Ray Harryhausen: Always an Inspiration

This is a very nice documentary about the life and work of Ray Harryhousen.

Rudolph WIP: Like Monopoly

I'm trying different mediums in the Rudolph music video, and this is my first try at animating 2-D characters in After Effects.  The technique is based entirely on this tutorial by Dan Stever.  I drew the separate body parts, scanned them, "cut them out" in PhotoShop, and imported them into After Effects.

Rudolph WIP: Yippy!

Animation gets underway with this clip a girl jumping through Christmas presents.  It will be finished in crayon to look like a child's drawing.

Something for Christmas

This is an animation project I'm working on this year, hopefully finishing in time for Christmas.  I took a recording of my kids singing Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and am making an animated music video out of it.  All segments are in progress, be it blocking, pencil test, pop-through, or layout.  The idea is to utilized many different animation mediums including CG, stop motion/clay animation, After Effects, hand drawn, and cutouts.

I'm seeing if I can do this on a budget of next to nothing, utilizing what I have on hand from previous projects.  For example, the lightbox I am using for hand-drawn animation is an old Light-Brite with a plastic picture frame glued on the top and a peg board taped on.  It's actually working.  I suspect others have to work like this, so perhaps I will be able to pass on some tips and tricks as I go along.

My plan is to post individual shots as I move forward with them, and providing what I hope will be some useful insights into how they were created.  I would appreciate any feedback, critiques and better ideas at any stage.

Let's see if this can really get done by Christmas.

A Startup Guide

Getting back to basics this time. This tutorial gets you started with the right camera, software, and tools. But from the very beginning you can go further than just making things move around by exploring the principles of timing in animation.

Montrial Stop Motion Film Festival

There is still time to submit your work for this year's edition of the Montreal Stop Motion Film Festival. The submission deadline is September 21st, and the festival itself will run on October 19th - 21st. 

Special guest Laika's Mark Shapiro will provide a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Paranorman.  More special guests and judges will be announced later this month.

Visit their website for more information.

Stop Motion Tutorial: Facial Animation

Okay, more like clay animation, but the techniques and principles apply to a stop motion rig.  This tutorial is about getting the illusion of life into the face through subtle movement when possible, and believable timing.