Turnarounds

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...

.....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!

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!

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.

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?..

...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....

More Rem & Pen!

And Panda Express.

Remington and Penelope

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!

I haz an interview!

Here's an interview I did recently with Randall Sly & the Character Design blog.

http://bobby-pontillas-interview.blogspot.com/

Though I am terribly out of place amongst the amazing lineup of interviewees , I hope you enjoy it anyway. Thanks for puttin it all together and choo-choo choosing me Randall !

And as per request, I'm posting the latest DnD fighter done for my friend and work-wife Paul Zimmer. Meet Tim Tumbler, human fighter and the group's designated metal head. And yes, that IS a sword, of pro..... **ahem correction, SHIELD of protection, behold the blue glowy bits! It should also be of note that this image was made to switch out weapons as the adventure progresses!This one was fun in a weird way because Paul literally stood behind me art directing every detail as I drew.
"Now on to the nose..... like that?"
"Longer, even longer, no shorter , more pointier." " Oh no that strand of hair wouldn't curl like that, make it more unkempt, put split ends if you need to."

Ahhh, it was nice to just turn my brain off and stroke the screen.

Save your appetite

Its a Beautiful afternoon for a picnic!
And please enjoy my fresh, new Reel for dessert!

All Rendery!

Whew! So I've been spending my waking hours finishing up this shot! Here's how the render turned out, though I know I'll want to go back and tweak more things when I look at this later. I'm pretty fried right now, hope you enjoy it though.

Here's where it was in blocking (One of several blocking passes! At this point I'm just trying to get Brett to buy off on the acting first. We went back and forth and there were a lot of different iterations at this stage.)

Here was some rough shot planning for it.
So there goes my term 4. Brett Coderre was awesome. Extremely particular about acting choices. I learned so much this term about working within a pose, text & subtext, etc. I must've watched this brilliant Doug Sweetland lecture a half dozen times. So much great info that it probably won't fully sink in until later.

After this is a week off. Then on to short film which I'm super pumped about! I've got a few solid ideas as to what I want to do, and I do know that I want it to be hand-drawn! Talk about biting off more than I could chew!

09/04

For today's (yesterday's) skip lunch and draw-a-thon.

Also, check this out if you havent already!Sketchbook with original sketches by 50 great artists being auctioned for Primary Children's Medical Center.

What an amazing thing to do ! I ran into Randall Sly (who, incidentally, runs the Character Design blog) at the comic-con while we were waiting in line for Eric Goldberg to sign our books. I told him how much I loved and appreciated the CD blog. We chatted a little about animationy stuff and he showed me a sketchbook he was taking around the comic-con, collecting sketches from various artists. I thought oh wow thats a cool idea, I should totally do that. But I had really NO idea how selfless his intent was . What he's doing is nothing short of amazing, inspiring, and my hats off to him.
We parted ways and I pointed him in the direction of the amazing Joe Moshier (who was just around the corner, down at the Conduct Happiness booth.) Do check it out, its obviously for a good cause, and you get an amazing collection of art to boot.

I skipped lunch for this?

Generic cute girl, check. Hula Hoops, check. No BG, check. I think I've even used this pose before (Up there! In my blog header even!). Yep! This is as creative as I get folks! Happy Monday!

Lunchtime Sketches

Bubblegum Contest

Hey all! Here are some sketches done during lunch this week.

Yesterday my Mom told me she visits my blog everyday. To see more posts and read people's comments. I asked her why she never commented herself. She said "Ahhhh I wouldnt know what to say." How cute is that. Mom. It's me , cmon.

Alright so, tonight is my Animation Mentor q&a. I'm gonna plead my case and try to convince my mentor that keeping the "belly bump" at the end of my animation test is an idea worth keeping in. Wish me luck.

Usain Bolt

Thanks for your feedback on my work in progress shot everyone! I really appreciate it!

Here's a lunchtime sketch of one of my favorite moments of the Olympics. Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt celebrating way before he even reaches the finish line, and still breaking the world record. He broke two more in the 200m and 4x100 relay before the games were over.

