Floyd County Productions is hiring!

Hey followers! To those of you interested in joining us at Floyd County Productions here is your chance :) Copied this post from one of my coworkers blog to share with all of you.

JUMP ON THIS.

Floyd County Productions is looking for studio artists to add to our Archer, Chozen, and Bigfoot crews. We’re seeking Illustrator key frame animators, ToonBoom animators, Flash animators, storyboarders, and background painters. If you:

• have training in animation
• are proficient in Adobe Illustrator, ToonBoom, Flash, or Photoshop
• can undergo a trial period in-studio, then subsequently relocate to Atlanta, GA (trial may or may not be required, depending on the position)
• have an online portfolio and/or demo reel
• greatly enjoyed the above image

Then send your full name, resume, portfolio/reel URLs, and what positions you’re applying for, to macdonaldfloyd1@gmail.com and I will send it along. Please ask if you have any questions or concerns. FIRST DEADLINE FOR PORTFOLIOS IS SEPT 9TH. A second round of portfolio gathering may follow, but it’s best not to rely on that possibility. There’s no guarantees, so dive in

I got myself a job!

I seemed to disappear then reappear depending on what my school scheduled was but that is all over now. I graduated in June and had a short week off before starting at my new job. I am super amped about landing a spot on the flash animation team at Floyd County Productions!

I have been there just over 1 month and it has been an incredible learning experience for me so far. I had a spell of self doubt and some intense anxiety questioning my skills my first month at work. But that has nearly passed by now and I need to just enjoy the fact that I got to help on episode 1 of Season 5 Archer! Probably my favorite show on television right now so what's to panic about? We have started pre-production on Chozen which is where I will be animating.

During my first 2 weeks I was lucky enough to catch a super fun project and worked on some inbetweening and clean up for a few of the lead animators. I can't say what the show was BUUUUUT I will announce here on my blog when I can and be all "I animated that hand!" and "Cleaned up that action!" just to claim what little involvement I had on the project...hahaha

Thumbnail Color Script

So while one of my teammates worked on the storyboard the other was putting it all together in the first rough cut animatic. I was tasked with the color script for the film. So I took the storyboard thumbnails and painted this quick and dirty color script. Pending some tweaking we are in week 4 and will hopefully begin production this weekend. Time to start animating!

New Collab film

Just finished a few pieces from the new film I am working on in class. I still have some other concepts I'm finishing up tonight/tomorrow but here's one character sheet and a speed painting of the street performing location the help capture the mood. The entire class will be posting to vitamagusfilm.blogspot.com so check it out.

The above character is a woman in her 60's that has been performing as a magician for over 40 years. I wanted an older woman that wasn't what you normally see in animated films; hunched, wrinkled, and eccentric. She should have a sophistication and refinement about her gained through performing her act for decades. A past that was filled with stardom and beauty in which she continues to confidently project.

My key influence was the beautiful 63 year old Jessica Lange. Another is a Canadian street performer by the name of Billy Kidd who along with Janelle Monae inspired the androgynous outfit. This adds an interesting character trait to her unseen history of struggling with not only trying to introduce magic to the world but also to stand out and become accepted. Billy Kidd stated in an interview "It's a boys' club,"... "I have to work harder and do different things." which is one reason for Kidd's androgynous persona.

Lastly the color pallet chosen is an example of how the world could look towards the final few scenes of the film. Bright colors that play with a high contrast complimentary pallet. This method is more about experimenting with hue contrast than value contrast.

After finishing the last environment frame I decided to do a quick concept of the little girl in the street to refine that sloppy painting. This idea of having a child being able to also see the magic everyone else overlooks was brought up in class and I though it was interesting and worth exploring. I wanted her forms to reflect the magician she is impersonating so I tapered her arms and legs to mimic the magician silhouette.

Second New Short

Hello followers. I wanted to let everyone know that I am returning to school Tuesday and will be working on a total of 2 films this quarter. FML!

