The animation with a .... je ne sais quoi!
My friends Sebastien Lasserre and Sylvain Aubert just posted a funny video on the Vampire theme. It is mainly French play-on-words kind of humour but the facial expressions and fun acting backed by a catchy sound track and quirky sound design should make you laugh.
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/58087958[/vimeo]
After many years, my friend Maciek finally finished his short film “Yummy”.
Maciek and I started Animation Mentor together in Cassidy Curtis’ first class and after some struggles and set back, he eventually fulfilled his dream to became an animator in Feature Animation. I just hope he gets interviewed one day so he can explain how tenacious one needs to be to succeed. Ah and he could probably talk about his current workflow compared to when he started 😉
He recently revamped his blog, check it out http://www.maciekgliwa.com/
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/35064505[/vimeo]
Related posts:
Daphne’s new broom
102 Q&A
Ken Fountain just released “Attitudes and Acting Beats”, a new video tutorial at the incredible price of $10.99.
Judging by the official blurb and teaser, that one is probably more about acting and motion analysis so it should appeal to everyone from beginners to professionals.
If you want to become a good animator, do no hesitate to buy that tutorial. At $10.99, don’t come up with silly ideas and tell me you can’t afford it! Ken Fountain worked on many movies at Dreamworks, graduated from Animation Mentor and is a current teacher at Ianimate so you are getting way more than a 90 minutes video.
I haven’t seen the tutorial yet but seeing all the effort he put into the last one, that one is a must buy.
Here are the official blurb and teaser:
The new video is officially released! Whew. My intent was to be able to focus on some of the specific areas of my process that people had asked me to elaborate on, and hopefully introduce some new ideas as well. So, in that light, this 90-minutes of lecture/demo is devoted entirely to the planning, video analysis and blocking processes, and the tools and concepts I use to execute these phases with consistency, clarity, and hopefully emotional appeal.
This video is heavy on analysis. I get very specific regarding the structures I use to breakdown a performance and turn it in to pose-able emotional moments; like text, context and subtext, a structure I use to really understand my character and their circumstance; and the pillars of my workflow – attitudes, beats and textures – to create the right body language and interesting rhythms I need to engage my audience. I also take the opportunity to go deeper in to the concept of character centers and how that can greatly effect you character’s movement as well as the graphic quality of your shot’s staging. And, as usual, you can watch my approach to staging and posing for a specific shot; one that I will carry through to the next two videos.
Thanks again for all of your input. I hope to be able to address it all over this 3-part series. And keep them relatively affordable (only $10.99!).
Buy it on the JRAwebinar website http://jrawebinar.com/index.php/store.html
and follow Ken Fountain Splatfrog studio on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/splatfrog
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/34578067[/vimeo]
My buddy Oasim just posted a turn around of a really nice car he modeled a while back. It is a very nice tribute to Cars2 and I think it should be included in any Cars sequel!
If you are interested, he also posted a behind the scene and full tutorial for Maya and Vray.
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/34627201[/vimeo]
Strange I never talked about my ex coworker Robert Craig before. Bob is a Scottish 3d generalist with a great eye for lighting and rendering. I have worked with Bob on several projects at EA, amongst them was Spare Parts and he also rendered some of the marketing videos I animated.
Bob did a lot of great work on the Harry Potter game series, with all the constraints it entails, and I love his personal work as it immediately reminds me of what is being done in Feature Animation and especially at a studio in Emeryville.
His work has a very painterly feel and shows a great passion for light, no wonder he also loves oil painting.
Have a look at his CG Society profile page to see his latest work in high resolution and also his Vimeo channel for a breakdown of some of the shots (his game work is included as well).
With the closure of EA Brighlight in the UK, I think someone should quickly grab him while he is still, kind of, available!
Robert Craig CG Society profile
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/26603576[/vimeo]
Related posts:
Lights and colours
Francesco Girloldini, lighting tutorials
Eduardo Martin Julve showreel
During a Paris AM gathering few weeks ago I realised that the current Animation Mentor students don’t know the work of some crazy graduates so I’d like to feature some of them.
Let’s start with my London based buddy Keith Ribbons.
Keith has worked at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe in London for a bit more than 10 years before taking AM and diving into commercials and TV work. He is currently at Blue Zook working on a TV series.
Check out his reel and short film or visit his Vimeo channel where he posts his WIP.
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/15095349[/vimeo]
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/19333493[/vimeo]
My friends Alfonso Sicilia and Andrea Castagnoli with three of their co-workers just set up Anim Dailies, a pretty cool webiste with a very simple premise: Five senior animators from top VFX studios, will have a look at your work and give you comments, for FREE!
There is no BS here, none of them got credited for work they never did and none of them are trying to fake some sort of expertise. Their Linkedin profile and their showreel is freely available so YOU know THEY know what they are talking about.
Several crits are already up on the website, go and have a look, submit your work and feel the love! 😉
Few month ago I was telling you about a short film made by two of my Chico Chica Boumba uber talented coworkers.
Smallriders, Chloe Blocktaels and Joan Delmont’s short film is finally online and I am loving the final product.
The short was finished in Octobre and we have had to wait a loooong time but this was really well worth it. Joan is not interested in 3d anymore but I would love to see this as an animated feature or a TV series. The animation is really good and the character designs are very appealing. Ah I should also congratulate Benjamin Meyer who was in charge of the rendering or he will kick my butt 😉
Really nice work guys, you can be really proud of it!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8Hks6UNEd0[/youtube]
Related posts:
Smallriders, first teaser
Chico Chica Boumba pilot
Back from Angouleme
If you still haven’t seen any images from my buddy’s Babass Oscar nominated short film “Madagascar, carnet de voyage”, here is an extract I just found on Vimeo
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/10142724[/vimeo]
The shortfilm is a very nice mix of water colours and camera mapped 3d effects.
I am sad he didn’t win the Oscar but the competition was just too strong. Not bad for a second short film though.
Tim McCourt and Wesley Louis, two fellow animators I met during a Central Saint Martins end of year show, just finished a really nice short film I encourage you to see.
‘A wino, resigned and stuck in his ways, finds mysterious sketches on the park bench that he visits every day. As these pictures stir his thoughts, he begins to notice the world around him and to reflect upon his own place within it. He meets a young boy whose innocent encouragement helps to release him from his self destructive social withdrawal and unlocks a part of his character that had been long forgotten.’
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/20344220[/vimeo]
And here is the production blog, I am in love with the main character’s sculpture!
http://drawinginspirationproduction.blogspot.com/
