This is one of those little things that irks me, as a graphic designer. As you can see, the coupons (which are given to you for donating to Children’s Miracle Network) are not designed with consideration to match the image to it’s barcode. So if you were to try getting a discount on those Band-Aids, be sure to take the nail polish coupon with you!

As a savvy consumer, you may well feel that this is no big issue. I don’t disagree. I haven’t used them, so they may very well have the correct barcodes, it’s just the text is wrong. I am certain this will trip up quite a number of folks, all the same. As a graphic designer, I know well the occasionally tight deadlines, but this was an incredibly simple fix and, to me, feels kind of sloppy.

But I swear I’ve been doing things.

Since I last updated, I’ve supplied my talents on the following animations

Assembled the opening shot, clean up on “Let’s meet our contestants” scene.

Character building, animating Reason’s 5 and 6.

ONLY THE AD AT THE BEGINNING! First pass animation on both glasses and ice cubes, lip sync, backgrounds.

Back in February I attended Titmouse Inc’s 5 Second Film day screening and was just wowed, and even though I’ve heard rumblings that they had more than one day to work, I’ll forgive ‘em this time. It’s kind of late to post about that too, but now that they are being released one by one on Titmouse and 6 Point Harness’s love-channel Rug Burn, I may do a quick write up about what happened anyway… But really, you had to be there.

I’ve also done a bunch of other things, but really, the statute of limitation is up on discussing most of them at length. (Like my second trip to the CTNXpo…Oops.) My next step is to prepare for another attempt at the Nickelodeon Artist Fellowship/Program.

So yeah, I’m still here, fighting the good fight. This is going to be a good year, I can feel it.

Last year, I got to meet one of my idols – Don Bluth, I landed an internship, and got to swap cards with a bunch of cool people, many of whom are like me and are trying to get in to the industry. Hopefully this year will be just as amazing. The added bonus is that I have my own transportation this time, so I’m looking forward to being well rested.

There will be workshops, demonstrations, a few networking events, and fun times had by all. Many of the workshops I’m taking will discuss freelancing and doing your own thing, I’ve gotten a bit of interest in it from acquaintances and it’s something I’ve been toying with for a while now.

You know when you’re cleaning a room, or closet, or whatever, and half-way through it all seems like a bigger mess than you started? Everything’s laid out everywhere in categorized piles, you get side-tracked and start organizing other things, etc… It’s overwhelming but there’s nothing to do but keep going, the floor’s a mess and you can’t sit down anywhere. Then, very unexpectedly, *ta-da!* everything is done, put away neatly, and you can see your floor and furniture again. Well, I’m in the middle of that, but I’m hoping by Wednesday everything will have fallen into place.

Last year I wasn’t fully recovered until the following weekend, and then I forgot to post about it, but this year I will try to put together a wordy post about it.

Last night I sat in on a recording of Rob Paulsen’s podcast at the Jon Lovitz Comedy Club in Universal City. Alongside Rob, there was Cam Clarke, Townsend Coleman, Barry Gordon, Peter Renaday, Renae Jacobs, and Susan Blu. You would probably know them better as Raphael, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, Splinter, April O’Neil, and Autobot Arcee(or the voice director for TMNT and other shows).

I just want to say that it was such an awesome show, and I regret not knowing/being able to go to Rob’s podcasts sooner. A friend of mine from back home, who is a big Turtles fan, came out for the day and we got to catch up on things and be touristy. The actors were blown away when my friend told them he’d flown all the way from West Virginia to see them! (true story) I got a picture taken with them, and he brought some of his own art for them to sign. By the time we’d stumbled out of the club around 10, we were both exhausted from the 11 hours of fun we’d had since picking him up from the airport.

Click here to listen to the podcast.

PS – I hope you’ve since recovered your phone that night, you know who you are.

]]> http://owlfeathersinc.com/rob-paulsens-talking-toons-podcast/feed/ 0 http://owlfeathersinc.com/music-saves-lives-feat-supa-pirate-booty-hunt/ http://owlfeathersinc.com/music-saves-lives-feat-supa-pirate-booty-hunt/#comments Fri, 27 Jul 2012 02:47:09 +0000 Katie http://owlfeathersinc.com/?p=792 More »]]> Hey guys!

