The Art of Bobby Pontillas

Wreck it Ralph team

2011-12-14T08:55:00.000-08:00

Morning everyone! Here's a quick interview I had the opportunity to do with AnimSchool!

Check them out if you haven't done so already! The instructors are my good friends and some of the best in the biz.

On another note, I'm trying to do caricatures of the whole Wreck-It Ralph animation crew before this film wraps! Here are the first ones:

Svetla Radivoeva

Eric Goldberg

Claudio De Oliveira

Our director, Rich in dailies!

Kelly M

Malcon P

Lisa A

Andrew P

Lino

CTN Expo

2011-11-17T00:58:00.001-08:00

Yes ! I'll be joining the animation crowd and attending the Creative Talent Expo this weekend! Disney will be doing portfolio & reel reviews at their booth , and I'll be helping out with that on saturday, reviewing from 10AM - 12PM. I'm going to try and make the Animation Mentor party Friday & the Sketchtravel book party Saturday. Other than that I'll be wandering around the aisles spending way too much coin on art books man! Looking forward to seeing everyone !

*edit* Hey I just remembered it's my birthday today! Happy birthday me !

LA Journal

2011-11-06T19:39:00.000-08:00

Hey I forgot to post this here but, like I did back in NY, I started an LA journal here :

http://bobbyinlosangeles.blogspot.com

Follow along if you're so inclined, should be fun!

Congratulations to the Richards's !

2011-11-04T12:34:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to my good friends, Mike and Kwan, who are getting married in Hawaii this Monday!

I feel like I should explain this picture , or maybe it's best I don't :)

In other news, my first day at Disney is this Monday! Wish me luck!

More Blue Sky folks

2011-10-19T02:58:00.000-07:00

Thank so much for all of the well-wishes!
I've been spending some rest time w/ friends & family up here in Seattle before I head down to LA in Nov. In the meantime & in between time, I had the chance to do a few more drawings of some good friends back at Blue Sky!

BJ Crawford

"Golden" Graham Silva

Here are some of the roughs

Walt Disney Animation Studios

2011-09-06T17:42:00.000-07:00

When I was at the Art Institute of Seattle ten years ago, I quite honestly had no clue as to what I wanted to for a living. Probably like a lot of us, I just knew I wanted to "do something in art."

Right then, I started to come across the work that Disney was doing at the time, and in a flash became inspired to begin to pursue animation. Quite obsessively actually. I felt like a total slacker in high school, but animation just ignited something in me and all of a sudden I wanted to... wait for it... work hard! What?! I now had this pie-in-the-sky dream of being a Disney Animator.

Since then, I've had the good fortune to do a lot of things in this industry, and I'm forever grateful for every experience I've been blessed with, good and bad. I've had some amazing experiences w/ amazing people that I wouldn't change for anything. What helped me pull through the bad was remembering what changed my life in the first place, and why I even wanted to do this. So, as you can imagine, I feel extremely lucky to say that I've accepted a position as a Character Animator for the Walt Disney Animation Studios, working on their next feature film, Wreck-It Ralph!

It's still pretty surreal to say it. And I know it's not cool to be this geeky when you're a already a professional, but man, I GREW UP ON THIS STUFF!

Wish me luck because I'll need it! Blue Sky Family! You've all been awesome and the pleasure was all mine. Thanks for your support everyone!

RIO Animation Reel & Design Portfolio

2011-08-31T08:21:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of updates ! I recently moved out of my apt in White Plains and packed up my comp/cintiq etc, and am currently animating away on Ice Age 4. Speaking of which, Rio finally came out on DVD so I could finally share some of the work I did on this film! I worked on this film from about Nov 2009 to about Dec (ish) 2010. So the reel includes an early animation test, production shots, as well as a bit of marketing work. It was an awesome first film to have worked on and I'm forever grateful for the experience. Amazingly (intimidatingly) talented team & a Supe who's the best in the business.

Also I had updated my design portfolio. Check it out!

RIO Animation Reel

Design Portfolio

Pete & Rachel

2011-07-20T07:23:00.000-07:00

2 artists I hold in very high regard, animator Pete Paquette and vis-dev artist Rachel Tiep-Daniels ,had their last days at Blue Sky last friday. Here are drawings I did of them to let them know how awesome I think they are.

7/27 update, I'm just gonna keep adding to this while we're here. Good luck Bobby Huth!

Brian Menz. Good luck, I guess.

Paul Diaz. Just, just go...

You cut me deep Vadim

Tell Her This

2011-07-11T10:04:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, thanks for all of the kind comments!

In the spirit of all these NY posts, here is a one sheet I did this weekend for an upcoming short film called "Tell Her This". It's being directed by my friends/co-workers Greg Rizzi & Jerod Chirico. Thanks for the opportunity guys!

Cantina Royal, Brooklyn

2011-06-28T06:04:00.000-07:00

Loved her look, and she oozed confidence. Very cool.

Friends from work

2011-06-27T08:50:00.000-07:00

Just some fun drawings done for co-workers either as going-away gifts (sadface) or b-day gifts. Or just to make fun of them.

Pascal F.

Keith P.

Nathan E.

Sheldon & Chantelle

Joe Lee.

