Continue reading »]]> I have written in the past in my Motion Comic Magic posts where I talk about re-purposing artwork from comics and books into animation, but today’s post is about re-purposing architecture with animation using video/architectural mapping. Basically a high-tech technique in which video is seamlessly projected on unusual surfaces to wrap it in animation and visuals.They have been using this technique in the last decade years for planetariums and for theme park shows like this one at Disneyland in Anaheim CA…

Even some home holiday light shows are using this technique since it allows you to do a lot more then just flashing a string of lights on and off. So…

Last night I headed into San Francisco not to shop, but to experience all the holiday decorations, spirit and displays. By chance I saw a sign for a new holiday show: Illuminique  at Westfield Mall a.k.a San Francisco Center. The mall was open late for Black Friday and so I headed up to the top floor to check it out.

When I arrived at 9:10 pm there was Christmas music playing and a ‘screen saver’ of video outlined the architecture of the historical Emporium dome that was re-built after the 1908 earthquake from the previous 1896 one. There were a few variations of visuals that changed every few songs.

The schedule for Illuminique is 6pm to 8:30pm (running on the half hour), but I guessed that since the mall was open late they would just keep running the show as well. So I walked around a bit then found a nice chair to sit in and waited to see what would happen at 9:30pm.

Sure enough the 4 min show started as I expected. The show transforms the dome into a whimsical mechanical music box with the architectural elements open and close like a coo coo clock. The animation was done with CGI 3D images.
when projected CGI animation transforms the historic dome into a whimsical mechanical musicbox.

Some of my photos had the flash on and so the actual show will look a bit darker and richer.

Pretty neat stuff and a great way for them to re-purpose  the classic space in a new way. It might not be worth a special trip just for this holiday show, but there are museums (Cartoon Art Museum, Moma, MoAD, Jewish Contemporary, CA history society), Yerba Buena Gardens, shopping and restaurants all right off the BART line to make the day special and meaningful along with this unique show.

The show was created by: obscuradigital.com

Continue reading »]]>

A post on re-purposing comics and illustration into animation

To me Motion Comics and Motion Illustration is about taking material that was not designed for animation and bringing it to life with modern multimedia technology. In my previous posts here for Motion Comic Magic I have looked at how illustrations and artwork can be animated for music videos, motion comics, trailers for books, and to simulate what never existed. In fact I first talked about the idea of recreating what had never been built thorough motion-art and motion comics in my post a while back….re-creating the ‘Western River Expedition’ ride. That example used concept art, photos of models and other elements that Disney had in their archive, but it was mostly a slide show.

Recently I discovered the work of  animator David Witt (quasi-interestingparaphernaliainc.blogspot.com) has done it one better with actually animating the characters in the Concept Art itself. It also brings up an interesting idea of how using multi-media could be pre-visulized how an robotic figure for a dark ride could move in the real world.

So here are some animations of Marc Davis’ concept art for the Western River Expedition ride that was never built at Walt Disney World…

Western River Expedition: Last Roundup from David Witt on Vimeo.

Western River Expedition: Horse on the Roof from David Witt on Vimeo.

Western River Expedition: Saloon Singer from David Witt on Vimeo.

David also just release a video that features the art and audio from the Story and Song from the Haunted Mansion. You can read more about it on his blog HERE.

To see all of David’s videos, visit his VIMEO profile.

Continue reading »]]> On September 28, 2011 I had the pleasure to attended a talk by Craig Thompson as he talked about his eagerly awaited graphic novel Habibi at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco. I am a huge fan of Thompson’s art and have been following the creation of Habibi on his blog. Nathan Parker was nice enough to post some short clips from the talk on his YouTube page which I have posted below.

It’s inspiring to hear the artist/author talking about his processes as well as the artistic growth that were part of the process.

I would love to do a formal review of Habibi, but I do not feel confident in writing it just yet, but I can tell you that I have read the whole 672 pages and it is pretty amazing. The book is pretty adult in nature and not for kids, but I can whole hardly recommended it. The art is beautiful and the pacing and storytelling flow effortlessly with the author controlling the flow to amazing effect. Even the book in it’s epic hard cover form is part of the experience.

