AM Assignment 3- Blocking

Pulling Assignment- Polish Pass

Blocking for the last assignment of this class! Got some beef with how this is coming out? Please lemme know!

**After a couple of iterations I've uploaded a version of this one in polish phase! Yeah boy!

AM Assignment 2- Polish Pass

Another pass on this one after Greg Kyle's comments last night! I'm just gonna be polishing this the rest of the week and then its on to the next one!
So here are some plans and rough keys thumbs for the next one!

Ukelele girl

Done today for a good friend of mine to christen his new apartment!!

AM, Cadaver Parts, and Comic-Con Swag!

AM- Assignment 2 (Spline Pass)

Making more progress on the second assignment in Class 2! I've been super tired all week. Bring on the weekend!!And heres a lunchtime sketch for my co-worker and friend, Paul. Who had knee surgery today and apparently might score some cadaver replacements for his leg! Recover well soon buddy!

So again I didnt get to make it down to Comic-Con this year. But I did have a few books that I had a friend, Chris, so graciously pick up for me this year!

Oogeley Boogeley, Pascal Campion.
Filled w/ Pascal's awesome illustrations that all seem to nail great design, color, composition, and tell a story in one panel. I recently got into his work, dug in the archives, and found that he was doing at least one of these a day!

The Art of Deanna Marsigliese.
Killer animation artist from Sheridan. Filled with great character designs. Shes gonna be doing big things in the future. She also did an awesome little doodle inside.

She also left her number somewhere below, but to respect her privacy I wont post it here. =)
And my crown jewel of the con, Belle du Jour, Bill Presing.
This book is stunning. From the presentation to the packaging. The content from finished illustrations, to rough sketches and watercolour tests. And to top it all off, Chris managed to snag a limited edition w/ an original art piece attached to the inside cover. I was a little apprehensive because it costs so much more, but when I cracked it open and took a look at the original piece (below, bee suit-girl.), I felt vindicated. Look at that man!!! That piece is freaking stunning. The dude has some real skills.
One of the pages from Belle Du Jour.My original art piece from Bill Presing.

So lastly, I wanna say thanks to my friend, Chris Turnham , for picking these up for me. And a big congrats to Chris for scoring a new position as a designer at Laika animation studios! Thats freaking rad man Good luck.

Sarts dude

Saw this
guy on
the Sartorialist
and couldn't
not draw
him.
How does
he even
tie his
shoes
you ask?
Easy, he
wears
slip-ons.

AM Class2-Assignment 2

Animation Mentor-Class2 Assignment 2 (Blocking Pass)

This weeks lesson is on locomotion! Heres my keys/breakdowns pass for this week!
**Edit: Made changes n tweaks based on Greg's feedback!

Biking!

For fun.

This really is amazing to see:
Its Glen Keane quickly animating a scene, straight ahead, for a lecture at Cal Arts. One drawing at a time, this character really does begin to come alive in front of you. He really does believe it, and you can be startled (along with the class) when he rolls the drawings and the guy actually comes alive. Its really quite something, and I dont think any other artform can give you the same feeling. And for those of you that know me, know that Glen's work was and is a big reason why I decided to pursue animation in art school.

Oh and look who it is! Just me chillin with my Pixar peeps, hangin out online, shootin the poop, drinkin beers.

In reality its from a Ratatouille q & a session ( with Robert Russ and Doug Dooley) Animation Mentor held tonight. I was so excited I can barely remember the answers to the questions I had, as a matter of fact I can barely remember the questions I had.

I did remember to ask what some of the biggest lessons they learned on the project. Both of them mentioned specifically they learned more about posing than ever before. Especially since Pixar brought on a lot of newer traditional animators they dubbed the French Connection. Bolhem Bouchiba, Kristophe Vergne, Theirry Martin among others. I did recognize these names from the Tarzan animation team, who was animated at the France studio. (Off the record: I'm a huge fan of Bolhem, dude, he animated Jumba in Lilo and Stitch. Who was RAD! ) Anyway, these guys came in and taught them so much about graphic solid posing, strengthening their work.

