Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Interview with Don Hahn














Here's a great interview with Don Hahn via SlashFilm. He talks about his experiences with Disney and about his new project Frankenweenie.

Don Hahn Interview


Awesome music vid -- Fujiya & Miyagi Ankle Injuries

I found this today over on ISO50 and thought it was pretty amazing.



Fujiya & Miyagi Ankle Injurie @ MySpace






Friday, December 05, 2008

End of an Era for Big Idea










Well, evidently Big Idea is closing up shop. This is truly sad news for the crew in Nashville, TN responsible for VeggieTales and 3-2-1 Penguin. Here's a link to a statement made by Phil Vischer (founder of Big Idea):

Big Idea Closing Shop



Thursday, December 04, 2008

John Lasseter Interview from 1996










This is a great interview with John Lasseter and Steve Jobs which was recorded back in 1996 just after Toy Story was released.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Richard Williams Spline Cast









Andrew Gordon has posted a great interview with Richard Williams on the Spline Doctor's website. Richard talks about working with Warner Bros. anim legend Ken Harris and his history in industry.

listen here:

Richard Williams Spline Cast



Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Veterans Day


















Both of my Grandfathers fought in WWII and my Great Grandfather fought in WWI. Today is a day of remembrance. A day to honor the brave men and women who have served and who are serving our country. God Bless America!











WWII Memorial

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Richard Williams Lecture in SF


Last Sunday I got to attend a sold out lecture given by master animator Richard Williams. It was a great talk! He covered a lot of basic anim material (plugging his new DVD series) but also wove in a good hour or so of Q&A which was awesome!

The Animator's Survival Kit
- promotional animation


Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Sketchbooks of French Masters








This gallery has posted six sketchbooks ranging from Ingras to Degas. It's really nice to be able to see how these masters sketched and worked out their ideas. I love the rough lines and being able to see how they constructed their pieces -- warts and all.

here's the link:
The Essence of Line - French Drawing from Ingras to Degas


here are a few samples:


Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Gesture Drawing for Animation by Walter Stanchfield

A few days ago I stumbled across a .pdf of Walter Stanchfield's gesture drawing for animation notes that had been edited and compiled by Leo Brodie. This doc is filled will all kinds of wisdom (214 pages of awesomeness!!)

Download the PDF here: Gesture Drawing for Animation


Here are a few pages from the notes:













Thursday, October 16, 2008

Interview with Ed Catmull

In this interview Ed Catmull talks a bit about the creative process at Pixar. He also touches on how the open door policy of communication has benefited the studio.

interview via - Harvard Business School











Friday, October 10, 2008

Thursday, October 02, 2008

Hollywood could get a cut of the bailout














I thought this was an interesting article about the bailout situation and how it effects Hollywood.

Here's the link:
Hollywood gets cut of bailout





Saturday, September 27, 2008

Alfred Hitchcock Interview











This is very interesting interview with Alfred Hitchcock from 1964. He elaborates on how he uses the minds of the audience to build up terror and suspense in his movies.


Part 1





Part 2




Monday, September 08, 2008

Stanley Kubrick’s Boxes

This is a unique documentary into the life of Stanley Kubrick as seen through the opening of thousands of boxes he left behind after his death.

Ronson asks: is it possible to get to understand such a man – and his extraordinary working methods – by looking through the hundreds of boxes he left behind?

Stanley Kubrick’s Boxes


Saturday, September 06, 2008

Sunday, August 17, 2008

New sketches

I've added a few more sketches to my sketch blog

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Color Study 1

this is just a quick figure/color study. hopefully i can crank out a few more of these in the next few weeks.

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Monsters vs Aliens trailer

This looks like it's going to be a fun film. It's also being released in stereoscopic 3D which will be awesome!

teaser site: http://www.monstersvsaliens.com/















Thursday, July 24, 2008

Kung Fu Panda opening credits









I thought this was one of the best parts of the movie! James Baxter and crew did an amazing job! And, kudos to my buddy Adam Ely for the awesome matte paintings he did for the film!

Check out the opening awesomeness below:



Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Chuck Jones interviewed by Terry Gross











I listen to NPR fairly often and a couple of months ago I caught a re-broadcast of Terry Gross's 1998 interview with Chuck Jones on Fresh Air. I just found that NPR has posted that broadcast here on their website. It's worth a listen:

Chuck Jones Interview on NPR






IGOR... pull zaaa SWITCH!



Here are some screen grabs from the new IGOR trailer. I'm really liking the story and style of the film. I hope the movie lives up to the trailer!

Evidently Sparx Paris is shouldering most of the animation for this project. I know of Sparx only from the work they did on Doug Chiang's Robota a few years back (super cool). It's awesome to see that they're taking on this feature! I think the animation is looking pretty good! Check out the new IGOR trailer here:

IGOR




Inspiration!! Illustrator Alex Dukal

Inspiration!! I just stumbled upon Alex Dukal's site today and wow! I really love his style especially his color choices and character designs. Check it out -






check out his blog here - Pelicanos & Pescados

Thursday, July 17, 2008

New Animation Studio in Northern CA

I just found out about LightStream Pictures a few weeks ago from a friend. It's located in Petaluma, CA and from what I found on their website they're working on a 3D feature called "The Fourth Maji". Here's a pic from the film and a link to their site.






Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Wall-e: Sound Design

I really love quality sounds design in films. It adds an important layer of realism and connects characters and objects to their environment. Below is a great featurette on how Ben Burt (sound designer for R2D2, all 6 Star Wars movies, Indiana Jones, ext.) created the sounds for Wall-e.



Friday, July 04, 2008

New Sketches

here are some sketches I've scratched out while waiting on playblasts at work-




Thursday, April 24, 2008

Chuck Interview

This is a great interview with Chuck Jones. He talks a lot about his life and career at Warner Bros. There are a ton of nuggets of wisdom in this interview.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Sketches

Some sketches from "downtime" at work:

Inspiration ! Nocturna!

















I just stumbled upon this film today and I'm wondering why I haven't heard of it before. I really like the character and environment designs. The animation in the trailer looks pretty good as well. I'm still trying to scrounge up some more info on this film so I'll post more later. Until then check out the film's website and trailer (unfortunately it's all in Spanish):

Nocturna