46th Annual Annie Awards

https://annieawards.org/watch-it-live

How to Fix the Future by Andrew Keen

Managed to catch this on KPFK; Ralph Nader interviews author Andrew Keen.

https://ralphnaderradiohour.com/how-to-fix-the-future/

 (from Technological Threat, directed by Bill Kroyer 1988)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096238/

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32508662-how-to-fix-the-future

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WesternAnimation/TechnologicalThreat

The Little Bummer Droid

Just getting a quick sketch down.

The Holiday rush has begun, at least for me.

My concern is "Digital Dickensian-ism":

We are at a point where not having the latest phone or gadget not only means a loss of status, but a threat to health and safety as well. If a cell tower goes down, can the public still get vital information on wildfires or hurricanes threatening their town? There's still battery powered radios, but who really keeps one? My upbringing has helped me try to tread as lightly on the Earth as I can. (And I still hang to a lot of old tech to pinch a penny.) But it is tech that media manufacturers and telecom companies don't want to deal with anymore. My point is that we should be able live with whatever level of technology we want, and actually need. I'm still impressed by the Amish back East!

I hope the world can heal, and get past its rage and madness in 2019.

Best,

Ken R.

RIP SpongeBob SquarePants Creator Stephen Hillenburg

 I'm reading more and more about middle age people in showbiz passing away, and it's scary. Whereas Stan Lee lived to nearly a century at 95, it's saddening to hear about SpongeBob SquarePants Creator Stephen Hillenburg. Granted he was suffering from ALS, once known as Lou Gehrig's disease. ALS is a neurodegenerative disease with no known cure.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/stephen-hillenburg-dead-spongebob-squarepants-creator-dies-at-57-1164132

https://www.cartoonbrew.com/rip/stephen-hillenburg-creator-of-spongebob-squarepants-dies-at-57-167113.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2018/11/27/spongebob-squarepants-creator-stephen-hillenburg-has-died/?utm_term=.6d613d30b1bf

I must begrudgingly admit, I did get a few laughs from the folks down in Bikini Bottom. And it's a reminder to keep going on my projects, no matter what. Spongebob will be like the Simpsons, just one of those shows that will always seem to be around. The amount of work, and adventures Stephen Hillenburg had as a marine biology teacher is still impressive. Here's a sketch of SpongeBob I did back in 2006.

(copyright Nickelodeon)

 

Here's to ya mate!

Animate In Virtual Reality with Disney's PoseVR

Saw this article on Cartoon Brew; worth passing along. https://www.cartoonbrew.com/disney/disneys-posevr-is-a-mind-blowing-tool-that-lets-you-animate-in-vr-166721.html

Augmented Reality with Animation

Here is my next step in creating basic AR using Unity with Vuforia. I'll see how much of the procedure I can list here.

These video links outline the process much more clearly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtiUx_szKbI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8cmDK_O-1g

RIP Stan Lee

Here's to one of the greatest parts of my childhood, and development as a cartoonist, and as an artist.

Along with Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and John Buscema, along with an almost endless list of other editors, writers and artists most comics fans will know by heart, Stan Lee created the most beloved and enduring comic book characters to date. Granted, all the Marvel Bullpen artists did their share of the heavy lifting in creating the Marvel Universe, which finally led to a financial empire of toys, knick-knacks, action figures, books, animated TV shows, and finally feature films so prosperous that an unlikely rival media conglomerate, (Disney) could not pass it up.

(original copyright Simon and Schuster)

Stan also served in the U.S. Army.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/marvel-comics-legend-stan-lee-dies-at-95/ar-BBPCSj8?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=mailsignout

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/12/obituaries/stan-lee-dead.html 

 

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/stan-lee-marvel-comics-legend-721450

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stan_Lee

In a Joseph Campbell way, Stan was a modern shaman to me, weaving tales about the Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk, and Spiderman, to name a few. Not to mention the X-Men, Thor, Dr. Strange and Iron Man. I plunked down many a quarter, then 35¢, and then well over a dollar to travel off to other worlds of mutants, monsters, madmen and gods. Stan Lee also helped me expand my vocabulary. Where else would a kid in grade school read about a "tumultuous exodus"? It helped drive my teachers crazy. Thank God for such pandemonious puffery! Spellcheckers be damned.

