Boris Goodenough

I did a preliminary sketch that was all scratchy and some friends like the quality. I worked over the top a little and decided to leave it loose and that this was good enough.

(Caricature of Boris Karloff by Joel Brinkerhoff)

Unka Walt

This came out creepier than Walt ever was.

(digital caricature of Walt Disney by Joel Brinkerhoff)

Mellow Costello

Caricature of Elvis Costello

(digital painting started in Corel Painter and finished in Photoshop by Joel Brinkerhoff)

All You Need is Photoshop

Okay, I've played with Corel Painter and I'm having the same trouble blending as I do with ArtRage. It just seems to swirl the colors around in a very uncontrollable manner. I know many people doing great things with both programs so it must be me. I will need to pick their brains for the proper technique. For Now I will stick with Photoshop.

Digital painting of John Lennon by Joel Brinkerhoff (Click image to enlarge_

Time to look into Corel?

I did this caricature of Tom Waits in Photoshop which doesn't have the control I'm looking for in digital painting. I have ArtRage and have seen impressive work but I just can't use it for blending. I've known about Corel Painter for sometime but only now found I own a copy that came with my Wacom tablet! Time to start playing with Corel Painter.

(click image to enlarge)

Digital VS Old School

I've been exploring the paperless digital graphic art alternatives to old school methodology and am still on the fence about the whole phenomenon. The convenience and flexibility of digital graphics is something I greatly treasure and will probably always rely on for exploratory design work. The actual execution of finished art is something I'm wrestling with. I seem to spend more time digitally trying to mimic what is pretty easy with the old fashioned pen or brush.

The example illustrations shown here are how fluid and varied Jack Davis was able to get his lines simply using a brush. The other two color drawings are mine using a digital paint program and I am not at all satisfied with the line quality. I didn't care much because they were exploratory drawings but I could not let these go as finished art and would have spent a lot of time tweaking line thicknesses.

I work with incredibility talented illustrators and they seem to have adapted pretty well to the digital revolution. I do see them spending a great deal of time laying down and deleting a single stroke until there is something they like. Would it be more efficient working old school? We still need to get that image digitized to be usable today though, don't we?

Brush work by Jack Davis (click on image to enlarge)

Digital designs by Joel Brinkerhoff (click on image to enlarge)

Trot Chart

I made this chart and movie to help me figure out which leg was passing on which side for a show that involved a little dog as its hero. This was really pretty helpful.

Nine frame trot shot on two's. Click on image to enlarge

Old School...

I came across this bit of video documenting the making of Canadian Broadcastings 1978 production, "The Devil and Daniel Mouse". It's a pretty representative example of how animation was done and the incredible amount of work involved.

Of course all that has changed with the digital age. I think there is better control and less waste today but the Zen like quality of old school cartooning is missing.

Back to Stop Motion

Okay, Hallmark has given an air date: Friday, November 25 (8 p.m. ET/PT, 7C) so I can talk about this now.

It's been awhile since I have posted anything about anything. Partly because I took a much needed vacation, and mostly because upon my returned I took an offer to do some stop motion again for a Holiday Special called "Jingle All the Way".
It's very cute and has a lot of heart and I hope it will become a perennial favorite like "Rudolph" but, oh my, I forgot how physical stop motion animation is, and I've been just too tired to do anything else afterward.

The first week had me climbing onto a table top to reach the characters for every frame, (I think it was a shot well over 100 frames too), and the first night I has a massive leg cramp that made me stifle crying out and waking my wife. I've lost five pounds so that's not bad, but I've also lost sleep worrying about how to get shots done.

I've had a chance to work with some new technology that wasn't around before called Dragon Stop Motion which is pretty cool and allows you to plot out your shots with more accuracy. I also have renewed admiration for all the talent involved in a stop-mo production. It takes a fairly sizable crew to light and build sets and keep the puppets in good repair.

