Inspiration

Astroboy Week

I declare this week Astroboy week!


I will endeavour to add a new drawing of my childhood hero Astroboy to my blog every day this week.

Friday 25th February 2011

Well Astroboy week comes to a close. It's been a great inspiring week for drawing but also a sad week as an animal friend of Roseline and me 'Little B' flew away. So This last picture is dedicated to him. The funniest animal I have ever met.


Roseline has been doing a whole heap of blog posts that include videos and pictures that you must see. you can find them here: Little B "the funny Honeyeater"

A special big thanks to everyone who has drawn an Astroboy this week. It has been super inspiring and I love seeing everyones different take on Astroboy.

Woah! A couple of last minutes pictures turned up.

Astro - Bailey 2 by Richard Bailey


Astro - Patsarun by Air Patsarun


Astro - Grant by Steve Grant


I got this one a little late but I can't pass up having another butt gun illustration. haha

I've made a little thankyou animation for everyone that contributed to week




Well now I must go back to learning 3d and looking for work >:( (wish every week was Astroboy week hmmf!)

Thursday 24nd February 2011


and of course the best thing about this week, more Astroboy pictures by my friends

Astro - Anderson by Jamie Anderson


Astro - Buckley by Andrew Buckley


One more day left for Astroboy week, so the last day to send pictures to me. Thanks everyone who has sent pictures. You guys are the best!

Wednesday 23nd February 2011


Well Astroboy week is going great as there's even more pictures done by my friends

Astro - McKebery by Marcus Mckebery


Astro - Bailey by Richard Bailey


Astro - Burton 2: The Return Of Aaron Burton


Astro - Grimshaw by Ben Grimshaw


Lots of Astroboy love!

Tuesday 22nd February 2011


There's also some extra Astroboys for today thanks to my friends

Astro - Burton by Aaron Burton


"I'm too scared to draw his face... I can't draw anime! Will run for the hills before I draw his face off model!!!"

Astro - Clegg by Christien Clegg


haha I'm sure Astro had days like this

Astro - Davies by Aaron Davies


"It's my rendition of that inevitable moment in each episode when Astro would state "I'm running
out of energy." The personification of every battery operated childrens toy"

Astro - Stevens by Richard Stevens


(You're not getting the full effect of this image. Click the pic or Richards name and see Astro fly)

Astro boy week is going pretty great!

Monday 21st February 2011

From Japan to me!

Well I'm posting a little earlier than Sunday because I have to show off some of the cool purchases I made via the wonders of the Internet and a credit card.

I always feared getting a credit card would lead to this. Well at least I kept it mostly work related.

3 of the books I bought were of the Groundwork series. These I fully recommend these to all animators out there as it contains a lot of the key animation drawings with all the timings penciled in on the side. Excellent for reference! Check the bottom part of that image of the large crowd drawing. There are 4 or 5 pages of that!! MADNESS

I mostly bought these books so I can see how an animator would approach doing effects such as explosions. There is also a lot of other really interesting drawings such as some keys of a water's surface (an ocean I think) that is pretty amazing.

The Ground work books I bought were "FLCL" and the 2 books from the Neon Genesis movies. I already bought a ground work book from the "gun buster 2" series and that's what got me hooked on the groundwork books.


The other thing I bought was a Gurren Lagann figurine. I'm kinda regretting this. Not so much because it was bought as an impulse buy, but more because of the flames it creates wherever it goes.
No warning sticker on the box or nothing.
Well that's what I got sent from Japan (such a magical place). It made me pretty happy I must say. Well I did promise that I would post something new next Sunday so I guess I better. I also realise that will be my 100th post.
Well I guess that means I better put something good up. Hmm 3 days to create something new...
stay tuned

Back working on Pixel Pinkie

So back working on Pixel Pinkie series 2. Good to see some old faces and meet some new ones.

Thought I'd share with you the show reel of Hung Lin who sits next to me where Jamie (Max Facepuncher) used to sit. The school ruled that Jamie and I talked to much so now he sits on the other side of the room (animation studios are funny things). Anyway after you check the reel check out Hung's blog here and see some of his great disturbing art work and watch some films.

Showreel


Pretty awesome you would have to agree. Speaking of awesome check out Jamie's new webcomic. It is updated (amazingly) every Monday and Friday

More Cool Clips

A while back I posted about a series of short clips commissioned by the Japanese television company NHK. Well I found some more.

An excellent one by the very talented Satoshi Kon (Paprika)


an almost "Laputa" one by the Michael Arias (Tekkon Kinkreet)


and a pretty funny one by Kazuto Nakazawa (Samurai Champaloo: character designer)


If you follow these back to youtube, you'll be able to find some more.
These three are the best (although that cat one is hilarious).

Koghead and Meatus

Doug TenNapel is the guy that made me start to draw. When 'Earthworm Jim' came out it blew my mind. The design and art style was so different to anything I had seen. It made drawing look like fun.

