Wednesday, November 21, 2012

VH1's 100 Sexiest Artists!



... mmm-MMMM!  Just in time for Thanksgiving we as a people can finally come together to celebrate not just the gifted or "talented" artists, but the 100 SEXIEST ARTISTS.  Check out the short animation above (credits) that I worked on & for more of Malika Favre's excellent work go here!  I haven't seen the show on TV but I can make a few guesses as to who they may have picked for their top 100:

1.  Shirtless Picasso ... obviously.


2.  Ann Romney


3.  Billy Zane as The Phantom


4.  James Quall 


5.  Courtney Stodden


6.  Mama Berenstain Bear


7.  Young Tim Meadows


8.  Robocop Action Figure w/ Battle Damage


9 - 100.  Grace Kelly, because my goodness!

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Thursday, November 1, 2012

NEW TED-Ed Animation - Electoral College



I just finished up my latest project with TED-Ed about everyone's favorite least-controversial subject of The Electoral College.  It's free, buddy!

Special thanks to my lovely producer Bridgette Spalding and the handsome sound designer Eric Hoffman.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Philip De Guard x "Bewitched Bunny"

Can anyone ever get tired of Looney Tunes?

I was doing a bit of traveling this weekend and managed to watch a few episodes before my laptop crapped out on me.  These screenshots were taken from the Bugs Bunny episode "Bewitched Bunny"[YouTube]:

Bugs Bunny is as dapper as his framing.
Everything about the witch's house is so crooked.

The backgrounds by Philip de Guard are frustratingly good.

Amazing wall-art for any child eater.

I think more posts about Philip de Guard are in order... 

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

TED-Ed: The Powers of Ten


I'm a bit busy at the moment to write too much more about it at this time, but check out TED-Ed and my website for more information!  Unfortunately at the moment the great sound people over at Henry Boy went uncredited, but that should be amended shortly.

Stay tuned for more!

Thursday, September 6, 2012

TED-Ed: Storyboards VS. Final Product

Here's a side-by-side of some shots from my upcoming animation for TED-Ed.  On the left is the original storyboard accompanied with their final composition.

This scene originally called for more complicated movements by the piano tuner, but in order to meet the deadline I simplified the overall animation in the final.

This character was originally supposed to be a young boy, but given what happens to him I didn't want to have to redo anything... that's why I ended up going with "non-descriptive creepy guy"

There's a lot of text animation in this piece, and I saved laying that out until I was in production mode.

This one turned out pretty similar to the boards.

This scene was modified a bit to take advantage of the screen space... keeping the magnifying glass small on screen for 15 seconds would've looked too awkward. 

I kept his teeth clenched together to save some time... the sacrifices one must make in order to beat the clock!

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Coming Soon: TED-Ed

I've been busy with more fun freelance projects lately, the most recent to have wrapped is a short I directed, designed & animated for TED Talks' sister site, TED Ed.  A few months ago my friend Jeremy pointed me to this page on their site saying that I should put my name in the hat for animator nominations.  A few weeks later I was contacted about doing some work and was assigned a four minute lesson.  I was granted a lot of creative control and it was such a pleasure to have the opportunity to work on a project for TED.  Before it's official release, I'll be posting a few bits from the production like storyboards, sound work, design ideas, and other random info.  

In the meantime, here are a few screenshots of what to expect: 

Awww yeah there will be pianos!

... this is where creative control is fun to exercise.

There will also be pianos in pants.

Everyone's fourth-favorite 20th Century physicist!

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Storyboard: Fun with Science


Are the powers of ten getting you down?

Malika Favre


I recently had the pleasure of animating the designs of Malika Favre, whom I've admired since her work on the Kama Sutra typography book.  Her style lends itself well to animation, and it was rewarding to be able to pull it off with working to get those masks in After Effects to move fluidly.  I'll post the final version once it hits the airwaves.  In the meantime, check out her website and a few of these other selects...








Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Witch Time

Something I doodled for a friend the other day, I think I was subconsciously channeling a dog from a Don Bluth movie but I can't remember which.  Ah well.


Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Rotoscoping a Bodega Apple

A few weeks ago I needed to concept out some rotoscoping using Photoshop.  I used an apple I bought across the street and using a makeshift lazy susan I shot it on my kitchen countertop.  

Almost 30 and this is what I do with my life.
I brought those images into Photoshop and using a palette of about four colors I painted each frame independently and produced this simple but stylish rotoscope sequence.  More to come! 

... something to try with the kids!

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Intro Animation for Nicor Gas


Here's a short but sweet animation I did for my friends over at BSDV Chicago in the fall of 2011.  Time and budget were tight, so I got away with purchasing the materials used at a neighborhood dollar store and equipment & space to shoot on for a bottle of whiskey.  In case the client had any last-minute changes, I composited certain parts of the animation in After Effects instead of doing them in-camera.  More HERE.

