Inspiring work

I really enjoyed this and wanted to share it. Very inspiring animation.


Galactic Mail from Asterokid on Vimeo.

Another good animation resource

Stumbled across this site awhile back, and then rediscovered it recently. Anyway, if you are into animation, and there's a decent chance you are if you're here reading stuff, you'll find this site useful in some way, shape or form. There are tons of great animations to watch, including unexpected ones! Woot!! Also, there are contests where artists and animators can enter and win stuff, including money. And in this economy, who can't use a little more of that.

On top of the great animations we can all watch and enjoy, and contests we can win money in; there is also a newly released online portfolio tool, which is by the looks of things, quite customizable and useful for animators.

Now if only there were lots more valuable animation contests and more clever avenues for indie animators to make money through on Mytoons.com eh? Near perfection would be a decent description for that eh animtors!? : D


Cheers,
Sean

Animated Short - Do Robots Dream of Bunnies?

I love this short film, saw it at Siggraph '06 in Boston during the animation festival screenings and it was easily one of my favorites! : D Great stuff, worth watching, and it'll most likely bring a smile to your face.


Cheers!

Jason Ryan's animation lessons in full swing!!!

I talked about this amazing resource for the animation community awhile back when it was first starting to get going. I just wanted to revisit it again, and also remind animators that another awesome mentor is out there on the web and willing to share with everyone!! Cool eh!?

You know a friend of mine, recently got a hold of me because he is thinking about becoming an animator. He asked me where he should start learning, and of course, being a former student there, I said AnimationMentor.com!!! He replied to me saying he has wanted to do AM for awhile, but it just isn't financially possible for him at this time. So I replied back and said, well, you have to take Jason Ryan's lessons then, LOL!! The animation education you'll get from him is going to be stellar and affordable for you given your situation! I know this because he was a mentor at AM when I was studying there, and I got the chance to read through all of the awesome animation gold he was giving out in the school forums. Not to mention, I got to see the lectures he did and learned a ton from his words of wisdom!

I'm thankful that the animation community has another awesome teacher willing to share what they know about animation, so go check Jason out if you are interested.

Cheers!
Sean

The survival Kit all on DVD now!!!

This is great! Don't really know what to say, except, time to start saving some money for this gift of wisdom from an animation master. Woot!

Current animation reel/portfolio

Sean MacNeil Animation Reel Summer 2008 from Sean MacNeil on Vimeo.

Hi guys! : D

Well, it's my 28th birthday today and I thought I'd put together a new demo reel. So here it is folks. It's not perfect, but it represents me and some of my animation work so far. I think it's alright. There are animators out there who are truly gifted and blow me away with how they can bring their characters to life. Animators who truly inspire with what they put up on screen.... For me, well I'm not that gifted, and I have to work pretty hard at animation. Maybe that's why I kinda dig how my latest demo reel turned out, cause I worked so hard putting it together. I hope you are entertained by it, that's all I care about! : D Thanks for watching.

Oh, and if you know someone who needs an animator, maybe point them this way ok? If I can do the same for you I will, just let me know and I will try to help. I'm available for freelance work right now, so please don't be afraid to get a hold of me if you kinda dig what you see here. As the top of the blog says, I am "a student of animation" ... and always will be no matter where I end up or how many years I've animated for, I'm passionate. : D


Peace!!!

Remember Ollie Johnston

Brad Bird on Ollie Johnston


My deepest, heartfelt condolences go out to Ollie's family and friends.

Since Ollie passed away recently, I sometimes catch myself thinking fondly about him and the brilliant work he did. Maybe upon seeing an image on film, or tv, or on the web that reminds me of him, I'll drift off and begin to think of him a little bit. Even though it's sad to think he's passed on, when I picture something he's done, like a character in a scene, or a picture of his face, I can't help but feel a small smile emerge on my face, for a moment or two, out of the sadness I'm feeling. He is definitely missed. But he is, most definitely, fondly remembered.

