Tweening Art Blog

Mapa Cel a bration

2012-02-13T08:01:00.000-08:00

Chico and Rita!

2012-02-13T05:57:00.000-08:00

I really want to see this film but cant find it anywhere.

the music in this film is wonderful.

First animation in a long time.

2012-02-13T04:31:00.000-08:00

Yep I havent animated in a good while but lets consider this an ice breaker. It really felt nice to do it again. Felt like riding a bike once I really got into it.

This is a rough walk cycle shot with a web cam. will Scan these later for a much better look. I need to put some clothes on her. would also like to do a roon cycle of her in her clothes.

ianimate.com

2012-02-07T17:42:00.000-08:00

I have been searching the net and looking for online ways to get my animating progress back on track. came across a cool website called ianimate.com

Looks pretty cool but it seems like the cost for learning would be like $1000 per class. I wish there were some much more cost effective learning tools online that really gave good insite that were not as expensive as going back to a regular college.

I am so tired of the school game. It is such a waste of time and money. I went to school for over half my life and I am still struggling. What ever happened to hey go to college get an education and all your dreams come true. I feel like I have wasted a lot of time and money sometimes. and I am not the only one either.

I have many friends that went to school for animation and now all they do is work to pay student loans doing something other than what they went to school for. Oh and they all live with there parents.

Anyway came across an awesome animator online so check out her stuff. I am loving her progress work on a music video she is doing.

All hand drawn and then cleaned up digitally! I love her stuff. I love the music! Oh and check out the blog!

Animating alot!

2012-02-07T17:23:00.000-08:00

I have been animating a lot. It all slowly coming back to me how much I love it. I am doing a walk cycle of Mainasha. As soon as I get done I will shoot a pencil test and upload it if I can.

In the mean time here is a cool animated video I found.

I have found that I really Love animated music videos. I mean I really <3 them a lot. Some of my favorites are the Gorillaz videos. I would like to do that. A friend of mine wrote a song a while back and I am thinking about getting this blog up and running by working on it a little at a time. Now that I have a job I want to start making time to animate more.

~Arie

Frustration in Animation

2011-10-21T23:30:00.000-07:00

Just want to Voice a little rant on animation. I have been basically chasing a dream to be an animator like my whole life and I feel like I am loosing my drive to want to chase after the dream anymore.

I have wanted to be an animator since I was like 11. I thought I did all the right things. I finished high school at a school for visual arts. I went to college and studied art with a major emphasis on figure drawing and life studies. I tried to study animation at KCAI cause I heard if you went there you could get into the industry but they were ending there illustration program by the time I got out of high school all there was was fine art.

I left UMKC and tried to find a place to study flash or just any form of animation for like 4 years jumping form school to school and still found nothing.

I found out about the Joe Kubert and I packed up my life and moved to the west coast and I met some amazing people had an awesome animation teacher and even got my first job as a freelance illustrator but still no animation career.

I met Dan Haskett and then he moved away and eventually went back to cali to work at Warner Brothers.He is still a great mentor to me. Then some kind of way I ended up back in Missouri and freelancing and helping to run Mapa.

Still no animation career. I always say I was born ten years too early or ten years to late. When I was coming out of high school and then later college all the major animation training grounds were closing down and 3d was taking over. Then when things were resurrecting I needed to be fresh out of college to get into a studio so I went back to school and still ended up not really getting things the way I wanted.

It can be kinda disheartening. After years of dreaming and not feeling like my work was good enough I still cant even manage to get a crappy art job as an illustrator in a studio anywhere. I start to feel like I am just in all the wrong places at all the wrong times.

When opportunities do pop up I can even take advantage of them many times because of financial issues.

I am curious how many artists and want to be animtors are out there just like me trying to do all the right things and not really getting anywhere.

Live drawing art stream!

2011-10-19T14:21:00.001-07:00

Very cool things!!

2011-10-15T23:20:00.000-07:00

Disney Animators Bruce Smith and Marlon West | Disney's Dreamers Academy with Steve Harvey | Video podcast episode | Podcast.tv - your video podcast directory for international podcasts

Animating on beat with Don Bluth

2011-10-10T23:49:00.000-07:00

I want to get these dvds. but the site is down. I think it is interesting. I have heard the best way to learn is animating to music.

buy on amazon

Ok this is impressive!

2011-10-07T23:32:00.001-07:00

I am very Inspired by this. All I could think the entire time was HOW THE HECK DO THEY DO THAT!!

Humble beginnings

2011-10-06T00:04:00.001-07:00

Cool little story.

African-American-Animators-Past-Present

2011-10-05T23:15:00.000-07:00

A new face book page Sprang up showing love to the history of black animators. I am very excited about this. Learning a lot. and the main pages Pic is Dan Haskett.

Please check it out and go learn something. http://www.facebook.com/Drawlikecrazy#!/pages/African-American-Animators-Past-Present/211281015572088

The Pioneer Series: Those Who Paved The Way

2011-10-05T23:07:00.001-07:00

I really want to resurrect this place. Tweening Art has been up for a while as a resource for myself for animation vids and info. I really want to get my passion for animation back.

Lets start with this little interesting bit oh info!

The Pioneer Series: Those Who Paved The Way from Creative Talent Network on Vimeo.

New Sketch blog

2009-07-19T20:43:00.001-07:00

Aside from my animation blog I decided to put together a blog to showcase my drawings and so I hope you will take time to look at it and please follow me if you like. There will be more updates in the near future. This is a blog to go with my current website. Drawikecrazy.net

Check it out at http://ariemonroe.blogspot.com/

Bazilion Pictures

2009-06-29T11:17:00.000-07:00

Today I started my internship at Bazillion Pictures. it was exciting. I will have to go in early in the morning though cause I am working full time hours at night. I had a good morning. I got to chat a bit with some of the other interns and see what they are doing and learning and it was really great to be in a creative environment again. I am really looking at this as a chance to build my portfolio so I want to do the best I can.

Life Changing Expereince.

2009-06-23T11:11:00.000-07:00

I haven't been drawing to much because of work. But I have been reading and looking at different comics I have gotten from the library. The other day I picked up some books about running creative businesses and I can't wait to jump into those.

todays journal s reflective though and less about animation but it all ties in. For a long time I have battled with myself hating myself and my body but in recent years I have been trying to except me for who i am and I realized how deeply it ties into my work as an artist and my ability as an animator.

There was a point in time 4 years about where I almost gave up on trying to even learn animation I had so many things going on in my life and I was so down I was right on the edge of giving up why I became and artist to begin with. I felt fat , ugly, and useless as a person ans as an artist.

Even after running away to school I still have no confidence in any of my work. But it was my chances that I took to go ahead and plunge into a whole different world and a different way of thinking that brought me back . Not only that it was meeting Dan Haskett.

He and his wife both have been more then art mentors but also life mentors. I think the day I sat down to dinner with them for the first time and asking them about themselves and there life and the work they do and then having them ask me the same and not being very confident. and Dan said something to me that turned my whole out look on my art life and around. He said "Arie don't you realize how good you are?"

I had to stop and question myself. Am I really a good artist. But I think the biggest lesson I learned was that no matter how bad I think I am everyone else seems to see something totally different in my and my abilities. I started to question my own thinking in a whole new level and I realized no I am not the best but I am capable of so much more than I give myself credit for.

I started a linkedin account and one of the things I was nervous about doing was asking for recommendations on my page. But I went ahead and did so the other day when I realized that if you apply for jobs through linked in many people require a recommendation. I was reading over them and they are so wonderful. The thoughts people have to offer after having known me and worked with me were very surprising. I wanted to post them here not to brag but to inspire others that are artists and they feel down about there work and abilities cause you never really know what someone might see you that you don't see in yourself cause you are constantly telling yourself how bad you are how incapable you are. For me this is a reminder thatI am not just to hard on myself but I sabatoge myself in every way and all without seeing things from the perspective of the other people in my life:

“She has talent, she has drive, she has determination. Arie has a high sense of ethics, and believes in doing the best possible job. She has strength in handling the female figure. Already she is far ahead in the game, and keeps working to get better. Definitely an asset to any company using cartoon illustration, as she has a deep interest and pride in her cartooning.” June 22, 2009

Dan and Karen Haskett , Owner , Hasketts Unlimited!
was a consultant or contractor to Arie at Drawlikecrazy Studios

“Arie was a pleasure to work with during a hectic project; I highly value her easy going nature and excellent work results.” June 22, 2009

Top qualities: Personable , Good Value , On Time

Mark Irwin
hired Arie as a General Contractor in 2008

“Arie is a very talented cartoonist with a very good sense of how to animate. I would recommend her for a position as an illustrator, animator or character designer.” June 20, 2009

Doug Compton , animator/ director , Karmatoon Co.
was with another company when working with Arie at Drawlikecrazy Studios

“It was an absolute pleasure to work with Arie. She provided just the right mix of style and design to my project.” June 20, 2009

Top qualities: Great Results , Personable , Creative

Lorenzo Lizana
hired Arie as a artist/illustrator in 2004

I think the responce I was most surprised about though all of them I cherish was the one from Mark Irwin because I only really corresponded with him through email. We had no personal conversations, we didn't go to lunch and talk about comics over beer and pizza. But he still had something good to say. And even more importantly he actually responded. I didn't think he would take the time out of his busy schedule for that and he did.

