CTN Animation Expo Recap

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This past weekend I attended the first annual CTN Animation Expo in Burbank. What a fantastic weekend! Hundreds of animation artists descended on the Burbank Marriott for three days of workshops, seminars, networking, and hanging out. There were dozens of artists exhibiting their work and some top people in the biz giving incredible lectures and interviews.

Here’s a quick rundown of some of the many highlights

Throughout the Expo several top artists were stationed out in the lobby doing live demos. Here Tony Bancroft (former Disney animator and director of Mulan) does a demo animation of Pumbaa from The Lion King. An overhead camera projected his work on large monitors.

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Animator Phil Nibbelink

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A few weeks ago I attended the Motion ’09 animation conference in New Mexico where I gave two presentations on character design. One of the mainstays of the conference is animator Phil Nibbelink. Last year he taught at least three sessions relating to animation and this year I think he gave about a half-dozen presentations including a panel discussion with three other long-time Disney animators. Phil really knows his stuff and I’ve learned a lot from listening to him expound on various aspects of filmmaking.

Phil worked for ten years at Disney and was a directing animator on Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Then he spent another ten years working under Steven Spielberg as an animation director, working on such films as Fivel Goes West (which he directed) and Casper. In recent years Phil has turned his attention to independent filmmaking, cranking out not just one but three full-length animated features single-handedly.

Phil does a lot of freelance work these days. He’s an experienced animation pro who really knows the ins and outs of the business. Give his website a looksee.

CTN Animation Expo Just Around The Corner

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CTN

I’ve been looking forward to this for months. The CTN Animation Expo starts Friday in Burbank, CA. To my knowledge this is the first-ever event of its kind. Artists and creatives from all over the Hollywood animation scene will be gathered under one roof for three days of inspiring seminars, workshops, and networking. Lots of artists will be exhibiting their work and some of the big studios in town will be scouting for talent. There’s going to be a lot going on and the event is generating a lot of buzz. Highlights include:

  • Panels and Presentations…click here for schedule.
  • A tribute to legendary Cartoonist Ronald Searle.
  • Spotlight Booksignings and Exclusive Sketchbook Releases.
  • Speed Talent sessions—show your portfolio, ask questions, meet a mentor.
  • Screenings: “The Secret of the Kells”, “Banjo The Woodpile Cat”, and a surprise late night screening 11pm on Saturday… sshhhhhh!
  • Live Demonstrations hourly by the creators of some of the highest grossing films in the history of animation.
  • Exclusive Spotlight Interviews: (in alphabetical order)
    Peter de Sève
    Gary Goldman and Don Bluth
    Mike Mignola
    Paul Young and Tom Moore the makers of “The Secret of the Kells”
  • CTN-X@nite Networking Parties sponsored by Animation Magazine, The Marriott Hotel and Walt Disney Studios.
  • Reunions: Don Bluth Studios, Walt Disney Florida and Rowland Animation and more.
  • Live Demonstrations all weekend.
  • Recession Buster Raffle $1000 cash and prizes. One winner a day.
  • ToonBoom:  Presentations and Software Raffle
  • Z-Brush: Presentations and Software Raffle
  • Corel/Wacom Artist Contest: Win a Painter and Intuos 4 tablet.

You can still get tickets, starting at just $25. Hope to see you there!

(The CTN Expo is sponsored by the Creative Talent Network.)

PlaySkool Animation for Hasbro

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Tubby-ScreenShot1

Last summer I was hired by PUNY Entertainment in Minneapolis to assist a team of animators working on a new website for Hasbro’s “PlaySkool” brand. The website was created by Popular Front, also out of Minneapolis. My job was to animate a few dozen clips of Tubby the Turtle, one of four new Hasbro characters. I completed my animation over a year ago but, due to the size and complexity of the project, the site has just recently gone live. I’m excited to finally be able to show my work!

I did about two-thirds of the Tubby animation, the rest was done by other animators at PUNY. To see my work you can go to the site and watch for the red storybook to appear in the lower right-hand corner. Click on it and then choose the Turtle character.

The site is designed to be highly interactive so that each character will say and do something different each time you navigate the site. There were something like 150 total clips that had to be animated for each of the four characters.

I’ve also created a montage of a few of the clips I did. Unfortunately I’m having problems exporting them to a format that I can post on this blog or even on YouTube, but you can view the clip on the animation page of my website. It’s the very first clip at the top of the list.

Apologies

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I want to apologize for not posting much lately. Over the last few weeks things have been busier than usual around here which is saying a lot. I’ve been juggling not one but three animation projects plus a good amount of regular freelance illustration work. For one project I hired a team of very talented freelance animators to crank out 150 clips in only three weeks! That project finally wrapped yesterday and I can’t wait to tell you more about it. In the middle of it all I took a trip to the Motion ’09 conference where I prepared and gave two talks on character design.

Things should be slowing back down to a sane pace around here sometime next week and then I look forward to posting more regularly again. Thanks to all of you for your patience.

VeggieTales Creator Partners With Tyndale For New DVD Series

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Some exciting news about an upcoming project I’ll be working on:

Phil Vischer, the creator of VeggieTales (the best-selling direct-to-video series of all time) and of the kids’ media website JellyTelly.com has just announced a partnership with Tyndale House Publishers to create a 13-volume educational DVD series called “What’s In The Bible?” The DVD’s will take kids through the Bible from cover to cover using a combination of puppets, animation, and live action to teach about the Bible and the Christian faith. The DVD’s will be released this coming Spring.

Announcement on Phil’s blog.

Press release from Tyndale

The best part (for me at least) is that I get to play a small role in the project. I’ve been hired to animate three segments, and if that goes well there will likely be more to come.

The DVDs are going to echo back to the spirit of the old Disney educational films from the 1960’s but with a modern, snappy sensibility. I’m a huge fan of the early Disney and UPA-style educational films (especially the work of Ward Kimball like the classic Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom – Amazon link). For years I’ve been thinking how cool it would be to use educational animation to teach the Bible and theology. Bible literacy is on the decline in America so this series will help fill a huge need. I’m thrilled to play a small part in it. Based on what I’ve seen so far, it’s going to be a very fun and quality product!

Look for the first two DVDs to be in stores in Spring of 2010. In the mean time, for samples of Phil’s latest offerings visit JellyTelly.com. Just what exactly is JellyTelly? Glad you asked.