GDC with Backflip Studios

The Game Developers Conference is held annually in San Francisco.  I look forward to GDC every year because it's the one time of the year that I get to see some friends of mine that I went to college with who come out for the conference.  One of those good friends being the Art Director at Backflip Studios located in Boulder, Colorado.  The past few years we've been getting together after GDC, but as things would turn out I was unable to meet up this year due to moving into a new place.

Of course the year I am unable to attend, Backflip Studios hosts a huge after party.  It sounded like an awesome time and game companies from Rovio to Blizzard attended.

Hopefully next year they put on another Backflip Bash so I can catch up with the company and if you're going to GDC maybe you can get in on the guest list too!  In the mean time though, we've got great games to play on our iPhones and iPads by Backflip.  Be sure to check out some of these games:

Ragdoll Blaster 3

DragonVale

Army of Darkness Defense

NinJump Deluxe

Paper Toss 2.0

Check out the iTunes store for more games by Backflip Studios.

Pin-up Challenge

Hey ladies and gents!  I hope you're having, or had, a nice Valentine's day.  Speaking of Valentine's day, I started a pin-up challenge blog and our first challenge was to draw a Valentine's Day inspired pin-up.  I thought I'd share my progress on my girl over here, but check out the blog.  If you want to participate in the challenges let me know.  The more the merrier.  In the meantime, I hope you enjoy my contribution.

In The Arms of an Angel

I was commissioned by a friend of mine from high school to do this portrait of a newborn baby.

On a side note, sorry for the lack of updates.  I've been working on freelance and searching high and low for a full time job.  Hopefully an employer will get back to me soon, but in the mean time I hope you enjoy this drawing.  I haven't worked with rendering graphite in quite a while so it was fun.

I Found Christmas - Drawing

One of my mother's favorite Christmas memories is from when I was a little boy.  We were getting out the Christmas decorations from the closet under the stairs in the basement, and as we were opening the boxes, I reached into one of them and pulled out a string of sleigh bells.  I held the bells into the air, looked at my mom, and said "I found Christmas!"  It brought a smile to her face and reminded her that that is what Christmas is all about.

As fun as it is to receive gifts from those who care about you, sometimes the simplest of things mean the most.  I sketched this up for my mom for Christmas this year.  I had thought about coloring it traditionally, but then thought I could achieve some nice lighting, or better lighting, if I did it digitally.  I wanted to share the sketch before I leave to go home and hopefully I will get a chance to finish the colors before I leave as well.

CTN-X 2011

What do you do when you finish grad school in animation?  Why you go to CTN in Burbank of course!

Finishing school last Thursday and then immediately driving down to Burbank afterwards was a great feeling.  The realization that I am done with school and can now go to where the industry is was awesome and perfect timing.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with CTN, check out their website.  You can also check out last years blog post about it too for what it's like and how last year was.  This year though was pretty spectacualr and I thought I'd discuss the highlights.

I was lucky enough to get 2 interviews last Friday at CTN.  I had them with Pepper Films and Duncan Studios.  Both of the interviews went really well, I thought, and I hope to hear back from them soon.  I've been a little down and out about my work this semester so it was great to hear that studios like my work and that I have a lot of potential.

One of my favorite panels happened Friday night.  I got a front row seat to hear Andreas Deja speak about animation, which was kind of like watching his blog come to life.

After Andreas was done speaking though, he had a surprise guest for everyone, which was none other than the legendary Disney composer, Richard Sherman.  He told some great stories about the old days at the Disney Studios and Walt.  What was really special though was watching him play piano and listening to him sing some classic Disney songs.  He played everything from Mary Poppins to Jungle Book.  It was truly a special moment that I will never forget.

(sorry this picture is a little out of focus)

Saturday was my day to go around and check out all of the artists and demonstrations going on throughout the day.  There seemed to be a lot more artists this year than last year, which was pretty cool.  Some highlights for me was watching one of my favorite instructors, Nicolas Villarreal, draw.  His work is very inspiring and unique.

A very inspiring speaker that I got the pleasure to sit in on was Ryan Woodward.  If you don't know Ryan, he created the short film Thought of You and has worked in the animation industry doing special effects.  I felt like I could really relate to him and would like to create something like his film when I get a chance some day.  Be sure to watch Thought of You.  It's beautiful.

The highlight for me on Saturday was getting to see Tony Bancroft talk about his animation on Pumba in The Lion King.  He brought along a bunch of other scenes that we could flip through too.  It was fascinating to hold drawings from a feature film and see how they were working.