I cut out early to walk the dogs and spend time with Cheryl, but at least I got a question in and walked away with some sage advice. And that is:
In this industry, if you're not French, dont bother.

Kidding!

Or am I?

Assignment 1- Polish Pass!

AnimationMentor-Class 2 Assignment 1 (Polish Pass)

Tryin to put this one to bed ! Until tommorow morning when I see something to fix. I swear you could tweak some of these scenes up until the very last minute. Theres always something.

Lion!..

....Tiger and Bear not so much! Lately I've been only drawing what I'm comforable with. I've always been intimidated by doing animals, so In the spirit of pushing myself, heres an attempt at a lion! Uh sorta. I need to hit up the zoo more!

Another.
Gah. Apologies for the Lion Kingy-ness of this one, I was just trying for some appealing shapes. Kind of turned out looking like bad clip art.

If you wanna see drawings from someone who really knows what they're doing, check out these sketches by Andreas Deja from Victor Ens' blog! Thanks for sharing these Victor!

On another Disney note, I found this relatively unknown, but fantastic, Disney Animation short linked from another blog, CartoonColin:
"One By One" (2004), a short that was apparently created for the never completed Fantasia 2006, directed by Pixote Hunt and plopped on the Lion King II DVD:


I loved Fantasia 2000, well done short films animated to music make for an amazing experience. It doesnt get an better than Rhapsody in Blue and the Firebird Suite was sweet I dont care what you say Katy. Watching this is just as awesome and I wish I could see it on the big screen!

Robinson Crusoe & the 50 foot woman.

For this weeks Sketchwich.For the next weeks Unleaded Artists.

ARRR!

My submissions for this week's Sketchwich!

Pirette.Captain Morgan and Jose Cuervo. Bosom Buddies.
Quickie sketch done at work.
Not very pirate-related. Just another lunchtime quickie sketch.
Maybe shes doin a pirate jig! yo ho yo ho!
For this weeks Chades Challenge, the theme was Flamboyant Armadillo.

Class 2- First Assignment!

Back at Animation Mentor!
One of the choices for our first assignment was to have "Ballie"(Ball character with two legs) kick a ball. Kicking a ball was considered a one star difficulty, while another choice, turning around 180 degrees, was a two star. Really? Turning around? I didnt want to seem like I opted for the easier one , still, I thought'd be fun to have him kick a ball.
My idea was just to have Ballie ready himself to kick what he thinks is a rubber kickball. But shh get this.... What he doesnt know, is that its actually a bowling ball! hahaha! Take that Ballie! To the bank Ballie!
Anyways here is some of my ref footage. Hopefully this doesnt come out assy.
Animation Mentor-Class2 Assignment 1 (Reference Footage)

back in action

I'm back from from the Philippines, again! I'm gonna just start taking two week vacations every month.

Check out this super rad sculpture I scored! Not quite as cool as barrel man, but a little bit cooler than phallic ashtray.

I know right?!

Tonight is supposed to be my first night back in Animation Mentor, but for some reason I cant seem to log in. And considering the price tag every one of these sessions is precious. I dont even know who my mentor is yet. If this goes on any longer, I better get like, Brad Bird or something. Or anyone French. Like a Gobelins student or something, I'd settle for that.

**Update** Finally got to log in and my new mentor is Greg Kyle! Sweet.

Heres a quickie done for the Unleaded Artists site, a blog started by some Gas Powered Games artists. It just started up so theres not much yet, but heres my meager, unfunny contribution!
The theme was "The unathletic, promiscuous priest who was genetically engineered".

My brain cant process that many words in one sentence. So heres my unathletic priest.

Bad Robot.

One more theme drawing for sketchwich, World Killer.
Now! I'm off to the Philippines! See you later!

I'm Sorry.

