Merry Christmas!

Well, I know I said I probably wouldn't be posting, and I know it's only December 13th...but I drew my quick e-card for this year and decided to share it.




So Merry Christmas to one and all! Spread the love this Christmas by giving a hug...but if you choose to hug a husky make sure he knows about it first!

Oh the joys!

Well it's been a few days, this post was meant for earlier in the week but I just forgot completely to come on here. My root canal failed and I had to have my tooth pulled out *cry* Still rather uncomfortable at the moment, but i'm pretty sure that'll pass soon.

This week the amazing Mr Terry Cooper (Kangazang/Strangetown Animation) has asked me to do some more stuff for him asap, so that chucked into the mix of NCH work, circus work and Christmas means I will probably be pretty busy for the next few weeks. And to think I wanted to make a set of stilts before Christmas too! Not going to happen I think, but i'll stay positive for now. Anyway, as long as it's ok, i'll post up some images of Terry's stuff when it's done.

Incase I don't post on here before the 25th, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and what not, oh, and a "Big Up" to Mr Gareth J...thanks for the lifts, they've been very much appreciated!

It's been a while...again...

Ya, it's been a while. Things have been busy. That interview I mentioned in the last post...I got the job. So I am now a Community Involvement Trainee with Newport City Homes, WOOHOO! Just finished the second week now, always lots of things to do, although I do seem to lick a lot of envelopes at the moment...

In other news, the book I worked on for Barbara will go into distribution next May hopefully. So that's good. The S4C show Twrw'n y Ty that I filmed for circus along with Jay was shown on TV yesterday afternoon, you can watch it on S4C Clic if you reallllllllly want to. (http://www.s4c.co.uk/clic/e_level2.shtml?series_id=349111381)

Oh, I was also in Newport's Lantern Parade last night as the Ice Queen giant. There are pictures and video on my Facebook, but I'll get pics up here of that as soon as I can. I will also say that yes, I did fall, but it was only a trip on the giant's dress and I didn't fall all the way over, just stumbled and then stood there waiting for someone to right me. The best part about that was that I made all the kids behind me scream, hehe!

That's that for now I think.

Job off the starboard bow!

I'm in a piratey mood right now, hence the nautical title of this post. Yarr! I didn't manage to get any of the images I started finished to stick up hre because of a multitude of things that include a broken dishwasher, an ill cat, two ill family members and an interview. I'm not making excuses, things were just a little too busy to get anything I wanted done...done.

You can have a half finished doodle though:



I...don't really know. But it's kinda cute! In regards to the title of this post by the way, I start a job in normal-land for a while on November 17th. Hopefully I will still get to be at least 50% mental in it, if not i'll just dress like a clown and see what happens.

The Joys of a Root Canal...

Yes, the root canal is all booked for me for 2 weeks time. Yay! <--- hint of sarcasm there. It mean's i'll be drinking my tea with a straw for a wee while longer, and yes, so you know, it feels like the most unnatural pairing ever. Straw + Tea = Weird.

HOWEVER! On Monday I did manage to see the premiere of The Fantastic Mr Fox n support of Cancer Research Wales. There were some muscled suits there from 20th Century Fox to make sure nobody took pictures or filmed, and I have to say, they looked like the stereotypical security guards you used to see in Warner Bros cartoons. I was quite impressed! I quite liked the film too, it's nice to see a bit of stop-motion out there again, especially stop-motion that's more old in style.

The other thing I have to mention from the premiere, they give you a goody bag. Posters, sweets, wristband...that sort of thing. The the odest item came out of my gift bag. A banana. Yup, a proper banana. Odd. All the kids seemed as confused as me!

In upcomming events: I'm hoping to see either UP on the weekend, wanted to see it for quite a while now. And I am hoping to get one of my sketches up this week too. Oh, and my new flash gallery on the site. Argh! Flash!!

Books and things

Ok, so I can actually update with some news now, woohoo! Last week I finished that book cover I mentioned in the last post (Barbara Spencer) and it was accepted by the publishers on Tuesday (can't post an image of it up yet, sorry). Soon it shall be printed and I shall have my name on another kids book, which may hopefully lead to other work. Also been working on a few personal pieces of art which, when/if they get finished any time soon you will see.

