Nanda van Dijk's animation blog

Contests

2010-11-12T10:25:00.001+01:00

Past month was really a contest month for me. I entered two contests on http://sketchoholic.com and working on a new entry for this Sunday. I entered the character design contest on http://www.animationrigs.com with 3 entry's and I made an animation for the 11 second club. My 11 second club entry for October came in 38 place of the 256 entry's. I am not going to post that animation jet because I am still working on improving it. As soon as I finish it I will post it here. But here are the illustrations I made for the two design contests. The voting for the http://www.animationrigs.com contest is over, the theme was master and student, and the winner of the members vote will be announced on 19 November.

for http://www.animationrigs.com:

caek.nl

2010-09-30T12:25:00.001+02:00

Saturday 2 October, my sister-in-law will be opening her shop where she will be baking great cakes in all kind of shapes and sizes, giving workshops about baking cakes and she will sell baking materials. The shop is located in Urk, the village where my animated short 'Bekolt' is staged.

Two weeks ago I held my 25th birthday/graduation party and as a percent she baked a special Mickey Mouse cake for me. Underneath you can find an image of this cake. Etty has made a lot of beautiful cakes. You can see the other cakes and find more information about her and her methods on her website, www.caek.nl

Mickey Mouse cake by Etty van Urk, www.caek.nl

2010-09-20T11:40:00.002+02:00

The trailer for Bekolt is finished.

Created and directed by:
Nanda van Dijk

Additional 3D artists:
Alexander Zagoruyko (rigs for the characters, except face rigs)
Jeroen Hoolmans (Did most of the ncloth simulations)
Pim Reinders (Did most of the modeling for house of the witch)

Music:
Bas Bouma
Arjan de Wit
Room Service Music - roomservicemusic.com

Sound:
Michiel Braas

For more information about this project go to: http://www.anim.nl/bekolt

VIEW Conference

2010-08-24T15:09:00.000+02:00

I was contacted by the orginasation of the VIEW Conference, "the premiere international event in Italy on Computer Graphics, Interactive Techniques, Digital Cinema, 3D Animation, Gaming and VFX.", to help them get attention to there website.

I have looked at what they have to offer and it sounds like it is a fantastic conference with as key speaker Tim Johnson, executive producer and director at PDI - Dreamworks. There will be conferences about, 'Alice in Wonderland', Machinarium', 'Toy Story 3' and lots more. So it is definitely worth checking there website.

conference www.viewconference.it

and the festival http://www.viewfest.it

Eject 2010

2010-08-23T18:50:00.000+02:00

This 10th and 11th will be the exam exposition for my school. Then I will finally graduate.

The exposition will be held at my school in Hilversum (in the Netherlands) and you are welcome to look at the graduation projects from me and the other students that will graduate this year. So If you are in the neighborhood and have nothing better to do you should definitely come and take a look.

If you want to come and want to speak to me let me know when and how late you will come.

For the people who can't come. Shortly after the exposition I will post my work here.

http://www.hku.nl/exposure

My blog is featured on a list of 50 great student blogs

2010-08-17T08:12:00.001+02:00

I just got an email saying that my blog has been hand-picked for a list of there favorite student art blogs.
They have chosen my blog because of my behind the scenes approach. "all the way from paper to screen".

I want to thank the people of the guide to art schools website a lot for featuring my blog on there list.

Here you can find there list of the best student blogs:
http://www.guidetoartschools.com/tips-and-tools/student-artist-blogs

The witch from Bekolt

2010-07-30T20:37:00.001+02:00

Here is a postcard design and a first render test with the witch from my animated short Bekolt.
I hope you like it!

Soon I'll post the trailer!!

So keep posted.

my trip to Annecy

2010-07-12T14:03:00.004+02:00

It is already a month ago that I went to the animated film festival in Annecy. After Annecy I had to do a lot for my graduation so I didn't have time to update my blog. So sorry for that but here is a small report on how my trip went.

On the 6th of June me and a schoolmate went to Geneva by plane to take a bus there to Annecy. Unfortunately I misread the bus time because my French is terrible and I didn't see that the bus I thought we could take didn't drive on Sunday. So we missed the bus and the next bus didn't leave until 4 hours later. We had to stay in Geneva with our suitcases and it was really unbearable hot. Finally arrived in Annecy I ate something and than went straight to bed.

Monday I went and picked up my badge and my tickets. There weren't much interesting viewings that day so we went to the exhibition in the Musée-Chateau. The Chateau was beautiful but I expected more from the exhibition. It was very small and there were only images of the winning shorts from the previous festivals. And because this was the forth time I have gone to Annecy I already knew most images. But I did see something really cool, a animation doll from the animated feature 'Coraline'. I love that movie, so I am glad that I went.

