Animation Contests

Every now and then I spot a cool animation contest online. Previously I participated in one that Spline Doctor's held this past May. I also put together a whole short for LG film fest in the fall of '09 which my friends Katie and Sean helped me complete. The short for the LG contest was embarassing to me when it was completed... I put as much time into it as I could but there was not enough time to get something done that I was much proud of. Though I did like pieces of it. Check out a background here (which is STILL my twitter account wallpaper) and a very small animation test here. I also started but couldn't finish an 11 second club entry for December 2009. This past February I put a solid two weeks into a proposal to participate in the latest round of NFB's Hothouse program. I remember not leaving the house for 5 days straight just coming up with ideas and working like crazy on that one. I wasn't accepted into that program. Which I was happy about in the end actually. It's frustrating though, to put so much time into a project that you don't "win". I can't say I don't learn something with each project though. At least now when I work on my short film I am going to "win" because I can put the time and heart into it that I want to.

So I've discovered a new contest! This one definitely has hoop jumping. There is a fixed theme, duration and music track. Though I think you can edit the music a bit. And the deadline is fast approaching. Well... the first deadline. There are three. If your first animation is chosen to be a finalist, you have to create another piece and if you make it out of that round there is a third and final animation to be created. The prize is pretty sweet... so... I dunno. I have taken 3 days off Pickled so far to work on a idea. I feel like I am slightly crazy. I keep working on my contest idea and I figure that if I can't keep up with the work schedule I've made up, then I'll scrap the whole thing. It's like "sane until proven crazy". My ideas tend to be very "big". Coming up with short film ideas is tricky for me, I tend to come up with epic ideas and try to trim them down when I need short ideas. At least if I don't win this contest I have a really cool new story idea! I would love to develop it. It's very action/sci-fi.

I would say that the bonuses of entering a contest are coming up with new ideas, developing your brainstorming/creative process, practicing your craft, having other people see your work, making connections,   getting feedback, feeling inspired by yourself and other entrants, learning to time manage and having a new piece of work for your reel or to show your mates. And possibly earning something like a grant or a professional critique of your work or a link to your work on someone's website. My biggest complaint about spending so much time on contests is that I never get to exercise. :P I am going to exercise a lot when my short is finally done.

The First Pencil Test!

Ok, so it's not much. I'm just learning how to draw my characters but I couldn't resist quickly shooting this turnaround!

I've been prepping to start some animation for about a week now. I've been brushing up on my physics, writing up my character's backstories/mannerisms/character arcs/motivations/analysis and searching for a variety of film inspiration and reference. I started looking at some present day actors in scenes or in interviews and then pouring through clips of actors who were doing a lot of work in the 1950's.


I'm certainly learning a lot!

2 paintings and Gertrude and Alice Cafe

Here is a little sneak peak of a couple backgrounds:

I have been painting backgrounds all day every day for awhile now. It's feeling a little weird to sit in my cave as it has come to be called, all day each day. I want to write stories and create films. I like to craft a film, to storyboard and collaborate, I like picking colours and painting and animating... But some parts of the process are not completely my cup of tea and it's easy to start feeling doubts or concerns when so much time is spent. The collaboration I crave is for the most part, missing. I have given up on exercise and exploring and I am living as frugally as I can. It's just a strange existence! I am not complaining though. Next time my project will be smaller, or more collaborative and I will focus on the elements I am most passionate about. I am glad that I am learning a lot about the whole process.

My new book!

Yesterday, Sunday, was my weekend essentially and I trotted down to Hall Street with Steve where we popped into a great cafe slash bookshop for a sippa. It's called Gertrude and Alice Cafe Bookstore. I walked by said cafe about a week ago when the evil postman forced me to head that way to pick up an electric blanket I had ordered. It was the rainiest, windiest day I can remember. So windy that it was actually harder to walk with my umbrella open. There is a post office a 5 minute walk from my house, I think the postman deliberately gave the package to a further away post office. Actually, he had buzzed my apartment and promised to leave it inside but when I went down there was no package left for me! Anyway, when I was at this cafe, Steve and I crammed ourselves into the only two available spaces in the place on a soft green sofa. The cafe was bustling with staff, book perusers and coffee sippers. The first book I saw in the $2 bin outside was a hardcover book of Ronald Searle drawings! I snapped that up. I think it was worth more than $2. As I sat with my coffee I noticed that right next to me was a wall with lots of Shakespeare and plays and scripts. Then, past Steve and a woman sitting opposite him was a wall of books on filmmaking, directors and films. Everywhere I looked there were fabulous used books! We found a book with a list of all known heavy metal bands piqued Steve's interest. There were books on medieval armor and artists and their works, a wall of fantasy novels and newspapers and magazines scattered around. It was delightfuly chaotic and inspirational to sit there for a bit. We left after maybe 30 minutes to make room for new customers and to get back to work. But I will be back...

Larra Skye: Indie Jazz Singer Songwriter Extraordinaire

I've been very busy working on layouts and colour guides recently. I finally tweaked all the colours to my liking, they are final! And I am learning to maneuver around in Corel Painter which I recently purchased.

