These are props I’ve made for my short film. Some of them, especially the stopwatch, are still in rough draft mode but I’ll be refining them later after I have more of my animation done. I do plan on donating the finished versions to the AM prop library, but if you are interested in using any of them “as is” in your AM assignments just drop me a line and I’ll email you the Maya files.

I am in the process of animating my short film for Animation Mentor right now. Here’s the layout that I’m building on. Computer animated layouts are a little weird to watch if you aren’t used to it, but I wasn’t happy with how I edited together my storyboard animatic (my kingdom for a lightbox and a copy of After Effects!) so this is a better representation of how the film is coming along.

I’ve been a bit too housebound lately; I haven’t been getting out to any life drawing classes. So today I decided to spend some time drawing on the Posemaniacs site. It’s not a substitute for live models, but there’s a iphone app and a 30 second pose option so it’s pretty fun.

From the most recent Spline Doctors podcast, Richard Williams on how he could tell the work of Ken Harris from other WB animators-
“He drew in little flicks…the nose of the coyote was squarer…”

Now a friend of mine used to make fun of me because I could pick out certain girls I danced with by only looking at the way they pointed their feet. I would gladly suffer all his slings and arrows if I could only figure out how to tune my powers of observation strongly enough to recognize an animator’s work by the way he draws a nose. Which Richard Williams could do by the time he was 12. If I drew you a picture of my ego right now it would look like a dried little raisin.  Not even a golden raisin, just one of the normal brown kind.

Also, the Spline Doctors podcasts are a treasure trove. Go to iTunes right now and subscribe if you aren’t already signed up because a new episode should be coming out soon.

I was going to do a write up of the Richard Williams lecture/presentation that the local ASIFA chapter put on, but this post on their blog pretty much covers everything I was going to write:

http://cablecartoon.blogsome.com/2008/11/06/thanks-again-mr-williams/

It was a bit crowded/stuffy/hot in the theater, and I’m kicking myself for not prepping questions in advance, but overall a fun time was had by all. I’m looking forward to the Eric Goldberg event that will be happening next month.

Wow, if you thought the previous two posts were long…
There was a lot crammed into this event, which I believe was billed as a panel discussion but really was more of a presentation about the founding of a particular animation studio. Some of my notes got a bit jumbled, as the information was coming fast and furious, but I think I’ve gotten the meat of it down in this post.

The studio in question is currently called Lightstream Animation. Until recently it was known as Blu Arc, but, as I also discovered when working at various dot coms, legally unique names are a bit of a pain to come up with so Lightstream it is. The trailer they showed at Siggraph, called The Fourth Magi, was their first finished piece. Their logo (which I believe was designed by the Bay area favorite Michael Schwab) was so new that you could smell the printer ink on the business cards.

I was totally enthralled by the story these guys had to tell. The story started at ILM, where the key members of the Lightstream team worked for many, many years. They started meeting as friends for Friday lunches, just to talk things over and give each other support. As time passed, they started to realize two things: one, that they already had gathered a mini-pipeline of artists with many different skill sets; and two, that while they loved working at ILM they wanted to opportunity to tell stories they felt strongly about.

They put together a business plan for their dream studio, drawn on a napkin of course, and laid out their goals:

• To create great stories
• To build a company with a healthy culture for artists
• To produce quality work

Then, when they all felt they were kinda, sorta, mostly ready, they all gave notice and left ILM to strike out on their own. Rob Coleman, Jamy Wheless, and John Helms told their tale with a lot of humor and candor, and here are some of the nuggets o’ wisdom they shared:

• Timing and chemistry are important! Pay attention and be open to opportunities as they arise.
• Your trust in your co-workers is key. On a small team everyone must have each others’ backs.
• When you are in a big company you HAVE to be a specialist. However, always be aware of what is going on in your field because you never know when you may be in a situation where you have to become a generalist again. Starting your own studio will definitely mean that you will have to pinch hit in a different role.
• As a manager, be aware of the hidden talents and true passions of your employees so you can draw upon them later. Your artists will appreciate your interest and the opportunity to stretch their wings. You get a much needed character sculpt from an existing hire without having to go out and interview a bunch of sculptors. Win-win.
• Pick a work space that is open and has a lot of potential for interaction.
• Pick a hardware platform that will be cost efficient and easy to manage with limited technical support. For Lightstream, this meant buying Macs instead of the more traditional unix boxes. Macs are easy to care for, can run any operating system as needed, and come with rockin’ giant monitors. (OK, so they didn’t really say that last part about the monitors, but it’s true!)
• Using commercial software will save you time and money IF you build a good relationship with your vendors.
• There will be a lot of small fires. Don’t get trapped in them- always keep one eye on your long term goals so the large problems don’t fester.

They shared that the inspiration for the look of the Magi project came from Orientalist paintings, the dusty look of Gladiator, and the dark realism of Blade Runner. The pre-production art and matte paintings were beautiful. They also showed an animation test for one of the main characters, and then ended with the full length trailer. It was an extremely impressive piece of work given the small team they had.

Thanks so much to the gentlemen of Lightstream for this presentation. I attended it with my former co-worker Mike Jutan, and we were so excited as we left the hall; I really felt like we had seen something special and learned a lot about how to produce great work outside of a large studio.