Dirk van Dulmen

Shopping Dog

2012-01-02T08:31:00.001-08:00

This is a sketch of the dog that I see frequently laying near the entrance of the supermarket where I do my groceries. Gazing at all the people walking by...

Figure vs Gesture

2011-12-18T03:12:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was figure drawing day again. But this time I tried to approach the class a little different. At the CTN event I went to a talk about 'Gesture drawing the pixar way'. The talk was about the principles and exercises they do at the figure/gesture drawing classes they have at pixar.

What they talked about was:

"Don't focus on the science of drawing, focus on the soul of drawing. Gesture drawing is the science of the soul. Use the model as a jumping of shot. Take the mental shot, and go. Don't be a slave to the model. Don't get trapped in anatomy. Don't copy the model, interpret it. Go from a pose to a story."

So that is what I tried to do yesterday in the class, interpret the model and draw the story. Here's some of my first attempts:

CTN Animation Expo 2011 by Rubber Onion

2011-12-07T11:31:00.000-08:00

One of the people I met at the CTN Expo was Stephen Brooks from Rubber Onion. He has posted a nice video and a fun read on his blog that, I think, captures the spirit of the CTN Animation Expo 2011 very well.

Here is the video or read and watch the original post on his blog: www.rubberonion.com/blog/

(You can even spot me in there somewhere)

CTN Expo - It's a wrap

2011-11-21T09:23:00.001-08:00

The third day for me started out with a presentation about gesture drawing, the pixar way. This was a really interesting talk and I can't wait to try some things they talked about in the figure drawing I'm attending back home.

I got to meet with some great people; J Scot Campbell, Sean 'Cheeks' Galloway, Sergio Paez, Pascal Campion, Fergal Reilly, Yvette Kaplan, Dominick Domingo, Bill Plympton, Piet Kroon and Andreas Deja.

CTN has been an incredible experience for me and I'm definitely will be coming back next year.

CTN, you're awesome!

CTN Expo - Day 2

2011-11-20T08:53:00.001-08:00

The second day for me was about inspiration.

I got to meet some inspiring people; Bobby Chiu, Ryan Green, Regis Loisel, Tina Price, Kei Cedera & Cristophe Lautrette to name a few.

The Lion King Panel was a really fun talk with 9 of the creators, packed with lots of great and funny anecdotes about the production of the film.

Highlight of the day for me, was a talk by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman which started with the phrase: "Seeing is Believing".

That's a short impression of my second day, on to the 3rd and final day of the CTN Animation Expo.

CTN Expo - Day 1

2011-11-19T08:45:00.001-08:00

My first day at the CTN Expo in one word: Awesome. I met with so many great people, Louie del Carmen, Kent Melton & Peter de Seve to name just a few.

The highlight of the day for me was the Panel with Andreas Deja. He showed some great penciltests from Lady and the Tramp and the Sword in the Stone, and shared some great stories on Frank Thomas and Milt Kahl.

But the program said there was also a surprise guest with Andreas, and that was the cherry on the cake:

Richard Sherman of the Sherman Brothers was there and played on the piano some of the amazing classic songs they wrote for The Jungle Book, Winnie the Pooh and Mary Poppins! Plus he also shared some great stories about how it was to work for Walt Disney back in the days. It was pretty magical, I have to say.

So that's a little impression of my first day here in Burbank at the CTN Expo. I'm off for day 2 and I'm curious if it will beat the first.

Universal Studios - Burbank - Venice

2011-11-16T19:57:00.001-08:00

and CTN is only 2 days away ...

CTN animation eXpo

2011-11-12T12:14:00.001-08:00

Only one flight and 6 days away...

For a taste of the previous editions:

click

Philemon

2011-11-07T12:39:00.000-08:00

Philemon character sketch.

Figure drawing

2011-11-06T03:11:00.000-08:00

Some of the 5 minute studies I did yesterday at figure drawing class.

Little Blackbook

2011-10-31T11:25:00.000-07:00

Look what I received with the mail today ...

Baucis

2011-10-30T12:24:00.000-07:00

Character exploration study for the character Baucis.

Figure drawing

2011-10-22T12:55:00.000-07:00

At the figure drawing class I'm attending, we always do three drawing sessions. Each session is an hour long, and the first session is 5 minute poses.

Here's today's 'first hour' results.

Ζεύς

2011-10-12T12:48:00.000-07:00

Character exploration sketch.

Exploring

2011-10-06T11:35:00.000-07:00

Character exploration sketches for the characters of the story I'm working on.

2 minute gestures

2011-10-05T10:08:00.001-07:00

Tonights' 2 minute warm-ups:

2 minute gestures

2011-10-02T04:23:00.000-07:00

Before I start working on my storyboard I do some 2 minute gesture sketches to loosen up.

Here's some of the warm-ups from today:

WIP

2011-09-26T12:43:00.000-07:00

(work in progress)

Figure Drawing

2011-09-24T05:49:00.000-07:00

I signed up for 'Open Atelier Figure Drawing and Painting' again this year. Today was the first day and here's two 15 minute studies I did. Feeling a bit rusty with the material, but looking forward to the rest of the year!

Sketchbookpage

2011-09-01T09:10:00.000-07:00

...'The Boy with Golden Hands'...

SketchoZINES Vol 4: CUTESIES

2011-08-19T08:40:00.000-07:00

Last week I received a message from the people at sketchoholic.com that one of my works is being feautured in a publication they have called:

SketchoZINE's Vol 4 CUTESIES Art Book / Digital magazine.