The first film is my own called Jellie and you've maybe check out my posts here. The second film is for my 2D/3D Collaborative Project class. So far it is myself and my two friends Jenna and Davonne. The concept was brought forward by Jenna and I thought it sounded cool so I jumped on board to develop the kernal of an idea into a, hopefully, bad ass little short.

Please jump on over to The Keepers of the Trees and follow our progress over the next 10 weeks as we try to finish our film!

Jellie

So I have a new working title for my short film. I am calling it “Jellie”. Updates too. I have a sound designer that will be working on the short. Check out his blog over at Sound of the Hunt. And lastly some animatic work. I have about 80% of the scenes finished with the main character added. I am working on more backgrounds now then I will add in the flying fish and some subway riders/pedestrians.


Jellie WIP animatic 01 from efmuok on Vimeo.

Lastly, the biggest update. Due to MARTA photo policies being ridiculous, the aquarium always being packed and the fact that there are some shots of things that simple don’t exist and/or would be impossible for me to shoot I will be painting all the backgrounds digitally. Sucks but hey I think it’ll be better and closer to the film I see in my head. That being said I now have good photo reference hahaha.

Aquarium Backgrounds and Styleframe

Alright. Finally got off my lazy ass and took the photographs for my aquarium short. Went to the MARTA last night and after getting yelled at by 2 security guards and 1 police officer I got the photos I needed. But NO FILMING! And I wasn't allowed to use my tripod. I'm not exactly sure what the restriction on tripods is for. I mean midday rush hour sure but there was maybe 5 other people on the train with me. It was a pain in the ass to shoot at night w/out a tripod though.

I've been editing, compositing, and color correcting all day but I now have the first few shots completed. The first background has the top of the stairs with an alpha, I will go to the aquarium and grad some photos of the underwater tunnel and the viewing wall the combine. The subway windows also have alpha so I can put images and lights passing by as he travels on the train.

I also grabbed the illustration I did and dropped it into one of the backgrounds to get an idea of how the final animation will be composited together. I've been tweaking the colors as well to get the mood of the film I want. Enjoy.

I am on a deadline for this one...April in the job fair and I need it for my demo reel!

American Horror Story Asylum

This weeks topic was Psychotic Quarter. But I sketched a whole symphony. Oh and did I mention its an American Horror Story fan art as well. So I know I barely whip these shitty sketches together each week but this one and am going to finish cause it's been so long since I've done a fan art and I miss it. Stay tuned this week for the final piece.

Sketchkablam quickie

Done this afternoon in my sketchbook then thrown into photoshop to add a flat color pass. I need to get on this Sketchkablam thing and up my quality haha. Key words were "Autopsy Society" and I drew this little girl who I guess won the science fair and is now the newest member of the Jr Society.

More sketchbook stuff

Haven't posted up life drawing in a few weeks. I was introduced to love castle by a former classmate  and it is GREAT! Basically you set what you want to draw and how long then have at it. That website has been great supplement for time such as now when I am on school break to too stingy to pay $5 for an open model session.

Enjoy this page of hands and a few figures. All 2min or less. Working on my speed/confidence still. Honestly I still do not do figure/observation drawing enough but I'm trying to add it into my scheduled more. Also broke away from my brush pen and used a black Copic.

Also I was browsing a sketchbook and found some sketches that I did to setting on the character I used in my Blagurgitate film. The assignment had us mix two different styles from art history, I mashed Egon Schiele with African masks. The left page is me re-sketching a self portrait of his to better understand how he does that magic. All sketches are with a 50% grey Copic.

Edgar update and new (unfinished) Sketchkablam!

So I’m SLOOOOWLY finishing up all the side project. The video game I have been working on for the past 6months is nearly finished then I’ll have some more time for other projects. That being said I have been chipping away at the Edgar model/rendering. I have him fully modeled, and UV mapped so it’s ready for texture and lighting! Below is a quick ambient occlusion pass.

Also this past Mondays Sketchkablam was Scorpion Procedure. I was originally going to do a human/scorpion trans species post-op guy but when I typed scorpion into Google for reference images I saw this photo.

I just had to draw them flash forward at a reunion tour in the retirement home. Enjoy.

New Short?