Anyway I came across this. A short film done by the man that I think is pretty awesome. Amazing timing and poses for a stopmotion. Check-Check it out



If you love this stuff you have to check out his Neverhood games and Boombots.

Some cool clips

I'm working on Porcelain at the moment (as well as a new secret short) that I'm going to do some biggish posts on. I just want to finish a bit more before I do.

In the mean time I came across these shorts commisioned by the Japanese television company NHK. They basically gave some top animators a chance to make a 1 minute animation about whatever. My favourite one is the guy sitting at his desk.







here's a behind the scenes promo

The Good Watching

Hey y'all,

I haven't used that inspiration label for awhile now so I better put up some of the stuff that is inspiring me at the moment.

Lets begin with some new series from Japan

An anime series directed by Hiroyuki Morita (The Cat Returns) based on a manga by Mohiro Kitoh.

I've only seen the first two episodes of this series but it so intrigues me, right from the get go.

This is from wikipedia:

During a summer camp, 15 children, 8 males and 7 females, find a grotto by the sea. Deep within they discover working computers and some electronic equipment, and later the owner, a man called Kokopelli. Kokopelli claimed to be a programmer working on a brand new game, in which a large robot has to defend the Earth against fifteen alien invasions. He persuades the children to test the game and sign a contract. All but one of them signs, barely a moment later they mysteriously awaken on the shore believing what happened was just a dream.

That night, two giant robots appear suddenly by the beach. The children then teleport into the black robot. They find Kokopelli already inside and controlling the black robot in order to defeat the white enemy robot. During battle he gives the children a brief tutorial on how to pilot the robot as he destroys the enemy. Once he has finished he tells the children that they are on their own now and sends them back to the beach. As the children are teleported out, one child observes Kokopelli whispering "I'm sorry".

That's how the series starts, how the second episode ends however is why I'm hooked

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Break-Through Heaven Gurren Lagann
An anime series directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi (Dead Leaves and FLCL) from that great studio Gainax.

Ok I don't know if you have seen 'Dead Leaves' you may have seen 'FLCL' but this is what you call fun animation! It's a kinetic style where it's very loose, explosive and pulp.

Best I can describe the story (wikipedia didn't even try) is a group of humans live their life underground. Our reluctant hero, the young Simon, is an expert digger his friend the (awesome headstrong Kamina) plan to escape their underground life and journey to the surface. Their plan is foiled (riding a herd of giant moles was never going to work) and by orders of the Leader Kamina is locked up. Simon goes back to digging and stumbles across a giant robot head. He then drills into the prison Kamina is kept in and breaks him out to show him what he has discovered. As they are making their way to the giant head a earthquake happens and a giant robot smashes through from the surface. Everyone runs and hides except for Kamina who takes away the leaders giant sword and stands infront of the giant robot monster. Kamina then monologues what a mistake this robot has made, the robot laughs but then shots are heard from above. Something else drops in from the surface, she is Yoko. A bikini wearing, large rifle wielding girl comes in dramatically attacking the giant robot.

Ok that basically gives you the setup of the 3 main characters. My favourite character is Kamina, he is just so dam funny, he's like half Han Solo half Yakuza punk.

(As they are running away)
Yoko
"What the hell are you doin?"
(after Kamina gets in the way of her shooting the robot from behind)
Kamina
"A man fights face to face"
Yoko
"I'm a women"
Kamina
"A woman shouldn't stick her nose in a man's fight"
Yoko
"I'm the only one doing any fighting"
Kamina
"I like what you say, I'm impressed woman"

The rapid fire delivery of lines is hilarious. Kamina has these great rants and he believes every word in what hes is saying. "Defy reason by doing the impossible" is his motto.

I love this series and I keep rewatching the episodes because it is so much fun.


A DVD series I've recently finished watching is Ghost in the shell: SAC 2nd gig


This second series is brilliant. Where the first series got bogged down in philosophy the second series is more character and plot driven. Oh and the animation is truly astounding! I really don't know how they could afford to do each episode.

Director Kenji Kamiyama (who also writes a heap of the best episodes) really made this series just as suspenseful as an episode of 24.

Check-check that out

and finally some web animations for you

Here's a brilliant new cartoon by the Homestarrunner. The dial in this episode is one of the best.

and this brilliant short animation by Graham Annable. This is dam funny



And finally here's something very old that brings a tear to my eye



Ok well now I've got this out of my system I can go back to putting up my own work. Hope you enjoy all the above stuff as much as I am.

lata
Tim

The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics

When Chuck Jones died a few years back they played the documentary "Chuck Amuck" (a brilliant doco that's included on Looney Tunes Golden Collection v3). In this doco there was a film that really caught my eye called "The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics".

Thanks to Youtube, I'm finally able to see it and it is as wonderful as I'd hope it would be. Brilliant design by Maurice Noble, clever story and great direction. I really hope they put this film on one of the next Golden Collections.

Enjoy.