Whew! Things have been REALLY busy for me lately, so much so that it has been a few weeks since my last post here on the blog. My day job has me working as a character designer on a movie about Zhu Zhu Pets toys, and a lot of evenings and weekend time lately have been spent designing props for them as well! Unfortunately I cannot show you any of that work for now, but I can show you personal stuff!
As I mentioned earlier this month, I have been taking a class at the Animation Guild on Monday nights being taught by animation guru Bob Kurtz (Kurtz & Friends Animation studio). Since tonight is the last night of the class, it seemed appropriate to show you a caricature of Bob I did during one of his lessons. Drawing the teacher was NOT part of the class agenda, but how could one NOT draw such an interesting subject matter?
Bob Kurtz at his Bobbiest during one of his lectures as depicted in my class notes.
I’ve never been one to take very comprehensive notes in school. Always having an interest in art, many doodles littered the notes of any academic class I happened to be in. I usually was paying attention to the teacher, but somehow the margins were always full of stuff another part of my brain generated.
I recently started taking a storyboard refresher class at the Animation Guild that has been meeting on Monday nights. The teacher, Bob Kurtz, has been very interesting and informative on a topic near to my heart. However, knowing my proclivity to doodle during classes, this time I immediately cut to the chase by bringing a sketchbook along instead of note paper. I figured I’d be drawing more, and class notes would be relegated to the margins instead.
So, here is a page from my notes on the first night of class. The sketches had absolutely nothing to do with what was being taught. The closest thing to being remotely connected to what was happening in the room is that fella in the top left – he was one of my fellow students. Yes, I was paying attention. It’s just that my hand was off doing it’s own thing.
On a completely unrelated matter, I just wanted to wish my sister Tori a happy birthday today! And she is about to pop with her first kid, too! If he arrives today, that will make a new birthday in the family easier to remember!
Yes, I know. It’s Monday. Our fundraising effort for TIM ends in the wee early hours (12:42am to be exact) of Tuesday morning for some of you, so I thought I’d post this week’s Tuesdays with TIM column today to give you one final look at some of my art created in the development of this short film before donation time runs out. For my Pacific coast friends, our fundraising on Kickstarter ends at 9:42pm TONIGHT!
Today I offer you an insider’s look at one of my illustrations showing Timothy Todd moping about in a cemetery dressed like his hero Tim Burton. The purpose for this development piece was to show the dichotomy of Timothy’s world. On the right, you can see the world he actually lives in. It’s a bright, cheery, and very straight-laced version of suburbia not unlike that portrayed in Burton’s Edward Scissorhands. The cemetery reflects the imagination of little Timothy Todd – an imagination that sees a dark, muted and skewed environment such as is common in a creepy Burton world.
Timothy Todd ponders his youth well spent, while sitting atop the grave of Vincent.
In looking at the evolution of this illustration, you can see that I hadn’t quite figured out the two worlds. In the first drawing below, both the world of his imagination and that of his real life were depicted as eerily creepy. In looking at Tim Burton animation projects, it is hard to find a straight line anywhere in the creepy scenes. I had my “eureka” moment when watching The Nightmare Before Christmas – in the “real life” world where Christmas is celebrated, straight lines abound!
This was the first drawing that made Timothy Todd’s home look too creepy.
Having a different look for the “real life” world is necessary for our story not only to create the separation between Timothy’s life and his imagination, but it also helps you as the viewer to relate. Even though Timothy’s real world is cartoony, by having it be more straight and suburban, it reminds us of the suburbia we all see around us. So, in this next drawing, the house is made a bit more boring, and the picket fence was changed to define the yard. The car was just in the way.
This second pass worked much better in showing the difference between the two worlds.
And then we get to the final watercolor & colored pencil illustration. Really, the only changes here are the addition of curly branches in the cemetery trees (which was always the plan), and a little dog in the yard. While it may be tough to tell in these scans, the tombstones all reflect past Tim Burton projects. Of course, little Timothy is sitting atop the tombstone for Vincent, the short animated film Burton made in the 1980s that we are parodying with TIM.
You can almost hear the voice of Christopher Lee, our wonderful narrator, speaking over this image.
This is your LAST day to lend us a hand by pledging some money to make TIM. To make this film become a reality, we need to hire professional puppet builders, miniature set builders, animators, and many other creative people. Stop-motion animated films require many different talents pooled together to make something special. You can click on any of the images above to go right to Kickstarter. Here is our promo video one last time:
Thank you so much for taking the time to look at these Tuesdays with TIM updates over the past two months. Even though our Kickstarter fundraising ends tonight, I’ll continue to have these updates periodically should we proceed with making TIM.
“If evil be said of thee, and if it be true, correct thyself; if it be a lie, laugh at it.”
– Epictetus (55 – 135)
It really is an interrogation – not some twisted version of “pull my finger.”
It is hard to believe, but the last Drawn & Quoted column was posted way back in June of 2010! It is high time to resurrect these combinations of quotes by famous people with drawings that relate to their words of wisdom in some way. I say “some way” because some drawings have been straight forward while others have travelled the path of the sick and twisted. If you would like to see any of the previous Drawn & Quoted columns, just CLICK HERE!
Yeah, yeah, it’s Wednesday. Consider this a bonus issue of Tuesdays with TIM! The Tuesday thing still applies because the video I’m about to show you was filmed yesterday which was (drumroll please)….TUESDAY!
Well, since Brian and I are in our final week of fundraising on Kickstarter, we wanted to make you an offer that is harder to refuse! We really need your financial support to help us make this film. If we don’t reach our total goal, all the money pledged thus far will revert to its respective donors. So, between now and the end of our pledge drive next Tuesday, March 29, if you pledge $500 or more to us, I pledge to do an ORIGINAL drawing of our lead character TIM! The only catch is that we have to make our full Kickstarter goal before I start wielding my pencil for you!
The type of drawing you can expect will be like this one…
You can get a similar original drawing such as this one if you take advantage of our new offer! Click on the image to go to our website!
Each drawing will be unique because each drawing will be drawn by hand – my hand! In addition, with your pledge you will be entitled to any other rewards we are offering on Kickstarter for the level at which you pledge! Does this sweeten the pot for you? If you need further convincing, check out the video below that we just put together for your amusement:
We have now entered the LAST week of fundraising for TIM through Kickstarter. The only way we can make this cool stop-motion animated Tim Burton tribute starring Christopher Lee is if our friends, fans, and the occasional passersby offer to pledge their financial support by going to TIMtheMovie.com.
Each Tuesday during the past two months I have been sharing with you updates and artwork from the making of TIM thus far. If you have missed any of these posts, you can see them all by CLICKING HERE!
Well, today is yet another behind the scenes look at TIM. To further inspire your financial pledges, Brian and I filmed a video update last week in which we reveal our puppets for the film which you can view below…
(If the embedded video does not play for you via an RSS reader, Facebook, or another source, you can access all our video updates at http://vimeo.com/21151171 .)
If you are among those who have been waiting for the final lap to pledge a little something to help us make this short stop-motion animated film, that lap has just started! If we don’t reach our goal 100% by March 29, then none of the pledges will be realized. So come lend a hand TODAY!
Today’s post is a page straight out of my sketchbook. While they are pretty much just random faces that popped out of my pencil, a few of them explored a certain head shape. You can see that about five of those heads have a plump pear shape to them. Just alter the eyes, nose and mouth a bit, and you have five completely different characters ranging between a good ol’ boy and an alien!
Sometimes I think that getting these out into my sketchbook helps prevent me from developing my own personality complex!
