Finality.....

I have learned so much about facial poses these past few weeks.

The bad thing is, I’ll be talking to someone, but also staring ….. drifting off, in my own animatronically twisted brain, thinking about arcs on the corners of their mouth......or staring at their brows…..the lids too, I am really in to looking at people’s eyelids now as they speak. And tongues, people do really strange things with their tongues when they are NOT talking. I have to learn to be more subtle though as I examine faces. People start getting defensive, they stare back at me as if I spotted a booger, or a zit, or a long mole hair on their face. I don't give a crap about any of that stuff, I am looking at the shapes!.....and you have a little bit of toothpaste right there, yeah in the corner.....other side.

Our next assignment is a two person dialogue. Here’s the clip I think I am going to use, from Johnny Dangerously. Scumbag

New Caricature

I have a new caricature over there in my profile. It was drawn and colored by a friend of mine, Cecil Roberts. Yeah, my boy went and made me look all handsome and stuff, obviously he’s good at exaggeration.



I just want to point you to his website and some of his artwork.

I worked with Cecil at Archangel Studios. We would come up with some of the craziest ideas, like a Mushroom Monster or a Queen that is part human, part arachnid. The next day Cecil would come back with 6 or 7 kick ass sketches.

I Got Beef

So my wife and I get to go to the occasional movie at the theater. We get a babysitter, we get some popcorn, she may get a box of Raisinettes, a Coke, etc.

Since I started school, we have been staying to watch the end credits. Not only for me to point out names of Animators that are mentors from AM, but out of respect for everyone involved in the picture.

Here’s where I have a problem. The Animators are usually so far down the list it’s insane! I understand that the actors, writers, editors and others should come before Animators, but some credit lists are crazy.

For example, I know that caffeine is important in the making of any piece of art. It’s just plain ridiculous though when “Coffee Provided By.........” is listed about 45 seconds before the Animators in The Chronicles of Narnia.

So we wait, and wait, until they finally come. I’m ready, I’m going to call out the mentors at my school to my wife. Well, I would, if I could speed read. See, once they get to the Animators they split the columns from 2 (name…………position) to at least 4 (name, name, name, name). So, I can usually only pick out two or three names as they fly.

“ok, ok……there’s Charles Alleneck! and Rick O’Conner! was that Delio, did you see Delio Tramontozzi? ahhh man what a crock!”

So my wife asks me, “Don’t the Animators bring characters, like Mr. Beaver, to life? Why are they so far down in the credits?”

I answer, “If it weren’t for the Animators, Modelers, Lighters, Texture Artists, and Riggers, Mr. Beaver would be nothing more than a vocal track by Ray Winstone. I don’t know why all these folks are listed so late in the credits… at least they're listed though.”

Here’s to bumping up the CG Artists in movie credits!

Class 4 Week 1

Hell yeah I finished it! Even gave him some hair...and put the same old dirty Spock shirt back on him.

First Facial Pass



So I totally redid the shot. It took a good 3 weeks to get everything, from blocking, using an old .mov file, to smoothing with all new facial controls. Well, it's not really finished, but I am almost back to where I was. I just have some basic brow shapes and some basic mouth movements for now.

Alright enough patting myself on the back. I would have never been able to do this if my fantastic wife wasn't the greatest woman on the planet. We had plans to do all this stuff during my break. We did go to Pittsburgh for vacation during Christmas, and that was fun. We did get to be with her family when we got back and that was fun too. But I did spend a ton of time animating once the holidays were over. So thanks Hoob for letting me animate. I know it wasn't easy for you either.

Heard 'em Say

I have loved this beat since this album first dropped. Glad they made a video for it.

Some good pencil animation drawn by Bill Plympton. A lot of smeary, well done drawings. It looks like he just went crazy with his pencils.

But that beat man, I love that beat.

Kanye West - Heard 'em Say

My New Mentor is....

Matthew Russell!



No, it's not that bad ass dude from The Breakfast Club.....although I have heard rumors about Matthew lighting cigarettes using his shoe.



From what I can tell, it seems as though Matthew is in my timezone. I am assuming he lives in Dallas or close to DNA Productions. And anybody that believes that coffee is the nectar of the gods, as Matthew does, is damn good in my book.

Anyway, I am excited and ready to start this term.

Oh, I snagged that first image from an eCritique using our new system at AM. All I can say is WOW! AM has once again outdone themselves.

Here's Matthew's bio:

Matthew has been with DNA Productions for the last 6 1/2 years. He started with DNA on the Emmy nominated "Olive the Other Reindeer." Matthew went on to be a character animator and the supervising vehicular animator on the Academy Award nominated "Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius." Later he would spend 2 1/2 seasons as a supervising animator on "The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius" before moving on to lead animator for the latest feature, "The Ant Bully," from DNA Productions. Matthew is a firm believer that coffee is the nectar of the gods and that chocolate should be its own food group.