NEW ARC COMING

So whats up!?!?!?

Well you may have noticed I haven't been posing much of late. That's because I have been cooking up the next step in the ARCs evolution. I've decided that instead of just adding to the now massive amount of animation information on the net, I think what is really needed is some way of helping people who want to learn about animation navigate their way to the information that best helps them.

The new ARC will be a constantly updated set of links to the best free online resources, those resources will be categorised to help you find the information you want. There will also be a reference page where you can see and study some of the great online animation available.

Once I get it filled up to a minimum level I will start a separate page called New Additions, then whenever I add something new to a category I will link to it in a new post there. That means you will be able to subscribe to the New Additions page and keep up to date on any new goodies I find. I also hope that this will be where we can get lots of comments and have good discussions without necessarily cluttering up the reference section.

The categories down the left side are just a work in progress at this stage, I keep thinking of new things to add so I imagine it still has some evolving to do.

When I get at least one thing in each category I will swap its URL over with this one and we will get back into action. In the mean time you can drop by and have a look by clicking on the pick (not that there is much to see apart from the basic layout). Also feel free to leave a comment about your favourite educational online resources so I can make sure they are linked to where appropriate :)

Persepolis - A chance to see it in Brisbane @ BIFF

The acclaimed, Oscar nominated, 2007 French feature animation "Persepolis" is one of the showcase films at the Brisbane International Film Festival (BIFF).

Matt, one of our international contributers, rates the film highly in his comments on the Kung Fu Panda topic.

It's playing on Friday 1 August, 12pm (lunch), and Friday 8 August, 7pm at The Regent, Cinema 3. Entry is $13.50 for full time students.

Jason Ryan ~ Webinars with a major studio Supervising Animator

Jason Ryan is a supervising animator at major feature film studios. His resume includes working at Disney and Dreamworks.

Australian animators have the opportunity to discuss animation topics and solve animation problems in a series of live webinars.

Second year students at SBIT, just think about it... What a great way to continue building your show reel / demo reel after graduation. Each month potentially having an improved animation piece to replace student stumblings.

Other Jason Ryan posts on the ARC (find out why this bunch of Brisbane animation students are so excited*). Find out more about Jason Ryan.

*Ian said (previously), "I’m chuffed that there is a way we can teach 3D and keep drawing central to the process. Thankyou Jason Ryan. :)"

AM Webinar - demo reel dos and don'ts

Carlos Baena has a webinar up for Animation Mentor that is all about the best way to make a demo reel. A must see for students so drop by and watch it here!

Recent ARC post about show reel design with links to all the ARC resources on creating show reels.

Character Animation Resource

If something doesn't make sense in class students are encouraged to try and look at the problem in different ways, from a few different viewpoints.

Ian and I had an interesting talk about the different way people learn things. And sometimes we just have to find what makes sense to the individual.

So if your animated character isn't doing the things you want it to do, use Internet resources, it's good to see how different animators solve the problems.

AnimationMentor have started a blog that could be added to your problem solving resource list.

Animatic ~ Jigsaw Falling Into Place ~ Radiohead

This week second year students were given a one week reprieve on the storyboard animatic deadline for their major project (due to the Institute's new Internet safety policy of banning the world wide web, which made it a bit difficult to access online resources).

Make like a slice of cheese... Now we're on a roll because we can improve our ideas after watching this excellent example animatic by local Brisbane animator Mark Osberg. "Ahhh Man, this is so good!"* Note at the start how we get a colour scheme idea but from that point onward we leave the more detailed layouts into the 'rough' art work that tells the story.

I know that Mark works rough using a graphics tablet straight into Flash. I'm pretty sure this is the approach most of the second years are taking as well. But we'll work from initial paper and pencil thumbnail roughs... or did we? Here's some extra storyboarding info for you, yeah you!

I'm not going to be shy about this next bit and neither should you. Sign in and vote for Mark's animation for the Radiohead Competition on the Aniboom site! If you love it give it 5 bombs, if you hate it give it 1 bomb.

*Someone somewhere said this about something.

Thank You Ollie

As a general rule I try not to post animation news, I just can't keep up with the other sites that specialize in that sort of thing. But I can't let the passing of Ollie Johnston go by without mentioning it. Ollie was the last of the nine old men, I don't care what kind of animation your into today, it was somehow influenced by this man and his peers. Just this morning I was try to find some well articulated advice about planning for animation and I found the perfect thing in an Ollie quote that I printed out for a student.