My "Elderly Mermaids" entry for the Chades Challenge. New entries are 'sposed to be up friday, but I'll be in the Philippines by then, again!

Apologies if this is in poor taste. I'm just jealous, is all. Insanely jealous.

Check more awesome sketches here!

rat city roller grrrrl.

My base sketch for the sketchwich theme this week. I'm not sure I understand the theme, but here mine is anyway. I'll color this one soon!

**Edit: heres the color:**
So new gig is a blast so far, I'm animating the cartooniest stuff I've ever done, by a longshot. I'm constantly having to push myself out of my "comfort zone" since the animation style is so completely different than what I've been used to. I love it though, it's the kind of crazy stuff I've always wanted to do, and before I know it, the day's over. The team is right now is pretty small, and most of us are going to be doing multiple tasks. It really kind of reminds me of my first gig where we were smaller and all of the artists were doing a little bit of everything; storyboards, designs, and animation included.
I'm also a little apprehensive about drawing on the job again, its been a long while. Like I feel like everyday is going to be one of those days where you feel like you cant draw a damn thing. And you look over, and see someone like Raf doin some crazy stuff and you feel even worse and you dont wanna pin it up on the wall. I dunno, I'm up for the challenge though I'll just have to get over that initial hump! BRING IT ON, uh...... Art! ..thats, not crappy!

BTW, why is my site straight purple on everyones screen except mine.

**Edit- Check it! My first cintiq drawing ever! Her name is Cintiqua.
Turns out Cintiqs dont make my drawings any more awesomer. What a rip off, eh? **

Goodbye ArenaNet

So yesterday was my last official day at ArenaNet. Still kind of broken up about it because I'll miss everyone. But I've accepted a position as a Sr. Animator/character designer at Gas Powered Games (in Redmond) on a new project that is unlike anything they've done before, and is super cartoony, which is right up my alley. I've been wanting to push my career into a more of a hybrid 2d/3d position and it'll also serve as a radical change from the work I've done on Guild Wars, style wise. I start monday!

My awesome awesome co-workers held a chamapagne/wine toast last friday, an all-company ice cream social in the animator room after work yesterday( which I hope to get pictures of) ,and a final send off party last night at my place. I got an awesome goodbye card/drawjam and Jason Juan gave me some great framed life drawings as a parting gift!

But lets talk about our feelings. I'll always be thankful to ANet for takin a chance on me when I had no 3D experience (which is one of the most stressful things to deal with, how am I supposed to get experience if everyone wants experience yadda yadda.) and trusting me to take on the player characters, takin me to E3 twice and paying for my breakfast, Lisa getting our lunch everyday, the list goes on and on. I've made a lot of good friends who I've loved hanging out with in and outside work, and have been completely humbled by freakishly talented artists working here.

Okay so here are some pics, random and from my last day.

I just realized Katy is not in any of these! Lame!

Yeah son.

With Venturini. This picture makes no sense.
With Huge and Hern.
Goodbye desk.Passing my animation secrets onto LL.

One last breakdancing session by request.

the ANet animation team.

Dagahra!

Done last minute, for this weeks, Sketchwich! The topic is Japan's Worst Monster.


and ....well, I dunno, but hopefully I go somewhere cool with this one. Don't count on it though.

Philippines Photos

Okay some photos from my trip I thought would be cool to share with the world:

Some AWESOME local kids parading thru the barrios during the annual town festival! So glad I woke up early enough to catch this.

So rad!Man, I totally would wanna be in something like this sometime.I love this shot.
Hey bebe.This was taken at the Camarines Sur Watersports Complex, a pretty popular local tourist spot. Where I spent most of my time falling off my board.
A recently active, Mayon Volcano.
Nabua town square, the province where I stayed.Sh-damn! Can you believe these wires?!

I want one of these bad.Getting spanked in an intense game of air...hockey...pool.
A few cousins and myself. Chillin.While the younger cousins copy every single thing I do.