Here's another memorable one:
Cuban TaeKwonDo Olympian kicks referee in the face. What?! Such a horrible thing! Poor guy.
I just wish it wasn't such a funny picture. I dont think I could've posed it any better. The formation of his hands lead me to believe that he was actually a few microseconds late to kung-fu block it, or catch his foot or something.

Well so, to make it relevant to this blog (and so I dont go straight to hell) , I'll try and break down why I think this image works so well. And I'll try to keep the giggling in. Wait. Just. Give me a second........Okay, whew. Here goes

click for bigger image.

I couldn't fit this in the picture but there is also a little bit of overlap on the tie. Which, again, also follows the line of action.

Awful sportsmanship, kinda awesome image.

Shot Update

Finally, an update on the Pontillas/Coderre collabo! About 3 weeks and 1,000 changes later, here 's what I turned in yesterday.

Obviously, lip sync still has to be done, mechanics polished, and a I got a few other change requests (I'm changing the end so it doesnt feel like she is pushing the dude back with an invisible pregnant belly forcefield) . But I'm gonna hit the ground running because I got 3 more weeks until class is up!

For Macy !

In Reverie

Wasn't that the name of an old Saves the Day song? Ha, I dont care what you say, I still love those guys.

Also, here is some rough shot planning for my new 2 person dialogue piece.Zenner said:
"try to keep us updated about the shot :)"

Totally man! Heres what I turned in yesterday for layout:

SDCC !

We're back from San Diego! Check out some of the photos we took here !

04-21: Art, Animation, & SDCC !

More random drawings!

This is how my dialogue piece came out. When I get a breather, I want to post more about the things Brett's been going over in our class. There have been some great sessions so far and I shouldn't keep all that great info to myself. So yeah, hopefull after the comic -con.

Wait what? Comic-Con?! YEAH DUDE! A couple of my buddies, Cheryl, and I are going to the San Diego Comic Con this year, it'll be my first time. And I love San Diego so it should be an awesome time. I know I'm gonna get there and discover a whole lot of artists whose work I haven't been exposed to yet, but here is my "must check-out" list:

-Imaginism Studios
-Shelly Wan /Mindy Lee
-My buddies at Fleet Street
- Red Window, Inc. booth (Scott Morse, Bill Presing, Jeff Pidgeon)
-E-Ville Press
-Flight
-Benton Jew
-Who is Rocket Johnson?
-Udon
-Pascal Campion & Mike Daley
-Eric Goldberg ( Character Animation Crash Course)
-Louie Del Carmen
-Chris Sanders
-Scrambled Ink
-Dude! Jim Lee!
-Kristin Kreuk (hehe)

So yeah, shorter list than thought I was gonna have. Looking forward to being introduced to unfamiliar work! But some of these guys of I've been a fan of for a while now and I feel like I'll completely geek out meeting them. I'll make sure to take some pics so you could bare witness!

Nom-Nom-Nom

...this blog is getting to random, even for me.

Uncle Manny

Oh man! Pacquiao won his latest fight so I'm keeping tradition and did another sketch of him. Look at him, all stoic and stuff.

CHA-DES Challenge: Touchy-Feely College

"I just.........I thought she was different man."

Haha awww.

AnimationMentor- Class 4

Sweet! My new mentor for class 4 (Adv. Acting) is Brett Coderre. An animator at Pixar since A Bugs Life. We had our first q & a session last week where we all introduced ourselves. Brett seems genuinely committed to helping students become better ( he's been doing AM for 2.5 years!) and I get along well with my classmates really well, theres a lot of positive energy going around.

Some expression thumbnails for my shot.

Brett definitely takes a less is more approach. And sure enough, tonight he really ripped into my lip-sync test! Which, I kid you not, felt kind of reinvigorating because I spent a week away from it during break. Even though we are focusing on facial animation , he had a real chip on his shoulder about simplifying the acting to be more natural. He felt like I was hitting too many beats than I needed too, especially with the arms, which made it lose a lot of the intensity.
I remember watching Brett's critiques on students' work earlier on when I was in class 1, and I distinctly remember that that was his major comment on most people's work. To simplify! To break down those several main key poses into 1 or 2, and work within those. Or to hit this pose and "work within it". I went in to this one thinking I was simplifying, but I need to work to boil ideas down even more. Ha, I dunno, most days I feel like I get it, other days I get knocked on my ass.