-an admiring fan of Ollie's and a student of 'his' animation

a fun shot i did awhile back

I wanted to share with you a favorite shot of mine that I animated while working in Toronto last year. Unfortunately, I did not receive the sound clip to go with this shot. I apologize in advance for this.

At any rate, I'll do my best to try to explain what is going on with the character in the shot for you, maybe it might all make a bit more sense afterwards:

The character becomes frustrated upon getting some "less than inspiring" news from his sidekick and "partner in crime" so to speak. Basically, in the dialogue that is supposed to be with this shot, he repeats what he's just heard out loud (as if to say, "am I hearing you correctly?") and then proceeds to freak out and ridicule his partner who would be standing off to screen right.

I hope that makes sense guys. Again, sorry I don't have the sound to go with this.

Jason Ryan Animation tutorials startin' up soon!!

this is awesome news! Jason Ryan is an awesome animator and he's about to start up Jason Ryan Animation!

i was very lucky that when i was attending animation mentor, Jason was a mentor there and i was able to watch him lecture and also catch some of his critiques of his students. this guy is super passionate about animation! i don't know him personally, but i was really lucky to be able to go through the animation mentor forums and read the advice he was giving his students. i think there were like 20 pages or something to go through of questions and answers with Jason in this one forum post. i remember i spent hours and hours scouring this one thread for any animation gold i could get, and i went through the entire thing trying to be a sponge and trying to soak up everything he was talking about, and willing to share with us. it was pure animation gold! i remember thinking, whoa, he sure knows a ton about animation, (or at least that's how it seemed to a newbie animator like me at the time, cause i didn't really fully understand everything he was talking about, haha!) and what's just as important, is that he loves to share what he knows with other animators.

i think the animation community is super lucky that Jason is launching his online tutorial site. i can't wait to check out the gold from one of the present masters of animation! it's going to be another great resource for anyone out there interested in learning this amazing craft. i can't wait! woot woot!!

you can go to his site and subscribe to his newsletter if you're interested in a few animation tidbits of gold. he offers a few freebie tutorials through the newsletter, so go on over and check it out!

thanks Jason!

Killer Bean Feature coming soon!

Killer Bean Forever - Official Trailer - video powered by Metacafe

how cool is this eh! Jeff Lew has done something truly inspiring and amazing, he's completed an entire animated feature film practically by himself. it took him the last four years to do, working tirelessly, and now it's about to be released. wow, just imagine the work and dedication this took eh. well done Jeff, can't wait to see it. absolutely brilliant! i wish you nothing but the best of success with your film.

got a job!

It's been awhile since i posted here, but it's cause i've been so busy animating. i got a job as an animator at C.O.R.E. in Toronto, and it's been awesome! It's the studio that created the animated feature film The Wild, which was in theatres last year.

i started at the studio on January 2 of this year, it was something i'll never forget...walking into that first animation job. : ) i couldn't be happier to be here, it's such a cool place to work. i'm part of the team working on a really cool cg tv series called Urban Vermin and it's lookin' great. (i can't wait 'till it airs on tv) There are some amazingly talented animators at c.o.r.e. and they've been all over and worked on some great blockbuster films and tv shows. It's so cool learning from these folks, they are so good at what they do and it's a total honor to work with them.

We're animating a lot of frames these days, and it's absolutely awesome...difficult, but tons of fun. i'm enjoying the animation process now more than ever. Actually, i find it hard to pull myself away from animating, lol. i'm so thankful that c.o.r.e. has given me this chance. Everyday i go into work, i pick up something new about animation from the other animators at the studio, it's great!

i'm going to go back to Animation Mentor to finish my film, but right now the animation quota at work is very high and it's just too difficult to do both. Speaking of AM, the first and second ever classes just graduated, and a number of them are getting jobs too. (...and at some wicked studios!) It's a great testament to the quality of animation training the school puts out there for people who are interested, and i'm really happy for Bobby, Shawn, Carlos and everyone who works so hard at AM day in and day out. It's really something different how those 3 animators truly care about the success of their students.

i want to take a second to say a special congrats to all of my fellow classmates who just graduated...way to go AMers! : )

This is a great thing. One of the best three and a half minutes I've ever spent on the web. Enjoy.

