Planet Soltice - More Sketches

Late Summer/Early Fall sketches

 

One point perspective on some Borg-like tech, this is actually for something else...

Landscape...

 

Another one point perspective, need the practice.

NBCUniversal To Eliminate 200 Jobs At DreamWorks Animation Glendale Campus

Well, it had to happen...

(copyright DreamWorks)

When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.

It won't be DreamWorks without Jeffrey Katzenberg.

According to the Animation Guild blog, no artist positions have been affected... yet.

http://animationguildblog.blogspot.com/2016/09/dwa-downsizing.html

http://deadline.com/2016/09/nbcuniversal-200-animation-job-layoffs-1201820305/

Shane Acker's 9 movie

Just realized it is September 9th, seven years since the release of Shane Acker's "9"movie.

(copyright 2009 Focus Features)

While everyone else is celebrating 50 years of Star Trek, (which is fine), I thought I should bring this little gem back out into the spotlight. As a student at UCLA, Acker created this short film about war, oppression, loss of personal freedom, and science run amok as his student project. "9" caught the attention of Tim Burton who worked with Acker to produce "9" as a feature film.

While I am a little tired of the post apocalyptic story theme, the David and Goliath struggle of the little doll people struggling against a devil device bent on devouring their souls is still worth watching. Acker's commentary on current world affairs is still disturbingly trendy, even more now today!

And it has one of my favorite actors, Martin Landau providing the voice of "2".

 

Enjoy!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0472033/

http://www.focusfeatures.com/9

 

 

NBC-Comcast-Universal takes over DreamWorks Animation

Jeffrey Katzenberg steps down after 22 years at DreamWorks Animation...

 

 

(copyright DreamWorks Animation)

http://www.animationxpress.com/index.php/latest-news/nbcuniversal-announces-new-senior-management-for-dreamworks-animation

http://animationguildblog.blogspot.com/2016/08/adios-jeffrey.html

 

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/studios/thank-jk-dreamworks-artist-remembers-studio-katzenberg-created-142622.html

 

After hits like "Kung Fu Panda", "Madagascar" and "How to "Train your Dragon", we'll have to see how it goes with the new management. I was at DW back in the day, but I had to move on due to office politics. A student who had assisted me this summer has landed his first job there, I wish him all the best for the future, and the future of DreamWorks Animation.

Herman Bear on the planet Solstice

Here's some sketches from July in Canada...

Herman Bear lands on my new planet Solstice...

I didn't want him to be alone on the planet,
so I gave him a new companion.

(Cubcake is also there, but I'm not sure I'll keep her in the story.)

 

The bear has to make a new friend, literally! Herman assembles "Athena" from different organisms to build a composite creature. Sort of a cross between Larry Niven's Pierson's Puppeteers, and Sylvia the "Zbornak" from Disney's "Wander over Yonder".

http://larryniven.net/puppeteer/pupbod.shtml

(It's a long story)

When Herman first sees Athena, she is just some kind of seed pod that drags itself along the ground with some sort of beak. Herman has to put her together as an intelligence test designed by other aliens. Enjoy!

Kubo and the Two Strings

(copyright Laika studios) It's mortals vs. the gods in Kubo and the Two Strings. An outcast boy whose music and stories that brings origami to life goes from hustling on the street to a real challenge when he learns more about his true origins.

Laika has got another winner here! The plot is a little vague at the beginning, but things are not what they seem, as Joseph Campbell might have once said, and that's good for the film. The stop motion is well done, almost looking like CG animation. Director Travis Knight and his crew didn't cut any corners on this film

The action, although theatrical, is intense, and I am still surprised (and annoyed) at parents bringing very small children in the cinema. Still, the story succeeds on concepts of being true to yourself, appreciating your parents, and your gifts.

Get a good seat! I'm looking forward to the Blue Ray already.

3D print dragon

Finally got my female dragon head. The resolution is a little low, 

but it gives the figure an interesting texture.

Sculpted in Maya, "Cassandra" was made in 

Woodbury University's Digital Fabrication Lab, kudos to Matt and his crew!

Here is the Dimension UPrint + (SD) unit that did the dirty work.

Super cool! Good modeling experience, 

but I need more practice in modeling the interior 

to get the proper wall thickness.

She has a few errors on her surfaces, and the eyes 

didn't print for some reason. Will have to go over that again.

Matt and William use Rhino software to convert .obj files into .stl (stereo lithography) files.

Have a good summer gang, school starts at the end of August.

Jack Davis, R.I.P.

Ah, no...

http://www.newsfromme.com/2016/07/27/jack-davis-r-p/

All those Mad magazines, gee whiz.

Still, a great artist, great caricaturist.

http://www.americanartarchives.com/davis,jack.htm

(copyright publisher, from The Art of Jack Davis)

Maybe he's still doodling in the great bullpen in the sky...

http://onlineathens.com/breaking-news/2016-07-27/famed-cartoonist-jack-davis-noted-uga-bulldog-drawings-dead-91

The Iron Giant's Dream (New Scene)

Exceptional Minds on KPCC

 Caught this bleary eyed on KPCC this morning:

http://www.scpr.org/news/2016/07/12/62437/how-young-people-with-autism-are-making-movie-magi/

http://www.exceptionalmindsstudio.org/studio2/mission.html

I met Ernie Merlan at Studio Arts years ago.
Good to know his school his helping young people find work in animation and effects.

