Piano Poster

A commission for my friend who needed some art for her upcoming piano recital. 

bear and boat and thing and what?

just something weird as a break from my senior film work.

I can't believe this actually happened...

Other than some minor tweaks I'll have to work on while animating, my rigging is done! HUZZAH! I'm currently reworking my animatic and it's truly nice to be away from the highly technical stuff...for now. I can't believe that a couple weeks ago I was stressed about loosing my rigger and having to end my summer vacation early so that I could go down to SCAD and hopefully put something together before school started! I went from having half a facial rig and no body rig to a fully rigged character capable of the Loony Tunes style animation I'll be going for in just 2 weeks! Pardon the pat on the back, but I think I deserve this one. *pat* *pat* 

Rigging Doodles 4

Today's break doodles 

Toad Patrol character (c) it's owner which is not me

Rigging Doodles3

More doodling during my rigging breaks. 

The Trio

These are three characters from a story I'm currently developing. It's sort of Wizard of Oz-esk. The toad was actually a prince that was turned into a toad by a witch at a particularly boring party. He's trying to find the witch to be turned back into a prince, or at least a frog (which is way more kiss worthy than a toad). Following him are his two companions: a fish that wants her memory restored and a large cat who wants thumbs so that he can at last fulfill his dream of playing the violin.   

Spring Quarter Finals Are Here!

Have you ever just reached that point during finals where you slip into a coma and just stare at your work? Because that's where I'm at right now. Just one week left until summer! Gotta keep it together!

THE PICK-UP PRINCESS IS HERE!!!!!!!!!!

My first ever animated children's e-book is finally here! The Pick-up princess is a story about a little girl who imagines herself to be a princess. The queen, her mom, has ordered her to pick up her room. But the princess has other ideas. Pick up your own copy of her adventure today!

Find it in the app store: https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/the-pickup-princes/id633484028?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D2

A big thank you to everyone who has been supporting myself, my crew, and my cousin through out this whole process. I don't think I was ever without a loving person to moan at about how hard something was being, how annoying flash was, or any other complaint I might have had. And through it all, I was constantly told to keep going. I hope The Pick-up Princess finds it's audience and success. But I've learned so much from my time on this project, that I feel successful already.  Thank you everyone!

1!!!!!!!!!! Featuring Katrina Elzinga

THE PICK-UP PRINCESS ANIMATED E-BOOK LAUNCHES TOMORROW! I can't believe it! The anticipation has been enormous. Today we look at the final crew member

 Katrina Elzinga: Author

Katrina wrote "The Pick-up Princess" when she was about 6. I was 14 at the time and we decided to do a self published paper book where I provided the illustrations. Our effort was marginally successful. Jump forward to a year and a half ago when I was wanting to do an animated e-book; a revamp of The Pick-up Princess was foremost in my thoughts. I think the writing is great and I hope our efforts inspire Katrina to continue writing. Stay smart Katrina! 

2!!!!!!!!! Featuring Cassandra Trissler

2 DAYS REMAINING until our app goes live! Today's drawing is brought to you by Rough Animator and Colorist Cassandra Trissler. Be sure to check out her portfolio site when you get a chance: http://www.cassandratrissler.com/

Cassandra's animation was one of the hardest to clean up, but also one of my favorites. She had a really subtle scene and she just ran with it to produce animation that was very smooth and touching. Her style has always intrigued me for being soft and beautiful. Even her comical pictures are often desaturated and create a sense of quiet. I love that about her and her work. Stay beautiful Cassandra! 

5!!!!!! Featuring Waymond Singleton

Wow. 5. DAYS. LEFT. I just can't get over that. Today we look at another Rough Animator on the project: Waymond Singleton. Be sure to stop by his Behance portfolio site as well, you won't be disappointed!  http://www.behance.net/waysingleton 

Waymond is one of the giggliest people I know. I don't think we ever got through a critique without him cracking a huge smile and laughing. He's great at keeping spirits up and it's no wonder that this has lead him to be involved and in charge of so many student groups. Stay giggly Waymond! 

6!!!!! Featuring Paloma Schultz

ONLY 6 MORE DAYS UNTIL OUR APP LAUNCHES! Wow! Today's post is brought to you by Graphic Designer Paloma Schultz. She was in charge of adding the words to the book and creating a fantastic Title logo! Be sure to check out more of her work on her portfolio site! http://www.behance.net/Paloma_Schultz

"Growing up in the South with the name Paloma couldn't have been good for my child psyche. I was fidgety, loud and obnoxious (fortunately I have overcome these afflictions...maybe). I had a rag doll named Myrtle that I took with me everywhere! She always seemed to be as big as I was, but in all actuality she was probably only about 2 feet long. Despite toting Myrtle with me everywhere, I tended to neglect her for a more exciting task. Myrtle was definitely worse for wear after 2 or 3 years and she had to be retired to the shelf in my room."

There are many areas in which I am incapable: rocket science, hula hooping, anything that involves physical activity, etc. However, I have a special kind inability for typography. Thank goodness that I kidnapped found Paloma! Thanks for all your work, Paloma! Stay sassy! 

7!!!! Featuring Kevin Garubba

ONLY 7 MORE DAYS!!! Today we look at Colorist Kevin Garubba!

"I had this Luke Skywalker action figure who was caught in an alternate dimension and had Dragonball Z powers and had to team up with my Toy Story toys to save the universe...  We saved the universe so many times.  It was a thankless job but somebody needed to do it. "

Kevin and I were in a class together when he heard about The Pick-up Princess project. We had just finished rough animation and he was wondering if there was any way he could help out. I jumped at the chance to add him to our team. Along the way, Kevin made some great contributions including some extra animation on a scene that gave it a special element of life. Thanks for all your hard work Kevin! Stay savvy! 

19 Days and Counting

Just 19 days until the animated children's e-book "The Pick-up Princess" is released! It's hard to believe that after all this time, it's really happening! 

Backgrounds Before Swine

These are the backgrounds for the short pig themed film I'm creating in my 2D production class. I like to play with the flatness of things and experiment with hard shapes that maybe aren't so literal. I'm pretty happy with how these turned out. Backgrounds aren't my speciality, but I really want to get better at them. They just define so much of a film's tone.

And this little piggy....

My animatic for Prof. Wright's 2D production class. The last scene's staging needs work, but otherwise I'm pretty happy. Who doesn't love a good old fashion pig launching?

Fathers Day Owl

I couldn't find time to put this up yesterday, so happy belated Father's Day!

e-book update: SOUND!

This week I met up with the author and her mother of the animated e-book The Pick-Up Princess in order to get the narration for the book done. Originally, Katrina's mother was going to be the only one doing the narration, but she thought it would be fun if Katrina did a reading too. They both did a really great job, so I thought I would share a little slice of our work today! (note: the images in the videos are ones that I threw in because I couldn't post an mp3. They are not the final images attached to the sound. And for some reason they messed up when I posted them here. So just listen and ignore the strange visuals.)

The above is done by Katrina's mom Lisa.

This next one is done by the author herself.

We still haven't decided which narration we're going to use for the whole book. Katrina is the author and did a really great job reading, so it makes sense to use her. On the other hand, her mom has that nice motherly tone that goes great with a children's book. I'll probably end up cutting both and seeing which my editor likes better. 

Mirror

My final for 3D Production this quarter.