Transformers!

Here's some Optimus Prime stuff I animated earlier this year!

This first clip is taken from the Transformers RPM toy commercial. In the actual commercial they cut some frames out and sped it way up, so I uploaded the shot as I animated it below.



And here's an Optimus test I did during some downtime. I hope we can get this rendered some day!

Gonna be blogging again...

I've got way too much going on to not squeeze out a blog entry every now and again...

We've started production on Open Season 3 and I'm the character lead on Boog (and two other new characters)! Bears will haunt me forever!

I codirected on two short vignettes for the online kids game Webosaurs earlier in the year! My first professional directing credit! I worked with Ray Chase to write, storyboard, animate and oversee other aspects of production -- matte painting, effects, lighting, sound design, etc...It was one badass experience and everyone who worked on it did a fantastic job.


The shot where Pterry the Pterodactyl gets pelted with snowballs was one of the few shots in my career where my initial vision ended up exactly like the final product. Seth Olsen did a great job on the snow effects. I'm going to post the animatic for this soon!


Battle Arena was a little bit more Ray Chase's brainchild and it is a fan favorite. I animated most of the first half and he banged out the fight scene at the end. Kick that dino butt, Horns!

There are a couple others that I had a shot or two in animation, and the directing was headed up by other animators here at ReelFX:

Horns Wearing a Tutu
Demolition Derby

Here are the rest:

Magma Madness
Geyser Golf
Dino Dig
Horns Horns Horns!

I've got a ton more work from the past two years that I need to show, plus some behind the scenes stuff! Stay tuuuunedddd.

Busy on MM2

Been working on MM2 a LOT lately....



There's one section where there are about 230 drawings for about 15 seconds of animation...it's gonna be nuts!

Madagascar 2: Comcast Spot

Apparently this is playing on some of the larger TV stations but I play too many video games to find out.


Comcast MAD 2 Commercial on Youtube

I animated the shot where Marty (Chris Rock) starts, "A gazillion things to watch whenever we want and-"

There's a few more I worked on that I'll post soon.

Updates!

It has been a little over a year since Marisa and I first moved to Dallas, and thinking back on how much I have learned and grown doesn't really work so well -- trying to comprehend it even briefly causes me to lapse into a coma and wake up days later, very hungry, quite grumpy, and smelling faintly of fish.

Work has been great for both of us. I've over a year of animation experience now, and that year encompasses several different projects and styles, some of which I can't even talk about yet. Within the next couple months I will be posting a high quality video of all the shots I have done. By January, nearly all of my work here will be legal to show to the interwebs. But animation isn't the best part! I've been designing, illustrating, and modeling too...taking directions from everywhere and giving some direction of my own, helping decide how characters move and all that extra creative stuff. They keep me challenged, and challenged is the new cool. I think throughout school I had been subconsciously preparing myself to be just another cog in a creative studio wheel...an animator who animates every day and thats all. But man and cheese sandwiches, that just isn't how it works. If you'll allow me to get gushy on my own blog, I might even say that I love my job, and owe a lot to the people who work at ReelFX. But if you won't allow it, I'll understand, I won't get any gush on you.

Marisa has been trained through her work and recently became a certified veterinary technician. She got her test results back the other day and scored an ass-kicking 90%. That's an A for all you alphabetically inclined folk. As far as I can tell, she has gone from being an regular midlevel employee to an integral part of clinic's growth and well-being. Marisa has been inspiring me to become a better person lately... and frankly, that's pretty nice of her. Las Vegas, 2009, marriage, sounds like a gameplan. Then we'll do lunch.

Merry Melony 2 IS SO on it's way. It's looking like it will be done sometime mid December, around the time of the year the first one was conceived. I really don't want to spoil too much about it (unlike the first one where I posted screenshots of the whole thing). But get pumped over the fact that 99% of it is animated on 2s. Sometimes on 1s. That means theres a new drawing every 2 frames. Yep. Theres a lot of drawings. A lot more movement and animation, a lot more time and effort. MM2 is going to look very much like a traditional 2D film, almost live-action. I can also tell you that if you've been waiting for MM2 all this time, get ready to be incredibly shocked and disappointed. OH THE ANTICIPATION! I'll post a screenshot soon.

CREEPY OLD MAN BABY INSPIRATION OF THE DAY:
(watch trailer 2)

Open Season 2 Trailer out!

Go check out the ReelFX website to see the new Open Season 2 trailer! You know it's going to be a smash hit when "Who let the dogs out" plays. I don't have any work in this trailer, unfortunately. The movie is out on DVD in January I believe.

Also the Kung Fu Panda DVD and "The Secrets of the Furious Five" looks amazing. That should be out this christmas.

The Beach Party at the Threshold of Hell

A movie I did traditional/flash animation for in Sophomore year of college, The Beach Party at the Threshold of Hell, is now out on DVD under National Lampoon distribution. On the surface...it is obvious that this is an independent film, and so the production value occasionally drops very low. By the end of the movie, however, there were so many successful moments that I had a complete suspension of budget-belief. This movie is hilarious, irreverent, meaningful, violent, beautiful, nonsensical, philosophical, conceals deeper intelligence while hiding inner stupidity. The acting is, for the most part, fresh and funny, and the story is a hoot. I hope the directors get enough praise and financial backing to do another movie -- they certainly deserve it. Plus, I got a lead animator credit. :D
Thanks to Steve Valdez and Project 450 Studios, it was a blast.

http://www.thresholdofhell.com/

Check it out on Amazon!

Crunk Monkeys 4

Guess who is addicted to Myspace? (besides yourself)

Crunk Monkeys 3

Crunk Monkeys will (eventually) be premiering on Newgrounds...featuring fresh and familiar faces in their new habitats: bars, clubs, frat parties, raves, coffee houses, headshops, myspace...

Crunk Monkeys 2

Mall Monkeys has learned a few new, unhealthy habits...