AustinTranslation

2009-12-17T10:15:00.000-08:00

CHADES CHALLENGE XXII: SMOKING AVENGERS
As you can see, I'm still on a Batman kick. But what sort of characters are you supposed to draw with a challenge like "smoking avengers"? Feel free to contribute your own designs! Just post your tobacco-toking titans any time before next Friday (Christmas Day!) and I'll post a link to your designage. Sketch greatly!

2009-12-04T10:21:00.000-08:00

I went on a Batman tangent this morning. Always fun!

2009-11-25T09:22:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

Xorg here is thankful for his cat, Zed. Unfortunately for Zed, Xorg hails from the same planet as Alf and, well...let's just say they won't be serving turkey for Thanksgiving at Xorg's house.

2009-11-24T09:57:00.000-08:00

Staff Meeting
I just completed a quarter staff class at Pixar.

Now I can finally track down and duel Star Wars kid.

2008-07-25T08:33:00.000-07:00

EN GARDE!
I recently completed a stage combat course at Pixar (don't get excited, it's not research for a film or anything). I've got to say, swordplay is extremely fun and exhausting and I highly recommend it, particularly for any of you actors looking to take your skills to the next level. Our instructors, Dave Maier and Kristen Matia, had us perform the Mercutio/Tibalt duel in Act III of Romeo and Juliet at the end of the course. We altered the choreography from the Zeffirelli version that I have linked, but the clip gives a good sense of the two characters' personalities. I played Mercutio, which was a gas because he's a very jovial and arrogant swordsman. Plus he's got a fantastic death scene (spoiler alert!) where he curses both Romeo and Tybalt, "A plague o' both your houses!" Great stuff!
So if you ever attempt to sneak into Pixar, beware...we've got a team of vicious thespians guarding the compound.

"I feel a great swell of pity for the poor soul who comes to that school looking for trouble."

--Charles Xavier

From left to right: Alden Chiew, Ross Dickinson, Burt Peng, Dave Maier, Bruce Wayne, Tara Hernandez, Kristen Matia, Jose Ignacio, Erick Tryzelaar

2009-11-14T17:40:00.000-08:00

Hog Warts

I recently discovered a breed of prehistoric pig-wolves called entelodonts. Well, I didn't discover them, I learned about their existence. Below is the aptly named Daeodon, or "terrible hog". Why they chose to use a frightened bikini girl for size reference, I have no idea. Maybe daeodons were also chauvinist pigs.

Below is Andrewsarchus, my new favorite non-dinosaur animal.

These guys reminded me of the wargs from Lord of the Rings, so I thought it'd be fun to sketch my version of a warg-rider. He had to be someone real nasty who looked like he'd be right at home riding a Daeodon into battle or wrestling an Andrewsarchus into submission. Here's what I came up with.

If this guy existed during primeval times, he'd certainly give cro-magnon man a run for his money. For the colors, I googled "mottled" and found this cool texture. It has all the earthy greens and browns you'd associate with an orc. Thanks to Photoshop's eyedropping color-sampler, I was able to use this as a direct palette, and it worked pretty well!

2009-11-13T10:56:00.000-08:00

Dailies

We're in "the white-hot center of crunch time" as our director, Lee, puts it. That means loooong dailies. Which, in turn, means lots of time for sketching! Here are my two favorite subjects: dinos and orcs!

2009-11-04T22:58:00.000-08:00

GIVING THANKS

I'm a huge fan of Halloween and Christmas, so after October 31st I'm always tempted to skip Thanksgiving and bust out the holly and Christmas albums. This year, however, I'm taking the time to give the often-overlooked turkey day its due and really reflect on all the things I should be thankful for.

These are just the top five.

1. The lessons of Jesus Christ, Bill Nye the Science Guy, and Yoda
2. Flavored coffee creamers
3. Control-Z
4. Audio Commentaries
5. Somewhere, somehow John Williams is still making music

And thank you for stopping by!