Been meaning to put this up – it’s the animated PSA I worked on during my internship! Pretty exciting since, for now, this is the first major published project. I’m super proud of it, and I like seeing how I’ve progressed from scene to scene. Music Saves Lives is a charity that encourages young adults to donate blood and bone marrow, in exchange for a chance to meet their fave musicians or tickets to events, etc. Supa Pirate Booty Hunt is the web series of Smorgasbord Productions, featuring the hi-jinks of Captain Zack Stevers and Daniel the Turtle.

I did more than just animation on this project as well, but most of it was behind the scenes stuff, so you either don’t see it in the final product, or it’s just not as interesting. One cool yet time consuming thing I did was redesign the main character into an old, strung-out rocker. Anyway the scenes I animated are:

Dave Mustaine rocking out
“Sounds like a plan”
The reveal of Metal Zack and Daniel
Metal Zack and Daniel blown away by rock

Since arriving that fateful day in early summer I have made many connections and worked alongside several talented people. I’m not exactly earning a paycheck in the industry yet, but I have completed two major animation projects (I’ll be sure to post when they’re released) and have another one or two on the back burner.  I’ve also been compiling random and observational humor bites that I’ve been thinking of making into a web comic. As is typical I’ve gotten some practical/not so practical advice on a variety of topics relating to the industry to help me on my way. A couple years short of being 30, I finally acquired my first vehicle, thanks to one very helpful friend I’ve made out here. Slowly but surely, the gnarled mess that was my psyche when I arrived, is untangling and I am among folks who want me to be who I really am, and capable of being. Overall things are going pretty well for me. Not as great as I’d like, but honestly I’m off to a really good start. I’ve been told a lot of people don’t last a whole year, and it’s taken a lot of planning and good fortune for me to be where I am now. Here’s hoping the coming year will be even more amazing.

Finally, special thanks to my parents for always being supportive, especially in matters of art (that did not appear on walls or under coffee tables ) and most especially during this period of personal discovery and renewal. One big Mulligan, as it were. I love you and miss you (holidays, as always, are poo when we aren’t together)

And now, a picture of my stalwart feline companion:

As I mentioned before, cartoons were an important part of holidays. Not exactly as important as spending time with extended family or getting presents and pictures taken, but you get the idea? I guess they could be considered the appetizers of the holiday experience. You revel in the excitement and familiarity of some character saving an entire holiday for the world for yet another year, and you eat  said celebration’s dinner with a catchy Rankin Bass song in your heart.

There exists a tape back home that would always make it’s way to the VCR around this time. The tape was created back when premium TV networks of the time (like HBO or Disney Channel) would offer free trial periods, where homes that didn’t have the channel could see what was on and be enticed to add it to their cable package. My how far we’ve come.

I was reminded also of Easter, and this video tape recently, when at the end of February, the co-creator of The Berenstain Bears died. The Berenstain Bears Easter Surprise was among the collection. The songs were appealing, some of the designs (props, backgrounds) were fairly elaborate. And let’s face it, the Easter Bunny’s rant, at least the end of it, is a great quote. (7:51 in the second half)

Also included on the tape, was Jim Henson’s Tale of the Bunny Picnic. I could not find a complete English copy online, but if you speak German, you can watch the full version of it on YouTube. As always, you can hardly go wrong with Muppets,  and you gotta give it up for the time and effort in creating an entire village of visually distinct rabbits.

Aside from the holiday specials, there were also unrelated episodes of Fraggle Rock and the French cartoon Seabert the Seal. In my brain files of association, these shows are now intrinsically entwined with this holiday.

Between the shows (apparently in a programming block called HBO for Kids), were a couple shorts.  My mom said she has in vain searched for these gems online. One was called Bug Jam which featured 3 bugs (2 + a spider) playing in a band until an enraged human tries to break up the fun after humorously inhaling and expelling the spider while napping. The other is a descriptive poem about a cow, narrated by a small child. The Funny Cow, or something similar.

So there you have it, bears, bunnies, bugs, bovines, and environmental extremists (oh and Fraggles) will always remind me of Easter and vice versa. However you celebrate, whether in church or politely declining those spiced jelly beans at Grandma’s house, I hope you too can take a moment to reminisce on your beloved aspect of the holiday.

