Amir Avni's Cartoon Blog

Another day, another Sherlock!

2012-01-28T20:57:00.003-05:00

A study in Sherlock

2012-01-26T14:55:00.000-05:00

Done to explore the likeness

of Mr. Benedict Cumberbatch

Faces

2012-01-23T18:09:00.000-05:00

It's hard to design a pretty cartoon girl with a distinct look, that's why so many of our favorite cartoon girls look alike, it's really about idealization of certain traits. Here are a few caricatures / attempts at specificity

FrontPage Celebration!

2012-01-19T21:03:00.000-05:00

After Jamie Glazov, the wonderful editor of FrontPage Magazine commissioned the latest cartoon from me, he had the initiative to feature all the cartoons I've drawn for the courageous website of the David Horowitz Freedom Center.

Warning! Content is politically incorrect!

(offensive to the left)

Bugs Bunny doodles

2012-01-08T12:41:00.000-05:00

It's fun to doodle in meetings

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T19:10:00.002-05:00

More Dulce

2011-12-13T14:20:00.000-05:00

Work in progress

2011-12-05T20:21:00.001-05:00

From a personal tribute to the greatest men and women of then and now

New updates at the Kaj Pindal blog!

2011-12-05T13:29:00.000-05:00

Check 'em out!

KajPindal.Blogspot.com

Random sketches

2011-12-04T10:12:00.009-05:00

Lessons from the Famous Artists Illustration Course:

Drawn in Photoshop with a Wacom intous 3.

Heads

Dulce and Pam channeling a lil' Jay Ward

Dulce's head is based on Porky Pig, I initially studied the screenshot below to better understand the head, But thought the pose was all so great that I had to draw the entire character.

This one is based on Katie Rice's

hell characters from "Skadi"

Nothin' like an ice-cold "Joe Shmoe"

to water down your thirst

Fred Flintstone and a Kitty

Off Topic: Straight from the Horse's Mouth

2011-12-03T18:05:00.003-05:00

This has nothing to do with cartoons, but everything to do with my other passion: Freedom.

Son of Hamas founding member says "Israel is not the problem in the middle east, It is the SOLUTION!"

The talk is in English

Mosab, you're a trooper! I'd love to hear you speak in person and shake your hand.

Evolutionary Psychologist

2011-11-24T22:57:00.000-05:00

Dr. Steven Pinker was in Toronto this week for his new book tour, I had the privilege of giving him a print of this cartoon and the original sketches after his talk at U of T, really glad he liked it!

Masters convocation

2011-11-01T21:21:00.000-04:00

My Masters' degree convocation was 2 weeks ago, and now finally I have some time to touch this blog.

with some of my favorite classmates and professor

Dulce Ball Z

2011-10-10T08:36:00.005-04:00

Just for the fun of it, I drew Dulce in an Anime style

I started with the rough below

Then I proceeded to do a structured and clean version on tracing paper

The drawing was influenced primarily by Mink from "Dragon-Half", it's my favorite anime, too bad there's only 2 episodes! There is a longer Manga series that is also fun. Ryusuke Mita draws the most appealing Manga girls to my taste.
I was also inspired by Yoko from "Gurren Lagann", thank heavens there's 27 episodes of that incredible show! Highly recommended. Hiroyuki Imaishi's animation direction has real punch!

And for those of you who like the result as much as I do, here is a free wallpaper, Enjoy!

Macintosh widescreen (1521 × 968) Wallpaper

Henry Walk Cycle

2011-09-25T16:03:00.002-04:00

Here is a walk cycle of Andrew Chesworth's wonderful character Henry.

Andrew set the timing, spacing and tone with his rough animation keys and I proceeded to flesh-out and complete the cycle based on the model sheet and our correspondence. Like the Scarlet Walk Cycle posted previously, the work really grew from Andrew's specific notes! These have also been my first few times animating in Photoshop, which has turned out to be a really great experience!

Musical Timing 1: Influence on The Barley Way

2011-09-18T16:18:00.004-04:00

I've always been fascinated with musically timed cartoons. From the precise synchronization of all the elements of individual character actions, gags and special effects to the pacing and flow of the entire film. I have always found that 1940s cartoons are stylistically and methodically different than those produced today. As the expression goes, “They don't make them like they used to”.

When making a personal film from beginning to end, for the first time at Sheridan College, the problem of timing and pacing first occurred to me in a practical sense, I wanted to “make them like they used to” but didn't know how to go about doing so. When volunteering at the ASIFA Hollywood Animation Archive, Director Stephen Worth commented that the timing of many student films feels unplanned because of their methodology. Many students use editing software to time their films by their gut feeling, action-by-action, or in the case of a dialogue heavy film, they time according to the dialogue tracks. As a result of this methodology, the film feels unplanned. Steve then demonstrated how a 1960s Tony the Tiger commercial was timed by explaining the Bar Sheets and Exposure Sheets on which they were timed. Demonstrations such as these, as well as material and tips from Sheridan instructors such as Mark Mayerson who introduced the class to metronomes and recording methods, Bruno Degazio who introduced the class to bar sheets and designed the template, and the blog of Disney historian and animation director Hans Perk inspired me and gave me a direction to further explore the pieces of this puzzle. After exposing myself to such lessons for about 2 years the penny dropped, I reached a functional understanding of the basic principles of beat timing and I used it to time The Barley Way.

The Barley Way Seq1 (first 6 scenes)

The film is timed to the beat from beginning to end. Here is a breakdown of a few simple scenes via the animatic and bar sheets.

The storyboard drawings were timed according to the beats. Fortunatley, the melody accents also strictly adhere to the beat in this segment of Dvorak's "New World Symphony". This helped create the "Mickey Mousing" gag of the "Earth Like" text appearing and disappearing to the melody accents, when writing the bar sheet, I alternated the beats: Beat 1: appear, Beat 2: disappear. Viewers such as Steven Bellettini realized that using Dvorak's "New World Symphony" as the soundtrack for the discovery of an earth-like planet is a Musical pun.

There's various levels of micro-gags in this film. Some people have noticed the "Mickey Mousing" gag, and some have noticed that Beanton's computer screen is manufactured by "Dull".

The manual

The day my penny dropped, I wrote this manual and shared it with two pals. Writing for other people forces you to clarify, since you need to successfully convey the idea to someone who hasn’t heard it before, so writing for others is always a good idea:
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello friends!
My penny dropped, so I wanted to share my 2 cents with you.

It finally clicked in my mind: how to record click tracks, use them to time animatics, and following to write bar-sheets / x-sheets / timing charts.

Click tracks:

Go to Hans Perk's blog and use the metronome-to-beat calculator to figure out your tempo of choice:
http://afilmla.blogspot.com/

Three most used beat tempos for reference:

8 beat= 180

10 beat= 144

12 beat= 120

Recording the click track:

You can easily record a click track by recording a web metronome. http://webmetronome.com/
On a Mac I turn up the volume and record a sound clip in Quicktime.
On a PC, Mark taught us to enable internal recording: go to Windows sound properties > master volume properties >; switch on "recording".
Use Windows sound recorder (accessories > media > sound recorder) to record a minute's worth of each beat. and voila! you have a click track.
Save each track by it's name (8beat, 10 beat etc..) so that it's ready to import to Adobe Premiere.

How to use it in animatics:

Determine the mood and speed of your scene / determine what situation/mood your character is in.

24 beat is depressed

16-14 beat is calm

12 beat is normal pace

10 beat is getting more excited

8 beat is keen or frantic

After determining the mood, import the proper click track to your timeline ( in Premiere ), and line up your storyboard drawings and character poses so that they happen on the beat.
For example: a walk on 12 beats means a step every beat, every 12 frames. (24 frames for both feet)
A character pointing to accent an idea can be 6 frames to anticipate and 6 frames to point etc...
"The Pointer" (http://afilmla.blogspot.com/2006/11/m27-2227-with-click-track_13.html) has some good examples, notice all of Mickey's extreme poses happen on the beat. you can tap your hands to the beat to get a feeling for it, you can also snap your fingers and try walking on a constant 12 beat)

It's way better to do this than to guesstimate your timing based on a sequence of stills (It would almost always be too slow, and doesn't give you a clue on how to write a bar-sheet or x-sheet).
Steve mentioned that an animatic should seem 20% faster than the desired final result. This makes a lot of sense, I remember reading Joe Adamson’s interview with Tex Avery in Tex Avery King of Cartoons, Tex refers to the colored cartoon as a “solid”. The cartoon is much easier/ faster to read when animated and colored. A sequence of stills takes longer to process than animated, colored drawings.

Working to a click track makes it possible to do musical timing before you have any music, you just need to get music that follows the same tempo as planned.
Music allows you to go even faster because of it's engaging / telegraphing nature, a musical beat functions as a heartbeat, the audience feels the beats and expects things to happen on them.
You can reach a shock / surprise when actions happen off the beat, because it plays with the audience's expectations.
Steve's example: "ta-da ta-da ta-dadada....pop! goes the weasel!" If your action happens on the "pop!" it is expected. If your action happens before the pop, it is unexpected.