Sprawling across an epic landscape of deserts, harems, and modern industrial clutter, HABIBI tells the tale of Dodola and Zam, refugee child slaves bound to each other by chance, by circumstance, and by the love that grows between them.

At once contemporary and timeless, HABIBI gives us a love story of astounding resonance: a parable about our relationship to the natural world, the cultural divide between the first and third worlds, the common heritage of Christianity and Islam, and, most potently, the magic of storytelling.

View the next parts at the videographers YouTube pages HERE.

Continue reading »]]> So, for my first post on the San Diego Comic-Con 2011 (SDCC) I thought I would post some pictures and talk about an exciting trend that, to me seems to be altering the convention forever.

These pictures are from my first day in San Diego, Wen July 20, 2011. The convention was going to kick of with it’s Wednesday Preview Night and I had arrived early enough to sight see and take some time to explore. I arrived at where I was staying in the Gas Lamp district and the first thing I saw was this…

note: click on the images to see a bigger version at Flickr.com

At the top of the building is an inflatable of two of the most popular animated characters on TV today, Jake the morphing dog and Finn a funny kid with a hat with bear ears from Adventure Time! They are best friends and live in the land of Ooo where they have adventures fighting monsters and rescuing princesses. The show is one of the best things on TV today and it’s fresh and original and attracts fans of all ages. I am myself a big fan.

Let me take a few steps back to the last time I was at the SDCC, in 2009. One of the new things that year was that the Sci-Fi Channel (SyFi) had partnered with a local restaurant a block from the convention center to transform the business into Cafe Diem from the series TV Eureka. That meant that instead of having a big booth in the convention center, they choose to basically have a restaurant as their temporary home. That meant that they were not dictated by the rules and hours at the convention center and the business they partnered with stood out even more then they would with out the new branding. CLICK HERE to see what it looked like this year.

The idea of breaking out of the convention center into downtown was so cool and different…fast forward to this Summer, 2011. Now there are many of these temporary pop-up businesses that have skipped the convention center and partnered with local businesses. This year there was the 3rd year for SyFi Channel  joined by Spike TV, Conan O’Brian, South Park/Comedy Central, EA Games, some Marvel monster truck thing, a stand alone video game convention and more. But there are two pop-up businesses that stood out to me…

The characters above were part of Cartoon Network’s take over Ciro’s Pizza to the hit show Adventure Time. Outside you are meant with graphics that feature a graphic of Lady Rainacorn (a magical creature and girlfriend of Jake the Dog) and an inflatable candy person (the Candy Kingdom is a major location in the show). Inside all the walls were covered with a digitally printed mural of the locations and characters and enhanced with colored lighting and TV’s played clips from the show as well as interviews with the creators and fans. Here on the walls we see images of the snowy kingdom of the evil Ice King bathed in blue and purple lighting by the Soda Machines and then transitioning to more bright and sunny lighting at Finn and Jake’s tree house and over to the Candy Kingdom.

And to even stand out more, they had a group of young guys who were dressed as Finn and passing out tokens for a free slice of Pizza and a Drink from 2pm to 4pm every day of the con, how cool is that.

And they also have a parade of characters from the show twice a day for a meet and greet.

Most of this would have been impossible to do in the crowded convention center, but this temporary business was one of the stand-out elements of the event.

Another of the standout elements of the SDCC was Trickster, a pop-up store featuring the art, comics and other goodies by some of the hottest artists today. The Trickster was set-up by a group of artist frustrated with the heavy movie/TV heavy attention at the convention and wanted to focus instead on art and artists. Inside a converted wine shop there was a FREE retail space filled with drool worthy merchandise and room for small classes that cost extra. At night they had live models, drinking and partying and someone outside was selling sushi. Words can not explain the energy in the place. Here are some photos at a quieter moment on Wednesday before the crowds invaded.

During the convention they had great artist signing books and meeting and greeting peers and fans alike. HP was on hand to print out files for free and the publisher of the Trickster hardcover book was on hand to discuss printing services. Simply an amazing achievement and possibly a game changer for the identity of the convention.

So, the question on my mind is where will this trend of pop-up businesses for the convention go next. I can clearly see it being doubled by next year as some of the biggest players forgo the convention center for a more visible spaces in the Gas Lamp district. That is good since there will be more room in the hall for some that could not get a space and the big companies can take their brand to new levels on the outside. We’ll see what happens in July 2012.

