My faves of 2012

Movies:

Life of Pi
Read the book a few years back, and was amazed at how faithful the movie is to the source material. Watching this reminded me of why I love movies.

Music

Imagine Dragons: Night Visions
Thanks to the trailer of "The Host" which used the opening track "Radioactive", this album is on constant repeat.

Tv series

The Walking Dead (Season 03)
Intense, suspenseful, great acting and a crap load of zombies. Best season yet.

Book

A Dance with Dragons
I didn't have the chance to read too much in 2012 but I did read this insanely huge book. Can't wait for
"The Winds of Winter"

Laundry Day

Awesome 4th year film from Sheridan College student Guilllaume Chartier, entitled "Laundry Day".


Great unexpected ending to this.

Animation Interviews - Pinterest

Really awesome collection resource of animation interviews and insights. There's a ton of amazing animation related videos here!

Click the link for awesomeness:
http://pinterest.com/andrewblodgett/anim-interviews-insights/

Hotel Transylvania Animation Reel

Hotel Transylvania was by far the best (and most challenging) project, as well as the most rewarding. After returning back to Sony Imageworks from holidays to work on "Cloudy 2", I was able to obtain the shots I animated on Hotel T.

Above is a drawing that director Genndy Tartakovsky drew in a dailies session to convey his wishes for this particular shot in the pool sequence. I was lucky enough to keep it and have him sign it. He also drew a 'Dexter's Laboratory' drawing in my book. I totally geeked out.

Here's my reel:

Congrats to everyone who worked on it and contributed to its success, and to everyone who went and watched it!

Little Quentin

An amazing short entitled "Little Quentin" directed by Albert 't Hooft & Paco Vink from Anikey Studios



I love the style of this, it's like a mix of Tim Schafer's "Full Throttle" and Sam Kieth's "The Maxx" combined with film noir! Fwah, awesomes.

"Epic" - new trailer

New trailer for Blue Sky's "Epic" has been released, and holy crap it looks awesome.


Really looking forward to seeing this.

Music from Trailers

Trailers are such an important part of the marketing of a movie, and the choice of music that is used in the trailer is equally as important. Best thing about it for me is hearing as little as 20 seconds of the song used in a trailer and thinking "Wow...I must find out who plays that", which leads to finding new bands.

Here's a short list of music that has featured in trailers recently that I have found new music to listen to from.

"Snow Patrol - The Lightning Strike" is featured in Dreamworks "Epic" trailer as well as "Act of Valor"


"Florence + the Machine - Seven Devils" was featured in the season 2 trailer for HBO's "Game of Thrones"


"Imagine Dragons - Radioactive" is featured in the latest trailer for "The Host"


"Nico Vega - Beast" was featured in the latest trailer for "Bioshock Infinite"

QuitSmoking 2d animation

Really cool 2d animations for Quit Smoking awareness.

Dumb Ways to Die

Very cute (and slightly disturbing) animation.


With a catchy song to boot!

Fat Cute Animal Animation

This is the funniest animation I've seen in ages. Three short skits promoting the International Festival of Animated Film in Stuttgart 2013.



The fat crocodile is amazing.

Daniel Fotheringham Podcast

When I was living and working in London, I recorded a bunch of conversations with artists / friends. The concept was to speak to people in the industry of various experience levels and backgrounds, and I had the privilege to even record them in different countries (including Germany, Singapore, England, Wales). Time and life got the better of me and I never released them.

The first one that was recorded was with the very talented Daniel Fotheringham in London, August 2011. We discussed his work flow, the process he uses to animate quadrupeds, and the balance of life and work while living in London.

Running time is: 23:09mins


Dan's website : http://danielfotheringham.com/
Check out Dan's crazy awesome reels here : https://vimeo.com/user5986209

Thanks to Bryn for listening and motivating me to get this online!

Let me know if I should work on the others and release them eventually.

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Disclaimer - In no way is this a professional recording, apologies for any ambient noises or change in volume.

Animal Animation Shot Breakdown by David Wesch

Another Animation Mentor shot breakdown, this time by David Wesch, also a Sony Imageworks Animator and friend! Love hearing about peoples workflows and the process they went about planning and developing their shot.


Very awesomes.

Check out more of Davids stuff here : http://davidwesch.blogspot.ca/

Character Animation and Facial Expression Tips by Tania Simeons

Here's an Animation Mentor video with Sony animator and friend Tania Simeons, who discusses and breaks down her class 5 animation assignment.


Worth watching!

Check out more of Tania's stuff here : http://taniasimeons.blogspot.ca/

Despicable Me 2 trailer

New trailer for Despicable Me 2 was released, with more minion awesomeness. I love how it can make me want to go see it straight away, even without showing the main character of Gru in both trailers so far.


Love it, can't wait for this!

Charles Santoso - Woodwork Exhibition

If you're in Sydney from the 1st - 13th of November this year, then head over to Kinokuniya Bookstore and check out the super talented artwork of Charles Santoso, who I am privileged to call a friend. Again I'm going to be in another country and miss out on this!

Facebook event page - https://www.facebook.com/events/354768631281074/

For more of Charles' work visit http://www.charlessantoso.com/wp/ and http://charlessantoso.tumblr.com/

Joe Bowers Interview Frame by Frame

Frame by frame breakdown of scenes animated by Joe Bowers on Disney's "Tangled". Very cool and detailed analysis from Joe Bowers himself, detailing Glen Keane's involvement in making his shots even better, and how he overcame some tough and challenging shots. There's also a section on Joe's work on Disney's "Bolt".


While on John Carter in London, Animation Supervisor Clay Kaytis from Disney stopped by to do his "Tangled" talk, and showed us some examples of Glen Keane's drawings over already really good poses. It was mind explodingly awesome to say the least. To work under Glen Keane's direction would've been amazing.

The Making of Hotel Transylvania

Really cool video detailing some cool techniques used during various stages of the Hotel T Production. Even talks about the "Genndy Blur" in the animation section.

Check it out here:

http://www.itsartmag.com/features/the-making-of-hotel-transylvania/#.UGyHmE3R6i2

Go see Hotel T if you haven't seen it already :D

FX Guide on Hotel Transylvania

FXGuideTV's latest episode has a section on "Hotel Transylvania". Mike Seymour speaks with James Crossley (Animation Director), Dan Kramer (VFX Supervisor) and Lydia Bottegoni (Line Producer & Co-Producer).

Starts around the 21 minute mark.

http://www.fxguide.com/fxguidetv/fxguidetv-158-foundry-luxology-merger-and-hotel-t/

Hotel Transylvania - The Rigs

Here's a peak at what we were using on "Hotel Transylvania" to scuplt Dracula's cape, and animate Jonathan. They were probably the best rig's I've ever used on a production before.

Hotel Transylvania: Pushing the Boundaries of Animation

Cool 2 min video about how the animators pushed and were pushed to produce some of the most interesting and squash and stretch animation I've ever seen. If only they could show a more in depth behind the scenes.



Hotel Transylvania comes out this weekend in North America!!! Go see it everyone!