Watching Tony draw and speak about animation was cool, but what was even better was having dinner with him later that evening with some friends of mine.  Tony's a really nice guy and it was a pleasure meeting and talking to him.

After dinner with Tony, we walked back over to the convention and caught a great panel with the directors of The Lion King.  They talked about what it was like working on the film and shared some fun stories.  When it was over, we all walked over to the other side of the convention for drinks and to rub elbows with all of the talent.  Drinking and socializing in the same room filled with animation superstars is a pretty surreal and unique experience.

On Sunday, I woke up early to catch Alex Woo speak about gesture drawing.  He works at Pixar and teaches at the Pixar University.  His demonstration was very informative.  I am eager to apply some of the things he talked about in my own drawings.

Of course, I always have to catch J. Scott Campbell drawing too.  He's one of my favorites!

Sunday ended and concluded the event, but it's not over yet!  Disney closed out the show by inviting 400 people to come to the Disney lot and watch some of their new shows that will be airing within the next month.  We got to see the new Pixie Hollow movie with Tinkerbell and friends, the Phineas and Ferb Christmas Special, the new Disney short Lorenzo, and the new Prep & Landing short.

They were all really great.  It was a great way to close the event and walking through the Disney ground and seeing the place where all of the magic happens, even if only from the outside, was pretty awesome.

There was so much going on and each day was packed with things to do.  I could list even more details about the event and all of the great people that were there and things that happen, but I hope you got some kind of insite to my fun filled weekend at CTN.  

Oh yeah, and this is some of the great art I brought home for inspiration and neat things I got!

Final Review & Petit Gâteau

It's been over a month since I last posted, and for that I am sorry, but there's a good reason for it.  I have been super busy trying to finish school.  My thesis film, Petit Gâteau, has taken over my life.  Last Thursday, Nov. 17, I had my final review at AAU.  I was a little nervous.  I had been working on my film day in and out, but it still needs a lot of work.  I presented what I had completed in front of my directer and two other instructors at school.  They gave me some good feedback and asked me to leave the room so they could discuss my future.  As the time ticked by and I stood in the hallway admiring the work on the walls, I was worried that I was going to have to stay another semester or present again in a few weeks.  The door opened and to my surprise I passed my review!  It didn't feel like I had passed though and it still hasn't hit me yet that I am done with school.

My film on the other hand still needs a ton of work and I will not be showing it until I am a little more proud of the animation in it.  Making this film has been a huge learning experience for me.  There are a lot of things I would do differently and I've learned a lot about animation and what I need to do next, which is basically revisit all of the animation and improve upon it.  I really want to spend time on the acting and making the characters more believable and have more personality.  Their designs speak for themselves, but the animation needs to speak more.  Hopefully within the next few months you will see more updates on my film as I try to get it ready for AAU's Spring Show next semester.

In the mean time though, I can't wait to start working on personal work and sprucing up my portfolio/demo reel, and working in the industry.  Oh and before I forget, I wanted to say thanks for everyone who checks out my work, has been following my blog, or has left a comment.  I really appreciate the feedback and hearing what people think so feel free to leave a critique, opinion, or a comment of any kind.

Here's to new beginnings!

Cheers,

Cupcake - Shot 04 & 08

The last of the layouts that needed graphite added to them for my thesis film.

The Aftermath of APE

Last weekend I attended the Alternative Press Expo (APE) in San Francisco and it was a great experience.  There was a variety of different artists there selling their work and everyone was really nice.  The best part about it was running into friends from school and watching friends that were in the show be successful and sell their work.  


I was nervous about the show.  It was my first time displaying my work to the public like that, but the general response was good.  I got a lot of compliments and people liked my work, which was great to hear.  I also got interviewed by popculturegeek.com, so as soon as that is up online you can check that out.  Hopefully I don't look like an idiot, hahaha.


If you missed out on APE, didn't know it was going on, or live out of town, not to worry.  I have put all of my stuff, well most of it, on my shop at bigcartel.com.  Click the banner below to go there.

Other places that you can access my store are here on my blog, up at the top, and at my facebook page there is now a store tab on the left, which is a great new feature that I am excited about.  


The art that is available to purchase are my sketchbooks, prints, buttons, an Iron Man original drawing that is framed, and a framed western themed pin-up girl.  If you would like any of the original art that you see in the picture abovet with me, send me an email and we can work that out.

For those that came out, thank you very much!  It was a good show and for the rest of you I hope you enjoy my store and thank you for your support.  It is very well appreciated.