Animator Bloghttp://www.zanekohler.com/all-animationblog/en-US2010-08-01T07:15:54ZSquarespace Site Server v5.11.5 (http://www.squarespace.com/)GIRAF: Independent Animation Festivalhttp://www.zanekohler.com/all-animationblog/2010/7/8/giraf-independent-animation-festival.htmlZane Kohler2010-07-08T23:31:09ZJust wanted to pass along a shout out for GIRAF: Independent Animation Festival. They are looking for a call of entries. Information below
Giant Incandescent Resonating Animation Festival (GIRAF) Wednesday, Nov 3-7, 2010 at Plaza Theatre, Calgary, AB
Call for Submissions
The Giant Incandescent Resonating Animation Festival is the only exclusively independent animation festival in Canada, with a focus on experimental and self-produced animated film. GIRAF plays an essential role in the promotion, education and appreciation of independent animation from around the world, exposing hungry local audiences to the best animated content from at home and abroad.
Important Note: Submission deadline August 2nd, 2010
]]>Soldier Sketchhttp://www.zanekohler.com/all-animationblog/2010/6/21/soldier-sketch.htmlZane Kohler2010-06-21T20:23:03ZHere is a sketch I did of a WWII soldier. I was trying to capture the feel of someone who is a bit shell shocked and has been walking for days with little food or sleep. I did post this drawing up for Don Bluth to Critique. He gave some good advice. He had mentioned the soldiers gear is still to neatly in place. Everything should be sagging more or off center. Like his back pack might be leaning more off his right or left shoulder. The rifle could be hanging off the shoulder as opposed to strapped perfect against his back. Also He felt the face did not quite portray him being shell shocked. I have started some thumb sketches of the revisions. I hope to get some free time to do another round.
]]>Toy Story 3http://www.zanekohler.com/all-animationblog/2010/6/21/toy-story-3.htmlZane Kohler2010-06-21T19:46:53ZWanted to give some props to my Class 4 Mentor Brett Coderre who worked on Toy Story 3. I feel this film is the best in the series. I think it was by for the most emotional. It still had plently of laughs and light hearted moments. The cool thing I have noticed is that one of Brett's shots is the one being used in promo's for video and magazines. How cool is that. Below is a photo of his shot from Entertainment Weekly (or as long as it is live)
I also recently discovered that Brett had dug up some of his old work for Finding Nemo and updated it to use in the new attraction at Disneyland called world of color. More can be seen in the Video Here about it including comments from Brett himself. So Congrats to seeing his work getting out there!
]]>Finished Jackalope drawinghttp://www.zanekohler.com/all-animationblog/2010/4/24/finished-jackalope-drawing.htmlZane Kohler2010-04-24T20:47:14ZI thought I would have some fun and color my drawing I did for the Bluth competition. Which by the way I completely for got to submit :( . Thats ok though because in the end all I wanted a new character drawing. That is what I got. Sure it is not perfect but was a fun learning process.
]]>Last week of Animation Mentorhttp://www.zanekohler.com/all-animationblog/2010/3/22/last-week-of-animation-mentor.htmlZane Kohler2010-03-22T21:43:20ZI can't believe this is the last week. It started off feeling like it was going slow. Which was cool because I love animation. Now that I am at the end...it feels like the whole thing was a blink of an eye. Everything is a "last" this week. I turned in my last assignment on Saturday. Last lecture this week. It is all kind of sad. However I should not focus on what I am leaving behind but reflect on what I have gained. One can easily say skills. I certainly have. Considering 18 months ago I did not even know how to use Maya. Now I can bring characters to life. However the friends and connections I have made are really amazing. It is awesome to have been apart of something like this that I have shared with others.
When it comes to my portfolio I still have a lot to work on. The good news is AM has given me the road map to keep going. To keep refining my skills long after being out of AM. AM does have a alumni section of the site where we can still work on our animation and get feedback from fellow alumni. I am looking forward to utilizing this. I am behind on updating my AM blogs. Once things calm down I will have some time to update and organize the AM blogs. To put a big shiny bow them and call them done. Later this summer I will be planning on heading out the AM Graduation as well as their annual BBQ!