2009-10-23T14:38:00.000-07:00

Aloha! Sorry for the grievous lack of posting, I just got back from vacation in Hawaii. I went with family, including my Grandpa Bill, who used to surf with the legendary Duke Kahanamoku.

I was inspired by my grandpa's stories of hot-dogging and hangin' ten with the Duke, and couldn't help but fire-up my imagination while surrounded by the tropical hillsides and rainforests of Jurassic Park. I'm definitely ready to plunge back into work, reinvigorated with my cup filled to the brim with creative juices.

There's a lot to be said about hard work, and that's certainly the only way to get better at animating. But as I heard Brad Bird himself once say, "You've got to have a life to create the illusion of life."

I've got some serious post-creating to do, but while you wait for the next Chades Challenge (I'm, what? Two behind?), here's some creative nourishment for you to chew on!

Symphony of Science

2009-09-29T10:21:00.000-07:00

WANTED

Sorry for slacking on the Choose Your Own Drawing Adventure challenge last Friday, I'll post at the end of this week. Last week was dedicated to preparing for a weekend filmshoot. I work with my church's film/video ministry, and we just wrapped principle photography on our second project, Wanted. Here are some stills from the shoot. Unfortunately, we neglected to inform the local law enforcement that we had a fake weapon on set, so the fuzz showed up just to make sure we weren't actually causing havok.

You see, I was co-directing the day's shoot, and I find that packing iron helps to keep the actors "motivated"...

My co-director (and founder of our video ministry), Kerwin Kuniyoshi takes a much more laid-back approach to film-making.

Nathan Cooper played our irascible villain, Snake.

Theresa Donahoe as our snarky "good" samaritan, April.

And here I am with our star, Ellie Wheeler, who is portraying Sarah Rive, our version of the prodigal son. Here we are endorsing dental hygiene.

2008-04-10T23:13:00.000-07:00

Chades Challenge XI: Sweaty Bikers

"You been messin' with my bike, little man?!"

Biker scouts: long beards, short fuses. Next week: Sweaty Bikers, Round 2!

2008-04-29T00:11:00.000-07:00

Votes Tallied, Astromech Wins By Restraining Bolt!
Wow...another close poll, but you've bestowed the title of Coolest Robot Ever upon the diminutive yet daring droid, R2-D2. Wisely chosen.

Poll results
R2-D2 34%
Bender 31%
The Terminator 17%
Optimus Prime 6%
Data 6%
HAL 9000 3%
Futura 0%
Pimpbot 5000 0%
Thanks for your votes, and don't forget to weigh in on this week's poll!

2009-03-12T11:12:00.000-07:00

Orgus Bloath, a "well-connected man"

More gaming art, Star Wars this time. My players received a hologram transmission from Bloath requesting their assistance in a matter on the wrong side of Imperial law.

2008-12-12T21:04:00.000-08:00

The people have spoken! From the very limited selection of 'best pets ever' you guys have chosen Tyrannosaurus Rex. A wise decision. Don't get me wrong, ewoks are great, but I know who I'd rather have protecting my yard from burglars.

In other AustinTranslation news, Chades Challenge XIX is cough-up. As in, the substance that comes up when you cough. This is the first Chades Challenge that doesn't follow the adjective/noun guidelines, but it should make an interesting challenge. Reminder, this is a character design challenge. Cough-up as a sympathetic character...is it possible? As one Alaskan governor I know always says, "You betcha!"

2009-08-14T08:39:00.000-07:00

CHADES CHALLENGE XXI: SWEATY ROBOTS

My entries for this week's Character Design (or Chades) Challenge, which was to draw perspiring automatons:

"You sure you should be in here, Lew?"

Help Waldroid find and destroy Waldo once and for all!

