Brave Trailer Premieres Online!

This is one princess who won't need saving. Tha mi ag iarraidh briosgaid!

To hear some thoughts on Brave, Cars 2, and much more, listen to the Animation Fascination's podcast with Chris Chua and myself.

Chris and I will explain exactly why we're wearing kilts in the picture below.

18 days...

One Dream Studios Interview

A follow-up to the "How to draw Rex" tutorial I posted last week. The interviewer is my highschool friend Vic Jimenez of One Dream Studios, and we talk about the greatest animator of all time, the best animated feature of all time, and how to get into animation if you never made it to college.

Oh, and sorry about the blasphemy at the 1:13 mark, I get a little carried away talking about animation cycles.

53 days...

CHADES CHALLENGE XXIV:
SCORPION FIST AND THE BOMB OF TOMORROW!!




More issues of Scorpion Fist by:
Vi-Dieu Nguyen

Next issue:
CHADES CHALLENGE XXV:
ALTERNATE EVOLUTION

The next Chades Challenge (due in two Fridays on the 25th) is to design a unique evolutionary ladder. Could be the evolution of robotic life forms, or the mold in that coffee that's been sitting on your desk since Good Friday.

I've forgotten to interview folks for the last couple of Chades Challenges, but with the success of "How to Train Your Dragon" I thought it only appropriate to interview my old buddy, Dreamworks storyman Steve MacLeod of Clan MacLeod (caricature by Vi), who worked on the film.

Interview with a Genius III: Steve MacLeod


What attracted you to storyboarding over animation or design?

I love telling stories. It's really fun to get people excited, make em laugh or feel deeply about drawings and I think you mentioned a long time ago, that 'frankenstein' feeling of bringing things to life! It's magic! I love animation, I miss it, but to be honest, I never really liked inbetweening ;) So today's style of storyboards tend to feel like animation key poses, which works out great for someone like me who loves animation, but hates inbetweening! And for me personally, the design journey is painful and full of confusion and awkwardness. I'll leave that task to people who enjoy that process. I personally prefer doing story problem solving.

Would you like to direct some day? If so, are there any filmmakers you'd aspire to be like tonally or genre-wise?

I don't know. Again, there's so many other people better equipped and experienced people for the task. I think people underestimate what the job requirement is and they just want the throne and title. I think the dream would be to always be working for a director where you can trust their decisions and they can clearly communicate it. If I'm in that position for the rest of my life then I have no complaints. I love directors like Spielberg with a lot of fun, action, emotion, and story. I love the characters Frank Capra creates. I love the energy and innovation of directors like Fincher and Ritchie. I love the depth and richness of Kubrick. I guess it depends on the day, because I like everything from Remains of the Day to Tremors! I always tell people I wish I had directing credit for Willy Wonka (original) and Rocky IV.

Do you have any film-making pet-peeves? Anything that would make you walk out of a movie?

I'm having a hard time thinking of pet-peeves. I guess it bothers me when there's action and suspense and I don't know what the characters are going after. Confusion is never a good thing. The TV show LOST walks a fine line sometimes, which why may have fallen away from it. I HAVE found myself in the past turning off movies if I don't like being with the characters or being in the world, if that makes any sense. And the opposite rings true as well that if I like the world and the characters I can sit through almost ANYTHING!

Your Framefilter blog hosts an impressive collection of screen-grabs. What about these stills do you try to translate into your own compositions and storyboards?

I don't know. You know, someone I really respect chewed me out once for doing screen grabs of just pretty shots, making the argument that shots out of context aren't useful, or that making pretty shots is the easy part. I guess that makes sense, but at the same time, a single image can stand out in a persons mind for years and years. I purposefully made myself go through my movie collection (my favorites) and take a still of the image that most impacted me and i called the series on my blog 'favorite movie moments.' I put the links recently on the side links as a reminder for myself to look at them and think about how powerful a single image can have in telling your story and making it resonate with the viewer. Anyways, I guess the shorter answer would be to give myself visual stimuli and help me get ideas going. I also like making list and organizing, and looking for patterns. The cool thing is you can label each post and even categorize, so maybe you'll start notice patterns, way of shooting comedy, versus action or fantasy, versus suspense or drama. I think the site provides many things for other people too, like lighting and color decisions.

