CRUNCH TIME!!!

Crunch time has begun at Blue Sky for the animation team. We only saw it fitting to do this next episode.

Brian Henson Visits Blue Sky!!!

Me, Petey-P, Brian Henson, and Pimp-o-potamus Cane

Today was an awesome day!!! Brian Henson acoompanied by a his little Armadillo puppet friend came and gave Blue Sky a 3 hour presentation on the how to's, the history, and the behind the scenes of Puppetry. It was amazingly entertaining to say the least. And given our rescent hobby (treehouse studios), the presentation was super edcuational as well.

Watching him in action was amazing. It was so funny to see how a puppet could instantly transform a bunch of adults and jaded computer geeks into kids again. Animation has so much to learn from the magic of puppetry.

In short, If I had a time machine and I went back in time to tell my 10 year old self that I met Brian Henson, my 10 year old self would flip out and excitedly say
"When I grow up I get to meet Brian Henson!!!! I CAN'T WAIT!!"

And then that 10 year old self would ask if I got to kiss any girls too. But I'll save that for a different guest speaker I guess.

A SPECIAL THANKS TO BLUE SKY FOR MAKING A LITTLE DREAM COME TRUE TODAY!!!!

EPISODE 1

Head on over to http://treehousestudios.wordpress.com/ to view episode 1!!!

We created this blog to make light of all that goes into making an animated feature. Since each event effects people differently, we thought we would tell our stories through the eyes of 4 contrasting animation stereotypes. Since each one of us closely resembles one of these personalities, we couldn’t help but make fun of ourselves.

DISCLAMER:
This blog is meant to be fun, and possibly educational. The events depicted in these movies are fictitious. Similarity to any person or studio, living or dead, is merely coincidental. Especially if it’s you we are making fun of!!!

P.S. By no means do we think we’re any good at this puppet stuff, we’re just having fun.

COMING SOON!!!

The first movie is up!!!! Click on the pick above to watch the intro to the show. The whole show will be shot gorilla style. No high-def. No good lighting. Only done in one or two takes. Just keep it spontaneous!

Thanks,
Nick

HANDS!!!

Here are some Hand-outs!!! Some of them I've gathered through some time and others I stole them from my good buddy Leif Jeffers' Blog.

Hands are Super-DUPER important. So much acting and emotion can be conveyed with them. Not just in gesture, but simply in how they are posed.

So I hope they help! Or dare I say....Lend a hand.

I know! I suck!

DUDE CHALLENGE 2008!

Ready set GROW!!! I'll be participating in Blue Skies Animation/Story Department 5 week Dude Challenge. The challenge will pit 43 (un)lucky contestants against each other in a battle of the beards competition.

We each had to pick a style out of a hat. Whatever we pick, we have to stick with. I drew "Captain Morgan!"

We'll see how good it comes out, since I only have to shave every other year or so.

click here!

AM Summer Showcase!!!

To put it simply...

Fun, and inspirational animation and storytelling! I definitely laughed out loud more than once.

You all should be proud!

Click here for the showcase!

11 second club

For those of you that don't know about 11 second club, it is a monthly character animation competition that is open to everyone.

Each month the winner is rewarded with a critique given by a professional animator.

This month Leow Chan Ghee has won with a really cool test. So you should go check it out.

The 11 second club website

This month's critique

p.s. I did the critique. Too bad for him huh?

Thank You Cooper!!!

On a near daily basis, my dog Cooper writes in his Blog about us Bruno's. It always puts a smile on my face, and can get me through the toughest of days. Inspiration comes in many forms, and mine is my family.

While I feel privileged to be a Blue Sky animator, I feel even more privileged to have a family. So I just wanted to Thank Cooper for his hard work.

I know its not easy for him to type with his paws.

THANKS COOPER!!!

GO SEE HORTON!!!!

If you don't see it this weekend you may make Taryn sad. You don't want to make little Taryn sad do you?

Check out the reviews so far.

WATCH OPRAH THIS MONDAY!!!

So yesterday I got a call from my good friend Mike Walling who had the day off. He told me that while watching Oprah, he saw an ad for a future Oprah-sode that was dedicated to our movie and the beloved Dr. Seuss book "Horton Hears a Who!"

It airs this Monday, Feb 18th. Jim Carrey, Steve Carell and Carol Burnett all appear to chat with Oprah about the characters they voiced and their experience working on the film. I'm sure they'll show a clip or two as well.