It's also humbling to work with the other animators. They're all so talented and young. I asked one of the crew if they had worked on "The PJs" which was a stop motion TV series that ran three seasons. She laughed and said she hadn't been born yet! Man, I'm old.

I'm mostly looking forward to watching this with my grand-kids, (yes, I said grand-kids. I told you I was old.). I also want one of those Jingle Xmas ornaments for my tree!

Hallmarks Jingle Xmas Ornament

The Hallmark Book the Special is based on.


Read more about the production here:http://tv.broadwayworld.com/article/Jingle-All-The-Way-Premires-Exclusively-On-Hallmark-1125-20110727

Northwest Animation Festival

My film "Pop Goes The Weasel" will be showing opening night, Friday, June 3, as part of the Northwest Animation Festival. Please come see it if you're in the area.

Piggy Bank

I'm doing a ceramic bank for a friend. This is the design I came up with. Maybe I'll post the finished sculpt later.

Click on image to enlarge

Pop Goes The Weasel

 This is the finished short done on my home setup.  It's entirely digital and would have been very expensive to do using the traditional way with paper and camera.  I had some difficulties technically but the flexibility really payed off when I thought I was done and noticed Weasel was misspelled!  Going back into the file and rearranging the letters fixed the whole title card without re-shooting.

Just found out 'weasle' is an Old English spelling and would have been okay. Geez... 

Stereoscopic Paintings

Now for some more shameless self promotion!

Clicking the title will take you to an inexpensive paperback collection of  of my stereoscopic paintings that I'm self publishing on Lulu.

These are striking colorful stereoscopic nudes done in free-view style paintings that can be seen in 3D without glasses or special equipment.
Or paste link into browser: http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/stereoscopic-paintings/15474411

The Metaphor

It’s been awhile since I’ve mentioned my personal film.  Part of the trouble with a personal film is finding the time to do them, but some people knit or play golf, and I make stupid things like paint or do a short film.  It’s a ‘short’ short film with the title running almost half the screen time but it’s still taking quite some time to do, partly because it’s already done in my head, (and looks so much better in there too).

The film came fully realized as I was listening to royalty free music.  Even then I knew it was a metaphor and would be familiar to almost everyone.  My inner-eye vision of the style and action for the film were dated clichés and the ending a natural conclusion to this line of thought.  It seemed as though this cartoon had been made already, so why do it?  Because it’s the kind of thing I don’t get to do in my day-to-day work as an animator.  I don’t get to draw and I don’t get to do pantomime. That’s enough reason for me and it keeps me from getting into trouble elsewhere.

I’ve got five or six more shots till the startling profound ending.  To Be Continued!...

Laying Pipeline

I am thrilled and challenged by the reality of having essentially a virtual animation studio in my home.  It’s been a cyclical journey for me trying to reach the look of ‘Golden Age’ animation. 

Having worked in traditional animation during the late 70s the amount of resources needed was considerable starting with reams and reams of punched paper.   Factor in the acetate cells, paints, camera, and an area to house all this including workspace and I can’t even imagine the expense.   

Now after 30 some years I have all the tools at my fingertips and no trees were harmed or houses mortgaged.

I'm in the process of making a pipeline for a short personal film and have decided to use an 8GB thumb drive to transfer project files between platforms; a PC with Wacom Tablet, and a Tablet PC with Wacom technology for cleanup animation.   I’m using Flash for quick and dirty animatics and color studies, ArtRage to do final backgrounds and Toon Boom Animate for principal animation.

I did a combination storyboard\animatic that was broken out into scenes using QuickTime Pro so I know my shot lengths and the sound tracks were extracted from each scene.  I made folders for each scene that contains the scene animatic QT, audio file, ArtRage BG file, and ToonBoom work files so everything needed is in it’s own folder.

Here’s a low resolution scene showing the steps from storyboard, to layout and pencil test, to finished color.

What is so great about this is I can go in and make changes even after the fact without having to re-shoot or use more materials!