So here is what I want to say to any aspiring animator artist etc out there. No matter how bad you thing you are or how far you have to go to get better have confidence in your work and outwardly express it to all those that are interested.

If there is one thing in my career that has seriously hurt me and set me back it was my own self loathing and inability to be confident about my work and myself. Fear sets in cause you think you aren't good enough and you don't push yourself to do more that what you are doing cause you are worried others won't except you cause you don't except yourself. As result you have to work that much harder to prove yourself cause you have to prove yourself to 2 people, yourself and your client

Anyway I gotta get to work I hope you find this educational cause it took me 30 years to recognize that I have been beating up onmyself and just being mean to Arie. I treat myself worse than anyone else I know. I wouldn't want to be my friend if I talk to friends the way I talk to me.

~Love Arie

Keep drawing. 99% practice and 1% theory.

New favorite past time.

2009-06-20T13:51:00.000-07:00

My new favorite past time seems to be looking for a job in animation. I am currently working at a place that does in home care as a direct care assistant. Basically I help people who are disabled so they can live out a normal life but they need round the close care.

Anyway, it can be very stressful honestly cause I work with all men and I don't mean just the clients. I mean the other co workers as well and things have been hard. I think my immune system is at an all time low cause I ended up getting really sick over the past week. I haven't been sick in over a year.

One issue I was dealing with was sexual harassment. Finally the guy bushed me to my limit and I blew up on him and he stopped. But there seems to have been some left over resentment. I to this day really don't like him and hate having to work with him every day. We barely say hello ti each other. I started doing comic strips about it to helpme look at the situation from a funny side of things.

I had not had a day off until this weekend. it has been almost a month since my last day off which was on the may 24th. I got labor day weekend off and then worked a double shift that next day (16 hrs.) so I have worked about 4 weeks doing both double and single shifts with no days off up to this point plus I have been working my ass off in the gym trying to get back in shape in the mornings. this past week I have felt like shit all week and now I get a day off to be sick. It really is crazy.

I know I need a job and want money but I just don't feel like it is work it for me to be so stressed I get sick cause of it. I have no time for a social life and lets just for get doing commissions. on days like this the last thing I want to think about is sitting at a drawing desk all day drawing stuff for other people when I don't feel well.

Anyway enjoy the comic strip. I think i will go take a nap.

Some sketches

2009-06-19T09:43:00.000-07:00

I figure since I can't animate right now due to my full time job I will try to keep things active here and post some sketches.

I will be getting some animation experience soon though cause I am starting an internship at a company here in Kansas City called Bazillion Pictures. They are letting me come in and train as a 3d character animator. Plus I might get to do some character design work for them. It will be an exciting experience I think. So Wish me luck.

I am also working on a new card set for the character mandy by dean Yeagle.

I love deans work and am excited. We had to submit some samples for this so I sent this in.

I also did some sketch cards for Ritten House Marvel Archives set. the job I am working though is so time consuming though that I had to fight to get days off to work on it and I still didn't finish the set. I am definitely going to have to quit soon if I want to get back to drawing and stuff. I would post that stuff but I can't show anything until the set comes out. I did 36 cards out of the 50 I was trying to finish and I had 100 total but they told me to do what ever I could.

The check I got came in handy though cause I was expecting everything to get rejected but it didn't so I am happy. My friends tell me I am just way to hard on myself when it comes to my own work.

I did recently come across an artist whos work I love! his name is Bill pressing you should check out his blog called Daily Peril.

I find his work very inspirational and I love his approach to using the dr martin dyes and acrylic wash. I was planning to experiment with the technique when I work on my next set of commissions and stuff but I again have not been getting any days off work to work on my own projects.
So as soon as things start comng together and I can sit down I will be knocking out a crap load of hopfully amazing looking commissions. I want the people waiting to feel like it was well worth the wait lol. Of course When I say amazing I take that lightly myself cause I can only really enjoy a peice of my own art for maybe a few days after I do it. After that it just becomes a reminder of all my mistakes.

Anyway as promised here is some new sketches. One is inspired by Dean Yeagle and it is my Character Amber. Enjoy guys.

~Arie

New links

2009-06-13T22:27:00.000-07:00

I sent these links to a friend and thought I would post them here for myself as well feel free to view. Also here is a little comic I did on sexual harassment.

I put up with this crap for about 2.5 months before I got it to end abruptly. Anyway, it was bugging me so I turned it into a comic to make it funny. There are more I will post them later.

http://www.awn.com/

http://animationpodcast.com/

http://www.animationnation.com/

http://theartofglenkeane.blogspot.com/2006/07/rapunzel.html

http://erwinmadrid.blogspot.com/

http://imaginismstudios.blogspot.com/

http://davidcolman.blogspot.com/2006_02_01_archive.html

http://www.animatedbuzz.com/

This last link is really important to me cause Dan in my mentor and I can't believe I was not able to go to this event in NYC at SVA when it happened. I am in Missouri right now and I just had no way of going so it couldn't be helped. Tiana is a friend of mine. Thanks for posting this Tiana.

http://tianamscott.blogspot.com/2009/03/dan-haskett-for-this-past-week-030909.html#comment-form

Tweening Art Has Been at a Stand Still

2008-12-07T22:57:00.000-08:00

I know things have been slow around here for a long while, but it is not intentional. In all honesty it has just been a matter of complete instability in my life. First off I had no choice but to leave my wonderful job at Mada design and move away from the east coast. I moved in with friend in ohio with the hopes that we would be all working together to get ourselves going and back on track after school, but what actually happened is I ended up freaking drawing pinups like there was on tomorrow and selling them like crazy online to go to an art conventions as well as to pay my rent and so forth. I had basically been doing all I could to stay afloat. I got a job doing caricature over the summer, but it didn't pay very much and I was not making enough to live on and was making more drawing pin ups sometimes than I did even when working like 20 - 30 hours a week because of the fact that I was on commission and we just didn't get enough traffic at the caricature stand. Honestly it started to get frustrating. I made plans to leave and go to KC for a visit with family, but the bus ticket was so high I had to cancel and just keep drawing till I raised the cash.

So now I am in Kansas City MO and I am not even sure I will make the money to go back to Ohio. Not to mention the heat got cut off in my Ohio home cause the gas bill from previous people living there was so High ( they refused to pay), that my friend that owns the home can’t get it turned back on so I would have to go home to work in the cold anyway.

I have had a frustrating 6 months or so. You think things will get better when you try to take steps to improve your life, but they get worse, At least for me. Stupid recession. Anyway, I wanted to upload a few things because I have made up my mind to make it a priority to get back to animating again. I worry the stupid intermission might have hurt me but I think I am ok. On my next post I will show a few flash things I did. I also want to get to work on my demo reel. I want to have something within the next 4 weeks that is worth looking at.

I applied to work at a art store here in KC with the hope it will give me a bit of income until my project is done so I can focus on what is more important. I am tired of my portfolio filling up with PIN UP ART and not ANIMATION the way I would prefer so I plan to take a job and stop my commissions for a while after this last batch. I pray to god they hire me I really do.

So here are a few things I found online to look at and that I want to explore when I get time.

HOW TO DRAW BETTER:
http://www.floobynooby.com/pdfs/Composition_Storyboards_Brad_Chris.pdf

http://www.floobynooby.com/pdfs/gesturedrawingforanimation.pd

http://www.floobynooby.com/pdfs/EricLarson_Notes.pdf

BOOKS:
http://astore.amazon.com/floonoob-20/

TIPS TRICKS AND ONLINE RESOURCES:

http://animationtipsandtricks.com/

http://www.davegraphics.com/

http://pyatyletka.blogspot.com/

http://www.licensing.biz/news/2295/Nelvana-content-goes-online

http://floobynooby.blogspot.com/

http://canadiananimationresources.blogspot.com/

http://www.drawingboard.org/viewtopic.php?t=66129

http://www.drawingboard.org/viewtopic.php?t=66017

http://www.drawingboard.org/viewtopic.php?t=62936

FREELANCING:

http://cedrichohnstadt.wordpress.com/

http://www.creativefreelancerstore.com/home.html

http://cedrichohnstadt.wordpress.com/2008/01/09/the-cons-of-freelancing/

http://cedrichohnstadt.wordpress.com/2008/01/10/the-pros-of-freelancing/

http://cedrichohnstadt.wordpress.com/2008/02/11/schoolismcom-character-design-assignments/

http://cedrichohnstadt.wordpress.com/2007/09/21/john-k-on-character-design/

http://cedrichohnstadt.wordpress.com/2008/02/13/basic-business-tips-for-illustrators/

http://cedrichohnstadt.wordpress.com/2008/01/31/re-post-making-the-most-of-your-website/

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0823001431?ie=UTF8&tag=cedsblooram-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0823001431

http://kylebaker.com/

http://gorilla88.blogspot.com/

http://cedrichohnstadt.wordpress.com/about-cedric-hohnstadt/

http://kylebaker.com/www/book/How%20To%20Draw%20Stupid.html

Here are a few old flash things I did as well. I did this crappy e card but when I looked at it recently I realized I didn’t do to bad on my lip sync. Might cut out parts and use the sync on my demo reel.

http://mainasha.deviantart.com/art/Babs-Easter-card-final-52385510

This other I did for fun. It was good pratice for intertwining and follow through.

http://mainasha.deviantart.com/art/crapy-flash-beginner-62068911

I plan to do some serious walk cycles in the next week and a few other things as well. I will be uploading more.