And so we're fair, here's a flattering one of me done by the awesomely talented and equally cruel, Garrett Shikuma

"Planning to Polish", Animation demo by Jamaal Bradley

2011-06-13T10:24:00.000-07:00

"...from Planning to Polish..." Promo Trailer from Jamaal Bradley on Vimeo.

United Palace, Washington Heights - Fleet Foxes

2011-06-08T05:57:00.000-07:00

80th & Columbus

2011-05-25T05:54:00.000-07:00

Besties.

Other blogsites

2011-05-13T12:21:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! So in the spirit of staying productive outside of my day job, I'm trying to get better at storyboarding, so I started a storyboard blog here:

http://bobbypontillasstoryboards.blogspot.com/

Also, and it's been up for a bit, but I also have a Character Design blog, which is in desperate need of updating, here:

http://bobbypontillascharacterdesign.blogspot.com/

Just like this blog, both are a constant works-in-progress. Check 'em out and watch me stumble around in the dark!

On the E-Train

2011-04-30T08:34:00.000-07:00

I love big hair.

BIG thanks to everyone who follows this blog. I really appreciate it. Leave a link to yours so I can see your work too! I still marvel at how easy it is to find out about new artists now.

And if you haven't yet, do yourself a favor check out my good buddy , Joe's blog. That guy is so awesome. We are making a book of all of this stuff this year!

Explosions in the Sky, Radio City Music Hall

2011-04-11T06:03:00.000-07:00

79th Street

2011-04-06T05:42:00.000-07:00

Times Square..or somewhere close to it

2011-03-30T07:04:00.000-07:00

Via 57th Street

2011-03-28T06:16:00.000-07:00

Spring St, Soho

2011-03-25T06:05:00.000-07:00

Artists Help Japan

2011-03-15T06:28:00.000-07:00

Slept very little last night. These haunting videos we've been seeing are heartbreaking and make it difficult to rest easy.

Thankfully , there are no shortage of humanitarian efforts out there to contribute to.

Also, a portion of the efforts for the Art Blocks for Ghana will be donated to "Artists Help Japan." That's pretty rad.

Art Blocks for Ghana - Los Angeles

2011-03-08T07:21:00.000-08:00

Here's a piece I did for the Art Blocks for Ghana event this weekend LA. If you're in the area, it will be at the Gallery Nucleus . Go check out some amazing art for a great cause. As of this writing, tickets are still available. A big thank-you to Rachel Tiep-Daniels for setting it all up and letting me particpate! Here are some photos of the show in NYC last weekend.

Little FYI: All of these fine folks were lifted from John Singer Sargent paintings... If you fancy yourself a Sargent aficionado, you may recognize them!

New Art Center, 8th Ave

2011-03-01T06:05:00.000-08:00

@ the Art Blocks for Ghana show.
Check out the blog to see some of the great pieces that were on display!

My first feature film

2011-02-16T15:45:00.000-08:00

Today, animation on Rio is officially a wrap!

Congratulations to everyone who worked on this film.
If you haven't seen it yet, check out this preview,

there are no spoilers I promise.

1 American Lane

2011-01-24T06:39:00.000-08:00

Hi 2011! Here are some drawings of lovely co-workers I did last year.

New cube-mate and I-Phone photographer Isaak, actually I did this one last week.

Graham ! Visit his blog and tell him to update more.

McG and her gargantuan jar of Cheeseballs

Anim PA & Exterminator of the Undead, Rach Richmond

BJ "Showtunes" Crawford

For the archives, here are more BlueSkyers Here and Here

Union Square

2010-12-16T05:48:00.000-08:00

Professor Thoms, NYC

2010-12-06T08:09:00.000-08:00

Bill

2010-12-01T06:26:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I caught news that Pacific Northwest artist, and arguably the best teacher back at the Art Institute of Seattle, William Cumming passed away at the age of 93. This is how I remember him ; he was constantly in his sketchbook and he loved working with young people! I'd stay after class and he'd share his enthusiasm for Degas, Turner, Renoir with me. He'd always mention that he wanted his students to build the confidence to someday have their work hang right alongside those masters.

Find out more about Bill's life and work here!

"Fine art is a war, I hate fine art with all its fuss and crap. Fine art students are brought up in a spirit of contempt for people. Of course I paint for the market. So did Rembrandt. So did Titian. It's high time we quit compartmentalizing art, and leave graduating students thinking they need a grant to make a living."

St. Marks, East Village NYC

2010-11-23T06:04:00.000-08:00

Made it down to the East Village after an epic 3-day birthday celebration.
Love the hair!

In other news , this here blog was chosen as a " Top Hand Drawn Animation Blog award winner presented by Online Computer Science Degree."

Wow! Thanks for the recognition. Humbled to be in such great company.

Also, Bobby Chiu contacted me a while back to contribute to the http://artistsketchbooks.com/ collection. So look out for my app hopefully sometime soon.

Also Also, I decided to put up a bunch of Design stuff I've done onto a separate blog site. It's a bit sparse and very much a work in progress, but do check it out if you're keen

HERE!

Feedback is always welcome.

Happy Birthday Momma Pontillas!

