Anim news

Animated-News got a few interesting posts:

- first, a new "Up" picture was released - [update] and another one
- interview with Andrew Stanton (over one hour)
- Wallace and Gromit's "A Matter of Loaf and Death"

Merry Christmas!

Or if you have another holiday coming up, then Merry/Happy [insert holiday/festivity]!!

All the best!

Jean-Denis

AAU, Graduation and The Job Search

As all AAU students know, the Pixar classes are no more. There's a post about it on the Splinedoctors site and the comment section is very interesting. If you have any input, I encourage you to post a comment as well.

Among the comments you'll find a link to the cgsociety forums. Don't close your browser before reading the entry post by "Joe" the FX artist. Fantastic pieces of advice, don't miss it!

Brendan and the Secret of Kells - Trailer

Both "Siegfried" and this look so cool! Find out more about it @ twitchfilm

"Siegfried" footage

- more detail @ Cartoon Brew

Another Semester is over

Every semester is a blast and this fall semester was no exception. You guys were great! Good luck to all of you and thanks for very entertaining 15 sessions! :)

P.S.: please let me know in the comments section or per email what worked and didn't work in this class. If you had to take it again, what would like to see improved or changed? Don't be shy or polite, I'd like to make it worth your time and money.

- pic source

Be Professional

Alright, I apologize for singling out people (then why do it?!) but I wanted to use those examples to make a point.

Can you tell me which one is the original Bishop?

AM people can of course, but it doesn't matter how familiar you are with the rig, you can't deny how similar they all look. So why mention this? With a business like Animation Mentor I would assume that their assets are protected, so copyright issues will come up when you release a rig which looks like an AM rig. Since the creator is not charging money for it, I doubt he/she won't be in a lot of trouble besides a take-down notice, but remember, there is a fine line between innocent inspiration and rip off and I doubt that line even exists in the eye of the law.

So be professional and think about copyrights, don't copy other people's animation or ideas, etc. Besides the obvious legal implications, don't give anybody any reason to think that you are not creative. You should behave like a professional the moment you're intending to be an animator. Being a student doesn't mean that those laws don't apply to you.

This fall semester is soon over and many people are graduating and really feeling the pressure of finding a job. I always say "Do whatever it takes to get a job.", but by that I mean, be willing to set aside parties and other non-animation related activities for a while, be ready to work hard on your reel and don't be a snob when it comes to job offers (this goes especially for foreigners depending on a VISA). You'd love to work at a big company but are offered a position in a small animation shop instead? Take it. Don't be a snob. Be ready to eat a few sh*t-sandwiches before you hit the jackpot. That's what I mean with "whatever it takes". I don't mean to backstab other animators, stealing animation ideas or clips. I've seen it happen and you won't last long if you go that route. Even with the pressure that you're feeling now, don't get tempted.

So remember, be:

P.S.: How did I find this? I'm updating Animation Buffet with new rigs and the AM lookalike was on highend3d. Now I found another one. I don't know which one came first, but I have an idea. Either way, am I the only one who thinks this is the same model?


A lot of people mention that it's okay to modify and enhance their rigs, so this example might be harmless. I still had to laugh though when I saw it. One is a wolf, the other one a dog. Hmm... :)

P.P.S.: This rig is actually really cool, but it reminds me of a certain movie character... (if at least the tusks were different). But otherwise check it out, it's a lot of fun.


P.P.P.S.: I mean, I could go on and on and on...

Even more anim material

I know, I know, it's been a while since an actual critique or lecture posts, sorry! It's a busy time but I'll get back to it, promise! :)

Until then though I still want to point to all the awesome animation related material that's out there.

- The new Star Wars themed "Robot Chicken" episode is absolutely fantastic and the animation is unbelievable. The 11 second club points to a youtube clip on their forum. I have the tab open and the clip plays (must be saved cache), but on youtube itself it's gone (due to copyright problems). Maybe do a search for "Robot Chicken Boba Fett".

- Then we have the new Gobelins shorts, which you can see at gobelins.fr. Even though some of the stories are a bit weird (to me at least), the style of the clips are really cool. It would be neat to see that style in a feature with a good story.


- Animated-News got a link to the trailer for "$9.99", the stop-motion feature by Tatia Rosenthal.