How cool!

This is the image they selected:

"I created this last year in 2010 and it is titled 'Junkyard Robot'."

Sketchoholic is a FREE global community for Independent digital and traditional artists, photographers, designers, animators, film makers and sculptors.

Go have a look for yourself!

A boy finds an egg...

2011-08-16T08:54:00.000-07:00

An example of how I search for the best way to tell the story...

...and testing one of the thumb ideas in a sketch.

Sketchbookpage

2011-08-15T08:34:00.001-07:00

... squeek!

Overview

2011-08-14T03:02:00.000-07:00

About a month ago I got feeling kinda 'lost' in my attempt to try and develop a little short story. I had chosen a direction for the story, and was writing down ideas and sketching thumbs inside a sketchbook, even did some storyboarding but it felt like I was going round in circles. I felt there were all kinds of things wrong with what I was working on, but I couldn't see what it was.

I needed to create overview.

I needed to create something to help organise my thoughts and get some overview of what I was doing. I felt I had to create a place where I can turn all my written ideas into simple visuals and put them all in one place. So I build this little pinboard:

So far it is working great. Every idea I have, either if it's a 'new story direction'-idea, a 'sequence'-idea or an 'improved composition'-idea for an existing thumbnail, I quickly sketch it out, and pin it on the right place on the board. This visual way of developing my ideas is working better for me than writing it down in words or do sketches inside a sketchbook like I've been doing so far.
Also, every day, I pick out one thumbnail on the board that I feel has key story potential, and turn it into a bigger greyscale sketch. Like so:

And of course there are thumbnails that either don't make it to the pinboard or are taking of after several days.
For those I've created a special place, I don't throw them away, who knows I might need them one day, but I gather them in a box.

Right now I'm focussing on sketching and developing the beginning, aka the CONFLICT, and the ending for my story, aka the RESOLUTION.
When I'm happy with those two images, then it makes sense to me to take the next step: develop the middle part of the story and start with storyboarding sequences.

So back to the board!

Sketchbookpage

2011-08-13T06:31:00.001-07:00

Sketchbookpage

2011-08-12T09:14:00.001-07:00

Painting

2011-08-11T09:13:00.001-07:00

...a boulder wall.

Sketchbookpage

2011-08-11T09:06:00.001-07:00

Sketchbookpage

2011-08-09T09:19:00.001-07:00

Sketchbookpage

2011-08-08T09:04:00.000-07:00

Sketchbookpage

2011-08-04T08:37:00.000-07:00

'Hmmm... what's for dinner?'

Sketchbookpage

2011-08-03T08:56:00.000-07:00

Caricaturing

2011-08-02T08:48:00.000-07:00

... my fellow game studio colleagues.

Sketchbookpage

2011-08-01T11:59:00.001-07:00

Sketchbookpage

2011-07-31T01:34:00.001-07:00

Sketchbookpage

2011-07-30T10:53:00.001-07:00

Sketchbookpage

2011-07-28T09:07:00.001-07:00

Sketchbookpages

2011-07-26T08:53:00.001-07:00

Sketchbookpage

2011-07-21T11:27:00.001-07:00

sketchbookpage

2011-07-20T09:09:00.001-07:00

Sketchbookpage

2011-07-19T09:43:00.001-07:00

Sketchbookpage

2011-07-18T09:48:00.001-07:00

Took a siesta for a week.
I'm awake again.
Back into action with a page from my sketchbook.

Step in the Arena 2011

2011-07-11T09:36:00.001-07:00

Last weekend I went on my annual painting excursion.
This is the endresult. Letters by PHAM, character by ME.

See ya next year!

Sketchbookpage

2011-07-06T09:29:00.001-07:00

Serving the good stuff.

Sketchbookpage

2011-07-05T10:04:00.001-07:00

Big Bad Wolf?

TV sketching

2011-06-29T09:04:00.001-07:00

Gesture sketching while watching a boxing match on TV.
Observing humans in action.

Short Sketches

2011-06-19T10:08:00.001-07:00

I'm wondering what's going on in her mind?
Is she afraid of something?

1 minute

2011-06-16T14:00:00.000-07:00

A half an hour of 1 minute gesture sketches.

Short Sketches

2011-06-14T08:50:00.001-07:00

Last weekend I made a first, very rough, animatic from one of the many story versions I have written so far.

Goal was to 'get it wrong quickly', and oh boy, did I succeed in that one!
But I do have a better idea now about what I need to be focusing on and what needs fixing... I won't even start mentioning...

So in the meantime here's another 'exploring' concept sketch I've done for the characters of the story I'm currently wrestling with...

2 minutes

2011-06-13T03:39:00.001-07:00

1 hour of 2 minute sketches, all from photo reference.

Movies

2011-06-13T01:45:00.000-07:00

I watched last week

Ponyo (2008)

The Color Purple (1985)

The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Short Sketches

2011-06-08T13:11:00.001-07:00

In memory of the last page of one my sketchbooks.
Time for a brand new one, happy happy, joy joy.

Short Sketches

2011-06-07T09:33:00.001-07:00

Some more exploring sketches for the character(s) for the short I'm working on. Currently working back and forth between writing and sketching. When writing, I get new ideas for sketches and when sketching, I get new ideas for writing.

