INSPIRATION 3 - 1969 John Lennon Interviewed by 14 yr old > animated

In 1969, a 14-year-old Beatle fanatic named Jerry Levitan, armed with a reel-to-reel tape deck, snuck into John Lennon's hotel room in Toronto and convinced John to do an interview about peace. 38 years later, Jerry has produced a film about it. Using the original interview recording as the soundtrack, director Josh Raskin has woven a visual narrative which tenderly romances Lennon's every word in a cascading flood of multipronged animation. Raskin marries the terrifyingly genius pen work of James Braithwaite with masterful digital illustration by Alex Kurina, resulting in a spell-binding vessel for Lennon's boundless wit, and timeless message.

animation guild holiday open-house party invite

Here is a LINK to view photos from the party from AnimationNation's Charles Zembillas

2008 ANNIE AWARD NOMINATIONS

2008 ANNIE AWARD NOMINATIONS
ASIFA-Hollywood Annie Awards

PRODUCTION CATEGORIES

Best Animated Feature

Bolt - Walt Disney Animation Studios
Kung Fu Panda - DreamWorks Animation
$9.99 - Sherman Pictures/Lama Films
Wall-E - Pixar Animation Studios
Waltz With Bashir - Sony Pictures Classics/Bridgit Folman, Les Films D'ici, Razor Films

Best Animated Home Entertainment Production

Batman: Gotham Knight - Warner Bros. Animation
Christmas Is Here Again - Easy To Dream Entertainment
Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs - The Curiosity Company in association with 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Justice League: The New Frontier - Warner Bros. Animation
The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning - DisneyToon Studios

Best Animated Short Subject

Glago's Guest - Walt Disney Animation Studios
Hot Dog - Bill Plympton Studio
Presto - Pixar Animation Studios
Sebastian's Voodoo - Joaquin Baldwin
Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death - Aardman Animations Ltd.

Best Animated Television Commercial

Giant Monster - Curious Pictures
Long Legs Mr. Hyde - Curious Pictures
Rotofugi: The Collectors - Screen Novelties
Sarah - Z Animation
United Airlines "Heart" - Duck Studios

Best Animated Television Production

King of the Hill - 20th Century Fox TV
Moral Orel - ShadowMachine
Phineas and Ferb - Disney Television Animation
Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II - ShadowMachine
The Simpsons - Gracie Films/Fox TV

Best Animated Television Production Produced for Children

A Miser Brothers Christmas - Warner Bros. Animation
Avatar: The Last Airbender - Nickelodeon
Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends "Destination Imagination" - Cartoon Network Studios
The Mighty B! - Nickelodeon
Underfist: Halloween Bash - Cartoon Network Studios

Best Animated Video Game

Dead Space - Electronic Arts
Kung Fu Panda - Activision
Wall-E - Heavy Iron Studios, a division of THQ, Inc.


INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT CATEGORIES

Animated Effects

Alen Lai "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears A Who" - Blue Sky Studios
Li-Ming Lawrence Lee "Kung Fu Panda" - DreamWorks Animation
Fangwei Lee "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" - DreamWorks Animation
Kevin Lee "Bolt" - Walt Disney Animation Studios
Enrique Vila "Wall-E" - Pixar Animation Studios

Character Animation in a Feature Production

James Baxter "Kung Fu Panda" - DreamWorks Animation
Jeff Gabor "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears A Who" - Blue Sky Studios
Philippe Le Brun "Kung Fu Panda" - DreamWorks Animation
Victor Navone "Wall-E" - Pixar Animation Studios
Dan Wagner "Kung Fu Panda" - DreamWorks Animation

Character Animation in a Television Production or Short Form

Sandro Cleuzo "Secrets of the Furious Five" - DreamWorks Animation
Joshua A. Jennings "Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II" - ShadowMachine
Pierre Perifel "Secrets of the Furious Five" - DreamWorks Animation

Character Design in an Animated Feature Production

Valerie Hadida "Igor" - Exodus Film Group
Sang Jun Lee "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears A Who" - Blue Sky Studios
Nico Marlet "Kung Fu Panda" - DreamWorks Animation

Character Design in an Animated Television Production or Short Form

Bryan Arnett - Mighty B! "Bat Mitzah Crashers" - Nickelodeon
Ben Balistreri - Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends "Mondo Coco" - Cartoon Network Studios
Sean Galloway "The Spectacular Spider-Man" - Sony Pictures Television
Jorge Gutierrez - El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera "The Good, The Bad, The Tigre" - Nickelodeon
Nico Marlet "Secrets of the Furious Five" - DreamWorks Animation

