Animation with a moustache

The animation with a .... je ne sais quoi!

Category: Animation

Back from Angouleme 5

Animation / Drawings

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Back from Angouleme

Cobbled street of Angouleme

As some of you might know, during the Annecy animation festival I got myself a great gig at animation studio “2 minutes” in the capital of “Bande dessinées”: Angoulême.

Angoulême is a gorgeous historic town, ideally located between Paris and the basque country, not too far from the seaside resort of also gorgeous La Rochelle and Royan. Angoulême is a fortified town with cobbled street located on top of the “Plateau”, a huge hill overlooking the Charente river.

All the houses are made of white stone which gives it that historic middle-age feeling.

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“The increasing role of character animation in games” 0

Animation / Animation Mentor / Education / Video Games

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“The increasing role of character animation in games”

The increasing role of character animation in games

The increasing role of character animation in games

Several month ago, with few other Animation Mentor graduates, I was asked to write some clever thoughts about the increasing role of character animation in games. My name got misspelt few times but the article is still a very good read.

You can find the article here on Animation Arena.
http://www.animationarena.com/character-animation.html

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts Game Credits 0

Animation / Video Games

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Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts Game Credits

bgbanjokazooienutsandbolts

Googling my name I realised that Microsoft had put my name among all the great people who worked on Banjo Kazooie “Nuts and Bolts” on the Microsoft website. Cool
http://www.microsoft.com/games/mgsgamecatalog/banjokazooiecredits.aspx

Banjo Kazooie is a fun little game I was about to say but it is actually a fun Massive game!!! Just like “Viva Pinata”, I think Microsoft could easily make a TV series or even a feature based on those really great characters. To me, Banjo Kazooie is probably the strongest cartoony IP on the Xbox 360 at the moment so whywnot a true plateformer in the meantime?

“French Roast” short film 0

Animation

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“French Roast” short film

French Roast

French Roast

After several nominations and winning Siggraph 2009 “Best in Short”, French short film “French roast” is attracting a lot of attention those days. “French Roast” was produced by Bibo Film, the very same company that created “A Monstre in Paris”.

http://www.frenchroast.fr/trailer.html

Here is a series of interviews with the director Fabrice O. Joubert on Character design blog and also on the online version of Animation Magazine.

Splinedoctors on Demo reels…. ouch ;-) 4

Animation / Animation Mentor

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Splinedoctors on Demo reels…. ouch ;-)

As a confirmation of what has been said by one of Pixar senior HR staff in Annecy, here is what Pixar artists have to say about demo reels.

http://splinedoctors.com/2009/08/more-on-demo-reels/

I must admit that I still don’t know what to think about the 4th bullet point:

“4) Don’t use those free Internet models. I cant tell you how many times we see the same 4 or five models. Yes, we know its hard to rig and find a good model to animate, but seeing the same rig for all these years is getting old. If you are gonna use a free rig, alter it so much so that you cant tell that its the norman rig or the animation mentor rig.Using the stock rig is just boring.”

Do they expect people to learn how to rig? I don’t have any problem with technical stuff like rigging or modeling but I am not sure everyone is really inclined towards that stuff so how much customization do they think is necessary when using “stock rigs”? Do they have any successful example?

“Walt Stanchfield”, Don Hahn Webinar 3

Animation / Animation Mentor / Character design

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“Walt Stanchfield”, Don Hahn Webinar

Animation Mentor just posted a great conversation between Disney producer Don Hahn and Bobby Beck about the life of Disney’s life drawing teacher Walt Stanchfield. Walt Stanchfield was a keen tennis player but more than anything an immense inspiration for everyone at Disney. His family also released his famous notes if you didn’t get the previous pdfs

http://www.amazon.com/Drawn-Life-Classes-Stanchfield-Lectures/dp/0240810961

Check it out

Drawn to life

Drawn to life