2010-11-08T06:12:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the birthday of one the most adorable people in the world. My mom is a single parent and I'm a single child, so growing up we just had each other. I made the cross-country trip from Seattle to NY with her a year ago today. She checks this blog every day for updates, leaving supportive comments but they never go through :)

She loves loves loves Filipino folk dancing and was always dancing around the house, but generally is too shy to do it in public. It is the cutest thing you've ever seen.

Happy Birthday Mom! I love you!

Florence & the Machine, Terminal 5 NYC

2010-11-04T06:02:00.000-07:00

SoHo, Broadway & Prince St

2010-10-27T06:07:00.000-07:00

Coolest cat in the city.

Harlem 125th Street

2010-10-22T06:10:00.000-07:00

I met her last Sunday morning, We took the same train back up to White Plains from Harlem. She's an avid film lover, and her favorite nostalgic of all time is the Empire Strikes Back.

125th street. This is the train station most Blue Sky peeps from the city take to work in Greenwich, CT.

27th St & 6th Ave, NYC

2010-10-13T06:20:00.000-07:00

At the window, texting and waiting. The second time we passed, whomever she was texting had arrived and they looked like they were fighting.

Ratatat, Terminal 5

2010-10-11T05:48:00.000-07:00

Ratatat- Bob Ghandi

The Temper Trap, Terminal 5

2010-10-04T05:37:00.000-07:00

The Temper Trap - Sweet Disposition

Grizzly Bear, Governor's Island NYC

2010-09-27T05:48:00.000-07:00

Grizzly Bear- Two Weeks

The Cure

2010-09-23T05:51:00.000-07:00

Probably what she's listening to.

I couldn't sleep this morning so I woke up and drew. One of my best friends here, Joe Lee and I are working on a book w/ art based on people & places in New York. Crunching on this movie, I've been slackin' big time but he's been doing some absolutely killer stuff! Do yourself a favor and check out his Work ! Ironically enough, Joe had never heard of the Cure before this year. Whaaaaat. Oh those crazy Aussies!

Rio Animation Crew Shirt!

2010-08-27T15:44:00.000-07:00

I recently did this design that luckily got picked for our animation dept. crew shirt for the movie I'm working on, Rio!

Here are a few other designs I did that didn't make the cut!

Sweet! Okay back to work!

New Music

2010-05-17T21:46:00.000-07:00

Just a simple sketch I did tonight for an Art Blog that Garrett and some of the other animators at Blue Sky started this week! This week's theme was braaand new.

The Conductor

2010-04-21T00:15:00.000-07:00

The Getaway Guy, and he wields a big shovel.

Done for the current topic over at the Draw Force blog!

Schoolism: Fleshing out Prof. Jetsam Khandro

2010-04-04T23:25:00.000-07:00

Stephen's Schoolism class ended last week, but I wanted to continue fleshing out Prof. Jetsam Khandro for our Dr. Jekyll /Mr. Hyde assignments.

The Makalu & Prof. Jetsam Khandro

(Hyde & Jekyll, respectively.)

Easter Sunday

2010-04-04T13:30:00.000-07:00

Schoolism: Assignment #9

2010-03-22T02:54:00.000-07:00

For the last assignment we were to redraw Jerry Loomy, the character we first did in lesson one, cleaned up and colored. Also place the first one we did from lesson one next to it.

My reference:

Pete's dragon

2010-03-14T21:02:00.000-07:00

Schoolism: Assignment #7, Expressions and Attitude

2010-03-07T23:26:00.000-08:00

Yu-Na Kim

2010-03-03T01:32:00.000-08:00

Double McTwist

2010-03-01T23:15:00.000-08:00

Anyone else getting Olympics withdrawals? More to come.

Schoolism: Assignment #6, Fleshing out "The Makalu" / Turnarounds

2010-02-28T03:09:00.000-08:00

Stephen's Drawovers

Night Shift

2010-02-22T21:20:00.000-08:00

Tonight Cheryl and I were talking on Skype. She works the night shift and had to get some zzz's but she wanted to stay on. She finally crashed, so I sketched her sleeping.

Hopefully that doesn't sound creepy.

Valentine's

2010-02-14T22:49:00.000-08:00

Schoolism: Assignment #4, The Features

2010-02-14T18:56:00.000-08:00

This week's Schoolism lecture was on features. The assignment was to draw a page of hands,eyes,noses,ears. A few realistic and a few cartoony. Here is a page I did of hands. Some of these are okay, most are way off. Hands are always some of the weakest parts of my drawings, and I need all the practice I could get.

Case in point. Here's a sketch I did for the Draw Force blog some of the artists here at work run. Ironically missing any sorts of hands!

AM Newsletter

2010-02-12T19:06:00.000-08:00

Here's a little bit of a interview/post-mortem of the making of my Animation Mentor film, Better off Undead! Thanks for showcasing it AM!

I remember trying to get this film done last year, in time for Valentine's Day, and I didn't even come close! So it's cool this was posted now. It's funny to read this interview and scroll back just a few posts in the past and read how frustrated and disheartened I was going through it at first. Melodramatic much? But what's really cool is reading and remembering how many people, both good friends and strangers, offered to help me out. I would get messages from people asking if I needed any modeling, animation, lighting help. That was so awesome and I'm super grateful!