Directing in an Animated Feature Production

Sam Fell, Rob Stevenhagen "The Tale Of Despereaux" - Universal Pictures
Ari Folman "Waltz With Bashir" - Sony Pictures Classics/Bridgit Folman, Les Films D'ici, Razor Films
Tatia Rosenthal "9.99" - Sherman Pictures/ Lama Films
John Stevenson & Mark Osborne "Kung Fu Panda" - DreamWorks Animation
Andrew Stanton "Wall-E" - Pixar Animation Studios

Directing in an Animated Television Production or Short Form

Bob Anderson - The Simpsons "Treehouse of Horror XIX" - Gracie Films/Fox TV
Joaquim Dos Santos - Avatar: The Last Airbender "Sozin's Comet Pt. 3" - Nickelodeon
Craig McCracken, Rob Renzetti - Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends "Destination Imagination" - Cartoon Network Studios
Chris McKay - Moral Orel "Passing" - ShadowMachine
Alan Smart - SpongeBob SquarePants "Penny Foolish" - Nickelodeon

Music in an Animated Feature Production

Kevin Manthei - "Batman: Gotham Knight" - Warner Bros. Animation
John Powell - "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears A Who" - Blue Sky Studios
Max Richter - "Waltz With Bashir" - Sony Pictures Classics/Bridgit Folman, Les Films D'ici, Razor Films
William Ross - "The Tale Of Despereaux" - Universal Pictures
Hans Zimmer & John Powell - "Kung Fu Panda" - DreamWorks Animation

Music in an Animated Television Production or Short Form

Carl Finch & Brave Combo - Click and Clack's "As the Wrench Turns" - CTTV Productions
Henry Jackman, Hans Zimmer & John Powell - "Secrets of the Furious Five" - DreamWorks Animation
Kevin Kiner - "Star Wars The Clone Wars: Rising Malevolence" - Lucasfilm Animation Ltd.
Guy Moon - Back at the Barnyard "Cowman: The Uddered Avenger" - Nickelodeon/Omation
Guy Michelmore - "Growing Up Creepie: Rockabye Freakie" - Taffy Entertainment LLC

Production Design in an Animated Feature Production

Ralph Eggleston "Wall-E" - Pixar Animation Studios
Paul Felix "Bolt" - Walt Disney Animation Studios
Tang Heng "Kung Fu Panda" - DreamWorks Animation
Evgeni Tomov "The Tale Of Despereaux" - Universal Pictures
Raymond Zibach "Kung Fu Panda" - DreamWorks Animation

Production Design in an Animated Television Production or Short Form

Andy Harkness "Glago's Guest" - Walt Disney Animation Studios
Tang Heng "Secrets of the Furious Five" - DreamWorks Animation
Seonna Hong - The Mighty B! "Bee Patients" - Nickelodeon
Dan Krall - Chowder "The Heavy Sleeper" - Cartoon Network Studios
Raymond Zibach "Secrets of the Furious Five" - DreamWorks Animation

Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production

Alessandro Carloni - "Kung Fu Panda" - DreamWorks Animation
Ronnie Del Carmen - "Wall-E" - Pixar Animation Studios
Joe Mateo "Bolt" - Walt Disney Animation Studios
Jen Yuh Nelson - "Kung Fu Panda" - DreamWorks Animation
Rob Stevenhagen - "The Tale Of Despereaux" - Universal Pictures

Storyboarding in an Animated Television Production or Short Form

Butch Hartman - Fairly OddParents "Mission: Responsible" - Nickelodeon
Andy Kelly - Ni Hao, Kai-Lan "Twirly Whirly Flyers" - Nickelodeon Productions/Nelvana
Andy Schuler - "Secret of the Furious Five" - DreamWorks Animation
Eddie Trigueros "The Mighty B! "Name Shame"- Nickelodeon
Chris Williams "Glago's Guest" - Walt Disney Animation Studios

Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production

Ben Burtt - Voice of Wall-E - "Wall-E" - Pixar Animation Studios
Dustin Hoffman - Voice of Shifu - "Kung Fu Panda" - DreamWorks Animation
James Hong - Voice of Mr. Ping - "Kung Fu Panda" - DreamWorks Animation
Ian McShane - Voice of Tai Lung - "Kung Fu Panda" - DreamWorks Animation
Mark Walton - Voice of Rhino - "Bolt" - Walt Disney Animation Studios

Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production or Short Form

Ahmed Best - Voice of Jar Jar Binks - "Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II" - ShadowMachine
Seth MacFarlane - Voice of Peter Griffin - Family Guy "I Dream of Jesus" - Fox TV Animation/Fuzzy Door Productions
Dwight Schultz - Voice of Mung Daal - Chowder "Apprentice Games" - Cartoon Network Studios

Writing in an Animated Feature Production

Jon Aibel & Glenn Berger - "Kung Fu Panda" - DreamWorks Animation
Etan Cohen and Eric Darnell & Tom McGrath - "Madagascar:Escape 2 Africa" - DreamWorks Animation
Ari Folman - "Waltz With Bashir" - Sony Pictures Classics/Bridgit Folman, Les Films D'ici, Razor Films
Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio - "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears A Who" - Blue Sky Studios

Writing in an Animated Television Production or Short Form

Joel H. Cohen - The Simpsons "The Debarted" - Gracie Films/Fox TV
Scott Kreamer - El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera "Mustache Love" - Nickelodeon
Paul McEvoy and Todd Berger - "Secrets of the Furious Five" - DreamWorks Animation
Tom Root, Douglas Goldstein, Hugh Davidson, Mike Fasolo, Seth Green, Dan Milano, Matthew Senreich, Kevin Shinick, Zeb Wells - "Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II" - ShadowMachine
Chris Williams - "Glago's Guest" - Walt Disney Animation Studios


JURIED AWARDS

Winsor McCay Award
(Career achievement)

Mike Judge, John Lasseter and Nick Park for career contributions to the art of animation.

June Foray Award
(For significant and benevolent or charitable impact on the art and industry of animation)

Bill Turner

Certificate of Merit

Amir Avini, Mike Fontanelli, Kathy Turner, Alex Vassilev.

==============================================================

The Annie Awards are presented by...
The International Animated Film Society
ASIFA-Hollywood
2114 W Burbank Bl
Burbank, CA 91506

BOLT <<<< REVIEWS and COMMENTS

Post your REVIEWS and COMMENTS here :

INSPIRATION 2 - Exactitudes

Rotterdam-based photographer Ari Versluis and profiler Ellie Uyttenbroek have worked together since October 1994. Inspired by a shared interest in the striking dress codes of various social groups, they have systematically documented numerous identities over the last 14 years. Rotterdam's heterogeneous, multicultural street scene remains a major source of inspiration for Ari Versluis and Ellie Uyttenbroek, although since 1998 they have also worked in cities abroad.

They call their series Exactitudes: a contraction of exact and attitude. By registering their subjects in an identical framework, with similar poses and a strictly observed dress code, Versluis and Uyttenbroek provide an almost scientific, anthropological record of people's attempts to distinguish themselves from others by assuming a group identity. The apparent contradiction between individuality and uniformity is, however, taken to such extremes in their arresting objective-looking photographic viewpoint and stylistic analysis that the artistic aspect clearly dominates the purely documentary element.

Wim van Sinderen, Senior Curator Museum of Photography, The Hague










To visit the site click: HERE


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Coraline Trailer

From Henry Selick, visionary director of The Nightmare Before Christmas

The new trailer for the ' Coraline ' animated feature:





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Here's a LINK to see a gallery of character designs.
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Coraline's ' other mother '

Coraline's doll :

Coraline at Comic Con
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from Animatedclay.com :

Coraline is being billed as the largest stop motion feature film ever produced. There are 40 stop motion sets being animated on at any given time, and will be shown in 3-D wherever theaters have that ability. Hopefully they will list some 3-D theaters you can visit locally on it's release in February 2009.

Recently Laika decided to set up a promotional display of the stop motion puppets used in the film. The surprising part was that the puppet faces are built with replacement upper and lower faces. This is similar to Miss Spider in James and the Giant Peach. Although it looks like the seam line is removed digitally afte the shots are completed by the animator.

Laika which is rapidly expanding now employs about 425 people, has two features in production "Jack and Ben" as well as TV advertisements and commercials. So it seems that the business management is doing a good job for the studio which went nearly bankrupt during Will Vintons stay. You can visit Laika's official web site > HERE

2008 ANIMATED FEATURE OSCAR > 14 films submitted

14 Animated Features
Submitted for 2008 Oscar®

Beverly Hills, CA — Fourteen features have been submitted for consideration in the Animated Feature Film category for the 81st Academy Awards®.

The 14 submitted features are:

“Bolt”
“Delgo”
“Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!”
“Dragon Hunters”
“Fly Me to the Moon”
“Igor”
“Kung Fu Panda”
“Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa”
“$9.99”
“The Sky Crawlers”
“Sword of the Stranger”
“The Tale of Despereaux”
“WALL-E”
“Waltz with Bashir”

“Bolt,” “Delgo,” “Dragon Hunters,” “$9.99,” “The Sky Crawlers,” “The Tale of Despereaux” and “Waltz with Bashir” have not yet had their required Los Angeles qualifying run. Submitted features must fulfill the theatrical release requirements and meet all of the category’s other qualifying rules before they can advance in the voting process.