2 Minutes

2011-06-04T03:06:00.000-07:00

2 Minute Gesture Sketches from photographic reference from Roland Garros.

Individual sketches are on a5 sized paper and I scaled them down and put them together to get an overview of what I did.
Throwing in some quick grey and white helps to read it better.

Goal of doing this exercise is to improve in drawing effective and clear gestures and energetic poses that read well, in short amounts of time.
Limiting my time to 2 minutes makes that I really need to focus on the gesture and the energy of the pose, and forget about details or try to make pretty drawings (which I usually try to do).

For now 2 minutes is short enough time for me, I'm still learning to conciously focus on the pose and gesture.

Movies

2011-06-04T02:53:00.000-07:00

I watched the last 2 weeks.

Dune (1984)
The English Patient (1996)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Changeling (2008)
Kerity, La maison des contes (2009)
Walk the Line (2005)
Millers Crossing (1990)
Cinderella (1950)
Jean Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child (2010)
Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922)

Short

2011-06-02T12:05:00.000-07:00

Exploring which way to go...

Short

2011-05-31T10:11:00.001-07:00

Some more exploring ideas and looks for the (possible) Hero.

Vampires

2011-05-27T09:56:00.000-07:00

Exploring sketch for my short project.

Masterclass Piet Kroon at the NIAf

2011-05-25T12:42:00.001-07:00

Last week I was lucky to, together with 15 other animation fanatics, follow a Masterclass given by Piet Kroon at the NIAf in Tilburg.

Piet Kroon works as a storyboard artist for Blue Sky Studios. Some of the films he has worked on as a storyboard artist: The Iron Giant (1999), one of my favourite animated movies, Shrek 2 (2004) and most recentlyRio (2011). As animation director he worked on Osmosis Jones (2001) and has written and directed two succesfull short animated films, Dada (1997) and T.R.A.N.S.I.T. (1998).

The workshop was titled:

A Thousand Pictures (and as few words as possible)!
The demystification of the creative proces.

The workshop took 6 days, and was both theoretical as practical. Besides analyzing and talking storyboards, watching and discussing animatics, we off course drew some storyboards ourselves.
We created a simple story setup and started working in small groups. The following days we storyboarded our brains off, pitched our ideas and sequences to the group and discussed about what and how we could improve our boards and ideas.

With al this feedback and the story becoming more clear we took another pass on the exisiting sequences. Out of these sequences ideas came flying out everywhere.

The result:
One storyboarded short story about a girl and her dog, a headless man and a moose.

On the last day of the workshop we worked on another small assignment which resulted in 4 ideas for sequences to complement one of the short films Piet has made.

It have been 6 fun and interesting days at the NIAf, I wouldn’t have wanted to mis.
It inspired me to start and change my procesand approach for my own short film project I'm working on currently.

Get it wrong quickly!

Movies

2011-05-15T02:35:00.000-07:00

I watched last week.

The Princess and the Frog (2009)

Directed by Ron Clements & John Musker
Writing Credits check imdb
Film Editing by Jeff Draheim

Forrest Gump (1994)

Directed by Robert Zemeckis
Writing Credits Winston Groom (novel) & Eric Roth (screenplay)
Film Editing by Arthur Schmidt

Dexter| Season 5, Episode 1 & 2 (2010)

Credits check imdb

Movies

2011-05-09T12:05:00.000-07:00

I watched last week.

Johnny Appleseed (1948)

Directed by Wilfred Jackson
Writing Credits by Winston Hibler, Joe Rinaldi, Erdman Penner & Jesse Marsh

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002)

Directed by Kelly Asbury & Lorna Cook
Screenplay by John Fusco
Film Editing by Clare De Chenu

The BFG (1989)

Directed by Brian Cosgrove
Writers: Roald Dahl (novel), John Hambley (adaptation)
Film Editing by Nigel Rutter

No Country for Old Men (2007)

Directed by Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Writing credits Joel Coen & Ethan Coen (screenplay) & Cormac McCarthy (novel)
Film Editing by Ethan Coen & Joel Coen (as Roderick Jaynes)

Une Vie de Chat (2010)

Directed by Jean-Loup Felicioli & Alain Gagnol
Writing credits Alain Gagnol (dialogue & screenplay) & Jacques-Rémy Girerd (dialogue)
Film Editing by Hervé Guichard

Short

2011-05-05T12:21:00.000-07:00

Quick exploring sketch of the protagonist for one of my story ideas.

May Goals

2011-05-01T05:26:00.000-07:00

Last month, April, I have been working with the 4 story ideas I had chosen.

As of today there are two ideas left.

My goal is to have one 'finished' story at the end of may.

That means, turning this board, which is now containing two story ideas ...

... into a board with one story.

Weekdays: Working on my story.
Weekends: Doing animation exercises.

Movies

2011-04-30T08:43:00.000-07:00

I watched last week.

