'Fox & Calf' and 'Critter Song' Back Online!

You heard right! You can watch all 5 episodes of Fox & Calf as well as their 'Interview' Commercial. They have new Vimeo

Channel HERE!

And if that isn't cool enough, Critter Song is also back! Enjoy!

Critter Song from Tertiary Animation on Vimeo.

More Oldies From 'The Vault'

Hey all, putting 'Frog Family' up online inspired me to get up some more old animations for the world to see! First, after much begging and pleading from so many people, I have finally put up 'Happiness,' The film that took me over 2 years to make and was my first collaboration with Robert Litton. Its about a small woodland animal that falls in love with a stuffed moose head. It's 13 minutes so it's up in 2 parts.

This is definitely a film where I bit off more than I could chew and you can understand how, after this, I really embraced short shorts like Critter Song, Frog family and Fox & Calf. Below is the 'Making Of' that shows the animation process as well as the scoring by Litton.

Next, a handful of environmental commercials I did for the cities of Vacaville and Rohnert Park between 2002 and 2005. You can see we are trying very hard to make recycling sound interesting enough to get the point across in 30 seconds. These all feature Rob Broadhurst very prominantly doing his voice work.

Hope you enjoyed those. That's it for now, should have more up soon, will try to be better at posting from now on.

Watch "Frog Family"

Okay, so as some of you may recall on this blog, I recorded the entire process (from pre-production through animation) of making "Frog Family" back in February of 2007. Then I never mentioned it again. Well, the truth is it was a concept that was floating in my head for maybe 3 years, but I never really thought I would make it due to the fact that it was a little darker than most of the material I made. But it ate at me over the years, and finally, for my own self-gratification and satisfaction I made it. It was good to get it off my chest. But it was only for me so I never really showed it to anyone (Never entered it into a festival or uploaded it online). So it's been two and a half years now and I figure, what the heck, its a minute and a half of animation I did (some difficult dialogue stuff that I'm proud of), so why not put it up. Enjoy!

Poor Claymator Reviews 'Gerald's Last Day'!!!

This Christmas Robert Litton came over and paid me a visit, and he brought a little surprise. With him was the DVD of the hotly anticipated animation he had just scored, Gerald’s Last Day. I felt like a little kid who was just visited by Santa. If any of you have been frequenting the indie-stop-mo blogs this year, you’re probably familiar with Gerald and his plight. Gerald is a mutt of a dog who is just hours away from being euthanized at the pound, and he is desperate to be adopted. The film follows his final day as various humans come by his cage to consider adopting him. As each one arrives, he analyzes them and changes his personality and manner, hoping he can come across as the perfect dog for each specific visitor. These displays are as cute and hilarious as they are sad and desperate. And that’s the beauty of this little 12-minute film, it makes you laugh one second and the next your heart is breaking, and then you’re laughing again. The balance between bitter and sweet is perfect, never letting you get two depressed before the pup charms you into chuckling again. Great pathos.

By the end of the short there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. I really must applaud Justin and Shel Rasch, the husband and wife animating team, for pulling this off. Gerald’s Last Day was a 2 year production for the Rasch’s, AFTERHOURS. All the animation was done after Justin would get home from his real job (as a computer game animator), and go through the night. On top of that, this was their first stopmotion project, but by looking at it you’d never know. These guys are pros! The quality of the animation is top-notch, but what will really excite all the animators out there is that they never skimp on on the unnecessary, yet highly realistic character movements. Most animators (including myself) when hunched under a hot lamp in the dead of night, pushing a tiny puppet on a fragile set one frame at a time, will only concern themselves with moving the characters from point A to point B, not bothering with extra subtle gestures that give a character more soul and realism. This will usually add hours to a shoot and may end up ruining the puppet. So why bother. Justin, though, doesn’t skimp on any of this, and the audience gets a much richer experience because of it, and fellow animators will be crying as they think of how high the bar has been raised. This is especially apparent with the little girl (voiced by their daughter Aedon) who comes to look at Gerald.

In the end, there’s also a great moral to the story, that’s very subtle (isn’t that nice), and after watching it with children, who will EAT IT UP, it could allow parents to open up a dialogue with their kids about the importance of being yourself.

I was also very impressed with Robert’s daring choice of a harmonica score (I didn’t think he could keep surprising me!). It’s beautiful, moody, and feisty, and just proves again why everyone trusts their creations to him. Click Here to read the great story about how the score almost didn’t happen! The story behind the film is almost more exciting than the film itself, so until you can watch the DVD with behind the scenes special features (which I’m told will include animation shots with all the wiring still in the shot, before being digitally removed) make sure you read Justin’s production blog and watch some of his interviews online, they’re so inspiring to any animator or artist who is trying to follow their dreams! On a personal note I’d like to say that I’ve been very inspired by Justin and Shel’s creative teamwork, and working that exciting experience into their marriage.

