Bear Airship Comic

Since it's the day after Thanksgiving, (or "stanksgiving" as someone on Facebook said)

And since everyone is bloated, right?

My thoughts turned back to my bear's airship. Yeah, blimps aren't practical since they can't travel far, can't travel fast and strong winds can destroy them.

BUT...

They do have a longer "loitering" time than an airplane does, and they stay airborne after an EM pulse. Plus Herman would have some kind of techno-magic to get the ship to do impossible things...

Did a little research, the issue seems to be the wind resistance created by such a large, broad volume moving against the atmosphere. I came up with the "vortex Drive" that would create a partial vacuum in front of the ship, and therefore drag it forward.

Sort of like the warp drive on the Enterprise...

This is an old sketch of the airship Utopia in its hangar after Herman (and Professor Behrman) have finished it. They live in a more magic world, but there has to be some believability in its mechanics.

http://www.google.com/search?q=the%20manned%20cloud&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=iw&start=0
http://www.hyperblimp.com/future-hyperblimp/

http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2008/q3/080708c1_pr.html

The Creative Talent Network Animation Expo 2009

...has left the building. It was fun, met some cool people, and even a few old friends...

But,

How do we help animation people get back to work?

Moon over Los Angeles

My photo from 2009, up on Mulholland Drive.
http://www.calculatorcat.com/moon_phases/moon_phases.phtml

The Iron Giant lives! 10 year anniversary reunion.

Got to see Brad Bird and the other top artists that brought this great film to life.
This blurred picture is my only decent snapshot of some of the crew that was there that night. Trying to avoid being a total fan-boy, I let the younger fans and animation students get autographs and pictures taken with Brad Bird. Almost near the end, I was able to shake his hand, but Brad was distracted, and Warner Security was trying to herd us towards the exits. They also turned out the lights, so Brad couldn't see who I was. I tried using the flashlight in my cell phone, but that was not effective.

I'm still disappointed, but not surprised, when big corporations have to cajoled into producing gems like the Iron Giant. Some have complained that the animation isn't on a Disney level, or that the scenes are too talky. I say look at "Home on the Range" or "Treasure Planet", and ask which of their worlds draws us in.

Still, it was a privilege to be there, and I got to speak a bit with some of the other artists, especially the one who developed the cel-shaders for the Iron Giant in Maya. He gave the CG a more hand drawn look, and he was working with one of the early beta-versions of Maya. Gotta tip my hat to him!

Over the Mountain comics sold in the Los Angeles area

I would like to thank these shops for carrying my Over the Mountain mini comics!

http://hidehocomics.com/

http://www.meltcomics.com/

http://www.artoffiction.com/HOS_index.html

Hope you can check it out.

Thank you to all the shop owners for giving shelf space to Herman Bear.

Will Eisner Halloween Spirit

Herman Bear as Will Eisner's "Spirit". Someone at the union thought he was dressed up as "Indiana Jones". Well, that works too.

This is still a rough sketch; tried laying in the "ink" using the lasso tool in Photoshop. Still not satisfied.

Halloween 2009 Ruff Cover

They won't stay buried!

Halloween 2009, Rough comic thumbnail

The Characters discuss the place of androids or cyborgs in their world. This is really a mess, I'm using comic-sans type face just as a place holder.

Over the Mountain #3

So...nearly done, learned the hard way that jpegs need to be RGB. For Blogger anyway.

The TAG Lab has landed.

Before:



Okay, its not the Apollo Lunar Mission, but I am so glad to get the Animation Guild Computer Lab settled into our new digs. No damage, no data loss that I could see.

And I am grateful to get it done before my trip to Ohio. It's my parents 50th wedding anniversary.





After:











http://animationguildblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/scenes-from-moving-day-part-2.html


Here's to a great future!

Signing Off

Well, this is my last post from 4729 Lankershim Blvd. in North Hollywood.
Hopefully, the new building will be fine.
Just saying farewell to the old place, since I have to take our only internet station off line.

Good luck to us at 1150 North Hollywood Way, and many thanks to 4729 Lankershim. You've been a good port in the storm.

Cheers,

Ken Roskos

Over the Mountain #2 now on sale!!!

Many thanks to Meltdown and Hi-De-Ho Comics in Hollywood and Santa Monica respectively; they've been Herman Bear's guardian angels.

And House of Secrets in Burbank too!

The summer is going by fast, have to get this done.