If you are interested in seeing over 200 pin up girls you can view them here.

http://mainasha.deviantart.com/gallery/

I should put them all in a book and sell it.

Flashed

2008-05-27T20:51:00.000-07:00

Just thought i'd put this link up for a good flash site. It's www.keyframer.com and while it's a blog primarly related to flash, it has a lot of good information and tutorials for those starting out. Hope it's useful for anyone who wants to bone up on their flash skills.

Ollie Johnson 1912-2008

2008-04-14T23:47:00.000-07:00

I just found out that the last of the infamous Nine old Men from disney, Ollie Johnston, has just passed away at the age of 95. For those few who do may not know, he was one of 9 of the original animators who were around at the very beginning at disney working on some of disney's finest and memorable movies such as Snow White, Pinoccoio, Peter Pan, and many more during his time at disney. His passing is truly the end of an era where Disney animation was at it's finest and most rewarding and he will be truely missed.

For those who wish to know more, here is a link to numerous information and videos concerning his time at disney.

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/disney/ollie-johnston-1912-2008#comments

Naruto fighting Venom?

2008-04-10T12:05:00.000-07:00

This is a rough animation I did a while back. Just wanted to post up something. It's more I wanted to do with it but ran out of time. I have other projects that I want to work on and post up here and then I'll get back to this one. Alot of people want to see this finish. Let me know what ya think!

My first Post, Sorry i'm slacking!

2008-04-05T19:29:00.001-07:00

Hi all, Here is my first post I created the following 2 sec animation using 3DMax the program is pretty smooth and I really had no major problems with it. I edited the piece in Permiere and added audio there as well. Both the audio and the tutorials for the animation I got for free on the internet.
http://www.revver.com. The link is to get there, once there type in "3D animation tutorials" in the search box, you'll get tons more and for various platforms. My animation was short due to time deadlines and the fact that I only had 2 days to work on it. Well I hope to put up more than just this post in the near future. I have to give credit where credit is due, thnks Mainasha for keeping the torch burning this site is full of info I just hope people are taking advantage! If you have any questions hit me up!

April 5

2008-04-05T10:42:00.000-07:00

I am done with this series of walk cycles. the whole post of this exersice is to show how by changing the middle extreme of a walk cycle you can get a big variety of different types of walk. On some of the passing positions I had to add a hold so you can register the change. I should have just inbetweened the poses so that I could get a smooth transition and really show how different it could be but I decided not to just for the sake of completing the exercises. Anyway you will see 5 different walk variations here.

More to come.

http://homepage.mac.com/drawlikecrazy/4508walk.swf

another one of the point made in the richard williams book was the use of squash and stretch on the figure of a fat guy walking so I took what he had and exaggerated it giving him a floppy sloppy mound of belly fat. I played with what I have learned about anticipation as well. They say you should hold a pose to the very last second before adding a drastic change in order to get good snap and to help the audience really feel the action so I had the fat rise up and hang at the top of the movement and on the down position I it all falls down. I like it. I am starting to really feel the timing of things more naturaly so that makes me happy.

http://homepage.mac.com/drawlikecrazy/40508fatwalk.swf

April 3 walk cycle

2008-04-03T19:50:00.000-07:00

Here is todays walk cycle. this time with a squash in the passing position. here you can see that is takes the earlier walk cycle further in movement by accentuating the downward movement so that is snaps up into the new position. I could easily smooth these out by adding some inbetweens so that there is more fluid motion in the up and down but since these are only for the purpose of learning I am choosing not to and will just move onto the next cycle. It would probably even look cool if I added some anticipation to the head and shoulders as he rises into the upward position But oh well. Again these are coming from the Richard Williams book.

I find myself really watching people to see the different types of walks while I am on the way to work. I noticed men seem to have more of a side to side bobbing in the upper torso when they walk where as women, especially in heels, walk with a much smaller steps and less up and down. but it depends on the girl. the really girly uppity types take it much more to the extreme walking with there head high. The more relaxed chicks have a bit wider stance but still not nearly as long a stride as what men have. I also noticed some men really walk with a lot of pep in there step and have a great deal more up and down than side to side.

And then some people walk like they are just plain exhausted. But I know where they are coming from.

http://homepage.mac.com/drawlikecrazy/4408walk.swf

april 2 walk cycle

2008-04-03T04:53:00.000-07:00

Here is another one this time with a slight change. instead of going up higher in one of the frames he goes down and it causes a nice snaping motion as he rises into the passing position. It is kind of nice cause it gives him a little pep in hie step.

http://homepage.mac.com/drawlikecrazy/4308walk.swf

New walk cycle

2008-03-31T20:45:00.000-07:00

reading the richard williams book. read it more closely this time and it didn't take nearly as long to do this walk cycle. he was saying the walk cycle is one of the most difficult things in animation. I can belieave it. it is easy to get arms and legs confused. I notised in the art of disney book I have they pust arms and legs in 3 different colors when working on diffucult walks and movements so they can keep them from getting confused. Williams also talks about using different colors when you start out with the walks. so I went ahead and did this acording to the book. the first of many.

http://homepage.mac.com/drawlikecrazy/33108walk.swf

Back to the hoop roughs

2008-03-29T07:11:00.000-07:00

So I allowed myself to get so intimidated by the paper that I couldn't seem to draw this. The problem comes from me not having a whole lot of animation paper to start and not wanting to waste it on testing and testing to get this right.

Anyway, so I posted the old hula hoop animation on Drawingboard.org and someone over there said they took a long good look at it and decided to try drawing it out themselves to help me out. He did it in flash and published it out as a animated gif to if you want to take a look at what he/she did here it is.

That is when I got the bright idea to rough the movement out in flash and play with it till I get the timing and spacing right. I started out with way to many inbetweens but I figure hey I can always take some out tight. Here is the first test. This was done mainly to get the movement I wanted worked out.

http://homepage.mac.com/drawlikecrazy/hooprough.swf

This next test was done after removing some of the frames to speed up the motion and get the timing better under control. I was trying to put more emphasis on the main poses cause I thought those were important for the viewer to see.

http://homepage.mac.com/drawlikecrazy/hooprough2.swf

test 3 I added the hoop. it looks so bad. I need to go look at the video I have a lot more so I can see how the hoop is really supposed to look on the body. I am still tweeking this animation. I will try to finish it soon. after that I will move to paper. any feed back would be good. I was trying not to look at his version to much cause I didn't want it to influence me to much. I want to make sure I am using my own ideas and not taking from other peoples but at the same time it helps a lot to I may take a look at his drawings. see how many he has, and try to play with my timing some more until I get it right but I want to reference live action first.

http://homepage.mac.com/drawlikecrazy/hooprough3.swf

Anyway that is what I have for today.I know I haven't been posting a lot but that is cause I have been spending time looking at animation reading and well being intimidated. I also want to post up a walk cycle today. So I guess I will be back later.

UPA (United Productions of America)

2008-03-23T19:59:00.000-07:00

These Guys revolutionized animation. Because of this group (company) animation was brought into a modern era, in the paraphrased words of Dan Haskett. I called him today to question him about the group and he gave me lots of information. it is funny cause it wasn't till I started digging for info on the animation industry that I found out about them and even then the info was sparse at best. These are the guys that are responsible for Mr. Magoo. And a today change in design and mood and feel of cartoons after Disney had his rain of terror on the industry and people were getting tired of talking fuzzy animals that sing and dance and follow women around.

Apparently UPA came along not to long after the very BIG Disney strike where a whole lot of Disney animators that were really unhappy with Disney Studios and the state of the industry stood up and started refusing to be mistreated and taken advantage of by business execs taking all the glory like they did most of the work.

It if funny how us artists just want to draw and not deal with to much of the politics of things only to realize that we are giving away our control. Anyway, Dan gave me a few things to look into. And he said if I had more question he would love to tell me more so that is really exciting to me. When I asked him about it to start he was curious to know why I was asking and then gave me lots of info on the history! He also suggested I look up UPA and a few artists that did work for them so I will post some of that here for those interested.

One of the Guys he told me to look into was Jack Schnerck. There are some demo reels on Youtube of his work in commercials. I remember some of these from when I was a child.

I also wasn't aware that UPA was still around but they are! so I found the website and started looking into how they view there history! so check it out!

http://www.upapix.com/pages/history.htm

SEMPE!

I am in love with a new artist. He is a french artist named Sempe and I wanted to post up some of his art so I can come back to it easily. I love french artists!! The Temple Of Seven Golden Camels is really excellent that is were I found info on the artist.

So if interested check it out! http://sevencamels.blogspot.com/2008/01/second-look-at-semp-and-some-blake-and.html

The other cool thing they have is an article on drawing Cluter and designing it so it looks interesting and doesn't tired the eye and I loved that article as well!Anyway if you wanna learn something new go look at these things. They will brighten your animation world!

Temple of the seven golden camels

2008-03-21T06:48:00.000-07:00

I found an amazing blog, basically it is everything you want to know about story boarding film making and animation. sO i PLAN TO SPEND MANY OURS STUDYING FROM IT SO i CAN START WORKING ON MY LAYOUTS FOR MY 2 SHORT FILMS. i KNOW THEY ARE PILING UP ON ME. THE OTHER DAY i WAS DRAWING DRAGONS AND WATCHING LOONEY TOONS AND i THOUGHT (Opps hit the cap lock.) How awesome would it be to draw hula hooping dragons and man my imagination just kinda took off from there. I am crazy. forgive me. anyway check it out if you wanna learn something new.

http://sevencamels.blogspot.com/2007/02/tom-oreb-draws-ward-part-3.html

Candy Peters

2008-03-20T20:38:00.000-07:00

I did a full body character study of candy. She has no hands and no feet cause I designed her that way. I like her final design I think she is funky but of course she won't be hula hooping in this when I start animating her. Actually I had several Ideas for her out fits.

