Great Site for Reference

From Animation Podcast:

"On a little break I came across these clips that I just had to share. Each and every one of them is a goldmine of reference, containing those juicy moments that would challenge any animator. They’re clips of people discovering how to play the new Nintendo Wii. They are put in this room and given the controllers with no instruction. The range of emotions is beautiful to watch, and many times I found myself smiling as much as the people on screen. I hope you’re as captivated as I am by their expressions, body language, and reactions to their discoveries.

I found myself so immediately engaged in watching these people and it reminded me of the Freddy Moore quote from The Illusion of Life:

'They love to see the drawings move and the characters think! Remember that! It’s what they like to see in our scenes. It’s what they liked with Fergy’s Pluto, you know. We should always let them see the characters think!'

It’s also an ingenious bit of advertising to not focus on the graphics and tech, but on the people enjoying the game. Isn’t that what really matters anyhow? What a great way to sell the darned things."

Click HERE to watch and study.

A Sneek Peek

Fun with Nature

Although cute, running into this in the middle of the woods had me looking over my shoulder the rest of the hike.

Thesis Work

Here's a few more test images (made in '98 pre-"Nemo") from my currently defunct thesis film.

Vampires

Here are some vampire characters I've been working on. Mixed media but mostly watercolor.

Bad Elephant

Yes... this actually did happen to me.

Eyvind Earle

This was a small watercolor pencil piece I did for Eyvind Earle as a thank you for his invitation to visit his workshop at home. He had a thing for pianos. Sadly he passed away less than a year later (July 2000). The last time I saw him was at his pre-84th birthday. I gave him a copy of my favorite Dr. Seuss book, The Lorax.

Mel Blanc, The Goonies, and Our 1st Anniversary

My wife stands in front of the "Time Bandit," a miniature pirate ship built for the film "Time Bandits" (and later used as the ship that sails off into the sunset in "Goonies") now used to tour Big Bear Lake in Big Bear, California. (Make sure to bring a sweater, jacket, hat, gloves, and thermals. It gets mighty cold!)

Our guide. She kinda reminded me of Anne Ramsey.




















The best part of the tour was seeing Mel Blanc's old home where his son now lives (he comes out and waves at the boat if he happens to be home)