Slow Motion Eye Movement Reference

Via Carlos Baena

Andreas Hykade - Love & Theft

Awesome hand drawn morphing animation!

Chuck Jones Letter on Reading

"Writing to a class of students in January of 1992 in an effort to promote the art of reading, legendary animator Chuck Jones recalls the books which helped inspire the creation of Wile E. Coyote and Pepé Le Pew, just two of the many cartoon characters he had a hand in bringing to the screen".

The image was taken from ebay where it sold for $329.95

Transcript follows...

January 24, 1992

[Redacted]

Knowing how to read and not reading books is like owning skiis and not skiing, owning a board and never riding a wave, or, well, having your favorite sandwich in your hand and not eating it. If you owned a telescope that would open up the entire universe for you would you try to find reason for not looking through it? Because that is exactly what reading is all about; it opens up the universe of humour, of adventure, of romance, of climbing the highest mountain, of diving in the deepest sea.

I found my first experience with Wile E. Coyote in a whole hilarious chapter about coyotes in a book called Roughing It by Mark Twain. I found the entire romantic personality of Pepe Le Pew in a book written by Kenneth Roberts, Captain Hook. I found bits and pieces of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and all the others in wonderful, exciting books.

I dare you all, test your strength: Open a book.

Sincerely,

(Signed)

Chuck Jones

Found on Letters of Note

Anatomical X-Ray Reference Footage

For animators it's useful to see what is going on under our skin. Here is some excellent reference footage.

Vivienne To: Words of Advice

I found this post on the blog of Animation Ideas to be very interesting, insightul and useful. In it, the author describes what Vivienne To, a concept artist and illustrator at Animal Logic, had to say about her career from being a student to present day.

Starting off...
Everyone worries they’ll be discovered as a fraud
Doubting your own ability at the start of your career is normal. In fact, it could be healthy.
Vivienne was careful to work as quickly and as hard as she could in her junior roles to help ensure future work.

Working...
Being creative on someone else’s schedule is hard
When you’re a student – you can create whenever you like. Once you turn pro – you can’t wait for the muse to show up. You put your head down and get to work.
Taking all the subjects you didn’t like in art school is great preparation for doing all the unglamorous jobs when you get hired.

Take it to the extreme...
Push an idea too far – and then back off
Vivienne was convinced it was much better to take a concept design to its extreme first, and then come back if you need to.
In her words, you didn’t want to leave a design wondering whether you could have made it more expressive, or more caricatured, or more dramatic.

Working for free...
Do what you can to do good work with good people
When asked whether Vivienne had done work for free, she replied that she had in her early career, but that she always tried to applied a rule to the jobs she’d accepted.

Is the work good?
Are the people good?
Is the money good?
If you can’t answer “yes” to at least two of those questions, then you should carefully consider your next step.

The Making Of: Toy Story 3

Only two, I hope more will show up soon! Fantastic insight to the animation process and those made Toy Story 3 possible.

Under The Oak Tree

"The dream factory, Aardman Studios is situated in an industrial area of Bristol. The production company is world famous for their clay animations, especially for the movies "Wallace & Gromit" and "Chicken run ". There are hundreds of employees dedicated to handicraft in large and small scales.

Everyone has their particular task and special crafting skills. They are handicrafts experts who build models in different sizes, mix clay, sew clothes and paint decors.

In the autumn of 2010, the Swedbank characters were in focus of some 40 full time employees. One second film consists of 25 still images, where the puppets and the environment are adjusted manually. To sync lip movements require great precision. On a successful day two seconds of film were to be completed".

Credits:
Aardman Commercials
Director: Steve Harding-Hill
Client: Swedbank
Agency: Colony/Lowe Brindfors

Hooked

Excellent short by the people at Character Matters Animation Studio in South Africa.