Great Color from Odd Places

This is kind of a weird post, but this is a fantastic example of how great color can come from...well anywhere.  In this case, I found some amazing warm tones in my morning breakfast:

I know it looks kinda gross but it's actually quite delicious! Here's the combo:

Kashi Crunch

Strawberry Yorgurt

Plain Yogurt

Blueberries

Honey

Cinnamon

And what did this tasty concoction yield:

Enjoy!

Summer Update and Senior Project Concept (about time)!

I had to post the above, because the news of this movie finally getting released in the states makes me extremely happy. This is the poster and trailer for the latest Studio Ghibli/Miyazaki film Ponyo. I am a proud owner of the entire Studio Ghibli collection. The stories, characters, artwork and music of these films truly define everything I love about animated film-making, and now we finally get to enjoy yet another animated classic brought to us by the wonderful dubbers over at Disney (and a special thanks to John Lassater). Enjoy the trailer! I can't wait to see this in August.

Blogging is proving to be tough this summer because:

A) Of the artwork that I have produced, it is either: unfinished, illegal to post (do to contract agreements for freelance projects and internship assignments), or I just haven't gotten around to posting it yet (as is the case with the Curtains set design. I haven't received pictures yet of the finished set nor do I have my concept sketches organized). Sigh!

B) I'm running out of time to produce artwork in my free time. I do get home in the evening until 6:30 or 7:00. By the time I unwind from work, eat dinner, and exercize (yes I'm finally getting my ass in shape) it's almost 9:00 or 10:00 in the evening. Although I love my job and the work that I'm doing, it's been tough to find a good solid chunk of time to myself to get work completed.

Lot's to talk about:

I recently enjoyed a wonderful weekend with family in Washing D.C. Celebrating my twin cousins' first birthday. My entire maternal family was their including my cousin Jeff and his wife Kristen who live on the military base in Okinawa Japan. Kristen, Jeff and I swapped stories of Tokyo and Tokyo Disney Sea. I was wonderfully reminded that I have a fantastically awesome family and I wish I could see more of them.

I also finally acquired inspiration for my senior project in Sequential Art. I'm going to write an sequential children's book based on my cousin Todd's kids Molly and Emma, two of the most adorable little girls you will ever meet. The title you might ask? Molly and Emma's pet Yetti. On a cold winter's morning, a stork leaves a baby Yetti sitting on the door step of Molly and Emma's house as he is inappropriately dressed for the long flight to the Greenland. While the stork returns to the clouds to retrieve appropriate winter attire, Molly and Emma decide to nurse the the baby Yetti until the stork's return. Chaos and giggles ensue. I'm still working out plot details but so far, I'm excited about the project.

I did not enjoy the new Transformers movies. The poor cinematography and story boarding, annoyingly, left me confused, disoriented and pissed off that I couldn't see the awesome visual effects because the camera couldn't sit still for one bloody second.

My internship at 1st Playable is going very well. I recently finished the tedious task of animating blinking eyes and moving lips for 60+ characters but I finally have been given the opportunity to flex my skills and I've been drawing new poses for pre-designed characters. It's been great! It was difficult staying on model at first but after today, I think I finally got the hang of it. Hopefully I can post some of those drawings once the game gets release towards the end of the summer.

Hopefully future posts will have some artwork attached to them. Take care everyone!

Another Awesome Stop-Motion Short Film

I found this fantastic short film last week. After seeing this and the short film, "Dead Line" (the post-it note stop-motion short film) I've become more and more interested in experimental animation and am looking for creative ways to explore the media. Just brainstorming though.

In other news, I successfully finished the first week of my internship for 1st Playable Productions in Troy, NY. The week was off to a slow start - setting up my computer, downloading software, downloading project files - but now they're keeping me fairly busy. I'm finishing up work on one game project where I got to create some buttons for in-game activities. Today I created some mock up designs for said game's cartridge art, and on Monday I start something completely different. I think I get to do some character animation. Nothing fancy though, just sprite animation. Unfortunately I can't talk about these project until they hit the shelves. I can't go breaking confidentiality agreements. But I'll keep the blog updated with my antics and hopefully I get the chance to post some artwork soon. The set design for the show I was working on last week is finally finished. I'm anxious to see how the final product turned out. I know the team back at home did an excellent job in my absence.

AMAZING Stop Motion Short Film

SCAD alumni, Neil Helm, posted this film on his blog. It's the stop 

motion film of one of his coworkers at Pixar. It might be one of the 

best stop motion films I've ever seen.

Merry Christmas

I'm not a huge fan of the fact that I've fallen behind in my blog-posts, but since it is Christmas, I feel it's only appropriate that I get off my lazy butt and write something. I promise that the rest of my Adventures in Tokyo journal entries will be posted eventually. The holidays have put everything on halt for now. 