I thought it'd be fun to see one of Ashley Wood's creations hunt down Waldo, I know I used to sweat as a kid whenever I was hunched over one of those damned puzzles. If you designed any sweaty robots, let me know so I can post your design. Next week's drawing challenge is an entirely new game:

CHOOSE YOUR OWN (DRAWING) ADVENTURE

The challenge is based on the votes of this week's polls: "Once there was a...", "Who...", and "So they could...". This week, there was a tie between: "Once there was a baby-stealing goblin who chased rabbits the size of asteroids so they could shoot an award-winning documentary," and, "Once there was a baby-stealing goblin who sailed the seven seas so they could shoot an award-winning documentary." So feel free to illustrate either (or both) stories.

Since this is a tall order to fill, I'll give you guys a couple weeks to work on it. Post your documentary-shooting, rabbit-chasing/sea-sailing, baby-stealing goblins by Friday, August 28. Sketch greatly!

I also thought it'd be fun to include a little interview with each of the drawing challenges, to offer insight into each artist's work method. The first conversation is with an old pal of mine from school: Laika storyman, fellow CalArts alumnus, and all-around highflyer, Vi-Dieu Nguyen.

me: hey-o
Vi-Dieu: yo
me: mind if I interview you?
Vi-Dieu: do it
me: I'm going to post an interview on each Chades Challenge
Vi-Dieu: ok
me: starting with you mon frere
Vi-Dieu: great
I'll try to be controversial
me: awesome
How do you balance cartooniness and realism in your work?
Vi-Dieu: I try get a certain "feeling" with my drawings. so if it feels too much like hanna barbera then I'll try to add more classical influences
me: nice
What is your favorite thing about drawing?
Vi-Dieu: getting lost in it. flo
ever heard of that term? flo?
me: nope
Vi-Dieu: it's when you get in that groove
me: that's what I figured
Vi-Dieu: like being addicted to the act of creating
me: Do you think about style or how other artists might approach this subject as you design?
Vi-Dieu: both. other artists do certain things so well, but again, I have to be "me," so ... actually, if I think of other artists, I like to use the lesser known ones to reintroduce the old to modern times
or 'hidden artists'
me: I'll let you keep your resources a secret
Vi-Dieu: haha
no, you don't have to. I advertise them all the time
me: How much does composition play into a gag? Do you rework drawings for better clarity or workout the thumbnail first?
Vi-Dieu: sometimes. sometimes the first drawing comes out nicest. but if I want to convey something clearly, then yeah, I'll rework it. but sometimes it's just about having fun
me: How do you decide when a drawing is finished?
Vi-Dieu: when I can't figure out what else to do with it, it's finished. or if I get tired of it
me: haha sounds like my approach
Vi-Dieu: yep
me: okay, last question
What makes a good drawing?
Vi-Dieu: I want to say something really generic, but for me, a drawing can be wonky and stiff and still be a good drawing...I love prints...so a drawing that has something interesting about it. if a drawing is interesting to me, I think it's a good drawing..like if it fits with things I find interesting at the time
me: I'll make sure to do more drawings of cosmonauts.
Vi-Dieu: haha
me: Thanks man, good answers!
Vi-Dieu: well, for example I'm getting into audobon. if you look him up, you'll "ah, of course Vi would like that"
your welcome
that was fun
I will return the favor someday
me: I'll make sure to be crass.

2009-09-11T09:27:00.000-07:00

Choose Your Own (Drawing) Adventure II

"Once there was a pink kitten who made a deal with the devil so he could avenge the death of his parents."

For this image, I actually prefer the caption, "How cats really get their nine lives." The Choose Your Own (Drawing) Adventure is based on my blog polls; vote on what you'd like to see illustrated, and if you like, feel free to create some artwork yourself. If you participated in this week's challenge, let me know and I'll post your works of devilry below.

Josh Billings:

Daniel Miller:

Last month, I posted an interview of my buddy, Vi, with the drawing challenge. It was cool hearing his insights into the creative process, so I thought I'd supply a new interview with this week's challenge. Today's conversation was with Daniel Miller, a friend of mine from school and co-director of CalArts' 2005 Producer's Show Intro. Enjoy!