So my wife took this awesome photo at the aquarium a few weeks ago and it inspired a short film in my mind.

 
Basically it will be about this little jelly fish guy that finds a dying fish on his way home from work. When he picks the fish up it comes back to life and begins to swim through the air. He follows the fish and is ultimately lead back to a giant fish tank and then returns to his natural state. Lol nothing special but should be a fun project. That being said I had been thinking about it some time but did nothing, then last night I could not sleep thinking about what I wanted it to look like. So I got out of bed and threw a quick storyboard together so I wouldn’t forget

I know the sketches are AMAZING!

The quarter has ended

It was a long quarter with lots learned but now it's over and I get to semi relax over the break.Here's some more work.

Hop animation test using model and rig from CreativeCrash.com
Project 06 Hop Animation from efmuok on Vimeo.

Final pencil test walk cycle...There's a slight pop on the loop that I will fix but I think she came out great.
Project 07 2D Walk Cycle from efmuok on Vimeo.

Also a 3D walk cycle done using a model and rig from CreativeCrash.com.
Project 08 3D Walk Cycle from efmuok on Vimeo.

Lastly the drawing in motion final.
Drawing In Motion Final Project from efmuok on Vimeo.

Over break I hope to work on my demo reel and replace the 3D walk cycle with my Zoe character.

Final Rotoscope Art Directions

Coming up on the final two weeks of the quarter and We have just two weeks to finish our rotoscope project. Luckily it will be done in groups of two and it only has to be about 5 seconds of animation.

The project is for the introduction to an animated documentary my professor is working on for The Green Book. My partner is working out the storyboard/animatic and I provided the two possible art directions. We, along with the class, chose the first concept with bold black line work. We were given postcards from different era's as backdrops. Ours were Niagara Falls 1930's.

 

 We shoot reference footage on Sunday...wish us luck!

Life Drawing Update

Here are a couple of pages from the week before last.  

After meeting with my professor to review my first 5 weeks worth of sketches I am now trying to transition into a style that captures the pose of the model rather than drawing what I see.

 

I also reduced my time from 2-5min each poses to  30sec-1min forcing myself to simplify/analyze before I put my pen to the page. I do feel that I am moving forward and gaining confidence

Side Step Assignment WIP

Roughing out the side step animation assignment. I need to fix the overlap in some places, especially the hair, then it’s onto the details and clean up. I am pretty happy with how she is coming along so far though, I think this will be a fun little character exercise for my demo reel. My professor suggest I also use this character for my walk cycle. Stay tuned.
Idna SideStep Rough from efmuok on Vimeo.
I also have some life drawing from the past few weeks I need to post once I have time to scan them in. I am finishing up the video game during the next 2 weeks so times tight. It’ll happen though. :)

Muybridge Form 90%

I’ve completed 90% of my concept. I am still working through the bubbles, the sand that gets kicked up, and the transition. Fortunately none of these things are required in the assignment so I am calling it completed (for now. Enjoy

Muybridge Form Rotoscope from efmuok on Vimeo.

The next step is the expand upon the Muybridge skeletal rotoscope with a full form continuation. Below are my three new art directions along with some effects animation I'm working through for the transition.

Currently the splash in on 2's and if I have time I will add more inbetweens. But for now, the project is graded on the cat run cycle NOT the effects so it can wait :D

Whip It.

Just finished projects 4 & 5 this week in my Character Animation Basics. The Flag wave done by pencil and the arm and hammer. This helped us learn drag, overlap, breaking of joints and as always, timing. I feel I am getting the hang of it. Excited to begin on our FIRST character assignment which will be a side step. I will use my character Idna for both the side step and walk cycle. So hopefully by the end of the class I will have a good animated character study.

Arm and Hammer

Project 04 Arm and Hammer from efmuok on Vimeo.
Flag Wave
Project 03 Flag Wave from efmuok on Vimeo.

Muybridge Continued

Finished the roto of the Muybridge photos last week, check it out. Next we do the same cycle but full body not just the skeleton.

Muybridge Skeletal Rotoscope from efmuok on Vimeo.