When the animatic is done, you can move to registering the timing:

The order of writing is as follows: Bar sheets > X-sheets > Timing charts

How it works: A bar is a measure of 4 beats. The first beat is marked by the border-line of the bar, and we indicate the following 3 with drawn-in pencil lines. I chose to divide each bar to 2 beats so I can work in greater detail.

Based on your animatic, count your beats, and number them on your Bar sheet. On the Bar sheet, note/draw the action each beat describes. I placed thumbnails of my storyboard drawings below the beat that describes them in Photoshop, and wrote descriptions of the actions relating to beat numbers.

Working on 24 fps, transcribe the bar sheet information to an X sheet. If your scene is timed on a 9 beat, mark a beat on every 9th line of the X sheet. It's good to number each beat on the bar sheets and X sheets so that you know exactly where you are. You now know exactly how many frames are needed for each action to take place.

You are now ready to write the timing/inbetween charts
You have the number of frames, now you need to determine the spacing (even, slow in/out, favors, overshoots)

Ready? Set, Draw!
-Amir

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My further studies of musical timing are explained in "Musical Timing 2: From the Master's Thesis Project"

Musical Timing 2: From the Master's Thesis Project

2011-09-18T16:18:00.002-04:00

Continued from Musical Timing 2: Influence on The Barley Way

Although I was happy with the musical timing in my film, I was still unsatisfied, I knew there was more to learn. This lead me to further study timing methods for my Master’s thesis project. Below are three examples from my project, analyzing two 1940s cartoons. Bob Clampett’s Buckaroo Bugs and Dave Fleischer’s Mechanical Monsters.

How the analysis was made:

I started by analyzing the tempo of the clips by tapping my hand to the beat and trying out various click tracks in Adobe Premiere.

After matching the clips with the right tempos, I made graphic note whenever the beats hit. Inspired by Hans Perk, I used Photoshop to make the red beat symbol circles. I cut and pasted them whenever a beat hit (as seen in the soundtrack layer of the screenshot above) and numbered each beat.

Numbering the beats is essential to writing the information on Bar Sheets.

Buckaroo Bugs clip no.1

There are many noteworthy elements about the first clip, the strict adherence of most actions to this tempo creates an upbeat uniformity, except with the deliberate intension of surprising gags and action which demand particular attention. The Horse's “eye poke” for example, is placed off the beat (OTB) for surprise. The use of percussion instruments and the punching-bag sound effects further mirror the visuals of the punching gag, which follows the eye poke. All through the clip, the build-up, or anticipation take more time than the executed actions themselves. For example, the horse runs in place leaning backwards in anticipation to shoot off screen for 4 beats (36 frames) to deliver great anticipation, and then shoots off the screen in just 2 frames, also off the beat, for greater surprise. The music of the entire scene is a build-up for the horses' run off the screen, the run off itself is accompanied by the sound effect of a gun shot, to further highlight the visuals.

I would like to thank Milton Grey for his time and contribution in the form of discussions via email.
It was through his detailed notes that I gained greater expertise at writing exposure sheets. Milt's explanation of how arcs are used in Exposure Sheet form also helped me understand how to write better bar sheets. I feel privileged to have had the input of an animator who started his career on Disney's The Jungle Book, interviewed Looney Tunes director Bob Clampett and composer Carl Stalling.

Milt taught me that most WB directors wrote their timing directly on X-sheets
“Clampett and most of the other Warner directors did all of their timing on the animation exposure sheets, being mindful of the beats for a musical tempo, and Carl Stalling would copy the basic information from the ex-sheets onto his bar sheets so that he could begin composing his music to fit the action. The exception was Friz Freleng, who did his timing directly on bar sheets, and then copied his notes from those onto the exposure sheets for the animators”. (Grey 2011)

My research and cartooning process are interrelated, Perhaps with resemblance to Friz Freleng, I prefer starting to work on a bar sheet as it provides a visual timeline. Following feedback from Milt, I became better at writing exposure sheets and can now time on them directly.

Going into this analysis I thought that the animators worked from recorded music tracks, but I realized that both the animation and music are done simultaneously, following instruction from a highly important document: the director's timing. I realized this through discussion with Milt when I asked him about the timing of animation to specific melody:

“I don't think that the other directors, including Friz, generally had any specific melodies in mind. There may have been some exceptions...But Clampett was different in that he was always thinking about the music -- the melodies -- as part of his timing, and on most or all of his cartoons he would take his storyboards into Carl Stalling's room and the two of them would discuss what music, and what melodies, would best suit each scene. There was a lot of give and take in those discussions. Probably Carl would do most of the writing on the bar sheets. So the length of a scene in a Clampett cartoon would more likely be determined by the amount of time necessary for a melody to play, and little actions would be invented to fit the music.” (Grey 2011)

So that, both the music and animation rely on the director's indication of how many bars or frames are assigned for an action to take place.

The backbone to which all their unique efforts were tied, was the timing. Chuck Jones explains in the documentary Tex Avery King of Cartoons:
“It had to be timed by the director on musical Bar Sheets and what we call Exposure Sheets allowing for every 24th of a second of the entire film, before it could go to animation or ink & paint... so we learned the craft which I think was very fortunate, because it taught us the basic rule of all communication, and certainly true of all art forms, that you must work within a discipline...The discipline of filmmaking is and must be timing.” (Needham 1988)

Buckaroo Bugs clip no.2

For this clip, as well as the next, I consulted with composer Zvi Avni who helped me further understand the musical elements and identify instruments, Although we share the same last name we are not related.

Here, as in the previous clip, there is also more time given to the anticipation of an action and less to its surprising execution. After dropping Red Hot Rider, Bugs swings in mid-air then runs in place for a total of 4 beats, and shoots out of the frame, off the beat, in only 2 frames.

The entire robbery by magnet scene, 17 beats in total, is an anticipation to Red Hot Rider's pants falling to reveal pink polka dot underpants, the slowest part of the latter action is the “slow-out” to the reveal, the reveal happens off the beat. Pulling someone's pants down may not be a highbrow gag, however the execution shows noteworthy sophistication and layering of various techniques:

1.The music: the use of percussion instruments, such as xylophone and glockenspiel give a metallic sound, mirroring the visuals of the robbery.

2.Inventive animation: such as the wobbling of the belt and the slowing-out of the pants before falling are signs of an intelligent animator using everything he's got to maximize the gag, lesser animators would have just used even inbetweens.

3.Special effects:
Even though there is plenty of anticipation to gags such as the detachment of the Sheriff star from Red Hot Rider's shirt, the animator maximized the potential of the gag by using special effects to further sell “the after effect” of the gag. Knowing that the eye needs a certain amount of frames to adjust to an action, the animator and ink-and-paint assistant used a dry-brush effect in the shape and color of the star close to where it was just a frame ago, it takes several more frames until the dry-brush effect completely dissipates. The dry brush effect is achieved by smearing the leftover paint of a brush on the cel, without wetting it in water to make the paint look smooth.

And all this is done to the musical timing framework, which gives each action calculated and thoughtful placement, resulting in a film with a more precise execution.

The top of the robbery crescendo is Bugs yelling 'Bang!', where these two beats of anticipation, one beat of execution and another beat of reaction illustrate how each element carries out the feeling of frivolous playfulness:

1.The music: the drum-roll accompanies and intensifies the anticipation before the yell, which seamlessly blends to:

2.The dialogue: Bugs yelling 'BANG!', accompanied by:

3.The camera: shaking in unpredictable ways to mirror the yelling action. And all this is done faithfully adhering to the beat.

It is very important to note that in this clip, different tempos reflect the mindsets and mannerisms of different characters. Bugs is on a 9 beat to reflect the slyness of his character and Red Hot Rider is on a 14 beat to reflect the slowness of his character. Although Red Hot Rider also follows the principle of more anticipation and less action, it takes him more time to recover from an action, such as in the slowing out to hold after he has raised his hat.

Nearly all the actions detailed above follow Charlie Chaplin's famous trademark:
1.Show them you're gonna do it 2. Do it 3.Show them that you've done it (Williams 2001).
Or in other words, there are three parts to an action: Anticipation, Action, Reaction. Noteworthy comedians, such as Bob Clampett and his animators, extract the maximum potential of each action part, being mindful of the personality of each individual character.

Mechanical Monsters Clip

The changing in the phone booth takes a total of 14 beats, this is the anticipation to the heroic reveal of Superman, which spans over a more modest 5 beats. This follows the same principle seen in Buckaroo Bugs: more time for anticipation, less time for reveal, not only in comedy, but in drama, this gives the statement more 'punch'. The anticipation is created by:

1. The Music: The sequence, or build-up to the fan-fare Superman theme adds tension and anticipation before the reveal.

2. The Camera: Trucks out in a moderate pace, telegraphing to the viewer that it is worthy to gain space for something bombastic to take place.