One Froggy Evening (1955)

Directed by Chuck Jones
Writer: Michael Maltese

What's Opera, Doc? (1957)

Directed by Chuck Jones
Writer: Michael Maltese

The Departed (2006)

Directed by Martin Scorcese
Screenplay by William Monahan
Film Editing by Thelma Schoonmaker

Rio (2011)

Directed by Carlos Saldanha
Screenplay by check imdb
Film Editing by Harry Hitner

The Ballad of Nessie (2011)

Directed by Stevie Wermers
Screenplay by Stevie Wermers, Regina Conroy & Kevin Deters

Winnie the Pooh (2011)

Directed by Stephen J. Anderson & Don Hall
Written by A.A. Milne
Film Editing by Lisa Linder

The Road to El Dorado (2000)

Directed by Bibo Bergeron, Will Finn, Don Paul, David Silverman & Jeffrey Katzenberg
Screenplay by Terry Rossio & Ted Elliott
Film Editing by John Carnochan, Vicki Hiatt, Dan Molina & Lynne Southerland

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

Directed and writing credits by check imdb

Mary Poppins (1964)

Directed by Robert Stevenson
Written by Bill Walsh, Don DaGradi & P.L. Travers
Film Editing by Cotton Warburton

Inspiration

2011-04-30T08:08:00.000-07:00

I visited the NLGD Festival of Games in Utrecht the last two days. The showguide presented an impressive timetable which listed about 40 speakers, 16 one hour talks and 24 half hour talks, from the gaming and entertainment industry who were present to share their thoughts.

I did not hear all the speakers, I choose to hear and see the one hour talks, but of those I did see, two of these talks were really inspiring to me. Here is some thoughts of what I think the talks were about.

The first was a talk by Nicholas Francois from Unity.

Unity is a 3d game development tool company. I expected a technical talk but instead his talk he presented some of his ideas on production and I found they were really inspiring. Here's my interpretation of some things he talked about:

If you would like to improve your work and improve your productivity, try for a period of the day to unplug, for instance your internet connection or your headphones. With other words, Unplug, something Richard Williams also mentions in his book, the animators survival kit.
We are so easily distracted these days by all the tools available on your computer and iPhones, sounds familiar?, that being selective in them and unplug some for a period of time during the day will increase your focus and productivity. Create momentum.
Try it yourself, it’s amazing!

Another subject in his talk was about strategies. When you want to make something you talk about it and you create a strategy on how to get there, and you have meetings about it, who is going to do this, and what should he be doing etc... but you can also just do it. This is more the approach or philosophy of “ Fail early, fail often and learn from your mistakes”. Something Ed Catmull from pixar has said. Off course the learning part is the really important part.
True art is in the doing of it not having meetings about it.

The second talk I found really inspiring was Dan Winters’ from Activision/Blizzard.

His talk was about how to be succesfull in pitching your idea. He shared some of his own experiences, and gave tips on what to do and what not to do, like never quit, don’t stop until the whistle is blown, and the time is up in persuing your dreams. You will get a No, maybe many times, but that should never stop you from reaching your dreams. You believe in them, they are your dreams, so if someone gives you a No, that doesn't mean you should say No too.

Come prepared, be yourself and leave with a Bang! So they’ll remember you.

Read! Great advice I think. I think that Not reading is the same as not being able to read. Learn from what has been written.

Also one of the stories he shared was how he was present at the pitches of A Bug’s Life, pitched by John Lasseter, crawling on the floor to present his idea of how the audience should experience the story from the perspective of bugs and Finding Nemo, which was an hour and a half pitch by Andrew Stanton, pitching the whole story accompanied by sketches and color keys.

To me those are the kind of stories that make my braincels go excited and inspire me to focus more on the things I personally am persueing.

The journey is also the most interesting part. Have a dream, set a goal, create focus and momentum and work towards it, fail early, fail often , but never quit and learn from your mistakes. I’m sure that with time you will become succesfull in reaching that goal, and when you do, a new one will present it self for sure, and the whole proces can start again.

That about sums up my thoughts on looking back at two days of intensive listening at the festival of games 2011.

Inspiration

2011-04-23T02:53:00.000-07:00

Source: On Animation

Movies

2011-04-23T02:14:00.000-07:00

I watched last week.

Inki and the Minah Bird (1943)

Director Chuck Jones

Unforgiven (1992)

Director Clint Eastwood
Written by David Webb Peoples
Film Editing by Joel Cox

Alexander (2004)

Director Oliver Stone
Written by Oliver Stone, Cristopher Kyle & Laeta Kalogridis
Film Editing by Yann Herve, Gladys Joujou, Alex Marquez & Thomas J. Nordberg

Saludos Amigos (1942)

Directed and Written by check imdb

Magnolia (1999)

Director Paul Thomas Anderson
Written by Paul Thomas Anderson
Film Editing by Dylan Tichenor

Movies

2011-04-16T10:29:00.000-07:00

I watched last week.

Full Metal Jacket (1987)

Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Screenplay by Stanley Kubrick, Michael Herr & Gustav Hasford.
Film Editing by Martin Hunter

The Reluctant Dragon (1941)

Directed, Writing credits & Film Editing by check imdb

Se7en (1995)

Directed by David Fincher
Screenplay by Andrew Kevin Walker
Film Editing by Richard Francis-Bruce

Jurassic Park (1993)

Directed by Steven Spielberg
Writing credits by Michaela Crichton (novel & screenplay), David Koepp (screenplay)
Film Editing by Michael Kahn

Fargo (1996)

Directed by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Screenplay by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Film Editing by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen (as Roderick Jaynes)

Hook (1991)

Directed by Steven Spielberg
Screenplay by James V. Hart, Malia Scotch Marmo
Film Editing by Michael Kahn

Illustration

2011-04-13T11:47:00.000-07:00

I found some old cat drawings I did a few years ago, in a folder on my computer.
Made me smile, so thought I could post them.
First one is a caricature I did of the 4 cats that live at my parents house.
They are and have, like most cats, a distinct character and personality.

One solo cat portrait. I think I did this one as a colortest to try out colouring with ecoline for the illu above ...