On a down side to things, yesterday I was told by my dentist, after many hours of excrutiating pain, that I will need either my one tooth removed OR a root canal. Bad...bad....BAD! Currently, the pain killers are keeping me happy so I'll make a decision on it at the start of the week. All I can say now is "ARGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Long time (again)

It's been forever, I know. I've not been too well as of recent, but i'm starting to get back on track again. On a plus note, I managed to get some more illustration work off Barbara Spencer...so i'm working on that at the moment. I will update when I have something better to update with...

Maindee Festival

Yes, yesterday in Maindee Festival I was...a tree. It was an amazing amount of fun, and I thouroughly enjoyed it. Sadly, I didn't make it all the way through, as I started to feel very warm and dizzy, and to protect the puppet I pulled out. I carried on spotting for the rest of the festival though. I really did enjoy what I did, so thank you to everyone that made it possible!

You can see pictures from the day here: Maindee Festival

I will update some more arty things when i'm feeling less...vegetable like.

Busy week

This week is a little hectic for me on the animation/art front as it's the Riverfront Open Weekend this weekend...in other words...I'm trying to juggle like a mad woman to get back up to scratch before Friday!!! Argh!! I will post when I'm less skittish.

I Miss Annecy...

So for those of you who don't know, Annecy Animation Festival ('09) has been running since the 8th and has just finished. Sadly, this year, I couldn't afford/wasn't well enough to attend *cries*. I would highly recommend it as an animation festival to attend if you've never been before. The place itself is beautiful, the atmosphere is incredible and you will see SO many great animated works. Not to mention the exhibitions and the people you can meet!

A big congratulations to all of this years winners, if you want to read who they were, go here: ANNECY '09 WINNERS

And a special hoorah! for Felix Massie, who's film "The Surprise Demise of Francis Cooper's Mother" was shown in the short films out of competition category. Hope if went down well Felix, even with the lack of subtitles and French speaking Francis Cooper...

I'm definately aiming to go next year as it's the 50th Anniversary! And now, I shall leave you with a picture from last years Annecy to make me all nostalgic again:

THE GLAMMIES '09

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Yes! Yesterday was Glammie '09 day, "boldly going where no Glammies has gone before". If you couldn't tell, it was a Star Trek theme, and my word was it good! I have never attended the Glammies before, but was lucky enough to go as part of Strangetown Animation this year, and it really was the best end of year show I've seen. But I'll tell you now, I don't have many pictures because I was too distracted by all he red and yellow balloons and great people to remember my camera was in my bag.

Upon arriving, I was met by Mr Terry Cooper (a.k.a. Boss) and I was provided with my Glammie items by a group of Glamorgan first years in red shirts: a list of the screenings, ticket for the after party and a name tag in a neck loop thing! Again...as with my last name tag, I was far, FAR too happy.



Then came the screening, and might I say, the work was incredible. From all years, it truely was inspiring. Even the little idents for the categories were wonderfully done, especially stop-motion Worf (congratulations to whoever it was that did that one, it was my favourite!) At this point I want to say congratulations to everyone that was nominated for an award and I will now be very long-winded and list all of them:

Kate Derrick; John Atkinson; Nathan Jones; Todd Setter; Matt Pollack; James Hodges; Lea Vidakovic; Darran Edwards; Sarah Crossman; Chi Keen; John Seldon; Jamie Lee Lloyd; Milan Kolar; Tom Lucas; Nathan Flynn; Joe O'Conner; Toke Jepsen; Dan McCarthy; Torjus Erfjord; Daniel Lee; Nick Clackett; Joe Lewis and Bryony James.

I did meet some of you, and all I can say is that it was a wonderful experience, all of your work is outstanding and I wish you luck in anything you choose to do. I also want to say a congratulations to the tutors, all of you that I met were incredibly friendly and your students really are a tribute to you. Wonderful work everyone!

The meet and greet after the screening was lovely, getting to talk to Tim Allen once again, and meeting the Glamorgan tutors and students. There was a great atmosphere and fabulous people.

The after show party was the final stop, where I believe I was referred to as "David Bowie" when I started playing with my contact ball. Again, it was generally a wonderful atmosphere with a group of highly talented individuals. It was a fabulous night and I am honoured that I could attend such a well organised and fun event. My final note would have to be hats off to all you first years that put in so much effort lugging those balloons around the venues!