Zvi noted that When Superman is revealed, only the wind trills are heard to give a short “break” before Superman flies up to the sky, and the entire orchestra resumes playing. Zvi noted that the chords are on the beat throughout the entire piece. Changes in instruments and intensity mirror the visuals, which follow the same beats, both were pre-determined by the director Dave Fleischer, and composer Sammy Timberg. During beat 26 to beat 38, Superman flies upwards to gain greater sight range and look for the Mechanical Monster. Zvi noted that the melody goes chromatically upwards to increase the anticipation, the instruments used reflect the light and confident feel of the character. Beats 39 through 45 follow the Mechanical Monster, which is accompanied by very tense and loud chords, until on beat 46 Superman is revealed and his musical motif returns.

When done with technical precision and artistic vision, musical timing harmonizes all the elements of a film into greater cohesion, and maximizes the delivery of the entertainment experience to the audience. It is a logical and precise method to reach a sensational result. Animation timers can use musical beat timing to control the pacing of the entire film, just as storyboard artists and screenwriters can control story arcs, animation timers can control pacing arcs, deciding on the right pacing for the mood of each sequence and the execution of each action.

I hope people will be inspired to use this information in their own work, let's start a cartoon art movement!

-Amir

Influences on the Barley Way: More on Animation and Design

2011-08-16T07:38:00.010-04:00

This post continues exploring the research made in preparation for my film "The Barley Way".

The influences in this film weren't used in a way of direct replication. While watching and re-watching a great number of cartoons for the combined joy of entertainment and study, I've come across elements that stood out to me as especially great. These elements were studied and integrated into the film in a way that complied with my needs of production and aesthetic goals.

This post will examine elements of design and animation with emphasis on the Looney Tunes realm as well as other related sources of influence. I do not contend to be on the same level as the animation greats I am influenced by, the purpose of the post is not to make that kind of value judgment, the purpose is to do what the title says: explore more influences on the film, focusing on animation and design.

CLAMPETT'S ANIMATORS

After seeing this film, Tom Minton has said that my "Intense study of Avery's timing and Scribner's distinctive animation is paying off". I was excited beyond words that such a wonderful artist recognized what I've studied, and appreciated it. I've been fascinated with Rod Scribner's animation for years, and have spent many hours freeze-framing his scenes.

Scribner's inventive spacing is unparalleled in the world of animation, his ability to make seemingly irrational drawing choices that read so smoothly when animated is nothing short of brilliant.

I heard from a very reliable source that Scribner used to draw from the sports page, those images portray incredible energy locked in one frame.

My favourite element in Scribner's animation is the exclamation pose,

Disclaimer: the above collage may include more than one of Clampett's animators

The exclamation poses are very unique, the body doesn't simply stretch, rather the characters stand on their toes, stretching the legs and pushing the rest of the body diagonally upwards, then a curve starts from the hip area and arches the spine outwards, with the ribcage raised.

I used this exclamation pose in a 3/4 back view, which I haven't seen done before. Scribner's full animation often shows the exclamation extending upwards until resuming a more neutral pose. In order to allow for more held-cel time in my film, I went for an overshoot, especially on the hands and head, with slighter changes in spacing on the rest of the body, and then settle in a way that preserves the energy of the pose.

THREE SOURCES OF INFLUENCE IN ONE SCENE: Seq2 sc11

I'm influenced by the way Scribner draws hands and distorted poses that are bent in a limber way.

Scribner's hands and distorted bends made a direct impact on this drawing especially:

But Scribner wasn't the only influence in this scene, A few frames after the drawing discussed above, I took note from Richard Williams' retelling of Ken Harris' advice, that a speeding character should stretch in the last frame before hitting a hard surface.

In a previous post, I noted Floyd Gottfredson's influence for the pose leading to those discussed above.

Here Beanton's limbs are designed to form a single unified shape, the same way Gottfredson treats Mickey's limbs.

MULTIPLE INFLUENCES IN A SINGLE POSE

Often one pose was influenced by multiple artists, sometimes I looked at various sources before drawing a pose, and sometimes the mental image of influential characters just went through my head while drawing, as in the case of this pose: The alien girl was influenced by Scribner's Coal Black, especially for facial expression and the construction of the body. The overall pose: line of action, gesture and limbs were also influenced by Floyd Gottfredson.

As you can see, this is not direct replication, rather the study of inspiring artists and the identification of their principles and trademarks affects my work. sometimes consciously as in the case of problem solving, and sometimes subconsciously as in the case of the pose above.

ANIMATION METHODOLOGY

After years of watching Warner's cartoons, I've looked for a way to follow their wild "takes" in a way that complied with my production needs, those of advanced limited animation.

I've freeze framed cartoon "takes" and other wild and appealing actions done by many animators, and translated them in a way that demanded less frames, and allowed for more held cel time. I saw that although takes varied in terms of drawing choices, timing and individual touch, the "takes" closest to my aesthetic goals often followed a 5 pose pattern:

The 5 pose pattern below is very flexible, each step can be handled differently, sometimes steps can be omitted, and the pattern can be used for many kinds of wild actions:

A. Key pose 1

B. Anticipation

C. Burst out

D. Overshoot of Key pose 2

E. Key pose 2

Pose C was the trickiest and most fun problem to solve. In preparation, I looked at the way my favourite animators solved it. In some cases I used smear animation,

Bobe Cannon's smears cover about 60-80% of the spacing between Key 1 and Key 2, favoring Key 2. This result in a very smooth transition. I applied these observations to my own scenes.

Cannon has also animated scenes where the smeared drawings last more than one frame, in those instances, the first smear also covers about 60% of the spacing gap, the following drawings are spaced closer to Key 2 and the trail leading from Key 1 shortens.

Here's how the smear fits in the context of the 5 pose pattern:

This smear covers about 90 percent of the spacing between the poses.

Another way to handle pose C is gapped spacing, and also very stretched poses which incorporate some smearing on select parts of the character, later I noticed that Clampett's animators also used that method, note the dog's hand.

CHUCK JONES

The Warners' cartoons have also influenced me in terms of facial expressions, Some of my favourite cartoonists, such as Pete Emslie, Joe Haidar and Scott Shaw noticed that I used Chuck Jones expressions in a few deliberate moments.

These expressions weren't copied from specific frames in Chuck Jones' cartoons, rather they resulted from watching many of his cartoons, they were drawn from the accumulation of memory and feeling, and used to reflect on the mental state of the characters in a humorous way.

Below is an outburst of Joy resulting from epiphany: "Dad's always been proud of me! I can put my previous thoughts about his perceptions of me in the bin!"

Below is an expression representing the sweetness of pure intensions, understood as such by the person expressing them

Below is downright smugness

The likeness to Jones' expressions is achieved in a way of graphic design: teardrop shaped eyes with thin pointed tops, round bottoms and long curling lashes. The mouth also follows a curved "V" shape on a big smile, and more of an "L" shape on a moderate smile. The cheeks resemble a feather shape.

EXPRESSION CHANGE GAG

Jones sometimes used slight changes of expression on the mouth and / or on the eyes to go for a laugh.
In this scene from "Rabbit Seasoning", Daffy Duck sours at the sight of Bugs Bunny winning and fooling Elmer Fudd. Only the face moves while everything else is frozen. The sound effect of the protruding tongue really sells the gag.

I tried the same thing here: Jossefat is upset that his brother has succeeded in gaining dad's favorable attention. Only the mouth moves to a sneer, followed by the sound effect of a growling tiger.

Believe it or not, some poses and expressions were even based on Disney cartoons!

Most other expressions were drawn from the mirror and a few from the mind's eye.

CONSTRUCTION AND DESIGN

Chuck Jones' lummoxes and dogs also influenced the design of the Dad character.

In the beginning, both Dad and Joseffat were constructed from rubber hoses, but that lead to confusion among viewers.

I kept Jossefat the way he was, since his roundness was suitable for a child character. As for the Dad, I started looking for different ways to construct his first level of forms, they mostly came from Chuck Jones. The quick tracing exercise below was meant to explore how a more humanized head would fit on a Chuck Jones lummox bulldog

I saw that a good way to distinguish between the silhouettes of Dad and Jossefat was to give dad a bigger contrast between straight and curved lines, implying a more 'blocky' anatomy. I added a curve to the spine, and counterposed the angle of the rib cage and hips:

Look at the legs, that's Gottfredson again!

The characters were designed to look distinctive by their silhouette and construction alone, surface detail was kept to a minimum, that is the 60's gift to production: saving on pencil mileage.

Inspiration for the heads also came from my friend Brock Gallagher who sometimes draws no neck for his characters. While doing cleanup on his fabulous film "The Peasant and the Root", I saw how much agility that design choice gave his characters, I decided to apply that design to my own characters as well.

Brock was also the voice of Jossefat, I could have never found another actor with so much energy and inner cartooniness. The same goes for the great Pete Emslie, who's voice really helped develop the character of the Dad.

INFLUENCES FROM NATURE

Jossefat's head is a hybrid between a palm tree and an eggplant. The purpose was to come up with a pompous shape that is also funny and appealing.

Some people have recognized the micro-gag in Sequence 3 where he is juxtaposed with a vase of flowers in the shape of his head.

This has been a summary of some of my favorite components of animation and design in the film, it was a list of observations from a variety of sources and a discussion of their application in a way that is compatible with the production needs and aesthetic goals of the film.