Personality is a very intensely hyper happy girl. She is a day care instructer and she like to get her groove on at night. she has a passion for dance and is very good natured at most times just don't make her mad or try to steal her spot light.

I have a full story behind her. but I want to star by just practicing animating with her.

My hula... ok... not!

2008-03-16T23:14:00.000-07:00

mainasha got me on this hula thing and I tried my hand at it. I didn't have enough time to really put some work into it but it something. You know it looks more like a dance... hmmmm...

Revival of the Blog!!!

2008-03-16T15:55:00.000-07:00

Well it looks like the blog is finally up and running so I thought i'd put my little contribution. I ran accross this site awhile back called character designs which is basically a site that has alot of references for life drawing and a profile area on individual artists. It's pretty useful to research posing or to just look at others artwork. I plan to try to update more on the site so even if no one else sees it, it'll at least be something for me an arie to bounce off cool links from one another occasionally. Just for fun i'll put up some character design stuff i'm doing for a future animation. The design is pretty rough but it's basically how I want him to look. Still expirementing with it. I'll also throw in some darkstalkers art just for fun. It's not completely finished but it dosen't seem like i'll get back to finishing it anytime soon so why not.

Here's the link: http://www.characterdesigns.com/

Walk cycles

2008-03-16T14:32:00.001-07:00

Walk cycles are a pain in my ass. I get the arms and the legs all confused and stuff. This will be the first of many. i think this took ma about an hour cause I get confused. Grrr... I am not even trying to maintain volume or anything. It is all about just doing it and working through them cause walk cycles are kinda laborious to me.

http://homepage.mac.com/drawlikecrazy/walkcycle1.swf

Anyway, here is the first one. I think the goal will be to be able to do these with my eyes closed in the end.like they say 99 percent practice 1 percent theory.

I also wanted to post up some links to a few really cool blogs I found today. some of these people are act not animators but the work is undeniably amazing. So please visit them and enjoy the wonderful art.

I might do more of these tonight so I might add some to this post. Have a good day.

~Arie

http://animationbackgrounds.blogspot.com/
http://canepabarbara.blogspot.com/
http://shojinstudios.blogspot.com/
http://characterdesign.blogspot.com/
http://gorblat.blogspot.com/

http://derickbrooks.blogspot.com/
http://john-nevarez.blogspot.com/
http://tropicaltoxic.blogspot.com/
http://joshuamiddleton.blogspot.com/
http://pacodesiato.blogspot.com/

http://ohranny.blogspot.com/http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
http://lambey.blogspot.com/

the last of this hula test

2008-03-16T07:43:00.000-07:00

ok here is the last edit on the hula hoop from the rear veiw. I don't plan to work anymore on this animation cause I want to move on to other practice things.

enjoy!

http://homepage.mac.com/drawlikecrazy/hulatest3.swf

the transformation

2008-03-15T21:41:00.000-07:00

One of the story boards that I was working on thumbnailing had the flour sack transforms and grow arms and legs,and then eventually growing a head. so here is the arms and legs popping out of the body for ya. the sack gets bigger when it jumps in the air but that is cause it kinda changes size once it grows arms and legs.

Anyway it has problems but that is ok. It is practice. I do feel I am getting better. the studying I am doing has helped a lot cause I am finding myself thinking about things and trying to apply it. I love the Richard Williams book so much. It has been a great help. The illusion of life is also a great help cause they animators discuss having strong poses and what it was like when they first started animating. Once my character gets a head I will start my walk cycles and stuff. I will get back to animating on paper a little later. I get intimidated cause A. I don't have a whole lot of animation paper and B. it takes me a while to get things scanned so I can test it on the computer in flash. Flash frees me in a since cause I can test things immediately and tweak it. I think it will speed up the learning process a great deal.

anyway here it is

http://homepage.mac.com/drawlikecrazy/floorsacklegs.swf

Hula Hoop Obsession

2008-03-15T15:08:00.000-07:00

So as you know I was working on drawing a big girl hula hooping! I am moving on from the other one. I just need to add a few things to the original and then I will start on this new one that I have almost all the poses for.

The other one I did one day after this idea of a Phat girl hula hooping against a skinny girl in a contest. I posted the mini thumbs of that earlier this week. So I did the first animation that you saw a while back and that was fun but it wasn't really there in terms of movement. So now I am trying to take it a step further. So what you will see on this post is the thumbnails and the pose planing that I have been working on for my girl. Oh and by the way her name is Candy Peters. I thought I would post these cause today I am working on hula hoop observation. You tube has a wealth of videos. I actually didn't use these for these poses though. These poses were done about a week ago in the bus on the way home. and not all at the same time. I even found a video of a phat girl that hoops and she gives very good instruction on how to move the hoop up and down the body and how you have to use a bit of foot work to really get the motion going. She is awesome. So enjoy. I will be back later.

Happy Feet

2008-03-15T12:08:00.001-07:00

Yes I said happy feet. You know how you think a movie is just a repeat of many things you have seen over and over so you say I am not going to bother. Well I wanted to see some cg today and I sat down to officially watch this film and I have to say I was very surprised. The message in this movie is progressive and loving. Being the animal lover I am and my interest in animal rights. The film actually caught me off guard. As the movie progressed I found myself wanting more and more. It was like mumbles was the ghandi of the penguin world. It was a good film. I really enjoyed it and I was happy to see a film that offered more than a cheap laugh and a few dance steps. i know I am late on this one but as they say. better late than never. I think I will buy the dvd.

Anyway I owe you guys some animation. I should have some done today. I have spent the last few pays studying and doing character design stuff. I will upload later today. It is crazy cause my mind feels so open. So many things I didn't understand last year make so much since now since I have been studying on my own. Anyway if you are like me and you never gave happy feet a chance. I am here to tell you to give it a go. Even if you rent it. you may be pleasantly surprised and it has a great message for both children and adults which I love a story that has meaning and I hope you do too!

Thumbnails are important!!

2008-03-12T18:00:00.000-07:00

Today I want to talk about the importance of thumbnails. As a comic artist thumbnails always came natural. you draw the lay out of how you want the page to look and once you get it right you can blow it up or redraw it at a larger size and start adding your details to the drawing. Then you tighten it up and whala finished pencils ready for the next step in the process. But in animation Thumbnails can serve both the same and a different purpose. You see in comics I never thought of doing thumbnails as that important cause they can change. Heck if you want and some people do, you can just work rough on your paper and skip the thumbnails all together.

I mean really there isn't a lot of details you can get in on a tiny page layout other than where you are going to put your boxes. But in animation it can be extremely important cause you are planning your actions and your timing all at once. You have to plan your acting out so that it fits the dialog and you have to know how the character will move so you don't waist to much time trying to fix things when you actually start the animation process. Heck I even read that it is important in 3d to other wise the process can take longer. Especially when working pose to pose.

Anyway I saw a wonderful video the other day where Andreas Deja is showing off some of Frank Thomas work. And the thumbnails he did for the scenes he worked on. all of the lined up neatly in a row with the dialog underneath the poses. Andreas goes on to talk about how Thomas often did multiple pages of thumbnails before settling on how he wanted to act out the scene.

If you check out a little website called Animation Meat

you can find a great little resource in the notes section that talks about some of this. Anyway I did some thumb nailing and planning of my own yesterday but I didn't get to post it last night cause I forgot it and left it at work. I planned out the action for my next flour sack animation which I talked about yesterday and I also planned a few story board ideas. anyway I hope you enjoy. I should have some finished animation to post tomorrow.

Just for fun here are some scenes from sward and the stone.

I draw on paper!

2008-03-11T19:31:00.000-07:00

Yes I do yes I do. lol. It was an interesting day. I thumb nailed some actions out for my next sequences. I have to scan them. non the less I started planning ideas for a short film. It is the type of thing I would have done had I went back 3rd year to the kubert school only better cause I don't have the constraints of school to limit me.

I took one of my old ideas and decided to expand on it and do a short film. maybe up to 5 minutes or so. All the characters are designed for it but I have to redraw the story boards cause I am changing the BG and the location. The original idea was more for a e card idea I was doing cause I was determined to do it in flash. This time though I plan to do all hand drawn digital colored animation. I haven't decided on the final look yet though but I want it to be kinda rough and lively.

I also thumb nailed out the actions for the next part of my flour sack animation. So I have a lot of things to work on. they seem so small though.

I recently became obsessed with Richard Williams. I always saw animation as a way to play God cause you create and give life to things that exist only in your head. Then I found those movies about him and started to just fall in love. He really sees animation as a true art form and not a kids medium for advertising toys and games. I love how he described how much he loved art as a kid and he kinda abandoned it for a little while for Rembrandt and when he discovered animation he saw it as the ultimate art form like what if Michaelangelo or Donatello or Rembrandt were animators.