Gerald’s Last Day is just about to start its massive tour of the film festival circuit, so you all need to find out when it will be playing on a big screen near you and take the kids or animation lover. Right now most of the festivals are in the California and Nevada areas but I’m sure it will be expanding soon. Here’s the list so far:

Festivus (Denver Jan 8-11)

Hubbub (Las Vegas Jan 8-11)

Show Off Your Shorts Film Fest (Hollywood Feb 6-8)

San Francisco Children's Film Fest (Feb 28-Mar 1)

San Diego Children's Film Fest at Comicon (July/Aug)

Los Angeles Children's Film Fest (Oct)

 I’m told they will be updating the list as they’re accepted.

Thanks again to Justin and Shel for being so inspirational to all us animators, I can’t wait to see the next film!

Watch "Pets Who Look Like Their Owners"

This was a stand alone short that I did at Tertiary, and I really love this one. It's more a practice in character design and sculpture than it is in animation itself, and I feel it really stands out as a unique piece apart from my other work. Rob Broadhurst wrote a wonderful little song for it, that just helps give it that "off" feeling. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy it!

WATCH "Pets Who Look Like Their Owners" Here!

Watch All The Fox & Calf Episodes Online!

You heard right! The video pages are up, and all five Fox & Calf episodes are now up for you to watch online! 

This is a series I hold very close to my heart, and I am really grateful to everyone else who was involved and who's fingerprints are very apparent on the films; particularly Rob Broadhurst's hilarious voice acting and inspired Theme Song, Robert Litton for the amazing scores that brought everything to life, Sam for teaching me how to light a set with character (particularly in Rhonda), Carlos Miller for his tight editing skills and great, subtle digital effects, and Carlos Gonzalez who created the most beautifully tacky 80's inspired opening credit's sequence. 

I'll try to run a few blogs over the next few weeks at Tertiary that talk about a few aspects of the production that are easier to talk about now that the episodes are up. So keep an eye out for those! Ok, hope you all enjoy the episodes!

WATCH THEM HERE!

UPDATE: Robert Litton Talks About Scoring Fox & Calf

My Art Book Is Now Available

I've had a lot of people ask me lately if they could purchase the art book I put together last spring so I've finally decided to make it available for purchase on Blurb.com. It's a 40 page collection I put together of some of my favorite pieces and Blurb's printing is top notch. So, if any of you are interested in a weird collection of fine art, sketches, character designs, etc; CHECK IT OUT HERE!

Four Down, So Many More To Go......

I just completed my fourth short for my new Tertiary Animated series Furryvale. Assuming Fox & Calf does get released sometime in August, I think there's a chance this new series will be released later in the fall. We'll just have to see. See more images from this latest short at my Tertiary Blog!

Watch Fox & Calf's "Blind Date"!

You heard right! The First episode of Fox & Calf, "Blind Date," is available to watch online at the SXSW Click Online Festival. This 2 minute episode, which is kind of calf-less, was nominated as one of the 3 finalists in the animation category. If you're inclined, feel free to register and vote for it (you can once a day), if not, just ENJOY! I'm really happy to at least have one of these episodes out, though the image has been squashed into a 4x3 apect ratio, but it's not too bad. It'll do til we get the entire series up online. Make sure to watch one of the high-res versions.

Alright, GO HERE TO WATCH BLIND DATE, let me know what you think!

Also, check out my acting debut as the butt-hole waiter in Tertiary's live action short THE DATE, which is an episode of their upcoming Control Freak series and a finalist in their live action category. (Thats me on the left.)

Martha Stewarthog

Isn't she beautiful? My latest short deals with a wonderful caricature of Martha Stewart, it was fun trying to take such an ugly animal like the warthog and make her cute and pretty. You can see more on the production, along with her koala and hippo costars at my Tertiary Blog. See you around!

Finished Animating New Short

Hey All! I just wrapped animation on my second short for my new series. Check out the process at my Tertiary Blog. Still no word on the Fox & Calf release date......

Animating New Series

Hey Everyone, so I've started animating my next clay-animated series for Tertiary Productions, which is yet to be officially titled (though I have an idea). With the premiere of Fox & Calf just about a month a way...I hope.....It has been fun to work with some different characters. You can see images from my first short, "Pigg Angel: Swine Freak," and more, at my Tertiary Production Blog!

New York: Falling Into Gravity With Ron Cole

I’ve been out in New York for the past couple of days, clearing my head and doing some early development and pre-viz for my next Tertiary Animation project. It’s been a great and much needed change of scene for my creative mind.



