Do people still blog?
I don’t like to talk about things that aren’t done or finalized, but I also like to keep posting. By that I mean that I’ve been doing a lot of drawing, but the blog doesn’t reflect that all the time. I’ve been working on an animated sitcom based party on my days in New Brunswick, NJ.
So here’s Ben, our hero, and Amy and Evie, the two abusive shop girls of the Liquor Palace.
Ben’s girlfriend Liz is fed up with his behavior.
Okay — it’s done! While I was 99% finished several months ago, I had a problem with the multi-planing in the opening scene. It took me some time to ruminate over it, but the problem was the relationship between the windows on the black buildings and the tavern — an optical illusion made it look like the black buildings were sliding sideways –so, all better now. I also added the move-in on the bar, which allowed me to experiment with the glowing bar signs finished in After Effects. Music was created in Apple Soundtrack and everything was mixed in Audacity (although I’m moving to ProTools) and then everything assembled in Final Cut Pro.
The Internet conflicts with my memories, insofar as I’m now able to take a virtual walk through the city of New Brunswick, thanks to the innovative folks at Google. But the New Brunswick I left in September of 2000, is to some extent gone. Many of the stores, bars,eateries, buildings, people and culture have disappeared. Many parts of town are unrecognizable, due to expansion of the hospital and related medical facilities. At some point, the city seems cut in half, with nothing but bland, clean offices and parking decks, separating one neighborhood from another. One thing on the Google Street View that matches my memory is New Brunswick always seemed overcast.
For me, in the 90’s, New Brunswick was the “funnest” place on Earth. It had great quirky record, comics and video shops, every possible kind of food, clubs, bars, and an amazingly talented and thriving underground music scene. Had New Brunswick been anywhere else in America other than 45 minutes west of NYC, it would’ve gotten as much attention as Seattle. I used to call New Brunswick “the town where the parents went away for the weekend and never came home.” We were free to do whatever we wanted, for as long as we could stand it. Continue reading “The New Brunswick Of My Memories”
The Hold Steady “Stay Positive”
Doesn’t grab me like their last release “Boys and Girls in America” but a few good tunes.
Hercules And Love Affair
So I like overtly gay dance music — I’m man enough to admit it. Very Bronski Beat sounding.
My Morning Jacket “Evil Urges”
I’m not sure what to make of this. At first I hated it. Now I merely dislike it. But a few songs are growing on me.
My entire month of July was consumed by a project for Wiley Publishing. Yes, the same Wiley that publishes the “…For Dummies†books. But this project was for their textbook division’s annual national sales meeting. To honor their top five sales people, the good people at Wiley contracted me to create a one minute animated film that was loosely based on the intro to the TV show “Sex and the Cityâ€.
Each sales rep was shown in some aspect of NYC activity, with the first rep in the role of Sarah Jessica Parker. Each rep is pleasantly surprised when they find their name and sales stats are part of the fabric of the city.
The entire project took 28 days straight. Sometimes fifteen hours long. Hand drawn characters, finished in Flash, composited in After Effects. The files were a whopping 1024 x 760 because the final was brought into Power Point. It was lots of work, tight deadlines, but a lot of fun. It also helps when you do work for an open-minded client that trusts your instincts. No wonder Wiley is so successful.
Sorry, but for contractual reasons, I can’t post the video. Here’s a few stills…
While my real passion is character design, I must admit, I really had fun drawing places like Yankee Stadium.
Been working on this on and off since October. If you look at the post back in October, you can see the hands were mushy. I originally just wanted to bang this out, not worry about style, craft, or quality — just let the humor speak for itself — kinda like South Park. But I can draw, and so I did. I redesigned parts of the characters, got a voice actor to play Batman, and worked to tighten everything up. I’m still adding to this, but this is the first start to finish version I’m willing to show. Much love to Joe Oesterle for his contribution on the script. Thanks to Adam Taylor for vocals and John Noll for sound.
Two things that should normally never be combined — each one interferes with the enjoyment of the other. Nonetheless, a great night out with the local NYC animation community last month. I shot some video and took some pictures of Bill Plympton, Fred Seibert, Dan Meth, etc., and then sat down and drew gorillas with everyone.
I’ve been working on character design for an educational project. I signed a nondisclosure agreement so I can’t post anything until product is released by the client. Stay tuned.
I’ve also been writing a long article on traditional animation combined with Flash. A guy named Hayk Manukyan, from Glendale, Ca. has a site called moollt.com where he gives video instruction on his process. I’ve definitely learned a few things from him. The article appears in next month’s aNYmator, the newsletter of ASIFA East, the NYC metro area’s animation association.
The Magnetic Fields “Distortion”
Oddly enough, I’d been playing older songs by The Magnetic Fields around the house the past week or so, because our friend Kate told my wife it was her favorite band. My wife, Judie had never heard of them and quickly became a fan. So the discovery of this release was rather serendipitous.
For some, this new release “Distortion” may be a tough listen. Truth in advertising be told; the unifying sound here is distortion. The whole record sounds recorded in the red. This sound can be fatiguing, but I’ve always enjoyed my Magnetic Fields in small doses, sprinkling their cuts in mixed tapes or iTunes equivalents. For me, even a distorted Magnetic Fields record is a welcome gift. There’s a sarcasm in their songs that seems like it can only come from my corner of the world — and I appreciate it.
Radiohead “In Rainbows”
I’ve owned this for some time now, but this is a sneaky record. It didn’t grab me like “Kid A” or “OK Computer” once did. This is more placid, almost background music. The lyrics don’t seem to jump out. Usually, when I take the train into Manhattan, I’ll listen to something that’s not distracting so I can read, but also drown out the incessant banter of inane cell phone users. “In Rainbows” has done the trick. But I need to actually start paying more attention. My friend Adam tells me there are some brilliant tunes here.
I’ve been thoroughly redesigning the Crucial Comics site to transition into animation. This is an ambitious project since a site about animated properties should really feature some animation, right? I’ll post the link just as soon as I’ve got a reasonable version of the site up and running in a week or so.
Speaking of animation, I’ve also become quite involved with ASIFA-East, the New York metro area’s animation association. I’ve been writing articles on Flash for their newsletter, crashing their board meetings, attending screenings, and meeting some great people.