- Check out the new 11secondclub winner Tim Granberg and the runner up "Call me Lou!" by Patrick. They're both well done and showcase what the skill level is out there.

More anim shorts, clips and inspiration

- As always John Nevarez has fantastic links to other blogs. Make sure to check it out, the style variety is huge, here my favorites:




- Patch of Orange


- Tobias Kwan



- Damien Laurent


- Kevin Chen


- Demonhand




- Young's Gallery



- Lan Feng Art




- Thomas von Kummant


- Mercilessdesign

There's a lot more, so make sure to check out Nevarez' blog.


- iwatchstuff has the first pic of "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs". Cool style (too bad the marketing department went with the default hands though).

- synchrolux links to new "Warner Bros. Short Cartoons"

- Studio aka has lots of shorts up for your viewing pleasure.

Anim news

Cartoon Brew has a cool post about his 2008 favorites, which include movies, animation style, blogs, etc. There's a lot of cool stuff that you might have missed this year, so go check it out.

Scared Kid Reference

This was floating around work. :)

Animation Mentor Newsletter - December 2008

The new AM newsletter for December 2008 is out! This time you get:

- Bill Melendez: A Storied Career Drawn From A Gift For Animation
- new AM Merchandise
- The Convergence of 2D and 3D Animation
- Jason Ryan Webinar
- short film: "Autonomy" by Brad Regier
- Mentor: David Vallone
- Student: Oyku Ak
- Words of Advice for the Temp & Rookie Animator - by Nick Bruno

The last article is great and has gems like these:

Take your critique like a man (or a very strong woman). To many animators think they take criticism well, but I see way too many people trying to explain themselves or getting defensive. Just take it with a smile. Feel free to brainstorm with them or to ask questions to clarify something, just don’t get defensive.

Silly Walks and Creative Ruts

Swiss Miss points to a John Cleese interview about creativity and the creative process.

Trailers, shorts, docs and story

- First off, we got "Open Season 2" @ movie-list.com


- then some crazy action courtesy of "Ninja Blade"

- then "The Crushing Horror"

- next up is Sasktel's "Raving Red" commercial, with a 26 sec long shot

- then "Galactic Mail" with a cool style and lots of pod racer sounds :)

- Cooked Art also has "My Wasted Life - A documentary on Matt Groening"



- Joe Pitt points to an Ira Glass clip about Storytelling, which is pretty interesting

Stop-Motion Photography

Head over to orschlurch.de for funny stop-motion photography examples.

Recommended posts

- Head over to Jeff's blog for "Imageworks... a conversation on demo reels". Copy/pasting this quote from the post, which is reason enough to race over there in order to read more goodies:

"My kryptonite is that I'm an impatient guy. So if I go to an animators website to look at their work and don't see a big button that says DEMO REEL, I'll search for about 15 seconds and then move on. Likewise if I can't get a demo to play on the site for some reason, I'll simply pass."

There's a lot of great info so make sure to check it out!

- The "Turok: Creature Reel" is back up and it's of course still amazing. You want to see good physical animation, watch that.

- Another post from the Flip blog is "Getting an animation job in games" with TONS of information. So if Games is your thing, don't miss it.

36th Annie Awards Nominations

From Animated-News:

The nominations for the 36th Annie Awards were announced today, and Kung Fu Panda leads all films with 17 nominations. Bolt was second with 9 nods, and WALL-E third with 8.

PRODUCTION CATEGORIES

Best Animated Feature
Bolt - Walt Disney Animation Studios
Kung Fu Panda - DreamWorks Animation
$9.99 - Sherman Pictures/Lama Films
WALL-E - Pixar Animation Studios
Waltz With Bashir - Sony Pictures Classics/Bridgit Folman, Les Films
D’ici, Razor Films

Best Animated Home Entertainment Production
Batman: Gotham Knight - Warner Bros. Animation
Christmas Is Here Again - Easy To Dream Entertainment
Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs - The Curiosity
Company in association with 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Justice League: The New Frontier - Warner Bros. Animation
The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning - DisneyToon
Studios

Best Animated Short Subject
Glago’s Guest - Walt Disney Animation Studios
Hot Dog - Bill Plympton Studio
Presto - Pixar Animation Studios
Sebastian’s Voodoo - Joaquin Baldwin
Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death - Aardman Animations Ltd.