Right now I want to plug the amazing Larra Skye, indie Canadian jazz singer/songwriter. I got to work with Larra last year on music for my animated short; Pickled. She was an absolute pleasure to work with from the first meeting to the last. I am so grateful for her passion and dedication. I know she has been working really hard on her second album, (when not touring around North America to play gigs). I got to listen to a rough cut of one of her demos; Pull Me In last year at our first meeting in August. Now you can listen to that and Grain of Sand on her facebook page. I hope you do. Her music is sultry, jazzy and smooth.

Please check Larra's webpage and her donation page. May 24 I believe is the deadline for her donation goal.

Kitchen Colours and guest blogger Cathy Negus

Most of my backgrounds are now roughed out and I've just decided on the colours for the kitchen! Weeee! Check out my colour choices:What do you think? There were a few versions before this one. Yellow is meant to be predominant but I had versions with far more pink or green. Pink is a colour Birdie likes and green to reiterate the theme of pickles. There's still some of both of those now but much more yellows and brown/tan/beige. It's hideously adorable I think.

I figure that the stove is often a very central piece to the existence of a homemaker. Certainly in the 50's. Green is a colour that needs to selectively pop up in the film. So making the stove green seemed natural. When I first dropped green over the stove, a long lost memory from my childhood surfaced... My family used to have a hideous/amazing green stove!! I had completely forgotten. It was a cheap 70's model. After remembering this I rang my mum and asked her about it. It is too vivid a memory for her to forget. I asked her to write a blurb about that old stove for my blog. So here it is, written by my first guest blogger; Cathy Negus! p.s. please check out her delicious blog Chez Catherine!

“Avocado Green”, by Catherine Negus

“Avocado Green.” How the appliance companies chose that colour description for the once popular appliance colour, I’ll never know. The colour was unlike any avocado I’ve ever seen. The actual colour was a darker, yellowy greenish colour which seems to defy specific description and which, to me, was always sadly unappealing. And yet, I was once the owner, albeit reluctant, of an “Avocado Green” stove. Now many years ago, it had belonged to my then husband at the time we married and was with me for too many years. Not only was it “Avocado Green”, it had been a “scratch and dent special”, with a bottom storage door that was dented and always hung at an odd angle, probably a result of being dropped off the back of the transport truck it was first delivered in. It was never much in the baking department, either. Part way through baking, I always had to rush to the oven to turn my pie or cake in order to get reasonably even baking results. Even that didn’t help entirely, and cakes tended to look strangely lopsided and pies were always more well done on one side.

Unlike so many, who look back on their first-ever stove with wistful nostalgia; who were heartbroken to see the old dear finally go and only after it has become ancient and broken beyond repair, I couldn’t have been happier to see the last day of my “Avocado Green” stove. Overjoyed, I moved on to a neutral toned gas range that was easier on the eyes and performed much better in the baking department. I know there is a current movement towards the “retro” appliance colours of the past, but I believe that there are some things should be left forever in the past. “Avocado Green”, once best friends with “Harvest Gold” in appliance departments throughout North America, died a long, slow, painful death. I say, let it rest in peace, never to grace the front of an appliance again. Believe me, it’ll be good thing for all of us.

*Final Note: I do have a suggestion as a description of the colour of that stove... Cat vomit! I can also say that I adore beautiful retro style! If one does find an appealing vintage appliance, it it certainly possible to gut and fit with new inner workings so as to be a better pie baker. There are also some handsome reproduction or 'retro inspired' appliances on the market these days. Just a few:

Check out the great line up of appliances at Big Chill. (*Note that Big Chill advertises their 2007 "Colour of the Year": "Spring Avocado!!!!)

Retro Planet has a lot of fantastic retro items including diner style booths, barstools, chairs and tables!
Heartland has some very vintage inspired appliances!

Too much to chew

Firstly, check out the post that Deanna wrote on her blog about designing characters for my film!
The cake is not too much to chew, I mean I've taken on too much work. Since my last post I had a birthday! That picture above is a the last piece of chocolate cake Steve and I baked.

I've continued to kill myself with roughing out backgrounds since my last post. Since then I've concentrated on getting the rough kitchen shots out the door. The one I just finished today I ended up redoing 3 times after the first go and I think it's finally right. Sucks doing one background 4 times. Oh well.

I realise I have taken on too much, I always do, (but I don't like to admit that). I am making the film I want to make, but it is just taking a long time. I guess that's not really so bad... Sometimes art takes awhile. But next time I make a short film... I may just skip the bgs or have them be extremely simple. (Ha, I say that now.) I'd rather be animating. I actually love writing, boarding, timing the leica, animating, producing and directing. But drawing backgrounds... I don't mind, it's just not my favorite. Actually I've started enjoying drawing up the bg's more as I've been going along which was a surprise. It's interesting and satisfying to encompass nearly every department. I make all the creative descisions regarding the cutting, timing, composition and animation. (Being your own boss is pretty cool but also can be scary.) And then when I am working on a bg, I need to go back and forth between the leica and looking at the size of the characters and consider what they are doing. Revisions that have to go between departments and levels of approval in a studio can be frustrating.