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Shout-Out to MOM: Colourisms

I wouldn't be where I am today without the support and encouragement of my parents.  Although I gotta say... having a son that mainly draws to entertain himself was probably a lot more low-maintenance than raising a football player.  Maybe if I had watched more TV on Sundays than Saturday mornings, things would've been different... BUT here I am today, a towering man that funnels most of his work thru his right hand.
Mama's been doing her own artwork on-and-off for as long as I can remember; a year ago she enrolled in an intro to Photoshop class and has really taken to it ever since.  Now she's photo collaging regularly and has launched a website to showcase them at Colourisms.com.  The site's still a work in progress, but there's an Etsy site of some sort on the way.  Great job! 



Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Wild Wild West Intro


Animation on American television was going thru some awkward times in the 1960's.  Gone was the heyday of earlier decades; the artform had become cheaper and rigid looking (see: Bugs Bunny & Kool-Aid), but I was impressed when I came across this show opener for the old CBS show Wild Wild West earlier this week.  The animation is better in places than others, but I really enjoy how the characters and posing is rendered, almost like they were drawn for figure drawing or fashion.  The animator behind this sequence is Ken Mundie, a former apprentice at Disney studios before he went into commercial work and.... Life with Louie?  Small world!

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Bahck to Blahging

Here we are, almost five months after my last post and what do I have to show for it?  Welcome back to the Marked Animation blog, where I'll return to form posting updates and all that related internet whatnot.  I've also neglected my Twitter recently, something I'm still not sure if I'll get back to doing any time soon.  While I do appreciate it for its networking capabilities and ease of communication, honestly I feel it's just one more thing to worry about in life that's already full of things to worry about.
What I have been up to lately is heading up a few freelance projects which I'll be addressing more in upcoming posts.  
I've been working with a good variety of Wacom products recently, like the still-kinda-brand-new Inkling and the Cintiq.  

If you're looking for something that will revolutionize your sketchbook, don't buy the Inkling -- at least not yet.

There are plenty of things I like about the Inkling, but none of them make me want to use it on a daily basis.  The overall layout of the packaging is great, everything you need is stored in a flip-open carrier that can fit easily into a pencil case.  The easy import of drawings into Photoshop or Illustrator is also a great plus, especially if you're not generally happy with the vector-tracing features in Illustrator.  Lines come in with nice weight variation and ready to edit, bezier-style.  You can also separate your sketches into layers and make adjustments accordingly, a great feature that gives you a lot more flexibility.  
However, there are some issues that Wacom needs to address in the Inkling's design and technology to make it must-have hardware for everyday artisting.  After a couple of weeks of regular wear-and-tear from living inside of a backpack pocket, my Inkling pen no longer wanted to stay inside of its slot.  It hangs loosely inside but no longer "clicks" into place on the spring, meaning that it won't properly charge while plugged in.  To relieve this, I put some electrical tape and a penny over the slot to keep the pen in place.  

Inkling closed.

Inkling open!
I think the technology behind the Inkling is a cool idea that's not quite where it needs to be yet.  While it works great for rough sketches and concepting, the line registration is generally not as accurate as I'd like even when working in ideal conditions.  Drawings can become muddled over minute variables like whether or not you're drawing on your lap or a table and wrinkles that come with physically drawing on paper which seem to interfere with the device's precision.  If you avoid adding too much detail to the image these issues aren't as noticeable, but for someone like me who likes to pile on the crosshatching and body hair, having to adjust or add in those elements separately seems like an unnecessary extra step.   The Inkling works great as a first step to design; a fast way to put your ideas to paper digitally... but ultimately I don't think it's worth the price or time yet.  Here are some side-by-side comparisons of actual drawings (left) vs. Inkling's import (right):

This is probably the best of the bunch, and the loose sketching lends itself well to the Inkling's strengths.

Detailed drawings don't hold up very well.  It's like someone tried to trace your sketch in a moving car.

Again, the overall idea of the image is there, but when you look at details like the collar and face there are discrepancies. 

As sloppy as this sketch is, this import disappointed me.  Even with the loose style you lose what held the original image together.
   
As for the Cintiq, it's the smallest version that Wacom makes and probably not their best but I love it.  There's nothing quite like feeling like you live in the future when you're sitting on the couch next to your girlfriend doing full-color animation on your lap.  Admittedly, the iPad isn't far behind with their upcoming pressure-sensitive stylus coming out in a matter of months and that screen and setup is much better, but for now I'll be more than happy to add my Cintiq to my mobile work station, something I can take with me and animate run cycles like this:

without arms, men are basically scrotums with legs.