Anime backgrounds and their real-world counterparts

I’ve been building up a huge backlog of things to post, the guys at work shares some amazing stuff!

Here is an image comparing backgrounds from anime and the real life locales that inspired them. Might have followed the reference a little too closely for my taste but still there’s something to be said for technical excellence!

The Blue Umbrella – Story Reel and Short

Blue Umbrella Story Reel

Blue Umbrella Short

New job!

I’ve just got a new job (yay!), things are really cool but I have to cut back on the posts. I’m putting this site into a state of semi-dormancy for now 🙂

Tale as old as time: The Making of Beauty and the Beast (1991)

My childhood brought to life

And the songs for those so inclined

Life of Pi: Animation Reel by Lead Animator, Kai-Hua Lan

Incredible work. This was Rhythm and Hues at the top of their game.

Making of Hotel Transylvania

Following yesterday’s post on smear shapes in animation, here’s a behind-the-scenes of Hotel Transylvania from It’s Art Mag. This film has got the most ‘pushed’ poses I’ve seen in recent memory.

(Spoiler Alert: It also gives away one of the big reveals in the show!)

Smear frames in animation

Check here for a collection of smear frames and explanations of their uses. The above gif is part of a larger piece found on page 20 at the time of posting.

OZ: The Great and Powerful Complete B-Roll

I love watching stuff like this,

The official trailer to compare with. Sony Imageworks is the lead VFX vendor on this show I think?

Coffitivity

 

I love this, it’s an endless track of ambient sounds and noises you would expect to hear at a coffee place. (Think Starbucks, Coffee Bean)

I leave it on and it really helps me focus when I’m animating. It’s brilliant!

Relevant research here.  Exploring Effects of Ambient Noise on Creative Cognition.

The story of how Disney brought Lucasfilm

From Bloomberg Businessweek

On the morning of the Star Tours opening, Iger met Lucas for breakfast at the Hollywood Brown Derby, one of Disney World’s restaurants. It was closed for the occasion so the two men could speak freely. Fresh from his daily workout, Iger ordered a yogurt parfait. Lucas treated himself to one of the Brown Derby’s larger omelets. The two exchanged pleasantries. Then Iger inquired whether Lucas would ever consider selling his company.

Lucas replied that he’d recently celebrated his 67th birthday and was starting to think seriously about retiring. So perhaps the sale of his company was inevitable. “I’m not ready to pursue that now,” he told Iger. “But when I am, I’d love to talk.”

Iger did his best to conceal his excitement and told him to “call me when you’re ready.” Then it was time for the two to arm themselves for a mock light saber battle to open the attraction. They joined an actor in a Darth Vader costume on a stage before several hundred cheering Star Wars fans. Iger was impressed by Lucas’s skills. “He just has this way of carrying that light saber,” Iger recalls. “He was more adept at using it than me.”

Lucas had paid close attention to how Disney had handled Pixar, which he still refers to as “my company.” He founded it as the Lucasfilm Computer Division in 1979, and sold it to Jobs six years later. He calls Disney’s decision not to meddle with Pixar “brilliant.” If he sold Lucasfilm to Disney, he figured there might still be a way to retain some influence over his fictitious universe. Much would depend on who ran Lucasfilm after he retired.

Fascinating read.

On Fostering Creativity

Brilliant talk from 1991, I wish I’ve seen this earlier.

Updates!

Sorry for the lack of updates, I’ve been busy job hunting recently.

I left my job last year to practice my animation and it looks like it’s just about to pay off! Work is starting to trickle in and hopefully there’ll be something concrete by next week. Stay tuned!

Day 18 and 19

 

Yesterday’s drawing plus today’s Lion anatomy study. I think I’ll stick to pencil for a while.

Some anatomical notes-

1) The cat’s clavicle is buried in the region of the shoulder muscle, it’s a “floating bone”, it doesn’t connect to the rest body via any bone. This allows it to go through any opening it can fit it’s head into.

2) Similarly, so is the scapula. It “floats” above the shoulder muscles. This is a defining feature of a cat and part of what gives it that distinct stalking feel of a cat’s walk.

3) They walk on their toes like most animals, what we think of as feet, are actually just the toes. The rest of the feet goes up the leg.