I'm also struck by how young our profession is, these guys helped to define animation as we know it and do it today and they have only just passed. Think about some other jobs and ask yourself if the people who created them would still be around. In a sense we are still at the beginning of animation, we still have the opportunity to push it, make it better. Ollie's work and advice will always be a source of inspiration, hopefully our generation can make a contribution aspiring to the same values as he did. Thank you Ollie.

more links:
Glen Keane talks about Ollie.
More Ollie youtube bits.
Post about Ollie on Small Room.
Post about Ollie on Cartoon Brew.

Tekkonkinkreet

In America they have the Academy of Motion Pictures (presenting the Oscars), in Japan the equivalent is The Nippon Academy-Sho Association, and this year their best animated film award went to Tekkonkinkreet. Sure looks pretty.

I really have to make a bigger effort to get out and see some of these Anime films (or in to see them on DVD as is so often the case). I still haven't seen Paprika which looked amazing in the preview. If anyone else has seen it, I would love to hear what you thought of it.

Found at: Animated News

ABC 1

Hopefully you haven’t been to busy watching "So You Think You Can Dance Australia" to notice the new ABC1 promos popping up on Aunty. They utilise a broad range of animation techniques and combine them with live action in ways that create a thoughtful and reflective feel. Quite a contrast to the commercial channels that have over recent months rolled out another bunch of predictable, “Hey we are so much fun, come and hang out with us like we are your old friend,” drivel.

Speaking of the ABC, there is talk floating about of a possible new ABC channel devoted just to children’s entertainment that must contain a high percentage of Australian made content. If this were to happen it would be super good news for the Australian animation industry. At the moment I would guess that there is less than 3 hours of Aussie made animation on TV in any given day, just imagine the difference a whole channel devoted to entertaining the kiddies with locally produced content could make.

Dare I encourage our younger readers to actually take political action? Here is a link to the web site for the federal minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Stephen Conroy. Why not send him an email (minister@dbcde.gov.au) say how great it would be for your future if there was a new ABC channel just for children’s content, get your parents involved too, in fact get anyone you know who can vote to join in. This is no time to be cynical, get the democracy working for you.

Found at: idents.tv

Free Webs

I've been going on a bit in class lately (as is my want) about having an online presence. There are up's and down's, but mostly up's I think.

Right on cue, friend of the ARC and our main stand in teacher at Southbank Mark O found this great site called Free Webs, where you can have your own web site for free. You would expect something like this to be covered in pop up ads and such, but it is relatively free of annoying stuff like that. You can have as many pages as you want, a blog, a forum, upload or link to video and more.

Mark has already set up HIS PAGE so you can see an example of how you might use it. New First year students should check out his Animation and Illustrations pages, he's a wiz at that drawing and movin stuff.

You can have a blog as part of this set up, and if any of our students would prefer to use this blog instead of a Blogger Blog, that’s fine with me, you just have to let me know what your new blog address is.

Annie Award Winners 2008

Friend of the ARC Kristi from Krome sent me a link to this page of results from this years Annie Award, they are like the Oscars but just for animation.

Looks like Ratatouille cleaned up most of the major film award, Surfs up grabbed a few for FX, those waves were pretty impressive.

Only Toons

I was perusing the Cold Hard Flash blog for the first time in a while (man is it just me or is that site so covered in flashing ads that its getting hard to find the actual content) and I noticed one of the videos posted there was from a new online video site. Its called MyToons and its for animation only which is nice Don't you think?

When I'm back at Tafe on Monday I'll check if it is blocked on the edu PC's, maybe we can use it for our student blogs.

SHORT films

Last week Terry, Jane and I schemed up a way to have our cake and eat it too. We have developed a plan for having second year students animate a story that MUST also contain the basic shots required for a show reel. This addressed one of my basic misgivings about letting the students spend most of their second year on a single story, namely that the story would often allow the student to avoid animating scenes containing fundamental principles.

Another issue I had was that when a student embarks on animating an epic story the animation is often rushed or half baked to make sure the story gets finished. This defeats the purpose of doing anything at all in my opinion. I've always been a supporter of quality instead of quantity. So Jane and Terry have been kind enough to indulge me with a pretty tight time limit for the student major projects. They (or you) will be aiming for 1 minute.