To me it really is the ultimate art form. I mean it requires the study of all life and movement and habits and then translating it into a believable medium that tells stories and even effects peoples lives on levels beyond what people may think. I mean think about it. Disney is a house hold name. we grow up with it and we share it with our kids. it can teach as well as torment society. And though 3d animation is beautiful there is no beauty as great as hand drawn crafted animation.

But i degress, I always liked his book, the Animators Survival Kit
I bought it last year and started reading and enjoying it. It is like reading a story it isn't so much a text book. It is like someone is speaking to you in clearly explaining there experiences in life and showing you what they have learned rather than the text book approach on straight ahead technique. it reminds me of the animation podcast on occasion cause he talks about his experience learning from great animators of the past that are now retired or have passed away.

Anyway i found nice article on what he is doing now that he has released his book ans started teaching. you should check it out. Enjoy!

http://mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=pageone&article_no=1291&page=1

Hula test 2

2008-03-11T04:13:00.000-07:00

So I was walking home yesterday and decided not to draw the actual hoop out by hand. I can do it in flash and it will be faster cause I can test the secondary movement until I get it right. This isn't cleaned up yet so i might look a bit strange. I am going to clean this up today. I did the animation last night but didn't post it.

I have the new poses for the next sequence. it will be more of a 3 quarter view. I was trying to work out the action on the bus in my sketchbook but I don't think I will really be able to see it till I sit down and animate it. Emil had a lot of good suggestions on this. like that the hula hoops movement needs to be more constant.My other friend also said it needed more settle. and he sent me a example of what he ment. I will give it a go tomorrow non the less. I also plan to start re exploring some story boards I did very soon and taking some photos so I can really do some nice BG for this. it will be my first short film and I really hope to god it turns out nice. It won't have any words. it will be all body language and some of my music. I plan to see the entire animation process through from beginning to end. should be fun. and even better it should be a nice portfolio piece.

http://homepage.mac.com/drawlikecrazy/hulatest2.swf

hula hoop test no hoop

2008-03-09T19:13:00.001-07:00

hula girl test. I scanned this in photoshop and created an swf. I am annoyed with this though. I need to do some editing. I still have to complete the secondary action on this from the actual hula hoop I will do that this week. i assembled this in photoshop and then had to export a swf. Then I opened that in flash and made it into a movie. such a pain in the ass doing this. I was forced to so it this way cause either way i would have had to fight with assembling it and making sure the animation lined up right wether in flash or photoshop. I originally wanted to make a gif but it played to slow and I couldn't get the right frame rate.

it was fun even if it is kinda crappy. so much to learn.

http://homepage.mac.com/drawlikecrazy/hulatest.swf

hula girl test

2008-03-09T08:35:00.000-07:00

I shot this using my acanner and combined them in flash. 72 dpi for the images makes the process go faster.

I wanted to share this documentary on art babbit. It seems like there is a wealth of infor on the life of animators on there.

Hula chick done

2008-03-08T23:26:00.000-08:00

I finished up the last of my inbetweens on the first part of the hula chick. I have to do the secondary action now for the actual hoop. that shouldn't be hard though cause I plan to use a circle template. it would be as organic as the figure nor will it have much squash and stretch but it is mostly an exercise so I am not to worried as long as the timing looks correct. Because I missed work on friday I have to make up for that day as well. tomorrow I will scan stuff and try to squeeze in the last part of the other flash animation. I will animate the girl in flash. that is all I have on my computer. probably on twos. I still need to finish my flour sack exercises to and then I will start walk cycles. I am trying to keep things varied cause these drills are a bit boring in comparison with animating something that has a story. the hula hoop was fun cause I gave the character exaggerated proportions. I think she is pleasant to look at.

I figure since I haven't got anything to show for this post I will share a video. i thought this was fucking awesome when I saw it on Youtube. it is animated but it is kinda like when you play a first person shooter video game. the song is cool but the animation is just amazing so I hope you enjoy it.

the animation is done by maverix studios so I am posting the link here cause I want to come back and get a look at more of what these guys have done. http://www.maverixstudios.com/

Today is me B - day

2008-03-08T13:37:00.000-08:00

yep I turned 29. I was siting on the toilet thinking to myself. God I am 29. If I go back home now I will be a 30 year old living at home with my mom. Gross. Anyway, I didn't get time to animate yesterday cause I was to busy drinking rum and coke with my friend victor and playing video games and watch cartoons on the internet. It was fun. I haven't realy relaxed like that in s a while. today me and sherry are celebrating our B-day together and then she invited peple over to the house to eat and I am cooking the cake.

so today I will find tome to animate a bit. be back later to post it.

here is some awesome animation to tide me over till I can get some stuff up. I really love this you can tell that he could have taken this farther. in some spots the animation is super smooth. other times it feels like he is using cleverly done strong key poses to communitate the actions but in the end it all loooks very clean and tight and finished! Enjoy

Woo Hoo hula hoop!

2008-03-06T19:39:00.000-08:00

SO I did my key breakdowns yesterday of a fat girl hula hooping. I did them as thumbnails and I read you can blow up the thumbs and transfer them to animation paper to basically what I did today was transfer the thumbs and add the break down drawings for the action. tomorrow I was to finish animating my tae bo girl and this weekend I want to add the last of the inbetweens on the hula chick. I will upload something by sunday on this.

I animated on paper

2008-03-05T20:00:00.000-08:00

I animated today but I did it on paper. I thumbnailed out a girl hula hooping but I will post it later. I plan to transfer the poses onto animation paper tomorrow and do breakdowns and test it on the pencil test machine at sva.

Richard williams. He is a master that wrote I nice little helpful book called Animators survival Kit. He is known for his creation of the film Who framed Roger rabbit. his favorite thing to do is to animate on ones and to make animators be be challenged to push there abilities. soenjoy this little feature about roger rabbit.

timing experiment2

2008-03-04T20:15:00.000-08:00

so I went in and added the break down drawings but with no inbetweens to cuchion the movement. I noticed the arms come down really fast and that the amount of time it takes to kick the leg out seems kinda slow
essentially it looks like it was done from an aerobics video lol. which it was so no complaints. I was considering doing a different set of break downs that exaggerate the movement in places but I will see. to morrow I add inbetweens and I will make several swf files to test how timing changes when things are taken out or added in. Obviously things slow down when you ad inbetweens and the speed up when you remove them. should be fun.

http://homepage.mac.com/drawlikecrazy/taebobreak.swf

Timing experiment

2008-03-04T04:15:00.000-08:00

I went through some more live action and worked on identifying extreme poses. This one I pulled of a tae bo video because they use repeditive actions. What I am posting here is the extremes that I thought I was seeing last night. The next goal is to play with the timing of the kick. I will ad in the break down actions between the extremes, there are 8 poses all together, and go back and add in my own breakdowns this time without use of the video. then I will add the inbetweens in varying different ways to play with the timing of an action. I want to see how drastically a basic action can be effected by the placement of inbetweens and breakdowns between the main poses.

Anyway here is what I have so far. I am posting this late cause I got sleepy last night.

http://homepage.mac.com/drawlikecrazy/taebo.swf

motion2

2008-03-02T16:14:00.000-08:00

So it is funny, not use to drawing things that move around in perspective. In this one the person jumps towards you. again I added in a little cushion in the landing. studying from the same music video.

Anyway more to come. I have some aerobics videos so I will try those too.

http://homepage.mac.com/drawlikecrazy/dancestep2.swf

Motion study 1

2008-03-02T00:49:00.000-08:00

this was a quick motion study from a music video. I really liked this cause the person was shifting her weight from foot to foot. especially in the last part after she jumps and swivels around to face the other direction.

I added an additional frame to add some cushion on the jump. That way it looks like she sinks into her legs more before she turns and it gives a little weight. also added a extra frame in the hight of the jump so that she hangs in the air just a tiny bit before landing.

I think the take off is a bit slow. where she pushes off from the grouund. probably to many in betweens.

http://homepage.mac.com/drawlikecrazy/dance.swf

Animation tests

2008-03-01T20:22:00.000-08:00

I am going to start uploading some of my rough flash animations here. Mostly the purpose of them is so I can practice timing and character movement. I need to start building a portfolio and well I can't have an animation portfolio withouth finished animation. and considering I am a bit low on paper this allows me the chance to play around with things like the flour sack and different walk cycles while I would on planning out some other stuff to actually draw on paper.

Anyway, this first on is a few scenes I strung together with a revisit to the bouncing ball. It is very much a beginner assignment to help you get use to moving shapes around:

http://homepage.mac.com/drawlikecrazy/boxtest.swf

My friend Esteban Valdes took some time and coached me on how not to over act using that box animation. I am posting this with his permission. please visit his web site to see more stuff. http://enemyoftheindustry.blogspot.com/

Her is what he suggested, so I could reduce the amount of drawings and tighten up my timing a bit.

http://homepage.mac.com/drawlikecrazy/timing_acting.swf

As a continuation so that all the tests would kind of run together I had the ball fall ontop of a box and turn into a flour sack. Then the floursack gets happy cause it realized how much more movement it has:

http://homepage.mac.com/drawlikecrazy/floorsacktest.swf

I had some ideas from here of it like kicking up its heels and walking around for a bit. The next phase is it sprouts legs and stands up. From there I will start a series of walk cycles based on the Richard Williams book, THE ANIMATORS SURVIVAL KIT. If you are looking to learn character animation it is a good guide.