4) The front paws has a “Dew claw” sticking out the back, a lot of mammals have it. These typically do not touch the ground at all when they walk.

Day 17

 

Quick doodle today, after I added the marker as shading it started to smear and smudge parts that are underneath…damn. well lesson learnt.

Reel FX: Looking for Rhythm and Hues Artists!

Some good news at last, after the sobering news of Rhythm and Hues’s Chapter 11

On ReelFX’s jobsite

This recruiting tab was created for those Rhythm and Hues artists who have been affected by their recent situation. Please know our thoughts are with you. We are currently looking for new members of our various teams and will be reviewing your information in as timely a manner as possible.

Drawing Thingies

Site’s been quiet for a while, but I’ve been keeping myself busy.

A Drawing a Day, I’ve just started this yesterday to practice my construction. My construction is terrible.

Cafe Drawing – Just random people on the streets, also just started again recently. Trying to get back into gestural drawings.

Sketches done for the Animals and Creatures Masterclass at Animation Mentor

and a piece of animation I’ve done in January

More to come!

Reflections: End of 2012

So here we are, just days away from 2013. So what have we done this whole year?

In the first quarter of the year, Ben 10: Destroy All Aliens aired on Cartoon Network, I got up real early to catch it. In the same day we had an internal screening for all the staff. Needless to say this was a ground-breaking event for us – the biggest and most ambitious project so far. From layout to final composite we had a little less then a year to finish everything. Animation itself wasn’t finaled till the very last month(week?). The entire process was nerve wrecking, exhausting. It seemed like it would -never- end.

And this month, at the Asian Television Awards, Ben10 won in every category it was nominated for.

Bravo, team :), this would not have been possible without each and everyone of you!

Now, what’s next?

In September, I’ve ended an amazing 5 year run with Tiny Island Productions. Through them I’ve been allowed to wear many hats – Animator, Animation Instructor, Animation Supervisor, even Project Manager. I’m blessed to have had the chance to experience all of these, thanks so much everyone! Thanks Dave!

Now I’m on to my next Adventure! What does the future hold? Who knows??

But I’m pretty sure it’ll be just as awesome 😀

 

Happy 2013 everyone!

Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker Art and Tech analysis

Polycount has an interesting thread going.

Where’s my gamecube?

Animating Quadpeds

Gamasutra has a write-up by Cathy Feraday with some tips and tricks on animating 4-legged creatures/animals. She outlined her workflow and thought process in animating these creatures, I’ve insert an excerpt below-

In the course of my career, I’ve learned that there is a surprising similarity in how quadrupeds move, from species to species. Eadweard Muybridge’s photographic works may be a century old, but they are still relevant and extremely useful.

In his introduction to Animal Locomotion, he maintains that most quadrupeds — be they dogs, cats, horses or rhinoceroses — follow the same footfall pattern. This is the order in which the hooves or paws strike the ground while moving through the various gaits. Where they differ is in the flexibility of the spine. Visualize a rhino running, as opposed to a cheetah. The exceptions, according to Muybridge, are elephants, and animals like kangaroos.

The four speeds of movement, or the four “gaits”, are shared amongst most four-legged animals. Almost every quadruped walks, trots, canters and gallops, and their legs move in the same manner when they do it.

This came just time time for my creatures and animals masterclass! Very poignant insight from a very experienced animator.

source

Jay Grace interview by Wired

Jay Grace is the Supervising Animator on Aardman/Sony’s THE PIRATES! BAND OF MISFITS.

Wired has a short interview with him where they discusses his influences and the future of stop-motion features.

GeekDad: What led you to want to be an animator?

Grace: As a kid, I loved drawing and all things animation. I was a huge fan of Tom and Jerry, Looney Tunes, and Hanna Barbera and was always excited when a new Disney movie came out. I think it was really Star Wars that got me interested in stop-motion. I remember as a six-year-old boy, dragging my not so keen grandmother along to see it and being absolutely mesmerised by the special effects which were way beyond anything else I’d seen before and even at that age I really wanted to know how it was done. By the time Empire and Jedi came out there were some really great making of documentaries on TV which introduced me to the work of Phil Tippett and his contemporaries .

source