Had an interesting class Q&A tonight with mentor Dean Wellins, where we did a really fun character building excercise. Give it a try. Think of one character type (whatever comes to mind) and write down as many traits as you can about that person, ie; a fireman, a cop, an accountant, a first grader, etc... Next, think of a completely different/contradictory character type that is pretty much at the other end of the spectrum as far as character/personality goes and write down their traits, ie; a mob boss, a drug dealer, etc... Now choose one character from your first list and assign all of the traits from one of the characters in your second list and see what you get. Try mixing and matching characters and traits from the two different lists and see what kinds of interesting characters you come up with. Try to visualise what they would like like and try sketching them out on paper.

First draft of the animatic for my short film. There are a number of changes which need to be made to this, including fixing the timing of some of the camera cuts, but you can get the general idea of the story and style from this clip. I hope you find it funny and entertaining.

Here is the first pass of about 2/3rds of the animatic for my film. Essentially, it's a moving story board in order to get a rough idea of what the film will look like when it's finished.

Spent much of today continuing to work on my animatic and also doing some rendering research for my film. I really do not know too much when it comes to rendering and lighting, so I wanted to start to look into this aspect of the pipeline a bit. I downloaded the Renderman for Maya evaluation copy and went through their manuals and some of the tutorials. Renderman is a very powerful piece of software and I was pleasantly surprised to discover how intuitive it was. It was also much faster than Mental Ray, and speed is always a factor as we all know.

TGIF! Discussed some character development ideas with Dean through email today, and later went to the movies to see Scorcese's latest masterpiece, The Departed.

I came up with the idea of adding the following character to my film for the sole purpose that it might help to communicate some more of my main characters' personality, ie; his compassion and fondness for the following furry animal, aka Tailor, or the Ball and Tail AM character rig. Right now, it's very much up in the air and this idea might not make the cut. Here's a cg rendering of the little guy:

After some advice from Dean and some more pondering on the idea, I'm beginning to realize that the setting really isn't as important as I thought it was for my film. So, I'm taking out the crashed plane idea because it really doesn't make much of a difference to what I'm trying to say. The refining continues.

This is where my story is at right now. The following is a 2nd draft of my idea; at this point I'm trying to make sure things are communicating the way I intend them to, and also trying to sculpt the idea so it fits into the 30-60 second time limit. So, here is the 2nd draft:

It's late afternoon in the desert, and we open with the site of a crashed plane. We see our character nearby, standing next to a cactus, looking utterly defeated. He is extremely saddened and nearly in tears, he is looking at an old picture which is hanging on the cactus, it's of him and two friends looking very happy. He misses them terribly. Hanging below the picture, is a broken compass. We start to get the sense that he might be stranded. A few feet away lies a large boulder with etchings carved into it. They are tallies of how many months and years have gone by. It's now becoming clearer that he has been alone in the desert for some time after going down in his plane. He walks dejectedly back to a table set up nearby and sits down in one of the chairs. On the table top is a hand gun and a single bullet. It's obvious what he is about to do. Shaking, and nervous, he puts the bullet in the chamber and puts the gun to his head.

Until, all of the sudden, something catches his attention, he looks up and on the horizon, sees the siloutte of a small plane falling from the sky. He watches as it comes crashing to the ground off in the distance. He can't believe what's just happened, he leaps out of his chair and grabs a pair of binoculars for a better look. Through the binoculars, he watches as a disoriented pilot pulls himself from the wreckage. The guy actually survived! Happy to see the other pilot alive, our character thinks for a moment, places the gun back on the table, and runs off to help. He rushes over and the two strangers quickly become friends as they both look back at the wreckage in amazement! Our character brings his new friend back to his table and offers him the other seat. After sitting down and enjoying a drink, the 2nd pilot can't help but notice the gun lying on the table. So he motions to it. Nonchalantly, our character jokingly picks up the gun to show his new friend how close he was to shooting himself. After an awkard pause, they both start to laugh and our character slams the gun down on the table as they break into hysterics.