Brett going over some of my work during my first e-critique of class 4.

Wuuuaaaallllll-eeeeeee

Poster Art by Eric Tan

Not sure if you heard but a new Pixar film about robot love came out this weekend. I wont give anything away but I must say that I loved this movie very much. Maybe it was a sensitive day, but I must admit that I got a little choked up at parts. Dont judge me blogspot, Cheryl teared up 3 different times! Ha! But really, part of it was getting caught up in Wall-E's story, and the other was taking in how much unique, beautiful, sincere, honest work this animation medium is capable of.
Andrew Stanton makes you really care for this character, and after watching the movie I felt like we became really good friends and I, I miss him! Thats right world! I genuinely miss, and am concerned about the well being of a trash- cubing, pibsqueak robot. If there would be anything I would want audiences to take away from my work, it would be to for them to really care about my characters. Its the reason why Kiwi! is one of my favorite short films of all time, student or pro.

Wall-E and Finding Nemo are the Pixar films that tug right at the heart strings to me. Remember that lump you got in throat when Marlin found that he had one egg left? Daaamn, thats some pretty powerful stuff man.

You've probably read most of the pre-release interviews Stanton has been doing, but I came across a particulary good one with Andrew here. Interesting stuff like the "power of using your personal experiences to fuel certain moments in movies" , and the perceived political & ecological messages in the film.

D & D rules

A "quick n dirty" for one of my co-worker's next Dungeons N Dragons character. His name is Ghor, and he is a Warlock Dragonborn. He was made fun of as a little one for being short, but had his growth spurt just around the beginning of adulthood. 30 and bitter, he finds beauty in sociopathic things.

I'll let you know how he does in the upcoming 4th edition campaign!

Game design students rule.

Best shirt ever.
AND his critique on this drawing.

Matt Rules

Hey Mom! The new "Where the Hell is Matt 2008" video is up.

I dunno what it is, but I can't help but get a little choked up watching these videos. He even goes to the Philippines.
Oh man why didn't I hear he was coming to Gasworks in Seattle!

Class3 Progress Reel

This is my latest Animation Mentor progress reel going all the way back to Class 1 ! The opening dialogue piece is a Work In Progress and is supposed to be completed in Class 4. Much thanks to Dave Vallone for a great class.

Because childhood drawings rule

Know what else rules? Drawings from your childhood! In this case, a sampling from one of my co-workers, Paul Z, age 8. How rad is "Picasso"?! You come up w/ these kinds of designs when your're an adult! And yes those ARE character stats thank you. As you can see, strength is through the roof!
He's got a whole book of these, including another one of my favorites; A character that is......half lion, half tank. Half freakin' tank son! I love that free-thinking, anything goes, throw-logic-out-the-window, "makes sense to me!" mentality we have when we we're kids. How cool would it be to make a feature and let kids art direct the whole thing?!

Principles rule.

Get ready to bust out your "Amen's " , "Hallelujah's" , and "You go girl 's". Over at the Spline Doctors site, animator Travis Hathaway has made an attempt to boil down his process into a simple set of broad animation principles. They are so on the nose, your head will explode. I've spent the better part of the day thinking about them and the list is pretty bulletproof. Not only in the criteria of the list but the order of importance that they are listed.

I must admit that these aren't so much the order that I've been placing them in my work up to this point, but they should be if I'm going to really step my work up. I struggle with them all!

My(not necessarily THE) principles of animation.
-Travis Hathaway

Bill the Butcher rules.

I caught There Will Be Blood recently, and Daniel Day Lewis's performance was so great that it made me want to watch Gangs of New York again. Daniel rules. Period. "Ears and noses will be the trophies of the day." WHAT?! Sick man.