After the walks I want to add some arms and have it run. then it will grow into a character and she will run for a bit and stop and pant. I think that will be the final of my tests
then I want to try other stuff.

Anyway here are a few other flash things I did enjoy.

http://homepage.mac.com/drawlikecrazy/babscard.swf

http://homepage.mac.com/drawlikecrazy/wormanimation_Scene%201.swf

http://homepage.mac.com/drawlikecrazy/maindancemovie2.swf

Schools out for summer! and now more glen keane

2007-05-18T14:42:00.000-07:00

Finally, the weeks just crept by but it is all over with thank god. which mean I have time to post fun stuff YAY!!

I found some glen keane videos where he is teaching a lecture at cal arts. hope you like them.

babs

2007-03-24T15:53:00.000-07:00

http://homepage.mac.com/drawlikecrazy/babscard.swf

Disney's first black princess

2007-03-10T18:02:00.000-08:00

I ran accross this link today and thought I should share it with everyone for a new disney movie (traditionally animated) that will be out in 09 and has a african american princess. Hopefully we'll be represented in a good light for a change (i'm looking at you seabastain the crab). Hear's the link.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17524865/?GT1=9145

Lip Sync

2007-02-23T11:58:00.000-08:00

I've been looking around for some help on a lip sync project I'm currently working on. Here is one of the resources I found. I'm still reading through it but what I have read has been very informative.

I hope this is helpful to others out there.

http://www.keithlango.com/tutorials/old/lipSync.htm

More Women in Animation

2007-02-22T09:01:00.000-08:00

How cool is Dan Haskett!!! He just emailed me another list of women in animation/film! Enjoy!

Hi, Michelle!

Here is a partial list of folks I either know or know of in American animation. Most of them are your foremothers, women who worked from approximately 1930 to 1980. Some are my contemporaries. In any event, if you have any questions about them, let me know. Also, you might be interested in a recent (2005) book on women cartoonists, FUNNY LADIES by Liza Donnelly. (Publisher: Prometheus Books) It's a history of NEW YORKER Magazine cartoonists, with many good points to make about the business.

Cheers,
-- Dan

Filmmakers: FAITH HUBLEY
EMILY HUBLEY
BARBARA DOURMASHKIN-CASE
JOANNA PRIESTLEY
SUZAN PITT
KATHY ROSE
NINA PALEY
SIGNE BAUMANN
DEBRA SOLOMON

Story and Storyboard: BARBARA CHAIN
BARBARA HAMMER
DOROTHY ANN BLANK
LINDA WOOLVERTON
REBECCA REES
KATHLEEN CARR
DEBORAH PUGH
SHARON FORWARD
JILL COLBERT TROUSDALE

Designers: STERLING STURTEVANT
MARY BLAIR
BIANCA MAJOLIE
SYLVIA MOBERLY-HOLLAND
ETHEL KULSAR
GYO FUJIKAWA
BUF NERBOVIG
CINDY FINN
SUZETTE DARLING
MEGAN BRAIN

Animators: HILDA TERRY
DELORES CANNATA
TISSA DAVID
NANCY BEIMAN
RUTH KISSANE
LILLIAN FRIEDMAN
SUE KROYER
LAVERNE HARDING
CHRYSTAL RUSSELL KLABUNDE
JOANNA ROMERSA
XENIA DEMATTIA
BETTY TANG
BRONWEN BARRY
SILVIA POMPEI
ELLEN WOODBURY
RETTA SCOTT
RETTA DAVIDSON
SUSAN SUGITA
SYLVIA FITZPATRICK
HELEN KOMAR
YVETTE KAPLAN
CAROL MILLICAN
LORNA COOK
LINDA MILLER
VERA LANPHER
JANUARY NORDMAN
BRENDA BANKS
TASIA WILLIAMS

Voice Actors: MAE QUESTEL
VERNA FELTON
JUNE FORAY
TRESS MACNEILLE
JOAN GARDNER
BEA BENADERET
SARA BERNER
ELEANOR AUDLEY
JANET WALDO
JEAN VANDER PYL
LUCILLE BLISS
CHRIS ALLEN

Music Scoring: SHIRLEY MITCHELL

Scenics: THELMA WITMER
GLORIA WOOD
ROBERTA GREUTERT
VERA OHMAN
ANN GUENTHER
SYLVIA COBB ROEMER
LINDA DAURIO
JILL PETRILAK
JENNY GASE-BAKER

Scene Planning and Continuity: EVELYN SHERWOOD
GINA BRADLEY
PAT SITO
BARBARA DONATELLI
SANDY BENENATI
BETSY BAKER

Ink and Paint Supervision: IDA GREENBERG
MARY TEBB
BETTY ANN GUENTHER
CELINE MILES
VERONICA CHIARITO
MARILYN CARRINGTON
KLARA HEDER
CAMILLE MARINELLI
NANCY MASSIE
NANCY LANE TOMASELLI
BELLE NORMAN
NELDA RIDLEY
JACKIE BANKS
PHYLLIS CRAIG
JACKIE BISSET
VIOLET GELMAN

Studio Executives: JAYNE BARBERA
JEAN MACCURDY
MIREILLE SORIA
MAUREEN DONLEY

Women in Animation!

2007-02-20T17:55:00.001-08:00

Hey sorry im late! Heres the list of women animators that Dan and Karen Haskett composed for me, When i have a chance i'll also post my thoughts of the gathering :) which by the way was very inspiring!!!

List of Women Animators

La Verne Harding (Lantz)
Tissa David
Joanna Quinn
Kathy Rose
Sara Petty
Johanna Priestley
Sue Kroyer
Ellen Woodbury
Retta Scott
Brenda Banks
January Nordman
Marlene Robinson
Sylvia Cobb Roemer (Layout)
Mary Blair (design)
Alison DeVere
Sylvia Holland (Design)
Bianca Majolie (Design)
Buf Nerbovig
Nina Paley
Thelma Witmer (Background)
Anne Guenther (Background)

Brotha Got Bills part 1,2 & 3

2007-02-18T12:55:00.000-08:00

I friend of mine wrote an article called brotha got bills touching on how people should conduct themselves when approaching artists about there work and further more asking them to work for them. Please take a look at it and visit his website. Hope you enjoy the article.

http://www.ghettomanga.blogspot.com

--------------------------------------------------------------

A BROTHA GOT BILLS pt 1

art and words byAMEN

the phrase that every artist hates to hear, but hears way too much:
"yo man! your shit is tight! i got this idea, and i think your style will really set it off!
NOW I DON'T HAVE ANY MONEY, BUT ______"

IF THIS SOUNDS LIKE YOU, turn off your ipod, lean in close, and listen to what i am about to tell you:

the artist you are talking to/instant messaging/texting/emailing/or otherwise communicating with
HAS BEEN GIVEN A COMPLIMENT BEFORE. he/she probably already knows how dope his/her artwork is.
it doesn't mean he/she has a big head! being dope is the predictable result of combining God-given talent
and good old-fashioned hard work. NOW, WE ALL LOVE COMPLIMENTS...
but following the compliment with a request for free work is like telling a girl you love her
just so she will let you hit it... i guess it works sometimes, BUT DON"T BE SURPRISED WHEN IT DOESN'T.

i'm not by any stretch the dopest artist on mySpace (in fact, if you're reading this, i know YOU KNOW at least ONE cat who is doper...),
but i get (literally!) HUNDREDS of emails every month from cats trying to talk me into doing artwork for free.
ninety-nine times out of a hundred, i just ignore them.
(yeah, i said it... so if you sent me a message asking me to do work for you, prefaced with a sentence like the one above,
and you are STILL waiting for my reply, know this: i got it. i just ignored it. if you had read my profile, you woulda saw it comin'...).
i usedta get mad about it, but i'm used to it now. it's part of the game.
THE FACT IS, THE AVERAGE ARTIST'S LIFE IS ONLY MISSING ONE THING: MONEY!!!

perhaps you're not feelin' me...

let's try this excercise: close your eyes and imagine you are at work and your boss asks you to go babysit her kids
because she doesn't want to pay for daycare. should SHE be offended that YOU don't have the time to watch her little darlings for free,
since you have to earn a god-damn living?

"But (insert your name here), can't you just do it for the love?"

are you pissed yet? GOOD! then i can stop...
now, don't get all sad, homey! there are ways EVEN YOU can get fresh artwork,
even if you are broke all the time. and i'm happy to share them with you.

but that's for next time (that's why it's called "Brotha Got Bills pt 1", silly...). for now,
i want you to practice giving some thought-out, sincere compliments to artists
(and that includes writers, musicians, and poets, too!) WITHOUT asking for ANYTHING in return!

a'ight?!
peace, love, etc.
samax.

BROTHER GOT BILLS PART 2
ART AND WORDS-AMEN
...Bills, part 2
Okay family, if you did your Homework from last time (PLEASE tell me you gave some unsolicited, non-ulterior motivated, sincere/heartfelt compliments…
NO? stop. Go do it now. I'll wait…), you may have experienced the wonderful feeling of knowing you made the world a better place. After all, art makes the world a better place,
and artists are more productive when they know people are feeling their work (no matter what they may tell you…). So everybody wins, right?