If you want to do animation, there really isn't any excuse not to now that it's all in the box.

Poor Mans Cintiq

I've been looking for a way of doing paperless animation and have settled on a software.  Now, the difficulty has been drawing with a Wacom Tablet which is okay for a lot of things but not precises enough to do good in-betweens and clean-up.  Everyone uses the 21" Cintiq for this which allows you to draw directly on the screen.  They also make a 12" but the expense has been too much to justify.  After checking into tablet PCs I found the LE1600 by Motion Computing but the cost was still pretty high.  Now after a few years I found a used one on Amazon and  got it for almost nothing!  It has Wacom technology like the Cintiq and is also another computer as opposed to just being a drawing screen!  I've got just the project to run through it!

Hunting Weasels...

Doing some design work for a personal project.

Click on images to enlarge

Animators, Bookmark This Site!

Péter Nagy's new website the Living Lines Library has compiled pencil tests, model sheets, and other things hand drawn related and placed them on an organized site for your enjoyment. The way things are laid out you can easily find what you are looking for.

Click on the title or past this link to find it: http://livlily.blogspot.com/

Retouching Family #2

A friend of the family saw my restoration of our kids done with Photoshop, (it's an earlier posting on this site somewhere), and asked if I could lighten a picture of their grandmother? All they had was a copy of an old newspaper clipping. It was pretty streaky with a herringbone caused by the Benday dot patterns newspapers use to get halftones. There was something that looked like a feather in her hair but it maybe part of that herringbone effect so I downplayed it and left it out. The whole thing should have been repainted but I didn't have the time and the end result is a little ghostly. It's not my best work and I haven't heard back from them yet but it was free so they can't complain too much.

Click on image to enlarge

Balaam and His Donkey

I wanted to do a contemporary retelling of Bible stories to make them relevant today. Something layered that could be enjoyed by a wide range of ages like "Bullwinkle" which worked as satire for the adults and entertainment for youngsters. The style could be easy to replicate using Flash and driven by dialogue allowing the reuse of artwork. I thought it was something I could do alone without help

I can't say this was successful, and I think the poor production qualities like sound and music, plus the recycling of artwork, and the length of the story worked against me.

Anyway here it is for better or worse. And yes, I did all the voices too.

He Drew as He Pleased

To start 2011 with a bang, here's a link to legendary Albert Hurters rare and expensive book of drawings, "He Drew as He Pleased".

I had sent Daniel Caylor scans of the book found at my local library and he posted them in their entirety on his site "On Animation".

Clink on this postings title or use this link to find it.

http://www.onanimation.com/2010/11/04/albert-hurter/

Hope it's going to be a good year for everyone!

Successful Gift Portrait

I've been told Joanne was able to recognize her children so the gift was successful. What a relief.

Click on image to enlarge

From The Brinkerhoff Family

Sorry, this is last years card but I didn't have time for a new one and we still mean it. Click on 720p for HD

Merry Christmas

Old Memories

I found this digging through old stuff. The picture on the back is pretty impressive as everyone is in focus. I recognize almost everyone I worked with but there are a lot of folks I never knew and some folks are missing including myself I think. I may be one of those eyes peeping over a shoulder though there should be a bald head or ball-cap.

Click Image to Enlarge

Anaglyphic and Free View 3D Life Drawing

Click Image to Enlarge


This is my first attempt at stereoscopic life drawing with texture.  it's not completely successful but it's a start.

It also confirmed my frustration with the anaglyph method because the colors shifted enough to muddle things so I've included a cross eye free view style also.
A more accurate anaglyph version of this can be found clicking the title "Anaglyphic Life Drawing" or going here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/29289570@N00/5204200579/

Portaiture

Click image to enlarge.

I haven't done any portraiture in years.  These are brothers but I'm surprise by their different head sizes and I know it's accurate.
This is an oil painting for Christmas so I hope the person getting this doesn't know about my blog.