At the beginning of the month, of course, I went to Dr. Sketchy’s LA, but the model was fidgety (understatement of the year) and I kind of forced myself to go, so basically I’m not as pleased with my work this time around.

Also in that week was the Los Angeles Animation Festival (I think they missed the boat on calling it the LAAF Fest, where the F stands for ‘film’ instead, but that’s just me).  I got to meet some animation celebs both widely known and industry known,  filmed an interview for Hollywood Today, and endure several misadventures. It started on Wednesday, and concluded the following Sunday, at which point my body totally gave out and I spent most of the day recuperating.

Every other second of my spare time since (when I didn’t have to deal with crummy life things), has been spent on preparing my submission to the Nickelodeon Artist Program, where they sift through thousands of entries and in two rounds of review choose 2 people to take on in an apprenticeship-type role for half a year. As of yesterday my portfolio is awaiting review and I hope I do well. I have been under so much stress, exacerbated by the fact that I did have to spend time doing crummy things like working my regular job, getting a new fridge, and walking 2 miles round trip to a post office that wouldn’t deliver packages to my door like usual. (When I got there the line for pick-up was really long, I’m thinking my mail carrier was being lazy.) Despite all that distraction I managed to finish and I… well I don’t know. I feel good but now it’s the wonder of what the reviewers will say, and what do I do with myself now that I have free time again? More portfolio work is a saafe bet, since I don’t know what round 2 of reviews is.

However, my busy schedule isn’t done just yet. PSYCH!! Last night I went to the LACMA for a special presentation of UPA cartoons, in conjunction with the release of a book on the history of the studio, and a complete collection DVD. For those who aren’t familiar, UPA is the short-lived studio that brought us Mr. Magoo. Along with the studio’s own shorts, there were also played (all on 35mm) cartoons from big name studios who tried to mimic the style, a testament to just how influential the slick, post-war, graphic style was. Speaking of style, tickets to the event also got me into the small installation at the museum which showcased ‘California design’. Much of it was minimalist and geometric, showing heavy leanings to the wonders of the atom and space travel. There was also major influence brought forth by the Latino and Asian communities, as well as other immigrants to Southern California at that time. Architecture at the time focused on wide open, bright areas with few walls dividing rooms, and funky room accents in wild colors or unusual shapes. Literally The Jetsons, sans the technology.

Tonight I expect to be networking with animation peeps at an after party in LA, and tomorrow I might be attending an event where a film I helped work on will be playing. THEN, by April 2nd, I will actually have time to relax.

*passes out*

On Tuesday, we had the pleasure of drawing a relative newcomer to modeling. She debuted at the 36-hour figure drawing marathon sometime in January. Her name is Gabby and, befitting of her retro moniker, her set and dress embraced the classic pin-up style – curled hair, high-waist garter, and a torpedo-cup bra. We also had her friend Sarah as a guest model for two poses. Both were great models. The crowd, of course, is always a pleasure to work with.

I also think I’m turning a corner in my figure drawing, or at least peeking around said corner. Last month I was told, at the suggestion of one of my new Tit-friends, to try breaking away from putting in the skeleton and just draw.  I tried it but was not very confident, some of the anatomy went afoul and went back to my usual method. This time I tried again and I gotta say that myself, and said Tit-friend, were fairly impressed. It’s true sometimes a proportion or angle might be a bit off-model (har), but overall I think they look much more fluid and natural. It also shaved a few seconds off my sketching time, before  my usual method resulted in one-armed models or bodies with blank mannequin heads. Now I can focus on more important things, like drawing shoes well. Or better faces. Heh.

My next step, so I’m told, is to not use those Koh-I-Noor pencils (Noooooooo!!!), and experiment with pen or marker. *gulp*

Be sure to check out the rest in the Gallery.

Originally, this was going to be the big event for me this weekend, until I was ‘adopted’ for Christmas by a neighbor. (For the uninitiated, I moved from the east to west coast this summer to pursue an animation career, leaving behind all my family and the few friends I had there.) Still, this was a big thing for me, I got to treat myself to some beloved old cartoons while knee-deep in small children and old people er, do some job research.