TO BE CONTINUED...

In future posts I will discuss musical timing and story.

Scarlet Walk Cycle

2011-07-31T16:44:00.003-04:00

Click here for higher resolution

This is the first animation featuring Andrew Chesworth's wonderful character Scarlet. After studying Andrew's model and Milt Kahl's Slu Foot Sue from Pecos Bill (example below) at his recommendation, I started animating. The scene really grew through back-and-forth work with Andrew, who's direction really took it to greater levels! I'm learning so much.

Influences on "The Barley Way": From Floyd Gottfredson to Stephen Hawking

2011-07-22T08:20:00.000-04:00

One of the biggest influences on the drawing style of "The Barley Way" was comic strip artist Floyd Gottfredson. I first became aware of his work while volunteering at the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive. In the beginning of my 4th year at Sheridan, I talked about Gottfredson's work with Mark Mayerson, he kindly offered to share his collection of Gottfredson strips with me.

The biggest inspiration I took from Gottfredson were his poses. Whenever I was stuck for a pose I looked at his Mickey comics for inspiration. The most literal interpretation can be seen in the size chart:

But uses in the film itself were more subtle. I was fascinated with how Gottfredson sometimes draws the overall shape of two limbs as if they were one limb, I marvelled at how it created an appealing silhouette.

I tried to apply this principle in original poses that weren't taken from his comic strips.

A more obvious Gottfredson influence is the 'sideways mouth' on Beanton:

By the way did anyone catch the homages to science? In the picture above, Beanton unfolds Stephen Hawking's black hole entropy equation, just one scene later, the telescope interface shows the name of a nebula near which alcohol clouds sufficient to make 400 trillion pints of beer can be found-- I learned about the former from my classmate Tanya.

BTW, Beanton's first level of forms is influenced by a baby Swan from Bob Clampett's "A Corny Concerto". Influences from the Looney Tunes realm will be explored in a separate post.

Finished my film

2011-06-28T15:09:00.001-04:00

Check it out at thebarleyway.blogspot.com

You can also find it at Aniboom, Candian Animation Resources and Cold Hard Flash

New article and cartoon at FrontPage: Jon Stewart

2011-06-24T05:38:00.001-04:00

http://frontpagemag.com/2011/06/24/jon-stewart-and-light-fluff/

Ben Shapiro writes on the same topic

New cartoon at FrontPage magazine

2011-06-15T04:12:00.002-04:00

http://frontpagemag.com/2011/06/14/queers-against-israeli-apartheid/

Some sketches

2011-06-11T10:55:00.000-04:00

Dogs

2011-06-06T09:02:00.000-04:00

Inspiration via cuteoverload.com

My editorial cartoons in FrontPage magazine

2011-05-30T08:46:00.000-04:00

http://frontpagemag.com/2011/05/30/david-horowitz-at-uc-santa-barbara/

http://frontpagemag.com/2011/05/27/the-next-mideast-history-lesson-obama-so-desperately-needs/

Really proud to be part of such a fine magazine.
Thank you, Jamie Glazov and David Horowitz!

Denis Dutton loved Ren and Stimpy

2011-05-25T19:58:00.001-04:00

You gotta hear this, Denis Dutton, one of the world's finest theorists of aesthetics reveals that his favorite cartoon was 'Ren and Stimpy'. Fills my heart with Joy.

Denis Dutton was at the forefront of the emerging 'Evolutionary Aesthetics' / 'Literary Darwinism' research field. His book 'The Art Instinct' is one of my favorite books of all time, an immense inspiration.
Dutton's thesis is that art has universal characteristics (which he lists and explains in detail) and can be understood through the lens of Darwinian thinking: we are biologically predisposed to make and appreciate art which crosses cultures, gender, races, and the test of time. This flies in the face of the Marxist Postmodernism which has taken over the art world. Denis has been taken from us at the age of 66, it shocked me to lose such a gentle and brilliant man, I hope you got the patch of heaven you so much deserved, rest in peace.

All ink and paint: done.

2011-05-03T03:05:00.002-04:00

The longest, most careful, painstaking and physically straining process of "The Barley Way", digital ink and paint, is now done. It was done entirely in Flash with an intous 3 Wacom Tablet.

This is the final scene, completed today, the player 'hiccups' a bit at first:

Seq1-s8-color from Amir Avni on Vimeo.

Another scene I like, Harmke contributed by inking Beanton's sniff, a great job of it! Pete Emslie's voice added a lot of depth to the dad character.

Seq3 s2 color from Amir Avni on Vimeo.

Here's an insight to the process:

Now it's time for Background painting, sound effects and final editing.

Spaghetting there

2011-03-28T13:29:00.001-04:00

Aside from studying for the Master's degree, I've been finishing my film when I have some free time. Animation is complete, Like sequence 2, Sequence 3 is now completely inked and painted, There's four scenes to ink and paint in Sequence 1, three of them short. then it's BG paint , composting and editing.

I'll share some more in later posts.

Cheers.

Season's Greetings!

2010-12-23T19:17:00.000-05:00

Just Who Are You Working For?

2010-12-11T21:48:00.000-05:00

Based on a true story (especially the first page)

Click images to view full size

What is Art?

2010-11-22T20:19:00.000-05:00

What's the difference between Marcel Duchamp's 'Fountain'

and Michelangelo's 'David'?

It would be wrong to pee on 'David'.

-AA.

Progress on "The Barley Way"

2010-11-11T14:28:00.003-05:00

Although I'm working to get my MA, I'm also working to finish my film. All animation on sequence 3 has been finished, and it is now being inked (long, laborious process). There's several sequence 1 animation scenes in need of completion, those are the next priority. Afterward it's composing and finishing the thing.

Here are a few scenes for the flavor (they take a while to load):

Seq3 s7 from Amir Avni on Vimeo.

Seq3 s9 from Amir Avni on Vimeo.

seq3-s10 from Amir Avni on Vimeo.

Here's the work-reel I submitted before graduating from Sheridan, I got an A+

"The Barley Way" work reel from Amir Avni on Vimeo.

An artist thinks like an artist

2010-11-10T16:05:00.003-05:00

Listening to Steven Moffat is inspiring. It's very clear that how he constructs his stories is very different than how the fans and the media deconstruct them (in effort to understand or categorize them).

A few favorite bits:

Q: Did you anticipate writing for an American audience as you went into the new series?

A: I don't even anticipate writing for a British audience, I just think "what would be really really cool to happen in 'Doctor who'? How else do you write stories? I entertain myself and hope it entertains other people"

Q: I've heard that you were aiming for 'A dark fairy tale' with the series, can you explain how is that coming across?

A: To, be honest, the whole 'dark fairy tale' thing is because people jammed my arm behind my back and demanded that I label it somehow, and I suppose that is a reasonable label for it... as I'm sure we all know putting "dark" in front of "fairy tale" is entirely redundant, that is until Disney re-made the fairy tales, and de-fanged it.

Steven Moffat
Uploaded by abecruikshank. - Full seasons and entire episodes online.

Now Open for Business!

2010-09-03T01:44:00.004-04:00

http://www.etsy.com/shop/toonamir

http://www.etsy.com/shop/toonamir

Benedict Cumberbatch for 12th Doctor

2010-08-29T17:26:00.002-04:00

http://12th-doctor.blogspot.com/

Posters coming soon

2010-08-04T23:58:00.006-04:00

Here is a Low-Res sample of my first design for a forthcoming Etsy Store.
Posters, prints and postcards will be on offer in approximately 3 weeks.

Check out a cropped sample of the Hi Res file:

3D Practice

2010-07-06T19:35:00.008-04:00

This is a scene I made, to practice some 3D/Maya Animation.
It was mostly done by using key frames and not much tweaking of splines in the Graph Editor. Maybe I can find a good tutorial somewhere about giving more punch to the animation by tweaking the splines. I signed up for lynda.com for their Maya Essential Training tutorial, Highly recommended! Thanks for letting me know about this, Mitch!
The character rig is from 11secondclub.com

comments and critiques are welcome

The voice is Julian Barrat's, and the clip is taken from "The Mighty Boosh" 2x05 "The Legend of Old Gregg"

Sophistication in pop culture references?

2010-07-04T15:58:00.003-04:00

Usually I'm not a fan of pop-culture references. my main objection to them is that the humor isn't original, or related to the show, it is usually not relevant, and unfunny without prior knowledge of the culture item that is being quoted or referred. If the reference is non relevant to the show, there is usually no sophistication in bringing it up.

I think this bit from "The IT Crowd" is an exception. Even though it requires prior knowledge to be understood, It's sophisticated and relevant because it reflects on the characters, and therefore specific to the show

Moss is a super-nerd, therefore it would make sense that he would confuse "Fredo" from "The Godfather" with "Frodo" from "Lord of the Rings". Moreover, he doesn't SAY "Frodo", we do the math in our own heads, based on the character's reply which engages the viewers.

What do you think?