It's tempting to call Stan Lee a modern Shakespeare, with his stories of arrogant men falling, being humbled, and then rising again as heroes. But Lee's heroes also kept all of their quirks, faults and weaknesses, whereas most of the DC Comics universe had heroes who were almost always squeaky clean. How dull. No, in the Marvel Universe, Peter Parker struggled with paying the rent, looking after an aunt who always seemed to be at death's door, and an impossible boss who had a personal vendetta against Peter Parker's alter-ego Spiderman. Soap opera writers must have been jealous.

Tony Stark, Stephen Strange, Ben Grimm and an entire legion of characters were humbled, stumbled and still rose to the occasion when the Marvel villains, most of whom also had their own stories and issues, threatened New York City, the Earth, or even the entire universe. Victories were won, but often at a price, and revelations of the depth of the characters emerged on both sides of the conflict. I seem to be gushing with Stan's "purple prose" here. And maybe some Jules Feiffer.

Got to wrap this up now, but I still treasure these mementos from my childhood. Being able to learn storytelling, draftsmanship, graphic design and even literacy from the humble, much maligned comic book leaves many geeks in Stan Lee's debt. R.I.P Mr. Lee.

Excelsior!

CTN Expo 2018

 It's November, and the rock concert of all animation conferences will be here again at the Burbank Marriott Hotel. Various Schools, Lectures, Seminars, Book Sellers, Artists, Celebrities, and the Big Studios will be there to celebrate the Animation Industry. I hope you can enjoy it.

https://www.ctnanimationexpo.com/

 https://www.facebook.com/ctnanimationexpo/

(my photo from CTN 2015, characters copyright Disney)

More Inktober iterations...

More weirdness with pen and ink. I've been using Kuretake Bimoji Brush Pens for the last couple of years, they seem to do the trick. Although they're starting to dry out. I'm also using a yellow marker to get a midtone, and to help me work out the forms from my rough sketches. Not to mention a gallon of white-out where I'm not sure.

Herman Bear and Athena contemplate an alien necklace
while exploring further on the planet Solstice.

It may be more trouble than it's worth!

My first successful Augmented Reality test with Unity and Vuforia

After following the tutorial from Playful Technology, I finally was able to get my first success in AR with the Unity game engine, along with the Vuforia software.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtiUx_szKbI

 

Still have a long way to go.

https://unity3d.com/

 

https://www.vuforia.com/

Inktober 2018 Part One - Bear & Dragon

I'm off to a late start, but here's to Inktober!

Insert your own dialogue for your enjoyment, see what you come up with.

 I'll try to do more.

Animation loses Claymation king Will Vinton

I have to admit, I wasn't a huge Will Vinton fan, but I was struck by some of his work. "Closed Mondays" was the first Vinton film I ever saw that didn't revolve around singing raisins, or other commercial characters.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoBmlbQApJE

 There were some various TV specials, and the series I remember was the "PJ's" created by Eddie Murphy. Vinton was listed as Executive Producer on a few episodes.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0182621/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm

 (original copyright Touchstone Television)

(Street Poster I found years ago in L.A. Haven't seen anything else like it.)

I was saddened to learn later that his studio was bought out by Phil Knight of Nike shoes, and Vinton was forced out. Vinton Studios eventually became Laika.

 https://priceonomics.com/how-the-father-of-claymation-lost-his-company/

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/will-vinton-dead-oscar-winning-legend-claymation-was-70-1149596

https://www.cartoonbrew.com/rip/will-vinton-stop-motion-legend-and-claymation-creator-dead-at-70-164928.html

 http://dorkshelf.com/2015/12/19/from-coraline-to-kubo-laika-is-the-stop-motion-studio-that-never-stops/

 

Correction: Vinton Studios were taken over by Travis Knight after they continued to lose money after his initial investment.

https://www.cartoonbrew.com/business/how-will-vinton-lost-his-studio-to-a-rapper-named-chilly-tee-99327.html

Augmented Reality with Vuforia and Unity

Here we go, first try...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdfStRynCLw

SIGGRAPH 2018 Computer Animation Festival Electronic Theater

Slamdance DIG - A Showcase of Interactive Art

https://showcase.slamdance.com/DIG

Hello Blog, health and finance issues kept me away for awhile. But I was able to make it downtown Friday for the Slamdance Digital Interactive Game seminar at the L.A. Artist collective in St. Vincent Court. The subject of the discussion was about how information and storytelling are coming together into a new art form. Guest speakers included Chadwick Turner from Tailspin, Bryan Davis, founder of Lost Spirits distillery, Ray Mosco "VR Evangelist and Artist/Animator Sasha Samochina from NASA's "The Studio" at JPL. The host was Dekker Dreyer.