*does the left handed vulcan hand sign* I can't do it with my right and it took about 2 weeks of painful hand torture to get it with the left! So sue me!

Animation at Newport

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Allo again! I know I said I wouldn't post until the Glammies, but I figured i'd update on the Newport Animation stuff. I went to the "Private Industry Viewing" yesterday...yes, I got in as industry...and they gave me a name tag and goodie bag!!! NAME TAG!! I was far too happy to see my name in a little clip on badge thing, but it made me feel important, so I couldn't help it! You can see from my rubbish webcam photo today just how stupidly happy it made me. Anyway! I wasn't quite as dapper as my attendance last Friday, and sadly I couldn't stay for the screening section of the evening because of having to run off into the sunset and teach people how to juggle (a.k.a my job).

I DID however, get hold of a copy of the animation DVD. Woohoo! Theres 18 films in total on it, and I spent my night watching all of them. I'm not going to review them all because that would probably take me hours with the way I rant on, so I shall just attempt to comment on the films that stuck in my mind.

One thing I will say before I start is a problem I found with the DVD, this is purely for anyone that is thinking of getting hold of a copy. The DVD runs fine on a computer DVD player, but on standard DVD players there is no highlight showing on the menu options, so you pretty much have no idea what you're selecting. I suppose that can add an element of suprise though!

Right, here we go:


Noah by Joel Calvert - If you like more abstract and dark type films, this is for you, it's got a very nice use of colour and lighting, and the exploration of sound is wonderful.



Heartstrings by Rhiannon Evans - I love the puppets in this film, the story is very sweet and the animation quality itself is very nice. The credits are also a nice touch!


The Collector by John Lynton Bryan - This film is still a work in progress, rigs are still visible, sound is missing and effects need to be added. But the story is good and the models and lighting are incredible. Once it's finished this film will look amazing I think. Well worth keeping an eye out for.


Jurassic Pa by Sam Dransfield - Quite nice 2D animation here, with a fun little stroy and a very interesting use of screen space. I enjoyed it.



A Short and Happy Film by Stef Roberts - I'm not quite sure why there are 2 films by Stef Roberts on the DVD, but out of the 2 this is the one I remembered more. If you want to see a funny, happy short film, then this is for you. The style is really cute and colourful, and has a nice cut-out texture appeal.

I was shocked to see that there were only two CGI films this year. Plane Crazy by Sam Ibbitson and R.O.B by Rob Stanley Out of the two films I would have to say I preferred R.O.B. But it's clear that both films had a lot of effort put in to produce them.


There are so many other films I could mention, you could look to Megan Tupper's film Keys for a fun bit of 2D animation about a cat or Stuart Paton's film Exploration for a great use of the metamorphosis technique. There really is a lot to look at. Orange Reign by Craig Dunsford has a stop motion orangutan if that's your thing, and Chris McBride created Out There, a nicely styled 2D film.


That's it, I have now officially written FAR too much. I think now, all I shall do is list all of the animators on the DVD as it is a wonderful accomplishment to finish a film, and they deserve congratulations for that.

So a big congratulations and good luck to:

Lorna Bailey; Robin Brown; Joel Calvert; Lloyd Cole; Sam Dransfield; Craig Dunsford; Rhiannon Evans; Tom Hardy; Donna Hartley; Sam Ibbitson; John Lynton Bryan; Chris McBride; Stuart Paton; Dan Patterson; Stef Roberts; Rob Stanley and Megan Tupper.

5 for Life 2009

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Yup, yesterday I was performing at the 5 for Life Festival 2009. For those of you that don't know what that is...it's a free family day where it promotes healthy lifestyles and forms of activity and such, so I was there with Circus Skills! Woohoo!! Don't look at me like that, it's suprisingly active ^_^ (thanks again to everyone that came along from the workshop to help!) Anyway, the site is here: http://www.5forlifenewport.co.uk/


It was a really nice day, albeit it rather warm, the average being about 21 degrees all day. Throughout the 4 hours I wandered around juggling and balancing a chair on my hand, taught people some skills and promoted the workshop, oh...and there was a giant carrot wearing a cape that scared the hell out of me! But generally, it was a very good day and lots of people tried new things and seemed to enjoy it.

