this is a rough model sheet for a film idea I have been developing. The idea is this: I meet animators from around the world on my travels and I am always interested in meeting more. Animators make great people. I contacted about 25 of them from 9 different countries and asked if they want to make a film together. 24 said yes. I give everyone the same 'topic' (its a line really, no real theme or anything) and they can animate their interpretation of it. Any style, and medium, any 'story'. and each around 10-20 seconds long. I will then compile all of them and make a film of it. IF it all works and IF everyone comes through. This is my character. I will add some color really soon and post that as well. and most likely I  will post updates on the animation here as well. thoughts?

a second revision...what was I thinking with that last one??

a slight revision to a shot I am wrestling with......

preschool design

for a series idea I had been tossing around for a while....

more n' more

Image Dump

I finally got a chance to post some of the sketches I had piling up for the last several ( gulp!) months. Most of these are geared towards a younger audience, some are clearly not. and others not posted here, are for a different blog altogether.

'My Daughter is a Girl' leaves the nest!

My last film, "My Daughter is a GIrl" is officially done with the festival circuit. I always wonder about posting it, sending out, all alone, in to the cruel, cruel world; able to be downloaded and have all sorts of unspeakable things done to it, having to fend for itself. But then I think, "I have trained you well, you have to survive on your own" and off it goes. I think there is alot of controversy about putting your stuff out there for 'free'. Most of this comes from old-school folks who were always taught that this a bad, bad thing. I fell in to this group for a while. But now I see it as marketing. This film had a good life and if it brings any more work as a result of someone seeing it, it can have another great run for me. It does me or anyone else any good for it to see on a hard drive gathering dust, right? so I hope you enjoy it, feel free to pass it along to anyone you know! Here is the link to Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOhTBKLvb9g

Book Illustrations

Alright, so I have been pecking away at my diminishing free-time and trying to get this book thing to a point I can shop it around (so I can then get back to work on my film). I am not quite half-way through painting the characters. of course, I landed on a method that is neither fast or easy or consistent. so in order to see if I am off base with it, I am posting a work-in-progress on the 'look'. any thoughts?

ready...discuss

lately I have been pre-occupied with the concept of 'appeal' in design and animation. Some people know this word as 'quality' and even more people know this word as aesthetics. to me, its that undefinable concept of what makes a work of art 'good' a purely subjective term that in one sense, can't be defined. but that only suggests that it doesn't exist, when it does in every place we look. I try to get my students to recognize it, strive for it, make it a part of their work from the very start, but without being able to define it, how can I expect them to use it? It's a very complex and vexing situation for me. If anyone has any thoughts on this, let me know. as my train of thought travels down these rails, I will, undoubtedly, add more to this discussion.

cheers