"Arthur Christmas" from Aardman

Batelco - INFINITY

Some amazing CG artistry and animation!!!


Batelco - INFINITY from Alex & Steffen on Vimeo.

And the making of....


Batelco - INFINITY | Making-of from Alex & Steffen on Vimeo.

Disney "Tangled"

I cannot say enough about Disney's new animated feature "Tangled". It was nothing less than amazing and beautiful. The first thing I noticed about it was the character design. These characters don't look like your typical CG characters. They look like the characters of earlier Disney classics. Rapunzel looks a lot like Ariel and Belle. She has those big, beautiful eyes and profile like the others.

The main thing that really had me looking forward to this film was that Glen Keane was originally directing it. I remember listening to him talk about this on a podcast a couple of years ago. He was talking about the painterly effect they were going for. That's exactly what they did. This CG picture has the same look and warmth of Disney's traditional 2D animated features. And with Glen Keane on board, I knew the animation was going to be nothing short of the best. Watching Glen's animation work on Tarzan, you can definitely see his touch in many of the scenes. The subtle hand poses, the expressions in the faces of all the characters, and especially Rapunzel's feet. I know it sounds weird, but Glen did some amazing work with just the feet and hands of Tarzan and the Beast.

The thing that really surprised me when I saw the film was that it was a musical. I knew there were going to be songs involved, but I didn't expect the characters to break out into song and dance. That was a nice surprise. I didn't walk out of the theater humming any of the songs, but they were great none the less. I'm pretty sure if, and when, I see it again the songs will stick a bit more.

The one thing I can say over and over again is that this is an amazing movie and I can't wait to see what comes next!

New Layout

I got quite a bit of constructive criticism for my 11 Second Club July entry.

The one thing many people commented on was that they felt the emotion of the scene would have been more effective if she was sitting on the couch instead of behind it. I thought since she was alone and wanted to get away from the world, she would want to hide away in a little corner or something and the best she could do was hiding behind her couch. So I moved her around and came up with a new layout.

Now I just need to adjust the animation to fit the new scene. I also changed up the lighting a bit. I read up on it and made it a lot more convincing that the shotty job I did the first time. The first one just looks bland in a very bad way. The new one seems to have more of a mood lighting effect.

My 11SC November Entry

I came up with some ideas and sketches for last month's 11 Second Club competition. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to get much work done. However, I really like the dialog clip and my idea and would still like to get it done so I can add it to my reel.

My idea was to have a devil character wearing a halo. An angel appears next to him and accuses him of stealing it. Here's what I have so far:

I really wanted to push the over-the-top antics and expressions. I also felt the key would be the subtle facial animation on the more quiet moments.

I checked the website this morning, and as you can see from my previous post the winner's entry is really good. So I keep looking at the top 10 and what do I see at the #10 spot?

An angel and a devil wearing a halo! HOLY CRAP! Someone else had a very similar idea to mine AND THEY CAME IN 10TH PLACE! I'm not saying that mine would have been better but now I at least have to try.

11 Second Club November Winner

This is the winning entry for the 11 Second Club competition for November.

"Thought of You" by Ryan Woodward

This is an amazing piece of work that has been making the round on facebook. I had to post it.


Thought of You from Ryan Woodward on Vimeo.

And here is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of it.


Thought of You - Behind the Scenes Preview - ROUGH CUT from Cambell Christensen on Vimeo.


Thought of You - Making Of from Ryan J Woodward on Vimeo.


And here is Ryan Woodward's website. I've seen some of his work and it is just amazing.

New Pooh

Not too sure how I feel about this. It seems like Disney is taking a step backwards with traditional hand drawn animation. Instead of going for something new and daring, they're going for something that already seemed to have worked before.



I've been reading a lot of different comments about this new trailer. Most of it negative. Yes, it is nice to see Winnie the Pooh back up on the big screen for a whole new generation. But, THIS is the best the Disney company can produce?! I know John Lassetter has been pushing for a resurgence of hand drawn animation at Disney. I'm all for it. But instead of going for something new, they go with something old. The Princess and the Frog is a great and beautiful movie. The new CG movie Tangled looks amazing. I would have loved to have seen it as a traditional hand drawn feature. (more on that to come later). But they keep going for the "safe" story lines and themes. Singing princesses and dancing animals. While PIXAR is going for the more daring and innovative story lines. THEY are the ones taking risks (Ratatouille, Wall-E, The Incredibles) and they are paying off big time!

I, of all people, am so happy to see a resurgence of hand drawn animation return to Disney. It's great to see new work from some of the animators that have inspired me over the years like Andreas Deja, Eric Goldberg and Mark Henn. Hopefully, their talents will not be wasted on material that could have been completed by a TV animation studio.

ZOMBIGOTCHI!!

Zombigotchi! from Michael Please on Vimeo.

New book released today...

If you know me at all, you know that I am not political at all. But last night as I was putting out the new releases at work, I couldn't help but see the humorous implications of the two newest titles being released today: Decision Points by George Bush and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth by Jeff Kinney.