Exhausting, but very exciting year so far. I started a new position in February. Lots of international travel. I’ve been around the world twice since then. Most recently I’ve been on three continents in as many weeks. Still recovering. That on top of getting engaged to a beautiful, wonderful woman.
Despite all of that (or maybe because of it), I have my new animation workbench setup.
and I’ve put together a storyboard for St. Ignatius the Beneficent’s First Miracle. woohoo.
Your animation of the day comes from one Evelien Lohbeck in the Netherlands. As one person put it, “It’s official. The stuff people do for free is far better than anything you find on TV these days.” Check out the rest of her work at http://www.evelienlohbeck.com.
Just got back from Coraline. The story is great. For once it’s not dumbed down for the kiddies (and it’s not a musical!!!). The stop motion is beyond belief even for Selick. The 3D was definitely worthwhile. It was more than just a novelty. It was like watching puppets on a small stage.
A couple of years back I helped my buddy Tak on a stop-mo film called “Death of a Matriarch”. He got a grant from the Center of Puppetry Arts to put it together. The film has developed a nice life of its own on the festival circuit to the point that it was fast tracked into IMDB. Tak was generous enough to give me asst animator cred so I have my own IMDB entry! I must be a animator now, no? …no? Anyway here’s my link:
This is fucking great. I love the built in tutorial on using replacement puppets for Stop-Mo. I love it any time the animator tips his hand. What’s that called? It’s not quite “breaking the 4th wall”. Anyway, the papercraft is gorgeous. The animation is smooth. I even like the song. What’s not to love here?
It’s a Christmas Miracle, Krusty Krew! Roger Ebert did a review of Sita Sings the Blues” and its plight. It looks like there may be a legal distribution of Sita after all! I have a “covert” copy of a festival DVD that I show to everyone I meet. This is independent animation at its absolute best. The fact that US copyright law makes this film illegal is disgusting and criminal. Fingers crossed that you’ll be able to see it soon!
Here’s a shot for a new short I’m working on based on the Tales of Saint Ignatius the Beneficent. First up: The Holy Conception of Saint Ignatius the Beneficent.
Crongrats is due to 15 year old animator Jabril Mack. Jabril is a student from Alpharetta High School and has just beat out a thousand other entries to win the Nickelodeon Greater Creator Award.
I remember a quote but don’t know from where. It went something like,
“The problem with the advertising industry in a capitalist society is that it steals our best artists.”
It’s a thing I’ve been thinking about a lot. Not for personal reasons. I don’t really have to worry about such things. I find the whole thing interesting and am not quite sure where I stand. There is some crass awful commercial animation and the industry seems pretty suffocating from my view. I also have some issues with capitalism and advertising in general.
But I’ve met artists across the spectrum. You have artists like Don Hertzfeldt that reject the advertising industry completely. Artists that embrace advertising but maintain their individuality and personal projects. Artists like Pez, Bill Plympton, Mike Judge. Then there are artists that I know that work strictly in the industry, usually working on projects that they have little input into, are completely happy. I respect them all.
In honor of the upcoming 25th anniversary of 4th Estate (an imprint of HarperCollins UK), Apt Studio produced a gorgeous stop-motion animation. I was blown away when I watched this and I’m in disbelief that the film was completed in under a month. It’s the perfect blend of nostalgia, a love of books, and modernity. The film took a team of 20 animators, and more than 1,000 books were put to use. Has anyone ever seen such a beautiful promotional film for a book publisher??
Here’s what I’ve been working on this weekend. Tweaked the animation timing a little and added some sound. The sound timing is a bit off, but it was a great lesson in Ardour and muxing sound and video under Linux. This short might actually be done before long.