I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas holiday today. I hope you’ve had the opportunity to share wonderful memories with your loved ones while viciously and nonsensically opening presents this morning. There’s something about the Christmas season that makes it magical, for lack of a better adjective. Personally it’s my favorite time of the year. There’s nostalgia attached to everything aspect of this season: listening to Christmas songs that I’ve enjoyed with my father since I was a kid, decorating the house with mom, and shopping for gag gifts with my brothers. The Christmas season not only holds a special place in my heart because of it’s spiritual significance, but also the fond memories it carriers of spending time with my family. My family is so incredibly dear to me. I guess this time of the year reminds me of just how thankful I am to be apart of it. It is my sincere wish to all of my friends that you have found the warmth and comfort of the Christmas season this year, as sappy as that sounds. There’s no better time of year. Enjoy it while it lasts.

As tradition dictates year after year, my family and I were awake and opening gifts bright and early at 8:00 a.m. For me, the day was difficult start. I was completely exhausted. My brother Chris, visiting from New York, chose my bed to sleep in, putting me on a leaky air mattress for the night. I think I eventually got about three hours of sleep after adjusting my back to the solidity of the floor. However, my lack of energy certainly did not stop me from opening presents. A cup of coffee (or three) and I was fine. I’m so addicted.

Since Dad graciously paid for my trip to Tokyo, my resulting Christmas hull was modest, just like I’d asked it to be. However, I did receive a few items from my Christmas list. My favorites were: The Art of Kung Fu Panda, The Art of Alice and Wonderland, Howl’s Moving Castle on DVD, and Horton Hears a Who on DVD. Chris got me the an art book containing all of the cover illustrations from the “Fables” comic book series illustrated by James Jean, one of my favorite artists. He could not have given me a better present. I haven’t been able to purchase any of his books because most are out of print and fairly expensive. Chris found this one for a decent price at Forbidden Planet, an awesome comic book store in New York. The artwork in his book is sensational. It’s funny because now that I’m more familiar with ancient Japanese artwork, I can seen how James Jean has taken influences from several of the artists that we studied while we were in Tokyo. I’m glad I’m still in the basic stages of my fantasy illustrations. I want to go back and change some things now that I have some new resources to pull from.

Drew got both an iPhone and an Xbox 360 for Christmas. Lucky dog. I’m slighty jealous I have to admit, but I’m not complaining. Drew has to pay Dad for the 360. The real gift was that Dad let Drew have a 360 at all. Until now, Drew’s grades in school have been to low. Dad wouldn’t let him have one, even though he’s saved up enough money.

Since the situation has changed, Dad decided it would be fun to surprise him. The look on Drew’s face was priceless. Every year, the three of us get one large present (the special gift at the top of our Christmas list) and a few smaller presents. After opening the smaller gifts, we each have to play “hot and cold” around the house, to find what we call “the mother load.” Well, to throw Drew off even more, Dad and I put his iPhone in a 360 shaped box and weighed it down with zip-lock bags filled with kitty litter to make it feel as heavy as the game system. My big present this year was the Tokyo trip, so when it came my turn to find my “big present,” I found another gift labeled for Drew. He knew instantly what it was, freaked out, and upon tearing the paper away, starting sobbing while hugging it tightly. Priceless!

All in all, today was a great day. I was still disappointed that I couldn’t give Drew his Christmas gifts that I bought for him in Tokyo. Sadly, I left the bag they were in sitting somewhere in the terminal of the Atlanta airport. Oh well. These things happen I guess. I’m starting to feel the Christmas slump. I’m enjoying my break and I’m not quite ready to go back to school. I’m sad to say it, but it’s time to move on. Now I have to get my butt in gear and work feverishly to get my projects done for my fantasy illustration class completed. Wish me luck. I post samples as I get some work completed.

Merry Christmas everyone! Take care.

"American Dog" (the original "Bolt")

I was doing some research on Bolt and found out some interesting information about the history of its development. Apparently, Bolt was originally titled "American Dog" and was a one point in its development written and directed by Chris Sanders, the writer/director of Lilo and Stitch. However, Sanders was fired from the project, and Chris Williams was brought in to complete the film. According to Cartoon Brew, John Lasseter, now the new creative head at Disney was not happy with direction "American Dog" was taking and felt that it needed to be restructured. Above I've posted concept images that I found from "American Dog" and quite frankly, I kind of wish we got this movie instead. As much as I enjoyed Bolt, I do love the work of Chris Sanders. Lilo and Stitch is one of my favorite animated movies, and to think we could have had another quirky film from him is disappointing. Well we can at least look forward to "Crood Awakenings," a film that Sanders' is now directing for Dreamworks. 

Here's a link to the full story.

Bolt

Ok, so has anyone seen Disney's new movie Bolt? I went to see it the other day, and while I'm was extremely impressed by the stunning character animation, I was, yet again, not so blown away by the story. I'm sure I'm not the only one to realize this but Bolt is basically Toy Story with animals. Bolt the dog is Buzz Lightyear. Buzz thinks he's a space ranger but is actually a toy. Bolt thinks he's a super-hero, but he's actually just a regular dog, who ironically gets lost, sets out on a journey to find his owner, and along the way comes to realize who he really is. Parallels? I think so.