The 2nd pilot suddenly collapses on the table. What's just happend? The gun went off by accident when it hit the table, and now the 2nd pilot is dead! Shocked, our character slowly begins to realize what's just transpired. Oh no, he's accidently shot his new friend and killed him. He's just accidently shot the only person to ever join him since he crashed in the desert. Realizing how hopeless his situation has become, our character picks up the gun and points it as his head. But, no...click, click...no bullets left! After being so close to having a friend in the desert, he's doomed to be alone forever. The End.

Thought for the day: it would be so nice to be able to draw well...that way, my story boards wouldn't look so amateurish. I've been drawing more since I started Animation Mentor, so that's a good thing. You just have to practice all the time to get good at it I guess. If you want to see a good draftsmen, check out Mel's blog, he's a fellow Animation Mentor student and a really nice guy. Now he can draw.

Dean gave me some great feedback today in my critique. Now it's final, I know which idea I'm going with for my film. It's time to move onto the next stage of pre-production. It will be pretty random going around here for awhile.

I'm still thinking about the lecture we saw this week. Do I try to make a statement with my film? Do I decide to go with an idea that is less unique to who I am or how I see the world? Do I make an attempt at slapstick? All of these questions deserve lots of consideration. The pondering continues.

We have a very inspirational lecture for this week from Patrick Kriwanek, founder of the Berkeley Digital Film Institute. Aside from discussing story structure and many other key points of film making, Patrick had some great words of wisdom for all film makers. What really stood out for me in the lecture was when he mentioned that as a film maker it's important to find what it is you believe in and what is uniquely yours, and to say it through your film.

Two weeks have gone by already at Animation Mentor and so far the story idea brainstorming has been really enjoyable. Dean has given some great advice, and I have to say it's a joy being in his class.

Saw Open Season yesterday! I Loved it. In my opinion, it's one of the more charming stories that has come out of the animated feature world in the past couple of years, I thought it had a really nice classic Disney feel to it and I enjoyed that a lot. I guess I've sort of missed that whole Disney magic thing. I can't wait for the next animated feature from Sony Animation, if it's as well done as Open Season, audiences are going to be in for a real treat once again. The character animation was top notch and I noticed a handful of the mentors from Animation Mentor in the credits afterwards which was cool. Excellent film!

A thought I had today was hmm, we are required to come up with 5 different story ideas for the end of this week for "the pitch." But, I am really happy with my one idea that I've been really exploring and thinking about, and I'm at least 95% certain that it's the one that's inspired me enough to make a short film out of. Am I lucky to have found an idea this early, or am I stupid for puting all my hopes on this one? I don't know. I have followed a few other ideas into the exploration stage from brainstorming, but none to the same extent as this one. Anyway, I really feel like I've found "the idea," but I am going to continue to see what else "pops in there" over the next couple days just in case. All you can do is keep thinking.

I've been doing an animation test for a potential employer over the last couple of days. The test is going well, it's a fun shot to work on as there is a nice mix of acting and physical action. It's also neat to have high quality professional story boards to work from, which is a first for me. And the people I've met so far from the studio are great. It would be awesome to get this position. Right now though, I'm pretty fried after a 15 hour day of animating and brainstorming for the film. What else, we had a long Q&A tonight where everyone pitched their ideas to Dean and the class. There are some really good ideas coming from everybody.

One of my ideas has me really excited. The setting is a dinner table set for two on the side of an abandoned highway, and our character is carefully rearranging the table settings so that everything is perfect. He sits down at his chair after some final fidgeting, only to look across and sadly realize that he is indeed once again sitting alone by himself as always.

Until, all of the sudden, an outline appears on the horizon, yes, it's a passerby...a guest! Excited, our character rushes over to greet the stranger and offers him the other seat at his table. Realizing his guest is thirsty, he quickly dissapears off screen to get some refreshments. Upon returning with a bright yellow pitcher in his hand, he pours a nice cold glass of lemonade and politely gives it to his new companion to drink. The stranger is delighted after he takes a big gulp from his cup.