Best Animated Television Commercial
Giant Monster - Curious Pictures
Long Legs Mr. Hyde - Curious Pictures
Rotofugi: The Collectors - Screen Novelties
Sarah - Z Animation
United Airlines “Heart” - Duck Studios

Best Animated Television Production
King of the Hill - 20th Century Fox TV
Moral Orel - ShadowMachine
Phineas and Ferb - Disney Television Animation
Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II - ShadowMachine
The Simpsons - Gracie Films/Fox TV

Best Animated Television Production Produced for Children
A Miser Brothers Christmas - Warner Bros. Animation
Avatar: The Last Airbender - Nickelodeon
Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends “Destination Imagination” - Cartoon Network Studios
The Mighty B! - Nickelodeon
Underfist: Halloween Bash - Cartoon Network Studios

Best Animated Video Game
Dead Space - Electronic Arts
Kung Fu Panda - Activision
WALL-E - Heavy Iron Studios, a division of THQ, Inc.

INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT CATEGORIES

Animated Effects
Alen Lai Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who - Blue Sky Studios
Li-Ming Lawrence Lee Kung Fu Panda - DreamWorks Animation
Fangwei Lee Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa - DreamWorks Animation
Kevin Lee Bolt - Walt Disney Animation Studios
Enrique Vila WALL-E - Pixar Animation Studios

Character Animation in a Feature Production
James Baxter Kung Fu Panda - DreamWorks Animation
Jeff Gabor Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who - Blue Sky Studios
Philippe Le Brun Kung Fu Panda - DreamWorks Animation
Victor Navone WALL-E - Pixar Animation Studios
Dan Wagner Kung Fu Panda - DreamWorks Animation

Character Animation in a Television Production or Short Form
Sandro Cleuzo Secrets of the Furious Five - DreamWorks Animation
Joshua A. Jennings Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II - ShadowMachine
Pierre Perifel Secrets of the Furious Five - DreamWorks Animation

Character Design in an Animated Feature Production
Valerie Hadida Igor - Exodus Film Group
Sang Jun Lee Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who - Blue Sky Studios
Nico Marlet Kung Fu Panda - DreamWorks Animation

Character Design in an Animated Television Production or Short Form
Bryan Arnett - Mighty B! “Bat Mitzah Crashers” - Nickelodeon
Ben Balistreri - Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends “Mondo Coco” - Cartoon Network Studios
Sean Galloway The Spectacular Spider-Man - Sony Pictures Television
Jorge Gutierrez - El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera “The Good, The Bad, The Tigre” - Nickelodeon
Nico Marlet Secrets of the Furious Five - DreamWorks Animation

Directing in an Animated Feature Production
Sam Fell, Rob Stevenhagen The Tale Of Despereaux - Universal Pictures
Ari Folman Waltz With Bashir - Sony Pictures Classics/Bridgit Folman, Les Films D’ici, Razor Films
Tatia Rosenthal 9.99 - Sherman Pictures/ Lama Films
John Stevenson & Mark Osborne Kung Fu Panda - DreamWorks Animation
Andrew Stanton WALL-E - Pixar Animation Studios

Directing in an Animated Television Production or Short Form
Bob Anderson - The Simpsons “Treehouse of Horror XIX ” - Gracie Films/Fox TV
Joaquim Dos Santos - Avatar: The Last Airbender “Sozin’s Comet Pt. 3” - Nickelodeon
Craig McCracken, Rob Renzetti - Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends “Destination Imagination” - Cartoon Network Studios
Chris McKay - Moral Orel “Passing” - ShadowMachine
Alan Smart - SpongeBob SquarePants “Penny Foolish ” - Nickelodeon

Music in an Animated Feature Production
Kevin Manthei - Batman: Gotham Knight - Warner Bros. Animation
John Powell - Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who - Blue Sky Studios
Max Richter - Waltz With Bashir - Sony Pictures Classics/Bridgit Folman, Les Films D’ici, Razor Films
William Ross - The Tale Of Despereaux - Universal Pictures
Hans Zimmer & John Powell - Kung Fu Panda - DreamWorks Animation

