Merry Meatloaf

I did a commissioned caricature of the singer Meatloaf with one of his biggest fans as a Christmas gift, it was great fun! The original picture is below.

"Tah-dah" 4th year film leica reel [v.3]

As our local animation legend Kaj Pindal put it yesterday in his lecture about leica reels: "They are a living organism, you should be always updating your leica, and always ready to show it!"

Kaj is one of those people that you never question, you just smile and nod! I always LOVE seeing him speak, he still has so much animation joy after so many years in the industry, it's very refreshing!

So, in the spirit of Kaj, I am posting my current leica reel for my 4th year film, as it stands today! It will continue to change, morph, grow....and hopefully will be something I can be very proud of come end of April 2009! Comments, crits, etc are always welcomed!



A special thanks to my rad composer out in LA, Corey Wallace, who scrambled to get me a scratch score in time for our big screening! Thanks again Corey!!

Craft paper concepts pour moi Story

So I pitched my current film concept today for my mentor Barry, and a few fellow 4th years, and I got some great crits/idears - thanks Guys! This will definitely continue to morph and change, but I'd like to get to the leica reel stage earlier than later so I can work with the timing of the music and such.

ANYhooooo, getting ahead of me-self.

For the pitch today, I decided to do something totally different and dragged out my scissors and craft paper. It was fun - I was back in grade 2! Ah, the good ol' days. And a nice change from the constant drawring.....plus it forced me to think of basic shapes, silhouettes, contrasting elements, etc.

Read below each panel to get an idear of where my story is now. Stay tuned for the changes to come!

Open with EXT shot of farm; broken music notes emanating from a large willow tree.

Cross dissolve to INT shot of farmer playing his cello. Badly. All broken/sour notes are coming out from the cello, but farmer loves to play anyway.

Follow broken notes to bug up in the corner of the room - he is disgruntled, as he is just trying to enjoy his meal and cannot eat in peace with all the sour notes.

Bug decides to take matters into his own hands, flies down to the farmer's cello and begins to pick the strings to show him how to play properly.

Man notices bug on cello and tries to chase him off - but in the process of chasing the bug he is able to play a beautiful cello solo.

Man realizes that he needs bugs help / good luck to bring out his buried talent of cello genius.

Bug realizes he not only stopped the sour notes, but became the farmer's musical mentor. He can now eat in peace! He does a 4-legged "Tah-dah!"

------- iris out -------


That's it for now - comments and crits always welcomed and appreciated! I will continue to post updates as the story evolves in the coming days/weeks.

[Side note: Working title for this short is "Tah-dah!"]

Herbert's Hijinks

So when I finished this on Thursday night, I realized that this is longer than my film needs to be next year! And I did this in a couple days. Yeesh.

Well, this idear was a collaboration between Tams and I - it's funny what comes to you when you are relaxing in a coffee shop! :) This is a short animation purely based on musical cues. No other audio. It was great fun to envision what each musical cue might do for the story beats.

I love this piece by Saint-Saens, entitled "Pianistes" [from the Carnival of Animals suite] - and to me, it sounded like it would be about a bird named Herbert.
Enjoy!

Musically speaking....

I am working on a musically-driven short film for our Music in Animation class.... I LOVE doing this kinda stuff [classical music + animation = sign me up!]...

Here's the quick background for the opening scene.
It stars a tree, a bird named Herbert, and an anvil.

Stay tuned.

Road Trip Findings

So... currently Tams and I are up to our eyelashes in boxes 'n things at the new digs here in the land o' Oakville, but I needed to take a blog break and share with the 5 of you out there who read this on a sorta-regular basis, some interesting findings on our road trip from Winnipeg to Oakville.

First off, just 'cause I love it and it makes me smile, here's a pic of my crazy family taken the day before I left to return to school....

....dontcha love how Mom is the only "sane" looking one?

And now, for some findings during our recent road trip...

Firstly, signs. I welcome any comments on the following!

So, this route is getting rather familiar to us, even though the 23 hour trek never gets shorter! The roads are better since we go through the States, however, this time I kept asking out loud, "WHAT ARE PASTIES??!!!" Throughout the US, [I think we mostly hit Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin], we saw signs for them EVERYwhere. Did they forget the "r" or what?????

Ah, Rita. Well, we noticed this sign "Pray for Rita" in Wisconsin during the first time we drove this route. We marked it on the map, and since check that it still stands. And not only does it stand, but every year there is a bigger, more professional sign in its' place!! Who IS Rita, and what should we be praying for??? I am willing, but I would like a tad more info!

Secondly, nature jazz.

