2008 Animation Reel

Hey readers, long time no see!

I recently compiled some animation into a short and sweet little package. It includes work from the past year I've done for Cygany Inc. (makers of Poopy Pickups), Witch Doctor Bill from Second City, a Preventive Medicine informational short done for the Democratic Party, Cinema Slapdown for Columbia College, and misc. personal work. And it's got walking kitties!! Soundtrack: Independent Woman, as performed by Elbow.

Comments and crits are highly appreciated, as always. Thanks for looking!

What a DAYUM shame!

I recently submitted a quick animation test for a toon that Second City will be putting out. I landed an interview with them next week, and I'm pretty damn excited.

$43 Haircut!

Bitter Endings, New Beginnings!

The 9-5 job I started at the beginning of this year came to an abrupt conclusion yesterday, so this can only mean one thing.

MORE UPDATES!

I should have $43 haircut done pretty soon, as I'm back on staff at Columbia, and there's no better place to make cartoons than there. (or here in my studio) I also have a big personal project that's in development right now along with a few other close friends. Once it takes some shape, you'll be seeing snippets here.

The freelance I recently co-created for the Democrats is complete, and once given the ok, will be linked up. Til then, I'll leave a little placeholder of the character lineup for that toon. Enjoy!

New job!

Well, I've made it through my first week of boot camp, and I can now happily say that I'm an employed animator.

It's a bittersweet relationship. Even since I've been making art, I've disagreed with people who refer to me as creative. I take more pride in illustration and art for a purpose than I do creating something with a beautiful, hidden, inner message. I aspire to be a Normal Rockwell rather then an Edward Munch. The fact is, from my point of view, that the amazing pieces of art the Rockwell crafted were often created to fill the needs of a magazine company's covers, but upon seeing them in museums, most of them just exude emotion and mood. While the story and intent behind something more abstract might be hidden deeper and much heavier, I feel like Rockwell's work triggers understanding and familiarity much more quickly, and for me, more effectively.

So now that I've moved from fine art to animation, I've hopped into the studio system where my creative input pertains only to a small part of the animation.. not the story, characters, art direction, or even workfow.

It's a shock, especially considering in a lot of ways, I KNOW better being trained in animation from start to finish, and working for someone who's just now getting it together while we labour, with no idea how a studio is supposed to work.

I'm hoping no one reads this post and thinks my intent is to come of as a conceited jerk.. The point of this post is to identify that maybe I am more creative than I led myself to believe, and it took oppression to realize it. It's going to be an interesting transition to "do, don't think" from "think and do and have fun!", but I'm finding that it's making me want to work on my own animation more and more just because of it.

Speaking of which, the freelance cartoon is looking very sharp right now, and I'm looking forward to its launch to show all of you wonderful readers.

Til next time!

Hiatus?!

I've had a few people ask me why I haven't posted any work in a while. My personal work is on a little hiatus right now so I can focus more on other freelance work. Trust the little green man though, and stay tuned!

More freelance!

Thanks to the Satruns and Patrick Cheng, I might have another big freelance project just around the corner. Only this time, it'll be done in flash!

And now I'm off to the bike shop for one of the last times.

WMS test!

Had a more eventful day today that I anticipated. Rather than sitting in front of the computer to work on some animation, I received an art test from WMS gaming. It's a studio here in Chicago that creates games and graphics for the gaming industry. It had to have been the most fun I've had taking a test for a studio, as it sucked up a good portion of my day. I only wish I could post the results!

*crosses his fingers*

$43 Haircut!

I haven't put any new animation on here in a couple of days. That's mostly because everything I've created so far is for my first musical short, titled '$43 Haircut'. I plan on tossing it up on Newgrounds, and seeing where it goes from there. I'd post a few clips, but I don't want to tip my hand yet.

I guess this post basically means that more is on the way!

Flash Exploits!

Something I've always noticed about myself is that I enjoy doing something a lot when it's new. (such as a new musical instrument, new job, new apartment, working on bikes) But when the learning curve is gone, it seems the appeal wears off. When there's a lot for me to learn about something, it seems like that much more of a fun challenge.

So since I've started learning Flash, I've progressed by leaps and bounds, thanks to caffiene and sleeping a lot less. I've seriously immersed myself in the program, sometimes taking all of my waking day to it.. and everytime I figure out a new feature, it excites me! *nerd* Like just now.. I knew you could import Illustrator Paths into flash, but I just did it for the first time, and it's really easy. Now I'm thinking about all the layouts I could make in illustrator, and how I can pseudo-multiplane those layers for fly-thrus. muahahahaha!

I hope Adobe keeps adding in enough new features each release to keep me stimulated, because I'm having a blast.

Fast Food!

I recently helped a good friend and coworker of mine find some freelance work, painting a soon-to-be opened Mexican restaurant.  Here's one of the designs I made for one of the interior walls.

Pit-er-Pat!

I recently did a freelance project for the company that produces Poopy Pickups pet waste bags. It consisted of two leica reels that the owner submitted to Walmart, Target, and CVS. She gave me a call the other day to let me know that Walmart absolutely FLIPPED over the leica reels she presented them, and we'll know after Jan. 1st if I'm gonna get the big gig - - Actually animating these commercials for Walmart to air nationally!

Because I'm so excited about the prospect, I've already begun to start working on the characters now. Here's little example of Fluffy taking a stroll.

As always, comments and critiques are welcomed! :D