Me: What is your favorite thing to draw?

Daniel: My favorite thing to draw? I want to say comic strip characters. 5 years ago, I would've said bears. Human form is fun to draw, no doubt about that... Wow. I guess the truth is I like to draw superheroes. Sad, I know.

Me: Who are your creative influences?

Daniel: My creative influences. Ah. Number 1, a man named George Perez. Then Norman Rockwell. Charles M. Schulz. Who was the guy who designed Jonny Quest? Doug Wiley. Winsor McCay. Emile Cohl. Alex Ross. Max Fleischer. Peter Chung (eek!)Many others, but these are the ones that spring directly to mind.

Me: How would you describe your style?

Daniel: My style. Mm. I remember once saying, "I have no style, I'm a blank slate," but honestly, it is what I like to call "Jack of all trades." While I was at Calarts, I tried my hand at many styles, never settling on any one. I could've learned a lot more squash and stretch, but eh, I guess it wasn't for me.

Me: What field of art that you have not yet studied would you most like to pursue?

Daniel: Cuneiforms. Granite sculpting. Gold and other metal molding. ...Anything else? I suppose building and car design. Just for fun. And to build my dream house.

Me: Who is your favorite character that you have created and why? None of this "they're all my children" business either!

Daniel: My favorite character that I have created. I'm trying not to say Cody or Paula from Polar Opposites, because thy're not continuous characters. --Claude the Hare! HE is my favorite, because he is me. Sid the Scorpion was pretty funny.

Me: Finally, if you could take a trip anywhere in the world to do artistic research for a project, where would you go and why?

Daniel: A trip anywhere. For ARTISTIC purposes. Not historic. Wow. So many places I WANT to go in the U.S. and worldwide. Africa, Egypt, Rome, Italy. I've never been much of a traveler. OO! Of all the places I've ever wanted to visit or live... Oregon. A few of my favorite cartoonists; Matt Groening, Gary Larson, and Bill Plympton all hail from there. I may not see much art there, I just want to drink the water, breathe the air... Get a sense of what made them who and how they were.

Thanks for the interview, Daniel. I love Alex Ross and Gary Larson, too. And let me tell you: Oregon is beautiful! Tune in again in a couple weeks for the another round of art and conversation!

Next week's challenge, to be posted Friday, Sep 25th:
"Once there was a tyrant lizard king who consumed sunshine so he could make his mama proud."

2009-09-16T14:47:00.000-07:00

A Griffin Story

My friend Josh has been working on little stories with his three-year old son, Griffin. Griffin writes the story and his dad illustrates. Josh posted one of their stories on his blog and welcomed anyone to illustrate a Griffin tale, so I thought I'd take a shot at it. I had one condition: the story had to be about dinosaurs. Fortunately, Griffin was willing to oblige and here's what he came up with!

"Griffin's Dinosaur Story"

"The Apatosaurus is named Potoesaurus and the Triceratops is named Bobby."

"Potoesaurus drinks a full bag of dinosaur orange juice, like a big, big, grasshopper and a big, big, cockroach."

"Bobby bonks stuff."

"Potoesaurus is in my room playing trains."

"Bobby is bonking a watermelon."

"THE END"

2009-08-27T07:56:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow:
The Choose Your Own (Drawing) Adventure

The challenge is to illustrate the concept: "Once there was a baby-stealing goblin who sailed the seven seas so he could shoot an award-winning documentary." All are welcome to participate, just let me know you've posted a design, and I'll link to you. Sketch greatly!

Also, please be sure to vote on next week's Choose Your Own (Drawing) Adventure in the polls to the right. Much obliged.