... and some random cat drawings from a period I mostly drew only with black drawing ink and a crown pen.

Movies

2011-04-09T01:33:00.000-07:00

I watched last week.

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)

Directed by John Lounsberry, Wolfgang Reitherman
Books by A.A. Milne
Editing by Tom Acosta, James Melton

Wallace and Gromit in 'A Matter of Loaf and Death' (2008)

Directed by Nick Park
Books by Nick Park, Bob Baker
Editorial department by Angharad Owen, Andrew Ward

Cold Mountain (2003)

Directed by Anthony Minghella
Book by Charles Frazier, screenplay by Anthony Minghella
Editing by Walter Murch

Gladiator (2000)

Directed by Ridley Scott
Screenplay by David Franzoni, John Logan, William Nicholson
Editing by Pietro Scalia

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring (2003)

Directed by Ki-duk Kim
Writing credits by Ki-duk Kim
Editing by Ki-duk Kim

Stoned (2005)

Directed by Stephen Woolley
Writing credits by Geoffrey Giuliano, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade
Editing by Sam Sneade

Illustration

2011-04-04T04:13:00.000-07:00

I did an illustration for the NJK (National Youth Championships) Bouldering. An event held in the most awesome bouldergym in the world: Monk bouldergym.

... and the illustrations I did for the two previous editions of the same event.
2010

2009

Inspiration

2011-04-02T04:39:00.000-07:00

April Goals

2011-04-02T03:06:00.000-07:00

The goal for March has been achieved, well, ... sort of... instead of 3 I have chosen 4 story concepts to work with in April.

This month I'm going to work with each concept for a week. Explore, develop and rewriting it. At the end of the month I am going to make a choice. One of these 4 developed story concepts is going to be the final one. I feel I have to set this deadline or else it will become an endless journey, and I will probably never finsih it.

Besides the writing part of this project, I have also started to do animation exercises in the weekends. For now these exercises are about learning the basic animation princples.

So my goals for April are:

1. Story.
Develop, explore and rewrite the 4 story concepts. Goal is to spend a week on each of the 4 concepts and write for about an hour every day. I have experienced the previous months that this is a very realistic an achievable goal for me.
Besides the actual writing I also read books on the subject of story during the weekdays. At the moment I'm reading The Writer's Journey by Cristopher Vogler. Next in line is Joseph Campbells' The Power of Myth.

2. Animation.
Doing animation exercises in the weekends. For now it's mainly walking exersices, following the advice of Ken Harris: "A walk is the first thing to learn, learn walks of all kinds. 'Cause walks are about the hardest thing to do right."
Besides trying to draw animation I also read books on the subject of animation during the weekends. Richard Williams' The Animator's Survival Kit is my main source of information. Another book that I find very useful is Eric Goldbergs' Character Animation Crash Course.

April, here I come!

Movies

2011-04-02T02:23:00.000-07:00

I watched last week.

Oldeuboi (2003)

Directed by Chan-Woon Park
Screenplay by Jo-yun Hwang, Chun-hyeong Lim & Chan-wook Park.
Edited by Sang-gyeong Jo

Un Prophete (2009)

Directed by Jacques Audiard
Screenplay by Thomas Bidegain, Jacques Audiard, Abdel Raouf Dafri & Nicolas Peufaillit
Edited by Julliette Welfling

The Bourne Identity (2002)

Directed by Doug Liman
Screenplay by Tony Gilroy & William Blake Herron, novel by Robert Ludlum
Edited by Saar Klein

The Bourne Supremacy (2004)

Directed by Paul Greengrass
Screenplay by Tony Gilroy & Robert Ludlum
Edited by Richard Pearson & Cristopher Rouse

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

Directed by Paul Greengrass
Screenplay by Tony Gilroy, Scott Z. Burns & George Nolfi, Novel by Robert Ludlum
Edited by Cristopher Rouse

Kakushi-toride no san-akunin (1958)

Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Written by Ryuzo Kikushima, Hideo Oguni, Shinobu Hashimoto & Akira Kurosawa.
Edited by Akira Kurosawa

Exercise

2011-03-28T09:50:00.000-07:00

Walkcycle on 16s from dirkvandulmen on Vimeo.

Shot on twos.

Movies

2011-03-26T03:26:00.000-07:00

I watched last week.
Shichinin no samurai (1954)

Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Written by Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto & Hideo Oguni
Edited by Akira Kurosawa

Finding Nemo (2003)

Directed by Andrew Stanton, Lee unkrich
Written by Andrew Stanton (strory), Andrew Stanton (screenplay), Bob Peterson & David Reynolds
Edited by David Ian Salter

The Secret of NIMH (1982)

Directed by Don Bluth
Written by Robert C. O'Brien (novel), Don Bluth (story adaptation), John Pomeroy, Gary Goldman & Will Finn
Edited by Jeffrey Patch

Karakter (1997)

Directed by Mike van Diem
Written by Ferdinand Bordewijk (short story & novel), Mike van Diem (screenplay), Laurens Geels & Ruud van Megen
Edited by Jessica de Koning

Tom & Jerry: The Chuck Jones Collection (2009)

Directed and written by Chuck Jones

Exercise

2011-03-21T10:26:00.001-07:00

Test walk on 12s from dirkvandulmen on Vimeo.

Practicing a walk on 12s.
Shot on twos.

