Art Trade

 I recently swindled, had an art trade for this beautiful sketch by Stevie Lewis, which now resides at my desk.  I love it!

Not nearly as lovely as hers, but this is how I always remember her.

Vis Dev trainees

Quick update for le blog. The training program is amazing so far!  I'm learning a ton everyday and hopefully getting better.  Really stressing the importance of research.  

Last week we had our midway review and I'm happy to report that we all passed.  On to the next three months!

Here are some of the impossibly talented folks that I learn from everyday.

 Sabrina Cotugno

 Paul Tsui

 Elsa Chang

Mentors!

 My mentor, Bill Schwab

 Cory Loftis

Ryan Lang and Helen Chen

Le Roughs

Tappers Caricatures

When Ralph goes to Tappers bar and runs into the Hero's Duty soldier for the first time,  John Musker and I did those caricatures of game celebrities on the wall.  

The idea was to have it replicate the feel of a famous New York restaurant called Sardi's, where the walls are lined with caricatures of celebrities.

Here are a few of the ones I did.

 Centurion- Altered Beast

 Chun Li- Street Fighter

 Dhalsim - Street Fighter

 E-Honda - Street Fighter

 Frogger

 Guile- Street Fighter

 Ken- Street Fighter

 Neff- Altered Beast

 Peter Pepper - Burger Time

 Ryu - Street Fighter

 Sagat- Street Fighter

 Shinobi

 Sorceress- I'm not sure which game

 Space Invader

Zangief- Street Fighter

 Fix-It Felix

Our director, Rich Moore.
Big thanks to Rich for giving me the chance to do these!

All images are property/copyright Disney

Children's Hospital

Brent Homman, Melissa Fanfassian, Chad Sellers, Michael Woodside, Ruben Aquino

Sarah Airriess, Myself.

Last Friday, a few of us had the amazing opportunity to spend some time with the kids at Children's Hospital in LA.  We got to screen Wreck it Ralph, pass out some Ralph/Disney goodies, and draw Disney characters!

It was really touching getting to watch the film with these kids, and being able to give them a little reprieve from their daily struggles.  It really cuts to the core of why I do what I do and I'll be forever grateful for the experience.  Thank you kids for letting us be a part of your lives, and thanks to the Children's Hospital for having us!

Opening weekend

I promise this will be the last Ralph-related post!  But the film is finally out this weekend,we are all really proud of Ralph and I hope it shows in the work.  I'm really excited to hear what you think!

This was such a unique experience for me.  Not only was a I lucky (but unworthy) enough to be a part of this world-class animation crew doing 3D and 8-bit animation, but on  the heels of the Caricature Show (see below), I was tapped by Art Director Mike Gabriel to create some art for the movie!  I'm very grateful , and that experience eventually helped me to move into Visual Development training program here at Disney! 
So I guess there are lessons I am learning here ; Take chances especially when they scare you.  Even when you feel like you aren't as good as the next guy, don't be afraid to put your work out there.  And keep forcefully pushing yourself out of your comfort zone.

 All of the above will help us to fall flat on our faces.  But we secretly know that's how we get better;)

So if you've taken a break from your all-day-all-night animation session to visit this blog, this post is for you!  I feel you and I know you're workin hard and this medium is a challenging as it is gratifying.  But keep going and I promise you your big dreams are going to start to happen!

And when you do get there...dude it's awesome.  There's nothing like banding together with a team of talented artists and working together to put something special up on screen!

Such an honor to be up there with my heroes!

My dream comin' true. Being part of the amazing animation crew at Disney.  Our future's lookin pretty bright!

PS - Let me know if you spot this little piece somewhere in the film=)

 Congratulations to Rich Moore and the whole crew!  Thanks for the unforgettable experience!

Last day

Our Supervising Animator on Ralph, and the man who thought it might be a good idea to hire me, Renato Dos Anjos, on our official last day on Ralph animation.

Also, if you plan on goin to CTN this year, please stop by the Disney booth and say hi!  I'll be reviewing demo reels!  See you then.

End credits

After animation production on Ralph wrapped, a small team of animators worked on a special gift for you at the end of the movie!

Here's a nice sneak peek write up about what it is :

http://animationguildblog.blogspot.com/2012/09/wreck-it-inside-hat.html

Back to School!

Some news with me!  Now that we've finished animating on Wreck-it Ralph, I'm going to be taking a step away from animation for a bit, and am pursuing an artist position in Visual Development!  I was lucky enough to be selected for a spot in Disney's Talent development program, starting this fall.  In addition to our portfolios, internal applicants were asked to do an art test.  Here is some of the work I completed, based on the Don Quixote stories.  Very, very much inspired by my recent trip to Spain!   And a big thank you to Katia Grifols for all of her help and giving me a hard time!

 This black cat came up to me in El Rompido, in the south of Spain, which inspired my Dulcinea!

Costume and personality inspired by the Carmen showing we saw in Madrid.

Stealing from my hero, Pablo Picasso.

Standing in front of Guernica was truly amazing.

Thanks for checkin it out!  Wish me luck and I'll try not to let you down!

100 %

Ralph animation crew, w/ our director Rich Moore and producer Clark Spencer

Well time flies, last Saturday we reached 100 % done on animation for Wreck-it Ralph!  

I can´t wait for you all to see it.  Growing up on these films,  I feel like it brings something fresh to the table and has the heart that comes with the Disney classics.  I´m lucky to have been a part of it, and it goes without saying that it was an honor to work with this crew and to be a part of this legacy.  I remember a bunch of us new guys went up to Glen Keane at his going away toast.  We told him that we were animating on Ralph, he looked at us, put his hand on Isaak´s shoulder and said, 

"The new generation."

I really feel that guys like Glen are passing the torch to all of us, no matter what studio, students especially.  He stood on the shoulders of giants, without simply repeating what they did.  That generation had something to say and did it their own way.  We took that inspiration and now it´s our time to step up and push this medium forward!

 This was the "A" in ANIMATION that was formerly in front of the hat.  Glen signed the top on his last day. 

Crew signing of the Wreck-it Ralph posters. 

The animation crew in the hat building´s lobby. 

Gathering up for the crew pic

The back of our crew shirt.  Each animator on the team was to caricature his or her officemate.

And this, just because I love pictures of old- timey California. How tiny IS this team.  And look how dapper everyone is!