The Doctor and Amy

2010-07-03T15:31:00.006-04:00

According to Stephen Hawking, Time travel to the past is impossible due to paradoxes, effects can never happen before causes. However, Steven Moffat wasn't frightened to make this paradox his bread and butter for writing Series 5.

I'm excited for the next series, this one was good, and definitely got better as it went along!

This post is dedicated to Whovians world wide... especially Nicole!

Sherriff Dulcie of Doll City

2010-07-01T17:46:00.004-04:00

I usually don't just post single sketches, but what the haystack.

First commission: Nicolas Martinez

2010-06-06T14:27:00.001-04:00

Here are my versions of Nico's characters Sammy and Maggie, they're fun to draw!

Commissions galore

2010-05-25T12:30:00.011-04:00

Fancy a commission? I'll draw it for ya.

Black & White Caricatures

Color Caricatures
Computer, Marker, Watercolor

Black and White Characters:

Original characters
or
my version of your favorites

Color Characters

Computer, Marker, and Watercolor.

Ink wash paintings

toonamir@gmail.com

"The Barley Way" Work Reel

2010-05-06T11:08:00.010-04:00

"The Barley Way" work reel from Amir Avni on Vimeo.

So here's the work reel for the film I've been hard at work on.
Production started in March 2009 when I recorded the voices of Pete Emslie and Brock Gallagher.
My goal was to make a cartoon with everything I like about the medium. I was interested in tackling musical timing (I used bar sheets) characters and relationships, a Tex Avery story structure (with a topper gag that reflects on the characters) clear & fun posing (for which my new hero is Floyd Gottfredson) wild animation (I studied Rod Scribner) and facial acting (for which I studied the mirror).
In short I was trying to make the kind of cartoon I'd want to see. Now that most of the hard work is done, to get it all colored, I'm gonna keep working on it like a monk in the back room. Enjoy!

I'd like to give a huge shout out to Ben for his amazing contribution to the color styling! You're pure talent, man.

Dulcie sketches in marker

2010-04-26T22:41:00.004-04:00

New Portfolio and Demo Reel

2010-03-13T19:02:00.003-05:00

Best viewed in bigger aspect ratio

Here's my latest Demo Reel, just finished it today!
I also updated my portfolio at http://animation.sheridanc.on.ca/portfolio/2010/avni/

Thanks fer watchin' :)

kaj Pindal blog now published!

2010-03-10T21:53:00.005-05:00

http://kajpindal.blogspot.com
Is now published!

A blog dedicated to the beloved animator, edited by Chris Walsh and yours truly. Chris teaches the animation history class with Kaj at Sheridan College.

The blog features exclusive and rare media from Kaj's collection, along with stories and interviews.

Dulcie

2010-02-28T21:53:00.001-05:00

Tomorrow is National Emslie Day

2010-02-18T18:44:00.001-05:00

Reptitouille

2010-02-13T15:45:00.002-05:00

More character layouts

2010-02-04T23:12:00.004-05:00

From my film

Fan Art for Ben

2010-02-03T20:26:00.005-05:00

Fan Art of Ben's character Jo the Faux :)

Rough animation samples

2010-02-02T16:26:00.006-05:00

seq2 s7 from Amir Avni on Vimeo.

seq2 s8 from Amir Avni on Vimeo.

seq2 s11 from Amir Avni on Vimeo.

SWFs now converted to AVI and posted for your viewing :)

Globe and Mail story

2010-01-26T11:17:00.022-05:00

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/work/my-famous-pen-pal/article1444175/

Dakshana Bascaramurty from Globe and Mail contacted John K. and I for an interview, which was published today, and looks really great, thanks Dakshana!

Some things I need to clarify:
During the phone interview I did mention Sheridan college has wonderful teachers like Pete Emslie, Scott Caple and others who give the students hands-on explanations of good drawing methodology.
When I was asked about my many reasons to contact John k, one of them was that my art education in Israel at the time lacked methodology.

------------------------update---------------------------

On Friday January 29th 2010, Globe and Mail printed a retraction, and fixed the online version of the article:

Editor's note: The original version of this story incorrectly stated that Mr. Avni's drawing classes in Israel and Sheridan College lacked methodology. This version has been corrected to state that this was true only of his drawing classes in Israel.

---------See? there's truth in the media-----------

The feature I worked on was "Everyone's Hero" during the pre-production stage, doing technical drawing.

The recognition by the Hollywood chapter of the International Animated Film Society refers to The 2008 Annie Awards.

Many thanks to the Globe and Mail for the kind article!

Character layout

2010-01-23T22:52:00.000-05:00

For a starry night

2010-01-20T20:31:00.001-05:00

Some props from my film

"The Barley Way" size chart

2010-01-11T13:24:00.002-05:00

Here's a size chart for the main characters featured in my grad film, currently in production.

Birfday card

2009-12-22T06:24:00.001-05:00

Medium: Ink wash

Lecture Journal

2009-12-17T12:43:00.004-05:00

Here are a few pages from the "lecture journal" milestone hand-in. These are accurate descriptions of the weekly lectures. Originals given yesterday to respective instructors, it made them so happy =)

Classtime doodles

2009-12-17T12:41:00.000-05:00

Life Drawing TREASURES

2009-12-14T22:18:00.004-05:00

Today was my last official Life Drawing class at Sheridan. I have been very fortunate to be taught by the league of extraordinary gentlemen: Gerry Zeldin and Mark Thurman (Mark can be seen in the background of the "Lyrical pose" parody drawing I did back in first year).

Haute Couture Debbie

2009-12-06T22:28:00.001-05:00

From my final Sheridan Life Drawing portfolio =D

RWTF Drawings

2009-11-13T21:37:00.001-05:00

Here are some aminals drawn at the Royal Win Ter Fair

Awwww..... :)

Dulcie in Wonderland

2009-10-28T12:36:00.001-04:00

It's official

2009-10-22T00:15:00.003-04:00

I joined the Cartoonists Who Doodle Nude Women On Post-It Notes Society.
"CWDNWOPINS" for short, try to say that 6 times fast!

Things that make you go "OIAF"

2009-10-19T19:19:00.004-04:00

Attended Ottawa International Animation Festival this weekend,
To Catch Up with old friends, and meet some new ones, T'was fun!
The caricatures of Mitch and Steffi are inspired by my new hero Floyd Gottfredson.

Parker Lewis on DVD!

2009-09-29T11:34:00.005-04:00

Parker Lewis Can't Lose 3x07 Beauty and The Kube

This cult classic has been off the air since 1993 and has never even had a video release!
There's been petitions running for years, and finally this June, SHOUT! Factory has released a box set of the entire first season!

If you'd like to see the episode above and more like it in DVD quality, make sure you buy Parker Lewis first season box set from SHOUT! Factory
To show that there's a market for it, this way they may release seasons 2 and 3!

HOLY SHLAMOLY! Ben just sent me this link! Season 2 DVD is in the works and Amazon is taking pre-orders!

Update: I just got my Series 1 DVD! Highly recommended!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Life drawing model

2009-09-28T22:41:00.000-04:00

It's not fair

2009-08-11T15:41:00.001-04:00

When your brother gets any attention

Are there GUUUURRRLLLSSS on it?!

2009-08-08T15:43:00.003-04:00

Storyboard panel from my film.
More to come

2009 Highlights #2: All About the Annie Awards

2009-08-04T10:16:00.018-04:00

During the past summers, when on break from college, I've made it a habit to come volunteer at the ASIFA-Hollywood Archive, Since it was so much fun, It didn't cross my mind to get anything in return for it...until this year's Annie Awards!
I was awarded with a Certificate of Merit,
There were 3 other winners in this cathegory: Alex Vassilev (Computer genius, Ace volunteer and roomate =] ) Kathy Turner and Mike Fontanelli.

http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2752219648/rg4173502976

In this picture, ASIFA-Hollywood president and geniuinly wonderful guy Antran Manoogian presents us to the audience at UCLA'S Royce Hall. We had the Honor of going on stage after Nick Park, who got his Winsor McCay Life Time Achievement Award. He also won an Annie for Best Animated Short : Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death, well deserved!

Picture by Claudio Riba

Wallace and Gromit have always been among my favorite cartoons, Upon meeting Mr. Park I said "Your Lordship! This IS an honor!" we shook hands and he laughed with delight. For such a highly acclaimed creative genius, I could not believe how humble he was! We ended up chatting about mutual TV favorite "Doctor Who"

Picture by Dan Riba

Hero of all independent Animators: Bill Plympton

Mr. Lawrence: Great cartoonist and super nice guy, perhaps best known as the voice of the evil Plankton on "Spongebob"! He directed "The Huanted World of El Superbeasto", soon available DVD

I'm still inspired by all the people I got to chat with back stage and at the cocktail party: Vincent Waller, Dan Riba, Shawn Patterson, Jorge Guttierez, Henry Selick, Matt Groening, Peter Avanzino, Tom Minton, James Baxter...It was such a fun night, there's nothing quite like a Hollywood award show.