Under the rules for this category, a maximum of 3 films can be nominated in a year in which the field of eligible entries numbers at least 8 but fewer than 16.

Films submitted in the Animated Feature Film category also may qualify for Academy Awards in other categories, including Best Picture, provided they meet the requirements for those categories.

The 81st Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Thursday, January 22, 2009, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2008 will be presented on Sunday, February 22, 2009, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

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BOLT Trailer

all images copyright Disney Animation Studio

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official BOLT website CLICK HERE

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Below is an amazing clip of a chase scene from BOLT.

I love the boarding of this. The action plays so well !

You may want to WAIT to see this until after you see the movie in the theaters,

not to spoil anything for you.

It's a great piece!

The Little Golden Book illustrated by ex-Disney { now Dreamworks } Visual Development Artist Joe Moshier.

Click HERE to buy

Monsters VS Aliens Trailer

All Images Copyright DREAMWORKS ANIMATION STUDIO

The MAKING OF video :

Trailer below :

NOT WORK 4: Waaaaasssuuup Then and now

So funny with meaning! Thanks to my friend snakebite for the heads up.
True.... true.

Waaaaasssuuup 8 YEARS AGO:


Waaaaasssuuup TODAY :

some tigger and pooh storyboards

Here are a couple of my ' My friends Tigger and Pooh' story board panels.
It was a cute show to board on.
All images Copyright Disney

NOT WORK 3 .....HaLLowEEn.....

Here are some assorted halloween photos from the past few years.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE :-)

I love sketch

Here's a link to a new program in development creating 3D from your traditional sketches. Very cool program. :-)

Check out the movie below:


ILoveSketch from Seok-Hyung Bae on Vimeo.

Hercules > the original trailer ... i think :-)

This is when they were going for a more mature audience. I don't think they went with it ?

meet the Robinsons > thumbnail + scene

Here is a scene I animated from Disney's feature: ' Meet the Robinsons ' .

ABOVE is the thumbnail I sketched out when I was first cast the scene from Steve Anderson { director }
I just listened to the audio over and over until I had an idea with how I wanted the shot to go.
Then I drew out the thumbnail sketches, putting down the main beats of action, the ups and downs of the body in regards to the audio etc. My first ideas working them out.

BELOW is the scene as I animated it. It did change a slight bit from the original thumbnails but all in all, the main idea for the performance was pretty much there at the thumbnail stage.

memory lane 1 > Sullivan Bluth Studios : Clean Up Dept 1987

This is the clean up crew for Don Bluths feature :
' The Land Before Time ' taken in 1987.
This was just before our supervisor Vera Lanpher-Pacheco moved on to London to work on the Roger Rabbit feature in 1988. That's Vera in the front center. { The one with the shorter skirt } Today Vera is the Clean -Up supervisor for Disney's newest traditional feature : ' The Princess and the Frog '.
She passed the torch to me to supervise the next feature as well as inheriting one of the studios live-in cats ' Bennie '.
Amazing cat. All 20 pounds of him :-)

Some of you may remember him.

Some of the peoples names in the crowd:

Vera Lanpher { Pacheco }, Me { I'm standing in the back row, last guy on the far right }, Annette Byrne Morel, Ashley McGovern, Michael Carey, Mick Cassidy, Eileen Conway, Nollaig Crombie, Thomas Daly, Denis Deegan, Mary Delaney, Peter Donnelly, Sylvia Fitzpatrick, Alan Fleming, Connor Flynn, Michael Garry, Ben Burgess, Edward { Eddie } Goral, Anne Heeney, Silvia Hoefnagels, Paul J. Kelly, Paul M. Kelly, Michael Kiely, Helen Lawlor, Giorgio Mardegan, Marion Mathieu, Ann McCormick, Margaret McKenna, Anne Marie Mockler, Julie Molina, Dympna O'Halloran, Tara O'Reilly, Terry Pike, Miriam Reid, Julia Ryan, Paul Shanahan, Rusty Stoll, Hugh Tattan, Jeff Topping, Sally Voorheis, Wendo Van Essen, John Hill.

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE:

Here's a link to Kevin O'Neils Blog that also has a photo of some rough inbetweeners.

stories in life drawing

Here's a quick study of a model going through the various stages of
boxing. Throwing a punch, avoiding a hit etc. and then getting knocked down.
We were given 1 minute for each pose above, 2 minutes for the poses below. It was interesting seeing the action play out on the page.
I really enjoyed this life drawing exercise. Quickly putting down on the page any emotion or action and then seeing it come together, telling the story.