As an aside, a little after I finished Animation Mentor, I posted it on CG Talk, and I was contacted by a talented artist named Jason Walker who said he wanted to do the environments for my short! We went back and forth a little bit but he eventually got too busy with school, and I eventually moved out here. But he did send me these initial lighting tests and I was already blown away!

Ceej

2010-02-09T17:06:00.000-08:00

Missing home.

Happy Valentines Day!

Schoolism: Assignment #3, Fleshing out Prof. Jetsam Khandro

2010-02-06T22:41:00.000-08:00

Caricature Show

2010-02-06T06:52:00.000-08:00

See some drawings I got to do for Blue Sky's caricature show here!

http://bobbyinnewyork.blogspot.com/2010/02/caricature-show.html

Schoolism: Assignment #3, Fleshing out "The Makalu"

2010-02-02T22:07:00.000-08:00

More development to come! Brief description on this guy 3 posts down.

Schoolism: Assignment #3, Pt. 1

2010-01-30T18:13:00.000-08:00

This week's lectures focused on head construction and caricature. The first part was to draw a specific person from a photo, as realistic as possible, taking in all the info we can. Here's my bowler hat guy.

Then we were toput that photo away and create 3 new caricatured variations side by side on the same page, based on the circle, square, and triangle. Fun stuff!

Here are just a few other misc. studies. Check out pickle nose!

The other half of our assignment will be to begin to add more character, clothing and personality to our Jeckyll/Hyde characters. By week 5 we will then just pick one of those 2 characters to take to completion throughout the nine weeks.

And this isn't really supposed to be anything, it just came out of trying to customize new brushes. But it was inspired by Demoiselles D'avignon Pablo Picasso, one of my favorite paintings, which I finally saw

recently at the MOMA.

Winter

2010-01-19T21:54:00.000-08:00

Schoolism: Assignment #2

2010-01-16T15:34:00.000-08:00

Our assignment throughout the rest of the course is design Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde....

"They can be from any time period, past present or future. Create a new take, a new style on the characters."

My story involves Professor Jetsan Khandro, a Tibetan Biologist. Who spends his waking hours, on the outskirts of Repula (a small village in the shadow of Mount Everest) , attempting to track down substantial evidence of a creature the locals call "The Makalu." A bear-like Cryptid said to inhabit the base of the world's highest mountain.

This week the assignment was to start the thumbnail silhouette phase of our characters. I normally don't ever have the discipline to sit down and do this. But these were fun to do, and I definitely found better ideas for shapes than I would've had I just sat down to do a single drawing.

Schoolism: Assignment #1

2010-01-06T21:30:00.000-08:00

Tonight I did my first assignment for my Schoolism class with Stephen Silver. Our task was to design a character named Jerry Loomy based on a set description. Here's a few bits from the description.

Jerry Loomy.

Used car salesman boss.
A cruel, moody ,high strung, dishonest man.
Stocky Build around 5'4".
A large round head with deep set eyes and sunburned skin, and a patch over one eye.

Receding hairline with a pony tail.

Here's my Jerry. I would totally buy a car from this guy.

And the initial small sketch I started from:

Based off of the description , I turned to our adorable friend Danny Devito for inspiration. Who doesnt?!

And while I'm sharing, here's a little Illo I did for Cheryl as a Christmas gift.

She really does sleep w/ the dogs like that. But how could you not with a face like this?

In other news, I think I'm just about done with my first animation test at Blue Sky. I know, its been pretty kick back so far. But this year is gonna get super busy fo sho. Have a great week!

Back to School. Ism.

2009-12-01T16:06:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! So yeah, things are going great at Blue Sky! Been busy moving so sorry for the lack of art here. But no worries! This Jan 7th , I've signed up a course at Schoolism . I know, more online classes! For some reason, I can't get away from them. I'll be taking the Character Design class with Stephen Silver.

I had a small stint at Gas Powered Games designing, but I was mostly animating. Taking this course is an attempt to give my design process some structure, discipline, and some direction. And I also work better with deadlines =) .

Soooo hopefully, fingers crossed, we aren't in hardcore crunch yet! Hahaha! ha ha. Oh god.

Stephen Silver's blog

Keep up with me!

2009-11-06T16:28:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! Thank you for your support and words of encouragement! I've been busy packing so no new art for now, but I've decided to start an additional blog here:

http://bobbyinnewyork.blogspot.com/

It's mostly meant to keep my friends and family updated on how things are going with me in New York. But you're certainly invited to stop by occasionally. It might get a little more personal than this blog at times, but eh, Who cares!

Movin' out East....

2009-10-08T23:35:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone! Have a seat, I've got some pretty big news..

I'm proud to say that I've accepted an offer from Blue Sky Studios, for a full-time position as a Character Animator!!!

For me this is HUGE. Anyone who has known me, knows that it's been a big dream of mine to work in feature films. In the past couple of years I've worked extremely hard to make it happen, busting my butt at Animation Mentor at night and at ArenaNet by day. I also had the good fortune of having peers inside and out of the studio, who got my reel in front of the supervisors. Which I'm forever grateful for. I don't have any previous film experience, so Blue Sky is takin' a chance on me. I'll be moving out to New York in November, and working on their next film Rio.