But you want artwork, and you don't feel any closer to getting it, do you? Okay, here's a few suggestions:

CONNECT WITH THE ARTIST: Remember those dope artists you complimented? Go look again at their websites (or myspace profile, blog, or whatever). I don't mean just look at the pictures…
I mean reeeally look at it. Like, read and stuff . artists, even visual artists, are always writing… and we generally feel like no one listens to us, so you will score big points if you comment on something
we have said. But BE CAREFUL! For one thing, most artists have strong B.S. detection skills, and won't appreciate being patronized.
Secondly, if you start a conversation with an artist on a subject he/she feels passionately about, you may bite off more than you can chew…
so my point is, start a dialogue with the artist on a subject you both feel strongly about. Take your time, and correspond with the artist periodically.
If you manage to actually make friends with the artist, or generally show them you are about something,
he/she make actually OFFER services to you for free or at a discounted rate.

BE A FAN (NOT A STAN…) here's an approach worth trying: BUY SOMETHING! Most artists (the smart ones anyways) offer at least something that is relatively cheap. by the way,
NEVER say "you should make a poster out of this, cause i'd buy it" and then fail to buy it when they do (i HATE that!)... be real about it! Snoop around the artist's site for some cheap item, and purchase one.
If you like it, let the artist know! Take a picture of it and send it to the artist (ex. A picture of a poster hanging in your room, or of you or your girlfriend in the teeshirt you bought, etc.).
tell other people about the artist (ex. Put the artists work WITH CREDIT AND A LINK on your website/blog/myspace profile) and let the artist know you are trying to send some customers his/her way.
ASK THE ARTIST if there is anything you can do to help promote his/her work. Now, that said, DO NOT ASSUME that the artist owes you anything for helping him/her or buying something
(In fact, any time you help someone or do something nice, remember that you should help because you want to, not to gain from it.), but you'd be surprised how an artist,
especially one who is struggling, will appreciate the help.

SPREAD THE LOVE AROUND- Artists talk to each other. If you become known for being supportive of talent, it can only help you when you need something from one of them, right?
So rather than being a pest to the one artist you HAVE to get work from, make a habit of checking out artists and being vocal with them. You could find yourself on the inner circle of the artists
you like by being a well-known fan/supporter (think of that cat that knows ALL the local hipHop artists, because he goes to EVERY show…). If you make building community one of your pet causes,
you could find yourself becoming important, and artists just MAY come to you…

Whatever you do to get the Artist's attention, remember to be polite and conscious that he/she has real-life concerns (i.e. kids, bills, etc) to worry about. But even after all your efforts, the artist you wanna
get at may STILL be outta range, so what do you do then? I'm glad you asked! That's for part 3, cousin! See ya then…

BROTHA GOT BILLS final cahpter

ART AND WORD-amen

Peace, friends. We made it. It's 2007, and since I got at you last,
I survived the busiest time of the year for me:
the Holla Days. Christmas present creation for the fam, filling orders,
traveling to visit relatives and holding down the dreaded (yet necessary) day job
(actually.. I work at night, but that's not the point is it?) tried to overload me,
but I made it through okay. I didn't tell you all that for sympathy, but to make a point:

Many artists, despite how talented they are, hold down a day job to keep the ends acquainted..
and if they're like me, they don't like it! They want to start turning their talent into a living as soon
as they can! As any radio rap single will indicate, creative people are out in the streets
(and warehouses, call centers, and office buildings), committing all manner
of atrocities just to turn a dollar. being supportive helps shine light into the artist's world, the world
at large, and of course it helps you out, too!
Not every artist is going to do it full time (some don't even WANT to),
but there's something about getting a
financial return on the hard work we put in.

It might mean you have to save up, pass up some mass-produced mall crap,
or download that new single
(you know: the one they played on the radio over and over until you just HAD to have it?)
instead of buying the whole album (it's pro'lly not that tight anyways..).
But ultimately, it's worth it. Because you get to have that
"you don't know 'nothing 'bout that, playa"
experience of having something other people don't,
plus you put your hard-earned bread in the hands of someone
who really appreciates it!

back to the drawing board!
amen.

All Things Animation meeting with Dan and Karen Hasket

2007-02-16T22:00:00.000-08:00

I have to say the "All Things Animation" meeting tonight with Dan and Karen Hasket was hands down, the greatest experience of my life to date. They both exude passion and love for the arts. It seems like every day, every moment, every horrible frustrating event in my life over the last 1 1/2 years of living in NJ has lead up to this single moment of pure clarity.

The evening was mostly a question and answer session between Dan and the students. We opened with the discussion about going to school, choosing a school wisely, what is good what is bad etc. But, when it all fell down what mater the most was to be true to yourself as an artist and to draw. Dan stated how animators in this industry have to put there foot down and, "start setting the standard and change the industry" so we can bring things back to there former glory. Furthermore, he discussed the importance of doing your own films, advertising and the great opportunities that are being offered on the internet for reaching audiences with your vision. Most important he said is, "Just to get started. all you need is a pencil and paper." One of the questions I had for him involved his opinion of animating on the computer and he openly admitted to not doing it and honestly disliking tools such as the Wacom Tablet cause he felt it took away allot of control. He felt like the line you created in the computer was more the computers interpretation of a line you create and stated how inferior it was to the work you could create with a pencil and paper.

One of the most moving moments for me this evening was when Karen, Dans wife, spoke about the power we hold as artists and most importantly animators. She spoke of how a single moment and experience as a child can impact someone so much that when you grow up, even if you were only 3 years old when you experienced it, it can follow you through your adult hood. Even things as ridiculous as my little pony or rainbow bright can have a huge impact on our lives. The importance of creating with a purpose and meaning all along the while remaining yourself and showcasing your knowledge and experiences no matter how big or small is so important cause as animators so many people will experience the work that you create that you want them to walk away having been moved or learning something great.

Seriously, for the first time I actually was able to be around people who's raw passion really shined in everything they did in there lives. It was like looking at someone and seeing what it ment to live as themselves in every moment. Something very few people ever do. Karen went on to talk a bit about women in animation, a question Michelle posed to her during a 15 minute break, say there was a , "school in Russia of female animators in stop motion and how these women directed films with many different subject matters and feeling, in comparison with the male dominated american market. She went on to talk about how, everyones individual life is an idea and how 2 siblings might experience the exact same events in life" and they could still be radically different when talked about. "Animation is about storytelling and moving an audience, bringing what you want to see to the tables." She asked us all to think about,"What you want when you are 50?"

She continued," be in a world but not necessarily of it. Create to have an impact and give everything your best. There is nothing to loose and connecting with your own stories is like self love. Look at animation as a way to become something or someone else. It is putting who you are into everything you do. By animating you are bringing a gift to the world." I especially loved that last line. "By animating you are bringing a gift to the world." I think that is something that can said about almost all art.

It made me think of another subject that was eventually brought up during the meeting and that was how the business side of things really collides with the art side of things. Sometimes when I see the things done in television now it doesn't even feel like art anymore but simply a product. It really kills what I feel like animation stands for. Dan talked a bit about seeing the movie Dream on Silly Dreamer and the disrespect he felt that the business executives had for the artists. Which I think makes you ask the question, how can you create great classics when you isolate the 1 most important key to creating such classics and destroy it. After all, without the artist there can be no art. It s the same with the educational institution if you think about it. How can you pass on such an amazing art form to willing students when the educational system is more interested in making money than providing good teachers that are eager to share there knowledge. Even in the work place they replace experience workers with inexperienced people and it is hard to learn in an environment where every one is guessing as to how to make something work.

There were many other topics brought to the table. One in particular that crossed not just the sex barrier but eventually the race barrier. On the topic of women in animation, Dan talked about how so many animators were scared to draw women out of fear of making them ugly. Then he reasoned, why not just get a female animator to animate female characters. Who can know a women better than a women knows herself after all. It is the same for the use of multi-cultural themes in animated film. Particularly at Disney. He mentioned that there was rumor of the first 2D feature film being a movie called the Frog Prince and how the character were going to be Black this time around. He talked about the important to of seeing multicultural images in animation, but his fear of what the approach would be to doing black characters. From the way he spoke he hadn't been all that impressed with past portrayals of Black people in animated films and television and expressed a dislike for some shows cause he felt they were simply to stereotypical. One particular instant mentioned was the choice to make Sebastian, from Little Mermaid, rastafarian with big lips and a accent simply because it was funny. This goes back to the idea of just how influential animation can be on a society of youths and adults alike. It is like saying it is ok to disrespect a group of people based on what you saw on television or a stereotype. He mentioned a few instances where this happened in animation and the artists didn't realize they were actually hurting people by being uninformed or even simply hiring animators with enough cultural experience in an area to portray a cultural group in a respectful educating way.

Another Highlight of the evening was getting to see some of Dans personal work. Page after page of breathtaking masterpieces. I could only wish to be that good. There were storyboards,pencil tests, model sheets, and character designs. he even showed his take on Anime styled designs. I asked him if he liked any anime and he said both he and his wife both grew up watching and loving AstroBoy (by Tezuka).

There really is a life and fluidity to Dans work that is rarely seen. He also discussed his strive for perfection in all his work. He said out right that he didn't like to sketch or thumbnail cause it just took to much time. ( It brought back a memory for me cause last year when drawing the hand assignment for Sal I realized if I did it right the first time around I wouldn't have to draw it over and over again.) I often feel the same about comics too. I hate laboring over a page or a single drawing. you can call it lazy if you want to, but I get frustrated and my attention span gets short but if I did it right from the start that means allot less headaches. Anyway, Mr. Haskett mentioned how some animators he worked with could labor over a line till they got it right. Just imagine not having to do that how much faster you would be. You could draw something one time and move on to the next page or project.