Forgot to mention how Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality will become more and more commonplace. Will update this article asap.

AT&T Time Warner merger

Ma Bell now owns Batman, Bugs Bunny and half of Hollywood???

 

Enjoy your stay.

 

(From Porky Pig's Feat, directed by Frank Tashlin. Original copyright Warner Bros.)

 

Will research and update asap.

E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo 2018 - Digital Village 90.7 KPFK

 Ric and Doran discuss high tech topics on their radio show, Digital Village. They also have Britney from Game Talk Live give a review of the E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo 2018.

Topics include:

The end of Net Neutrality

Tesla

AT&T/TimeWarner Merger

Uber pedestrian fatality
More female players, animators and game characters

With apologies, you have to search for Digital Village's latest show on KPFK's audio archive page.

https://archive.kpfk.org/index.php

https://www.e3expo.com/

Fortnite is reported to be the big game right now from Epic Games.

https://www.epicgames.com/fortnite/en-US/buy-now/standard

Brad Bird Incredibles 2 Interview - KCRW The Treatment

While flipping around the dial, I managed to stumble upon this rebroadcast:
Brad Bird discusses story, character and film inspiration on "The Treatment" on KCRW 89.9 FM, hosted by Elvis Mitchell. Tune in!

https://www.kcrw.com/news-culture/shows/the-treatment/brad-bird-incredibles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5qOzqD9Rms#action=share

WRECK IT RALPH 2 Official Trailer (2019) All Disney's Princesses

Okay, now I'm curious to see the Wreck it Ralph sequel. The main joke here seems to be how Vanellope von Schweetz and Ralph are introduced to the rest of the Disney mega-multiverse. (And gently jamming it in our faces that they own so many properties that bring us enjoyment.) This includes franchises like the Star Wars universe, Pixar, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (no Stan Lee cameo?) and even the Muppets. It's not easy counting all that green, unless you're a Disneyland park employee living in your car.

It also must have been a real project to work out all of the license deals for the newer video games, and the online companies shown such as Google, eBay, etc. that Disney doesn't own... yet. Still, it's free exposure. Talk about product placement!

Still, I'll skip the Pepsi, and the popcorn, and try to hunker down for a big screen summer experience.

Alien Sculpture

Okay, I've been working on this alien character for almost two years, and it's time to publish something. I call her Athena. She is actually composite creature, composed of  7 separate organisms. I've decided to set the canon for her origin; "she" brings herself together, after several failed attempts by Herman Bear. This is their attempt at an anthropomorphic form, after looking at Herman, and, uh, one particular "swimsuit edition" Herman had on board his ship.

When Herman Bear becomes stranded on the planet Solstice, he first believes the native life forms are unintelligent, and they seem to prey on each other regularly. He later realizes that the creatures only combine, separate, and then recombine to sustain and nourish each other. It's also how they communicate. He tries to "build a being", but is never completely successful. But soon after Herman's meddling, the separate creatures get the idea and come together to form Athena. The butterfly/flowers soon learn to speak. Their "legs" are formed from large lampreys, the feet are simple, shoe-like snails, and the body and head are one unit, like a large, uh, potato with a beak. The beak is actually a large claw the body pod uses to drag itself over the ground.

After pages and pages of sketches, I finally committed myself to their forms and proportions. The figure is just under 9 inches tall, carved from styrofoam, wire and plaster. I also roughed out a Herman Bear figure to get a definite size relationship. I'm struggling to make him more refined as well.

I'm working on the next model, with more detail and posable joints. At any rate, when these seven organisms come together, they become the forerunner of a new species on the planet Solstice. She/they eventually become the good will ambassador of their world, the possible matriarch, and perhaps even the custodian of the planet's future. And Herman Bear has a companion, so he isn't left alone on the planet. She/they teach how to survive. And more.

I must admit, I got the inspiration for this from the old animated Star Trek series episode "BEM". (Bug Eyed Monster). But I think I'm original enough with this creature, and her motives and origins are quite different.  http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Bem_(episode)

(Now I even see parallels to Voltron, and other anime' where separate components come together to form a greater being. But this isn't quite the same case here.)

All images copyright Ken Roskos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Crj0V_R77Ns