We've been featured!

A big thank you to columnist Andrew Heller for his article about me and my work in the Flint Journal this past Sunday! http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/aheller/2013/05/andrew_heller_little_things_ca.html

I'm truly blessed to have supporters in Michigan. I did this sketch of him to say thanks the best way I know how. Thank you everyone and be sure to pick up a copy of The Pick-up Princess today!

Pick-up Princess website: http://www.animatedchildren.biz/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BalloonCatAnimation

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!

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! 

3!!!!!!!! Featuring Sean Ward

ONLY 3 MORE DAYS UNTIL OUR APP LAUNCHES! I'm jumping for joy, you guys!

Today we feature Colorist on the project Sean Ward.

I met Sean during a particularly late and frustrating night at my school's animation building. He noticed that I was about to punch a hole through the computer I was using and came over to suggest that I not do that. We ended up quoting SNL skits for the rest of the evening and I've been following him around ever since. His excellent word play and acceptance of my constant spewing of Monty Python skits make him an invaluable friend and I was so happy to have him on this project. Stay "What chyo' swattin' at" Seanicus! 

4!!!!!!! Featuring Eric Monachello

4 MORE DAYS, GUYS! Today we feature Rough Animator and Colorist Eric Monachello! Be sure to check out more of Eric's work on his website: http://www.ericmonachello.com/

Eric is a fun and lovable guy. I think I speak for all his friends when I say that his most recognizable feature is his beard, though. He looks naked without the furry friend that covers his chin. He's like Santa Clause, except I don't think Santa is nearly as Jolly. Stay bearded Eric!

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! 

8!!! Featuring Margaretta Westerman!

Only 8 more days until the animated children's e-book "The Pick-up Princess" launches!! As a part of our countdown, I'm featuring one crew member every day. Today our story and art comes from Margaretta Westerman who was a rough animator on the project. 

"I had a lot of toys when I was younger but one of my favorite toys was a giant Meeko plush (from the Disney movie Pocahontas) that my dad gave me. I was living in England at the time and my Dad was sent to Texas for work. Well like most father's he brought back gifts for my brother and I and mine was this giant Meeko plush. He said he saw it and thought of me and since he had only brought one suitcase he had to stuff this giant plush into to his suitcase in order to bring it back to England. It's old and worn now but I still have it, he sits at the edge of my bed back in Virginia where my cats like to sit and sleep on him, he's just that fluffy still."

Margaretta is currently working at a Disney theme park soaking up all the artistic brilliance down there. I remember her animation being some of the easiest to clean up because she's one of those people who is good at hands and fingers. That may not sound like much, but trust me, hands are a nightmare! I'm completely jealous of her hand talent and was very blessed to have her on the Pick-up Princess team. Stay classy, Margaretta!  

9!! Featuring Catherine Huyck!

9 DAYS UNTIL OUR APP LAUNCHES! Today we look at the first person I brought onto the project. 

Catherine Huyck: Background Artist 

Back when I was a kid I was obsessed with collecting beanie babies. I don't just mean a few, I mean dozens. I had a huge Rubbermaid container full of them. But by far, my favorite was always Bones the dog. He was plain and simple, and always there no matter what. I could also easily stuff him in my pocket so I took him everywhere.

Working with Cathy was so much fun and she provided some of the best ideas for toys ever. Wherever you look in her work, there is always something completely off the wall; whether it be a walrus with a mustache or a Viking ship. Stay weird Cathy!

10!

10 DAYS! There are only ten more days until the children's animated e-book "The Pick-up Princess" launches on the app store! I am so happy to be able to say that, this has been a long time coming. 

To celebrate, I will be posting an image done by a member of my crew each day of the countdown about their favorite toy from childhood. 

Starting the whole thing off is myself: Debbie Scheller: Director and miscellaneous tasks person

14 DAYS!!

Hey everyone! 14 DAYS UNTIL THE LAUNCH! We're so close now! The anticipation---GAHHH! I thought I would share a story this week...because...well...I didn't have time to draw anything. So sue me. I was genuinely doing a happy dance for a month after getting the contract in the mail, though. It was so official that I felt like one of those real human adult peoples for a second.

In other news, it's midterms week here at SCAD, so it's probably a good thing that The Pick-up Princess isn't launching quite yet. On top of my school work I also have some very intense freelance work that is keeping me jumping. It's going to be a stressful week, but a good one...I hope. There will be the 10 day countdown to look forward to. The Pick-up Princess crew has a very special surprise in store! So don't turn the dials that no longer exist today...more things should have dials.

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! 

Princess Update

8 scenes down and 6 to go! The team is really starting to cruise through coloring. On top of working on the book, I did some experimenting with Toon Boom puppets. It's certainly different from Flash, but not in a bad way. Working with the new software was a lot easier and more intuitive than I expected. I'm definitely going to have to play around with it a bit more to see what I can accomplish with it.

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. 

Princess Update: The Start of Summer

Last week I finished finals and traveled back home for a well deserved break. My boyfriend and I are celebrating by watching continuous episodes of my new addiction: Game of Thrones. Unfortunately, this has also made me a bit lax about working on my animated children's e-book "The Pick Up Princess". I'm still hopeful for a launch sometime this summer, but I doubt much work is going to get done before I head back to Savannah for my summer classes. Long distance boyfriends and family sometimes take precedent.

The Leviathan Scene

On the upside, I finished another scene this week, so I only have one more scene to clean before everything goes into the color stage. The downside is that the last scene I have to clean up is a crazy mess of lines with 120 separate drawings that all need to be subtle and precise (you can see a few of them just above the drawing of Mom and Princess in that timeline). Through out the whole clean-up process, I've been working on this scene off and on. Every time I try to tackle it, I just get frustrated and move on to a scene I know I can clean quickly. This is my great white whale. Hopefully my story with this mighty beast ends better than Captain Ahab's.

The Clean Up Process

A great presentation by Blue Sky yesterday kept me from posting a Pick-Up Princess update until today.

I've mentioned before that I'm at the tail end of clean up and about to begin color, so I thought I would share a few examples of what that is and why it is necessary before any coloring can happen.

The animation that my crew helped me out on was the rough animation. This is where all the movement is worked out and the pacing is established. While the animator needs to keep the basic shapes of the character consistent, they have more wiggle room when it comes to keeping the character looking exactly like the character sheet and in a first pass, it's not important for them to be very clean with their lines. Rough animation is all about gesture, moving your lines, and letting expression control your hand. That's what makes it so fun.

Clean up is all about precision. The scene is about to move into color and the colorists need to know where to put that color. So not only must the lines be clean, but the character must match the character sheet to remain consistent through out the piece.To maintain consistency, I am doing all the clean up for this project myself.  It's a tedious job, but a necessary one.

Here are a few examples of the two:

rough animation by eric monchello 

 

rough animation by margaretta westerman

rough animation by debbie scheller 

 

The Pick-Up Princess--Character Sheet 3

Color is almost in full swing! This week I finished getting another scene ready for color by cleaning it up from its original rough animation. Now there are just three more scenes to do before all focus can be shifted to color! 

This is the final character in the animated children's e-book, The Pick-Up Princess, that I am working on. 

The cat character is the fun bit of comedy relief through out the animations. On top of that, it's the kind of character that animators love to draw. Because it's such a simple form, my team and I really tried to squash and stretch this character to get some interesting cat-like movement. With any luck, the audience will enjoy the character as much as we enjoyed animating it. 

Happy Easter

I'm a bit late in saying it, but Happy Easter everyone!