2009-09-10T16:11:00.000-07:00

Chito and Pocho

Fellow paleo-blogger Darren Naish posted a fascinating story about a Costa Rican fella named Chito and his best friend, Pocho, who happens to be a 17 ft croc.

Not only are Chito and Pocho on friendly terms, they also enjoy wrestling together and sometimes Pocho even lets Chito win!

Darren also posted the story on his Facebook and the following conversation ensued:

Me: "Awesome! This is proof that we should bring dinosaurs back, and that they'd be completely cuddly."

Darren: "Damn right. Start with tyrannosaurs."

Mike: "Austin, for the EPB to support that would require that birds be cuddly, instead of shrieking little jerky annoyances that chew up books. (Or have I just had bad experiences?)"

Darren: "Mike, the character states you describe are autapomorphies of some neornithine clades. Everyone knows that paleognaths and anseriformes are cuddly and friendly."

I hadn't heard any of these terms before, but the comments just cracked me up, so I had to share. If you're suspicious of the stills above, here's video to prove than man and reptile can peacefully coincide.

2009-08-31T09:12:00.000-07:00

Tim Burton Sits Down with Ray Harryhausen

Over the weekend, I ran into this cool interview of Tim Burton with Ray Harryhausen. Burton's a real hero of mine, so it's funny to watch him geek-out over basically anything Harryhausen says. If you're interested in listening to the wisdom of one of the masters of the animated craft, follow the links below:

Part I: Inventing an Artform
Part II: The Pitiable Leviathon
Part III: Monster Music

Ray Harryhausen mentions that a major artistic influence on him was the work of Gustave Dore. This was a new name to me, so I thought I'd look him up. His work is fantastic! As a kid who grew up on flat-toned comics, dramatic lighting doesn't come very naturally to me. So to see this level of mastery is pretty inspiring!

Dore's imagery is truly cinematic. It's unfortunate that he died in 1883, a mere five years after Eadweard Muybridge's experiments in real-time photo-capture, and just before the development of the first motion picture camera. Like Harryhausen says, if Dore had been alive during the age of film, I'm sure he would have been one of it's most successful auteurs.

2009-09-06T21:53:00.000-07:00

Mike Mitchell
(1920-2009)

Mike Mitchell passed away today, leaving a big eye-patch-shaped hole in the hearts of a lot of CalArtians out there. All CalArts students start their animation career with Mike's figure drawing class. It wasn't called Figure Drawing I, or Beginner's Figure Drawing, because that wasn't Mike's style. Even the name of his class had to break the mold and set the stage for some serious out-of-the-box thinking. Plus, Mike didn't think of anyone as beginner artists, he held our work with as much esteem as a peer, so he called it From Real to Reel. Cheesy? Yes. Pretentious? Maaaaybe. Heck, there may have even been a subtitle, but it eludes me now. But that truly was the intention of the class: to inspire our filmwork and to use our observations from life to fuel our animation so that our films didn't become imitations of other "cartoons."

Mike had the true artist's spirit of creativity and rebellion, and encouraged students to look at the life models in new ways, even if it meant dragging in the skeletal remains of a motorcycle or a creepy wooden gazelle for the model to pose with. His room was called the Palace, and while it was used for department meetings, guest lectures, and special events, everyone referred to it as Mike Mitchell's room. Every week of my first year at CalArts, I looked forward to Fridays in Mike's class and the silent competition to win the old master's affection and earn a spot for one of my drawings on his wall. I'm eternally grateful to have known and learned from the man. I know the eye-patch-shaped hole will never be filled, but I hope that we all strive to achieve what Mike always encouraged us to do: forge our own us-shaped niches in an industry that all too often would have us shaped like cogs instead.

Scott Bromley, Ken Perkins, and Ron Yavnieli's 2003 Producer's Show intro featured muppet versions of Mike and fellow life-drawing legend, Corny Cole. This is just a small glimpse into the respect and affection CalArts had for the man who had started them off on their road to animation greatness.