So I expect the idea of how you can tell a story in such a short period of time to become and ongoing issue. I thought I'd post some clips that demonstrate efficient story telling, while still demonstrating sound animation techniques. If anyone else is aware some good examples I'd love to see them in the comments.

Shape Your Desire - Job Joris and Marieke (I can't find a direct link to it, but you should also check out their short film 'Het is niet grappig, het is Kunst' its on their site)


Roo Dou Dou - Planktoon Studio



The Ultimate Break - Studio Akama






Note the way they don't take separate time out for character development, in a film this short that has to be overlapped with the delivery of the story. I think this is a great discipline to be thinking about, because really, the same rule applies to longer films too. The story should always be moving forward. That's one of the traps Disney fell into in the late 90's taking time out from progressing the story for a song, zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

I think another good question to ask yourself is, how far into the story are we when we first become aware of the conflict. In my opinion student film screw this up all the time, get to the point people!

And CHECK THIS OUT, a festival for 1 minute films! and it looks like they just added an animation prise last year. Mmm how convenient. Their screening is in November which is promising, but I can't find a closing date for entries. I've emailed them to find out, could be interesting.

Oscar Nominations for 2008

The cool Ticklebooth blog has a post up linking to this years Oscar nominations for the best short animated film.

This year only one of the five nominations is 3D.

1. Is the novelty starting to wear off?
2. Is the Academy made up of old fogies who are out of touch?
3. Are they leading the way and will industry follow?
4. Should the Oscars stay in step with industry or is it a separate "art" thing?
5. Am I asking intentionally provocative questions? :)
   

Labor for gamers?

Politics comes to the ARC. This Article in the age indicated that the Labour Government may be in favour of affording the Gaming Industry the same tax incentives that the Film and TV biz enjoy.

PENCIL!

HOLY MANOLY!!!!!!! Could this be the holey grail I have been seeking?!?!? A 100% FREE pencil animation program with all the features I want. . . . . . Rotating canvas? (check), Camera Layer? (check), Audio? (check), Vector and Bitmap capabilities? (check), export in multiple and convenient formats? (check). My PC is a lightbox! YEAH BABY!

The latest version (with the camera) isn't officially released yet but they have a down loadable preview on their forum, I'll link direct to the download with the pic. Or you can go via the Home Page.

Another cool thing is that it seams to run straight from an executable without any need for installing. We may be able to start using it on the Tafe computers straight away :)

Thanks to the Splinedoctors blog for spotting this one.

CONGRATULATIONS TO...

Two quick things. Congrats to Angus for scoring a fascinating-sounding multimedia/animation gig for ReachOut that will keep him busy for the rest of the year. We'll support you as best we can, Angus. And kudos to Ian for being nominated for in the "Best Educator" category at the SBIT Staff Awards. Geez you guys make me feel so inadequate... one day I'll do something worthwhile though, just you wait!

MORE Jobs

Even more jobs, all be it a little further afield this time. Redtribe in Melbourne are looking for senior and game animators at the moment (looks like they do some fun titles) and a mob in Sydney called Moxy are looking for 2D artists. They say they are after someone who can ad a touch of the orient to their designs so it sounds like a rare one for the lovers of anime.

Hey Everyone! Look Over There! JOBS!!!

HOLLY MANOLLY! Can you believe it? At tafe there are just 6 weeks till the end of year screening and only 8 weeks left in total.

At this time of the year you can't help but think of the future, whos hiring? Well the answer is very encouraging. I just picked some studios off the top of my head an every single one is employing in some way. Its an animation gold rush! Even for those of you who have no love for 3D, some of these studios have jobs for old fationed paper and pencil artist too!

Check em out....
Creative Assembly
Pandemic
Krome
Photon
Auran
THQ

Don't be discouraged if they are senior positions, or they ask for experience. The fact that they are all looking at the same time means they are finding it hard to get the staff they need. If your reel or portfolio is good enough they may just consider giving you a go.

Party Animals

Things just seem to be getting bigger and better for Brisbane's own Krome studio. Check out this interview with their CEO Robert Walsh as they talk about their latest big game for Microsoft. There are pictures and a youtube clip as well.