Well, the upside to getting up so early that you are on the road by 6 AM – watching the sunrises! I think this was taken around 6:30ish am. Pertty.

Ya know, fog can be kinda scary sometimes! Somehow we ran into majorly thick patches of fog, [this was taken soon after the aforementioned sunrise], and the windshield fogged up so thick we couldn't even see for a few seconds! Ah, lovely when you're going 75 miles an hour on a highway. But the pic turned out cool!

Thirdly in our findings, tunes.

Since it's fun to radio-surf [a new term I just coined, you are free to use it at your leisure] during a cross-country trip, ya never know what will come through the airwaves! Sometimes, interesting polka-rap, or country [hey, I like Rascall Flatts! less twang....], or fidy-cent and his buddies, or elevator classical......

BUT, sometimes there's a gem that pops up and you're like, "Oh! Who's that! I love that!!" That happened when we first heard a new groovy guitar-driven ditty by up-and-comer chickie Colbie Caillat called "Bubbly". Check out that link to her site, you can sample some of her tunes. I love it!!!

I heard it again last night when we were in Oakville, so I blared it in the car, rolled down the windows and let the fresh air help me greet a new school year.

And now, the boxes are calling.

A Musical Interlude

So, I know this isn't a drawring or painting or graphic creation of mine – but I was sittin' here at my computer, bopping away in my seat and playing air guitar to a few newly purchased CD's [one of my main addictions, along with coffee and funky-esque hats], and I was reminded of something.

Music is a HUGE part of my world. I try to play guitar a bit each day, but I definitely listen every single day to some sort of score or fun little ditty or jazzy tune. And it is a MAJOR inspiration to my life, and my art. I feel like music runs through my veins; it's a big part of who I am.

So here's a few of my favs that are spinning on random in my iPod. [This is by NO means a comprehensive list...] Meh, I can't help but share the love of the tuneage!

Stay tuned for a post with birthday-infused fun.
27 is a gonna be a good year, I can feel it. :)

Just four fun fellas. Great arrangements, lotsa fun.

Let's get this straight - SCORE, not soundtrack. Always score! It's not done by John Williams... but I will make an exception. A fresh insightful score by Andrea Guerra.
Me loves it.

Chris Tomlin never fails to deliver some rockin' good times with his guitar. His newest is definite enjoyment.

The third time I picked up this album to sample it, I finally bought it.
They're of the Rascal Flatts persuasion - a good ol' time!

Ah, Bebo. What kinda name is that anyway? Who cares, in my opinion, sounds like his best album yet. The dude is insightful.

Another score. SCORE. Every store always had the soundtrack only... we finally found it at the ridiculously large Virgin Music Superstore in NYC. I think they carried every album ever recorded in the history of the world. Twice.

I love this chick, I did from day 1. If I had my way to make my own album [and if I could sing] I would make an album like this, with a slight Jennifer Knapp/KT Tunstall infusion.

Oh how I love Ms. Griffin. Her lyrics, her style, everything, love it. She's my fav to listen to whilst painting.

If I could have taken a different career path other than animator.... or backup dancer... or rocker chick.... or member of STOMP..... it would have been a DJ. Mmm-hmm.

Hooray for HippieWood

So one of the lovely eclectic aspects of being a Winnipegger, is that we have many diverse music and art festivals during the summer. One that I have been meaning to visit, is called Folk Fest. It's just outside the city in a huge provincial park called Birds Hill.

They set up massive tents for a "food village", coolio little shops, and of course the stages for all the rockin' bands. Most people drive up and camp for the weekend; a lot of people drive fair distances to experience all things Folk Fest each year. Apparently this year drew more than 45 thousand peeps. Whoo!

We went specifically to see the Indigo Girls perform, but we were also treated to a few other acts before them who ROCKED, including a newish one called The Duhks.

And many of the festival-goers happen to be of the hippie persuasion. Since neither Tams nor I had experienced it before, we were looking forward to the music, checking out the scene, and of course, I was looking forward to drawing the hippies!

As you can see from above, they did not disappoint! Awesome music, a perfect hot summer evening, a few thousand peeps gathered in the heart of the prairies, and a perfect chance to test out my watercolour moleskin.

Now THAT'S summer!

I can't help but love this song.

This has nothing to do with drawing.

Or...maybe it does!

Music is SO inspiring to me, and seriously, every time I hear this song in the last few days I HAVE to dance on the spot. [See above for an example of my excitement :) ] I cannot physically help it.

Which makes it interesting at the gym.

I LOVE IT!! So I have to share.
Here's the youtube video, since I couldn't find just the audio to link to:

hellogoodbye "Here in Your Arms"

[ps the video is meh....but the song - SO fun!!]