Tuesday morning I went to a masterclass about storyboarding. It was interesting but really boring. The masterclass was in French and there was a English translator who had a really monotone voice and who didn't do a great job at translating unfortunately. Afterwards I was planning to go to another masterclass but I heard that it was a follow-up on this masterclass so I decided not to go. And that was a good thing to. At the same time was the viewing of 'Waking Sleeping Beauty'. That is a documentary about the 'Eisner' Era at the Disney studio. The documentary was very good and special because they only used film material, images and drawings from that ara. What whas amazing as well was that John Musker and Ron Clements (the directors of movies like 'The Prinsess and the Frog', 'The Little Mermaid' and 'Aladdin') where there and to see there reaction when we gave them a standing ovation was incredible!

On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I had meetings with the recruiters at the Creative Focus. I had meetings with Dreamworks, Disney, Sony Pictures, Pixar and a studio in Italy who are starting up a new animated feature. During the week a friend told me about another few studio's that where meeting people so I mad appointments with them as well. Those studio's where 'Mac Guff' and 'Framestore'. The meetings went pretty well. Especially the recruiter from Pixar was very enthousiastic about my work. He said that he didn't understand that he didn't see my showreel when I aplied for the internship possition. He said that he would have remembered my showreel. He and the other recruiters did point out to me what I chould change before aplieng again for a position.

- I had to lose some of my weaker animations (wich I already did for the showreel you can now find on my website)
- I have to start my showreel with a piece of good dialog where I can show my acting skills.
- I have to focus more on 3D and show only my best 2D animations.

It is really great to get this kind of advice. Last year the studio's where also very positive about my work but it seemed that they were more truthful this year. The studio in Italy who are starting up a feature film where really exited to see my work and after Annecy I got an e-mail telling me that they want to work with me when the film comes the next stage of production. So I am getting closer to working on a feature animated film!

I also went to a couple of great viewings on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I went to the world premier of 'Despicable Me' (an amazing animation made mostly in Frans). I went to the making of Disney's 'The Princess and the Frog' and I saw the world premier of 'Day and Night' (the new Pixar short) with a presentation about the use of 3D. That was really interesting. I also went to almost all the shorts in the Student competition. I always try to see all of these because it is very interesting to see what the other students are doing. That is always really inspiring. But this wasn't the best year for the animated shorts. I didn't see much but what I saw wasn't great except one or two animations and other people told me that the rest wasn't much ether.

On Saturday morning we went back to Holland. It was a fantastic and inspiring week and if I get the chance to go again next year I will definitely go!

I hope you've enjoyed reading this long pies about my trip to Annecy!
I will also make a blog entry about the animations I saw that I thought where really nice.

(It is possible that my English in this article isn't very good, I am dyslectic and I am not going to worry about it to much. So sorry for that)

recommended viewing material I saw in Annecy

2010-07-12T14:03:00.003+02:00

Underneath are a couple of animation features and shorts I can highly recommend to see:

Despicable Me (A 3D feature animation)
Fantastic Mister Fox (A feature stopmotion film, (I didn't see this in Annecy but afterwards))

Day and Night - by Teddy Newton (a 2D/3D animated short, Pixar)
About One Bird - by Olga Kudryavtseva (A 2D animated short)
The Lost Thing - by Andrew Ruhemann and Shaun Tan (A 3D animated short)
Blackhole - by Arjan van Meerten (A 3D music video, adult content) (this is made by a college from the studio 'House of Secrets')
Aides "graffiti - by Yoann Lemoine (A 2D and lifeaction save sex commercial, adult content)
Going West - by Martin Andersen and Line Andersen (a cut-out/stopmotion animation)
Peter Kay's Animated All Star Band (A stopmotion animated short) (All the stopmotion characters from the BBC as an All Star Band, very funny if you know the characters)
Lebensader - by Angela Steffen (A 2D animated short, student)
Zeitwellen - by Evgenia Gostrer (A stopmotion short, student)
The terrible thing of Alpha-9! - by Jake Armstrong (A 2D animated short, student)
Parade - by Pierre Emanuel Lyet (A 2D animated short, student)

movies and shorts I didn't get to see but what people (I trust) told me are really good are:

The Illusionist (A 2D feature animation)

Summer Wars (A 2D feature animation, anime)

Redline (A 2D feature animation, anime)

Don't Go - by Turgut Akacik (a short life action with 3D animation)

Der Kleinde und das Biest - by Johannes Weiland and Uwe Heidschötter (A 3D animated short)

Sorry that there aren't any links to any of these shorts. I don't have the time to search google for the one's that can be found. Perhaps when I am graduated I will look them up but for now you have to look them up yourself.

Hopefully this list is inspiring for you!!

Geertje walkcycle

2010-06-05T16:38:00.001+02:00

Here is a walkcycle of Geertje with a ncloth simulation created by Jeroen Hoolmans

Snib, the cat

2010-05-31T13:49:00.001+02:00

Here is a walk cycle for Snib, the cat from my graduation short Bekolt.
Cat's are so cool! I loved animating this one and I'm pleased with the result.

