Animation!

I know I haven't posted anything in a long time. I've been busy though, that's for sure. The Lightning Rod Studios gig didn't really pan out but I did get a really awesome opportunity to do animations for the Poetry Foundation. I did an animated short for the poem 'Those Winter Sundays' by one of my favorite poets Robert Hayden. Eventually I was hired to help co-teach a class wherein some students of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee made animations of their own and I assisted with the technical aspects. I'm also doing the post-production of all the pieces. For the class I did an animation of the poem 'Assault to Abjury' by the poet Raymond McDaniels. It seems that I've discovered a niche as a "poem animator". Who knew? The poet Major Jackson had seen my 'Sundays' poem and contacted me through teh facebook and asked me to do an animation to his poem 'Zucchini'. I was quite stoked to do so. I had a lot of fun doing it even if I did have a half dozen other things coming at me at the same time. But, who's complaining about having work these days? Not me. So, below are the animations. I hope you enjoy and if you're a poet with a poem feel free to contact me!


This first poem was animated using Flash. It was a great learning experience.



This piece here was done using a combination of Photoshop and After Effects. I'd never used After Effects before so I had a lot of fun learning the ins and outs of it and how to realize the images I had rolling around in my mind. I really like using AE and I think you will be seeing a lot more of it in my future work.



This is a commissioned animation I did for the poet Major Jackson. It was created by using a combination of Adobe photoshop and after effects. It first debuted at the exhibition titled "More Than Biligual: Major Jackson & William Cordova." at the Fleming Museum located on the campus of the University of Vermont on January 27th, 2009.

Sewer Scene

This is from a photoshop painting I did last month. After I got finished with it, I thought it would be cool to make a scene out of it in Flash. So far, I've only roughed in the pacing.

Naruto

Ok, it's not really Naruto. I've just named it that. I did this while on vacation in Albuquerque. It began simply as a gesture exercise and then my wife's little cousin suggested I make him Naruto. It was a good suggestion because it made me color the thing, which makes this, coincidentally, the first real full color gesture animation I've done in Flash. Thanks Josh.

Gut Kick

This is a little ditty I cooked up after reading about Ryo-Chimo animating someone kicking another person in the gut. Kinda looks rotoscoped huh? It ain't.

Bakemono

An animatic done in flash. Not for anything in particular, just trying some things out. If someone knows how I can get the sound to turn on or off I'd appreciate the tip.

The Great Adam Phillips

I've been visiting his Brackenwood fanboy site for a while now. He just recently started a 30 animation shorts in 30 days project. He is the ruler in Flash animation right now. Check him out here.