KR

L.A.M.B. Lupus Aggression Management Battalion

I'm claiming this, sort of a tribute to Gerry Anderson's UFO; except little lamb-guys run around in cool tanks and jets blasting the hell out of nasty wolves.

Will Weston's compostion class July 2009

Got distracted by my comic book business. Finally got one decent composition done.

I like it, Will said it needs more definition in the basic shapes. Yes, but I still want a dreamier edge to it, it's not "Tailspin" or something like that.

Will's classes at the Animation Guild are definitely worth taking!

http://www.willwestonstudio.com

Over the Mountain # 2

Almost ready, still shopping issue No. 1 around to more comic shops.

I have to be better prepared the next time I approach a comic shop cold. I was hoping to make a sale at Golden Apple, but they said only if I could could get in with other artists when they make their personal appearances...

Definitely have to work on that!

Sunset

This has kind of an Autumn feeling to it, and I did it on May 31st.
Just a ruff sketch colored in Photoshop, lot of lasso tool and radial blur filter for the sky. Herman Bear and friend admire the sunset at the end of a long day.

Felix the Cat Book - Being useful...

I found this at http://www.thesantis.com/khxc/ccp0-prodshow/99102620.html

Its the cover of a Little Golden Book my Grandparents kept at their house when we came over to visit. It got thrown in the toybox, and eventually disappeared. The story was about how Felix the Cat visited a farm, and how he was having trouble fitting in. He finally became the Medico for the farm animals when he found out he couldn't give milk or pull a plow.

I hope my services to my fellow artists at the Animation Guild Computer Lab and Woodbury University are a useful in a similar way.

Blend Shapes in Maya

Hi, for some reason I couldn't get this video to upload. Maybe it was too big, but look for it on Vimeo. Let's see if this link works.

We'll use simple, but solid modeling in Maya to create mouth movement for your characters. Later, we'll import a soundtrack and try to do some lipsynch.

Using Blend Shapes in Maya for mouth shapes from Rosko on Vimeo.

Milton Glaser And Ronald Searle - Art Lessons...

Here are some cool links to artists I knew practically nothing:

Milton Glaser, best known for his I(heart)N Y logo, (copyright Milton Glaser)

http://www.areaofdesign.com/americanicons/glaser.htm






And Ronald Searle, illustrator/cartoonist for the New Yorker;(copyright Ronald Searle)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Searle








My friend Faris told me about them.

http://visualdiaries10.blogspot.com/

I'm still interested in design, wild characters and composition -

Things have been either too quiet, or too negative around here.

Dig it!

Richard Williams survival guide - Micro!

One of my teaching partners, Tim Ingersoll put this page together from the Richard Williams book. If he was trapped on a desert island, and he could have only one page from the book, then this would be it.

Check it out.

Oh yeah! Copyright Richard Williams.

"Luxo" with more polish

The lampshade rotates after the top of the arm bounces; and the top of the arm bounces after the base portion bounces.

We'll try to cover this more in class.

Ken R.

Maya interface, most important things labeled

This is a great graphic. I found it over the Holidays, and I couldn't find it again.

I'd like to give credit to whoever made this.

Good way to identify Maya's most important tools and menus.

Luxo Part V - Animate!

Remember the Bouncing Ball exercises?

Luxo Part IV

Luxo Part III: Parent objects to skeleton

The top and bottom polygon objects can be used as controls. The bottom root joint is parented to the small polygon cylinder at the bottom of the lamp(not the base). The arms of the lamp, and that one polygon disk in the middle are parented to the joints.

(They just go along as we animate the lamp.)

Luxo Part II

Basic Modeling.

Luxo Rig Part I

Part I - Basic Rig

Flamingo Waitress Updated

Here she is with more smoothing, and her legs are a more accurate color.
Did a bit more work on her skates-

Leave her a good tip!

Flamingo Roller Waitress

Here she is, quick, elegant, and ready to take your order with a smile.

She's still at a rough low-poly stage, her limbs are still separate objects.
If you want to know more about how this model was built, let me know.

I don't know why; I just doodled this character the other day, and she insisted on being modeled in Maya.

Fun!

Theme for student project; idea

Here's a quick sketch I colored in Photoshop, just to give you my impression of a style and a "look" for the Woodbury student Maya projects.

Silly, but it sets a direction. Yours can be more whimsical, or more serious.

Its up to you, you look like you have settled on a style, now you need to develop it soon.

I'll help you with any Maya questions you may have.

Ken Roskos