Young Justice Animated Series

Am I hyperventilating? I think I'm hyperventilating. Someone get my inhaler.

For some absurd reason I've only just discovered Warner Bros. Animation will be debuting, in Jan 2011, Young Justice.

The pilot episode premiered last month on Cartoon Network, and having just watch it, I'm thoroughly excited. Anyone who liked the Teen Titans animated show will understand my enthusiasm, and even anyone who likes DC animation for that matter will have reason to be at least interested.

You can watch the video above for an interview with the producers Brandon Vietti and Greg Weisman, who basically just give a synopsis of what the show will be about.

Can't wait for January!

The Cat Piano

Was thinking about this film the other day, and it got me wondering if there were any people in the SBIT animation course who hadn't seen it yet.

The Cat Piano, created by the People's Republic of Animation, is probably one of the animation shorts out there I'm more fond of. I just really like the mood and atmosphere the colours make, and it's a good example of narration versus character dialog in terms of carrying the story.

Art Spam by ~furious-teapot on deviantART

Thought I'd share some snippets from my visual journal, or at least the parts I didn't mind so much.
Some of you who've been through my sketchbook will recognize some of these. I feel a little girly for doing watercolours of horses and faun. Uh.

Speaking of watercolours (Did you see that? My clever little transitional line?), the other day I was contemplating the uses of masking fluid, and came across this tutorial on DA:


Masking fluid - an Un-tutorial by *Gold-Seven on deviantART

Needless to say it's a good warning to anyone using it for the first time. Sometimes we learn more from other peoples failures rather than their successes.

Have you ever learnt a valuable lesson from a mistake? And no, I'm not talking about the time you commented on an individuals appearance when they were right in front of you disguised in their Halloween best. I'm talking of course about art and animation!

Drop a comment!

Just a Snippet

Just a snippet from the zombie film I was making today. Thank you to Ahn for the help and Jordan for the neato zombie.

Mmm, won't these be lovely to look at next year?

Some Doodads by ~furious-teapot on deviantART

Carpal Tunnel or RSI, my wrist can't seem to decide right now.

Just some drawings I did a couple of weeks ago. I realise I need to actually draw characters interacting with one another, rather than just random poses. As always, I like to receive feedback on my stuff, so if you notice anything that makes your brain twinge, let me know!

On a side note, I just purchased two more art books to add to my growing collection. I know I shouldn't, because I need to be saving for a reference book on owls.

Oh god, the guilt I feel right now, similar to how one feels when you fart into a TAFE chair: you know you really shouldn't, but afterwards, you accept that it had to be done.

Actually, one of the books, called 'Moonshine', is one I'm sure my fellow animators would be interested in, as it features the work of many Dreamworks artists - after dark!

I recommend purchasing it from The Book Depository however, rather than Amazon, as they are cheaper and offer free international shipping, a statement I'm sure Google will love me for.

So, does anyone else have some sort of artistic obsession? Buying art supplies? Collecting "Marquette's"? I'd love to know!

Ka-POW!

More mucking around in After Effects.

Quick Sketches

Just a couple of quick sketches before I hit the hay, didn't mind them so I thought I'd post them here. Used an 8B pencil, which is nice and soft for sketching.

HTTYD At Home

The other day I purchased the How to Train Your Dragon on Blu-Ray, a little bit more expensive than the DVD version, but seeming I received both a Blu-Ray and DVD copy I wasn't too peeved. That, and the Blu-Ray version comes with loads more extra features.

Including 'How to Draw a Dragon' :

It was a good bit of fun to draw, particularly how the artist kept reminding me to think of the shapes like they were sausages and semi-circles.

There are some interesting deleted scenes that were cut out, interviews with the cast, and of course a short documentary of how they made the film. This is explored further in something they call the Animators Corner, where crew members each commentate on the relevant footage on the screen, while you watch various parts of production on a smaller screen on the bottom right hand corner. I haven't watched it all yet, but from what I've seen it's really generous in the information they provide.

Now I am going to eat a berry tart with some ice-cream. Till next time!

First After Effects Attempt!

This is my first attempt at using After Effects. Really looking forward to mucking around with it some more and seeing what else it can do.

Bot Rides the Halfpipe

Today's excersize with Frank. I found the graph editor pretty interesting to work with, wondering how else you'd be able to tweak this by moving points around.

Fire Safety Rotoscope

Here is my rotoscoping so far for our 'Fire Safety' video. It's not alot, mainly because I wasted alot of time setting the keyframes along the timeline before actuallly drawing the poses.

Legend of the Guardians

Just went to see it today. Blew my mind. In like three different ways.

I think may have even came a few times during one or two scenes. Well not really, because that would be kind of gross. You understand what I'm trying to get at though, no?

In case you have no idea what I'm talking about, check out the video down below.

The attention to detail was otherworldly, which makes me wonder how many times their computers died trying to render a single frame. The story may not have been 'extremely involved', but who said it had to be? Why does everything have to be the next Lord of the Rings? The music was extremely well timed with some crucial moments, and if anyone knows me it's that I love a decent soundtrack.

To see an Australian animation studio producing a film at such a high quality level is really exciting for me to see, and it gives me hope that, you know, I might not have to move to another country to work in a big studio one day.

And also owls. I love owls.

If anyone else has seen it, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the film. :)

Children's Book Illustration

This is my illustration assignment for a children's book. My quote, 'A big octopus chased me in the ocean', gave me a more dark, ominous image in my head where a mermaid is at the very depths of the ocean. I received some great feedback, such as making the mermaids pose and expression less relaxed.

First time really trying to do a complete painting in PS. I'm not too happy with the coloured version, and I think I could definitely have given the octopus some brighter highlights, but I plan on tweaking this in the future, so hopefully I can get used to the different layer settings available.

KH Birth By Sleep

This is the trailer for the new Kingdom Hearts game coming out on PSP this thursday, which I think I've been waiting for now since 2007.



Not the full version which I'd been after, but this will have to suffice for now.

Kiersten Makes a Valid Point

Link!

If you follow the link above, you'll head over to Kiersten White's blog, a YA author who's new book is set to release soon. I thought this particular post would be relevant to us budding animators, as it relates to the importance of storytelling in Plot vs Character Development, and why they need to work together and not rely on one another for the story to survive.

Falling Ball!

End Pose

You might notice a couple of posts down, I actually did this pose before. After some more 'acting it out' I realised my character was lacking the twist in the back towards where he was punching, and that the back leg was also awkwardly positioned without the bend of the toes.

As usual, critique is much appreciated. :)

Starting With a Gift

A Gift by ~furious-teapot on deviantART

I really want to be more active on this ol' blogger, so I've decided to link my DA account with it. I update there more than I do here save for assessment items, so I thought'd be a good idea just to share some of my art with you guys as well. For more you can visit my DA - just follow the link! :)

Anticipation ( Hopefully )

Anticipation pose today with Max - you can see the rough sketches up the top, and also the key pose he will move into. Hopefully I achieved some good anticipation, but there's always a way that is better, so please don't hesitate to comment!

Breaking in Slow Motion

As animators, we particularly in the art world have the important task of mimicking life, whether comically or to a realistic, believable standard. One way we do this is through recording an example of what we wish to create, and study it's behaviour - just how exactly it works.

I found this video while browsing some other blogs, and thought it was a great example of really analysing subject matter. Also, seeing things move in slow motion is basically really cool.

Pose Up for Critique!

My 'exaggerated' pose - my original pose wasn't crouched and my head not as low, and now that I think of it I could have made his torso horizontal and bent the punching arm, but that might have changed the triangle shape of his pose . . . oppinions?

Max and Max

Just trying out posing two Max figures, so I thought I'd see if I could build a bit of a story between them. I read somewhere that to create more interest in one scene between multiple characters it's good to vary the focus (one or more characters) and zoom, so I could definately have done that I realise now.

Wonder what they're talking about?

Talking About Exaggerated Poses?

Remembered this scene from Family Guy, it has some great poses, so I thought I'd share it.

Kung FU

Just another pose excersise with max - tried to make it look like he was fire bending but I haven't quite got the hang of it yet.

Creature Final

The final version of my strange creature. The fur and handbag colours I'm happy with, but I'm still not sure about the mask. I'm becoming quite fond of this guy/hairy woman, I'm looking forward to drawing more of it!

Here are the 'simplified' and 'simple shape' versions of my strange creature who is yet to have an official name. I will upload the final version when I've decided on a colour - still not quite sure about the scheme I currently chose.

In other news, did you here about the new Avatar: TLA mini series Nickelodeon is currently working on? This is seriously an exciting thing for me. Like, you have no idea. I had a imploded-mind-seizure about it this morning, and consequently have probably worsened my cats anxiety.

Anyway, here's the link with all the info: http://www.toonzone.net/news/articles/34425/new-series-avatar-the-legend-of-korra-premieres-in-2011

Presley Pose

First Max pose of the new semester! Looks a little more like he's getting ready to karate chop someone who hashed his mellow, rather than doing a presley dance move . . .

Another Valuable Resource

'The Art of Avatar: The Last Airbender' came in today just after a few day's of myself ordering it online, much to my delight. I must say, after Nickolodeon's past publications, I was expecting something somewhat mediocre and more targeted to a younger audience. When I opened the package I was pleasantly suprised to find the book to be a hearty volume, abundant with beautiful art and the creators comments.

Avatar: The Last Airbender is what inspired me to really become a great artist, let alone animator, and it's the sort of show that really immerses you in it's world, and connects you to the lives of it's characters.

If anyone has had some spare cash burning a hole in their pockets, a suggestion would be to perhaps invest in an art book from an animation? They give you a fantastic insight as to how the artists ideas evolve, both in their own interpretations and what happens when they bounce ideas of other artists. But most of all I find they give the reader inspiration, which after all, is how anything great begins.

The power of the creative mind people. We make stuff come to life.

I really don't post enough on here do I? With the holiday's almost here expect to see more regular updates.

Well, here are the three video's I did for the 3D assesment task with our bean. The first one is my favourite as I learnt the most from that particular excersise, like learning how to animation to video reference - so helpful!

Dialog Animation

This is the project I did with Steph, which I want to create a clean vrsion of on the holidays ( at least for my part ).

Any feedback welcome.

How To Train Your . . .

It's the day after How to Train Your Dragon was realised, and is also when I went to see it at the cinema.

I didn't sleep much last night mainly because my mind was still racing with images from the film, moments imprinted in my mind that left me quite impressed, inspired to make something beautiful as it. I'm listening to the soundtrack now. I'm typing a review.
I'm a little bit obsessed.

But let me backtrack.

Apart from the obvious elements in the film such as colours, lighting and backgrounds etc, all of which were very delicious to the eye (I particularly love the part when Hiccups face is blown with hot air as he gazes longingly at Astrid), it was the acting and character interaction I felt which really made the film.

The difficult relationship between Hiccup and his father, Stoic, immediately took my interest. Hiccup, trying to gain the respect of his father, though not knowing where to draw the line. Stoic, trying to maintain the balance of tribe leader and father figure towards his son. It's complicated, even more so without the presence of a mother figure, whom Hiccup's mentor and Stoic's friend, Gobber, I thought replaced the role of emotional translator quite well.
Also, he comes with accessories, which I thought was cool.

Then there's the relationship between Hiccup and Toothless. The transition between natural enemies to friends was pulled off nicely, not too rushed or too drawn out. Being constantly reminded that Toothless was indeed a wild animal also kept the balance between confidence and uncertainty for me as a viewer. For example, after Hiccup touches Toothless's snout, he snarls and quickly backs away even after it seems trust was solid.

Skipping ahead of time, after the 'great battle', Dreamworks did something that restored my respect for them after allowing Shrek and his spouse to reproduce. Recovering from a few lumps in my throat when Hiccup had been engulfed in flame, and the heartfelt scene with Stoic to follow, you discover that Hiccup, after having recovered, is not perfectly fine at all. They didn't wash over the inconveniences of reality like a Disney janitor, but showed that Hiccup had payed a price. The relationship between him and Toothless is strengthened further in this last scene. The boy needs the dragons help to walk; the dragon needs the boys help to fly.

Again, another lump in the throat.

I'm going to cut it short here because I've just realised I'm beginning to ramble. If I have any criticism for the film it's that Hiccup and Astrids relationship felt a little rushed, though given the time frame I suppose they couldn't have drawn it out for much longer anyway.

Also, 3D was not necessary.

Can't wait to see it next week on the big Imax screen.

Training Yer Dragon

So, I don't know about everyone else, but I'm about to implode with excitement over How to Train Your Dragon coming out this Wednesday.



I've been following the Dreamworks blog on making the film, and they have some pretty insightful interviews as to how they've worked to create the characters, environments and so forth. It's also interesting to note if you look in the background you'll see they're working on Maya, which was pretty inspiring for me.

Their blog is here: http://howtotrainyourdragon.tumblr.com/

Trailer By Matt and I

What I really mean is, awesone trailer by Matt, with my feeble skills added in. I really enjoyed working on this, I always learn something new whenever I'm on flash.

Introductions Are in Order

In case you don't know or can't remember, this is the beggining of what will hopefully be a fruitfull animation student's blog. Apart from assessment items I'll probably post the odd drawings and musings here and there, and also take up your bandwidth.