Needless to say, I'm really gonna miss all my family & friends in WA and all my co-workers turned good friends at ArenaNet. Movin' out to NY on my own is gonna be a little scary, but should be a fun adventure right? Wish me luck! Keep checkin in, I'll let you all know how things are goin from time to time!

Fall is here

2009-10-05T23:38:00.000-07:00

Its getting chilly but its still sunny out, the best kind of Washington weather!

Color!

2009-09-17T03:17:00.000-07:00

Finally got around to the color for the sketch below, I hope she digs it!

Slurp!

2009-09-11T01:10:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday!
Here's a initial sketch for a little illo I'm doing as a gift for my good friend Barbra. She owns a little Yorkshire Terrier named Milo. Check back soon for some color! This thing will probably change a ton as it goes along.

While you're here, allow me to point you in the direction of an awesome blogsite my good buddy Jamaal Bradley started up this week. Pencil Test Depot is a killer repository for some pretty amazing animation pencil tests from various films. GAHH! Sooo good!

heartbroken

2009-08-28T00:45:00.000-07:00

Wild Things

2009-08-18T23:35:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! A while back I had the honor of being asked by Cory Godbey to contribute to the site, Terrible Yellow Eyes, a blogsite comprised of art based on Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are. TONS of brilliant work already there. Well I finally found the time and courage to work on my piece! Hope you like it!

Heres a step-by-step for those interested, mostly my mom .

So...... I met my hero this weekend !

2009-07-26T23:40:00.001-07:00

Me and Glen Keane at the San Diego Comic-Con!

Pretty awesome right?! This was right before the Walt Stanchfield Panel. After waiting in line for long while, the panelists start to show up in the front. With my eagle eye, I spot this dude from afar in shorts and a cap, and I realize Oh sh*t its Glen Keane! He looked like a kid with his little backpack!

I muster up the courage to approach him and ask if I can get a quick picture. I turn to him, a little verklempt, and go, " Man, You're my hero Glen." He stops , takes a moment to look down at my badge and goes "Well thank you , Bobby." Like, super sincere y'know? So I told him his work was the reason I aspired to become an animator, which is true. He shook my hand, and my friend Tirzah took the picture. I said thank you one more time, made sure the picture wasn't blurry, and squirmed away. Aw man, I didn't think I would geek out like that but I felt like a little kid.

Check out more of my pictures from the comic-con here !

Thank you!

2009-07-17T02:13:00.000-07:00

Oh man, thanks so much everyone for checking out my film!! It really is a great feeling to get some positive feedback after working so hard on something.

I don't know about anyone else, but for me, it's extremely nerve-racking the minute you make your film available for everyone to see. Its like, you take a deep breath, press the "Post" button and either people might get a kick out of it, or everyone will just go silent and be like,".......The hell was that?" And maybe I still got a lot of those, but I dunno, this thing was about 2 minutes and took me just under a year, so I can't even imagine a director, who has spent 4-5 years working on a 90 minute film, on opening day. Scary.

Anyway, if I'm gutsy enough, expect more posts where I ramble on about more of that stuff, but I 'll try to at least include a drawing.

BTW, I also posted a few pictures of my Bay Area trip last week over in my photos section (flickr) !

Better Off Undead !

2009-06-30T13:44:00.000-07:00

Finally! As promised, here is my short film, Better Off Undead! Whew, It's just crazy to see months and months of work fly by in seconds. Seconds!!

Well so, I started Animation Mentor Jan 2007, took classes on and off for about two years, and today I'm off to the Bay Area for the AM graduation. I'm super excited to graduate and meet my class, mentors, and all the other students, from around the world!

I'll write up my thoughts about it in the next posts. But for now I just want to thank everyone who helped me out these past couple of months.
Some of you know that I ended up getting placed in a tough situation and I appreciate everyone who got in touch with me to offer up some help or give an encouraging word. I won't forget it man and I hope to return the favor someday! Godfather style!

Please enjoy, and as always, thanks for watching!

Better Off Undead ! from Bobby Pontillas on Vimeo.

Long walks on the beach

2009-06-29T23:24:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! Here's something I did tonight for a birthday gift . I'm not much of a painter (obviously!), but there you go . I had a few guidelines to springboard from, but I just wanted it to put the recipients in a good mood whenever they look at it! Maybe you will too, which is why I wanted to post it.

And I know I keep saying this, but, film comin soon! Promise! Just lower your expectations a little!
-----------------------------------------------------------------

On another note, this Friday is Kevin Dart's Seductive Espionage: The World of Yuki 7 show at Gallery Nucleus! Check out that rockstar lineup! And oh man, recently I was fortunate enough to be invited to have my Yuki sketch included in the show!
Which or course meant, getting it framed, and matted, and stuff. Which I've never done with my own art before. Oh and pricing it, which I'm not used to doing either. I guess when you're a newbie like me you're just thinkin, who on earth is gonna pay for this? Anyway it goes on for about two weeks, It was a little too last minute to get a ticket down, but if you stop by take some pictures!

In the bag!

