Trust the process.

Screenwriters Expo 2006! Pixar speaks!

The event was held this past Saturday at the Marriott hotel by the Los Angeles Airport (aka: LAX.) My roomate and I woke up bright and early, on a saturday morning no less, to attend this magical event. Morgan Kelly raced on over to our place in the knick of time. He tossed a bear claw and a cup of Joe at me and Sean Szeles, Morgan, and yours truly hopped in the Szeles mobile and ......waited for it to start. You see, the Szeles-mobile has been a little ill these days and even after a few trips to the doctor, it still takes about 10 minutes for her to warm up.

Anyways, away we go!

Which freeway do we take? Morgan says 405..I say no way. Avoid the 405 at all costs..avoid it like the plague. So we take the 110 to the 105 and wallah! No traffic. Biggity Bam..we park the car. Shades on, sketchbooks in tow and shoes laced up tight. We're ready to be inspired and have our creative juices boiling. We step in the lobby...which way do we go? It's a sea of people. I see Disney cats, Dreamworks cats, Sony cats, and Pixar cats...it's a who's who of animation talent. There's a sign! Downstairs! We get in line. Shite! Room full...onto the overflow room! Where in the world is that? It's 10 am, we're gonna be late. Dash down a hallway, place my ticket in a bag, Boom we're in.

Andrew Stanton, director of Finding Nemo, begins the day.



My first drawing ever of Woody...I'm actually happier with the snake.







Some future screenwriters.



Master storyteller and Head of Jerry Seinfeld's Bee movie,
Mr. Dave Pimentel

http://drawingsfromamexican.blogspot.com/





The one and only Dave Derrick (DW story artist) or as I like to call him.... Dirty D!


Top right is Brenda Chapman (director of a secret upcoming Pixar film) and on the bottom left is Lee Unkrich (co-director of Finding Nemo)





Dreamworks' master animator Donnachada Daly (top left) and Dreamworks' master story artist Ennio Torresan ( curly cue hair).
www.almostdalyblog.blogspot.com

On the bottom we have The Lion King co-director Rob Minkoff. He's currently developing a Mr. Peabody feature film for Dreamworks.



Ennio again, on the bottom.



Dave P. drawing me.
Dave D. drawing Dave P. and a T. rex.



Yeah, I went there. Yup, he's naked. Yeah he's seen it. Yup, he's gonna get me back.



Pixar story artists sharing some knowledge.






Pumpkin Head has the right idea....
and is trying to pick up on a Screenwriter.



Messy hair Mandrews and a Morgan.
www.talesofcolossus.blogspot.com/
www.morgankelly.blogspot.com



The dynamic duo, the powerhouse of the Incredibles,
Mr. Brad Bird (director) and Mr. Mark Andrews ( head of story )

The bottom one of Brad looks more like Napoleon Dynamite. Woops, sorry Brad.






And one more for a graceful finale.




So after long waits in line, chatting with a billion people, and success in ripping Dave Pimentel apart, we decide to head back home. But wait, we can't end the night like that! So we fly over to Los Feliz, speed into a restaurant called Mexico City, and scarf down Enchiladas and Margaritas like a pack of warthogs.
Cheers everyone.

Pimp goes to work.

Pushing the boundries.

Isn't this amazing???!!!!! And the music!! What comes out of man's mind always amazes me. I don't know who Theo Jansen is but I'm about to do some research.
















Here'a a CG simulation of his work that helps explain it better.

Oh my god....

And so it begins....this is FANTASTIC. Thanks Fred for sending this to me! If anyone sees any more Flushed Away Slugs let me know!

Over the Hedge on DVD

Over the Hedge is now on DVD. I will post my thumbnails very soon. I have lots so be prepared!


I agree with Kmac, working on
Over the Hedge was a great experience. With supervisors like Kristof Serrand, Jason Reisig, John Hill, and William Salazar...wow, what a great learning experience.

Alumni

Is this not the greatest picture ever???
3 Cal Arts graduates and Marilyn Manson.





Manson, Danny Elfman, Paul Reubens, and Tim Burton at the El Capitan screening of the new 3D Nightmare Before Christmas. Hollywierd , USA.

A little taste.

Copyright Dreamworks Animation 2006

Who's BAD??

I thought some of you would enjoy this Captain EO Trailer.



And this is just disturbing.



And it only gets worse. India style!!

Update...Flushed Away tease

So the sound is in sync now on Daily Motion...click below to watch.