Inspiration

2011-03-19T08:23:00.000-07:00

From Richard Williams book and dvd lecture series 'The Animator's Survival Kit':

"Lesson One.

UNPLUG!

Unplug! Take off your head phones! Turn off the radio! Switch off the CD! Turn off the tape! Close the door.

Like many artists, I had the habit of listening to classical music or jazz while working. On one of my first visits to Milt Kahl I innocently asked:

"Milt do you ever listen to classical music while you're working? Of all the s-s-s-stupid god-god-god-damned questions I-I-I-I've ever heard! I-I-I-I never heard such a-a-a-f-f-f-f-stupid question! Iy-Iy-Iy-Iy-I'm not smart enough to think of more than one thing at a time!"

Since it came from a genius, this made quite an impression on me. After this I learnt to face the silence and think before swirling my pencil around. My animation improved right away.

This has been the case with many artists when I've passed this wisdom along.

...end of lesson one."

This is so recognizable to me. I'm always playing or listening to music when I'm working. So I unplugged since a few weeks when I'm working at home, facing the silence... and it works. I love it. It creates and gives you so much more focus. An obvious thing to do, I think of it now, but never thought of it myself.
Thank you, Mr Williams and Mr Kahl.
You are a true inspiration.

Listening to: The silence...

Movies

2011-03-19T03:13:00.000-07:00

I watched last week.

L'illusionniste (2010)

Directed by Sylvain Chomet
Written by Jacques Tati, Sylvain Chomet
Edited by Rob Farris

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)

Directed by Robert Zemeckis
Written by Gary K. Wolf, Jeffrey Price, Peter S. Seaman
Edited by Arthur Schmidt

Back to the Fututre (1985)

Directed by Robert Zemeckis
Writeen by Robert Zemeckis & Bob Gale
Edited by Harry Keramidas & Arthur Schmidt

Charlie Chaplin in
Tango Tangles (1914)

Directed by Mack Sennett
Written by Mack Sennett & Charlie Chaplin

Rival Mashers (1914)
Directed by Charles Chaplin
Written by Charles Chapin

A Woman (1915)
Directed by Charles Chaplin
Written by Charles Chapin

Rashomon (1950)

Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Written by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Akira Kurosawa & Shinobu Hashimoto
Edited by Akira Kurosawa

Life Drawing

2011-03-17T11:00:00.000-07:00

I found some life drawings I did 3-5 years ago I think, when I was attending life drawing classes on saturdays, every two weeks. I just found these again and thought I could post some here.
Most of these are sized A3, some A4, with all kinds of different materials. I tried a different material every 4 weeks or so. Don't remember why, but I did. Seeing these makes me thinking about signing up again.
Fun to do and good practice.

Listening to: Starsailor.

Inspiration

2011-03-12T03:09:00.000-08:00

Movies

2011-03-12T02:27:00.000-08:00

I watched last week.

Tarzan (1999)

Directed by Chris Buck, Kevin Lima
Written by check imdb
Edited by Gregory Perler

Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Screenplay by Thornton Wilder, Sally Benson, Alma Reville & Story by Gordon McDonell

Unlike U (2010)

Directed by Henrik Regel & Bjorn Birg

The Big Lebowski (1998)

Directed by Joel & Ethan Coen
Written by Joel & Ethan Coen
Edited by Joel & Ethan Coen (as Roderick Jaynes) & Tricia Cooke

Inspiration

2011-03-09T10:16:00.000-08:00

Listening to: Sade.

March goals

2011-03-06T12:35:00.000-08:00

My goals for March:

1. Continue to filter out 3 story ideas for my animated short.
2. Practice this stuff:

Listening to: Das EFX

Movies

2011-03-06T02:03:00.000-08:00

I watched last week.

An Officer and a Gentleman (1982)

Directed by Taylor Hackford
Written by Douglas Day Stewart
Edited by Peter Zinner

Heisei Tanuki Gassen Pompoko (1994)

Directed by Isao Takahata
Written by Hayao Miyazaki (idea), Isao Takahata
Edited by Takeshi Seyama

Fantasia (1940)

check imdb.com

Gake no ue no Ponyo (2008)

Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
Written by Hayao Miyazaki
Edited by Hayao Miyazaki, Takeshi Seyama

Broken Flowers (2005)

Directed by Jim Jarmusch
Written by Jim Jarmusch, Bill Raden, Sara Driver
Edited by Jay Rabinowitz

Listening to: Elbow

Movies

2011-02-26T05:36:00.000-08:00

I watched last week.

Howl's Moving Castle (2004)

Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
Written by Hayao Miyazaki
Edited by Takshi Seyama

True Grit (2010)

Directed by Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Screenplay by Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Edited by Ethan Coen, Joel Coen (as Roderick Jaynes)

Bambi (1942)

Directed by James Algar, Samuel Armstrong, David Hand, Graham Heid, Bill Roberts, Paul Satterfield & Norman Wright
Written by Felix Salten, Perce Pearce, Larry Morey, Vernon Stallings, Melvin Shaw, Carl Fallberg, Chuck Couch, Ralph Wright

Idiots & Angels (2008)

Directed by Bill Plympton
Screenplay by Bill Plympton

Listening to: I Am Kloot.

Inspiration

2011-02-19T04:17:00.000-08:00

Movies

2011-02-19T03:44:00.000-08:00

I watched last week.