Kalicature

2009-06-28T17:08:00.005-04:00

Went to a party at John K's house last night, despite the hangover I can still draw a caricature of Kali from memory :)

New inks for John Kricfalusi

2009-05-25T14:25:00.007-04:00

Pencil art by John K.
Digital Inking by me

Digital coloring by John
http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2009/05/amir-inked-jinks.html
http://funkyhb.blogspot.com/2009/05/pixie-and-dixie-and-mr-jinks.html

Steven Pinker reveals "The Stuff of Thought"

2009-05-12T09:49:00.012-04:00

Steven Pinker is my kind of scholar, He uses his science in highly creative ways to explore what makes us tick. Professor Pinker has a wonderful gift for the art of explaining, and he does so in a fascinatingly comprehensible and humorous way.

In his book "The Stuff of Thought" Pinker looks into language as a window to human nature. By far the most interesting chapter is "The Games People Play" in which Pinker explains why we resort to the most common hypocrisy: innuendo, euphemism and double-speak.

Below, Pinker lectures various chapters from "The Stuff of Thought" at Google, "The Games people play" is at the 40 minute mark. Previous chapters about causality (18 minute mark) and swearing as a window to emotion (20:35) are also great.

In "The Blank Slate" Pinker tackles the fallacy of the human mind as a blank slate (meaning that nothing is innate and all is learned, no nature, all nurture) A notion first attributed to the philosopher John Locke.
Pinker debunks this gracefully and even provides an answer to why this fallacy is sometimes appropriate for politics "When the concept of fairness is confused with the concept of sameness".

I also heartily recommend his previous books "How the mind works", and " The Language Instinct" the latter explains universal grammar and the innate capacity for speech (there is also a good audio book version of "The Language instinct" read by Lalla Ward)

2009 Highlights: part 1

2009-04-24T22:48:00.020-04:00

Part 1- Assisting Brock

Every year I have helped a 4th year friend with their film, last year it was Randeep Katari, Two years ago Nick Thornoborrow, and this year- Brock Gallagher, who has been an inspiration to me throughout my time in school.
I was fortunate enough to do clean-up on some of Brock's finest scenes, boy I learned a lot from flipping his animation drawings!

Brock is brilliant at every aspect of film-making, he is not only a wonderful animator, story and gag man, he has the skill to see to the core of things and bind them together in the best possible way, that's why his film is cohesive in every respect, One of the best cartoons I've seen in recent years.

Go watch his film- THE PEASANT AND THE ROOT!

Brock has also been generous to contribute his voice talent for the brother character in my upcoming film.

Picture taken by Peter Emslie at Geoff Milne's recording studio

Part Two: the Annie Awards

http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2752219648/rg4173502976

I will write about this in detail when the ceremony will be posted on the ASIFA-Hollywood Archive blog...

Part Three: interviewing animation legend and wonderful friend Kaj Pindal

In progress...

Jonathan Miller sheds light on why we exaggerate

2009-03-29T02:44:00.015-04:00

"The Body in Question" is a classic TV program by "that British man for all seasons", Sir Dr. Jonathan Miller. I found episode 3 (titled "How do you feel") particularly interesting.
Miller explains a series of experiments which established a map of how the brain sees the body, it looks like a cartoon character.

note: first 48 seconds show footage of surgery

John Kricfalusi often uses the term "emotional weight", and I am very pleased to see this term has scientific credibility. the parts we tend to exaggerate indeed have more "sensitivity points" as mapped by the brain. it makes perfect sense for why it is natural for cartoonists to exaggerate.

IMO Jonathan Miller is one of the most fascinating and admirable people alive, listening to him is always pleasurable and educational.
Sir Dr. is a real Renaissance man, gifted and skilled at so many different areas, to which he always puts his inimitable personal stamp. It is not by coincidence that he has the most important skill of all-- the ability to see to the core.
His superb analytical skills and critical thinking enables him to apply his varied skill and talent to any topic.

Some of my personal favorite Miller discussions:

Humor/Why we laugh:

Stammering (at 7:17)

"Major" film producers (at 6:00) :

On the fallacy of post-sixties education systems- "everyone being equal is an emphasis on equal talent" ( at 1:25) (This can also be explained in Steven Pinker's book "The Blank Slate- A modern denial of human nature")

On science as a candle in the dark: how medicine removed his fear of death:

Link to the complete series of chats with Dick Cavett

And an interview by Kristy Wark

"The Barley Way" Pitch

2009-03-08T22:53:00.027-04:00

SET UP:
Yehezkel, The teen Science genius Discovers an earth-like planet with his home made super telescope.

He rushes outside to tell his father and brother, who are pre-occupied playing soccer with their heads.

"DAD! JOSEFFAT! I discovered an EARTH LIKE PLANET!"
They pause to look at him "Are there girls on it?" asks Joseffat "Or Beer?" asks dad.
"I could only find vegetation and liquid water" replies Yehezkel
The attention is yet again stolen by Jossefat "Hey dad look at me! Forget about that science stuff, check out my soccer ball!"

Dad is captured "That's nice about your lil' planet, son... But I can't pass on a good soccer game!"
Discouraged, Yehezkel walks off... and Jossefat adds insult to injury by saying "You find something worthwhile, and MAYBE we'll listen!"
"Oh you'll see!" retaliates Yehezkel "I'll beat you at your own game!"

BODY:

Players assemble in a junior high soccer arena, preparing for a big match, Yehezkel at the goal.
In the audience, Dad is rather anxious, he turns to his smug looking boy asking "Jossefat, you think your brother is ready to be a goalie?"
-"HAHA...Probably not!"

The game begins with a super strong kick from the other team, Yehezkel's players run away in fear of this, but he stays determined to protect the goal...but the ball then causes his beheading and hospitalization.

PAYOFF:

"WHY did you do it SON?"

"Well, *sniff* I just wanted you to be proud of me..."

"But don't you see, I already am proud of you!"

Yehezkel is lead to believe he's had dad's appreciation all along....but wait!

"NASA found proof of life on your planet!"

"GIRLS MADE OF BEER WHO PLAY SOCCER!"

*to the sound of a referee's whistle, the alien girl anticipates, and uses her head to successfully nudge a football coming from off-screen"

"That's a good one, eh son? Haww Haww!"

We truck out of the hospital as rocketships leave the earth by the dozens.

Get them while they're fresh

2009-01-13T23:16:00.002-05:00

Sketches, baked in class this morning

T'was the day after Christmas!

2008-12-26T17:17:00.005-05:00

Action Analysis

2008-12-13T08:53:00.011-05:00

The 3rd year Action Analysis animation project criteria allows you to do ANYTHING...as long as it's one of the 9 allowed motions, I chose the "pull". The length is the mandatory 5 seconds.
I suggest playing more than once, as the player is still buffering first time around.

Stop Motion walk

2008-12-09T20:33:00.002-05:00

Here is an in-class exercise from our Stop Motion course. I aimed to bring a "Rubber Hose" mentality to it. 5 minutes before the end, the puppet's leg broke. My instructor, Chris, Advised to make a gag out of it. So I did a subtle "Take" using white sticky-tak on the black board behind the puppet for the lines indicating alarm. The puppet's leg is held by a magnet under the stage. Stop motion is fun, it's very tangible and straight forward.

Mice

2008-11-26T22:31:00.005-05:00

Usually I don't like to just post a bunch of drawings, so I kept one theme for this assortment.

This post is dedicated to Amber, who told me I don't post enough.

I will get working on a proper post time permitting.

Who's "WHO"

2008-11-08T19:06:00.028-05:00

There's both wonderful and terrible news about the upcoming 5th series of Dotcor Who:
1. Steven Moffat takes the role of Head Writer/Executive producer (practically the show leader)
2. David Tennant will not be returning to play the role of the tenth Doctor.

All episodes of the Doctor Who revival have had wonderful direction, music and design, but what separates good episodes from great ones, comes down the writing and acting. When the latter are done well, all aspects of the show’s making blend in prefect synthesis. The combination of Steven Moffat’s writing and David Tennat’s performance has provided my favorite work of fiction in a long time, because no matter how far-fetched, they made it feel real.

MOFFAT

I was first made aware of Steven Moffat when I discovered his hilarious sit-com “Coupeling”. Moffat has the skill to make fictional character feel real, by adding layers of humanity to them. By humanity I mean a rich canvas of emotion, and an understanding of how humans think and operate. Humans are emotional based, their rationale and view of the world depends on their emotional structure. An emotional structure isn’t flat. Emotions blend into each other like colors on a mixing palette: joy with angst, warmth with sternness, etc…This prevents the formation of flat characters.

Moffat’s Doctor Who stories are quite profound, they always have more than one element going. My favorite is “The Girl in the Fire Place”, Embedded below:

"The Girl in the Fireplace"

Directed By Euros Lyn, Music by Murray Gold

part 1 part 2 part 3 part 4 part 5

Plot-wise, it is about clockwork droids from the 51st century stalking a woman from the 18th. What makes this story compelling is the development of romantic bonding between Madam de Pompadour and her “Guardian Angel”- The Doctor. This is challenged by the way the two characters experience time.

Notice the plot isn't completely understood until the very end, but the film is captivating from the very first moment. It makes sense emotionally, and that's why we don't feel lost.