]]>Jack A. Lope Sketchhttp://www.zanekohler.com/all-animationblog/2010/2/25/jack-a-lope-sketch.htmlZane Kohler2010-02-25T18:02:50ZOver at DonBluthAnimation.com we are focusing on character design. We have to draw a character with an emotion picked from a list supplied by Don. It is up to us to convey that emotion along with a few lines describing the situation they are in. The deadline is the end of March. Until then we can draw as many characters as we want. Each Wednesday we can post our drawings and Don will take a look at them. At the end of March we submit which one we feel is the best. Below is my first sketch. It is a Jackalope aptly named Jack A. Lope.
This character is Jack A. Lope. He Lives out in the desert where food is sparse. So when he finds it...He is very excited. Being a jackalope he is thought to be fictitious until a burley transient comes across him as a money ticket. Currently Jack has just discovered food left by the transient.
My main focus I wanted Don to look at in this drawing was my line work. In particular my straights against curves. Or also called active and inactive lines. As the name states it is how you have the drawn curves balanced out by angles.
This past Wednesday Don took a look at it and was positive about the drawing. He did say I had the straights and curves working. He said it might have been nice to see a more pronounced French 'S' curves. Where one of the lines has a stylized S shape to it. He did spot a subdued one in the right ear. Otherwise he did get the feeling and ideas I was trying to convey about the character.
]]>Congratulations to PIXAR! UP Nominated as Best Picture.http://www.zanekohler.com/all-animationblog/2010/2/2/congratulations-to-pixar-up-nominated-as-best-picture.htmlZane Kohler2010-02-02T19:31:06ZThis is big news for animation. Up has been nominated for Best Picture category. This marks the second time in the history of animation. Beauty and the Beast was nominated in 1991. While Snow White won a special Oscar it was never nominated. A few years back a new category was created specifically for animated features. This was considered a double edge sword. On one side animation features were getting recognition. On the other people wondered if animation would ever now be considered to compete in the best picture category. It was believed that it could alter voters perception that animation is even a best picture contender. So it seems that the voters do indeed accept animation as a best picture. However it is "up" against some stiff competition and probably is the long shot to win over it's live action counter parts. Would be cool to see it win!
Congrats to all who worked on it!
]]>Class 6 is a go : Polishing and Portfoliohttp://www.zanekohler.com/all-animationblog/2010/1/22/class-6-is-a-go-polishing-and-portfolio.htmlZane Kohler2010-01-23T02:42:00ZClass 6 has started. My Mentor for this course is Mike Stern. He Currently works at Dreamworks. He adds a new element from any other mentor I have had so far. He has actually gone through the AM course. He was one of the first students to graduate some years back. He really knows his animation and shows experience as a mentor. On the flip side he understands what it is like being on the other side as a student and offers insightful information. He did an awesome animated short called Distraxion. Very funny and of course amazing animation. I am looking forward to picking his brain on creating it. We have been lucky enough already where he showed us some early animation from it.
This class will be interesting to blog about as it is a bit different from past classes. Being that this is the Polishing and Portfolio class there will be no new work to document. The class consists of polishing the best of any assignments that will make a well balanced demo reel. Adding polish to a shot is usually very minor tweaks. So much so in many cases the average viewer can not tell you what is different. If done right they will just know which one "feels" better. So I am not entirely sure how I will document the assignments. At the moment I think I will just show the before and after polish videos. As of right now I am looking to have 4 or 5 clips to polish for my reel. One clip is still waiting review from my mentor.