Missed History

Today, thirty-one years after its original release, Will Vinton’s now classic and award-winning animation of “The Little Prince” was presented at the Hollywood Theater with some of the original voice cast members reprising their roles live, along with sound effects artists and live music.

I couldn't make it but I dearly would have loved to. After 13 years with the Will Vinton Studios it would have been wonderful to talk once again with these gifted, creative people.

Megan Kahrs, another former employee, was there and posted some pictures on facebook which I'm using without her permission.

The middle picture starting with the mustachioed Mr. Vinton on the left, includes Joan Gratz, who won her own Oscar for the claypainted "Mona Lisa Descending a Staircase", and master animator/director Barry Bruce who defined the look of Claymation.

If you've never seen "The Little Prince & Rip Van Winkle" or "The Adventures of Mark Twain" they are available here: http://willvinton.net/filmDistribution.htm

This blog is peppered with postings on Will Vinton, Joan Gratz, and Barry Bruce if you're interested.

Retouching Family

My wife found this damaged photo of our two oldest kids. She was very upset so I did a little Photoshop on it. You have to love that Clone Brush!

Click on images to enlarge

Finding Stop Motion

I tried to build a stop motion demo reel with the bits and pieces I have kept but found most was in an unusable format. The usable things are the commercial bits at the beginning with Barbie and all. I found some badly compressed sequences on YouTube of my work from the TV show "The PJs" shot at Will Vinton Studios. It looks awful but I captioned the characters I'd done and the whole process brought back a lot of memories.

"PJs" ran three seasons and was controversial from the start. From an animation stand point it was very well organized and people were top notch making it happen. This was gorilla animation and I can't remember the exact daily frame count needed to stay on schedule but it was well over a hundred frames. It meant no 'pop-through' where you put the puppets through a few trial shots. Many times it involved group shots with the entire cast, each one having their own idiosyncrasies.

It's a very different kind of animation than commercial or theatrical.

Team Work

Sandro Cleuzo has a great blog and this posting talks about the team work at Disney when Frank Thomas and Milt Kahl were still animating. Even a master like Frank would go to a stronger hand to get better results. The first image is by Frank and the second is an improved pose by Milt. See more and read the whole article by clicking the title.

Frank Thomas

Milt Kahl

Dark Void

I animated this sequence for the game The Dark Void sometime ago but just found it on YouTube. The character at the end overhearing their conversation is a different design than what was originally there.  The sequence is a little stiff to me now but still in keeping with the rest of the acting in the game for the most part.  It is choppier because this was captured from the game engine and the refresh rate isn't always fast enough.

I feel compelled to mention there is no motion capture in this game. It seems mo-cap is becoming more prevalent in cg animation but it wasn't used here.

The Pumpkin Queen

All Hail The Pumpkin Queen! This is a photo of my granddaughter taken by her Aunt Joanne Zarzana. I pushed it over the top by adding the kitties. This will probably be my next painting.

Speed Painting

I'm just playing with the stills I shot of my painting "After the Hunt". They weren't registered and shot under different lighting conditions. I tried to tidy them up as best I could.

Deep

Another free-view stereoscopic painting.  You know you've got to cross your eyes and focus on the image that forms in the middle

More Stereo Life Paintings

You must cross your eyes and focus on the image that forms in the middle to view it in 3D.

Click on Images to Enlarge

Stars

I was thinking of calling this "X", or "X Marks the Spot". Anyway, it's another stereoscopic free view style life drawing of mine. You'll find others scattered through this blog.

As always you must cross your eyes and focus on the image that forms in the middle to view it in 3D.

Click on image to enlarge

They'll Get You if You Don't Watch Out...

It's only Sept. but I already have Halloween thoughts.

After the Hunt

Doing my daughters nursery picture, (see earlier post), got me into the painting mood so I've started a new one. I took the sketch and enlarged it onto 8"x11.5" pages which I taped together to make the canvas size I wanted. Then I took transfer paper and traced the pattern onto my canvas and went over it with burnt umber to make my under sketch. Now I've got to let it dry and then do color toning. It feels good to smell the turpentine again and get messy.




