Moffat keeps the viewers on their toes by throwing in many questions and irrational plot developments, until finally he ties all the elements in beautifully unexpected ways.

All of Moffat’s stories have this in common: “Blink”, “Silence in the Library” and “Forset of the Dead” Are creative, layered, and unpredictable. They are emotionally involving, they invite the viewers to take active participation by asking questions, They save the logical"solving of the case" to the very end, and deliver a cathartic resolution. Fiction writing at its best, I look forward to seeing more of it!

TENNANT

Sadly, I can’t look forward to see David Tennant lead Moffat’s upcoming stories, as he is leaving the show at the height of his success:

"I think it's better to go when there's a chance that people might miss you, rather than to hang around and outstay your welcome…I don't ever want it to feel like a job, so I want to move on when it still feels exciting and fresh and that means I'll miss it."

Tennant’s Reasoning is a sign of a capable and versatile actor, but the fact he’s leaving is hard for me to accept. Tennant is a key factor of my identification with the show, It wasn’t until I saw his characterization that I became hooked.

“…In his four years in the role, Tennant has made it his own. His doctor – the 10th – has artfully combined the best parts of his predecessors within an engaging personality all his own. Tennant's doctor has been both physical and cerebral, funny and yet full of angst; he has been the most human of all the Doctors.” (http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/comment/Wha39s-like-us--David.4652347.jp)

Tennant’s portrayal of The Doctor made me feel like I was there with him. I was entranced by his infinite dedication to make sense of phenomenal mysteries, I admired his relentless obsession to protect his loved ones, and I laughed along his joyful enthusiasm upon solving a case.

Forest of the Dead- Resolution
Uploaded by toonamir Click "HQ" to see in better quality.

Warning: This video contains spoilers if you haven't seen the episode, it is meant to illustrate the article.

No matter how catastrophic, no matter how unfavorable the odds are, The Doctor could always re-gain control, and reach a cathartic and delightful resolution. Just as plain text, these descriptions may sound like ordinary hero clichés, but the difference is: David Tennant made them feel real. His character was both an agent of great adventure, and a dependable father figure, he made any situation, no matter how uncanny, sheer fun.

The Lucifer Effect

2008-10-29T22:21:00.005-04:00

--Hi!

For the past 2 months I have been balancing Inking for John Kricfalusi‘s new George Liquor cartoons, and 3^rd year of Sheridan College.

For my return post, I’d like to share one of the best lectures I’ve heard recently: In “The Lucifer Effect”, Dr. Phillip Zimbardo (originator of the Stanford Prison Experiment) Provides an amazingly in-depth explanation of good and evil. At the core is the power of the situation, and our reaction to social conditioning.

How can good apples become corrupt by a bad barrel? How can blind obedience and uncritical conformity lead to evil doing? What is heroism, and how can it be triggered in the same situations? Find out in this real eye opener!

I've attached 2 versions of the lecture: Google (full length) and TED (short), the Google version is much better if you can dedicate the time for it. Both contain a slideshow of violent images, which can easily be skipped, if you find material of the kind disturbing, the lecture can be understood without it.

The Doctor

2008-08-18T07:09:00.004-04:00

Recently I've started watching Series 1 & 2 of Doctor Who, What a cool show!

Best Lupin Episode...

2008-07-27T09:05:00.012-04:00

...I've ever seen!

Wings of Death!
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Miyazaki has often brought good timing and pacing to Lupin, along with good animation, well constructed stories and surprises, which are often missing from other directors' versions.
And UNLIKE other Miyazaki versions, It's not toned down! It's still cartoony, the cast is "in character" and it has very good balance, it's not reduced to "general family audience" material, it keeps an adult theme tastefully, without being crude.

When so many things are done right, I shift from just liking a film to loving it.

While watching Lupin films I've made some studies,the version on the left from "Lupin vs. the Clone" is my favorite design, since it's the most cartoony and appealing.

later I wanted to merge him with other characters:

This was meant to be a 1930s Fleischer theme, but reminds me more of Bakshi's Malcolm and Melvin, which I also love.

Do Lupin and Fujiko ever get together, or are they fated to continue to tease each other?
"Actually, it's kind of interesting. I think men and women in general as... rather than saying tease, say they enjoy each other... using their weapons against each other, but in an enjoyable way. That's how I think of that."

Complete interview with series creator can be found here

My favorite element in the more successful Lupin films, besides good characters and funny drawings, is a true to life attitude, You don't find it in many animated films that look appealing.
Lupin lives in "the real world", a competitive place, where many others have selfish interests identical to his, and will stop at nothing to get there first, sometimes even con him out of a treasure when he gets it. There is no rigged order of justice or pure good and evil here, there is RELATIVE good and bad.
Miyazaki sometimes portrays him as "The Gentleman Thief" and originally that is not the case, Lupin is simply better than the other crooks. In the episode linked above, he's very in-character.
I can relate this to the society we live in, something I can't do with many Disney fairy tales, but there are exceptions, my favorite is "Br'er Rabbit Runs Away" from "Song of the South", which is very true to life, Some of the shorts have it too, Like Jack Kinney's "Fathers are People". Bakshi films are very good this way too.
It's the difference between what's comforting and what's real, comforting films have their place, but I liked them more as a kid. Today I like making fun of what's real.

The Froggymooners vol. 1

2008-07-01T14:31:00.005-04:00

Kristy Interview

2008-06-25T12:23:00.005-04:00

LoL, I was befuddled to see my painting in the new interview with Kristy Gordon, Her art was inspiration for it though! It's replaced by Samurai Jack now. Go visit Kristy's new blog, where she shares her thoughtful process and gorgeous artwork!

Space Race!

2008-06-24T14:52:00.023-04:00

Boy, these BBC Docu-dramas are fascinating! It's an ideal kind of filmmaking. While textbooks inform you about history, these shows allow you to live it.

Many people say "Story is King", while I don't completely agree with that, I agree that a good story is one of the most crucial fundamentals of a good film, and few fictional stories can rival with the mind-blowing landmarks in the progress of mankind.

History also provides strong characters (which are the generators of good stories anyway), "Space Race" focuses on two men: Sergey Korolyov and Wernher Von Braun, they both share the same dream: to reach for the heavens.
In realizing it, All sorts of things get in the way: competition, rivalry, politics, and even war.
The same things that keep us on our toes everyday make the characters and situations relatable, And on top of all, educational and inspiring.

Wernher Von Braun is an enigmatic, multi-shaded character, It's hard to describe him with absolute certainty. The man who developed the fearful V2 for the Nazis using slave labor, was the SAME man who sent Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins to the surface of the moon. I admire his scientific brilliance and his vision which was years ahead of his time, But unsure about his personality.

The connections don't seem to end, according to the BBC show, Von Braun had to first persuade America they NEEDED a space program, and to do that, he took the aid of famous cartoonists

"The only people showing any interest in space are in Walt Disney's studio...Maybe that's the answer, go directly to the American public"

"Show them there's more to it then missiles, Show them space as America's new frontier"

In the clip below, Ward Kimball introduces Wernher Von Braun, In the 1955 Disneyland episode Man and the Moon. some of Von Braun's dreams have yet to be realized.

Doco-dramas, In My opinion, also provide the best use for CG animation,
I think cg is the best for replicating real environments, scientific processes and objects. While
hand drawn is the best for creating characters and fantasy.

Ward Kimball's animated segments dealing with the myths of space are some of the finest cartoons I've ever seen. On the other hand, while the illustrations and animation describing scientific processes in Disneyland are very appealing and crystal clear, the BBC CG footage is much more exciting. It helps us to visit long gone historical launch pads, and see how the fuel is mixed from within the rocket! When edited with real footage, it is even more effective.

It's no news to anybody that CG provides great special effects! Here are some exciting effects and excellent filmmaking to take you on board of a great adventure: The flight of Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space!

As a side note, my gut feelings about CG animated films:
An important factor in creating an illusion, a fictional story, is the viewer's comfort in the world you're creating.
I'd rather fly to Never-land than to the Uncanny valley.
CG is a jaw dropping tool, but most people haven't used it, they don't know how it works, and some become worried as they fail to separate CG images from real ones, this can create a barrier between the film and the audience, a response quite common with the films "Final Fantasy" and "Beowulf".
On the counterpart, We've all used ink and paint, everyone, not just artists, and it's our imagination and belief that makes the leap of faith and welcomes the illusion of hand drawn cartoons. my two cents.

Without further delay, here are the links to the entire series:

Space Race:

episode1
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNTU2MzU0MA==.html

episode2
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNTU2NTM0NA==.html

episode 3
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_cc00XNTU3MDk4OA==.html

episode 4
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNTU3NjM3Mg==.html

Disneyland:
Man and the Moon:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_drW76wUuD4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJGx7zU11Qk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3PRsaaVMfU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILjXGfTkKvk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCK3q8uJoMY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRDIf_3DqtI

Man in space:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75vX6O8paGo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAYyEsUn87w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYaJ7hNKuu4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdgHvuCEWnE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtIpcwLjRs4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBi69V8oNuw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sy0fafgajWI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsVD11FE3oQ

Mars and Beyond
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1r99XcaYDjg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxQVaHbqvTI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7RYYVm2o9s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RChnjIKWges
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d76fiWRobU4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRCQ2Cu3bSE

Happy learning!

