Cloudy 2 Animation Reel

While being back home in Sydney on a short vacation, I've finally had enough time (and motivation) to put together the shots I did while at Sony Imageworks on "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2" back in 2013.

Looking back at this amazing and fun project, I became all nostalgic with a permanent smile on my dial as I reminisced on the good times and great friends I made. Not to say it wasn't a challenging and or difficult show, but I have incredibly fond memories of the time spent working on this film.

Here is my reel:



Thanks for viewing :D

Simon Black Animation Reel

Check out Simon Black's new animation reel which includes his awesome work on "Smurfs 2" and "Legend of the Guardians: The Owl's of Ga'Hoole"

Cloudy 2 Whiteboard

During my time on "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2" I decided to have a collaborative drawing whiteboard, and also something to remind me of when cutoff for director review was (as it usually changed daily). The idea was I would start with a blank whiteboard on Monday morning and either leave it till someone would start drawing upon Dan desk visit, or I would start with something small and simple which would grow by Friday (or Saturday).

"Animators are disturbed creatures"

"Pirate plant"

"Expressionist Animators"

"Too much coffee"

"Dino" - by Simon Black

"Bleeding Pac man ghost?"

"Poo joke" by Simon Black

"Bathtub monster"

"Julius' rabbit" by Julius Kwan

"Julius Kwan" by Philip Rudolph and myself

"Director visit" by Cody Cameron and myself (while drinking all my Jameson)

"No" by Julius Kwan

"We're done"

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/

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/

Genndy Tartakovsky Annecy Talk

Short interview with director Genndy Tartakovsky at the Annecy Animation Festival where he showed a few sequences from the movie I am currently working on. "Hotel Transylvania"

Louis Gonzales interview

Great interview led by Bobby Chiu with story artist Louis Gonzales from the "Schoolism" website. I really like how he describes silhouettes as verbs that he aims to communicate the pose as clear as possible.

check it out here, its well worth the 40 minute listen:

Louis Gonzales - Schoolism

Mark Andrews

With Pixar's "Brave" coming out soon, I thought I'd post this lecture from "Brave"'s director Mark Andrews. Both parts are great, but in part 2 he discusses the importance of clear story decisions and discovering "what the story is and how it needs to be told visually".





Great advice for the storytellers in all of us. Oh and Mark gives you permission to "mess up" :)

Thanks to The Rabbit Room for positing this a while back:
http://www.rabbitroom.com/2012/03/good-advice-froom-pixars-mark-andrews/

Bottom of the Ninth

This looks amazing. An animated graphic novel for the iPad/iPhone by animator artist Ryan Woodward.



Definitely going to be buying this!

Check out the rest of his website here:

http://www.bottom-of-the-ninth.com/

Skhizein - short film

I originally saw this short, a few years back, but it was sent around at work today so I thought I'd share.



Entitled "Skhizein" by Jeremy Clapin

Jason Schleifer talk

TEDx Youth talk with Head of Animation on PDIIDreamworks' new film "Peabody and Sherman" Jason Schleifer. He talks about the importance of individual moments in the character's story arc.



Great talk! Check out his website here:

jasonschleifer.com

The Sweatbox

An interesting insight into the making of the Disney movie "Kingdom of the Sun" which ended up becoming "Emperor's New Groove". Definitely shows a realistic view of what goes on behind the scenes, and the emotional attachment of the artists involved.

Watch it before it gets taken down!



Now on Vimeo:

Balto

I was introduced to Balto (directed by Simon Wells) by Nouche only in the last 5 years, even though it was released back in 1995. Greatly underrated movie, with some amazingly animated scenes.

Ron Doucet over at Flooby Nooby (love the name) posted an amazing collection of model sheets, line tests, story boards, you name it. It's a huge post that I can spend hours staring at.

Check out the extensive post here:

http://floobynooby.blogspot.ca/2012/03/balto.html

It's awesome!

Andreas Deja's "The Lion King" Scar animation

Who doesn't love "The Lion King"? The peak of 2d Disney's movies in my opinion, not to mention the amount of amazingly talented well known animators that worked on it. Andreas Deja, who was supervising Animator for the character "Scar", is one of many.




Check out his blog here:
http://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/

Thanks again to Jamaal Bradley for posting this on Vimeo.

Andrew Stanton: The clues to a great story

Interesting and informative talk about Story telling from the director of "Wall-E", "Finding Nemo" and "John Carter".

James Baxter - Spirit line tests

James Baxter is awesome. Here's one of many reasons why. Two line tests from the movie "Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron". If you haven't seen this movie (or think it's a pony movie for 10 year old girls - which unfortunately was how it was marketed) go out and rent it, or better yet buy it and study it for horse reference. It's one of the best animated movies in my opinion.





Thanks to Jamaal Bradley for posting this on Vimeo

Charles Santoso Solo Show in Sydney!

My good friend Charles Santoso, who I had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know during my time at Animal Logic on "Legend of the Guardians" is an amazing concept artist and all round awesomely nice guy.

He's doing a solo show in Sydney at the Kinokuniya Bookstore from dates 30th August - 12th September 2011!

If you live in Sydney definitely go check out his work, and say hi from us!

If you head over to his blogspot at http://minitreehouse.blogspot.com/ he has info about how you can win an autographed copy of his art book!!!

Omgaaah!

Ben Walker Siggraph Talk

Quick post!

If you're in Sydney, Australia on the 1st of June and into matte painting go check out this siggraph talk being conducted by my friend Ben Walker! He's awesome AND talented! Say hi from us!

http://sydney.siggraph.org.au/event/2011/matte-painter


And check out his website!
http://surfacedetail.com/