Hope you'll like it.

I won the Spungella competition!!!

2010-05-26T19:09:00.000+02:00

I never suspected to win. There were some great entry's and the animations of runners up are very good.
The contest was so much fun and a great experience. Thanks everyone for voting, I really appreciate it and special thanks to Jean-Dennis Haas for organizing this competition!!!

The price I've won is an art book of my choice. I asked JD for the book 'The art of how to train your dragon'. He said he would order it right away. I can't wait till it arrives!

http://spungella.blogspot.com/2010/05/spungella-animation-contest-winners.html

Turnaround Geertje

2010-05-21T16:44:00.002+02:00

I'm pleased to present to you the final model of Geertje. The main character for my Graduation short 'Bekolt'.

This is Geertje, the main character for my graduation short 'Bekolt'

Check this link for more images of Geertje:
http://www.anim.nl/modeling.html

And here you can find more artwork for 'Bekolt':
http://www.anim.nl/artwork.html

A brand new website update

2010-05-21T16:39:00.000+02:00

Come and take a look at my new and improved website:

www.anim.nl

I've updated everything,
You can now see all my latest animations, new artwork and new models. You can also find artwork from 'Bekolt' the animation I'm currently working on:
http://www.anim.nl/artwork.html
http://www.anim.nl/modeling.html

You can now also move seamless from my blog to my website and visa versa.

I hope you like it!!

To bad, no Pixar internship for me...

2010-05-20T21:31:00.000+02:00

Today I received an email from Pixar saying that they unfortunately don't have a position for me at this time. I was relieved to receive this email because I was afrade that I woudn't hear anything at all from them. When I aplied it said that if I didn't hear anything a month after the deadline for appealing that you didn't get the position. So because 18-05 was a month after the deadline I already thought I didn't get it.

So I'm glad that I did get an email. And who knows, perhaps the late response means that I was one of the last maybe's they had to pick from. I'm staying positive!!

I'm not giving up, Next on my list to apply to is Pixar Canada!!

voting part two

2010-05-18T08:16:00.000+02:00

The voting for the spungella contest has started over do to a voting drama....

So to vote now for this contest you have to send an email to Jean-Dennis Haas with your vote.
Go to this page to see the details:
http://spungellacontest.blogspot.com/

I really hope this way will work better.
There are some great animations so go check them out and vote (again) for the animation you like best.

voting has begun

2010-05-15T10:19:00.000+02:00

It is time, the voting for the Guilty competition has begun!
It is really nice to see all the animations, there are some great animations in there. I'm surprised of the great overall quality of the animations. Great job everyone!!

I very curious who will be the winner.

http://spungellacontest.blogspot.com/

I'm the only one with a 2D entry. My number is 12.
Everyone can vote so go ahead and vote for your favored animation.

Guilty

2010-05-04T07:45:00.000+02:00

A 100 frame animation exercise for a animation contest given by Jean-Denis Haas on his blog http://spungella.blogspot.com/

The theme was Guilty.

Hope you'll like it!!

(Soon I'll probably post a bit longer version.)

Guilty from Nanda van Dijk on Vimeo.

Me and Peter Sohn

2010-04-22T22:06:00.001+02:00

I spotted myself on the website of the annecy animation festival!!!
This picture was taken during the creative focus at last years animation festival. Here I am talking to Peter Sohn, director of the animated short 'Partly Cloudy' of the Pixar animation studio. Really funny that they now use this picture for this years creative focus. So funny, look you can see a picture of Axion at the laptop screen!! I can't wait to go to Annecy again!!

http://www.annecy.org/annecy-2010/creative-focus/talented-search

Just a drawing for fun.

2010-04-22T09:24:00.000+02:00

Here is just a quick drawing just for fun.

doodle Thursday (doodledonderdag)

2010-04-15T17:03:00.000+02:00

Here are a couple of quick scetches on paper this time for doodledonderdag.

Bekolt artwork

2010-04-14T16:35:00.004+02:00

ere are some early character designs I made for the main character Geertje.
Hope you'll like them!

doodle Thursday (doodledonderdag)

2010-04-08T18:21:00.001+02:00

Jet another one for doodledonderdag!!

Bekolt

2010-04-07T21:21:00.001+02:00

Currently I'm working on my graduation short for my master degree. I'm going to make a animated short that will be about 3 and a half minutes long. The short will be called 'Bekolt'. This is a old dutch word for bewitched. Soon I will make a larger post and show you more artwork, so keep posted!

I found out today that the cooperation-funds of the Rabobank is going to sponsor my animation. So that is great news! I will use this funds for the music for Bekolt.

I'll keep you updated!!

Happy Easter everyone

2010-04-05T12:05:00.002+02:00