The films were being shown at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, CA, originally a vaudeville and motion picture palace, it is now volunteer-run  and hosts vintage film screenings and various performance arts. Jerry Beck, the animation historian who runs Cartoon Brew, and Frank Gladstone, who is a producer and animator (among other talents), were the hosts for the day’s showing. I met both of them briefly while wandering the CTNeXpo, an animation convention (which I apologize for not posting about last month {it was freaking awesome, btw}).

Anyway, we watched 6 cartoons, one each from five somewhat prominent and recognizable studios of the late 30′s through 50′s – MGM, Terrytoons, UPA, Disney, Walter Lantz, Fleischer, and two Warner Bros. cartoons to start and finish. All supposedly played on original 33mm, all on the big screen – as they would have been seen in their heydays. Prior to the feature, they played an original theatre trailer for Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds – which will be screened at the Alex in April.

Here’s the line-up (each will open to it’s own Youtube page since my blog is loading too slowly to properly embed)

• Duck Amuck – Daffy Duck – Warner 1953
  This film, where Daffy fights against an unseen animator, was the first of three Chuck Jones shorts inducted into the National Film Registry.
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse – Tom and Jerry – MGM 1947
  This was directed by a familiar duo known as Hanna and Barbera, 20 years before the opening of their own studio and familiar limited animation style (which was, in part, to keep up with the demands of a TV cartoon production schedule)
  
• Mother Goose’s Birthday Party – Mighty Mouse – Terrytoons 1950
  Prior to the showing of this ultra rare film (since MM is never shown on TV, and supposedly has no official release collection), Jerry and Frank showed a quick little video that broke-down and highlighted the somewhat absurd ‘straight ahead’ animation style of Jim Tyer. I think this went over a lot of people’s heads, but never the less was interesting to see how one person would achieve different effects and visual gags.
• Popeye the sailor Meets Ali Baba’s Fourty Thieves – Fleischer 1937
  Along with the break-down, there was also a quick behind-the-scenes type clip briefly explaining the process the Fleischer’s used to animate cel cartoons against 3-D backgrounds. The had a rig set up that would hold up a frame of animation over a table where the background had been constructed in miniature. A camera was also attached to the rig and for each frame of motion, the rig was moved slightly. While this method seems bulky and awkward, filming the background THEN overlaying cels of animation would probably have been more problematic and costly, requiring far more redraws  or reshoots to correct errors. Their method also opened up the ability to have 3-D elements in the foreground for added depth.
• Gerald McBoing Boing – UPA 1951
  With a story by Dr. Seuss, UPA pioneered a bold, geometric art style, and also continued to buck the long-standing tradition of making cartoons about animals. You may be more familiar with their first human star – Mr. Magoo.
• Lonesome Ghosts – Mickey, Donald, Goofy – Disney 1937
  Our hosts said this might have been the inspiration for the movie Ghostbusters, and while in a round-about way it might be (though anyone who knows the original premise of the 80′s classic would disagree) I’d say it’s a little closer to the 70′s TV Show featuring Forrest Tucker, Larry Storch and the gorilla… Though it was the cartoon used in the DTV music video of Ghostbusters… ANYWAY……..
• The Cracked Nut (originally released sans title) – Woody Woodpecker – Walter Lantz 1941
  The 1940′s was a real turning point in animation, which for the most part was driven by talking animals and more importantly classical music and fairytale themes. Woody, originally a side character in one Andy Panda cartoon, kicks the entire notion of class right in the dick. This film, originally just called Universal presents “Woody Woodpecker”, has absolutely no plot and it’s just complete weirdness for 6 minutes.
• What’s Opera Doc? – Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd – Warner Bros. 1957
  Considered Chuck Jones’ masterpiece, it is also one of the illustrious 3 films of his in the National Film Registry. This was also one of the last cartoons with Arthur Q. Bryan providing the voice of Elmer Fudd, before his death in 1959.

Aside from the sudden disturbance of a wailing child being removed from the theatre during Lonesome Ghosts the afternoon was great. At the suggestion of our hosts (as if I needed an excuse) I sang along with What’s Opera Doc? which I’ll have you know is one of my very favorites. I’m also not afraid to admit my eyes got a little moist at the end.

For more information about Alex Theatre, and the Alex Film Society, including how to become a member and/or donate, check out the websites below.

Alex Theatre
Alex Film Society