Animation

About Pixar Canada Pixar Canada is looking for a Layout Artist for its studio in Vancouver.  Pixar Canada is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pixar Animation Studios, the world leader in animated films.  The Vancouver studio produces short-form animation focusing on legacy Pixar characters from films such as Toy Story and Cars.  This is an opportunity to join a diverse and talented team producing world-class animation.  Your ideas and experience can have a major impact on the success of our studio.   Summary of Position Working to realize the Director’s cinematic vision, Layout Artists create sequences of shots that convey the story through the application of traditional film making principles in a 3D computer graphics environment.    Responsibilities Establish character blocking, camera positioning and animate camera movement (also referred to as previs).? Explore staging and shot flow to enhance storytelling and solve creative issues.  Technical set-up of shots for downstream production departments.? Post-animation camera polish. Reel Qualifications Reel should show examples of work on a CG animated film or television production that exhibits a strong emphasis on visual storytelling through the use of staging, composition, and editing. Reel should include entire sequences, not just single clips. Short films may be included in their entirety. Reel should show sequences in their layout form.  Including the storyboard animatic as well as final film clips to show progression is recommended.  Personal projects may be included, if relevant. Additional Qualifications 5+ years in 3D computer animation camera experience required. Must have excellent written and verbal communication skills. Must be open to direction and able to embrace change. Experience in other CG fields, such as animation, modeling, and lighting a plus. Bachelor’s Degree in Film, Animation or Fine Arts recommended, though not required.  Submission Process If you are interested in and qualified for this position, please apply to the position online; submitting a cover letter, resume, link that points us directly to your demo reel, and reel breakdown/shotlist. Apply at the link.

June 19, 2013 Swappz Interactive is a digital gaming studio based in Toronto that is developing ground breaking mobile games using innovative technologies. Swappz Interactive’s signature games bridge the gap between traditional toy play and mobile gaming. With Swappz games you can play and collect your favourite Swappz collectible characters, without needing anything other than a smartphone or tablet! Job Description: Character Flash Animator and Illustrator: Our game characters need to run, dash, jump and die! If you have experience with animating characters, whether in a broadcast or game production, then you’re who we’re looking for. Key Assets Include: - Animating 2D Character Instances in Flash - Symbolization of Flash Character Puppets - Ability to match, exactly, the provided visual style - Anticipate, communicate and trouble shoot any technical issues - Ability to take constructive criticism well - Exporting Flash Sequences & Constructing Sprite Sheets - Candidate must be a Canadian Citizen and Resident of Ontario - Ability to work as part of a team as well as independently - Understanding of the production process Additional Skills: - Experience in the mobile game industry or related fields - Illustrator and/or Photoshop Send your cover letter, resume and a link to your portfolio and demo reel to jobs@swappzinteractive.com

The Ronin 2005Cast: Rob ChiuTags: Animation, Illustration, Steve Chiu, DOSC, Rob Chiu, The Ronin and Black Day To Freedom

YCAM InterLab + Yoko Ando Joint Research and Development Project “Reactor for Awareness in Motion (RAM)” interlab.ycam.jp/projects/ram Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (YCAM) has played an active role in cultivating creative and research environments to support the art & technology of the next generation. Since 2011, we have carried out “Reactor for Awareness in Motion”, a research project for developing tool for dance creation and education, with Yoko Ando, a dancer from The Forsythe Company, a leading contemporary dance company and programmers from Japan and the US. Professionals in dance and technology shared an innovative concept in dance and developed it in the form of a physical tool and workshop. It is a revolutionary project in the sense that the technology is not only for theatrical effect, but also to embody one of the very natures of dance and communicate it with the world. What we witness is a technological inquiry into the nature of dance. Customized based on the perspectives of the dancer, the tool writes a new chapter in the history of experience in dance and technology. interlab.ycam.jp/en/projects/ram Reactor for Awareness in Motion (RAM) teaser Featuring: Cyril Baldy (The Forsythe Company), Yoko Ando (The Forsythe Company), Takayuki Ito (YCAM InterLab), Kyle McDonald Narration: Kyle McDonald Camera and Edited by Richi Owaki (YCAM InterLab), Atsushi Tanabe Sound: heirakuG (Masashi Heirakuji) Lighting: Fumie Takahara (YCAM InterLab) Research and Development: Takayuki Ito (YCAM InterLab), Richi Owaki (YCAM InterLab), Yoko Ando?The Forsythe Company?, Yoshito Onishi, Satoru Higa, Motoi Shimizu, Kyle McDonald, Akiko Takeshita (YCAM), Naoko Shiomi(YCAM) Organized by Yamaguchi City Foundation for Cultural Promotion In association with Yamaguchi City, Yamaguchi City Board of Education Supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan in the fiscal 2012 Special support: Goethe Institut Equipment Cooperation: NAC Image Technology, Motion Analysis Corporation, Color Kinetics Japan Incorporated Produced by Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media [YCAM]Cast: YCAMTags: YCAM, Yoko Ando, Dance, Media Art, openFrameworks, Kinnect, Mocap and Motion Capture

American technological artist Jonathan Harris is well-known for combining a love for computer science, storytelling and statistics to experiment and create beautiful projects that reflect on human society – think back to We Feel Fine, The Whale Hunt, and Balloons of Bhutan, to name just a few. In the last year alone, he launched an [...]

