The Animator's Journal

New Home and New Look

2012-06-27T20:59:00.000-07:00

After five glorious years I have moved to another blog hosting service.
All the art goodness you crave can now be found on my new WordPress blog:

http://www.sketchysoul.com/

Out of Storage Space

2012-06-13T11:04:00.000-07:00

According to Google I have run out of storage space in my Picasa account. Had no idea I had such a thing. So - going to find an alternative to Blogger so that I can continue to post my work and interesting art-related material. Stay tooned...

California Academy of Sciences III

2012-06-12T21:49:00.000-07:00

I absolutely adore this place, as all of you are well aware by now. Here are some fun pictures and drawings from the past week:

San Francisco Zoo Drawings

2012-06-12T21:39:00.001-07:00

I love the animals! And here they are:

The Lord of the Ocean Animatic and Storyboards

2012-05-24T10:39:00.001-07:00

The Lord of the Ocean Animatic

The Lord of the Ocean Storyboards

Animation II Reel

2012-05-16T19:55:00.001-07:00

Here it is - my Animation II reel. Man this was a tough class. I honestly felt that my skills were regressing from last year's Animation I class. Currently I draw much better than I animate, which surprises me. It's as if there is a disconnect between my ideas and what I am able to get across on paper. At times it is highly frustrating. However I tried my best to create worthwhile animation tests this semester. My teacher Michael Vickner commented today in class on how I have improved and that my characters have appeal. The thing to do now is to vastly improve my drawing skills by practicing even more everyday and going to even more workshops.

The lesson here is: draw draw draw.

I am the most pleased with the "Bear Jump" and "Eel in a Box". Those two came out well. My "Cat Walk Cycle" looks pretty good too. All animation done by me except for the Grandfather in the tug of war segment - that part was animated by my animation partner Titus.

ENJOY!

Figurative Concepts Friday: Clothed Figure - April 27th

2012-05-05T01:06:00.002-07:00

Figurative Concepts Friday - April 20th

2012-05-05T01:05:00.000-07:00

Big Cat Day

2012-05-01T00:21:00.000-07:00

Once a semester the school host's Big Cat Day, where the owners of one of San Francisco's large cat preserves comes and brings big cats for us to draw. It's pretty awesome. This semester they brought a cheetah (which is as tall as a shetland pony, those cats are HUGE), a lynx, and bobcat and a serval - a vicious little cat who would gladly bite the hand that feeds it. The baby bobcat moved around too much for me to get any decent drawings, but here are some fun life drawings of the other cats. The Cheetah:

The Lynx:

The tiny mighty Serval:

Women in Camera and Lighting Panel

2012-04-30T23:55:00.001-07:00

BAWIFM and SF State University's Cinema Collective co-hosted a panel on Thursday April 26th with female directors, directors of photography and cinematography spoke about the industry. An excellent panel with excellent guests.

From Left to Right: Moderator Laura Valladao, Director of Photography Sophia Constantinou, Cinematographer Jessica Fisher, Director of Photography Kate Lin Ariz Mendi

From Left to Right: Kate Lin Ariz Mendi, (Excellent Panelist's who's card I forgot to grab) and Photographer and Director Van Nguyen-Stone

Left to Right: Excellent Panelist and Laura Valladao

From Left to Right: Jessica Fisher, Kate Lin Ariz Mendi,

San Francisco Zoo

2012-04-30T23:51:00.000-07:00

Went to the San Francisco Zoo on Saturday April 28th with my friend Ching-Yu from Figurative Concepts class and had a grand time drawing the animals.

My personal favorites are the anteaters. Found out that the zoo owns three - a momma, a poppa and a baby almost the size of the momma.

Momma taking a stroll.

I saw the momma anteater bathe - something I had never seen before in all the years that I have visited zoos. Didn't even know they liked the water. She brushed her tail with her snout like a comb.

Poppa pacing around in his own enclosure. The area the Momma and Baby have is much nicer. It's too bad he does not have an enclosure that is as nice. His is all concrete.

Pixar Animator Mike Makarewicz's Excellent Lecture Notes

2012-04-30T23:35:00.001-07:00

Academy of Art alum, 8 year Pixar animator and all around swell guy Mike Makarewicz (MUH-KARE-UH-VITCH) gave a great talk at the 79 Montgomery theater on Saturday April 21st on the most important of the 12 animation principles to him: timing. It was an excellent talk. He spoke extensively on the subject, provided great film clip and musical examples, reviewed animation club member Brandon's reel, and even gave a demo on how to animate Sully from "Monster's, Inc." Animation gold, I tell you. Here are my illustrated notes. You can also read some non-illustrated and equally helpful notes over at the Animation Club blog.

Clothed Figure Drawing - Figurative Concepts

2012-04-30T23:25:00.001-07:00

For last week's homework assignment our teacher asked us to choose photos from sports magazines and the internet and to draw the compression and stretch folds in people's clothing. Here's what I have:

Sketchy BART People

2012-04-30T23:23:00.001-07:00

Interesting people on the BART.

Animation Club Sketches

2012-04-30T23:22:00.000-07:00

Always fun to draw the people in Animation Club.

Frank and Anthony

Brandon and a guy who's name I do not know yet.

