Bolt Trailer!

Not sure what to think yet, but it's looking promising. Some of the animation looks great and I dig the little hamster (giving me some inspiration for a character I've been thinking about). Part of my still prefers the old character design (aka American Dog) by Chris Sanders, but it looks like the story has gone through several re-evolutions since then... New link, embed link was removed. Thanks Ale!

Keane, Koch and... K..adobe?

• Glen Keane is my hero - The title has little to do with this vid, but just thought you should know. Watch it anyway - great stuff. A buddy at work pointed it out. It's Glen talking about Ollie -
• Another great animation blog - Kevin Koch has some great experience working in both traditional and cg animation. He also has a great animation blog. Thanks to Kyle for my finding it.
• More flash goodness - Here's a great little piece done for some sort of Adobe competition. The animation in particular is a good example of seemingly simple design handled exceptionally well. Oh, and here's some behind the scenes stuff on it.

Out of this world pictures...

...get it? :)

Here are some absolutely amazing pictures of and from our little sister planet- Check em out!

Pixar and Snipers!

• Not sure how long this one will last on the net, so enjoy it while you can. Fantastic animation there - the texture of the swift against the still is magical. Can't wait to see the whole thing!
• Here comes the sniper - yet another fantastic little shot into the life of a character of the insanely popular Team Fortress by Valve.

He can write too!?

Buy it if you like

"Oh, yes, the people of Skree were quite free, as long as they were in their homes by midnight. And as long as they bore no weapons, and they didn't complain when their fellow Skreeans were occasionally taken away across the sea, never to be seen again. But other than the cruel Fangs and the constant threat of death and torture, there wasn't much to fear in Skree." -excerpt from above book:)

So Andrew Peterson is one of my favorite musicians mainly cause I think his lyrics are fantastic. So much so that I've quoted them more than once in my blog here. Couple of weeks ago I was looking to see if his new album was out yet and it was not, but my search uncovered a book he'd written. So, I went on Amazon and took a look and it got some pretty good reviews so I ordered it.

And consumed it.

It was a fantastic tale for the young and young at heart. Witty, humorous and with more than a twist or two along they road- A wacky ex-pirate grandfather, dangerous Toothy Cows, the Fangs of Dang, Peet the Sock Man and three kids bound for mischief. I was impressed on all fronts and can't wait for the next installment.

My nephews will be getting a copy.

And, my friends over at Portland Studios did the art and cover design for it. Nice job, guys:)

Some Great Video Game Cinemas...

One of my favorite series of games is the Oddworld series. Fantastic art, comedic, good gameplay. The last outing in the series, Stranger's Wrath, had some particularly beautiful cinemas. I wouldn't mind playing through it again but I don't have my original Xbox anymore and its sadly not on the backwards compatibility list for the 360. You lose a little context just watching them back to back but you can surely appreciate the cinematography and design seeing them. Don't watch them if you might get a chance to play through it as you don't wanna ruin the surprise.



I hear they're working on a game again and I can't wait to see what they brew up. The First 10 Years Art of book has a special place in my collection.

Grats Scott!

A buddy of mine from college, Scott Spencer, apparently wrote a book on Zbrush. He's a gifted sculptor and instructor and I imagine it's a good book so give it a look:)

Master Classes and 2d Animation...

• Richard Williams Master Class - This is the guy that wrote the animation textbook that most animators, that I know of at least, cut their teeth on. Turns out he's releasing a DVD masterclass that looks to be pretty amazing. When I first saw the price, I gasped a little. Then I thought about how I'd thought about Animation Mentor and how little traditional animation training I actually got at college (2 classes). Thinking about what those cost put the price into perspective. Listening to The Animation Podcast and hearing how all of these animation greats trained under greats of their own days makes one yearn for those days. I do believe that Animation Mentor is trying to capture some of that magic again but I'm thinking a seminar that I can watch repeatedly might be a better investment. That's not to knock Animation Mentor - I think it's a great program and I wish it had been around when I was starting out. However trying to work it in with a full time job, home life and working on short films in the spare time doesn't leave a whole lot of extra.
• Kung - Fu Panda - Here's a sweet traditional animation credits sequence for it. Ben's name is in there too! No I haven't seen the movie yet. I was in Arkansas last weekend hanging with my wife's fam. However, we're gonna catch it this weekend and I'm super excited. Gonna push Wall-E till next week or so for the crowds to thin a bit.
• Art of Books - Picked up The Art of Kung Fu Panda and Wall-E. Can't wait to dig into them but holding off until I see the movies...alas....
• Irma's Car - Nice bit of work combining 2d and 3d by Crew 972 out of Tel Aviv.
• Great bit of 2d animation - A great take on the 11 second club by Ivan Oviedo. He's got great other stuff too, check him out. CATS FINISH from ivan oviedo on Vimeo.