Sunday, July 25, 2010

Jarhead is terrible

And I got a white "wheat" sandwich. What kind of a day is that?

Oh, the portfolio piece #2.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Danny Glover

I'm not ready for recognition yet, even if I were good enough to attain it. Achievement and fame ruins artists, even the ones who didn't crave it. So why am I making this movie? It's not what you do, it's how you do it.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Poisoned!

Honesty is a luxury. Think of any person outside your family with whom you can really be honest. Of course, you're not one of them either. Enjoy.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Quit Stalin

In Entertainment you do business by regurgitating ideas that have succeeded in the past. In Art you suffer to create something new. However art is just a type of entertainment for people with high brows.

Check out my walk cycle! Also comment if you wish.

Friday, July 16, 2010

The Goddamn Robots, John!

I went to the Society of Illustrators for life drawing yesterday. I believe it was the classiest Thursday evening I've ever had. Definitely gonna get in on the 10th class free card.

I'm falling more and more in love with animation and life. I feel like Theoden after he's been awakened. Too bad I forget to write down my ideas, otherwise I could have a better metaphor.
5 min

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Bed Bugs!

Seven out of eight done. Five more tomorrow. Something tells me I went too fast to learn as much as I could have.

I've been re-listening to this podcast and added two more heroes to my altar. Although I'm nowhere near as skilled as them, I can definitely relate to Glen Keane's passion for drawing form and James Baxter's passion for.. movement..

Mr. Keane was incredibly inspiring because he did exactly what I'm doing now when he was younger (only he was maybe 12). His dad gave him Hogarth's dynamic anatomy, and he had no idea what animation was when he went to Calarts. 

Mr. Baxter's draw to animation was copying and studying action. He was fascinated by ballet, professional sports and other disciplines where efficient motion is honed. I don't want to jump to conclusions here because I could probably extrapolate myself to any famous animator just as easily, but - animation is really the bomb. It's so much more complex, challenging and (therefore) rewarding than any other medium I've had the pleasure of dabbling in.

I came to film school because I did not know of a better way to combine my two passions: drawing and music. Animation is definitely the road of me.

Monday, July 12, 2010

KA-BLAMO

DAME! I used the sphere from yesterday and it STILL took me one hour to do local lighting. My my. The values are a little off because my web storage facilities increase the contrast for effect, but you get the picture. Of course, I could keep rendering this for hours with marginal improvement, but that would be pointless until I get an actual sphere and light it.

What a productive night it was! You exercise your brain before going to sleep and this is what you get. It gets so excited that it can't stop thinking. Gift and curse. As is everything. Maybe it was the sugar? We will find out tonight.

Anton, you don't understand what you are capable of. You can't see the movie from the other side. If only you knew!

Now onto new horizons and new curved surfaces!!!

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Don't Worry, Be Happy

Definitely gonna do another sphere before moving onto curves. Probably local light. I decided to include a "process sketch" this time. Guess which one it is.

Sometimes doing nothing is the most productive way to spend your time.





Saturday, July 10, 2010

Live from New York, It's Manton the Blog!

Well, Scott Robertson, you were right. Diagonal lighting is harder to do than top or side lighting by a factor of four. What the hell was I thinking when I was trying to diagonally light arms. It's okay though, it's roughly right if light was coming from that angle. It would just be a silly decision to light it from there..

Over the three hours we spent together, I've grown very attached to these three cylinders. I will remember this saturday night forever, guys. Even you, diagonal.

Artists are retarded. They train their brain to evaluate superfluous information about reality that is really meant to go straight to subconsciousness. That's the trick. Anyone can do it. Now I just have to figure out my favorite kind of information to deconstruct.


Thursday, July 8, 2010

TIMMEH

Well, Nate Wragg told me to keep my blog, so that's what I'll do. Sorry I couldn't enter the contest, Bobby Chiu. I had to spend all day yesterday and today wrestling with After Effects CS5. I ended up rendering each shot one by one, shutting down my computer and putting it in the fridge to cool in between. I had so many colourful ideas to scribble into this post, but this battle sucked all the life out of me. Nah, that's not the way to write.

I'm still trying to find what I'm capable of. Still playing as an adult, and afraid of losing. Let's try and make this more personal.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Happy One Year Anniversary!

Well, America Day rolled around recently, which means this blog is now one years old. I rediscovered music today so after a combination of high-school japanese punk and bald man playing a 12-string I was inspired to track down the spark that started this web-zone and see what has become of it. No pictures today, only emotions.

This adventure began with my most personal thoughts, unabridged and unexplained. The levels of recorded introspection and earnest writing during the two weeks leading up to July 4th of last year remain unmatched. After a long lull, the diary became an archive tracking the development of my craft. I missed the point, though. My fountain pen has been clogged for months.

This does not mean that from now on you will have to read poetic ramble instead of regular hogwash. There is simply no longer a point in pretending to have readership. This web-zone is mine. Go away.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Week of Fail

I guess if I want to build up any sort of readership, I should deliver more on promises. Well, this week I decided to focus on my movie, and still did not manage to finish the animatic. I blame errands, food and sleep. Now, I take a break to celebrate the birth of this nation. Allow me to leave with you a parting gift.

I will probably do one more of these before I move on to curved surfaces. This took me about two hours, because I had to figure out how to cast the shadows and they still don't look right.