Laterna Magica

Two of my videos (swift wings, bored on 9/26/09)will be shown at this years Laterna Magica in Marseille, France. More specifically they're part of the shows 'Les Petites formes' section. I've never heard of the show before, and I'm not even sure what context my videos will be shown in. Judging from their website, I'd say that the show looks really cool. If I were in France, I'd go check it out. I'm actually slightly embarrassed though. It's not that I don't like those two videos of mine, but in terms of my personal standards they're not up to snuff. Especially Bored on 9/26/09. That video was kind of an afterthought test kind of thing. Plus, all the other art they're showing looks really good. But, like always, I am very humbled and grateful when someone takes in interest in the stuff I make.

Wishlist

This is what i want.

1. A podcast about NEW or at least contemporary trends, styles, and techniques in animation. Preferably a focus on 2d, but not exclusively.

I'm fully aware of "The Animation Podcast". It's ok, I'll listen to it when a new episode comes out. But in terms of what interests me, and what I want to do, listening to Disney employees couldn't be more irrelevant.

2. A good animation festival or screening event or something like that close to where I live, or will live in the future.

Ok, that request is kind of a stretch. I've never been to an animation showing. Oh wait, that's not true. In college one of my professors had a love of animation and put together a small short film showing in one of the university's small theaters. Everything he showed was old. The newest short shown was from the late 80's I think. Not that any of that stuff is bad, but at that time it didn't excite me at all. In fact, I remember leaving the show that night thinking that animation was pretty stupid. Anyway, I'd like to see some new cool stuff in a theater with an audience.

Here are a few of the shorts they played at that show I mentioned earlier. The last one is the coolest of the batch.

Poster maybe

If posters weren't so expensive I'd get this made. It's pretty odd, but i like it. I wish I was better at designing posters.

Fons Schiedon recently started selling a poster design he made as an exercise for his psst! short. (see below)



I really like the design. Makes it seem like the short film its based on is this grand epic tale. Hes selling them for only 8 euro's, which is a pretty good deal.... unless you live outside of europe. After the conversion to dollars and shipping cost, it comes out to around $27.00. Not that it isn't worth 27 dollars, but that's more than I can spend on posters right now.

If I didn't have to worry about money, I'd get a printing press wheel thing, and make wood block prints all day. I'd be quite happy dedicating my life's work to animation and printing large posters.

Social Networking

Recently I decided I want to limit my presence online. But at the same time I've gotten a couple emails about signing up to these other video start up sites. One of them offered a free subscription to their Pro account in exchange for some promotion and a review of some kind. But, that sort of thing is just not my style. The other one was sent to my private email. That kind of bugged me because I don't post that email address anywhere. I suspect they got it from Channel Frederator as I have recently told the Ning Network to delete that profile. I'll probably remove my stuff from my youtube account too. I'd like it if all I had was this blog and my Vimeo account. Vimeo is great. It's the best website I ever signed up for. All the monetary success I have stemmed from views on Vimeo. So, if you're reading this blog and think "hey, maybe he would like to sign up to our new start up social network site", Don't bother. I have absolutely no problems with Vimeo. Plus, I'm not even all that into social networking. Unless you count posing drawings to my real life friends facebook walls, cause I really like doing that.

Quality Control

It used to be that I would post anything I made that could even remotely pass as an amusing video. Sometimes the results were cool, other times, the results were lackluster. At first my reasoning was that I simply did not care about the "image" my work was perceived in. I still kind of don't. My goal has never been to get a job at an animation studio, or make commercials for tv. However, I recently came to a very important realization. Every minute I spend on the short quick stuff is a minute wasted not working on the big important stuff. 2009 has has been sort of a turning point for me. For better or worse I'm now taking this animation stuff seriously. Gone are the days of music videos and incoherent animated ramblings. Unless, of course, the idea behind them is too good to pass up. Anyway, my point is, expect less work from me but the work you do see will hopefully be of a much better quality. Rabbit/Dog and Man is slow going mainly due to all the freelancing. But that's ok, earning a living is important too. After Rabbit/Dog comes L'Homme et la Baguette. I have some good ideas for Baguette, I'm really excited to get these out to the world.

In other news I bought a moleskine sketchbook. The internet seems to love them, so I'm giving it a try. You see, drawing is like a muscle that if not flexed, it grows weak. And I have let it grow weak. So, I need to get back into it and stay sharp to come up with good character designs and animation ideas.

Facebook

Tonight I decided I would only respond to facebook comments with pictures. The first image was a response to a comment my cousin left me. He totally didn't get the connection so I had to bend his perception in real time with drawings. By the time it got to the 7th image I had gotten off track, so I cheated and wrote it out. It's kind of amusing on it's own, so I thought id share. I didnt intend to steal Don Hertzfeldt's style. It was just a matter of speed, as I had to respond quickly or risk losing the back and forth.

new screen

I got a new screen today. It's full HD, 1920x1080! My old screen was smaller than regular HD. The biggest plus is that I dont have to zoom in so much when drawing with the wacom. That may not sound like a big deal, but trust me, it is.