October is Here!

Yes, it's time for the Pumpkin Queen to wake up soon and make her Halloween presents known.

I thought I would try to make color separations from a black and white picture, and try to recombine them into a quasi color picture. This one of my grand daughter taken by her Aunt Joanna Zarzan and tricked out with kittens that I added is one of my favorites.  I knew if you had a blue and yellow plate you would get a green and red and yellow would make orange.  It only worked so so and the end result reminds me of those early National Geographics where the color was leaning toward sepia and looked like tinted prints.

It's got an old fashioned feel which is okay with me so Happy Halloween everybody! 

Poor Mans Cintiq Continued....

If you have read this blog for anytime you know of my desire for a Cintiq but the price even for a used one is too much to justify.  I had hoped they would become more affordable as time went by but not so.  Well, now the universe is conspiring to make it a feasibility to draw digitally with the quality and interface  I would like.  A relatively new, at least to me, South African company has the Bosto Kingtee which looks very attractive and inexpensive.  I've got my eye on the 22HD.  I'll let you know what I decide.

In the meantime  check out these vids and their site: http://www.bosto.co/products



Update: I just heard from Toon Boom that they have never tested Harmony on these tablets because they use only Wacom technologly.  This could be a big problem if the driver don't work right.!

Update:  I just heard from Bosto Kingtee and the 22HD has been updated with new drivers and chipset! Oh boy!

Little People

It's been awhile since I've posted so here are some little people.  I know there are supposed to be seven but this is all I've got.

Work Stations

I've been blessed with some new hardware and software.  I'm running Maya 2013 and I've been using a demo version of 3D Studio Max 2014 which is pretty nice.

My work area allows me to use  everything from my chair.  Now I'm happily animating a fun project from the comfort of my home and getting paid for it!  Joy!

RIP Ray Harryhausen

Well it finally happened.  Today we lost another pioneer of animation, Ray Harryhausen.  Without his contribution to stop motion we would have never grown up with the wonder and magic of his films.  He saw the media as a way of realizing classic mythology and combining supernatural creatures with live action.

His films crossed age barriers and generations appealing to both young and old.  His inspiration bred a new generation of artists in stop motion and computer animation.  We owe a tremendous debt to Mr. Harryhausen and I'm glad he saw some return of affection and appreciation by throngs of admiring fans before he past.  Thanks for all the dreams and wonder, Ray.

   

Old Man Chart

Here's a mouth chart for one of my characters.

UPA and the not so Jolly Frolics

There has been a lot of mystic built around United Pictures of America, better known as UPA, in animation history.  Books like “When Magoo Flew: The Rise and Fall of Animation Studio UPA” by Adam Abraham have shed some light on the politics and cultural environment that created the studio and touched on it’s transforming influence of what animation could be outside of the Disney mold.

UPA’s bold graphic approach certainly had its impact on television commercials and theatrical shorts.  It definitely influences my work as an artist, too.  Now, just recently I’ve had a chance to watch Turner Classic Movies three-disc set of 38 theatrical cartoons “UPA Jolly Frolics DVD” from my local library.

Unfortunately I found only a handful of the 38 films to be any good.  There seemed to be more ugly garish poorly animated unfunny boring cartoons than not.  Even so the six or seven gems may be reason enough to understand the reputation and trans formative power the studio produced within the animation industry. 

Of the 38 films my favorites were:  “Gerald McBoing Boing”, “The Ragtime Bear”, “The Oompahs”, “Madeline”, and "Rooty Toot Toot".  I kind of liked “The Unicorn in the Garden” and “Robin Hoodlum” just because it was an unexpectedly funny fox and crow cartoon.