2009-06-22T23:14:00.000-07:00

After a little more than two years (on and off, I started Jan 2007) ,I'm finally done with my courses at Animation Mentor! July is gonna be a busy month. I go down to the bay area for the AM graduation, and then the weekend after after, is the San Diego Comic Con! Time flies when you're busy!

Here's a roll call of my final class, with Keith Sintay as mentor. I had the pleasure of sharing this class with some really , really skilled, hard workin' people. I felt like I was behind the whole time, seriously. But everyone was unbelievably supportive, and humble, and friendly. Same goes for all of my terms at AM though, I gotta say I made some good friends every class, and now half of my facebook are AM people.
I've been spending my waking hours polishing the 3D animation, so unfortunately I have no new drawings worth showing. But I thought I'd post some character sketches I did last year when I was working at Gas Powered Games. Grandpa Caruso and Surfergirl ! Grandpa was alot of fun, and I remember trying design surfergirl after my fiance, Cheryl. Both versions ended up not getting used for the project, actually, nothing ended up getting used, but thats another story altogether =). Still, it was a fun project, a great (albeit short) experience, and I worked with some great dudes.

Check out waaay more awesome work from this project on Raf's blog!

Yesterday I finally finished up some freelance work with Nickelodeon too! It was actually a lot of fun. I didn't know what to expect working with a bigger company like Nick, but I worked with a real cool art manager that "got it" and acted as buffer between myself and the Nick head honchos. I appreciated that.

I'll post up the film as soon as I get it in presentable order! I promise! Along with some tidbits on the things I learned, struggled with, little victories, in making the film. As humble & simple as it is, this term was chaotic! As you might know.

See you soon! In the Bay OR SD!

Yuki 7

2009-05-28T02:47:00.001-07:00

Man! The lack of updates means I'm super swamped with my short film. I haven't been able to draw much, outside of freelance, and it's killin me. So tonight I decided to step away from Maya and sketch this little piece of fan art. I'm sure you've done so already, but in case you haven't, check out my friend, Kevin Dart's trailer for his new book coming out soon called , Seductive Espionage: The World of Yuki 7. The trailer was directed by Kev and Stephane Coedel.

The book was written by another friend of mine , Ada Cole, and made with the help of her hubby Dan Cole! Congrats you guys!

Ah, and a couple of good friends and I also went to the Sasquatch Music Festival last weekend which was awesome and I'm totally burnt. I'll upload some pictures to my Flickr soon!

3D blocking!

2009-05-04T03:45:00.000-07:00

Finally! Here's a show-able rough blocking pass. It's come a long way but I've got about 6 -7 weeks until the term ends, so I still gonna have to scramble to flesh this out, then polish it up. Which really has been insane, I'm sprinting to get it done. I've also had the good fortune to pick up some freelance character design for Nickelodeon , so between that , my day job, and this film, my schedule has been brutal ! But I can't complain. This is what they call character building right? Alright time to hit the sack. More soon ok?

BTW. Pacquiao for the win! Speaking of Brutal!

Also, big thanks to Danny, Katy, and Rich for all the maya help so far!!

Here we go...

2009-04-14T02:14:00.000-07:00

Before the 3D begins, I thought It'd be cool to post what I had so far. Which is the whole film blocked out in key poses, and little bits of animation here and there just to get a feel for how the end product would look. Animating in flash was so much harder than storyboarding in flash, for me. In fact, I'd say that flash is the perfect tool setting up leica reels. But animating straight into flash will still take some time getting used to . The instant playback button was really nice though.

So since I'm now required to animate at least 1/3 of the film in 3D (see two posts down) , the second act will be replaced. From the point where he pops out of the grave, to when he starts to head towards town. Which ironically enough, has the weakest blocking I feel. His poses are stiff and his model is all over the place, amongst other issues!

A buddy of mine at work came to my rescue and is graciously lending his time to modify the classic AM Rig to make it look like Remington. I know it wont look like him exactly, but it'll have to do. Besides, he's a bad- ass and he'll make it look cool anyway. Thanks dude!

So watch out! In about 11 weeks, this could possibly be something decent. Or THE most confusing, disjointed film you've ever seen! Either way, I'll be crying!

Heres the little bugger in 3D!

Monkeys!!

2009-04-10T23:00:00.001-07:00

To help chase my 2D blues away, tonight I drew some monkeys!!!!!!!
Take note, if you're feeling bummed about anything, google image search baby monkeys.

Here, we'll do it together....

Hahaha! That third one right? WTF?! Argghhh thats hysterical. Effing monkeys.

Whew...

*Tear

Better Off in 3D

2009-04-07T14:11:00.000-07:00

Yikes!

Well I just found out from Animation Mentor staff that they wont be able to have me go on with my short film in 2D. Bummer.

I was unaware of this, but AM's decision to go exclusively 3D was made after the school's first year or so. Which is my bad for not knowing. But to be fair, a lot of people didn't, my mentor included. I didn't even give it a thought, because I remembered that there were indeed 2D films that did come out of AM.

They did give me the option of taking a portion of the short, executing it in 3D from here on out, and still have me graduate from the school. Which was very nice of them, to at least extend me that compromise. It's just going to be difficult considering the time I have left. Also impossible considering the severe lack of modeling and rigging skills! Ha!

