Sunday, June 30, 2013

a little bit of annecy in philadelphia

yesterday's screening was fun - at Eric's request we watched a bit of the most recently refurbished version of "Yellow Submarine" to start off with, and then launched into Annecy 2012, starting with "The Making of Longbird", a quirky graduation film that tread a line between documentary and farce. Then on to "The People Who Never Stop," a non-japanese piece about the japanese. Several other shorts, of which I will make just one more mention: "Une Furtiva Lagrima," a wonderful stop-motion quip that is a great example of a simple idea executed with precision and emotional punch. You can't tell whether to laugh or cry for this poor fish.

and happy almost birthday and anniversary to Ellen (on Sunday), who showed up with marathoning husband Andy and their home-brewed beer, which was very wonderful! here's a link to Ellen's website: actsofpaint.com for a little of advertising for our newest Head.

we also enjoyed the convivial company of Eric, his girlfriend Rebecca (sp?), Maya (back for a return visit - good to see you), and Janelle, once again making herself indispensable by bringing back the dvd that made it possible.

thanks to everyone for coming and making it fun, and now...back to work!

Saturday, June 29, 2013

ogre on the dune

did a bunch of pencil drawing revisions in sequence 14 today. finish those off tomorrow morning and then do a bunch more coloring. check out the blog.

so glad the entryway light isn't filled with water anymore. nothing like the thrill of the possibility of electrocution to make you skip a little faster past the front door to the studio...

another work day, movie night coming up

we spent thursday working together in the studio, animating at the wheel and coloring at the stylus.

with all of us crammed into this little space, I imagine this with forward nostalgia as the "early days," when chairs slid down the wooden floor incline towards the center of the room if you didn't find a way to anchor them down, when you could hear Eric making various sounds to himself, where Janelle occasionally lapsed into staring immobile at the wall for undefined periods of time, where I worked at the filing cabinet because there were only three desks and debated with Eric about the relative mertis of various Apple devices, and where new head Ellen wondered how anyone ever actually got any work done in this environment.

ah, the good ol' days...they happen in the present, you know. remember that.




we didn't use the cintiqs this time because I forgot to take them out of their cases. oh well, definitely next week. to me, the chief advantage was the kickstand, which increased the drawing angle so you could sit up straight and not lean into, bent over like a pretzel, squinting at the screen. but I'm alternating between the digital and the analog world at the moment, drawing with the pencil and coloring with the stylus.










and on saturday we're having another animation movie night, this time with the 2011-12 annecy dvd's, + whatever else is brought up to the table. hooray for home-made beer from ellen and andy!

after some "this and that," the ogre drawings now sit in a single filing cabinet - one with two filing drawers (what a find). Uhuru always has something tempting, walking by it. except of course on mondays, when they're closed.

everyone has a post-ogre project they are considering throwing at Motion Heads, except me - my next film is going to be a solo effort: a moving doodle, stripped down and more improvised, more jazz, less linear. so I'm looking forward to contributing to someone else's notions.




the accordion place moved...wonder how much the rent in that now empty space...big enough to set up a hammock? would have to be big enough to accommodate two or three disc desks, plus...a stop-motion set, workshop area, and the requisite computer stations: a mix of real things with computer things. and a lounge. and a little refrigerator. and a projector/screening area. and the vegetable garden out back, or at least an herbarium on the window sill.

so that's it for now.

see you soon and stay tuned: we're working on putting sequence 02 together in color.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

janelle's annecy blog post

and by the way, Janelle came back from Annecy with goodies (including the 2011-12 dvd), and wrote about it in her blog, which you can check out. there are lots of interesting things going in Janelle World, and she's got some great sketches there, too.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

group shot

Motion Heads at work today. This was a full crew day, with everyone back from adventures to other places (France, Peru, New York, and Cape May).

Animation, coloring, and backgrounds...working our way through Sequence 03.

Friday, June 14, 2013

progress with the ogre

















color is making its way into the proceedings..."The Ogre & the Mermaid" is our main project at present. the team is once again expanding, now to include Ellen and, hopefully, Jessica. welcome!