painter , depend on what kind of texture I need. I’ve work with Xsi and Maya at home when I’ve work at Hybride and Interstation for practice my skills for my professional work. But in general, that’s all the software I always use.

4. What's a typical day in your life like?

A typical day in my life… its quite simple but here’s my typical day. I wake up a 6 o’clock, I start to work at 7 o’clock, I start to read my animation task at work and after begin some animation. During the day, I try to put some time to check all animation my animator’s collegue done. Im currently in charge of the animation approuval process… so everyday, I need to comment all animation and try to push more all animation to have everyones animation uniform (for the style) and have a great animation quality. After my 8 hours of animation and approuval, I go back home , play with my dog, have good time with my girlfriend and make some 3D personal stuff. That’s my typical day. Ubisoft, thats a really cool environnement where its fun to work, that’s a new studio and everyones is really talented and great worker. That’s a video game compagnie so , these a lot of great thing like playing during work. I work here since one years now, as an animator and I really like it .. In addition to being a animator at Ubisoft, I am also 3d teacher at College Bart (14 hours a week) so, sometime when I get back home after working, I need to prepare some 3D stuff for my classes or go the College Bart for teach 3D to my student..

5. Who or what are some of your artistic influences?

As an animator Im influenced by some animators like Bobby Boombeck ( Ive meet this guy during a day at Ubisoft and that’s was a really great experience), or other animator like Cameron Miyasaki, Mike Thurmeier. As an artist , im influenced by talented artist like Oli Josman, Bobby Chiu. Im influenced to by some studios like , Pixar, Blu Sky, Dreamworks for all 2D and 3D movie they done… I like to watch these movie, every aspect of their art are perfect !



6. Would you say that you're a 3D artist who dabbles in 2D from time to time, or a 2D artist who happens to work in 3D?

Im a 2D artist who happens to work in 3D. Ive always like to draw and work on 2D, but since Ive meet the computer and all possibilitys, Ive change a bit and completely turning my eye on the 3D. I try to keep and focus to have a great image or great animation based on 2D animation or drawing principle but with 3D , everything is possible, if you whant , you can do a really cool animation with great character great render and nice animation really fast. In 2D its possible to but its more longer… That’s why I love 3D.

7. What are 3 of the best things about your job, and what are 3 of the worst?

The 3 best things about my job … First, be an animator, that’s a really cool, you just need to move a character, that’s simple , find a great idea and that’s it… That’s better than flipping bugger at Mcdonald. Second, working in a creative environment, I work at different studio since 5 years and I always love all the team where I have working, so, its really cool to work with other who love the 3D as much as me. Third, working on great CG production… thats really interesting, you can learn many things about cinema, video game and everything, that’s cool.
The 3 worst things about my job, First , always working to be up to date I currently have a job 4 hours a week but I always feel that I need to work at home to try new soft and create new animation or new images… Its maybe not necessary but I always think about created news things so I need to work a lot of time, it’s a work for passioned people. Second, rush time on project, That’s not always like that but in the end of a production, you need to make overtime to finish the project, that’s not funny to put all your personnal project on the side and personal life for making overtime. Third, I try to find a third worst things about my job but I don’t find it… maybe because I really like my job.

8. Alright, I see on your site that you worked on the highly-anticipated, "Snakes On A Plane." How were you involved in this upcoming film that has already become a pop-culture staple?

I don’t work a lot of time on this movie cause I’ve quit Hybride at the beginning of the production of this movie. I participate to the pre-production, working on the snake animation test to determine the style or the way to animate a snake, That’s seem to be really easy to animate a snake but its not like that. Created a rig to animated a snake can be really complexe. At Hybride, they work really hard to make a perfect rig for animators can brings these 3D snake to life. I participate to the first step of this movie, the layout part in the beginning of the project. I really hope to see the final result, I think that’s will be a great movie, I know some detail about the movie and I’ve see some footage to, so I thinks that’s will be a great entertainment movie.



9. Your personal work seems to be very cartoony in nature, while your professional work tends to be more realistic. Which style do you prefer working in and why?

Depend on the project, I really like to created cartoon character, find a great design, start the modelling and everything for make a small animation… but created something really realistic at home , that’s a lot of job, created a hi-resolution character, created realistic texture and great rig…. For finally finish to make my animation, at home is to much … So in the industry, I just work as an animator so I just need to animate the character, an other guy created the mesh, an other the rig , an other the texture.. so when I receive the character ready for the animation so I can focus only on the animation. In animation, its always interesting to animate different style.

10. After many film projects, you recently made the switch to games. What was the reason for the switch?

The main reason I decided to move in video game is really simple. I always live at Quebec city, where all my family and friend currently living. Since 3 years ago, I’ve decided to move to Montreal for working in the film industry. At Montreal , you can work in film, video game and publicity … finding a job is really simple, these a lot of 3d company. After 2 years working at Hybride, I’ve discuss with my girlfriend about ‘’have a baby’’, buy a home and have a really stable life. So we decided to return to Quebec to buy our house and have a baby and live at Quebec. But working at Quebec is really different than Montreal, I don’t have a lot of choice of compagny for working, I can working in small 3D compagny or working in big video game compagny so I decided to switch in video game for come back in Quebec city. Its totally different to working in video game but that’s a really cool job to working at Ubisoft as an animator and I really like it. Im really proud to have working on film, that’s was a really great experience but now I have a new challenge , it’s the video game animation. In two month, I will be a father … that’s will be a little girl (Amy). We are really happy to have make the move to Quebec cause now I have a house, im close to my friend and family, I will have a girl and I like my job so Im Happy !


