Michael Foster

Showers

noreply@blogger.com (michael foster) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 17:42:00 +0000

I did this image a little while go. If you work for yourself as I do, then personal hygiene can take a backseat and showers get fit in whenever possible. Here's a pic of me before and after my shower. Don't I look much cleaner? :)

Thanks for visiting.

Morning Sketch 2

noreply@blogger.com (michael foster) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 17:43:00 +0000

A sketch for the morning. I'm listening to the genius music of Joe Purdy and decided to make him the subject matter of my sketch. Check out his music if you get a chance.

Thanks for visiting.

Morning Sketch

noreply@blogger.com (michael foster) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 15:30:00 +0000

I like to start each day with a sketch. Here's one for a friend of mine from grade school believe it or not. She loves horses and has a little girl now who loves horses. Seemed like a no brainer.

Thanks for visiting.

Folklore

noreply@blogger.com (michael foster) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 03:23:00 +0000

I've been messing with some American Folklore character sketches. John Henry, Calamity Jane even Paul Bunyan and Pecos Bill. Most are fictitious, but a few are based on real characters. I'll post more as I go along. I'm having fun with these.

Thanks for visiting.

Backgrounds Again

noreply@blogger.com (michael foster) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 11:56:00 +0000

A few backgrounds for a job I'm working on. Hope to post a few more later.

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sad

noreply@blogger.com (michael foster) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 17:56:00 +0000

Steve Jobs
1955-2011

Visuals

noreply@blogger.com (michael foster) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 11:56:00 +0000

A few character concepts and backgrounds for a pending project. Hope it comes through, I think this one could be fun.

Thanks for visiting.

Road Animals

noreply@blogger.com (michael foster) — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 13:02:00 +0000

I'm always amazed at the number and variety of animals that come across my path as I drive my kids to school through the rural back roads of NY & NJ. We're not talking an occasional creature every once in a while, but a daily sighting of animals.

So, I decided to do a quick sketch of all the animals that ran across the road just yesterday alone. Pretty crazy huh?

Thanks for visiting.

A Little Re-Post

noreply@blogger.com (michael foster) — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 13:13:00 +0000

I've never reposted something, but after going through some animations I did a few years back I thought I'd make an exception. The animation below was something I did a few years back to help sell Phil Vischer's (veggie tales creator) new online kids network, Jelly Telly.

Looking at it again I see things I would have done differently, but all in all it was a fun project. If you're a fan of Samurai Jack like I am you will quickly see my background design influence.

Also, towards the end, see if you catch the reference and shout out to one of my favorite 80's movies, Tron.

Thanks for visiting.

CBD

noreply@blogger.com (michael foster) — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 01:01:00 +0000

Here's something different a "CBD."

What exactly is a CBD, it's short for Cigar Box Dulcimer. Typically it would be a guitar, but I decided to make these two below patterned after an instrument called a Dulcimer, which is basically a stringed folk instrument. It's designed for those that would love to play a guitar like instrument, but never learned. It's hard to play a wrong note on it, pretty much every note will sound great.

I love making things with my hands and if I hadn't gone into art I would have gone into carpentry. The cigar box guitar or dulcimer is an instrument that's made from found objects and down home ingenuity. The cigar box makes a great resinating chamber. I hope to post a few more designs that I've made as well as sound files and perhaps the process as well.

Thanks to my sister for the photos. :)

Thanks for visiting.

Cornchip & Jellybean™

noreply@blogger.com (michael foster) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 17:04:00 +0000

I'm working on a new cartoon concept along with Ryan Hostetler of Silly Monster Media LLC called Cornchip & Jellybean™ It features the daily adventures of well, Cornchip & Jellybean as they live their lives in Uncle Germy's arcade. Stay tuned for more info, but in the mean time, check out the teaser video below.

Thanks for visiting.

Job Backgrounds

noreply@blogger.com (michael foster) — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 19:55:00 +0000

I'm doing a number short animations for Anagram International and I decided to show a few background designs from some of them.

More to come. :)

Thanks for visiting.

A Little Glimpse Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (michael foster) — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:58:00 +0000

I decided to post a sample Character Library to show yet another glimpse into Flash animation. A Character Library or Character Pack contains all the elements of a cartoon character; hands, eyes, mouth, body, legs...and so on. All these elements have to be drawn first in order to be able to animate a character. If this step isn't done, animating is difficult.