You also create comics on the side. What do you go for when you create your own characters? What type of worlds do you like to create/stories do you like to tell?

I like telling stories. I try to just get these stories out of my head to make room for more. Comics seems faster than making a film (at least in the crude style I do them in) or maybe even writing a script (at least for me). It's a good testing ground for me to work out story problems, get practice, push my draftsmanship, etc. etc. It also stands as a time capsule of sorts to gauge if I'm improving or not. I miss that about making student films every year, being able to see your progression or digression in certain areas. It keeps me in check and definitely slows my criticism of others and makes it easier to forgive a filmmaker of movie flaws when i suffer the same problems in my stories.

You worked on the recently released and quite awesome "How to Train Your Dragon." What parts did you board?

In a broad view, I think because of the accelerated schedule, everyone kind of worked on everything. We had a lot of group discussions and things, so ideas go to everyone involved, but scenes were eventually handed out to individuals and I was handed Bonfire Blues (scene of teens talking around the fire), Stoick at Sea (scene of looking for Dragon Isle), Zippleback training Day (final being Johane Matte's), Dragon Island (scene with reveal of big Dragon), Final Exam (scene where Hiccup has to kill dragon, final version was John Puglisi's), and a big chunk of Rise of the Monster (scene of vikings attacking dragon island) and a lot of odds and ends all over.

Can you talk about your process on those scenes or what inspiration you drew from?

We'd get really strong script pages from Dean and Chris (directors/writers) and then do roughs and then pitch and approve them, then clean em up if there was time! The show moved so fast that much of my boards were horrendous looking! I think everyone was inspired by the artwork, designs, and the other sequences that were being done. Tom Owens did some of the earliest sequences put into production (flying scenes) and everyone was so inspired as we watched it move to completion.

What was it like working with Chris Sanders?

Energetic and inspiring. He is passionate about everything. He cares about everything. He is easy to pitch to and responds really well to everything, even if he doesn't think it works. He eventually gets what he wants, even if it means he draws it himself, which he did for the bonding sequences. He and Dean drew quite a bit.

And lastly, what is your favorite film of all-time and why?

Hmmm...I always go to It's a Wonderful Life. It works so well. the characters and story. I feel like George Bailey so often. I feel deeply for him, his urges for adventure and longing to leave his small town and see the world, and his frustration/limitations with money and the idea of an older brother sacrificing for his younger brother so that he can be provided for, and so on and so forth. I love it. I love people and strongly believe in investing energy in relationships, which sometimes people take for granted, so when those people come in at the end and give back to George I'm always really touched. The story is so strong.

Thanks to Steve for all the insight! For preview Interviews with geniuses, see:
Daniel Miller
Vi-Dieu Nguyen

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!

Interview with a Genius II: Daniel Miller

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."

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.

Interview with a Genius I: 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.

OPENING DAY

As most of you know from the trailer, this film has been over ten years in the making. I'm sorry I could only have worked on the last year of production, because as some of you may know I'm a bit of a sci-fi nut, and early in production Wall-E was already one of my favorites. The entire crew was phenomenal, but the man whose work really shines is Ben Burtt, the sound designer and voice of Wall-E. As animators, we didn't get very many dialogue tracks, but Ben's sympathetic motors and humorous metallic whirs gave each robot a voice of their own, and made animating on this film a truly unique experience.
My hometown morning show, Good Day Sacramento, stopped by the studio yesterday and their jocose entertainment reporter, Mark S. Allen, interviewed Ben and myself. Talking with Mark was a blast because I pretty much grew up on that show and his movie reviews, so being on the other side of the camera with him was a real trip. You can catch Ben's interview here and mine here.
Anyway, hope you all enjoy Wall-E as much as I enjoyed working on it! In summary, go see Wall-E!

You'll believe a robot can fly.

DTV Interview

Here's an interview with my friend Victor Jimenez from One Dream Studios. I know Vic from highschool, and I'm constantly inspired by his ability to keep creating films and telling stories, so I was more than happy to answer his questions about life, the industry, and everything. Note my intro tune...oh yeah, Star Tours, baby!

For those of you achin' for more interview goodness, here's one of me toothless that I gave to SECC after my Pixar internship in '05. This interview is great because if you pause on any given frame, I look completely deranged. Enjoy!