Work Stations

I've been blessed with some new hardware and software.  I'm running Maya 2013 and I've been using a demo version of 3D Studio Max 2014 which is pretty nice.

My work area allows me to use  everything from my chair.  Now I'm happily animating a fun project from the comfort of my home and getting paid for it!  Joy!

RIP Ray Harryhausen

Well it finally happened.  Today we lost another pioneer of animation, Ray Harryhausen.  Without his contribution to stop motion we would have never grown up with the wonder and magic of his films.  He saw the media as a way of realizing classic mythology and combining supernatural creatures with live action.

His films crossed age barriers and generations appealing to both young and old.  His inspiration bred a new generation of artists in stop motion and computer animation.  We owe a tremendous debt to Mr. Harryhausen and I'm glad he saw some return of affection and appreciation by throngs of admiring fans before he past.  Thanks for all the dreams and wonder, Ray.

   

Old Man Chart

Here's a mouth chart for one of my characters.

UPA and the not so Jolly Frolics

There has been a lot of mystic built around United Pictures of America, better known as UPA, in animation history.  Books like “When Magoo Flew: The Rise and Fall of Animation Studio UPA” by Adam Abraham have shed some light on the politics and cultural environment that created the studio and touched on it’s transforming influence of what animation could be outside of the Disney mold.

UPA’s bold graphic approach certainly had its impact on television commercials and theatrical shorts.  It definitely influences my work as an artist, too.  Now, just recently I’ve had a chance to watch Turner Classic Movies three-disc set of 38 theatrical cartoons “UPA Jolly Frolics DVD” from my local library.

Unfortunately I found only a handful of the 38 films to be any good.  There seemed to be more ugly garish poorly animated unfunny boring cartoons than not.  Even so the six or seven gems may be reason enough to understand the reputation and trans formative power the studio produced within the animation industry. 

Of the 38 films my favorites were:  “Gerald McBoing Boing”, “The Ragtime Bear”, “The Oompahs”, “Madeline”, and "Rooty Toot Toot".  I kind of liked “The Unicorn in the Garden” and “Robin Hoodlum” just because it was an unexpectedly funny fox and crow cartoon. 

Peter Lorre, Steve Buscemi, or Gollum?

This looks more like Steve Buscemi than I wanted.  Lorre looked very different from movie to movie and year to year. But he always has a sensitive vulnerable quality that was unnerving and kind of implied the cruelty of his characters came from hidden hurts.   I don't know what his private life was like but everyone who worked with him said he was a lovely man just like Steve Buscemi. Anyway I don't think I did Lorre justice here. 

This looks more like Gollum to me and maybe Lorre inspired some of the character design? Anybody know?

2D Reel

Here's a collection of 2D bits and pieces I've done. It shows Flash scenes from "The Mr. Men Show" and traditionally drawn scene from my short films, plus Harmony scenes from "H&Y" using vector art.

Walt Kelly animates Pogo

As a night cap before bed I was re-reading one of my Pogo collections by Walt Kelly and this morning I came across an article on Cartoon Brew talking about Kelly’s distain for the Chuck Jones Pogo special.  Apparently Kelly hated everything about the Jones version and wanted to do a piece that portrayed his creation accurately so he set out to animate a film himself.  

Kelly was a Disney animator who had worked on Fantasia and Dumbo and it’s that beautiful quality of draftsmanship and the inventive writing that distinguished the comic strip “Pogo” from anyone else’s work.  Bad health prevented Walt from doing full animation but what is there and it’s rendering of the characters is charming and 100% Kelly.