Moral Orel on DVD

Liz and I finished animating on Moral Orel season two a few months ago, and now all of you are able to enjoy what we were able to create with our own two hands and 50 of our closest friends. What's that you say, you've seen it already, you don't care about Orel anymore? Well that's a rude attitude. Besides, not everyone has the cable television...we dropped that fad a few years ago. But don't you do that, or we would be out of work. Thanks.


Yesterday Towner and I were in beautiful Burbank and stopped by our local Best Buy, where we picked Orel up. It's got 15 episodes and a bunch of other fun stuff. If you don't like Best Buy, you can get it here.

Stand and Deliever

I finished the down shooter last week and I've been working on setting up the super secret Mario project. With the table build solid and painted black with red stripes, I put in the huge glass sheets and rigged the camera. After that I hung up the lights and tested like crazy. I'm finally happy with image, so I'm ready to roll. Today will be the first day of animation.

Here is a picture of the completed table, which again, if Dick or Ross helped it would have been finished under budget and two weeks earlier. Thanks again guys!

The Unbreakables Down Under

This month The Unbreakables will be airing all month in Melbourne, Australia at Feds Square.

Federation Square is Melbourne's meeting place and a unique cultural precinct. Federation Square brings together a creative mix of attractions, including The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, ACMI: Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Champions: Australian Racing Museum & Hall of Fame, National Design Centre and the Melbourne Visitor Centre, along with 15 restaurants, cafes and bars, function centres, guided tours at 11am and 2pm Monday - Saturday and over 2000 events held annually.

Fed Films: Animation Goes Splat!

Animation goes squish, splat and meow in this collection of new shorts from around the globe.

Showing on the Big Screen over the Easter school holidays and beyond, 2 April – 29 April.

Here is a link that shows some of the other films that will be airing there, along with The Unbreakables.

Found Art

I found this on YouTube and thought the visuals were pretty interesting. It was created by Vivien from the United Kingdom, who seems to be a young aspiring animator. Check it out, you can definitely see potential for even more creepy spots in the future.



You can see other shorts by her here.

Fire in them hills

A couple days a go there was a nasty brush fire on our side of "the hill" here in the San Fernando Valley. It started in Universal City (right by us) and moved up the mountain towards the Hollywood sign. Anyways, this is what I saw when I walked into our backyard that day.








And here is a picture from the other side of the hill, the Hollywood side.
















Here is an article that talks about it.

Oh yeah, the fire was also started my two teenagers from Chicago that turned themselves in. Do we need more proof that Chicago sucks?

Animation Stand

I have a few ideas I'm working on that couldn't be made in the traditional stop-motion way, so I had to build a animation stand. It's almost complete, and I'll post some pictures of it later this week. For those who don't know what an animation stand is, it's just a table with glass that you animate on and shoot through...looking down. Here is a picture of such a contraption.















Other things in the news that I noticed:




There is an stop-motion expo in Burbank on April 21st that sounds like a lot of fun:

"Fans of stop-motion animation will want to take part in ASIFA-Hollywood’s inaugural Stop Mo Expo, a celebration of the art form taking place on April 21 at Woodbury University in Burbank, Calif. The day–long event will feature panels, seminars and rare film screenings, as well as appearances by Will Vinton, Corky Quakenbush, the Chiodo Bros., Jim Aupperle, Randy Cook and a number of other talented artists and technicians who are keeping the art of stop-motion alive and relevant."

Our pals Tennessee, Shuman, Ronning and Misha will be there to add their two cents as well!

Here is the link.

And also, Aardman and Sony have deal to churn out stop-motion and CG features.

"Having ended its relationship with DreamWorks Animation just months ago, Aardman Animations is reportedly sewing up a partnership with Sony Pictures. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the animation studio behind the Oscar-winning feature Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit is ironing out a three-year, first-look deal with the studio."

Read the article here: