Short for a rainy day

Enjoy!

Papilio - Bande Annonce by euzebdessinateur

Join me at CTN Animation Expo

In case you've been living under a rock, here's a reminder that the CTN Expo is happening again in Burbank, this November 16-18.  It's a great event for animators and animation-lovers, and is always crawling with talented, inspiring people.  I'll be there representing The Animation Collaborative as well as hanging with my buddies at Animation Mentor.  The AnimC guys and I will be doing a presentation on Saturday at 12:30pm, we'll be doing some reel reviews, and I'll be on another panel ("Conversations With Creators") Sunday at 1pm.  I promise to be better behaved this time!

 

Can't wait for this to come out!

I just pre-ordered this box set of flipbooks by Disney's Nine Old Men, and I can't wait to get them! Shipping date has been pushed back to January of 2013, so not in time for Christmas, unfortunately. These books were put together by Pixar's very own director/animator/Disneyphile Pete Docter, so you know it's legit!

The Making of Paperman

Paperman is a new short film from Disney that will premiere in front of Wreck It Ralph this November. It was directed by former Pixar animator John Kahrs, and I had the pleasure of previewing it a few months ago. The Disney artists employed some new technology to blend hand-drawn animation with CG animation, and the result is quite beautiful to behold. You can see a technical breakdown of the process here, and there's more Making Of… info here.

Movies on Vimeo

I've been slowly migrating all my reels and clips over to Vimeo, as it makes them easier to embed and share.  I recently discovered an old video tape of my first animation exercises at Pixar, so I had it digitized and uploaded it as well:

Pixar Training from Victor Navone on Vimeo.

This basically represents my training over the course of a month or two, as well as my first production assignment: an acceptance speech by Jessie for her induction into the Cowgirl Hall of Fame. It's nice to look back and see how much I've learned!

Dubstep Dispute

Dubstep Dispute from Fluxel Media on Vimeo.

"Join this lovable crew of droids as they solve their differences the only way dubstep robots know how."  As a fan of both robots and dubstep, I got a kick out of this.  Hope you do, too!

Animation Mentor's 2012 Student Showcase

AM's annual Student Showcase reel is online, and is as inspirational as ever.  Way to go, AMer's!

Updated: Animation Thumbnails

I've added a few from Finding Nemo, and a bunch more to my Incredibles gallery.  I'm in the process of updating my reels as well, though obviously I can't show my Brave work yet...

Restored: Animation Thumbnails and Caricatures

Back when I accidentally changed the template of my blog, a few of my page links got lost.  Those included my collections of animation thumbnails and caricatures.  I've just moved all these images to Flickr and added the links back to the page.

Brave behind-the-scenes footage

Here's what appears to be a random collection of b-roll footage from the production of Pixar's next feature:

No spoilers in here, but you do get a peak at our animation software.  We're looking forward to our company wrap party this weekend at a secret location, and the movie premieres on June 22nd.  I'm just as curious as you to see how it's turned out!

Anim C summer session

Just a quick plug for the Animation Collaborative, a learning space for animators and artists in Emeryville, CA, right across the street from Pixar.  It's an intimate environment with small class sizes, and it's a great place to learn from working professionals.  I teach there, as well as some of my fellow Pixarians, and they're now accepting applications for their summer workshops.  Classes include Animation Critique, Story, Character Design, and an Intensive Demo/Lecture workshop.  Check out their web site for more info.

Dinner

Some more nice animation from Bird Box Studio:

   

That puppy is perhaps a little smarter than I might expect, but still very appealing and well-observed.

Full-Day Session: Breaking Down the Animated Shot

Hi Readers,

I'll be presenting a breakdown of some of my Pixar work in a live session in Berkeley, CA on June 30, 2012.  Joining me will be other animators from Dreamworks and Tippett Studios.  The event goes from 8am to 4pm, and breakfast and lunch are included.  This event is sponsored by AnimationMentor.com and Autodesk, and you can get more info here.  Register by June 8 to get a discount.  I hope to see you there!

 

Flour Sack Animation Test

Here's a brilliant little slice of 2D animation by my friend and coworker Ron Zorman, created entirely in TV Paint Pro on a Wacom Cintiq:

Luminaris

A really clever and beautiful stop-motion short:

UPDATE: looks like the video has been privatized.  Bummer.

Animation Critique on 11SecondClub.com

Last month I had the honor of recording a video critique for the winner of the 11 Second Club's March 2012 competition.  The winning clip was by Flavio Santana do Nascimento of Brazil, which you can see here, and you can see my critique of his very entertaining clip here:

Footage Loose

Dreamworks Animators, I feel your pain. Your delicious, dance-tastic pain.

Ralph McQuarrie, 1929-2012

This past Sunday, one of my personal icons passed away.  Ralph McQuarrie was a fantastic artist, and among other things, he was a concept artist and matte painter on the original Star Wars trilogy.  Of course I loved these films as a kid, but even more so, I loved the Art of Star Wars books and the Star Wars Sketchbooks, among which his art was featured heavily.  He and Joe Johnston really defined the look of the Star Wars universe.  His designs and rendering were hugely influential on my own work as well, and he fired my imagination like no one else.  He had fantastic design sensibilities, great composition and color, and his work always had a real sense of "place", of existing somehow.  I spent hours staring into the worlds he created, and was inspired to copy them and try to build on his vision.  I'm deeply saddened at this loss, and I would have loved to have met him in person, if only to thank him for him impact on my life and career.  I still have my old Star Wars portfolio (somewhere), and the cover features what is probably my favorite of his paintings.

 

 

Thank you, Ralph.

The Story of Animation

Just in case you were wondering how we do this stuff, check out this cute new video from former Pixarian, Dave Tart:

 

This just kills me!

 "It's funny 'cause it's true."

UPDATE: looks like the link to YouTube is down, so check out the clip "Playground" on the BirdBox Studio site.

New Brave footage online

...And just like that, here's a new trailer for Brave, just like I mentioned in yesterday's post.  Actually, it's not so much a trailer, as it is a sequence from the film, edited down a bit to fit into 2:30.  And how about this sweet new poster?!

Gingers, Rejoice!

Brave web site is go!

Check out the official web site for Pixar's Brave, coming June 22:

More trailers to come soon...

Everything is a Remix

Check out part 4 of this enlightening series about the nature of creativity:

Everything is a Remix Part 4 from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.

This ties in nicely to the recent debate about SOPA/PIPA. I highly recommend that you check out the 3 earlier installments as well.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Whoops, new template I guess

I inadvertently upgraded my Blogger template and it blew away the old custom design I had.  I've tried to put in place a temporary layout that is not too offensive.  On the upside, this should force me to put some serious thought and time into redesigning (and updating) my blog.  Those of you who read your blogs through an RSS reader (like me) have probably not noticed anything different.  Keep calm, carry on.

The explanation I've seen of SOPA/PIPA, and Why You Should Care

If you're wondering what all the controversy is about these bills then check out this quick TED video:



Here is a link to an online petition you can sign, and here is a link that will provide you with the contact information of your senators so you can call them and urge them to oppose these bills.