2013 Character Reel
Mostly character animation from music, game and short film projects. I did animation, layout, composite and most character design on everything except the clips from a Modestep video – where my principal task was color painting in the graphic novel sense. Creative Immortal handled general production, with Alex Young illustrating. Character concepts were also provided for the xKore video.
As much as anything I tried to make the reel fun to watch, so I hope you enjoy it. The audio is a work in progress, hopefully interesting and not too difficult a listen.
More character animation is now being finished in ToonBoom Animate, while many key poses are still drawn on punched paper. Compositing is in After Effects. The backgrounds range from hand painted to total 3D geometry.
- February 13, 2013
- No Comments
- Animation
Industrial Rendering
I have done a variety of industrial projects. Most of the recent work I cannot show because of sensitive technology and patents. I do have permission to show one animated clip, minus the animated graphics, charts and diagrams that were a big part of the original piece. Enjoy my retro space music that replaces the original voice-over. Additionally, I bet you can guess which renderings I did just for fun.
- February 5, 2013
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- Animation
A Friend Indeed
Che the dog, who is too old to see well, has the friend he really needs – he just doesn’t know it yet. Get a PDF ebook edition for only $2.99. There is also a nice print version. Besides the illustrated story, I put extra drawings on the page corners. These can be used as a flipbook, the front and the back of pages. For any intrepid little reader that wants to see how animation works, there are additional pages of drawings that show the complete movements of Che and his friend. The book finishes with a color catalog of the native wildflowers in Che’s garden.
- January 10, 2013
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- Animation
- July 9, 2012
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- Animation
Stabs by xKore
This is Stabs, the xKore animated video flying under the Inspected music label. A perturbing enforcer, a brute villain and cold urban canyons are the key elements.
- March 20, 2012
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- Animation
Modestep, Show Me a Sign
A mostly After Effects animated music video for Modestep, I am credited as Animation Lead Colourist. I painted all of Alex Young’s line art. That is all the character animation except for the concert scenes. It was great working with Richard Payne, who is currently directing at NTSH London. See more of the art after the break.
Surf Rider
This is a really fun project. I was given a list of characters and then put on a very long leash. Actually, I even came up with the idea for the surfing Sumo. I did surf for several years, and then paddled a whitewater kayak. There is a small amount of overlap in these experiences, giving me a wealth of ideas.
Casting Shadows
This was a very interesting design project. The animation had to illustrate a story from ancient Korean folklore, and at the same time be connected to a modern drama. The film director, Angela Park, had a logical idea of progression in the animation look, but the starting point needed a delicate touch.
Barnes documentary
Albert Barnes built one of the preeminent private art collections in the world. HBO produced a documentary to explain the drive and motivations that propelled Barnes in his quest. Limited animation was requested; however, HBO was keen on getting exactly the right expression during formative episodes in the life of young Albert.
- December 2, 2009
- One Comment
- Animation, Uncategorized
America’s Pop Star Penalty Round
The friendly creatures of Snuff Mountain, Tennessee decided not to be left off the reality TV bandwagon. Never mind that the wagon was never going to pull over and let them on. Is it the most humble expression of pop culture you’ve ever seen, or an apt metaphor for our time?
All the art started as pencil illustration. The animation was spline based, made with Anime Studio Pro. The audio was produced in-house, using studio built foley props and echo chamber. It’s all very straightforward. I looked at a lot of old Termite Terrace shot layouts, and staged these shots with that attitude of ‘getting it done’.
- May 8, 2009
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- Animation
Energy for Everyone
I have depicted a setting that is gradually turning toward sustainability. The main focus is wind power, and this piece is available for customization and licensing. The methods used to make this animation is a blend of warm traditional techniques, and wholly digital components.
- July 7, 2008
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- Animation
Children’s Festival of Reading
Promoting child literacy and literature can only be a good thing. I figure kids have seen enough unicorns and teddy bears to hurl chunks, so I took a different path. Good literature gives us wild imaginings our whole life. I have no trouble imagining wild things, already.
I animated the ‘book reading’ scenes with Anime Studio Pro. The vector and IK tools make for smooth, calm movement. The real action, what is figuratively between the pages, has a rough line from being sketched out in Pencil open source software. That was animated straight ahead almost as fast as I conceived it. The color fills are in a back layer, so the sketchiness is intentionally preserved. Backgrounds were painted simply in Photoshop. Shadows, spotlit accenting and composites were in After Effects.