Music in an Animated Television Production or Short Form
Carl Finch & Brave Combo - Click and Clack’s “As the Wrench Turns” - CTTV Productions
Henry Jackman, Hans Zimmer & John Powell - Secrets of the Furious Five - DreamWorks Animation
Kevin Kiner - “Star Wars The Clone Wars: Rising Malevolence” - Lucasfilm Animation Ltd.
Guy Moon - Back at the Barnyard “Cowman: The Uddered Avenger” - Nickelodeon/Omation
Guy Michelmore - “Growing Up Creepie: Rockabye Freakie” - Taffy Entertainment LLC

Production Design in an Animated Feature Production
Ralph Eggleston WALL-E - Pixar Animation Studios
Paul Felix Bolt - Walt Disney Animation Studios
Tang Heng Kung Fu Panda - DreamWorks Animation
Evgeni Tomov The Tale Of Despereaux - Universal Pictures
Raymond Zibach Kung Fu Panda - DreamWorks Animation

Production Design in an Animated Television Production or Short Form
Andy Harkness Glago’s Guest - Walt Disney Animation Studios
Tang Heng Secrets of the Furious Five - DreamWorks Animation
Seonna Hong - The Mighty B! “Bee Patients” - Nickelodeon
Dan Krall - Chowder “The Heavy Sleeper” - Cartoon Network Studios
Raymond Zibach Secrets of the Furious Five - DreamWorks Animation

Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production
Alessandro Carloni - Kung Fu Panda - DreamWorks Animation
Ronnie Del Carmen - WALL-E - Pixar Animation Studios
Joe Mateo Bolt - Walt Disney Animation Studios
Jen Yuh Nelson - Kung Fu Panda - DreamWorks Animation
Rob Stevenhagen - The Tale Of Despereaux - Universal Pictures

Storyboarding in an Animated Television Production or Short Form
Butch Hartman - Fairly OddParents “Mission: Responsible ” - Nickelodeon
Andy Kelly - Ni Hao, Kai-Lan “Twirly Whirly Flyers” - Nickelodeon Productions/Nelvana
Andy Schuler - Secret of the Furious Five - DreamWorks Animation
Eddie Trigueros The Mighty B! “Name Shame“- Nickelodeon
Chris Williams Glago’s Guest - Walt Disney Animation
Studios

Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production
Ben Burtt - Voice of WALL-E - WALL-E - Pixar Animation Studios
Dustin Hoffman - Voice of Shifu - Kung Fu Panda - DreamWorks Animation
James Hong - Voice of Mr. Ping - Kung Fu Panda - DreamWorks Animation
Ian McShane - Voice of Tai Lung - Kung Fu Panda - DreamWorks Animation
Mark Walton - Voice of Rhino - Bolt - Walt Disney Animation Studios

Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production or Short Form
Ahmed Best - Voice of Jar Jar Binks - Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II - ShadowMachine
Seth MacFarlane - Voice of Peter Griffin - Family Guy “I Dream of Jesus” - Fox TV Animation/Fuzzy Door Productions
Dwight Schultz - Voice of Mung Daal - Chowder “Apprentice Games” - Cartoon Network Studios

Writing in an Animated Feature Production
Jon Aibel & Glenn Berger - Kung Fu Panda - DreamWorks Animation
Etan Cohen and Eric Darnell & Tom McGrath - Madagascar:Escape 2 Africa - DreamWorks Animation
Ari Folman - Waltz With Bashir - Sony Pictures Classics/Bridgit Folman, Les Films D’ici, Razor Films
Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio - Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who - Blue Sky Studios

Writing in an Animated Television Production or Short Form
Joel H. Cohen - The Simpsons “The Debarted ” - Gracie Films/Fox TV
Scott Kreamer - El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera “Mustache Love” - Nickelodeon
Paul McEvoy and Todd Berger - Secrets of the Furious Five - DreamWorks Animation
Tom Root, Douglas Goldstein, Hugh Davidson, Mike Fasolo, Seth Green, Dan Milano, Matthew Senreich, Kevin Shinick, Zeb Wells - Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II - ShadowMachine
Chris Williams - Glago’s Guest - Walt Disney Animation Studios

JURIED AWARDS

Winsor McCay recipients - Mike Judge, John Lasseter and Nick Park for career contributions to the art of animation.

June Foray award - - Bill Turner for significant and benevolent or charitable impact on the art and industry of animation.

Certificate of Merit award - Amir Avini, Mike Fontanelli, Kathy Turner, Alex Vassilev.