This next bit may confuse some but I took a Cadmium Red and toned the whole picture with a thin wash. Even though the picture has primarily rolling green hills and trees this wash of red will unify everything and give it a depth I want. The last image is an over-all tone leading up to detailing. I hope I find time to finish it.



Cadmium Tone




















Tone Pass















This is a first pass at detailing after my toning was done. I may need a few more sessions before it's finished but because it's oils I will need to let this dry. I may have to get several paintings going in various stages if I want to get a body of work done.










1st Pass













2nd Pass

El Tabador Returns!

I was fortunate enough to work on the latest El Tabador spots for Koodos. You may remember an earlier post where I talked about how fun the first commercials were too.

I did the running shots jumping over the cup and running up the books plus the very beginning where he rises and says, "Join me in the fight for phone freedom!", which is used on all the spots.

Nursery Picture

My daughter is having her first child and wanted a painting of a ladybug for the nursery. Her husband complicated it by wanted a baby riding the ladybug so this is what I came up with. I don't know why my camera won't take more focused pictures.



Click on image to enlarge

Claymation tools

Will Vinton

A fellow animator was asking how certain things were accomplished at Will Vinton's Claymation Studio. Here is a paraphrased version of the questions and answers.

Q: When you join pieces together, how do you erase (blend) the seams? Especially when reaching across a crowded set to get access to the puppet at a 45 degree angle.

A: You might want to consider ways of gaining access to your characters so you don't have to bend in unnatural ways. If you can pin register props like tables and chairs you can remove them and get to your figures and then replace them for the shot. I've had walls on hinges that swung out of the way so I could get to characters. If a character is seen from the waist up or never walks or is seated, we sometimes mounted them on a square platform and registered them with 'L' brackets screws to the floor. We lift the thing out and drop it back into the brackets.

Q: What kind of tooling technique is used to get that mottled/carved wood look? Gairy Bialke was probably best known for that style. It looks awesome, especially on arms and legs.

A: The chiseled look to some Claymation probably started with Barry Bruce who used what became known as a Barry Stick. It has a flat surface with a blade on one side and a round edge too. We made our own custom tools in the wood shop and a variation made by Jeff Mulcaster became my favorite tool. It's small and extremely versatile. (See diagram)

Click Image to Enlarge

Basically the flat side was used to spread the clay, kind of like frosting a cake. We were using the soft Van Aken and the flat tool side also was used to block out the shapes giving you that carved kind of look. The sharp blade created creases and the round side was used to smooth and blend . The curving tip was used for prying open spaces, smoothing and detailing, and on the Mulcaster tool it was great for detailing small areas.

Q: In EB's mustache at the end of Claymation Easter, how was it modified from fame to frame to appear as though the lines were bending (looks almost like morphing or deforming, but the lines would have to be re-scribed, and it doesn't look like they are).



A: The mustaches were clay replacements you could bend and shape so they looked like they were morphing until you replaced it with the shape you wanted. We has a mold to make copies.

Q: How was the lip sync done on the Raisins? This is probably my biggest question because I can't tell if it was completely torn apart and re-sculpted every frame, or if it was a single expression being re-worked frame to frame. Even with live action reference, I would have trouble with some of those mouth shapes. It's incredibly fluid.

A: The lip sync was done using live action reference of the actors preforming their lines. We all had Moviolas at our sets and tried to match the lip shapes the best we could. Generally the mouth was carved out leaving a cave from cheek to cheek and nose to chin which was lined with black clay. The mouth was built up using rolls of flesh colored clay spiraled around the edges of cave until you got the mouth size you wanted. Then you smoothed out the spiral and added the lip details. If you were very careful and remembered where your cave was you could cut these mouth shapes out and use them again like replacements.