Animator Tips & Tricks

I know I haven't been posting much original content here of late, but maybe this will help: I'm this month's guest blogger on the Animation Tips & Tricks blog, brought to you by the good people at AnimationMentor.com. My first post is a response to the question, "What separates the good animator from the bad animator?" Be sure to read the comments too, as I added some additional thoughts there. Enjoy!

Animation Mentor Summer 2009 Student Showcase

Check out the latest student animation reel from AM. Great stuff, as always!

Toy Story Double Feature trailer

Check out this new trailer for Toy Story 1 and 2, which will be rereleased in theaters in 3D this Fall. Of course the trailer itself is better seen in a theater in 3D, but it's still pretty good on your computer.

Comic Con!

I just got back from Comic Con in San Diego. It was great to see some old friends (and my Mom) and dive into the sea of geek. You really can't grasp the size of this event without seeing it first hand. To that end, I've posted a bunch of photos, including some from "Flynn's Arcade", a replica of the arcade in the original Tron, built in a warehouse in downtown SD as part of a promotional gimmick.

I also got into the Disney 3D panel, hosted by John Lasseter, where they showed clips from upcoming films. We saw the new 3D teaser for the Toy Story 1&2 double feature, the opening sequence of Toy Story 2 in 3D, a Toy Story 3 teaser (featuring Ken), some Beauty and the Beast in 3D, and two sequences from The Princess and the Frog. Then Hayoa Miyazaki showed up and premiered a clip from Ponyo. Lasseter and Miyazaki were given honorary Inkpot awards for there contributions to animation. Patton Oswalt was there to moderate the ensuing panel, which featured John Lasseter, Lee Unkrich, Kirk Wise, Ron Clements, John Musker, and Miyazaki.

There was an Avatar panel featuring James Cameron that I would have liked to attend, but I didn't want to have to wait in line for hours. I also missed the panel on Walt Stanchfield, which really bummed me out. Luckily, Animation Mentor recorded the event and will be sharing it online for free!

CG Overdrive, Singapore photos up on Flickr

Shortly after I returned from Singapore the cooling system on my Mac G5 leaked and fried the power source. I finally got it back on Sunday and I'm slowly catching up on everything, including posting photos from my travel. I haven't added a lot of useful descriptions yet, but hopefully you can still enjoy them. I gave a 5-hour (gasp) lecture on animation research, planning and blocking. It was a fun event, and best of all I got to hang out with lots of other talented artists, including Craig Mullins, Feng Zhu and Alex Alvarez. We had lots of great food and leveraged our jet lag to help us party to the wee hours. I also got to tour the Lucasfilm studios there, and I even met a few Animation Mentor students. I'm already looking forward to my return visit!

Nail Art

Here is an amazing compilation of photos of... Nails. Not only are these fun to look at, but they are great examples of how staging, lighting and line of action can tell a story visually. Note how the shapes of the nails can communicate emotion, intent, physical state, and even age. When two or more nails are present in the frame, you can deduce their relationship by the contrast and/or affinity of their poses, their relative sizes, and their spacial placement. Enjoy!

Mowgli animation by Milt Kahl

Milt Kahl (Mowgli) from Victor Ens on Vimeo.

I don't know if this has been posted around, but it's always inspirational to look at some well-drawn animation. And of course Milt Kahl is the king of well-drawn animation! Check out the weight, timing and solid draftsmanship in this clip! We are not worthy. While you're looking at that, I'll be busy trying to get together some photos from CG Overdrive to post. Stay tuned!

I'll be at CG Overdrive in Singapore next week

If you're planning on being in Singapore next week, why not swing by the annual CG Overdrive Conference? I'll be giving a couple of animation lectures there, along with fellow Pixar Animator John Collins. Alex Woo from Pixar's story department will also be speaking there, as will be plenty of other industry professionals, and it should be a good time. I'm looking forward to some BBQ stingray, myself!

Partly Cloudy on iTunes

If you've seen UP, then you've (hopefully) also seen the charming short film that precedes it, Partly Cloudy. Of course it looks best on the big screen - and it's pretty neat in 3D, too - but you can purchase and download it from the iTunes store right now!

One more thing...

Stocks down? Go see UP!

Pixar had the honor of ringing the bell to close the New York Stock Exchange today, while celebrating the opening of our latest feature, Up. You can see info and a clip of the event here (look for me near the back row - I'm one of the greenish pixels). You can't do any more trading, so why not go see the film? Right now. I'll wait.

Meet the Spy

Here's another brilliant cinematic sequence from the guys at Valve. It was about a year ago that I posted some other Team Fortress 2 Character Trailers, and I'm glad to see they're still making them! Great writing, design and animation, and a healthy dose of sex and violence.

And in case you missed this one (like I did) here's Meet the Sniper. Enjoy!

UPDATE: You can see all the character movies in high quality here.

Some old stuff

Enough of all this new stuff, let's jump in the Way-Back Machine! It's the summer of 1999, I've been hired as an animator at Pixar and I'm working on "Monsters, Inc." - the other Pete Docter film. I have no feature film animation experience (or much of any animation experience at all), I'm still getting the hang of Pixar's software and I'm worried that I'll get canned as soon as they find out I'm winging it! These are the memories that returned to me as I was thumbing through a stack of old planning drawings I did for Monsters. For posterity I've uploaded a few to my Animation Thumbs Gallery. It's nice to see that my drawing has gotten better, and I'm pretty confident that my animation has, too. They haven't fired my yet, so I must be doing something right!

Up at the Cannes Film Festival

In case you weren't aware, "Up" had the honor of being the opening selection at this year's Festival de Cannes. It was screened in 3D with subtitles to rave reviews. Here's a video of an ensuing press conference with Director Pete Docter, Co-Director Bob Peterson, Producer Jonas Rivera and Executive Producer John Lasseter.

This One Time...

This one time... from nelson boles on Vimeo.

Here's a great animated short by CalArts student Nelson Boles. I really love the look of it and the whimsical style and storytelling.

Let's Do Nothing!

I hate to recycle other people's blog posts, but I wanted to spread the word on this. Jim Capobianco's Leonardo blog mentions a new children's book by animator Tony Fucile (Incredibles, Iron Giant, etc.) coming out this week. It's called "Let's Do Nothing", and there's even a trailer animated by Fucile himself! The book's publisher has posted an interview with Fucile here, in PDF format.

A Close Shave

Some of the animators on Toy Story 3 decided it would be a good idea to shave our heads, giving us a "clean start" after the Up wrap party. Pretty soon the Director got dragged into it, then me... Check out this rabble:

AWN: Pete Sohn talks about "Partly Cloudy"

Here's an interview on Animation World Network with Pete Sohn, Director of Pixar's latest short film, "Partly Cloudy". This short will be in front of "Up" next month. I had the pleasure to seeing both at the Up wrap party this past weekend, and I can tell you, you're in for two treats! Both films are charming and beautiful. Up will probably make you cry at least twice, so bring Kleenex. You've been warned.

Interview on Planit 3D

Planit 3D has a little interview with yours truly about working on WALL-E and CarsToons.

Adrenaline Lemmings

Check out this cool clip from Crew 972, a studio run by my old friend Alex Orrelle:

Adrenaline Lemmings CGI test from Alex Orrelle on Vimeo.