Back in May last year I spoke about a colour picker/colour wheel for Photoshop (post here). Well there is now a new release out and has a bunch of bugs fixed and new features implemented :)
Sunday, 18 April 2010
Sunday, 28 March 2010
How To Train Your Dragon - An IMAX 3D Experience
Well on the 27th of March a huge mass of Animation Mentor (AM) students and Alumni :P (around 25) descended on London's BFI cinema for the IMAX screening of "How to Train Your Dragon" by Dreamworks.
Have to say its one of the best films Dreamworks has made to date. A decent story with no stupid jokes or very predictable ones just randomly thrown in (ok there was one or two). The characters, the look and the effort that has going into this film has clearly been well thought out. The animation, like you would expect was fantastic. If this had been a live action movie with CG vfx I don't think some of the voice actors would have come up to par with their acting ability, to match the amazing animation (acting in CG) that was put into this film. Its a shame that animators don't get similar treatment like actors or pay for that matter, or even the royalties for repeat showings of the movie.....
Voice casting was good too although it was strange how the older Vikings had very broad Scottish accents and the young kids had very American accents!!!!! Apart from that, over all the film was fun and easy to follow.
Not one AM student could find fault or disliked the movie, well done Dreamworks and all the people who worked on it :)
Sunday, 17 January 2010
Toy Story 2 in 3D
On Thursday 14th of January I saw Toy Story 2 in the 3D and it was great to see on the big screen again, even more so in 3D. To think this film is around 10 years old and yet for me it is still a fantastic film to watch. The 3D element is nice, it adds a nice depth of field to the shots, nothing springs out the screen, but to experience the movie again in the cinema was really nice :)
Highly recommend seeing it :D
Wednesday, 9 December 2009
Special Princess and the Frog Screening @ Disney HQ London!!!
On Tuesday the 8th of December I and five of my fellow animators had the pleasure of being asked to attend a very special screening at Disney HQ in London for "The Princess and the Frog".I have to say that I think Disney have their Mojo back and ok it had a number of clichés and a tip of the hat to the old Disney films (which I have no problem with). But in all I think they have made a truly fantastic film here. I think they captured the mood and the era really well. I love 1920's /1930's Art Deco style and the jazz music from them times. Oddly I have always found jazz music seems to go well with animation! Must be because they use to animate on 8's and 4's a lot back then haha who knows!
Vocal talent in the movie? oh boy they really went to town on getting the most out of their actors for this movie. The animators used every chance they could to make these characters feel alive. So nice to see squash and stretch in the their performances and faces. To think no technical problems and deformers to tweak, no cloth simulations to worry about and no rendering times!!! Just pure hardcore pencil and paper and the loss of million trees - I wonder what the carbon foot print would be for this film?
I will have to buy a copy of the Art of Book for this film as the Art Direction was very pleasing to watch and the use of colour really helped set the tone and mood of the picture. Colour really was another character in its self, but that could be me getting very arty farty.
From an animation point of view, for me it ticks all the box's of a good and well animated film with solid characters and well thought out story. From a family/average film goer point of view I think Disney managed to make this film not become too much of a girly film. The story hits all the morals in a classic old Disney fashion. I feel this film will do well with audiences, and I wish it every success.For me I can see a lot of hard work and planning has going into this film.
Thank goodness 2D is back, John Lasseter really knows his beans when it comes to animated movies, storytelling and making bold choices - like bring back 2D animation. I just wish I could be amazing with a pencil!!! Perhaps then I may have been given the opportunity to have worked on this incredible film. :)
Quote from the film "It's not slime, it's mucus!!!" - I wonder if that could be a new tag line?
My friend Fiona (who you see in the picture below) also did a review on the film which you can read on her blog here.
Saturday, 5 December 2009
Working at Double Negative
As of the 30th of November I have landed employment at 'Double Negative' in Soho London :)
They have worked on 100's of films. Notable productions would be Harry Potter series, the new Batman movies and Hell Boy 2. I feel very at home here and really hope I will be able to grow as an animator - only time will tell.
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
Moviescope Magazine - One to watch
Way back in July of this year I was asked by MovieScope magazine to do a small interview. Well this week the magazine is out in the shops and you can view (if you wish) my interview with the magazine online below :)
Article link 1 - Main Website
Article link 2 - Talent Watch
Thank you MovieScope for allowing me to be part of your magazine :)
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