James and the Giant Peach (1996)

Directed by Henry Selick
Written by Roald Dahl (book)
Screenplay by Karey Kirkpatrick, Jonathan Roberts, Steve Bloom
Edited by Stan Webb

My Neighbour Totoro (1988)

Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
Written by Hayao Miyazaki
Edited by Takeshi Seyama

Casablanca (1942)

Directed by Michael Curtiz
Screenplay by Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, Howard Koch
Edited by Owen Marks

Listening to: Slick Rick.

Construction

2011-02-13T04:29:00.000-08:00

I am doing this daily excercise on construction since the 1st of January this year.
Why?
Well, because I want to make a conscious change in my process of drawing.

I noticed a while ago, that when I'm drawing I tend to get lazy, fall into habits and drawing tricks I conditioned myself in the past years and lose focus because I'm not fully conscious of what I'm doing while drawing. Resulting in skipping between all kinds of steps that are essential in creating a succesfull one-story-drawing. It's so hard to stay focussed on what's most important in the many steps of making a drawing, that I find myself to be distracted and focus more often on achieving an endresult then on what I should focus on, telling the story you want your drawing to tell your audience.
It is not there for you to feel all good about yourself that you finished another drawing. No, the drawing is there for your audience, to entertain them. Don't forget your audience. You allready know the story you wanted to tell. Now it's time to tell it to your audience.

So to ask myself a simple question, what is a drawing for me?
A drawing for me is a way to tell a story visually.
A succesfull one-story-drawing for me is one that tells your audience exactly the story you want it to tell. That is always the main goal. There are many ways to achieve this. Here is where I think it starts.

I belief that a succesfull one-story-drawing starts with knowing the story you want to tell. Second is a good understanding of your subjects construction. If you know your story,then you also know your subject(s). When you have a good understanding of your subjects construction, then you can focus on achieving the strongest pose and emotion for your subject that will tell your story the best.

So by doing this excersise I hope to influence my thought process while drawing, making construction a conscious step in my process of telling a story with visuals on paper, aka a drawing.

First step: Know the story you want to tell.
Second step: Understand your subject's construction.

There are many more steps in the proces, to name a few: emotion, line of action and dimension, but for me now, construction is my main focus. When I notice that it is part of my process, then I will turn the next step into a new excercise for myself and this way build on a more consciuos drawing proces.

Here's two pages from my sketchbook, focussing on construction. Simply copying stuff,it's about construction, not about designing new characters. This is from Preston Blair's book Cartoon Animation.

One A3 page a day, keeps becoming lazy away?

Listening to: Quarteto Em Cy

Movies

2011-02-13T03:04:00.000-08:00

I watched last week.

The Bridges of Madison County (1995)

Directed by Clint Eastwood
Screenplay by Richard LaGravenese
Edited by Joel Cox

1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992)

Directed by Ridley Scott
Screenplay by Rose Bosch
Edited by William M. Anderson, Francoise Bonnot, Les Healey, Armen Minasian & Deborah Zeitman

The Reader (2008)

Directed by Stephen Daldry
Screenplay by David Hare Book by Bernhard Schlink
Edited by Claire Simpson

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and love the Bomb. (1964)

Directed by Stanley Cubrick
Screenplay by Stanley Kubrick, Terry Southern & Peter George
Edited by Anthony Harvey

Happiness (1995)

Directed by Todd Solonz
Written by Todd Solonz
Edited by Alan Oxman

Black Swan (2010)

Directed by Darren Aronofsky
Screenplay by Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz & John J. Mclaughlin. Story by Andres Heinz
Edited by Andrew Weisblum

Inspiration

2011-02-06T04:58:00.001-08:00

Shorts

2011-02-06T04:15:00.000-08:00

I studied last week.

Oktapodi (2007)

Directed by Julien Bocabeille, Francois-Xavier Chanioux, Olivier Delabarre, Thierry Marchand, Quentin Marmier & Emud Mokhberi

My notes about Oktapodi

Maestro (2005)

Directed by Geza M. Toth
Written by Geza M. Toth

My notes about Maestro

Meme les Pigeons vont au Paradis(2007)

Directed by Samuel Tourneux
Written by Karine Binaux, Olivier Gilbert & Samuel Tourneux

My notes about Meme les Pigeons vont au Paradis

Tsumiki no ie(2008)

Directed by Kunio Kato
Written by Kunio Kato

My notes about Tsumiki no ie

Listening to: Blue Note Trip

February Goals

2011-02-05T03:46:00.000-08:00

Looking back at January, I have spent the month writing down and searching for about 6 story ideas per day for my Animated Short project.

This month, February, I will spent filtering through all those ideas. Goal is to filter out 3. On each of those 3 ideas I'm gonna spent about a week exploring the idea, develop it into (a) possible story outline(s).
So by the end of the month I should have 3 story outlines to choose from. One of those I will further develop into a story which I will be using for my Short.

Second thing I'm still focussing on is construction when I'm drawing. I've been filling up my A3 sketchbook with construction drawings. One A3 page a day, that's the goal. I will continue to do this in February.

To sum things up, my February Goals are:
1. Filter out 3 story ideas for my Animated Short project.
2. Continue to study construction in drawing.

Besides these two goals I'm watching and studying films and shorts. It is not about the quantity, but quality is more important at the moment. Writing down and analyzing the story structure of succesfull short films is also fun and interesting to do. It is not part of my goals, but it's fun, so I will continue doing that anyway.
I've also picked up some more interesting books about story. I will be reading those the coming months for sure.
"Not reading is the same as not being able to read."