2009-09-08T14:30:00.000-07:00

"That's the stuff!"

Some Tuesday gestures in honor of Mike Mitchell. Yes, I realize the drawing below features two very unfortunately placed drawings.

The pose below was great, there was a real sense that the model was dancing even though both feet were firmly planted.

Playing with perspective. Fun, if not always successful.

Sometimes the negative space can be just as informative as the forms themselves, as with the space between the model's arm, leg, and torso. I always look for pockets like that to help clarify silhouette.

Our instructor, Louis, was pushing us to redraw each pose as many times as possible. The key is to try a different approach each time, varying angles, conveying the weight and energy in new ways. I played a mental game with myself that any time the model gave us the 10- or 20-second warning, I had to quit my current drawing and start a fresh one. As Mark Kistler would say, I was suffering from an Art-Attack, "Draw! Draw! Draw!"

In completely unrelated news, ROUS's are real! This "little" guy, held here by mammal expert Martua Sinaga, was found in the rainforests of western New Guinea (quite a ways from the ROUS's natural habitat, the Fire Swamp). Weighing in at about five times the size of a typical city rat, this species is entirely new to science, and has no apparent fear of humans.

2008-03-11T12:41:00.000-07:00

RIP, Dave Stevens (July 25, 1955-March 10, 2008)

Comic artist and creator of the Rocketeer Dave Stevens passed away yesterday after a long battle with Leukemia. Stevens is my dad's favorite artist, and one of my earliest artistic influences. I think I've sketched scenes and poses from every single issue of Rocketeer, particularly those featuring Betty Page. His death is a real loss to the artistic community, and he will be greatly missed--especially by the Madisons. So long, Dave, and enjoy the skies!

2008-03-20T16:54:00.000-07:00

Justin Wright (March 8, 1981-March 18, 2008)

This is the last post I would ever want to make. My best friend (seen above, first Jedi on the left) passed away this week. We went through school together at CalArts, graduated the same year and were hired together at Pixar the same month. Our birthdays are even one day apart. I take a great deal of comfort knowing that he lived an amazing life, accomplished all of his dreams, and had a very strong relationship with God. Justin was one of my favorite people to pitch ideas to. Any time I was working on a serious drawing, Justin is the one I'd show, and he was never afraid to let me know if the drawing really stank. But when he didn't like something, he always offered advice on how to make it better, ways it could be improved. I'm devastated at the notion of having adventures without my buddy, but I'm strengthened by the lessons he taught me and the almost disproportionate amount of laughter we shared. I can't wait to see him again, but until then...to infinity and beyond.

Justin Wright's blog: Charlie, A Deck Hand
Cartoon Brew's tribute
PUC's alumni page

2008-04-15T13:42:00.000-07:00

Ollie Johnston (October 31, 1912-April 14, 2008)

Any animator worth his salt owns at least one copy of Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston's The Illusion of Life. The book offers the wisdom Ollie collected over the forty-three years he worked at Disney, creating some of the world's most memorable characters (including two of my personal favorites, Merlin and Baloo). More importantly, The Illusion of Life reveals the importance of fellowship, and learning from your peers. Over the years, the names Frank and Ollie have become almost inseparable. These two embody the golden age of classical animation and, for me, childhood in general.
My favorite animated scene of all-time is their squirrel sequence from Sword in the Stone. Within a few minutes (and hundreds of Ollie's gorgeous drawings), we are taught about having the faith to leap, the courage to fail, and we are introduced to the most powerful force on Earth...even more powerful than gravity.
At Frank Thomas's request, the sequence was played at Frank's memorial. So here it is again for old Ollie. Frank and Ollie's squirrel sequence
And for those of you unfamiliar of the man that helped invent animation, here's his story.
Thanks for the magic, Ollie!

Addendum 4.18.08
Disney's Farewell to Ollie
The Disney Company on Ollie Johnston
Brad Bird on Ollie Johnston