Now there are times when animation begins after the character pack has been created that a new hand pose or body position might be needed that will have to be added or created on the fly, but for the most part the majority of the library has been made.

Below is a sample of a character with all the parts separated out to show the complexity of a character pack. Keep in mind, this is only part of this characters library. My philosophy is to go overboard so that animation is a fun experience.

So when an animator is hired to do a job keep in mind that animation is so much more then moving characters on a screen.

Anyway, that's my two cents.

Thanks for visiting.

A Little Glimpse

noreply@blogger.com (michael foster) — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 14:54:00 +0000

You might not believe this, but animation and character design actually takes a lot of time and hard work which means I don't own a magic button. In order to give a little glimpse into what's involved with animating a character, I took a screen shot of a working Flash file showing all the individual parts of a character performing an action. Each one of those little black dots equals a movement. This one is actually very "tame" in comparison with others.

Below the screen shot is the actual character animation that corresponds with those little black dots. Crazy huh? Just click the image to see it in action.

No magic buttons here, just hard work.

Thanks for visiting.

Minimum Wage

noreply@blogger.com (michael foster) — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 16:54:00 +0000

I've been doing a lot of concept work with Ryan Hostetler of Silly Monster Media LLC lately. Below is a new cartoon teaser we've been working on. More to come. :)

Thanks for visiting.

Minimum Wage from Silly Monster Media, llc on Vimeo.

Project Sketches

noreply@blogger.com (michael foster) — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 19:30:00 +0000

It's been a while. Here are a few random job sketches. Some were rejected, some went through. That's the way it goes. :)

Thanks for visiting.

New Toon

noreply@blogger.com (michael foster) — Thu, 05 May 2011 17:26:00 +0000

I've been working on a new Christian cartoon short series called "Marvin The Time Traveling Pig." The first episode was just wrapped up and is available for download over at Worshiphouse Kids. The plan is to keep turning them out and perhaps eventually put all on a DVD.

CLICK HERE to view a rough website for the project.

And below you can view the entire episode.

Thanks for visiting.

Tin Can Microphone

noreply@blogger.com (michael foster) — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 01:15:00 +0000

Here's something completely different.

I love Lo-Fi things. I have a side hobby where I make cigar box guitars and such. I'll post some images of those at a later date, but I couldn't resist adding this post. I made a simple microphone perfect for a harmonica out of an old tin can. I used a pizeo pickup, a quarter inch jack and an old tin can a friend gave me a while back. It's got a rough raw sound with attitude. Check out the video to see and hear it. :)

Thanks for visiting.

Step Three

noreply@blogger.com (michael foster) — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 16:57:00 +0000

Another spread for a project I'm working on, sketch and color comp. Stay tuned.

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Steps Two

noreply@blogger.com (michael foster) — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 14:28:00 +0000

A few more design layouts for a personal project.

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Steps

noreply@blogger.com (michael foster) — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 04:05:00 +0000

A few steps for a personal project starting with a pencil rough to cleanup to color key to final comp. Stay tuned for more. :)

Thanks for visiting.

Yin Fans

noreply@blogger.com (michael foster) — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 00:52:00 +0000

So I just got my copy of "Yin The Master Of Yo" written and illustrated by Saxton Moore and my kids and I are fans. (Actually I've been a fan of Saxton's work for years.)

If you want a fun book for your kids with great artwork pick up your copy at Saxton's site.

Sacks10

Thanks for visiting.

Pop

noreply@blogger.com (michael foster) — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 02:21:00 +0000

Did this for an online challenge. It's a loose goofy version of my Pop.

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Box Fun

noreply@blogger.com (michael foster) — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 18:54:00 +0000

Like most kids my son loves getting gifts. But even though he enjoys the various toys he gets sometimes he'd rather play with the box the toy came in. Here's a few quick sketches of my son using his imagination with a simple cardboard box.

Thanks for visiting.

Random Stills

noreply@blogger.com (michael foster) — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 17:55:00 +0000

I've been involved in Phil Vischer's "What's In The Bible" DVD series. Here's a few random stills on some of the animations I did for DVD 3&4.

Thanks for visiting.