I don't know, we'll see. I'll have to think fast to figure out what I'm going to end up doing.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Edit : Hey everyone! Thanks so much for the encouragement. The resource links in the comments section are all VERY much appreciated.

Also thank you very much to those who have written or messaged me volunteering to help in any way. That is an amazing and beautiful gesture from you all.

I've been in talks with the AM Staff and Bobby Beck ( who was extremely sensitive to my situation) last evening and this morning, but it looks like the decision isn't going to change. I did at least put up a fight.

Sooooo, lets figure out a way to shoehorn some 3D into this thing shall we?

BTW, there was another student in my term, Toby Cochran, who was doing a 2D film that is in the same boat as I am. We're kinda tryin to deal with it together. You can check out what he has to say over at his blog.

Fennec Fox

2009-03-31T02:09:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture I made for a friend to help decorate their new apartment. I *think* I remember her mentioning, in passing, that she really loved foxes. Man, I hope it was foxes. I hope foxes don't freak them out.

In other news, I've started my last term at Animation Mentor this week! So animation (or at least most of it ) should be done by this summer. I'm finishing off the program with Keith Sintay! Someone I've never had, but have kept in contact with , since I started. He has both 2d and 3d animation experience, which , for me, is always a good thing!

Tuke

2009-03-25T03:48:00.000-07:00

I've been busy with the film of course and some freelance recently, so just a quick random one from me this week, just as an excuse to keep the blog updated!

Newsie

2009-03-15T10:46:00.001-07:00

Cheryl: "I dont like this one because you are promoting smoking."

Dually noted, Smoking is bad for your health kids!

Her mom.

2009-03-10T23:01:00.001-07:00

Thanks for the all the kind words below. After the last post, I got a request to sketch her mom , Sally Jupiter. So here she is! In all of her ridiculously costumed glory! What's the point of the skirt, really?

And you heard it here first, Bobby Chiu plans to don a black bananahammmock & blue body paint as Dr. Manhanttan this year as SDCC, so be on the look out for that. Thanks for steppin up to the plate Bobby!

Laurie Jupiter

2009-03-07T23:11:00.000-08:00

Work on the film continues, in the mean time here's a sketch I did tonight of Jupiter from the Watchmen. Not the greatest movie ever, but entertaining nonetheless. If anything, it makes me want to finally crack open the book I got for Christmas. What was her power again? I'm not even sure she had one. Meh. My prediction though is a TON of watchmen cosplay at the comic con this year. I can't wait to see who has the balls to go as Mr. Manhattan!

Also, I stumbled upon these pretty cool interviews with two guys whose work I admire. The first one with Joe Moshier and James Baxter.

Animated Views- Joe Moshier
Animated Views- James Baxter

I met Joe Moshier last year at the San Diego Comic Con at his Conduct Happiness booth. Suuuuper freaking nice dude, and extremely humble about his work. I mean, this guy is one of the most prolific in the industry, and there was was zero ego. Total fanboy style, I kind of gushed to him about his work. Said embarassing, ridiculous things like "Damn you look young! How old are you?" Instead he preferred to rave about other artists he worked with.

It's cool to read in that interview about how he fell into character design at Disney, basically being asked to design pigeons on the Hunchback of Notre Dame production. Obviously it snowballed from there and he went on to design characters exclusively. There doesnt seem to be many interviews with Joe online so check it out!

Latika

2009-03-01T03:26:00.001-08:00

FINALLY saw Slumdog Millionaire w/ a packed house tonight, it's fantastic! But you already knew that. The soundtrack is killer too.

Film Update!

2009-02-20T01:38:00.001-08:00

I'm still busy pluggin away slowly on my film, Better off Undead. But I just wanted to put up some frames at various stages of completion. It's a lot of hard work and can get exhausting at times, but it's really exciting to see it start to come together!

That is all for now, more to come soon. Thanks for looking! Now back to work!

**On a side note, I love coming across interviews with certain lumanaries that get you motivated, or inspired. This morning its from Walt Disney:

The answer, according to Disney is: Invent your own job; take such an interest in it that you eat, sleep, dream, walk, talk and live nothing but your work until you succeed. Then you may take on a hobby or two if you feel so inclined.

“All this talk about my making a lot of money is bunk,” declares Disney. “After 10 years of pretty tough sledding, I am now making a moderate profit on my products, but every dime I take in is immediately put back into the business. I’m building for the future. And my goal isn’t millions; it’s better pictures.

“I’m not interested in money, except for what I can do with it to advance my work. The idea of piling up a fortune for the sake of wealth seems silly to me. Work is the real adventure in life. Money is merely a means to make more work possible."

WORD!

Coraline Production Art

2009-02-19T22:43:00.000-08:00

My buddy Chris Turnham recently started a blogsite showcasing some of the beautiful work he did on Coraline. Drop by and check it out!

Coraline

2009-02-09T22:25:00.001-08:00

Go see it and remind yourself of what made you want to get into animation in the first place.

Congratulations Turnham!

One more

2009-01-31T12:24:00.001-08:00

Keeping w/ the same theme, here's another Freddy Moore rip-off superheroine, based off of Julie Newmar's Catwoman, apparently dealing with a little bit of holiday weight!