All around tonight gave me a new perspective on things. It is the most I felt I had learned in a very long time. There are no one set of special rules there is only being an artist. For a while I had been wondering if maybe I was looking at life in the wrongway, but guess there is no right or wrong there is only doing and being. I hope there are others out there reading this. I welcome all responses from those that came along tonight. And to Juan and Emil I really wish you could have been here. So I hope you find this helpful most of all.

Thanks for reading. Tomorrow I will post some art.
~Arie

Comic Fonts

2007-01-31T19:55:00.000-08:00

Just thought I'd mention a site with cool fonts
http://www.blambot.com/fonts.shtml
The FREE fonts are located on the left hand side. (The ones with the red dots are the ones you have to pay for). Some of the decorative fonts they have could be used for cool credit intros to your anim. If you dabble in comics the fonts here are also nice.

-M :)

Links for building

2007-01-31T18:44:00.000-08:00

Links for building Dreamweaver site. Just putting these here so I can keep track of them.

http://www.entheosweb.com/website_design/dreamweaver_template.asp

http://www.w3schools.com/htmldom/dom_obj_style.asp#scrollbar

Interesting find...

2007-01-30T17:28:00.000-08:00

Hey guys I found an interesting download while surfing the net (i finally got highspeed at home!).
Anyway...
http://punchandbrodie.com/leo/stanchfield/
i'm new to this sort of stuff so sorry if its not hyperlinked...i am a computer noob.
Its a very interesting PDF that goes over tons of animation priciples and what not. So, if you don't already have, then get it!

The reason behind the madness.

2007-01-30T12:31:00.000-08:00

So I have been looking through John k's blog and lessons and if you have been carefully reading them you will kbnow that is he opening a new studio and is looking for artists. I knew there wasw a reason he was posting tutorials on line. I am kinda jumping ahead on this to so sorry guys if you are confused. this comes from lesson 9.

This last blog was posted on January 13, 2007 :

"This is a very serious message from me to you if you ever want to work on real cartoons, not phony-ass flat Nick stuff.

You have to teach yourself the principles of good animation drawing, because no school will teach you and I can't afford to train you on the job. I'm starting a new studio soon and need cartoonists, but do the work you need to.

All the most important things you need to know about drawing animation are in these model sheets I lifted from Steve's great Animation Archive.
http://www.animationarchive.org/

Do what I did when I was your age. Copy them all and learn the underlying concepts in these great drawings:

Construction
Line Of Action
Fluid Poses
Clear silhouettes
Appeal and cuteness

You kids have a head start. All this stuff was hard to find when I broke into the industry. Now you can just go to the animation archive and see some of the best cartoon and illustration art in history, and then come here to have me pick out the stuff that is the cream of the crop and the quickest to learn from.

Not every old model sheet is great. These are. I weeded the weaker ones out for you.

Take advantage and stop drawing flat and lifeless! If you can do it, then you can help me save cartoons.

If you have talent, and you copy these things carefully, and then apply the principles to your own drawings, you will learn very fast and you will be able to adapt to any style. Once you work at Nick or Cartoon Network, you can easily dumb down your ability. If you work for me, you will learn even more, but learn the principles on your own."

I am kind posting this to show my Friend emil as well that he he says he wants things copied exactly as they are.

Anyway happy drawing. I think it would be an amazing experience to work with john k. I want to do my best at this stuff.

YOUR CAREER IN ANIMATION!!!!!!

2007-01-27T01:25:00.000-08:00

Hosted by asifa east, the panel board metting thingy they had to night WAS EXCELLENT!!! I went into NYC with mindsiz3 and his lovely wife and my friend Michy09 showed up as well. They had an area of the museum( Museum of moving images) set up with a video game exhibit. the cool thing was that you could actually play the games for free. made me wish I had gotten there early but it was awesome non the less.

When the lecture started there was a surprise guest!! The one and only Dan Haskett!! as well as Bill plimpton and many other fabulous animation artists! I was so excited.

Haskett created the above catoon from sesame street. It really touched home for me cause I remember seeing that cartoon and how much it impacted me as a kid. So simple but so infuential. his work is so fluid and expressive and I must say it is an old favorite. Honestly though I didn't know exactly who he was untilabout a week ago when I read an article on him and I remember thinking OOOhhhh now i know how created that. He also designed minerva mink on animaniacs and ariel on the little mermaid! I have loved his work all this time and never knew it! anyway check out this cool article on him. http://www.seeingblack.com/2005/x020705/haskett.shtml

When it comes to animation i love his movement and sheer understanding of people and there habits. he work really is fluid and full of life. I strive to have that kind of life in my own work.

Anyway back to the lecture. It was simpley brilliant. I really learned alot and I was super excited to be in the city and at the museum. I think i learned more in a night there than i would sitting in class all week when it comes to the animationindustry and all the hard work that really goes into it. I wallked away inspired beyond beleif.

I even got to shake Mr. Hasketts name and show my apreciation for his work and even meet his beautiful wife. Anyway it is great to put a face with the amazing work i have loved so long without knowing who made it or where it came from! Now I just gotta get him to mentor me. lol Yeah right like that would ever happen.

Classic cartoons you can watch online

2007-01-24T14:29:00.000-08:00

This was a cool little thing i found. they have some classica cartoon shows on websites other than you tube. check it out. And thanks for the interview Emil i can't wait to read it.

http://video.aol.com/video-category/in2tv-animation/1718

http://www.retrojunk.com/list_tvshows/1990/pop-1/

A animator's story

2007-01-24T00:23:00.000-08:00

I thought this would be a interesting interview to read about Jon Mcclenahan. If you don't know who he is, he is the director of such shows as Animaniacs, Tiny toons, Taz-mania, dudley the dinosaur and many more to name a few. I was very honored to have been taught a animation class from him awhile back and I ran accross this link is a very in-depth interview about his beginnings and experiences as a animator from working with Hanna-Barbera in the 70's to now, as well as his experiences with writers, studio heads, and experiences with other well known animators. As I said it's a very in-depth interview about 5-6 pages long so if you have the time for a good read about a influential and talented animator, then I suggest getting comfortable and giving it a read.

http://platypuscomix.cartoonsdammit.com/people/mcclenahan.html

The awesome ness of Glen Keane

2007-01-23T19:50:00.000-08:00

Ok ok i know I have posted alot in the last few days, but I am loving this thing. Reaserching animation and animators and the fact that you guys are here on the blog with me gives me a reason to post all the really cool things i stumble onto. Bad spelling and all. So with no further ado, Glean Kean. Animator on tarzan. He has a blog too so check it oout cause it is really amazing! http://theartofglenkeane.blogspot.com/

and here is the amazing stuff I found!

Asifa east hosting an event.

2007-01-23T17:29:00.000-08:00

In friday january 26th Asifa East (an animation community of the east coast) will be hosting a discussion about the animation industry. Feel free to stop over at the web site for more information.

Go to the web site and check out the other events. http://www.asifaeast.com/

A Post for silverleofirious

2007-01-21T23:15:00.000-08:00

Ok so you were asking about good links for finding photoshop tutorials online so I thought I would make you a blog since I already have so many links on the side for all the lesson I found.
I folund this the other day in fact. The person running the site is a animator and she does a bit of furry art but her stuff in general I like. and she has a method of photoshop coloring similar to my own.

Iso here is the link to the tutorialspage and the link to her links pages which leads to other places you can find good art resources. I how this is helpful.

http://fern.junglestudio.com/?page_id=19

http://fern.junglestudio.com/?page_id=8

Anyway I hope this is useful. I will talk to ya later!

Cats don't dance

2007-01-20T23:35:00.000-08:00

I think this movie didn't get nearly the recognition that it should have gotten. It was one of the last really good traditional animated movies done before the wave of 3-d movies began. It brought back the nostalgic days of the old Warner Bros. cartoons and was animated with just as much care and life. The character designs were very vibrant and just full of life and movement thanks to the skill set of the animators and director Mark Dindal. If you're into typical animated musicals, 30's nostalgia, and anthropormorphic animals, then this is the one for you. Here's a You tube link to get a little idea of how great the animation in the movie is if you haven't seen it already.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JjCa8NVBQE

Drawing a dynamic human figure

2007-01-20T22:28:00.000-08:00

One of the best things I learned this year was how to really give movment to simple shapes and forms. It was one of those things where after some one told me I was just like, "why had I never thought of this before." Anyway here is a little tutorial I through together to share with a freind that asked me how to do it.

Fun with movement

2007-01-20T21:01:00.000-08:00

These are just some of my favorite sketches that show a little bit of movement and expression. They're alot better than what I was drawing months ago but as much as I improved, I can always continue to get better. Hopefully this blog can progress that for me. In the meanwhile here are some of my fave sketches to start off with.

Freeze frame drawing

2007-01-20T20:35:00.000-08:00

Some of my flcl sketches. I have been watching shows and freeze framing them to draw the actions as fast as i can. it is a great exercise for lerning form and construction as well as lets me analyze animation timing. Flcl uses allot extreme poses and distortion so it is fun to play with. The other one I did for class. We did freeze frames of pluto. after getting really warmed off it was fun. the most fun part was trying to keep up with my teachers drawing speed. The man is so fast! http://www.karmatoons.com/