If you haven't heard of Blur Studios yet, you probably should have. These guys do phenomenal work doing full CG trailers for video games. They're probably most well known for their trailers promoting the upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic. They've done three so far, with the most recent being released at E3 today. I haven't seen Star Wars look this cool in a long time. Enjoy!



Here's the trailer they did last year for E3.



And this is the first trailer they did for E3 back in 200...
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I am very proud to announce that I've just been accepted into the Animation Apprenticeship program at Rhythm and Hues in El Segundo, California!  Words can't express just how pumped I am right now :)

Wait a minute....I've gotta pack!  AHHHHHHH!!!!!!

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Another fun little short from Bird Box Studio in London. I love how the simple idea of a dog wagging its tail can still make me laugh.

Found at Lineboil

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Something I struggled with a lot in school was getting my animation done on time (or even at all). It seemed like no matter how hard I worked, none of my shots were ever “finished.” I started to dread those looming deadlines and in the process caused myself a lot of unnecessary stress and anxiety. Which led to more procrastination. Which led to more unfinished work. It got so bad during school that when I finally did graduate, I didn't have a whole lot of animation that showed off how ...
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I really can't overstate just how influential this set of lectures from Uta Hagen has been for me over the last few months. She has such a great way of analyzing a scene and giving it a way to move forward. I've learned more about the psychology of physical acting than I ever really thought I could. I really didn't know what I didn't know.

One of my favorite lines about observation from the lecture I think applies specifically to animation:


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We all know that feeling, right?  It’s late at night, you’ve got a deadline coming up a lot sooner than you’d like, and all you can keep thinking to yourself is, “This just isn’t good enough.”

Or maybe you just saw another student or co-workers knock-out work for the week and the first thing that pops into your head is, “My stuff’s never going to look that good.”

It’s the kind of stuff that makes it impossible to put hand to mouse or pencil to paper unless you find some wa...
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Well, it's official now:  I'm headed back to Animation Mentor.  I get to take a "refresher" course for 12 weeks while getting to learn about an area of animation that I could really use some work in: polishing.  I'm really looking forward to being an active part of the community again after working in a bit of a bubble for close to a year now.  It's really contagious to see so many people so excited about animation in one place.  You really can't do any of this work without that kind of passi...
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And now from the super-serious to the absolutely not-so-serious. Here's a short short film by Bird Box Studio done for BBC Comedy. Great anticipations and timing and best of all, it's funny as hell. Enjoy!

Thanks to the folks over at Lineboil for the link!  (And to Justin for pointing it out to me)

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Here’s a video I discovered over at Daniel Caylor’s blog On Animation. The video is a bit long, but I promise you, it’s worth it.



Such a wonderful message. I think you can compare the process of making art to the man’s planting trees. Each day you go out and you plant seeds. Never once did that man stop to think about the long-lasting impacts of what he was doing. Each and every day he did something simple and fundamental. And, over time, the work grew on its own into something m...
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Here's a YouTube link to a tv special from one of my favorite comedians--John Pinette.  (You can watch the whole thing if you follow the related videos at the end.)  I could watch this special over and over again and still laugh every time (and I have).  He's got such a unique and entertaining way of telling stories.  I think if someone else was telling the same stories they wouldn't have the same impact that they do for me.  They don't make many comedians like this any more.  There's no ...
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Holy cow! New clips from the upcoming Sylvain Chomet film "The Illusionist". Sylvain Chomet was also the director of "The Triplets of Belleville" so if you've seen that film, The Illusionist has his style written all over it. I can't even start to describe how awesome these are...so I won't! Enjoy!













This one has to be my favorite clip. Chomet’s films have a such great knack for caricature. Not just caricatured drawings, but caricatured movement and acting too. I can’t get enou...
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Here's something I posted on the Animation Mentor forums a few months back.  I don't really consider myself someone who's in a position to be doling out animation advice to anyone, but these are a handful of tips that I've come across over the years that have helped me.  I can't really take credit for most of this advice, since I probably just read a lot of it somewhere else.  I don't mean to take credit for someone else's ideas, I just can't remember who they belong to now.  Anyway, I hope t...
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Here's one of the scenes that really hammered home for me what subtext really is.  It's one of the coolest things about acting for me.  What really gets me about this scene is Robin Williams' performance.  It really is a great scene.  Take a look:




If you think about it, all he's really doing is listening and letting Sally Field talk.  And even though Field is the one that's talking, the scene really isn't about her at all.  It's about Robin ...
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