Guess who's got some new animation on YouTube? Me! Check it out. I animated the 5 slugs in the background in the second to last shot. They're popping! The front two slugs were animated by Bill Tessier. I spent a lot of time making sure they hit their poses on the correct beats. To get it just right, I sometimes have them hit their poses 2 frames before each beat. It's just a matter of feeling it out as you play the animation back...sometimes hitting on the beat works, sometimes not.

FA_slugs_dancenow
Uploaded by thatsfunny

From Wikipedia.org

Popping (a.k.a. hitting) is a funk dance and street dance style based on the technique of quickly contracting and relaxing muscles to cause a jerk in the dancer's body, referred to as a pop or a hit. This is done continuously to the rhythm of a song in combination with other mime-style movements.[1]

Popping is also used as an umbrella term for a group of illusionary dance styles and techniques that are often combined with popping to create a more varied performance. The effect of popping as entertainment hinges on an almost-surrealistic contrast between the human dancer and the unnatural moves performed. Like other street dances popping is often performed in battles and thus involves competitive tricks such as mocking the opponent.

It's generally believed that the dance evolved in California in the 1970s and was originally inspired by locking.[2] It was later incorporated into both the hip hop- and electronica dance scenes.

My inspiration you ask? Well, who else? Michael J!! Watch him Pop and you'll understand why he's such a phenomenal dancer.



Sometimes I get inspiration from tiny people.

Even Steven

Here we have everyone's favorite story man, Steven Macleod aka: www.clockroom.blogspot.com
I did these when I visited him up at Pixar a few weeks ago. He's tough to capture and I still feel like I haven't got it yet. Hopefully one day he'll sit still enough to let me draw him.






Here a blurry look at Steve and I at the Oakland Museum of California. They had an amazing exhibit about Disneyland. All about the rides, the park, the artists, abandoned ideas, and original Marc Davis drawings of Pirates!! They were incredible to see up close. They also had the original Abe Lincoln animatronic with a clear body case so you could see all the inner workings of the robot. It was amazing to see how much thought and care went into everything and every product. It was very inspiring.

http://www.museumca.org/exhibit/exhi_disney1.html


Here's some young talented punks. Steven, Bailey Brent www.baileybrent.com, and yours truly out to dinner in San Francisco.

I want this car.

Apparently this car was supposed to be the new Knight Rider car for an upcoming movie. It's beautiful. Turns out it's a fake pic. I still want it. Anyone know where I can get one made?

Hmmm...interesting similarities

Fun at the Apple Store! Part Deux.

Fun at the Apple Store! Part one.

Much Ado about Nothing

Hi all you bloggers out there! Guess what? Flushed Away is a wrap...finito...my job is done and I can breathe again! I feel like I've been underwater for so long and now I've come to the surface!
I'm on Vacation right now and I have to admit,
I LOVE doing NOTHING!!!!

The photo above was taken on the beach in San Simeon where I was camping with friends. See how the sand is lit? I put my camera on top of my lantern to get that cool effect.

Looky what I Gots!

I went to the JOHN K lecture last week at Van Eaton Gallery and look what I scored! Original artwork for free! The talk was great and made me think of all the funny drawings I used to do before computer animation entered my system. Now I'm all ones and zeros, but soon I will unleash the fury of my hand drawn skills upon the world and make them laugh and gurgle and have brain orgasms. Gulp, I hope! Marlo Meekins and Eddie Fitzgerald were there as well!

Here we have a portrait of me...look at those speedos! Wow!



Well looky here...hmm don't know who that handsome devil is. I'll have to look him up on google.




Boy do I look intelligent here don't I? Eddie has the best laugh ever...I showed him my drawings of him and his laughter resonated deep within my heart. I'll post some of my drawings of these 3 cartoonists soon.



Here's my buddy JJ Villard. If you don't know him, well you soon will. He's a force that will knock you down, turn your brain inside out and question the meaning of life.


Here we have the Swiss, Simon Otto...currently a Supervising Animator on Flushed Away


Simon deep in thought..thinking of soccer most likely.


Jason Carter, looking disheveled on a friday afternoon. Crunch time on a film will do this to everyone I'm sad to say.


Eric Deuel getting ready for his part in Pirates of the Caribbean 3...no it's true folks, it's very true. There are a bunch of bearded blokes walking around here at DW just waiting to be extras.
There's a little scooter on his shoulder because the day before I drew this, he bought one.

Martha Baxton

Martha Baxton is the heart and soul of the Cal Arts character animation department. Her husband is sick and we're trying to raise money for her and her family. Please go to the website below and find out how you talented individuals can help!

Help Martha today



This was illustrated by the wonderful and talented team of Liz Ito and Pen Ward