The Power of a Frame

Sometimes you see a photo or a frame out of a movie and it just says it all (or at least something). A great resource for photos is The Big Picture @ boston.com. The photo set of war are pretty intense, so beware.

This has nothing to do with the technique of animation, but to me they are a springboard for ideas for shots. You want to tell a story using the whole frame, not just the characters within the frame.

Here a select few:

Look of fear? Hope? Longing?

A character doesn't always have to be human or a "living creature". The look of set or an environment can say a lot. Or I'm just looking for an excuse to post this awesome picture.

This would be a pain to animate, but it's cool to see a group focused on a single object.

Great facial expression and contrast between characters.

Single path, surrounded by limits, or whatever this image triggers, but the composition is interesting.

That guy is very eager or very lonely.

Guide the audience to the focal point.

That's just funny.

The people just look like ants.

Anyway. Again, nothing purely about animation, but maybe an inspiration to some.

Various Anim stuff

Up Poster found @ iwatchstuff and you can watch a scene from the movie (no spoilers) @ vimeo. The kid's voice is super low, kinda creepy. :)

Opening cinematic of Killzone 2. That's one long shot, holy moly.

A new Monsters vs. Aliens featurette is @ Animated-News

The Artistic Anatomy Blog

Here's another fantastic blog. "The Artistic Anatomy Blog" has TONS of figure drawings, paintings, studies, etc. Being figure centric, you'll see a lot of nudity, so sensitive people beware. Great resource and a fantastic reminder of how much I suck at drawing. :)

Temple of the Seven Golden Camels

I've mentioned this site before, but it's always good to remind people to check it out.

There are great posts, the newest ones being:

- "Do Your Research, it's Easier than Ever"
- "Simple Ways to Improve Any Picture"
- "FAC: Composition"
- "Creative Illustration: Composition"

"9" and "Planet 51" trailers

Bit late on that one, but iwatchstuff has the trailer for Shane Acker's "9".


Then go to Sony's site to watch the new "Planet 51" trailer.

T28 - Teaser

Watch it @ imagius.com!

Busy busy and lots of anim stuff

Hey all, sorry for the lack of posts. I'm really busy at work and was sick over the week-end...

But there's a lot of good stuff out there and I don't want you guys to miss out, so here we go:

I love it when John Nevarrez posts motivatinal blogs and here's a new bunch but this time over @ Cooked Art.

from SP-BOESCH-IAL




Great stuff (especially from "Burn Safari") over @ Aurelien Predal



There's a lot more, so make sure to check out the post @ Cooked Art.

The Academy of Art Animation Notes points to sweet drawings that emphasize the line-of-action, among other things. Very cartoony but super cool.


Then we got the January 2009 Animation Mentor Newsletter.


- The Year of the Indie Animator
- Find your Passion in 2009! A message from Bobby Beck
- Short Film: "Prospective Student by Eric Luhta
- Mentor: Jalil Sadool from Weta Digital
- Student: Corinne Hawari
- Tips & Tricks by Shawn Kelly: I'll never be as good as animator as so-and-so

Good read as always, so check it out.

- Harold Carr sent me a great email, he points to Amazon which has the Walt Stanchfield Notes, 2 Volumes, $20 each. I had them as print outs laying somewhere, but it's just not the same as a neat book. Yeah, I'm Swiss, I like organized and neat stuff, leave me alone. :)


But the great thing about the email was a link to an hour long cut-scene compilation of "Full Throttle". If you don't know Full Throttle then shame on you!!! :)

During LucasArts' glory years they released the absolute awesome classic games like Maniac Mansion, Day of the Tentacle, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, the Monkey Island series, The Dig, Grim Fandango, etc. etc. and of course Full Throttle. I love those point and click adventure games. The stories were great, the puzzles super funny and the 2D animation a blast. When I first got the iPod Touch I had to jailbreak it just so I could put ScummVM on it (SCUMM being Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion), which let me play Fate of Atlantis where I went. AWESOME!!!!


So come on LucasArts, re-release those games on the iPhone, people want it!!! Ok, maybe it's just me...

That's it for now, more will come. Plus I think I fixed my computer, so stay tuned.