Jay Ward Tribute Show

On March 1st, Van Eaton Galleries in Sherman Oaks is holding a Jay Ward Tribute show where they have asked 50 artists to create a piece honouring the work of Jay Ward and to coincided with the theatrical release of DreamWorks Mr Peabody and Sherman.

I was so happy they asked me to be a part of it since I animated on Mr Peabody and did a little piece based on a line of dialogue that I loved in the original show and even got to animate in the film.

Attached below is the flyer and details of the exhibition and a small sneak peak of the piece that I did. You will have to come to the exhibition or check out the web site after the event to see the full piece.

New Mr Peabody and Sherman trailer and poster

DreamWorks Animation posted a new trailer and poster for the movie I just finished working on, Mr Peabody and Sherman! It comes out March 7th and is a lot of fun.

I am also speaking at and signing books at Gallery Nucleus in LA for the release of the Art Of Peabody! Come and check it out if you are in the area on March 22nd.

Mr Peabody and Sherman

Time has really flown by. Since my last post on Me and My Shadow and the film going back into development I have worked on a new Kung Fu Panda short film where I did 2D and CG animation and I have since started worked on DreamWorks' next release for March, 2014 - Mr Peabody and Sherman!

The film is looking amazing and is an absolute pleasure to work on with a great crew and a very fun and super appealing cartoony style. Really excited about this one.

DreamWorks has release a poster and a couple of images from the film. I saw the first trailer the other day and its looking great. It will be out very soon.

What?! 6 months since my last post!

Wow! So sorry it has taken 6 months to update this blog. So VERY slack of me.

So it seems the last time I posted something was in January and I promised all sorts of things. I still plan on putting more pencil tests up. And I will. I promise!

But I had to post about this... I got myself a Disney animation desk! Soooooo happy! I'm currently doing some 2D animation at home, so when I have something to show, I'll post it up.

Still looking a little sparse. Need to put some more toys and drawings on there. 

Milt Kahl 101 Dalmatians Pencil Tests

I love Disney's 101 Dalmatians - especially the first third as the characters are so well introduced and established. Milt's animation of Roger and Anita is amazing as always and I have lots of great pencil tests which I will share over the next week or so. Here are 2 to get us started. 

Milt Kahl Roger Pencil Test

With the Background

I love this drawing of Anita!

Milt Kahl Anita Pencil Test

With the Background

Milt Kahl - Peter Pan Pencil Test

Michael Sporn's fantastic blog had some great high res scans from a Milt Kahl scene from Peter Pan. I decided to re-register them and put together a pencil test with audio so we could watch it.

Rough Pencil Test with Timecode

Pencil Test registered with the background

Frank Thomas - Jungle Book Pencil Tests

Jungle Book is one of my favorite Disney films and I recently got some high res scans from 2 Frank Thomas scenes which I have since registered and put together as pencil tests with audio.

Rough Pencil Test with timecode

Pencil test registered to the background

Me and My Shadow

DreamWorks released the poster today for the upcoming movie, Me and My Shadow which I am working on as a 2D and CG Animator. 

The movie is really unique where it mixes CG animation and environments with a 2D animated shadow. Its been so cool seeing 2D pencil tests in dailies at the moment and there are some amazing animators working on the film. 

More details can be found out the Me and My Shadow facebook page.

Dream Job

Recently a dream of mine came true.

When I was 10 I saw Who Framed Roger Rabbit in the cinema... five times! To say it had an effect on me is a bit of an understatement. It was at the very moment when Roger walked off the cartoon set and into the real world that I knew what I wanted to spend my life doing; being an animator for feature films.

Since then it has been a long and wonderful journey of working at Disney Consumer Products, running my own animation company developing TV shows for with Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon and then attending the online school, Animation Mentor (which I believe is hands down the best place to learn animation anywhere).

It was at Animation Mentor that I was lucky enough to be taught by some of the greats currently working in feature animation today. Passionate teachers like Sean Sexton at DreamWorks, Victor Navone at Pixar and Drew Adams at DreamWorks who added even more desire fuel to achieve my goals!

More recently a film had the same effect on me that Roger Rabbit had all those years ago, How To Train Your Dragon. When Hiccup rises up into the clouds on the back of Toothless I knew where I had to apply this craft that I had been working so hard to learn, at DreamWorks.

But I never imagined the amazing mentors and friends that I would make at Animation Mentor. These incredible people included Sean Sexton, Drew Adams, David Weatherly, Ron Pucherelli and Simon Otto. It was through their belief and support in me that I was able to get an interview with DreamWorks and I will be forever grateful.

The interview process was intimidating and extremely exciting. It was also very fitting that my first interview was with James Baxter - an animation god who just so happened to work on Who Framed Roger Rabbit!

I leave Australia on July 2nd to move to LA and will start working at a studio that to me is best described in the words from the wonderful movie, Hugo: "If you've ever wondered where your dreams come from when you go to sleep at night, just look around. This is where they are made."

I can't wait to start.

Snow White Drawings

Sorry for the big delay in posting new stuff. I have been flat out with organizing a move for a new job which I will post about more soon.

I have been working on a big post about Snow White - but in the mean time here are some great drawings from the film to enjoy. Where I know who did them I have noted the artist.

Ward Kimball

Ward Kimball

Freddie Moore

Art Babbitt

Norm Ferguson

Frank Thomas

Grim Natwick

Grim Natwick

Bill Tytla

Bill Tytla

Bill Tytla

Bill Tytla