Sketched Some Buddhist Monks Today

Good way to pass the time when you have trouble understanding the translator.

Sexy, Angry Girls

And they're armed.

Visited Gobelins in France

The front of Gobelins. It's next to a street called Gobelins near central Paris.

I just came back from a trip to Paris. What a beautiful city. I especially love the artistic history of Paris, from being the home to Toulouse-Latrec, the place where Van Gogh spent most of his life, Monet and Impressionism, to animation-friendly Daumier (practically the first caricaturist) and a personal favorite, Gustav Dore who's known for his amazing print work.

But everyone knows this about Paris. You know it's classy. You know it's romantic. You know it's fashionable. But what people from outside the animation world don't quite realize is that there's cutting-edge, first-class animation talent here and it's in the form of the students of respected Gobelins school. I'm a CalArts grad and we always swooned over what we saw on the Internet what the kids at Gobelins were doing. It was nice to hear from their students that the feeling is mutual about us.

Every frame from a Gobelins film is fun and beautiful.

A new friend of mine, the very talented Ricky Cometa, was kind enough to introduce me to "Gobeliners" (I'm not sure what they call themselves... I would love to be called a Goblin personally, but I dare not bestow that onto them). All of them were warm and again, extremely talented. They were smart as well. I got the sense that they accepted me as family simply because we shared the love of animation, which was especially refreshing in France where tourists (especially American tourists) are aplenty and it's probably not something the locals embrace with both arms.

I was impressed by both the quality of the work I saw and their spirit of collaboration. It's something they don't teach at CalArts - how to work in a team - and I think the exchange program is valuable in exposing at least one or two of its students to this experience (before being thrown in the work environment).

So CalArts kids who are reading this, I wholly endorse trying out the exchange program if you're thinking about doing it. Ricky would probably attest to it as well: what I saw there was nothing short of mind-blowing.

Some Recent Sketches

Warm-Ups - The Snails from DreamWorks' "Turbo"

If You Want the Best Chance in Animation, Don't Pooh Pooh Disney

It never hurts to appreciate and study guys like Milt Kahl. Never hurts.

Hi everyone. I've been working off site (as in away from the DreamWorks Glendale campus). I guess unbeknownst to many people (including people who's been in the industry for a long time), the studio can loan you out to other sites like TV places and other studios that may need artists. Right now, I'm at Titmouse. Can't talk about the project I'm on, but I've been trudging away at this grittier, artier studio in a semi-sketchy part of Hollywood. It's fitting because Titmouse's culture is more "urban" than the more family-friendly studios like DreamWorks and Disney, which are literally located in the suburbs of Glendale and Burbank respectively.

It's a good lesson in adaptation for me. For example, at many of the feature places, the storyboarding program of choice is Photoshop and Bridge. At Titmouse, they like their ToonBoom Storyboard Pro. It's not too hard to learn, so don't be intimidated. It is different, however.

But I don't want to use this blog to talk too much about the business side and leave out talking about the craft. Since I'm talking about adaptation, I want to stress the importance of having traditional appeal in your drawings for boards. I have many peers who like to snicker at Disney because it's what they're taught to do at school when they're learning about the other great art that's out there.

What I learned is, yes, there's more out there than Disney when it comes to animation, but having an understanding of the things the Nine Old Men established gives you such a leg up in terms of being versatile in the industry. An artist with strong drafstmanship and is "classically-trained" so to speak in animation is attractive to most employers, as opposed to someone who only knows how to do a niche style like anime or Simpsons.

So keep taking those life drawing classes and keep studying Milt Kahl!

Quako

New storyboards! I had to do a pitch to some DreamWorks directors and head of stories because I was away from the studio for a few months on Dragons TV.  This pitch was a way to "remind them" what I do. I made something new and it went over well!  I also re-pitched them my "Swimming in the Lake" boards. There's a common theme between the two of a boy caring for an animal. Enjoy!