Jodorowsky's Dune (2014) - HD Trailer

I just found out about director Alejandro Jodorowsky's plans for Frank Herbert's book from a Dune quiz on Facebook. The art by Moebius, and the storyboards look fantastic. I think this would have been far superior to David Lynch's creep-out movie. Now if I can just find it!

Joker Mashup... with Marcie?

Hello Batfans, and Charlie Brown aficionados, just blowin' off steam with another mashup.

(copyright Time/Warner and United Feature Syndicate)

With everything that's going on in the world, 

I just thought it would be funny to have Marcie assist the Joker for a while.

 The Joker would finally have Gotham City on it's knees, 

only to have Marcie question everything:

"Why did you do that sir?"

"Stop calling me sir!"

3D Printing

After all these years, Herman Bear emerges as a 3D print out!

Still have to clean him up, get the support material out of his mouth.

Kudos to Woodbury University's Digital Fabrication Lab. 

http://architecture.woodbury.edu/fabrication-labs/

(Forbidden Planet, original copyright MGM)

We don't have sci-fi replication technology just yet, but we're getting there!

Will update details asap.

Disney, DreamWorks Animation Appealing Hollywood Studio Antitrust Lawsuit

More news on the alleged collusion between the studios...

http://www.awn.com/news/disney-dreamworks-animation-appealing-hollywood-studio-antitrust-lawsuit

Disney and DreamWorks Animation Want Appeals Court to Stop Fight With 10,000 Animation Workers

Ripped from the pages of the Hollywood Reporter!

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/disney-dreamworks-animation-want-appeals-901156

And from the Animation Guild:

http://animationguildblog.blogspot.com/2016/06/time-barred.html

Planet Dolan

Stumbled across this on YouTube...

(copyright Super Planet Dolan)

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3D_ZXHwaKekKwbO_LM48OQ

On this channel, Danger Dolan, and his cute kitty pal Shima answer 10 of your most burning questions about just about anything... as long as it's some common sense question that can have a weird answer.

Dolan, who reminds me of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters, will come up with the most absurd answers to obvious questions. Shima can be counted on to come up with clear, scientific explanations... In other words, the right answer.

Have a good Memorial Day weekend. Enjoy!

Mountains colored in Photoshop

Blowin' off steam...

 

Quick sketch, colored in Photoshop.

Rocket Racoon for President

This fall, put some REAL crooks in the White House!

(copyright Marvel/Disney)

Hey, you could do worse.

Quick sketch, will try to do more.

Behind the Scenes of Zootopia: Gnomon Alumni Panel

It was a packed house in the old Quonset hut auditorium as the Gnomon School of Visual Effects hosted five Zootopia artists, sponsored by Walt Disney Animation Studios. While the buzz for Zootopia may have cooled off a bit, the advances Disney has made should give them quite a lot of momentum at the box office for a while.

https://www.gnomon.edu/community/events/behind-the-scenes-of-zootopia

 Alberto Abril (Animator), Chika Saito (Modeler), Diana Zeng (Lighter), Dylan Ekren (Modeler), and Tyler Bolyard (Look Development Artist) each spoke about their time working on Zootopia, and their learning experiences at Gnomon and the other schools they attended.

They all seemed to have enjoyed working at Disney, and I must admit, I kind of envy their talents and the opportunities that they have had.

Studies of animals in the wild were shown, along with a pencil test of Walt Disney's Robin Hood. Special plugins for Maya, such as Xgen were discussed, along with lighting strategies, not to mention good old-fashioned hand drawn art for development.

Just the development of fur and hair seemed to consume a lot of time and resources. There was some "recycling" as one basic species model of a gazelle/deer was tweaked with different horns, fur color and different outfits to create extra background crowd characters.

(my photo from CTN 2015, copyright Disney)

Unfortunately, there will be no streaming of this presentation due to copyright issues. 

However, I did do a little digging to bring some examples of their work.

Here is Chika Saito’s Modeling Demo Reel 11/30/12

https://vimeo.com/55329417

 Alberto Abril's reel,

 http://www.albertoabril.com/

 Diana Zeng's blog,

 http://dianajzeng.blogspot.com/

 Dylan Ekren's work,

https://www.artstation.com/artist/dekren

And Tyler Bolyard's Facebook,

https://www.facebook.com/tyler.bolyard 

Just being on the grounds at Gnomon is always interesting. Their campus is the old Television Center Studio lot in Hollywood. The buildings are characters in themselves. There's a mixture 1930's and 1940's architecture that has a "Diesel Punk" feel to it. Add in the extra plumbing and cables with Gnomon's high tech interiors, you have some cool, gritty movie exteriors right there.

I'm trying to find out more about the history of the place, but it's past seems kind of murky right now. Which makes it that more interesting. UPDATE:

http://www.loopnet.com/Listing/16421261/6311-Romaine-St-Los-Angeles-CA/

The original home of Technicolor, set in a 1920's Art Deco style. There has to be more than a few ghosts haunting that building.

25 Animation Related Blogs that will explain more about animation

Animation Re-creation is number 16 on the "25 Animation Related Blogs will explain more about animations" on boredwiki.com

(copyright Time/Warner)

 http://boredwiki.com/list-of-animation-blogs/

Posted by Alicia Mehra.

Many thanks!