WW

2009-01-23T00:43:00.000-08:00

To help keep my sanity, tonight I took a little break from my film to do something for this week's Art Jumble topic. Wonder Woman, via Freddy Moore.

Check the archives on that blog for tons more Moore deliciousness. Put together by Pedro Daniel. Alright, back to the film! Thanks for dropping by!

This just in......

2009-01-12T00:45:00.000-08:00

....2D Animation is #$%@ing hard!

Turnarounds

2008-12-30T02:39:00.001-08:00

Whew, last post of the year! I'm gearing up for animation on my film for my final term, which starts on the 4th. I've been solidifying and locking down designs on the break. ( And catching up on 30 Rock, so good!) So here are parts of the turnarounds for my 2 stars, Remington and Penelope!

Also as a bonus I'll share with you guys this totally charming present Cheryl received from her sister , Vanessa! Hahaha! I love it so much!Have a safe and fun New Years everybody! See you next year...

Happy Holidays...

2008-12-17T02:38:00.001-08:00

.....To you and yours! Looks like someone's been a bit naughty this year!

And if there's anyone still following along, I've finally added a soundtrack to my short film ! It's spotty in places, but that's only because I'm terrible with scoring, turns out. Bonus points if you can guess where the music is from !
...And with that another term comes to an end. It flew by like always but I felt like I've learned a lot. Finally even learned the basics of Flash which I've wanted to do for years! Next term is supposed to be all animation, which means I'm still scared to death!

Thanks for all of your comments on it so far. And a big big thanks to Mark Pudleiner for being a constructive, accomodating mentor, and helping me to make it better every week.

Layout!

2008-12-01T01:40:00.000-08:00

Hey guys! For those interested, here's the latest pass of what my short film is looking like. Quite a few changes since my last post, and right now its a mixed bag of revised storyboards and layouts. And to be honest, I'm a little insecure in my abilities to make strong backgrounds, so I'm taking a simple approach with them! I feel like its all starting to take shape. And like I said, our term is starting to work on layouts, which means everyone's starting to make the jump to 3D. So there's a little sense of isolation for me. But friends in my term stay super helpful and seem genuinely excited to see a traditional short in progress.

I've also been learning the value of showing it to as many of my peers as I can. I've not only incorporated ideas from my mentor, but from other students at AM, friends at work, blog commenters.

So thanks for all of your comments on the last pass. I really get a lot out of them. And as always, your thoughts, good or bad, are welcomed again! Encouraged even!

Thanks for takin a look!

**Heres a shot of Mark and I in class, going over the finer points of short filmmaking. Screenshot from Tom Lubanovic's blog.
In other random news, heres a sketch I did tonight to get away from the film for a bit. Such a cool character, And I dont even really like Lucy Liu.

Yup, its Uncle Manny fight night again this weekend, probably his biggest one yet versus Oscar DelaHoya! So I thought I do a quick ditty to keep with tradition.Go Pacquiao!

Storyboards!

2008-11-10T01:54:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! Here's a rough pass at the whole short. I'm tryin to learn flash at the same time , so please mind some of the rougher edges. It's still early on but critiques are welcomed of course, and there are also 2 different endings that I'm trying to settle on. Let me know which you prefer.

Thanks for looking!

Yes we can.

2008-11-03T21:18:00.000-08:00

Its high time we get someone who inspires people!

**Update 11-14-08, 8: 43 PM**
WAAAAAAAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Oh so what, You're making a film now?..

2008-10-26T23:52:00.001-07:00

...Dude tooootally!

My new mentor for short film class at Animation Mentor is ...

Mark Pudleiner ! He's perfect for me right now because Mark has spent time doing both 2D and 3D animation, and storyboarding. He's now animating at Ken Duncan's studio. Check out his blogsite for some awesome work in all 3 disciplines. And here is his animation career in a nutshell.

I know right?!

Speaking of my short film. Things are finally starting to begin to get started. And guess what? I already have deleted scenes!! Tons of them! Let me explain, the way it worked was, week 1, we had to pitch 3 ideas. Though on our break, I had thought of a story with 2 characters I really wanted to tell. I plotted out beatboards, and turned it in. First feedback I get, its waaay too long ( no suprises there), and the short has to be around 30 seconds. So after brainstorming with Van, an awesome and super helpful AM student. We come up with a way to take the epic, take a good chunk and just tell that part, and have it still feel like a short of sorts.

Anyway, here were the first pass rough beats for the aforementioned "epic". I still kinda like the story, so maybe someday still, when I have an army of more talented animators.
Uhhh. whats with the numbers? Glad you asked! Here is the outline that corresponds with the visuals! If you are so inclined.
The short short that ended up spawning out of this, and that we start boarding this week, will be what I'm working on all term. I also mentioned before that it'll be in 2D, which I havent done in forever! Are you scared? Cause I am!

Stay tuned for the pandemonium!

Today for lunch....

2008-10-08T13:20:00.000-07:00

More Rem & Pen!

And Panda Express.

Remington and Penelope

2008-10-07T01:58:00.001-07:00

So its still early in development, but these are most likely going to be the stars of my short film. Remington the little zombie boy, and Penelope!