One of the highlights of my trip so far was getting to visit the Mysterious Ron Cole in his Long Island studio. In the last year or so, Ron Cole has risen out of obscurity to some sort of underground stop-motion animation god. All based on a 1 minute trailer for his upcoming short film “In The Fall Of Gravity” that he posted on the internet. The 12 minute short is a revolutionary experiment involving animatronic stop-motion. This new technology that Ron is developing could very well change the way stop-motion animation is done in the future, as well as improve the quality beyond cartoons.



When I got to his basement studio, I was EXTREMELY excited, as I have been a fan of his trailer since it first surfaced on the web almost a year ago. Nothing could prepare me for what I was going to see. We journeyed through the various set areas and he introduced me to Isomer and Trevor, the stars of the film. What blew me away was how giant these puppets were, I couldn’t believe it. Moving them around was a dream, they had wonderful ball and socket armatures, and then Ron started to play with their robotics, moving the mouths and eyebrows around, seeing them come to life was truly magical. The type of facial features and movements they make are like nothing I have ever seen in this industry.





The sets were beautiful, hand panted, leaves and vines crawling up the rails. I just wanted to touch it all. What surprised me was that all the backgrounds were hand painted and right there, no blue screen. The painstaking detail apparent in each one was mind-boggling.



The real treat, though, was getting to be the first person (other than the composer) to watch the finished “In The Fall Of Gravity” film. And let me tell you, all you stop-mo fans that have been salivating over his trailer for the last year; it is well worth the wait. The final film is stunningly beautiful, and I watched the entire time with my jaw on the floor. The trailer doesn’t show anything compared to what the film has in store for you. The animation is top notch; the visuals are beautiful and fun. I’m pretty sure the deep, philosophical story was compelling too, but I was so captivated by what I was watching, not much else got through. It is a sensory overload and demands multiple viewings to truly take it all in and get the full affect.



We spent the rest of the afternoon talking about animation and technology, I showed him my Fox & Calf shorts, and I got to know his really cool family. He shared with me how he did all the low-tech effects in the film and my head almost exploded. It’s funny that even I assume everybody does everything digitally. And his tricks were brilliant. So brilliant, in fact, that I feel as if giving them away on this blog would be the same as me telling you how his film ends. Hopefully he will do a “making-of” featurette on his DVD and give us all a glimpse at how his brilliant mind works, and still defies the computers.

I had an amazing experience with Ron and his family, and his puppets, and left feeling very inspired. How often does that happen? I cannot wait until everyone else can see what he’s done and feel the same!

Finished Animating "Rhonda," Fox & Calf

Today I finished the final chapter in the Fox & Calf series, Rhonda. It was such a pleasure to work on this dream project. Each short is very personal to me, and I think, reflects who I am probably more than any other films I've done. Rhonda is a particularly fun short, and was so much fun to make! So be sure to head on over to my Tertiary Production Blog and see all the behind the scenes crap. And remember, you don't have to be a MOLI member to leave comments.

"Rhonda" Episode Moving On Schedule

Hey guys! Well, everythings going great on the new Fox & Calf episode, "Rhonda." I've got a bunch of fun characters made, been working away on a nightclub set, and more. So make sure you head over to my Tertiary Productions Blog to check out all of the updates. And remember, you no longer have to be a member of MOLI to leave comments on the Tertiary Blog. Hope to see you there!

Skank-mation, Pimp-mation

I've started pre-production on the fifth episode of Fox & Calf (most likely coming out in May!), This one takes place at a night club and is called "Rhonda," so I should be creating lots of fun, colorful characters for the short. Remember to check out all the updates at my Tertiary Productions Blog.

You Know You're A Claymator When..........

1. People constantly walk by your desk, see your boxes of Crystal Light, and ask what it's for. It's for when I'm thirsty. I don't color my clay characters with sugar-powder.

2. People see you eating lunch at your desk and double-take because they think you're eating clay. Is that really the vibe I give off?

These things did not happen once, they are common occurrences. Sigh. there are so many misconceptions about my lifestyle. I wish people were more educated. Oh well, I live in the South. HA!

Anyway, life is hilarious. Gets better every day.

Back On Fox & Calf!

After a short hiatus, working on some other projects, I am back working on Fox & Calf. Be sure to catch all the new photos and updates over at my Tertiary Animation Blog, as I wind down production and get ready to put this series out!

Finished Animating "Painting The Unpaintable"

Yesterday I finished animating "Painting The Unpaintable," the final Fox & Calf short, and now heading into the post production fazes. You can catch up on all the news and updates at my Tertiary Animation Blog.

Watch Critter Song!!!!

Oh happy day!!! I finished Critter Song 8 months ago in May and it is FINALLY available to watch over at MOLI. Quick recap, Rob Broadhurst and I wrote the song (he did music and we co-wrote the lyrics) and we sang it with Bre. I created 10 sets and 24 characters, and animated it over a period of 3 months. Aftter all that it's just 2 minutes, but I'm really proud of it and I hope you all like it too. Enjoy!!!!

WATCH CRITTER SONG