But wait, the stranger's smile turns to a look of horror as he grasps at his throat while falling backwards in his chair and crashing to the ground. He's dead! Shocked, our character slowly begins to realize what's just transpired. Yes, he's accidently grabbed the wrong pitcher, the one with a skull and crossbones on the side. He's poisoned the one and only guest to ever sit at his table. Realizing he's destined to be alone forever, our character grabs the pitcher to drink the poison and end his misery. But, no...there is no more left, he can't even poison himself to death. Until finally, our character returns to sit back down at the table and once again contemplate his lonely existance. The End.

Stormin'
Stormin'
Stormin'
My braaain is a storminnn'.

So here is a thought that has come into mind. AM is giving us two options for our films: Option A is to keep our films to 30 seconds in length if we plan on doing class 6 (Short Film Production) in one quarter (I fall into this category), or Option B is to keep our films to 60 seconds if we plan on taking two quarters to finish class 6. I think this is a smart approach for student films as it ensures they will be completed on time, but, this presents a significant challenge, because it's not easy coming up with a story that will fit into 30 seconds.

I want to mention the short film library which Animation Mentor put together. It's available to class 5 and 6 students who are in the short film classes, makes sense since these classes are about making a film! It's a collection of past student films that are really well done. (Former students who are now leaders in the industry. Hey, even the great ones were students once.) It's a tall order to put a film together that is similar in quality to these, but it's nice to see what an entertaining animated short might look like. If you want to see some awesome short films that are available on the web, check out Moon Sung Lee's Bert, and Cameron Miyasaki's SOS. (Scroll down the page a bit to see SOS.)

Oh, I almost forgot, if you want to check out another entertaining student short, and one of the films done by Animation Mentor's first ever graduating class, check out Brandon Backstead's Ahoy "Ship-Mite".

Got a couple of new ideas for my film while I was falling asleep last night and explored them a bit further today. It's funny, I seem to come up with my best ideas when I'm going to bed and half unconcious. I also went to the Vancouver public library today and picked up some books for some extra inspiration. One thing I know for sure, Gary Larson (The Far Side) is absolutely brilliant!

The brainstorming has started, it looks really scribbly and no one would be able to make sense of anything, so I'm not going to upload any work quite yet. Things are good, the class I'm in is super talented, and our mentor is, well, AWESOME!!

We just wrapped up our first Q&A with mentor Dean Wellins, who is the head of story at Disney on the upcoming animated feature film American Dog. Needless to say, I'm wondering what I did to deserve such good fortune.

This is a short entry tonight, but I will tell you that I am going to be heading off to the library tomorrow to try to borrow a couple of Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes books for some extra inspiration. So, good night.

The virtual halls at AM are very enjoyable, I was instantly inspired as I saw the familiar "surroundings" of the animator's playground that has become Animation Mentor. It felt great to be back at school and part of the community again. I was only gone for one term, but I tell you, I missed it a lot while I was away.
The first lecture for class 5 is fantastic! Rebecca Stockley is a story queen and she rocked the AM lecture circuit with a very inspiring lecture on story telling, ideas, and ways of exploring story ideas for our short films.
Stay tuned for a lot of brainstorming starting tomorrow! I have to say, I love this stage, I mean, planning and coming up with ideas. For me, it's tons of fun and really enjoyable to let my mind wonder and "free associate" to see what sorts of stuff spills out onto the screen. I think creative brainstorming is really just a bunch of very random and really chaotic thinking based around free association, and in the end, you come up with a ton of material and ideas to pick and choose from. It seems to work best if you don't really think too much, but instead go with whatever just sort of "pops in there."

Hi, I'm Sean and welcome to my blog. I hope you find it interesting, and thanks for reading. I would also like to say to anyone reading this, please feel free to leave questions, critiques, opinions, advice, or anything related to the world of feedback.