Animation for “What’s In The Bible?” Volume 9

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DVD Cover

Earlier this year I animated another segment for the DVD series “What’s In The Bible?” (from VeggieTales creator Phil Vischer). Volume 9, “God Speaks”, covers the major and minor prophets in the Old Testament. I was asked to animate five brief clips to illustrate the various categories of biblical prophecy (i.e. instruction oracles, indictment oracles, etc.). I had no idea that scholars divided prophecy into categories, which just goes to show what a quality production this series is. It’s great for all ages. Although primarily aimed at kids, even a guy like me who’s been reading the Bible regularly for most of his adult life can still learn a few things from it.

All of the scenes I animated took place in a courtroom. Below are a few screen grabs, followed by a short DVD promo clip that contains a portion of my animation.

Animation still

[youtube_sc url=wqGDYo9F4mA width=430]

You can order DVDs of What’s In The Bible? from their website or on Amazon.

Animation for “What’s In The Bible?” Vol. 8

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For the past couple of years VeggieTales creator Phil Vischer has been working on an ambitous new project called What’s In The Bible? It’s a 13-part DVD series that uses puppets, live action, and animation to educate children and adults alike about the contents of the best-selling book of all time. It’s an entertaining blend of Bible stories, theology, church history, and answers to tough questions, with equal parts silliness and reverence.

I’ve had the honor of animating a few short segments for the series, and it’s been a lot of fun. Volume 8: Psalms, Proverbs, and the Writings has just been released. I  animated a short segment on Proverbs to help explain the difference between being smart and being wise. Unfortunately I can’t post the animation here yet, but I do have permission to show a few screen shots:

Here’s a trailer for What’s In The Bible Volume 8. You can order the DVD here.

EDIT: The client has posted a portion of the animation I did for them on YouTube. For your viewing pleasure:

[youtube_sc url=Ynq1evqeKmg width=430]

VeggieTales Costumes and Props

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Last year I was hired by Big Idea to design some costumes and props for a VeggieTales compilation DVD called “God Loves You Very Much” (Amazon link). The DVD contains three previously published VeggieTales stories (“The Ballad of Little Joe”, “Gideon: Tuba Warrior” and “Rack Shack and Benny”) but new countertop segments were created to weave the stories together. My work was used in those kitchen comedy bits.

Veggietales-LarryVeggietales-BobVeggieTales-EaselThe script called for a few of the characters to create paintings during the countertop segments. Here’s a couple of the prop paintings I created:

VeggieTales-paintings

“God Loves You Very Much” can be purchased from Amazon. (Full disclosure: If you click and then buy, Amazon will drop a few coins into my piggy bank.)

EDIT: Here’s a screen grab showing how it all turned out:

VeggieTales screen grab

New Client: VeggieTales

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I’m excited to announce I’ve recently completed some props and costume designs for an upcoming VeggieTales animation project. I can’t show any artwork yet but I have their permission to announce them as a client.

I’ve worked with Big Idea in the past as a character designer for the “3-2-1 Penguins!” TV series and I’ve done some VeggieTales work indirectly for Scholastic, but this is the first time I’ve created concept work directly for the VeggieTales animation series. They’d approached me twice in the past but both times I was too busy to take on anything new. I’m glad it finally worked out. They’re terrific people and I hope I can work with them again in the future.

Animation for “What’s In The Bible?” Vol. 6

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A new promo has just been posted for volume 6 of What’s In The  Bible?, an ongoing project from VeggieTales creator Phil Vischer. It’s a terrific series that uses a combination of puppets, live action, and animation to walk through the Bible step-by-step re-telling the stories, explaining their significance, and answering tough questions. There’s a good balance of humor and depth that should appeal both to kids and adults.

At the end of this promo is a cartoon singing choir which was designed and animated by Yours Truly.

What’s In The Bible? is available on DVD or as digital downloads (full episodes and smaller bite-size segments). More info at the official website.

Monkey Business

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Monkey - Wonderblimp of Knowledge

Last year I designed a monkey puppet to join the cast of characters on JellyTelly.com, a multimedia website venture from Focus on the Family and VeggieTales creator Phil Vischer. There’s lots of terrific educational video content on the site and several of the characters have also crossed over into the DVD series What’s In The Bible?

The new JellyTelly site is now live and, for the moment at least, free to watch. It’s a beta site and the creators are considering some sort of subscription model for future content but at the moment the site’s primary source of revenue is donations.

The monkey character is part of a new segment called “Clive and Ian’s Wonderblimp of Knowledge”. Unfortunately I’m not able to embed a clip but you can watch the Wonderblimp segments on this page of JellyTelly.com.