]]>New Year, New Classhttp://www.zanekohler.com/all-animationblog/2010/1/22/new-year-new-class.htmlZane Kohler2010-01-23T00:51:11ZFirst off, a little late but Happy New Years! I started my sixth and final class in Animation Mentor a couple weeks back. Exciting and scary at the same time. Exciting to know how much I have accomplished in the last year. Scary cause it is almost over and in many ways I feel I still have so much to learn. I am not saying that Animation Mentor has not done their job of education, they definitely have! As my skills develop and grow so do my expectations of where I want to be. If I was able to take a modified DeLorean over 88 and show my reel to the old me a year ago I would have been ecstatic. However I have grown enough as an animator to look back at my work with a critical eye and know there is much needed work. So I will have my work cut out for me in the next several weeks.
On another note it is the last day for me to get my vote in for the Annie Awards. I have already started the voting process. I am saving the biggest category for last. The features category. This really has been a great year for feature films. Which makes for a harder time voting. For the most part I have my decision made. I am going to watch one the films again tonight as a refresher before I cast my final vote.
What an amazing event. My wife and I showed up on Saturday just around noon. A bit later than we had planned but L.A. Traffic is always unpredictable. We met up with Owen whom I had met online via DonBluthanimation.com. He is very cool and I was very happy to finally meet him in person. Luckily for us he arrived earlier and had already scoped the floor. My first order of business was to try and meet Mr. Bluth in person and he knew exactly where to go. After walking in and getting our badges I was surprised at how small it was. That was my own pre conceived notion after attending a place like the comic-con. However, the small size is ultimately what made it amazing. It was very intimate.
Getting advice from Director/Animator/Mentor Don Bluth
We made our way around the small room to Mr. Bluth's Panel. I have chatted online with Mr. Bluth via his Don's Club Q&A session but the first time meeting him in person. Owen introduced me to him. I shook Mr. Bluth's hand and exchanged hellos. He then paused and looked at me and said in a joking manner"With a name like Zane I thought you were going to be taller". The Ice was broken and we talked for a bit about his Club and a preview of what to expect. After some pictures it was time to let others have their chance. Off to explore more of the floor. What I found very refreshing was how nice most everybody was. Everybody was very easy to talk to no matter a vendor or fellow patron.
Don Bluth and Myself
Me and Owen Welsh
Another Highlight was getting to meet Animator Andreas DeJa (below). He did such memorable characters for Disney such as Jafar, Scar, Lilo and most recently Mama Odie for the Princess and the Frog. He was doing a signing for a sketchbook he was selling. He was very cool. Asked if I wanted a sketch of any character. I told him Scar would be awesome. With in no time at all he had scar sketched out.
Me and Andreas Deja
After lunch it was pretty much time to get in line if we wanted to see the Bluth/Goldman panel. Time flew by waiting in line as Owen and I sat chatting about animation. Next thing we knew we were being let it. We were near the front of the line but still a good 20 people back. So I was surprised when I saw the first row was wide open. I guess some people were too afraid to be that close. So we took advantage if it. It was a great inspiring panel. He discussed his early days at Disney and why he left. Also his journey that led him to where he is now. The first 15 minutes of the panel can be viewed Here. After the panel was over there was to be a Q&A right outside the room. Amazingly enough it was a very small group of about 6. Don was very cool with his time and chatted with us for probably close to a half hour. After Don Left I saw Mr. Goldman was still there. He left Disney with Bluth and has been his right hand man since. I listened to a few of his great stories and shook his hand before he headed out.
Don Bluth and Gary Goldman Panel Hosted by Jerry Beck
Later that evening there was a midnight screening of Don Hahn's "Waking Sleeping Beauty". It is a Documentary of behind the scenes at Disney from 1984 to 1994. Don Hahn was on hand to introduce the film as well some Q&A when it was over. I really liked the film. Very insightful to what was happening on a corporate level during those 10 years. I definitely recommend seeing it when it officially comes out in 2010.
Waking Sleeping Beauty Trailer
After the film and Q&A I chatted for a few minutes with fellow Animation mentor Students. It was great to finally meet a few in person and some for the first time! I then looked at my watch and saw it was the wee hours of the morning and I was crashing. I headed back the the hotel room and called it a day. What a day it was at that.
