Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Working Girl ( no not like that you perv)

Yay!!!!!! Finally! I got a real job! I'm currently animating for the Animation Collective's Jolly Rabbit cartoon! It's totally adorable, and here's a little still from their site.

HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'll link to stuff in the future if I'm allowed... although I'm not 100% sure on the policy yet. But yay! Just what I've been hoping for for the last 2 years. Stability! I've even got several other jobs on the side. Life is crazy these days!

I'm currently working on revisions for my GE Howcast spot. I've got a lot to redo which is a bit overwhelming at the moment, but I think it'll turn out great. I'm so pleased with the look of it that I'm actually going to take the time to submit it to festivals next year. I believe it's set to go live in late January or February and I'll be sure to link to it obnoxiously as soon as it does!

Merry Crapsmas to me and my family who will no longer have to help me pay bills! Best present ever!!!!


Love,

The Grinch

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Finger Puppets




This isn't the best photo of all time, but you get the point. Today I sewed a finger puppet of myself as a promo for a puppet studio I want to work for. I'm rather fond of this, and it's going to be hard to send it... All I can say is that I hope they actually call me because if they don't I'll be incredibly sad. Puppets 4Life.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Mad Props

Lately I've found myself rather busy (yet somehow still underfunded). I've been working on a prepilot for FOX with Mr. Sean Donnelly, as well as on a new Howcast video. The Howcast assignment is especially exciting. It's a break from the standard step-by-step format we usually work in. I don't want to reveal too much about the project, but my video will be in two parts, this, the "real world",


and another section which will be hand drawn with crayons on good old fashioned paper. (Just blew your mind there didn't I?) Perhaps I'm smug, but I'm very satisfied with the look of this! It's taken forever (about 3 weeks or so) to create the background elements which are all hand made out of a combination of cardboard, popsicle sticks, felt, and hot glue. The shot doesn't exactly give you a full view of the props, so I've included some of my source photos below.

This is the main house for the film, I've included photos of it before I painted so you can better see the construction. It's made out of a cardboard armature, popsicle stick siding and shingles, tin foil for the "solar panels", sculpey for the chimney bricks, and held together by hot glue. It stands approximately 18" high.







Both the car and the rocket ship are carved out of pink insulation foam, hot glued together, and painted.



Houses below are made of popsicle sticks, hot glued on a cardboard base.



These are buildings "of the FUTURE". These were primarily made the same way as the other houses, but this time I threw in some sculpey elements as well as a pinch of glitter.






The clouds and bushes/trees are sewn out of felt and embroidery floss, stuffed with tissue paper.


In the mean while I'm on that never ending quest of future employment. Got some new contacts last week, and I'm hoping to accomplish something important this week. Wish me luck.



Monday, September 13, 2010

Catchin' Some Sweet Waves Brah'

So as promised, I'd be documenting a bit of the process of creating my personal film, working title Stories My Daddy Told Me. I've been painting this background FOREVER it seems. It was my first time working in painter. I'm pretty in love with that program. The brushes in Photoshop can't even begin to compare- not even in CS5. Although I've been slaving away, seemingly for years, I'm still not done with it. It still needs another 500 or so people on the beach, but you get the idea.




And a few select close ups....


I also did some little animation in the amusement park area. Check it out.




and some sweet waves that took forever to color




And all of this is for a less than 5 second shot. Ha. Such is the life of an animator I suppose.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Sneak Peek Stop Motion Extravaganza!

As I've mentioned, I'm currently working on my own film whenever I get a chance. It's a collection of short stories that my dad has told me about his childhood. The first story is in production at the moment with a run time of about one minute. It's primarily going to be hand drawn in Toon Boom 5 (soon to be Toon Boom 6 whoOooooOoOoaaaa), but there's a few small segments that are stop motion.

I've been working on compositing my stop motion footage I shot over at Asterisk Animation courtesy of Richard. I can't thank him enough for his help and generosity. It was ridiculously stressful trying to get everything to work together, but between 2 computers, 2 different stop motion programs, 2 cameras, and some ghetto lighting, it all managed to come together.

The big stop motion scene is underwater. Overall things went pretty well. I was very satisfied with the animation of the three fish characters, however I was a little disappointed with my animation of the plants. The armatures I used were made of steel wire (big mistake!) and the arms of the plants were very difficult to move in the small increments needed to create a subtle swaying underwater look. Right now they move way too fast and way too much. I may just end up taking stills of each plant arm and using the puppet tool in AE. I know that's cheating, but I want this film to look stellar.

Anyway, here's a little sneak peek of one of the characters. I haven't settled on a look for the ocean yet so there's no background at the moment, but you get the idea.



And here's a still that I created as a style frame for the underwater shot. It already looks quite a bit different, but at least you can see the look of the puppets. More to come in the next few weeks!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

GLEE!!

Here's my latest from Howcast. I'm busy trudging away on my personal film, as well as several freelance projects. Expect many posts in the near future!

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

HARDCORE HOWCAST

FINALLY! My latest Howcast video is online! It paid better too! Yay! I made this whole thing in a week!


Also it can be seen on the front page of BillShrink's website! http://www.billshrink.com/ I also noticed this weekend when I was home that BillShrink was featured in the Morning Call. Hopefully this drums up some business for me!


Thursday, May 20, 2010

Skanks


I just designed this foxy lady for a webisode I've been working on. I kinda love her.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Boob jobs!

Yet another Howcast video.



Over the past few weeks I've been busy assembling a bunch of packages for studios. Hopefully this will get me noticed. Even if they don't provide me with a job, I hope that at least I'll get some good feedback and/or suggestions to get me a job in the near future. Finances are tight at the moment. VERY tight.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Bunny Plate

I found myself reading a craft book the other day and got an idea. I made myself a 3d plate out of a a clear glass plate I got from Crate and Barrel for a wopping $2.95. Hopefully this holds up to several washings.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Family Portrait

I've been meaning to post this for a long time now. This is an oil painting caricature I did for my parents for Christmas. It was odd painting in oils again after such a long break, but I think it eventually started coming back to me.


I was really pleased with the likenesses. I was scared that I would never be satisfied with a drawing of my parents. I've always found the better I know someone, the harder it is for me to draw a caricature of them that I'm happy with. Glad this turned out well!

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Ho hum the circus man

Look what I just made!

circus man! from Vanessa Appleby on Vimeo.




I decided to pull out the Animators Survival Kit and after some reading I felt compelled to make a dynamic walk. I tried futzing around with the passing position, as I have recently learned, this is key to an awesome walk. Instead of having the pass be the high point, it's actually the low, giving the whole thing a bouncier feeling. I think I may continue with this character. I'm envisioning him lit on fire by a firebreather in the background. We'll see.

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Website crit and some more Howcast

My website was just mentioned on the Asterisk Animation blog! Go read about it.
ASTERISK ASTERISK ASTERISK
Glad to know they like my new site!

Also, my last completed Howcast video is online. Go check it out as well.



I've been working for the designer Agatha Ruiz de la Prada for the last 2 months, and I was just offered a position in Madrid in their creative department. Talk about exciting, but also terrifying! There's lots to think about in the next few weeks! I'm sure I'll write more when I have more information.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Tuesday, January 5, 2010