Hello I'm a Muzzle, And I'm a Beak

2008-06-06T08:49:00.004-04:00

These are from character design assignments, in which we had to design beak and muzzle characters and draw poses with them:

And a pantomime scenario assignment in which we needed to show a character caught in the act of going for an item he is not supposed to have.

Bruce Springsteen song title goes here

2008-05-28T07:15:00.001-04:00

Scott Caple's recent post reminded me I have yet to share my trip to the U.S of A

Ah, Sunny California! What a treat after a long Canadian winter!
I stayed with my friend JoJo, he was a great host.
JoJo is the archive assistant, and his friends Alex and Kelsey are loyal volunteers at the Archive, they do great work.

And speaking of the Archive, what is a trip to LA without helping out my ol' buddy Steve?

If you're not into cartoons, then you should at least go there for the music,
Here Steve performs a beautiful rendering to the old folk song "Barnacle Bill the Sailor",
Which can be heard in the classic Fleischer cartoons "Barnacle Bill" (with Betty Boop) and "Beware of Barnacle Bill" (with Popeye), I was first introduced to Fleischer cartoons by Steve when I was 14, and they've been among my favorites since.

Our friend Mike Fontanelli visited often, working passionately on wonderful Al Capp posts.

I was doing image processing and tagging, and donated the book "Rube Goldberg vs. The Machine Age"

As said, Scott Caple was in town, Aside for being a great artist, He's a film and history fan, who appreciates great artwork and craftsmanship, so I invited him to the Archive, He came there with his friend Kevin, and they were both blown away, It was fun!

Foodles from a generous John K. Pizza education session

And of course, when you're on vacation, you should go to the Zoo, It's simply what the doctor prescribed, because there you see everyone's favorite laughter factor: crazy monkeys in swing!

When I came back from the Zoo, JoJo and Alex had finished class, Alex asked me if I've been to the aviary, because there's a Bird there that looks like Tex Avery, I haven't seen it, I wonder if that's why they call it the Aviary.

I'd like to thank Will Finn, Kent Butterworth, Sherm Cohen, Eddie Fitzgerald, Mike Kazalah, Claudio Riba, Sue Kroyer, Joe Haidar, the students at Woodbury University , and JD Mata, it was great to meet you! Looking forward to next time!

Peace.

Character Lineup

2008-04-11T19:16:00.002-04:00

From a character design assignment. I somewhat like it but I think it can be better, The two characters on the right need to be simplified, and the characters on the left need to be re-invented.

Keepin' it Old School

2008-03-22T13:49:00.014-04:00

It's the Easter weekend break, I decided to take Friday off for some personal cartoon work, and it ends up being school related! GAWD...

This season is pretty demanding, The school workload and Canadian winter have pretty much stranded us to the light table for the past 3 months, But I'm often reminded of the good points to being here.

Among them is Johnny Williamson, The guy on the left. I haven't written about him yet, He's one of the best teacher's I've ever had, and probably ever will.
He's not only an excellent animator, He's a genuinely warm person, And he treats each and everyone of us on a personal level. Thats right, All 120+ of us! His ability to give is exceptional.

Another teacher I haven't yet written about is Scott Caple, He's one of the best draftsmen I've ever met, The past class he gave us a demonstration of how he goes about shading his layouts on a separate sheet of tracing paper, I learn a lot from seeing these folks draw!

There's 4 weeks till the end of the term, I'm looking forward to see my family again...There's light at the end of the carpal tunnel, And until then, I gotta go back to my homework.

Oh! Thanks to our pal Pete for coming to this week's cartoon night! We had a lot of fun listening to your so-called "useless trivia" while watching Tex Avery!

see ya later.

Cartoon Night...

2008-03-12T22:52:00.004-04:00

...With classic film interludes

Tonight was the first screening,
I shared my favorite Clampett cartoons: The Great Piggy Bank Robbery, Tortoise Wins By A Hare, Tale of Two Kitties, Russian Rhapsody, Draftee Daffey, Baby Bottleneck and others, we wrapped it up with Coal Black, and had a load of laughs! Thanks for comin' guys.

This is an open screening, so everybody at Sheridan is invited: Wednesdays 8-10 (ish) B125.
...I know how tight school is now, that's why I started a fun night!

Plan B

2008-03-06T19:09:00.004-05:00

Hey folks, I don't have the license from Dreamworks to sell these (even though I'm convinced they would sell like hotcakes) so I'm gonna resort to plan B and give my pals a plug:

Nick Thornborrow's cool grad film The Foolish Bet is available on-line on his blog! Mitch Kennedy and I had a blast assisting him on the film.

Alessandro Piedimonte: check out the day to day postings of a modern day renaissance artist!

Seo Kim has a very unique style and natural ability, She's currently in first year of Sheridan's animation program, I'm learning a lot from seeing her draw.

Spread the Love

2008-02-14T20:12:00.004-05:00

And you'll be free

When Sobchaks attack

2008-02-12T22:10:00.004-05:00

Mouth sync
Uploaded by toonamir

Human lip sync
Uploaded by toonamir

Animated GIF with clearer image.

Rough animation: Mouth and body lip sync to John Goodman's dialogue in The Big Lebowski.I lined up the video twice during each file, because the new player tends to lag.
Mark Mayerson made some great specific suggestions, that helped improve the sync and animation, Thanks Mark!

Looking back at this drawing I made last June, There's some changes I'd make to it, like starting the mustache line from the corner of the nose and not from the nostril, which is how I drew him for animation.
A good way to figure out how to improve your drawings is called a "drawer test" as in shoving your drawing in the drawer, and looking back at it with fresh eyes, some details are hard to see while you're absorbed in the making of it.

In the video below, Joel and Ethan Coen discuss the making of The Big Lebowski, from the initial idea, to development for the screen. (Warning: Not for kiddies!)

The basic idea was conceived by taking the narrative style of Raymond Chandler (Author of The Big Sleep) and casting a main character who's least equipped to deal with it- for comical possibilities. I like their thinking! One of my favorite movies.

Influence on cartoons

2008-01-18T14:19:00.000-05:00

When I watch films I don't just watch them for fun, I always try to learn from them...Well that's a half lie, because learning from them is also fun!
One of my favorite things to do is "dig in" to cartoon/film history, especially to look into the influence behind my favorites, It's rare, but I'm very pleased when I find it.

John K. has often noted Peter Lorre as one of his favorite actors, The first film I happened to see with him was "The Maltese Falcon", I caught it one night on TCM, and I was hooked from the first minute...That film is totally cut to the chase! They never waste any time! The characters are so strong, and the pace was so tight, it's as if John Huston had me hooked by a fishing rod and pulling me into the TV, I just couldn't sit back in my chair. The scene that most interested me happened in the climax.

When John K. took Steve, kali and I to dinner last summer, we talked about our favorite Film Noir, John's favorite is THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER, I mentioned that mine was the MALTESE FALCON...and that I've been meaning to ask him: Near the end of the Film: Peter Lorre snaps at Sydney Greenstreet....and before I could finish my sentence, John completes it: "That's where Ren and Stimpy came from!"

The Maltese Stimpy
Uploaded by toonamir

In his commentary on His favorite cartoon "The Great Piggy Bank Robbery" John notes a hilarious scene in it may as well be influenced by the same wonderful film

Wilmer the piggy
Uploaded by toonamir

I like surfing the internet because I often find material that both inspires me and teaches me, As I was putting together the link list, I found Rosemary Clooney's wonderful performance of the song "Blues in the Night"

This was a great discovery because I often heard references to this song in many of Bob Clampett's Cartoons, Notably the banned and brilliant "Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs"

Coal Black: Blues in the Night
Uploaded by toonamir

If you'd like to see the complete cartoon in it's original release quality visit Steve at the ASIFA-Hollywood Archive

There's still a ton of stuff to discover, and Blogs can help us get there, so I hope folks such as Will Finn and Pete Emslie will continue commenting with "Useless Trivia"!

By the way, do you need a clue to find out which American cartoon the Miyazaki Lupin episode is based on? I'll give you a hint: It's a Fleischer cartoon from the 1940s.

More insturctional art from John

2008-01-11T23:08:00.000-05:00

This post is for Hector:

These were drawn in summer 1999. John started each drawing with a quick silhouette using the side of his pencil (you can identify those lines as being wider and lighter) later adding construction and at last, detail. Showing me how simple objects like Jimmy's tie, and more complicated forms Like George's head can be done in construction. The drawings of Jimmy's hair were done to show how breaking forms down to simple construction can help us visualize them in different angles. I love the tangible quality of these drawings.

Season's greetings!

2007-12-23T05:20:00.001-05:00

I started from drawing the sombrero boy, and as I started to have fun, got more ideas. Best Wishes everyone! And now for Canada's most popular Christmas song: