Responses to Visiting Artists Fall 2012

Matthew Robbins
September 20, 2012
Event Planner

While this was a pretty succinct talk, I felt it was stronger because of it. There was very little fluff, and what he showed was both informative and interesting- not something we get with a lot of the VA's.
Some of the things that stood out to me:

-Really great tips on how to survive in the industry, especially the idea of if you want success, you have to be able to sell your idea.
- "Have the skills- don't say you can't." Basically, tell your inconfidence to shut the fuck up and get there.
-Never lose who you are- keep it personal and always be authentic. Even if it seems you'll be more successful by being mainstream, in the end you'll just get lost in the center of everyone else and your success will diminish.
- For Portfolio: Variety is a must, and the intro pieces need to knock them out.
-When someone asks for you to do something, study them as a person and ask them "visual" questions.
-Art is a business. Sell it.

All in all, a refreshing talk. This guy spoke it like it was, and it was nice to finally have a speaker that was visibly commercially successful, and wasn't speaking about their crazy studio ideas. There's a place for studio art, don't get me wrong, but as an animator, I want advice that will inform the more commercial aspect of art. That was exactly what this was, and I really appreciated it.




Elizabeth Condon
October 11, 2012
Painter

Man, what a different talk than Mr. Robbins'. First, so much longer. Maybe it wasn't crazy long, time wise, but it dragged on and on. Second, the problems I mentioned in my Robbins response on how I have a hard time taking career advice from fine artists definitely applies here. It's just a different world from I deal with. Still, her work was nice, especially the Chinese-inspired work. That being said, I really didn't like the doll stuff- it just seemed like a really loose concept surrounding mediocre paintings. Once she got abstract, I enjoyed her work. Still, as far as how I feel she impacted me professionally  the only thing I think I gained was the idea that travel is important for inspiration. Beyond that though, was a dud for me.

Update Nov. 13

It's been a while folks- got a lot to post about.

First, my website-

http://nickpflug.com

Second, my demo reel-

http://vimeo.com/53095391

Third, walk cycles I've been working on-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlSXUN4GcQE&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fdUNu43-FI&feature=youtu.be

Last, a total of all animation done as of right now-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T33mkPnllqI&feature=youtu.be

As far as my timeline goes-

My goal is to have all of this line animation completely finished a week from today. What this will allow me to do is 1.) ensure that I will have a screenable piece by the end of the semester, a recquirement set for me by Jill, and 2.) will allow me to spend the rest of the semester refining the animation and coloring it in. As far as the whole animation goes (not dealing with the semester) I want to have all animation refined and colored in by December 31.

Update Oct.23

 All right, I'm back on schedule. Backgrounds= finished. I'm halfway done with the still images of the characters that require little animation, and my aim is to have them all completed by thursday: a reasonable goal, to be sure. Things are moving briskly, and I'm loving the added detail I can achieve with the new HD settings.

Just gotta keep truckin'.

Update Oct. 18

As everyone knows, I was making all of my previous assets in SD, in 720x480. Thanks to the kick in the pants I got last class, I'm now creating all new assets in 2200x1238 (that will go in a 1920x1080 comp). I'll be finished recreating all of these backgrounds by the end of the day. Meanwhile, to sate your thirst for progress, here are 6 shots of rough, messy work-in-progress.

Update Oct. 11

BEHOLD. My example of how toonboom and aftereffects interact with each other. My goal is to get the simple scenes all done by not this coming Thursday, but the Tuesday after. This is mainly due to the realization of the amount of time it takes for me to create the assets in toonboom while maintaining the look of the photoshop documents.

Update Oct. 9

Here are my backgrounds for all my character animation! Enjoy!

Technically, I'm behind by a class due to having the stomach flu, but I know that by next thursday I'll have all of the simple still animations roughed out for my characters so I can start importing them into my comps. 

Update Oct. 2

As I push forward in my day by day schedule, I continue to be on time. While I may not have anything to show today really besides line-art, my aim to have every background ready by Thursday is totally in sight. I'm in a really good place, and will post the fruits of my work on Thursday.

Update 9/27

Been working on my comps in AfterEffects. Aiming to have all comps built and ready to recieve the charachter by next Thursday. Just roughing them out now- the way I've organized the piece, it'll be very easy to edit myself down the road. Here are the things I've created:

Here are the first and third with sample character art:

So all  in all, I'm on schedule.

Job Stuff

1.) The Big'n: Cartoon Network.
Location: Various Studios, so various locations.
Why: My dream job is creating cartoons. I'd prefer television to movies just because of the amount of creativity that is a part of the day to day process of creating shows.

Where to send stuff: http://www.turner.com/careers/#/brands/cartoon-network

2.) The Middle Ground: Powerhouse Animation.
Location: Austin, TX
Why: Beyond the fact that it fits my three main criteria (2d animation, not Louisiana, and is in an affordable location), it looks to be a very solid company that has worked a number of projects I could totally see myself working on. Looks like a great environment, too.

Where to send stuff: http://powerhouseanimation.com/contact.php

3.) The Realistic: Bayou FX.
Location: Covington, LA (my hometown)
Why: The company is literally five minutes from my parents house, so I'd have a place to say. While I am unsure of everything the company does due to a lackluster web page, it would be a convenient job where I wouldn't have to pay for living until I got a better job and it could be good experience.

 Where to send stuff: http://bayoufx.com/#

Update 9/18

Alright folks, here it is. It's still super rough, but I held to my schedule of getting my animatic finished by today.

Next step: refine the hell out of it by Thursday, then count the number of different scenes and assets needed. Compose a strict weekly schedule for asset creation using the 100% done animatic as reference.

Anywhos, enjoy.

Artist Inspiration Post: Zac Gorman & Louie Zong

As an artist and an animator, I'm constantly drawn to other artists' work. It's only natural I draw inspiration from the pieces I like, and experiment with my own work using the techniques used in those pieces I enjoy the most.

I feel like many times, animators forget about where we started as a medium- animation was, in the beginning, moving illustration. The first animators were illustrators. In my own work, I want to create living illustrations, treating each frame as it's own piece.  My goal as an artist is to tell stories, and Illustration, the original visual storyteller, influences me greatly.

Recently, there have been two illustrators (of the many that I follow) that I've been watching and drawing inspiration from, and I want to spend this post talking about what it is about each that I react to.

Zac Gorman

Zac Gorman freelances mostly, but has recently received commercial success on the internet for illustrations that play off the nostalgia of people in my generation growing up with video games. Often, his personal work reflects both his adult problems and his child-like memories of playing games that affected him personally.

What draws me to Gorman as an illustrator is two things: 

1.) I strongly relate to the subject matter. This is a feeling I want to evoke in my audience- sure, they might not necessarily relate to a wizard who can create hot dogs, but if I can suffuse that character with human emotion and place him in a situation where we can relate to him, I'll draw my audience in.

2.) The line quality in his pieces is very calculated, yet loose, creating a texture to his pieces without falling into chaos. That, coupled with an incredible sense of color and composition, he creates work that feels alive. As an artist, I want to create work like this- if even my stills feel alive, then I can rest assured that when the piece eventually moves it will a pleasure to watch, aesthetically.

Plus, he's a cool dude.

Louie Zong

I'm attracted to Louie Zong's personal work mainly because of how it's made- every day he creates a new image, while constantly experimenting with textures and line quality. The looseness of those pieces, like Gorman, helps bring the pieces to life. Also, like Gorman, Zong has a wonderful understanding of color and composition, and many of the works he creates are very creative and interesting. He's a great artist to look at whenever  the creative juices are running low because he's a great example about how to force yourself into creativity.