Next stop for me is the Glammies this Friday, heading along with Mr Terry Cooper from Strangetown Animation. I'm hoping it will be a great night, and I will post here after i've been. Unless something big happens before Friday, I shall bid you a fond farewell untill then!

Newport Degree Show

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This evening was the University of Wales Newport Degree Show, which I attended of course! Even made myself look all dapper! I went to all of the areas (Graphics, Photography, Fine Art, etc) but mainly tried to stick to the Animation and Computer Games Design departments.

Computer Games was nicely laid out, with some really nice games being demonstrated there. They also had papier mache monsters everywhere, sweets and bowls of jelly! Fun times in that room! In all seriousness though, some very talented work in there, so hats off to you CGD-ers! You can check out their site for the show here:

http://www.supermonstercandyattack.info/

Now Animation. The stop-motion room contained some amazing work, the year really has some incredible model makers. Lorna Bailey, John-Lynton Bryan and Emily Ivens to name a few. Emily also produced a wonderful installation, showing off her modelling work. Rhiannon Evans had her fabulous stop-motion puppets on display from her film "Heartstrings". Lovely to look at and very unique!


I can't comment too much on films just yet, as I didn't get to see many in the screening room...only 2 fully. I'm sure I'll get to see them soon enough though.

Congratulations on finishing the course everyone!

The going's on in life

Ok, here we go. The TV thing for S4C went well, it was a long, hot and tiring day...but a good experience in all. Next up is the 5 for Life Festival '09, which is being held at Caerleon University Campus on the 31st (11-2), so if you're in the area and want to find out ways to keep fit, tag along! (Obvious plug)

Now onto more arty things. Today I went for a quick gander around Newport's regular craft fair, and I met a rather nice fellow called Steve John. He turned out to be an animator too! Small world eh? He worked on Superted for a fairly long time and is working on pastures new since leaving there. But his artwork is really nice, and yes, I bought some of it ^_^ Anyway, you can check out his website (along with his team) here:

www.flippingcreative.com

Keep an eye out for the work he's doing, it looks really good!

Lots of things!

I know I know...the lack of weekly post, but I have good reason this time! (Not like the illness was a poor reason, but this is a work related late-ness post, so that makes it especially good)

So, the reason(s) for the missing update. Basically, with my part time work (teaching a circus skills workshop)a lot has been going on. I have in recent months become the head, and only, tutor. This has upped the workload a fair bit. I've been promoting the workshop and performance group a lot and it's paid off!

This coming Thursday, myself and a fellow circus goer (Jay) will be performing in the background of a children's television show on S4C! Then later on in the month, the group also has three more event performances, which is all very good for earning some cash and attracting some new people...the down side is I have to do all the organisation and publicity for it, so I don't spend much time here on animation and such...and miss my post.

But there it is, the explanation, hope it's good enough!

Long time no post...

So it's been quite a while since my last post where I mentioned I was in hospital, and that's the reason for the lack of posting. I've been getting better slowly, and still am, but i'm not sure how much longer it will take. I HAVE been getting on with some artwork and such, but I just haven't scanned it in just yet.

Also, I am now the head tutor of the circus workshop I attend, woo!! That's about it for this post, just thought I should say why there hasn't been any activity. I'll try to get back into regular weekly posting from now on.

Missed my weekly post!

As the title says, I missed my normal update of how things are going...but I have a good reason! I was in hospital. "Argh" comes to mind! After a lot of waiting I was diagnosed with pleurisy, which is a lung related issue...I have been advised to take it easy and monitor the pain for the next 10 or so days.

Work wise...I've been getting on with some models for Strangetown Animation (Yay!) You can see some of the modelsbelow. They are just props, and the images are test renders, but you get the idea. It's definately making me improve my UV mapping and texturing.





Although i'm not allowed to sit at my computer for too long at the moment, I am continuing to work on other models for Strangetown's project...albeit a little more slowly! Appologies again for the lack of posts until now, I will try to keep up more regular updates.

Work!

Yes, I was going to update the other day and it completely slipped my mind, sorry. I've been doing a little bit of work for Strangetown Animation recently, and they approved of it and have given me a little bit more, starting next week. Modelling, UV Mapping and Texturing. I'm happy to have things to be getting on with. I'd also like to add that they are wonderful people, very nice to talk to and work with.

