The Traditional Animation Show!

Lavalle Lee has a great website called "Traditional Animation", which you should bookmark right away if you haven't already. And now, you can check out his first interview with Disney Veteran Dominic Carola. What is especially exciting about this video is the second half, when Mr. Carola goes step by step thru his animating process while doing a rough scribble pass of his character from "Tiki Trouble".

The Traditional Animation Show from Traditional Animation on Vimeo.

This is a must see for any animation students who are trying to learn how to animate traditionally, figure out their work process and keep the artform alive! Thank You Laville and Dominic!

Great NFB Animation Shorts!

There are tons of short animation films which can be found on Youtube and other websites. There are a few of them that have inspired me to get into animation in the first place. I hope you will let me know if you have seen them before or have some great short films that have inspired you.

When I was growing up, I remember watching a PBS show hosted by actress Jean Marsh called "The International Animation Festival". Every week, she would showcase animation films from around the world. I remember the catchy theme song when the show  began and they showed a lot of animation from Europe, Canada and Zegreb which was all new to me at the time. I tried to find a copy of it, but sadly, this is all that's out there today. You will get just a taste of the theme song.

And so began a young animator's journey to find more animation to watch and learn from. Next, I discovered the animation shorts from National Film Board of Canada. 

Here are some of my favorite films from the NFB.

Hot Stuff by Zlatko Grgic, National Film Board of Canada

I like this one for the use of music and animation transitions...

Canada Vignettes: Log Driver's Waltz by John Weldon, National Film Board of Canada

Showing a relationship and how small arguments start off from silly things... My wife and I still can recite some of the dialogue from this film.

The Big Snit by Richard Condie, National Film Board of Canada

And finally, another great short animated to music with some clever editing and animation.

The Cat Came Back by Cordell Barker, National Film Board of Canada

If you enjoyed "The Cat Came Back", you should check out this section of Cordell Barker's discussion about this film and others he has made. Its interesting to find out that he was locked into the music and wanted to do more without it.

Cordell Barker's Master Class in Animation (Part 1) by ONFB, National Film Board of Canada

I could fill several webpages of all the NFB films past and present, but luckily, they are already have all this online. Follow this link, to see a whole library of live action and animation shorts from the NFB!

Let's hear it from our Canadian Brothers and Sisters! Do you have a favorite NFB film or have a favorite short that inspired you? Let us know!

My Animation is in this Documentary!

Well sort of...

Several years ago, I worked on creating character designs based on the real life family members in this documentary. In fact, if you go back to an earlier posting of this blog, you will see some of those early designs.

I came up with the designs with the understanding that I would create the storyboards, the animatic and eventually the final animation in the film. I could make my own documentary of this process, but it wouldn't be as enjoyable as the "Meet the Patels" documentary has finally become.

After 6 years of hard work and dedication, Ravi and Geeta have finally finished their epic about dating in the modern world from a traditional India perspective. Its a very fun and often touching look at the struggles of Ravi trying to find his sole mate, while his sister Geeta documents the process.

They have a Kickstarter campaign to get their film into the theaters nationwide, but they need your help asap. You can learn more by click on the photo of Ravi below!

We have 30 days to put Meet the Patels into theaters. Um, help?

 
Looks like Geeta and Ravi's film will finally get on the big screen and perhaps even at a theater near you! The Kickstarter funding was a success and if you ever get a chance to see it, here's the latest trailer!

 http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/independent/meetthepatels/

UPDATE: You will get a chance to see the film in September which is not to be missed and worth the price of admission! If you have seen it, please let us know what you thought of it.

Animation Subjects

I've been adding little bits of animation tips, tricks and tidbits, but now I am inviting people to send me an animation subject you would like information about. I would like to go over the inbetweening process of animaton, but I want to make sure that there is enough interest or not. 

I'm asking for your help in exploring some part of the animation process that you are interested in. This will also help me to see if I can explain it to you. Please send your animation question to me at the email below. Hopefully we will both learn something new.

heyjimr@gmail.com

Here's something that I've been trying to work out. While in college centuries ago, I remember seeing a zoetrope from a glass bottle. A string was tied to a hole in the bottle's lid which was screwed onto the top of the bottle. The bottle could hung up and when spun, you could see the animated frames moving through the slits around the bottle.

I built a prototype of this, but it didn't work out because the slits had to be in the correct alignment to make the spinning work. Its a very clever way of creating a zoetrope using cel vinyl paint to make the artwork on the glass, but as soon as I get the slit alignment riight, I will be happy to show you how to make one.

If anyone has made one of these before, please let me know and send me an email. I think this would be a cool tutorial for making simple animation art. Also I invite you to send me anything you've come across as well.

Thanks in advance,

Jim