I actually love to paint too! I used to paint a lot more especially when I was in highschool and in college. I don't think I suck at it either. I mostly preferred to paint "organic" subjects though, (as compared to buildings and vehicle, things that fill out landscapes. I painted people, plants, food, fabric, clothing, objects...

A great inspiration for me is listening to music. I love using itunes and youtube to find new artists and having a stream of music or podcasts is a great fuel. I've recently discovered a few artists I like, Dragonette, Annie and Porcelain Black.

I actually just formed an idea for an animated feature the other day. (gulp) I'd LOVE to get a team together in Canada and produce a feature. Recently that desire was reignited and I started thinking of feature ideas. There is no plot, fully formed characters or setting... but I do have an idea that I love. I'd like to write a big post on ideas sometime. People always seem to be asking how to come up with ideas and companies are desperate for fresh ones. I have my own way of coming up with ideas and harnessing them.

Below: me on the day I went out for a birthday dinner. My expression seems a little crazed, eh? I tried a look of sparkly white eyeshadow all around my eyes with no eyeliner or mascara. Kind of a La Roux type look. It looked cool in the mirror.

More Storyboard Revisions and Early Background Art

Well, I thought my leica had seen it's last revision but not so. There is a sequence where Birdie is thinking to herself/fantasizing and I think that in general it's a little confusing. More importantly I feel like I am missing out on a great opportunity by boarding something more "fantastical" as it is a sequence depicting a character's thoughts. One of my all time favourite films is Dumbo. When I was a kid I was mesmerized by the sequence depicting Timothy and Dumbo drinking the spiked water and having a nightmarish vision/fantasy of "pink elephants on parade". I also adored watching Winnie the Pooh have bad dreams of "Heffalumps and Woozles" stealing his precious honey.

I've sketched out the main shots of my film already. There are 7 main sets (aside from the unique ones, like the title, credits and simpler graphic music segments). These sketches depict the sets in angles with the most information. I can't scan them right now as my scanner is small and these are massive. I'm not ready to go through the scanning process but taking photos is a great way to get a very decent visual of these sets digitized. I'll crop them and put them here. I would love if you leave a comment! Are the backgrounds clear or confusing? Interesting? Do they have some depth? Are they informative, i.e. do you feel like you could imagine a character at home in these settings? Please take a look!

Below: chapel hallway, chapel interior, the kitchen, the cellar, the tabletop, the backyard





On a side note, I guess these Heffalump and the Pink Elephants sequences frightened a lot of kids. Looking at the comments in reply to these clips on youtube, one comment reads (in regards to the Heffalumps nightmare) "it did used to freak me out as a kid, it's still not as scary as the pink elephants scene from Dumbo... :S still can't watch that..." and another comment; "i'm tempted to get high and watch this just to make it more fucked up, though i like the music". When I was a kid I LOVED these animated segments! Parts of the Winnie the Pooh movie can be a little... slow. So getting to the Heffalumps part was definitely the highlight for me. Dumbo and Bambi were my favorite childhood films and I love them both still. I do not get why little kids are so easily frightened. I'd understand if a kid was scared at the boys turning into donkeys in Pinnochio, but other than that, nothing in an old animated Disney film ever felt scary to me. I remember having to leave the room while prisoners were getting their hands chopped off in the 1991 Robin Hood: Prince of Theives... that was too much for me at about 9 years old. And I had nightmares about Trolls for awhile after watching Ernest Scared Stupid... I guess I would have been 9 or 10 when I saw that monstrosity. Rant over.

Rough Title Teaser

Here is a segment from the (very rough!) recent leica for my film, Pickled. It's the end of the title sequence. I love watching the blood drip...

Follow me on Twitter

I tend to throw up small updates on twitter more often than I get entire thoughtful posts together for my blog these days. I'm Art_Candy on twitter.

my studio

Here's what my studio looks like. I just opened up the box that had my scanner/printer in it today. I was excited about that... that scanner has a lot of work to do. You can see my myriad of sunglasses peppered throughout the bookshelf there. A print by Steve sits atop the shelf. The Reflex paper is my animation paper. And there is little Sophie, my orchid.

Scan! Print! It took me forever to decide on a scanner and then actually be able to FIND it...

Here (below) is my light table. It was nightmarish to find a small and affordable one, get it Australia and find some way to light it. That is because finding a light table in Australia is not easy. (Finding ANY animation supplies or even large pads of newsprint has completely illuded me.) To ship my own would have cost a lot of money. (I already had to pay the extra fee to bring my animation punch on the airplane.) A month ago or so I bought a voltage step down transformer to enable me to plug in the light that came with this light box and that was trash. It wouldn't even accept a plug. I am still waiting to hear back from paypal/ebay on a dispute over that due to the negligence of the shipper. I finally just went to a hardware store and bought a small light to fit under the "glass" but it was WAY too bright and hot at 60 watts. I took it back and for twice as much money was able to get a lovely 8 watt light that is just perfect. I need to leave a lip of the desk open for the cord to come out though. And the cord it came with is wrapped up and taped to the back since it gets in the way constantly.

Off to do some layouts!!!