Manny

Letting Sleeping Dogs Lay

The Nut Job

 I just finished up animating on The Nut Job. It was a great film to work on. There's a good variety of character personalities and the designs are very appealing.  Nearly every shot had potential for interesting acting choices and/or good physical challenges. 
For anyone wondering whether small studios or big studios are for them, consider this. At Duncan Studio where there were about 15 of us animators.  We got to work on a lot of different shots in a short period of time.  I have about 90 seconds of 'reel-worthy' animation from this job in 3 months.  When I worked at Sony Imageworks for about 9 months, there were roughly 50-100 of us animators (depending on the film) and I have about 15 seconds of 'reel-worthy' animation to show for it.  There are a lot of factors that go into this, and neither way is right or wrong.  Both jobs were great experiences and both had equally talented animators, supervisors, and leads.  There are advantages/disadvantages, but in my opinion, if you want to get better faster, consider the smaller studio.
The film is scheduled to be in theaters January 17, 2014.

NephropApocalypse

A good friend of mine has a rare kidney disease. He helps to raise money every year for the Cincinnati Kidney Walk.  This year I got to design his team banner and T-shirt.  If you're going to be in the Cincinnati Ohio area June 2nd, sign-up for the walk or donate and support a good cause. More info about the walk here.

Dragons

(updated in COLOR!)

Birds

Dog Jokes

Since I've been drawing so many cats, I might as well draw some dogs.

animation desk

I had some free time in between jobs recently so I decided to finally build the animation desk I've been planning to build.  It's based roughly on a desk I used at Duncan studio.  I added some extra slots for more tilt options, and offset the disc a bit to allow space on the right for xsheets or character reference.  Most discs have the top and bottom pegbars.  I opted for just the one, since most people really only use one or the other.  This allowed slightly more room so I could cut in a slightly bigger piece of plexiglass.  The hardest part was cutting the dovetail joint for the ruler to slide into.  The angle on the ruler is flatter than any dovetail drill bit on the market.  So thanks to a handy family member who grinded the bit down enough to cut the perfect slot.  I'm very happy with it and look forward to animating on it.

Gett'n Squatchy

While up in Vancouver, I felt that it was my duty to draw Sasquatch and keep the legend alive. 

Hotel Transylvania

I just finished up animating on one of the coolest projects I've had the pleasure to work on.  'Hotel Transylvania' has some fantastic animation and should look great in theaters.  Here is a doodle while waiting for notes from Genndy. Things should be slowing down a bit for me so I'll try to post a little more regularly on here.

Frederick de la von Fire

Frederick de la von Fire:
It's been quiet around the blog lately, but Fred's here to play you a tune.

Earl

The blog has gone quiet, but the quest is still going strong.  I've been busy moving to Vancouver, starting a new job at Sony Imageworks and blaa blaa.  I made this in Illustrator over the weekend, based on my favorite coconut monkey carving that I got from an old neighbor that passed away.

Claritar

More Pasadena Poeple

Landfill

Documentia

Some of you that know me may know that I have a rare condition called 'Documentia'.  My documentia was acting up over this holiday weekend and so I drew this. 

Before you go feeling sorry for me or feel the urge to start a fund-raising foundation, you should understand that this condition isn't a bad thing....it's actually not even a real condition, I just like watching documentaries, and while I was watching, I was doodling, it's a side effect of my Documentia medication.

This drawing was inspired by the "Radiant Child" documentary.  Any good documentaries you would recommend?

Rainy Day People of Pasadena

I had a few minutes at the studio yesterday to draw some people outside the window. The guy at the top left kept ringing the door bell at this building and nobody answered, he'd get frustrated, then he'd ring it again with a smile on his face, he'd wait 30 seconds, get angry face, then do it again.

Old Nintendo DS paintings

I found some old color sketches on my Nintendo DS memory card.  The first one is from our the kitchen in our old apartment. I think it was somewhat overcast that day, but everything had a bluish tint.  The second was from the amtrak train somewhere between LA and San Francisco.  Hills with endless Chaparral.  I'm no painter, but I like the simplicity of these.

Barthalomew the brilliant

Dateline NBC

Slow Friday night at the Gormans'.  I ended up watching this Dateline NBC episode about.........yes.........you guessed it......a mysterious death that wasn't quite what it seemed.  I was on the edge of my seat the whole hour.  "They seemed like the Ideal American Family.......until one day"