I started the day cleaning-up my retooled character design. With assistance from Joe Haidar, an ex-Disney Animator I met over the summer I have added some much needed structure and personality to this design. This proves that even when I think that a design is near finished it still has much more work. I still will be doing more passes to get even more personality from him. Tomorrow I am dedicating time to the exterminator and the setting.

This is the second pass on my story reel. I was going to post my first pass but got around to completing this first. This pass has taken what was working from the previous but I have added some suggestions from classmates and mentors. I want to do an acting pass but am sitting at 1:30 which is a doable length. I am going to be doing research for style, as I would like to explore a little more. Thankfully Don Hahn came to the school today and gave a huge list of inspiration, so I am set with reference for a while.

As always, comments and suggestions are welcome.
Thanks for having an interest.

Alright.

The school year has started and so has pre-production on Pest Control, my graduate 2D animated short film. This year, unlike last we will be "hitting the ground running" with story production with my final reel due in about 6 weeks from now.

I am going to start by posting a short animation of my character which I did over the summer. I am impressed only because I did it on a little light box, on my lap and on a couch without the assist of Flipbook or any other way to shoot it. I was not able to shoot this until today which taught me to flip and analyze animation regardless of the computer. I am going to try an animate this entire year without the restraint of shooting constantly.

Secondly, here is my storyboard (so far) for my film. I have 2 more sections to do for it an am steadily approaching the maximum length. That means I will be editing and cutting in the coming weeks. So far I am happy. I have been given suggestions already and am excited to work them in to the second version. Until then here is Pest Control.

Enjoy.
(and critique is welcome)

These are gross and rough but I am posting them anyhow just because I want to show nearly everything I do on ym film so people can see the process I am going through. These are a few ideas I have been having. Hopefully you can follow along.

The beginning is to show how the rat has used the "traps" to his advantage by using a trap with cheese as a slingshot to shoot a piece of cheese/food into the air and catches it. he goes to take a bite when he hears the rumbling sound (of the exterminators truck coming) so he gets out of his hammock to investigate. he has to hop up boxes to get to the window, which i want to through up the idea of adding character in the climb as he stumbles to get up it. Then he approaches the window and looks out.. to the exterminator intro which i haven't boarded yet.

Then there is the chase scene where he is running away and nearly hit a trap and it flies in the air.. that is small (2 panels)

then is the end of the film, where the rat is climbing up the exterminator and the camera follows him. he has the "poison hose" from the exterminators backpack in his mouth in an attempt to eventually poison the exterminator. This is a tricky shot to tackle because i want the exterminator to be moving a bit too.

I am 100% sure I am going to have to rethink a lot of these ideas, but this is a start. Also, Expect a "film themed" blog coming soon. Woot!

So last school year I worked on a short film called 'Just Deserts' with Classy Ass Productions. It took all of 8 months and was a fanciful fun time. We ended up winning third place by the instructors of our program of all of the films out of the year though their were plenty of outstanding candidates. It was recently uploaded on the Youtube thanks to Kyu.

Check-er out or click HERE for the Hi-Res version.



I am responsible for animation scenes at 0:24, 0:54, 1:33, 2:33,2:44, 3:36 and 3:41

I am picking up good vibrations about a new film idea.

I have been struggling with the fact that I have two films I love and need to pick one for this year. I will be posting more concept stuff from both ideas very soon, including art. I can't wait to post some of my doodles and ideas (mostly character stuff). Anyone browsing by I would love to hear your input on these two ideas.

The one some of you know. It is a gritty, horror parody including a rat against a Jason style exterminator.
The second is about a gawky teen trying to pick up hot girls with his less than perfect surfing skills.

More soon. (UPDATE: MORE NOW)

Rat film stuff:

Surf film stuff:

Sketch dump stuff:

This last one comes from me applying for a 'comic' job this summer and being complimented saying my style was too Disney. I decided to take a step simpler to see if I can do a comic style anyway and this is what turned out.

I'm in LA for the summer working as an intern at a great studio. I am loving all of the projects I am working on. Hopefully I will be able to mention what I have touched, but until then here is a concept drawing for next year. I am struggling with making my film's character not look like Remy. Silly Pixar and their ability to beat me to appealing designs.