Just some cool artists I dug up when I went to the library the other day that I wanted to share, since I hadn't heard of them (except for Polacco).

Barbara Macdonald - found her in a little book called A Golden Age: Visions of Fantasy, Australia's Fantasy Illustrators: Their Lives and Works


Rentoul Outhwaite (same book)


Kay Nielsen from A Treasury of the Great Children's Book Illustrators



Patricia Polacco from The Art of Reading


Richard Egielski (from same book)

Animation test for N-Space



Boards were provided by N-Space and I had 4 business days (32 hours) to use whatever rig and program I wanted to animate it. It's not perfect, but considering the time limit, I think it turned out alright.

HOLY CRAP.

Beowulf Trailer

Sure, maybe it doesn't look like very much.. until you realize.. IT'S ALL CG.

For the "Birds of Prey" Deadliest Sketch theme.


I don't usually use ink, so this was just sort of an experiment - used some stuff that I've seen in a lot of Margeaux's drawings because I think it's cool when she does it. It gets a little weak when it comes to the vulture's body and the lines are a lot less sure.. and overall there's probably too much going on. Haha, also I had to edit in the eye in photoshop, since I'd drawn it without and then realized that the whole point of the piece was lost, since the vulture just looked really friendly... still doesn't look sinister enough though.

It's Great to be in Love Again

"If ever he had harboured a conscience in his tough narrow breast he had by now dug out and flung away the awkward thing - flung it so far away that were he ever to need it again he could never find it. High-shouldered to a degree little short of malformation, slender and adroit of limb and frame, his eyes close-set and the colour of dried blood, he is climbing the spiral staircase of the soul of Gormenghast, bound for some pinnacle of the itching fancy - some wild, invulnerable eyrie best known to himself; where he can watch the world spread out below him, and shake exultantly his clotted wings"

~ Description of Steerpike
From the Gormenghast Trilogy by Mervyn Peake

I started reading the Gormenghast trilogy again the other day and I won't bother going on and on about how much I love it, but I wanted to make this post to point out that for the 50th year anniversary of the trilogy, Vintage Classics is re-releasing the 3 books and making them a little more available again (i.e., I was actually able to find the first book, Titus Groan, on sale at Barnes & Noble today). So, everyone should go check them out.

Also, check out the glitzy new covers:

(Hehe, the quote on the cover is "A gorgeous volcanic erruption... A work of extraordinary imagination." - The New Yorker)

Rock you Like a Hurricane...



Don't worry, there's a story behind this.

For the "Friendly Neighborhood Robot" theme on Deadliest Sketch.

*EDIT* need to make new playblasts of my run and jog. Will post later.

Also, I found this really awesome guy off of the Drawn! blog. Everything is written in Russian, but it's not like you have to be able to read it to appreciate it.
Gordei

Inside the Happiness Factory. Thought this was kind of cool - particularly since it's nice to know that they chose to do a little more with all of those models. Psyop is amazing.

Generic Walk Cycle




Finished Duck & Cover

*EDIT* added explosion and softened his head movement in the last few frames.

MooM is awesome. This is pretty much done, but I need to tweak a few things. His landing still feels a little soft. Comments? I'm hoping to put it on my reel, so feedback would be awesome.

Also, check out this beautiful music video. "I Lived on the Moon" by Yannick Puig

And since I'm on the subject - this one's awesome too. "Fortress" by Pinback

I'm finally playing with MooM! This rig kicks so much ass. You can get him here: http://highend3d.com/maya/downloads/character_rigs/MooM-by-Ramtin-Ahmadi-4346.html
and thanks to Jim who let me know about him in the 1st place. I'll post some animation when I get a little farther.

Pretty damn eventful weekend - visited Gwynne in White Plains, NY with Hannah this weekend and it was awesome. Blue Sky seems really cool, and I rather enjoyed White Plains itself. Also, after spending 2 days in NY city, I think I'm finally starting to understand why people would actually want to live there - and perhaps feel that way myself. We all saw Rataouille on Sat, which, as I'm sure everyone reading this knows, was awesome. The best part was during the train ride back from the movie though, in which, while I was playing back the little bits of motion I could remember from the film, I had a lightbulb moment in which I realized I've been going about my process completely wrong - and it became crystal clear to me what I should be doing. So, that was pretty kickass. I'm starting a new animation now (hence Mr. MooM), so let see if I can put this seemingly perfect theory into practice (fingers crossed).

Will post more soon.