Continue reading »]]>

A post on re-purposing comics and illustration into animation

Following the techniques of Fran Krause (Moonraker, Utica Cartoon) who created the art for a short film “Nosy Bear” in his sketchbook, Julio del Rio did this short film with similar techniques. The artist drew all the images on one sheet of paper while sitting at the pub and then composed them on the computer later on at home. The great thing about using this technique is that it could be done anywhere: a convention, pub, park, slow times at work, etc.

Continue reading »]]>

re-purposing comics and illustrations into animation

(via Cartoon Brew) Check out this wonderfully animated trailer for an upcoming picture book by veteran animator Frans Vischer, Fuddles the Cat. While the animation is not like some book trailers since it does not use artwork directly from the book like some do, this one has animation by the author that tops any computer manipulation. It seems there have been quite a few gems of 2D animation in the last few weeks HERE and HERE.

Continue reading »]]> Today (Wen) I had the opportunity to visit the newly remodeled Oakland Museum of CA to check out the PIXAR art exhibit. The exhibit ends in a couple days and I knew it was popular, but I did not realize the large crowds that would be at this wonderful gem of a museum.

I arrived at 10:30 by BART (the only way to go) and found all-ready a line by the gate to get in to the PIXAR exhibit. As I lined up and waited for my friend Linda the crowds got larger and larger and by the time they opened up at 11am there were a couple hundreds people waiting. School groups of kids and excited fans were so loud that we could not hear the directions of where to line up for tickets and when the gates opened it was insane. We were in the wrong line till an employee took our complaints (I had been lined up for a half hour in what was the only line at the time) and she asked the folks next to us in the correct line to let us in which they did. The line organization was the only issue I had at the museum, but I am grateful of the kindness of the other patrons letting us switch lines. As crazy as it was, it will be sad to see the place a bit more quiet after the PIXAR exhibit is gone.

When we got our tickets we were given a time 1:15pm to return to enter the PIXAR exhibit. I had avoided buying a ticket ahead of time since they were through TicketMaster and I did not want to pay the extra fee. Looking back I probably should have bought the tickets ahead of time.

I put my messenger bag into a fancy new locker that allows you to set your own code and you can use for free. Excellent perk.

Next we went over to the Museum’s Blue Oak Café and had a nice lunch. I had a delicious and fattening Croc Monsieur sandwich (gruyère and ham on grilled bread) with the signature Blueberry Mint Lemonade which was just sweet enough and just tart enough. Excellent.

Then we journeyed on to the brand new history wing on the middle floor. I won’t go into super details, but the new changes are really a notch above. The exhibits now have plenty of interactive activities (analog and digital), audio stations, videos, and plenty of fun ways to learn. My only complaint is that the height of the sound stations are aimed at kids and not tall people and I sometimes had to stoop over to use them.

Highlights of the History Wing:

- A small room that features a Conquistador helmet and a Feather headdress that stand alone but have a montage of audio of the thoughts of the Spanish, Native Americans and others and their thoughts of meeting people different then themselfs. Effective and really intriguing.

- A digital table (sort of like a big iphone or ipad) that allows you to view maps virtually

- Lots of video screens to punctuate the artifacts and history

- A photo opp with you as an artifact

- A ship’s hull full of treasures where you can ‘document’ the items with a sketch to take home or to post on a bulletin board. I left my kiwi sketch there

- View 3D images of the San Francisco earthquake

- Lots of places to sit and draw and think.

- Interactive game and keyboard to make music with everyday objects.

- Cinema showing a silent film “family man” and portions of the documentary Hollywood Chinese by Arthur Dong. Both are worth seeing portions of.

The museum’s goal is to be shaped by the participants and so there are plenty of chances to have a say in the results.

We finally headed to line up for PIXAR at 1pm (15 min early) but entered right away thanks to a kind museum employee and a lull in guests in the previous group entering at 1pm.

The PIXAR exhibit was wonderful with the work set up by groupings of things like settings and characters. I actually have seen at least half the art at the PIXAR fundraisers for the Cartoon Art Museum so I headed to the back to check out the highly recommended ArtScape animated film.

The film took up the full length of the wall and used 3 projectors to make one long image that uses concept art from the films and brought to life with digital technology. We felt like we were flying as we zoomed into 2D art that gained motion and depth in the progress. No music, but sound effects in surround sound. The second time watching, my friend and I laid on bean bags on the floor. LED lights over the back of the dark room changed colored with the changes in the film. So a blue “UP” sky had bright blue lighting and a lazer guns flash strobes over the audience as well.

After that we made our way back, moving to the images that we were most attracted too. The work is so varied and so amazing that it’s really had for me to even pin point a single image. Ah, all the details and talent. It’s enough to make an artist both inspired and scared and jealous all at the same time.

After exiting through the gift store we went up to the Art Gallery on the top floor. Once again it’s hard to go into details, but the revamped space is equally interactive and informative. Art is harder then history to explain since it’s so individual, but they have really gone to lengths to educate the guests (us) on the process and ways to experience it. This is where I got out my sketchbook at started to take notes and do doodles. So much to absorb it seems.

Art Gallery highlights:

- On a digital tablet do your own self portrait finger painting style that can be emailed to you and appears amongst traditional painted portraits on the wall.  (below)

- Comfy chairs with view of a beautiful turn of the century painting of Yosemite National Park and audio players and headphones that help you explain ways to appreciate the artwork. Really a great way to learn about viewing art.

- The California Impressionist and Arts and Crafts gallery is great and they have a nice sitting area with comfortable chairs and books to read. A great place to sit and draw.

- A digital touch screen to watch video clips of artist speaking on different topics.

- A kids area with ways to explore a statue with audio, and other interactive enhancements.

- and other stuff I can not remember right now.

I ended up staying till 4:30pm and revisiting the History Gallery another time as well.

All in all a very enriching day of history, art and technology which I hope I can do again later this year. The museum promises to continue to grow and change in exciting ways with an entire floor (the bottom one) not opening up till 2011 that will feature the plants and animals of California.

So if you are in the Bay Area, why not go by and check it out. I think you will enjoy it if you take the time to explore all it’s treasures.

Check out the official YouTube page here.

Continue reading »]]>

As some of you might know, I am very interested in not only animation and comics, but combining them together into Motion Illustration and Motion Comics. Motion Comics and Motion Illustration are where artwork used for different medium or format (usually an analog one) is adapted to tell a story with motion and sound. Some of these trailers and shorts use new material that was created specifically for the video that goes beyond just touching up some images in Photoshop, but they are included here as part of the same “family.”

Just a bit of disclosure is that I have made some videos like these myself. In fact I just posted some work two weeks ago that I did with comic creator Alexis E. Farjardo for a trailer for Kid Beowulf and the Song of Roland.

This is part 1 or 2 with these videos having more charm, humor, fantasy and whimsy.

First up we have Chris Ware’s poem, Falling. This goes to show how it does not take a lot of bells and whistles to add life to a video version of a comic. One thing that seems to run through all of these is having the right music though.

Luis Grane’s contribution to the Totoro Forest Project (www.totoroforestproject.org)

Some nice simple animation that works with the music to really give you a little treat.

Tim Sievert’s ‘That Salty Air’ Trailer (Top Shelf)

Here the folks at Top Shelf have actually created new animation based on the comic for this moody piece.

Jeffrey Brown’s INCREDIBLE CHANGE-BOTS (Top Shelf)

Lost Colony Trailer (FirstSecond books)

Diana Thung’s Captain Long Ears

Suzy Lee’s Wave (Chronicle books)

This is another nice simply done piece from a childrens book.

It’s A Book by Lane Smith (Macmillan)

This is just funny and charming and really well done.

Zits: Drive Her Crazy (Jantze Studio)

Not sure if Mike and his crew did new art or used art from the actual comic strip, but it’s really fun and well done. I am guessing we will see more of these coming in the near future.

Look for part 2 on Friday Nov 5 for a little Action and Adventure!

Continue reading »]]> Here is a video that Michael Capozzola took at the Schulz Museum Sketch-A-Thon last Saturday. See if you can see me or my artwork (hint:Penguins).

Cartoonist Sketch-A-Thon Celebrates 60 Years of Peanuts!

Cartoonists include: Brent Anderson, Michael Capozzola, Rhoda Draws, Alexis Fajardo, Brian Fies, Shaenon Garrity, Mike Gray, Debbie Huey,Greg Knight, Jonathan Lemon, Paul Madonna, Brian Narelle, Thien Pham, Lark Pien, Dan Piraro & Frank Roberson www.schulzmuseum.org

Continue reading »]]>

I have been learning to use the open-source free program Blender 3D and have found the experience to be pretty great. Such powerful piece software that won’t cost you a thing. Plus there are lots of tutorials and help on-line to get you out of a tight squeeze. I also broke down and upgraded my Adobe After Effects to CS4 so the experiments below do contain some elements that were composites on top of the Blender 3D renderings.

I have always loved to find ways to combine traditional art and new media and this is one way to do more of that. Expect to see some more interesting projects this year including a dark ride simulation and some motion comics. I could also see some of these techniques for documentary films and music videos.

Below are a few of my experiments I did in the program.

This clip uses the Blender to After Effects export plug-in which allows the camera data for a 3d scene to be used to add additional elements out side of the 3D program. The plug-in by Paolo Ciccone’s is here: http://library.creativecow.net/articles/ciccone_paolo/ae-exporter-blender.php

This clip uses 3D shapes mapped with watercolor paintings that I scanned in and elements added in After Effects CS4.

This is another attempt at mapping traditional art on 3d shapes. The art is by my friend Linda Carothers. (here is my previous test with the same artwork HERE)

Continue reading »]]>

I am pleased to share with you a fan project that I had a small part in as part of Patrick Hurd’s “the Show with Patrick” video podcast.

Here is the official press:

The Story of the Haunted Mansion.

You’ll learn how the wish of one man to provide a loving home for his family, became the nightmare that destroyed one generation after the next.

The 32 minute story is visualized through the art work of over 40 talented artists.

Nearly 300 original pieces of artwork were created exclusively for the story!

The short films voice cast includes actor Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser MD, How I Met Your Mother), Corey Burton (The Haunted Mansion Holiday’s Ghost Host), Peter Renaday (The Ghost Host from the classic 1969 Haunted Mansion LP), and voice guy extraordinaire Brian Sommer!

Find out how your favorite characters came to live and die inside Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion…and the surprising way their stories intertwine.

Visit the Window to the Magic video feed on iTunes on May 1 to download the high quality video for free…
The WindowtotheMagic Videocast (Standard Definition)

Or visit Patrick’s YouTube channel… http://www.youtube.com/user/Doombuggy

So you think you know all about the Haunted Mansion…You don’t know half the story!

The Story of the Haunted Mansion is a fan-fiction based on one of the great theme park attractions. The story is a 38:46 minute history of the famous house that now resides in Disneyland, Anaheim CA and contains the pictures of 40 artists. Mr. Hurd tapped the voices of Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser MD, How I Met Your Mother), Corey Burton (The Haunted Mansion Holiday’s Ghost Host, lots and lots of voices in all sorts of places), Peter Renaday (The Ghost Host from the classic 1969 Haunted Mansion LP, Henry from the Bear Country Jamboree), and Brian Sommer! The rest of the voice cast is made of fans of the attraction.

The story is based on the website Haunted Mansion Ghost Gallery Stories and fleshes out all our favorite spirits of the Haunted Mansion. Most the characters that appear in the animatronics, art, and effects from the ride are brought together to help give us a detailed history. The production is very slick with the music and voices along with the art. Fans of the ride will thoroughly enjoy the tale while some casual viewers might find it a bit long in detail, but inspiring by the spirit and energy that went into making it.

The art comes in multiple styles from artist who are also fans themselves and with ages that run from small children to grown adults. I am quite pleased with most of my work I produced, with the exception of a few pieces. Once in a while there will be descrpency in the work due to us not fully knowing how the art fit into the story (my drawings of Mary make her much older then the ones that came before it).

Congratulations to Patrick and everyone who worked on the project. I wonder what other fan projects might be inspired from this story.

Before the video podcast was ready, I made my own video of artwork to use last weekend at the Fremont Teen Comic and Anime Expo and have posted it on YouTube since it contains some art that was not used in Patrick’s production.

Here are some of my favorite art I donated to the project, but you have to watch the video to see it all.

- 7:55 Ronald overlooking the river (one of my favorites)

- 10:29 Ronald goes mad.

- 13:35 Mary knows that her husband is cheating on her.

- 17:52 Party Guests

- 22:43 Mary walks the tightrope over the river

- 31:45 George leaves the world of the living

Continue reading »]]> Hey all, as some of you may remember, I did some fan artwork (HERE) and (HERE) for a fan video podcast, well you will be able to see the final production on May first. The video is a fan history of the famous Disney theme park attraction the Haunted Mansion and will included the voices of Neil Patrick Harris, Corey Burton, Peter Renaday, and Brian Sommer. Patrick’s videos (SEE THEM HERE) are top notch and a lot of fun.

I can’t wait to see how it came out.

“On Friday May 1st, Patrick Hurd presents:

The Story of the Haunted Mansion.

You’ll learn how the wish of one man to provide a loving home for his family, became the nightmare that destroyed one generation after the next.

The 32 minute story is visualized through the art work of over 40 talented artists.

Nearly 300 original pieces of artwork were created exclusively for the story!

The short films voice cast includes actor Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser MD, How I Met Your Mother), Corey Burton (The Haunted Mansion Holiday’s Ghost Host), Peter Renaday (The Ghost Host from the classic 1969 Haunted Mansion LP), and voice guy extraordinaire Brian Sommer!

Find out how your favorite characters came to live and die inside Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion…and the surprising way their stories intertwine.

Visit the Window to the Magic video feed on iTunes on May 1 to download the high quality video for free…

The WindowtotheMagic Videocast (Standard Definition)

Or visit Patrick’s YouTube channel on May 1…

http://www.youtube.com/user/Doombuggy

So you think you know all about the Haunted Mansion…

You don’t know half the story!”

Continue reading »]]> From a 3d CGI fan-film based on Dave Sim’s comic character Cerebus. Find out more at www.cerebus3d.com.

I admire any attempt to take something as graphic as comic art and bring it into three dimensions.

To see more comic by artist/writer Dave Sim and images of his creation Cerebus. Check out these links.

http://www.cerebustheaardvark.com/ • http://www.artofdavesim.com/

Continue reading »]]> It’s been announced that Richard Williams has adapted his fantastic book, the Animators Survival Kit to a new series of how-to DVD’s. I took Richards animation workshop years ago and I can tell you this is going to be awesome. Even if your an artist who’s not doing Animation, you can learn a lot from what he has to say. Plus the man is really fun and funny to watch.

Check out the PROMO VIDEO.

Many of the sample clips feature some lovely animation on the website. I love the “Hello” Dialog clip (click on the upper left one called “Dialog”).

Sadly I won’t be able to afford the $2,407.84 it cost for the whole DVD set right now, but that price is for 16 DVD’s. I am sure it’s worth it if you got the money.

ALSO check out a 3 part YouTube clip from the 1960′s: Richard Williams – the Creative Person

Continue reading »]]> Watercolor paintings of Warner Bros. Cartoon Characters by Scott Seeto for the Warner Bros. Store. Great stuff. LINK

Blue Sky Disney has reported the loss of movie poster artist John Alvin who is best know, to me, for the beautiful moody preview poster for Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. LINK

He also worked on: Aladdin, Pocahontas, Atlantis, Quest for Camelot, Hunchback, Lion King, Harry Potter, Hercules,  Tarzan, StarWars, etc. He did all the serious Disney movie posters vs. the happy kids posters.

Felix Lorioux’s Puss In Boots at the ASIFA Archive. Great illustrations. LINK

Charles Vess shows progress photos of a painting commission. Some amazing stuff. LINK

Dinotopia artist James Gurney has posts on doing a painting with a limited pallet. Great idea for illustration as well maybe the color of comics. LINK

A lucky lady has won to be immortalized (for a year) as a pirate in the line for Disneyland’s Pirates of the Caribbean. Check out the beautiful watercolor here. LINK

Continue reading »]]> The Draw! blog has a short clip of the upcoming stop motion animated film from the book by Neil Gaiman Coraline and is directed by Henry (Nightmear Before Christmas) Selick. The voices included Dekota Fanning, John Hodgman, and Teri Hatcher and will have music/songs from They Might Be Giants. Wow! The stop motion film is also being shot to be shown in 3D IMAX.

CHECK IT OUT HERE!