The Lord of the Ocean Animatic - Version 3

2012-04-30T23:16:00.001-07:00

Here is the third version of my animatic, The Lord of the Ocean. I feel like I'm getting much better at storytelling working on this project. Already have version 4 in the works.

Eel In A Box Animation

2012-04-19T22:06:00.000-07:00

Here is my final animation for Eel In A Box. An Eel discovers a box - the perfect place to hid out. But will he be able to get the box open?

San Francisco International Women's Film Festival

2012-04-15T23:44:00.003-07:00

Tonight marked the final evening of the San Francisco International Women's Film Festival. I volunteered in the office every week, working with executive director Scarlett Shepard. I had the opportunity to see "That's What She Said" written by Kellie Overbey ("The Good Wife," "Law and Order: SVU") and directed by Carrie Preston (Arlene on "True Blood"). Friendly, lovely ladies and funny film. Check out the link here - it's an official selection at Sundance and it will be released in theaters this fall.

Here are some sketches from the Q&A:

And here I am with Kellie and Carrie:

Links of Note: Toon In!...to the World of Animation...

2012-04-15T11:11:00.000-07:00

Links of Note is a weekly post in which I offer a description of the links posted on the right side of this blog. Today I will be discussing Toon In!...to the World of Animation.

Toon In!...to the World of Animation is fabulous. Created by Tee Bosustow, son of Stephen Bosustow, Executive Producer for many of United Productions of America's most beloved animated shorts, Mr. Bosustow interviewed many of the former and current heavyweights in the animation industry during the podcast's 2006 to 2008 run, including voice acting maven June Foray, DreamWorks director Steve Hickner, Pixar/live action director Brad Bird, animator and author Tom Sito and even the late great Jules Engel. Along with several other industry professionals, he also helped coordinate the UPA Legacy Project, a feature documentary about the legendary studio, and was instrumental in the recent DVD release Jolly Frolics from Turner Classic Movies.

Mr. Bosustow insists during his interviews that he knows little about animation, however his unbridled enthusiasm, easy-going manner and excellent Q&A sessions with his guests reveals a professionalism that all animators should aspire to.

No word yet if this podcast will resume, but thanks to the internet the hard work and dedication of those involved with the site can be appreciated by students and fans of all aspects of animation.

Image from Toon In!...to the World of Animation

Muir Woods - Spring Break Edition

2012-04-15T10:49:00.001-07:00

My friends and I went to Muir Woods yesterday - one of my all-time favorite spots in the Bay Area. Redwoods as far as the eye can see (and up high too). It is a great place to revive your spirit and get fresh air. Animators need to get away from the computer once in a while.

California Academy of Sciences - Spring Break Edition

2012-04-15T10:48:00.001-07:00

I love Spring Break. No classes. No late hours. Just sleep, sleep, and more sleep. And hanging out with the beasties at the California Academy of Sciences.

Lemondrop - the world's chillest reticulated python, hangs out in his swanky digs.

An eel contemplates the universe. Or taking a nap. Hard to tell.

Some type of sea plant.

Jellies!

Mmmm...lunch.

Another type of jelly fish. Not particularly attractive. But very cool.

Get out of my hole!

"I feel pretty, oh so pretty..."

Moon Jellies - aptly named.

Even more Jellies. These little dudes were tiny - smaller than the size of your hand.

The Stingray swim meet.

Dun dun. Dun dun. Dun dun dun dun dun dun...

Awesome Dr. Seuss-looking trees

BAWIFM Mentor Meeting Sketches

2012-04-13T09:24:00.002-07:00

I attended the BAWIFM Mentoring Event co-hosted by the Women's Film Institute yesterday. It kicked off this year's 8th Annual San Francisco International Women's Film Festival, an event I have been volunteering for since February. I'm looking forward to the films and enjoyed hearing the panelists. They discussed what it's like financing and creating their own films, how to work effectively as a leader of a project, being a woman in the field and the importance of assembling a team. As Windy Borman, director of "Eyes of Thailand" stated - "hire slowly and fire quickly."

Top Left - The Sign Language Interpreter

Center Top - Filmmaker and Historian Lynn Hershman Leeson

Top Right - Associate Professor of Cinema, San Francisco State University Martha Gorzycki

Bottom - Creative Consultant & Film Commissioner Ami Zins

Top Left - The second Sign Language Interpreter

Center Top - Ambika, BAWIFM's Moderator

Top Right - Director Windy Borman

Bottom - Pixar Story Manager Ryan Lynch

From Left to Right - Ambika, Ms. Borman, Ms. Gorzycki, Ms. Lynch,
Bottom Left to Right - Ms. Zins, Ms. Leeson

Millbrae Library Sketches

2012-04-13T09:11:00.000-07:00

Here are the people I drew at the Millbrae Library for my Figurative Concepts class. I am amazed that only one person realized I was drawing them. People do not pay attention. Good news for sketch artists like myself.

The Lord of the Ocean Animatic

2012-04-07T18:12:00.002-07:00

Here is my first pass for my thesis project animatic, "The Lord of the Ocean." It tells the tale of a young Haida girl and her Grandfather who go fishing with supernatural results.

Here are the storyboards for the film:

Animation Drawing Workshop

2012-04-07T18:12:00.001-07:00

Last Friday we had an excellent model pose for the Animation Drawing Workshop. Here are my 2 and 3 minutes sketches.