Facial Expressions

Here are a few animation videos you may be interested in, beginning with Character Design tips from Sergio Pablos.

And on the CG side, a very expressive rig showing us a variety of facial expressions.

Expressive Facial Rig from Davoud Ashrafi on Vimeo.

CTN animation expo 2016

Its so true, Disney is currently turning all their animated features into live actions ones. Here is a new one coming out this Summer.

But this post is about this year's CTN animation expo which you should attend once in your lifetime...

When I first heard that the exhibit floor would be housed in a tent in the parking lot, I was worried. They have a tent last year which housed a second part of the exhibit floor, since the main exhibitor floor has housed inside. The tent became very hot inside due to the warm weather and extra people. A lot of exhibitors were sweating and some even had small fans going to fight the heat. 

I am happy to report that this year's CTN's exhibitor floor fit nicely into a huge air conditioned tent in the parking lot. They even included the parking lot trees into the interior design as well.

Most of the weekend was dry, however there was rain on Sunday, the last day which caused leak and minor damage. I'm sure next year they will make sure they are prepare every other weather condition. All in all, it was very enjoyable inside.

The main area which use to hold the exhibit area, now held all the lectures or panels.  Not sure how many people attended, Saturday was the biggest  day and the big tent held everyone quite comfortably. 

There were places to sit and talk, surrounded by several lighted trees and even a roller skating creative spirit who dibbled sparkly dust on top of the heads of unsuspecting attendees, like me.

If you attend, you will always run into creative people who's artwork will inspire you and is for sale. You can talk to them because this is a place to meet new people, so don't be shy. You will run into people you have worked with or for and even meet new friends as well. A lot of animation studios were there to review portfolios and meet new talented artists. 

Disney was giving away movie posters of "Moana" and I was luckily enough get one of the last. A young lady approached me asking where she could get a poster, but unfortunately they were all gone.  I discovered she was from Denmark and was here to was visiting CTN for the first time and wanted get into animation.

And so, I had to give her my Disney poster and a postcard of our Watchcat Episode 2 to take back to her country. The rest of the day, I met lots of artist and attendees by giving them a postcard about our project telling them where to watch it online. Self Promotion is welcomed.

Meeting some of my previous students again and they still like me!






Meet friends again, like the one and only, Lenord Robinson

And not to mention (but I did it anyway), a chance to stand between the Twin towers of Animation, Tom and Tony Bancroft.

Or reconnecting with our good friend, James Lopez, who is wrapping up his long awaited project, Hullabaloo.

Even meet new people like, Max Narciso. He had a dark and mysteriously looking booth full of his unique characters made from burlap and other fibers. Very organic and whimsical looking creatures.

http://maxnarcisoart.blogspot.com/

We are finally getting a great response from viewers of our Youtube channel, Watchcat Films Episode 2 moved up to 130 views to 225. After CTNX, our video views increased to 342 and are continuing to grow hire. We also began with 27 subscribers and now are up to 69! And each day, the numbers are growing.

During last week of all this excitement, we came with a solution of producing shorter videos in order to complete them in a few weeks as oppose to a few years. 

We want to thank you again for supporting Watchcat and letting us know you are out there and like what you see. Help us share our Watchcat Film youtube channel and subscribe to it if you haven't done so already.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
From: Greg, Jim and Watchcat!

For your consideration, Watchcat Episode 2

As I write this, I can't believe we have finally come to the end of this project. What started off as a webseries to introduce Watchcat in episode 1, only hinted at what this cat could do. A Batman in cat form, a mysterious protector of the neighborhood on the watch for crime and criminals alike. 

Could we tell a story about a crime fighting cat in animation, with editing and original music? A mini motion picture of a cat hero that people would want to follow in every episode? Would we find an audience, get millions of hits and maybe even fund more episodes using a crowd funding situation? All these questions take time and effort to answer, but hopefully we will find out what you, our audience thinks about all of this.

We made Episode 2 to continue to follow the characters we introduced and and how our cat would deal with them. Both parts equal a whole and if people like it enough, we will do more. Maybe not 3 minutes an episode, but shorter situations could add to this cat's tale. 

And so, for your consideration, please enjoy Watchcat Episode 2.

Click on our facebook page, like the page and share this with friends, family and other Watchcat owners!

WatchCat Episode 2 Premieres

What does an animation teacher do for fun? He spends two years (on and off) making a short film as part of a web series.

Its November and over two years ago, we posted our first Watchcat episode and added our Watchcat Films channel on Youtube. 

That same year, we attended the CTN Expo in Burbank in our Watchcat T-shirts and handed out Watchcat post cards to people including...

 John Musker, one of the directors of the latest Disney film, "Mohana"

After CTNX, we were inspired to finish what we had started and even made this Christmas video card promoting the next WatchCat Episode.

 

Time flies, we have tried to find an audience by posting this weekly blog to show our production process. We also attempted a few Live "Blogcasts", which might not have turned out as well as we had hoped, but we learned alot. Its hard to make an animated film with limited free time and resources, but I learned a lot from this project and how I can improve on the next.

We tried to educated you in the animation process and keep you entertained every Watchcat Wednesday along the way.

We appreciate all the comments we have received and are amazed that our blog has reached the following countries all over the world. Besides the United States at 6639, we had all time viewers of our cat cartoon reach the following viewing numbers!

Russia	604
France	363
Germany	269
United Kingdom	104
India	67
China	61
Canada	47
Ukraine	46
Israel	39

And so, check out the Watchcat Files next Watchcat Wednesday, Nov 16th 2016 to see Watchcat Episode 2. If you are going to the Burbank CTN Expo this weekend, looking us walking around in our Watchcat T-shirt. Say hello and get a free Watchcat postcard!