In other news, i've been working on my own (personal) illustrations in my spare time. Most of which are a tiger character i've made, called Mamu. You can see a work in progress shot of him below:



He's getting there slowly, and at least it means i'll work on backgrounds! I think that's it for this post really...oh, I have started another Blog, just as a bit of fun, documenting my travels using a small stuffed sheep. It sounds odd I know! I just realised he was going places with me and thought it would be fun to show things as his journey insetad of mine. Here's the link: The Adventures of Hubert and Friends

Have a good time till next post!

Great Short!

I headed to BBC iPlayer earlier to catch up on a show I missed, and on the main page it came up with the recommendations for things I might want to watch, and on the BBC 3 section there was an animated short. I watched it and found it great! So here's the link:

This Way Up

You may have already seen it or heard of it, but this was a first for me and I really liked the idea. I know the link will only work for as long as the film is on iPlayer, but I think it's worth seeing.

Back from Exeter...

Yup got back from Animated Exeter yesterday evening. Sadly, it was a bit of a disappointment.

The Best of the West screening had a lot of technical difficulties...that is to say...the projection completely stopped working. So everything was shifted about a bit, but considering there was a tight schedule for other things, a lot of people left during the repair time. My film was last shown before they had to close the auditorium for the next screening, and there wasn't many people left in the room by that point.

I did not win, but then I didn't expect to! On another note, congratulations to my ex-classmate Andrew Grindle for winning an award at Ffresh, and also for having his film screened at the Best of the West, also congratulations to Mike O'Sullivan & Rob Evans for their film being screened.

Back to Exeter: Went to see some other screenings and exhibitions, but after the first night with the projector issue it didn't seem quite as fun. Since Exeter itself is a very pretty place though, I did take the liberty to explore and do some juggling. I also carried a small sheep around with me (since i'm Welsh) and because little Hubert is so loved...he was given a balloon by the Cafe Nero woman. Enjoy!

UPDATE: I just realised (again) Friday was Friday the 13th...maybe that explains the projector trouble...

Showreel Time

Yup, I finally kicked my butt into gear long enough to put up a temporary showreel. The reason it is temporary is because I'm working on models and rigs that will go in a nice, sparkly showreel...thing is...they aren't finished yet, and I leave for Animated Exeter in the morning, so I figured I should have at least some sort of reel up...just incase. So yes. It's there. Again, the quality of the flv is not good, I still think it's the converter. I'll work on it after Exeter.

While i'm away have party tiger to keep you amused:

Happy Belated Birthday to Mr Matthew Walker. You have aged once more, but the good thing is that I couldn't hear your bones creak from way over here ^_^

Snow!

Yes, there has been snow this week, snow that actually settled. Rare thing. Couldn't help myself, so here are some pictures of my 2 snow days for you:

If you want to see more, I put an album up on my Facebook page.

BoB '09!

Yes, work on everything went on hold over the weekend as it was my birthday. Usually I keep working anyway, because I get bored easily, but this weekend I attended Bristol's Other Bristol Juggling Convention (BoB).

Was a great day, with a really good show at the end of it. Glow Fantastic are most definately fantastic, hehe! Back to the usual work now.

We Have Video!

Yes, the site now has 2 of the 3 videos up (working on the new showreel at the moment) The quality isn't amazing on them, maybe because i'm using a free avi to flv converter...maybe because i'm just doing something wrong, I don't really know! Any tips on converting to .flv would be greatly appreciated.

On another note, I will be attending BoB (juggling festival) in Bristol this weekend, and on the 13th of February i'm due to travel to Exeter for Animated Exeter, where my graduate film is being shown in the Best of the West Category. Fellow graduate Andrew Grindle also had his film selected for this, but i'm not sure if it made it in time for the submission deadline. Hope it did!

So thats the next couple weeks of my life semi-planned. Oh! One last thing...I found out by accident that my graduate film was also selected and screened in Beijings Animation Festival last October. Crazy eh?!?

New Site

Well, finally got the new site finished, (www.an-aim-ation.co.uk) if you're looking at this blog NOT linked from the site. Still have the videos to put up, which I should be doing today/tomorrow. Going to recut my showreel before it goes up. That's about it for now I suppose, working on some personal artwork, will update on that when there are developments.