Here's another quick study of a different model going
through the steps of picking up a bowling bowl
and not quite getting the results she wanted.

3 quick sketches

Here are a few quick sketches. I think they were around 1 minute per sketch. I find the faster the sketch, the more life can be found in it. Less time to think, just enough time to 'feel' the pose and hopefully get the emotion or action down on the paper.

Fantasia 2000 - Rhapsody in Blue : rough scenes

Here's the 1st scene I animated for the Disney feature : Fantasia 2000.

It was for the ' Rhapsody in Blue ' segment directed by Eric Goldberg.

{ link to Eric's new book on the art of Animation }

Eric cast me this scene which I dove into to. 

It was so much fun to animate this scene.

This project was set up where there were no supervising animators.

I have worked with an amazingly talented group of supervisors.

Learning from each of them. But it was nice for a moment to be able to work directly with the director. And pleasing Eric { with the experience and talent that he is }, was a artistic challenge. I was so happy that he really liked my work.

I love 'overlapping' animation. The way something will drag and 

follow through. The feeling of weight etc. And just finding the 

solutions of having that in the scene with hopefully having a nice design to it as well. 

Having all the objects fall down onto the floor in a pleasing way

was a challenge. Starting with the 'jack in the box', ending with the dog dish coming to a stop.

The music was a major tool with hitting the beats for my poses.

I've been pretty fortunate having these scenes to animate with

the music already set.

Here's the 2nd scene I animated from 'Rhapsody in Blue'.
Once again, having a soundtrack BEFORE I started animating
really helped with visualizing the beats and motion of my
characters movements.

Emperor's New Groove - rough scene

The Emperor's New Groove '.

Kuzco sitting on his throne looking down at Pacha off screen.

David Spade doing the voice of Kuzco was a perfect match. 

His character was a self-centered sarcastic bit of a jerk 

who, throughout the film, learns the hard way to be nice.

It was a nice change of animation style for a Disney film. 

I always thought it was like a combination of 

Warner Brothers animation meets Disney classic style. 

It was a fun film to animate on. 

Very much a cartoon.

Not just stylized reality...but breaking the rules for humour if needed.

And the style guide that Joe Moshier created to keep

us animators drawing the same world was a great help for reference.

I'll post some of the examples when I can.

Home on the Range 3D - animating to music

Home on the Range was a interesting project for me, as I had the jobs of animating traditional and also animating in 3D { the background character : the steer } .

I was the lead with Lee Hepler being assistant animator and Pete Megow as our TD.
This was my first time animating in 3D for a movie.

Worked with the animation software 'Maya'.

Learned a hell of a lot from those two. Great to work with.

Here is my 1st 'march' cycle that I did at the beginning of the movie. My friend, Will Finn { one of the directors on the film }, gave me a very encouraging positive comment after seeing the test, which went a long way. 

Once again, I had the soundtrack { the song } to use to help with the timing of my animation.

The beat and rhythm of the music helped determine the speed of the characters walk or in this case ' march '.
Pete copied this march one hundred times over and plugged it into the BG's for the large crowd shots.

Home on the Range - animating to music

Here are 2 scenes I animated while working on the

Disney feature ' Home on the Range '.

There's lots going on with these scenes. 

It was fun being able to animate to the music.

Having a soundtrack...being able to place the 

beats on the X-Sheet was very much a added bonus 

for actually hitting the beats with my poses.

The lady is feeding the chickens corn from a bag .... with the 3rd chicken stopping to 'smile' at the lady... the yellow corn in it's beak taking the place of teeth. { it reads better in finished color :-) }

NOT WORK 1 : btw ..... Vancouver B.C.

btw... here are a few photos of my boys taken from our recent trip to Vancouver B.C. Canada
Just flew back last week. Miss the lake already ! It was beauty eh. Damn... it really was. :-)

TinkerBell - the movie

It was the ' Tinkerbell ' wrap party on friday night here in southern California { Friday August 22nd 2008 } It is the 1st of 4 tink movies.... and as John Lasseter mentioned on the stage just before the outdoor screening of the film { It was a great night } ...there could be more.

The Tinkerbell movies are direct to DVD releases. They are story-boarded at the studio here in southern Ca. , with the character animation being done in India.

 Here are some of my storyboard panels for the movie. I loved drawing Tink. Very cute girl. And with attitude ;-) Once again, Tink, being the curious playful character, gets herself in trouble.















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