Motion09 Conference

I have a great opportunity to visit Albuquerque, New Mexico. I have been asked to participate in a conference for animation called Motion09!!!! I get to go to panels and sessions to learn about new software, take drawing classes (we get to bring our sketchbooks), and listen to some fantastic teachers and speakers. I am truly excited to go! I am looking forward to hearing such talents as Phil Young, a former Disney animator, who is teaching animation at the Albuquerque Art Center campus! I also look forward to seeing Andrew Orloff, co-owner of Zoic Studios. I have met Andrew on various occassions, in California. We have had the same circle of friends, and both of us worked for the company Modern Videofilm. His background is in 3D, whereas mine is is digital visual effects.

I am ready to go!!!!

Yet Another Blog

For those interested, I am working on an animation project for personal reasons. I am currently ironing out the treatment and working on the character designs. You can check it out on tumbleweedstory.blogspot.com. Enjoy!

Storyboarding is Fun!

When I worked in Los Angeles, I had many unique opportunities. Once such opportunity occurred when I was freelancing for Complete Post. My supervisor asked me to help out with a production called 12 Days of Terror. It was a made for TV movie about a shark that traveled up a fresh water river and attacks a small town, in the early 20th century. From what I understand it was loosely based on a true story.

I met with the director and found out that I was storyboarding for some pick up shots, so the production would be able to wrap up. They were actually filming in South America at the time, if I can recall.
I spent the night before searching for images of sharks on the internet, and sketching them from all angles. As the director and I met, I was to produce 9 new shots that would assist the story. Here are examples of what I created. Caution: they are a bit bloody.

This project was a great learning experience, and I was able to work with the visual effects team, as well!!!

One of my favorite storyboard artists is Jeff West! He is ultra-talented and, fortunately for me, one of my best friends. He has worked in the entertainment industry for many years, as a visual effects artist and storyboard/concept artist. Check out his website!!!

There be monsters!

It may be a surprise to some, but I have been a monster movie fan for over 30 years! I love to draw monsters, so here is another vector piece that I did for fun. It's based on the 1980 hit American Werewolf in London. I spent a Sunday afternoon allowing myself to be creative and relax (before finals begin this week). I had a lot of fun working on this.

My son the Jedi

To demonstrate rotoscoping for After Effects, I devised a quick demonstration, and used an image of my 12 year old. I created a quick mask, with a low res image for the background. I then used the effect Vector Paint to create the lightning and the glow. The alpha channels were then nested into the original comp and effected with glow and color correction

Classic Monsters in Vector Form

Hello All,

It has been way to long since my last post. A student razzed me for not having anything new to show. Since the spring semester is coming to a close, I have some artwork to share. Here is the Modern Prometheus, drawn in Illustrator.