A big thank you to Mr. Patrick Beaulieu for answering the 10 Quick for this week. Make sure you swing by his website when you have time.

If you'd like to see more of Patrick's work, check out his demo reel:

Patrick's Demo Reel

Thanks again, Patrick!

Cubism

Great little short found via AnimWatch, called "Cubism."

What a gas!

Get it?

Meet the Robinsons Trailer

Don't let the 2D sketch fool you. "Meet the Robinsons" is Disney's latest 3D flick, coming to a theater in 2007. You can check out the trailer on the Apple Trailer Site.



It's always hard to judge a movie by the trailer, but this one doesn't look too bad. The animation is really nice, and the facial expressions, such as the one on the boy when the grandfather is asking about his teeth, look great. The one thing that does worry me is that the film was supposed to come out in December of this year, and has now been pushed back to March 2007. That could either be because it needs more polish and they don't want to rush it (good thing) or it isn't very good and they don't want it to get crushed by the other Holiday releases (bad thing). Either that or it could be something I'm totally oblivious to (common thing).

Meet the Robinsons Trailer

Nice Cars Article

There is a really nice article on Cars over at CGSociety that gives some really good insight into how the film was conceptualized.



It's really neat to read what Bill Cone, co-production designer on the film, has to say about everything from using pastels for the concept art to how they animated the tires on the cars to add more life to them.

Here's a preview:

"The animators discovered that they couldn’t have the cars slam on the brakes and freeze; they had to tweak the wheels to roll back and forth as the weight settled. And when cars were idle, they added a little tire squash and a subtle bounce to remind the audience that the cars are alive."

To read the entire article, click here.

BY DAVE: UV Mapped Head

Or... how I spent my 4th of July.

My wife had to work on the 4th, so rather than blowing digits off of my hand, I stayed in and worked on my Green Head.



Low-poly on right, smoothed out Sub-D on left.

I've still got some stretching in places for sure, but the front face is looking pretty good, and that is what is really important. Plus I feel pretty good about getting this far, since it felt like I was mapping this out in a warzone. My neighborhood went nuts, lighting off fireworks from 3 hours before night fall, right up (and I'm sure beyond) when this was typed.

I'll try and clean up the UVs a bit more and then I'm going to run through a DVD on texture creation. It claims to offer some great advice on painting the human face, so I want to see if it can provide any tips for this head.

Once I have any kind of update, I'll post it here.

5 Fast with Earl Brawley

Five Fast is a segment of the blog in which fresh grads or people with brand new demo reels can show their work and give others a bit of insight into what they had to do to create the reel, and where they plan to go with it.

Today's Five Fast is from Earl Brawley:

1. Tell folks a bit about your reel. What are they going to see when they click that shiny "Play" button?

This is the animated short that I created while at the Vancouver Film School. Its about a devil trying to outwit an angel, using a vending machine. I tried to create an entertaining piece that everyone could enjoy.

2. What's the one thing on the reel you're most proud of?

The proudest moment I've had with my reel, is when I showed it to my nephews. To watch children laugh and enjoy what you created is the best reward you can receive.

3. What's the one thing on the reel you struggled the most with creating?

I'd have to say, defining the personality and movement of the different characters and then keeping that movement consistent throughout each shot. Making sure that the audience truly believes in these characters.

4. Why 3D Animation? What is it that appeals to you about this industry, and what made you head down this road in the first place?

I think that 3D offers the viewer a unique feeling. You can create these very deep and rich worlds and it gives you that sense of reality while still having the charm of a cartoon. My interest in 3D began after seeing "Toy Story" for the first time.

5. What would be your absolute dream job?

My dream is to work for Pixar. During the production of my short film, I realized just how powerful and rewarding animating to a story can be. I want to work at a place where "story is king."


Earl's Reel:



Nice work, Earl!

Make sure you swing over to Earl's website to check out more of his fine work!

If you're in a similar situation to Earl, and have a demo reel you'd like to show off here, drop Dave a line at davesj[at]gmail[dot]com!

Starcraft Ghost

Here is the intro to the ill-fated Starcraft Ghost game from Blizzard. Those crazy cats have always known how to do CG well.

Thanks to Scott over at Extra Life for the heads up on this one!

BY DAVE: Green Head

While it was mostly a 2D Weekend, I did manage to get this little number done:



I'll get him textured sometime soon and get an update posted here.

Updates may be few and far between over the next two days, as I celebrate the 4th of July, but make sure you all tune in on Tuesday for a brand new 5 Fast interview with an up and coming 3D artist!

See you then!