Apparantly Oprah's personal review was beyond glowing, highlighting to all the film's "good for you" message.

We also heard that her designer was so inspired, that they Who-ified the set.

So tune in!!! It should be fun.

And if you get a chance stop by Wallings blog and make fun of him for watching Oprah.

WE HAD A BABY GIRL!!!!

Her name is Taryn Kathleen Bruno
Her nicknames are: Piglet, Tarynosaurus Rex, Taryn the Red Baron, Tarylamadingdong.
She was born on 1-15-08!

She weighed in at 6lbs 8 oz
and she stands about 20inches tall.
Ok she doesn't stand yet.

All is well and we couldn't be happier.

check out my Dog Cooper's blog for updates on her.

HORTON TEASER - as promised

CLICK ME!!!!

Horton Hears a Who - TEASER!!!!

Horton teaser is hittin' theaters today!!!! You can see it before the Simpson's movie. So go check that out. Or if you don't feel like spendin' any dough, I hear you can catch it on AOL today. Or find it on the tube...or somethin'.

I'll try not to be lazy and post a link as soon as I can find one.

Word to ya motha!

Some Face Stuff

Here are a few handouts that I feel have helped when it comes to posing the face.

More updates soon!

This last one was stolen from The Temple of the Seven Golden Camels. Its a blog that every animator should check out. So click the link to see what this picture means!

Animation Mentor Rocks!

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I've updated this thingy, so I thought I should give a shout out to everyone at Animation Mentor.

My first term Mentoring there was a blast. I had a great time and had a super talented class. I'm sure we'll be hearing more from a lot of them in the near future. I only wish they could know how much I learned from them.

Anyhoo, their stuff really rocks, and I highly encourage you to click on the picture above and check out some of AM's showcased work.

Lookin' forward to another semester.

NO TIME FOR NUTS wins the Annie!

No Time for Nuts wins an Annie Award for Best Animated Short! For those of you that don't know the Annie Awards are like the Oscars for animation.

Congrats to Mike Thurmeier, Chris Renaud (directors) and the rest of the team!

My Thumbnails

Now that I have a bunch of students, I will occasionally try to post something animation related that I can point them to. I just want to everyone to keep in mind that any tips and ideas are just things that work for me and that I've heard in my travels. In no way am I saying that any of the tips/ideas are the "right way" to do things. I personally learn something everyday and sometimes that "something" changes the way I have thought before. So just keep all that in mind. So with that said, here are some of my thumbnails.

Before I thumbnail, I try to write down a title for my shot. The title is essentially the gist of the shot, sometimes the title is just an emotion or a feeling. For this assignment the class was to come up with a situation that would create an emotional shift. I tried to keep the thumbnails relevant to the assignment, so my idea was to have the class "know it all" realize that she does not actually know it all. So my title is "The know it all gets a bad grade." The characters shift is to go from poise to flustered.

After I get the overall gist of the shot, I will write down a few things that summarize the character, such as who they are, what they're feeling, and any other things that may help me. If I'm working on a shot in the movie I may write down where they are in the movie, how they were feeling in the shots before, and where they are headed in the shots after. After I get my little notes down I may make a little time-line for the shot that includes all the beats of the character. First I jot down the main beats like what the character is doing in the beginning middle then end. When I feel confident that I have thought through everything I begin to thumbnail.

Thumb-nailing is the fun part. For me thumb-nailing is in no way a story board, it is an exploration of the poses I may want to use. They are meant to be rough and quick. In no way am I trying to make perfect little drawings. They are for me and me only.

First I try to figure out that one pose (one frame) that may summarize the feeling for the entire shot (match my title). Not only do I think about the pose, the the pose in relation to the framing and layout of the camera. This was a tip I got from Stephen Gregory at Spline Doctors. Once I get that I begin to thumb-nail any of the other key poses (beats) of the shot. From here on out I thumbnail anything and everything I can think of. I always to explore all the different ways I can approach a pose with a bunch of different thumbnails. Don't ever settle with your first idea. Sometimes I will even thumbnail out individual parts of the body if I feel like they are important to the shot. All along the way I will also add any little notes that will help me or remind me of ideas that are tough to thumbnail.

Ultimately, the more searching I do on paper, the less searching I have to do on the computer, and that saves me a LOT of time.

I'm sure there are tons of things I'm forgetting, so if you got anything please comment.

Animation Mentor Starts Today

Today is my first day as a mentor for Animation Mentor! I'm super excited as you can tell from my self portrait.