Linacal Run Cycle

I felt like uploading a rough test!!!




This is for a video game level I am creating right now. Picture something like the Lion King Game for Super Nintendo.

Hand animated character sprites, and lush backgrounds.


I was going to inbetween this, but I suppose for a small character sprite, this is more than enough! This character will also have a jump and stationary sprite. And eventually, it will be vicious and have the ability to attack stuff!


All in a day's work. The tail, and facial features/cleanup/color within the next week.

Basically, she's running for her life while carrying two kits in her mouth, and it's raining and scary outside. Woooo!!!!



My first big cat run cycle. I think it looks awesome for a first timer!

How To Train Your Dragon

I promise to keep fanart and copywritten content to an absolute minimum here, but I will admit, I have also been bitten by the Dragon bug.

This is a serious condition, as I've been reading up on it and seeing it plastered all over blogs, Facebook and Deviant Art.  Non-stop Fanart of Dreamwork's "How To Train Your Dragon."

But I understand now.

That movie was incredible.  I no longer resent that I may eventually turn to 3-D animation, because this movie showed me what I needed to see.  I felt like a kid again; I have returned over and over to the theater to see this movie.  Purchased the soundtrack, went to McDonalds for a Toothless toy.

Best movie I have seen in years.  My favorite 3-D movie so far, and I think that's saying a lot.

So here, before I ramble too much...

Toothless.  The show stopper, the cutest thing I have ever seen.

And I Viking'd myself heavily influencing the drawing based on artist Nicolas Marlet's individual style.

He is a huge inspiration.  And I'd love to draw like this more.

T-Square is my sword, Animation Disk is my shield.  I thought it was cute and creative.

I guess that's all for now.   Seen the movie three times now.   That number will increase, I'm sure.

Off to animate!

Cat Nab Visual Development and Color Keys

IT'S SPRING BREAK, WOOO!

But I'm not on a break by any means!

As always, working on my beloved film.  I took a break from animating, and did a few speed paints in photoshop using some of my layouts.  I strongly believe in good color theory to help move your film.

I was trying to show greens and purples in the first and last one, to portray greed or envy, and pastel golds and purples in the middle one to show a serene calm, loving setting.

I'm a little rusty with Photoshop.  Truth be told, haven't touched it in over a year.

But I do love Vis Dev.  

More color keys to come soon!

Animal Drawings

Some new drawings, finally.

It's been a busy semester.  I've been working on two films, one my own personal, the other collaborative.  My brain feels like mush, but it is SO worth it.

I've been stuck animating a lot of little girls, so I decided to do some different stuff in ye olde sketchbook.   Life drawing, oh I missed you.

Drew these at the Berkley Vivarium.  The Rhino Lizard was so awesome.  He posed perfectly for at least five minutes.

And creepers.   I always wondered why there weren't millipede characters or spiders in animation.  Now I know why.  They're really hard to caricature.

I felt -compelled- to draw a Hyena.   So I did. 

And last but not least, a new animal which has only recently started to intrigue me, a PALAS CAT!  I think they are so neat and puffy.  I would like to see one up close and pet it (without it biting my face off).

I would like to make a character out of this.

I think that's all for today!  I must animate now.

Cat Nab Production - 01

Been working on my film..... Here is some of my character development.

It's based on a true story about a young girl stealing a kitten from its mother, and then realizing the consequences a wee bit too late.

Since this is my first real film, I had the roughest time trying to settle on a story. Long before the film class started, I tried boarding a sequence or two to try and find something with a strong enough story, and something fairly possible to animate.

My first idea was of from an aboriginal tale about where the platypus came from. It involved a duck who got kidnapped by a water rat. She escaped, and then laid eggs weeks later. What came of it was the platypus! It was a little suggestive in story, and I couldn't get the length down to less than 3 minutes.

 

 

There was another idea based on an Aesop's Fable about the Stag and His Reflection. It involved very detailed deer and lion anatomy, not to mention, a big technical issue of how to animate detailed antlers stuck in a tree.

 

  

 

I was frustrated. I was telling my mom about this, how I didn't want to just "make something up," I wanted to base it off something, a real story. I know my strengths and strong stories is just not one of them.

My mom didn't even have to think. She said, "Why don't you make a movie about the time you stole that kitten...."

The rest is history.

Here's some character development....along with Character Design concepts. The top left is the finalized character design.

 

 Various Layouts: 

  

 

For my own security, I'm going to take this down in a week or so.

But uploading it for now so you all can check it out.

This is the first sequence.

So yeah.  Cat Nab.

Bring it on!!!!

Cartoon People I Know...

It's been too long since I last posted.  I am ashamed.

I'm sure most animators or character artists do this:  Make cartoons out of their friends.