Gustaf Tenggren, of course, was the designer who worked at Disney’s studio during the thirties creating art which became models for Snow White, Bambi, and Pinocchio. John Canemaker wrote extensively about Tenggren in his book, Before the Animation Begins. The artist moved into publishing after work at the Disney studio where he created The Poky Little Puppy for Little Golden Books. The Tales of the Arabian Nights was another of the many books Tenggren did for them. While visiting John Canemaker I saw the book and photographed some of the illustrations. Hopefully, the quality will be good enough so that I can share them with you. They’re completely original for Mr. Tenggren; not at all inspired by the many European-styled work he was known for. A true artist. The book’s cover Inner covers / front and back Thee Title Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Hey Kids! It is the Return of the Late Night Sketchamathingie....Cheers!©T.N.Perkins IV 2013 All Rights Reserved.

90 % of drawing is "knowing your way around a piece of paper."At one point in the early 1980's I found myself working on an animated arcade game . Now something of a relic, DRAGON'S LAIR was a kind of revolution for a short time, spawning a couple follow ups. It was really unique in concept, story and design. Instead of 8 bit pixel images, the game would be done as "full" or "classical" cartoon film animation on cels. Dozens, if not hundreds of actions had to be animated of a knight who was called "Dirk the Daring" in various settings and actions. The animation would be then published on a laser disc and played on a system that "knew" the correct sequence of moves, which were programmed to succeed or fail based on a player moving the joystick. It was very sophisticated at the time but now seems kind of crude by todays standard. My kids just showed me something called Project Spark coming out for the new XBOX that pretty much blows everything out of the water, but I digress. Back on DRAGON'S LAIR I was a very low grade apprentice animator, and considered myself lucky just to be involved. I was often in over my head among a group of talented young animators who had earned their chops in the majors already. I had one scene (or "node") involving the knight jumping from one tile to the next in a wide, "down shot" of a tiled room, kind of like a disco floor. Various jumping sequences would lead to various outcomes for the knight, I really didn't understand it at the time and had my hands full enough just trying to animate the character hopping in space on the grid. The hops were short. which made the animation very difficult. Even trickier, the character was facing away from the viewer, drawing a back view for me back then made the task even more difficult (the back of a character at that stage was considered difficult and nondescript to me, but having to draw the face would have probably made it even harder).I went to visit John Pomeroy, who was the most senior animator on the project and he had another "node" in the same visual setup. He was effortlessly animating away at it, getting the height and spacing of each instance of the character perfectly correct. The perspective was making me it's bitch, but John had complete command of it. He gave me some tips but I shuffled back to my desk feeling just as whipped before. At that point I realized two things:1. Drawing and animating are mainly mental processes.2. A real drawing master knows his or her way around a piece of paper. John certainly did. I would not for a long time to come.I will try to elaborate on these a bit more coming up.

About the t.v. business. DreamWorks Animation will generate $100 million in TV production revenue this year, Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Katzenberg said, lessening the company’s dependence on films. That amount will increase to $200 million or more in 2015, Katzenberg said yesterday on a conference call with investors and reporters to discuss contracts the company has secured to produce programs for Netflix Inc. (NFLX), the online video service, and Germany’s Super RTL channel. By expanding television production, Katzenberg is taking steps to reduce the studio’s reliance on scoring hits with each of its theatrical releases. DreamWorks Animation, which has considered creating its own cartoon cable network, is now focusing on Netflix’s growing subscriber base to deliver cash and brand recognition for its properties. .. Diversification is the name of the game. In 1995, Geffen, Spielberg, and Katzenberg were doing diversity right out of the gate. They started this company called DreamWorks SKG, and were doing live-action movies, video games, animation, and television. But over time, the games initiatives didn't pan out, and television wasn't a big profit center. Also, the big studio in Playa Vista never happened. Ultimately DreamWorks got split into two companies and it was the animation piece that was more successful. DreamWorks (the live-action company) now resides at Disney, while DreamWorks Animation lives in its own studio in Glendale, on the sun-kissed banks of the L.A. River. Steven Spielberg still does productions out of Amblin' Entertainment and Geffen is ensconced in Malibu, keeping the riff-raff off his beach. So now DWA is branching out, and why the company has not done live-action flicks ... or at least some hybrid features a la Illumination Entertainment and Sony, is a mystery known to Jeffrey but few others. As I've said, DreamWorks Animation will either A) be gobbled up by News Corp., or B) become a mini-Disney with fingers in many pies. (Live action, amusement parks, hybrid animation-live action features and all kinds of television.) But perhaps I'm over-thinking this. Maybe the final chapter is "DreamWorks is swallowed up by the Fox News Corp, and everyone lives happily ever after."

First a Land, now a movie. In between live-action assignments, Phil Lord and Chris Miller do animation. Cloudy with Meatballs broke out a couple of years ago. Though they aren't directing the sequel, due in September, they have supplied notes. The synopsis for their new picture: The 3D animated adventure tells the story of Emmet, an ordinary, rules-following, perfectly average LEGO minifigure who is mistakenly identified as the most extraordinary person and the key to saving the world. He is drafted into a fellowship of strangers on an epic quest to stop an evil tyrant, a journey for which Emmet is hopelessly and hilariously underprepared. The movie isn't stop motion, but certainly looks it.