MovieScope Magazine

Just last week I was asked to do a small interview for MovieScope magazine.

MovieScope provides a fresh perspective on the collaborative nature of film making from the insider's point of view. - That was copied from their twitter. As I couldn't come up with something that could sum it up any better.

The magazine talks to a host of people. People who have been in the business for along time and people who are just starting out - like me.

I'll be one of the future "One to Watch" columns in the magazine and talking about oddly enough animation :) I think i'll be their first animator in the magazine so if it all goes down well, hopefully not the last hahahaha. And no sadly im not going to write here an tell what they asked me but i'll post up here at a later date when the magazine is out :)

Photoshop CS4 Colour Picker/Colour wheel

Is it me or is Photoshop ever closer getting more like Corel Painter?

I have recently played around in the new Photoshop CS4 and found that now when drawing and painting its very similar to how Corel Painter works. The brushes feel and react more natural?

Also i like how when you zoom right in the picture brakes up into little squares.

Any how im still annoyed that photoshop still hasn't got its act together with a nice colour wheel/colour picker - like Corel Painter. But i did find something that is perfectly well made online and works really well. Head over to www.anastasiy.com you have to put this tool into the adobe directory. Boot up photoshop and then go to window --> Extensions --> Colour Picker. And BAM Photoshop is now 100% quicker -well for choosing colours :)

New Showreel for 2009

Forgot to post but i have a new showreel up on my site :)

Working On The Tale of Despereaux

So the reason I am so behind on my AM posts is down to the fact I landed a job at Framestore working on their first full CG film called "The Tale of Despereaux". I was just finishing class 5 of AM and one night I got a call to attend a 'chat' at Framestore. And then before I knew it I had a job as a professional animator at Framestore. I was working there for around 7 months and the animation crew was fantastic to work with. Sam Fell and Rob Stevenhagen who directed the team, were great to work with and really nice guys to talk too (yes they took the time to talk to you).

Framestore site

www.framestore.com

Despereaux micro site

www.thetaleofdespereauxmovie.com

The film is now out but here are links to the two trailers.

Trailer 1

Trailer 2

AM Showcase 2008

Late post on my part but i finally got around to adding this to my blog. Shockingly i managed to get onto this years showcase. Its right at the end of the showcase and is my Class 4 animation.

Direct link to the AM showcase 2008

Class 6 - Short Film Production

Im not going to post every class 6 week here as, the entire class/term was about the animation and development of my short film. There was no real animation techniques to learn. The entire term was a collective of videos ranging from light and colour use in your short film, polishing your animation, the use of sound and finally talks preparing you for the industry and making a showreel.

As of 2009 the Animation Mentor course will be changing Class's 5 and 6 (short film). I believe the changes will be more focus on polishing the animation.

For Class 6 i had Morgan Kelly who is currently a Dreamworks Animator and worked on a host of films Shrek 2, Madagascar, Bee Movie, Over the hedge and currently Monsters vs Aliens.

*Video to come*

Class 5 - 3D Animatic/Layout

So week/sessions 8, 9 and 10 would be developing the first pass for the 3D layout stage of the film. This is so timing issues can be more addressed, see if camera angles work and generally see if the film is working as a whole, and who knows things may even be cut in this first pass, cameras may change and acting choices may need to be thought out.

*Video to come*