It's not that easy sometimes.  Never been able to explain it.  There are people who are just dying to be drawn and then other people who are extremely difficult to draw and have them look like them.

Now that I'm more experienced, I realize it's because their features are subtle versus exaggerated. 

Now, a group of animators, that's easy for me. 

And now a group of co workers.  Let me tell you.....

The guy in this picture is really hard to draw!!!!!  However, fun too, once I figured him out.  

I gotta do my roomates next, and some more animator ones!

Cats

My animator roomate and I were talking about our three cats.

And this happened.

There is a plot.   And we think we want to make a short out of this.

Crash = Strung out, non-neutered anorexic.

Frank = Tuxedo wearing, serious fat cat.

Ollie = Female, fluffy, cheerleader bimbo.

And yes, my two cats on the right were named after Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston.

:D  The idea is great too.  I SO want to animate them now.

CTN Animation Expo

Well, what can I say?

It was amazing.

Sketches are always better.  :)

I got to meet a few of my living idols such as Don Bluth, Gary Goldman, James Baxter, and Tony Bancroft.

I got to see Eric Goldberg and Tom Sito again.

I met some new awesome people, all from the industry.  Handed out business cards, in the hopes that maybe someone will like what they see.

I DO need to upload more, though.   It's serious at this point.

Myself and the people I was with had always been wary of LA.  This was an unjustified fear.  LA is no different from any other place.  The people there were nice, and in some ways, even nicer than the people in San Francisco.  (We WERE in Burbank).  The weather was (once again) beautiful the whole time we were there, and there was plenty to do locally.  We even found an awesome bar called The Office.

And going there, and being surrounded by other people just like us, and so many industry professionals.....it was home.  It was just a convention.  But it was home for three days.

Point being, I'm more inspired than I ever have been in my life.

Tonight, my roomate and I had a Disney marathon (kinda), and watched Emperor's New Groove, then followed by Treasure Planet.  We sketched characters from the movie while it was playing, trying as hard as possible to keep them on model and do it quickly and proficiently.

It was a fun excercise.

I found it so neat watching Kronk animated too, after Tony Bancroft showed us so many demos with him!!!!!

:)

Life is so good right now.  There isn't anything else for me in the world.

Now I gots to prove it.

Nudes

Some figure work. :)

Simba Walk

A quadruped walking across a log...



Who really resembles Simba from Disney's "The Lion King."




^_^ 'Cos it is.

And Some More...

And on the topic of story panels, here are some music inspired ones.

Went to a Porcupine Tree concert, and had a great time.

So I tried drawing some of the band in a 16:9 aspect ratio!!!

Story Panels

Some of my story panels!!!

These characters are my own.

And some more...these are not sequential.

I love storyboarding so much!!!!

Shark Week 2009

I participated in Shark Week this year.

Here are some of the many drawings.

 

There were a ton of others, but I put colors in these, and liked them the most.

Squid

I felt like painting. :)

This was inspired by a local graffiti artist in San Francisco.

Gouache and colored pencils.

Stop Motion

For years I've had an interest in stop motion.

Always wanted to pursue it, but it's hard to do without a studio.

The Durability Test of my rig.




And he DID survive the film.

Here is the same creature, in a paper stop motion test.

Paper animation is so awesome. I can't even stress it enough.

Here is a second stop motion excerpt from my film....



I love this character so much!!!!!!

Faces. Portaits. More Charcoal.

On the previous topic of portraits, here are three others.

These are quick hour drawings.


And my Tyler, downward view, watching Lost.


I love him. :) :) :)

Ink Wash Me.

Self Portrait with Inkwash.

Charcoal and ink!

Cat Skeleton.

The last post reminded me of a project I started this summer.

I was lucky enough to find a perfectly preserved skeleton of a young cat.



Unfortunately, this is as far as I got with its assembly. I need to figure out a base to put it on, and figure out how to reinforce it and wire it.

What amazing reference!

Abyssinian

I wanted to do a study of a cat skeleton. I love Osteology.

The cat here was an Abyssinian.

The cat render. Intos Tablet, Photoshop.



I liked it. :) Drawing kitties is what I like to do.

Border Collies

Border Collies!!! :) :) :)

I tried really hard to get the anatomy right in this one.

Skeletons are so much fun to draw!

And then the render. Done with intuos tablet on Photoshop!

Some life Studies....A border collie and a miniature Australian Sheppard.

A quick pencil test trying to follow the strange movements of my border collie Brigit. She has a very peculiar run, as she doesn't really bob her head, and the only things moving are her legs.



Border collies are weird. Brigit is almost always rigid. Especially while she is "working."

(She has a career in 'ball getting.')



And the inspiration. :)





Finn (Top) and Brigit (Bottom)