Listening to: James Blake, Blue Note Trip.

Movies

2011-02-05T02:49:00.000-08:00

I watched last week.

Casino (1995)

Directed by Martin Scorsese
Screenplay by Nicholas Pileggi & Martin Scorsese
Edited by Thelma Schoonmaker

American Beauty (1999)

Directed by Sam Mendes
Screenplay by Alan Ball
Edited by Tariq Anwar & Cristopher Greenbury

El Mariachi (1992)

Directed by Robert Rodriguez
Screenplay by Robert Rodriguez
Edited by Robert Rodriguez

Desperado (1995)

Directed by Robert Rodriguez
Screenplay by Robert Rodriguez
Edited by Robert Rodriguez

High Fidelity (2000)

Directed by Stephen Frears
Screenplay by Nick Hornby (book), D.V DeVincentis, Steve Pink, John Cusack & Scott Rosenberg
Edited by Thelma Schoonmaker

Quiz Show (2000)

Directed by Robert Redford
Screenplay by Paul Anttanasio, Richard N. Goodwin (book)
Edited by Stu Linder

Adaptation (2002)

Directed by Spike Jonze
Screenplay by Charlie Kaufman & Donald Kaufman, book by Susan Orlean
Edited by Eric Zumbrunnen

Natural Born Killers (1994)

Directed by Oliver Stone
Story by Quentin tarantino
Screenplay by David Veloz, Richard Rutowski & Oliver Stone
Edited by Brian Berdan & Hank Corwin

Shorts

2011-01-30T02:43:00.000-08:00

I studied last week

Presto(2008)
Directed by Doug Sweetland
Written by Doug Sweetland
Story by Ted Mathot, Valerie Lapointe & Justing Wright

My notes on Presto

French Roast(2008)
Directed by Fabrice Joubert
Written by Fabrice Joubert

My notes on French Roast

Lavatory-Lovestory(2007)
Directed by Konstantin Bronzit
Written by Konstantin Bronzit

My notes on Lavatory-Lovestory

Gopher Broke(2004)
Directed by Jeff Fowler
Written by Jeff Fowler

My notes on Gopher Broke

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (1962)
Directed by Robert Enrico
Written by Ambrose Bierse (story), Robert Enrico
Edited by Denise de Casabianca, Robert Enrico

Le Ballon Rouge (1956)
Directed by Albert Lamorisse
Written by Albert Lamorisse
Edited by Pierre Gillette

An Excercise in Discipline - Peel (1982)
Directed by Jane Campion
Written by Jane Campion
Edited by Jane Campion

Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life (1995)
Directed by Peter Capaldi
Written by Peter Capaldi
Edited by Nikki Clemens

The Lunch Date (1989)
Directed by Adam Davidson
Written by Adam Davidson

Some Folks Call it a Sling Blade (1994)
Directed by George Hickenlooper
Written by Billy Bob Thornton
Edited by Henny Bouwmeester & George Hickenlooper

Listening to: Gil Scott-Heron

Movies

2011-01-29T04:43:00.000-08:00

Movies I watched last week:

Seabiscuit (2003)
Directed by Gary Ross
Written by Laura Hillenbrand (book), Gary Ross (screenplay)
Edited by William Goldenberg

Robin Hood (1973)
Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman
Written by Larry Clemens (story), Ken Anderson (character and story conceptions)

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Directed by Milos Forman
Screenplay by Lawrence Hauben & Bo Goldman
Edited by Sheldon Kahn & Lynzee Klingman

127 Hours (2010)
Directed by Danny Boyle
Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
Edited by Jon Harris

Battle Royale (2000)
Directed by Kinji Fukasaku
Written by Koushun Takami (book) & Kenta Fukasaku (screenplay)
Edited by Hirohide Abe

El Orfanato (2007)
Directed by Juan Antonio Bayona
Screenplay by Sergio G. Sanchez
Edited by Elena Ruiz

North by Northwest (1959)
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Written by Ernest Lehman
Edited by George Tomasini

Listening to: Talib Kweli.

Inspiration

2011-01-25T11:32:00.000-08:00

Shorts

2011-01-23T03:38:00.000-08:00

I studied last week.

Lifted (2006)
Written and directed by Gary Rydstrom.

My story structure notes on Lifted:

Geri's Game (1997)
Written and directed by Jan Pinkava.

My story structure notes on Geri's Game:

For the Birds (2000)
Directed by Ralph Eggleston.

My story structure notes on For the Birds:

Listening to: The Decemberists.

Movies

2011-01-22T07:01:00.000-08:00

I watched last week.

Heat (1995)
Directed and written by Michael Mann.
Film Editing by Pasquala Buba, William Goldenberg, Dov Hoenig & Tom Rolf.

the Iron Giant (1999)
Screen story and directed by Brad Bird
Screenplay by Tim McCanlies based on the book by Ted Hughes
Edited by Darren T. Holmes.

Brazil (1985)
Directed by Terry Gilliam.
Screenplay by Terry Gilliam, Tom Stoppard & Charles Mckeown
Edited by Julian Doyle.

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly (1966)
Directed by Sergio Leone.
Story by Sergio Leone & Luciano Vincenzoni
Screenplay by Sergio Leone, Luciano Vincenzoni, Age & Scarpelli
Edited by Euginiio Alabiso & Nino Baragli.

Leon (1994)
Written and directed by Luc Besson.
Edited by Sylvie Landra.

Nocturna (2007)
Directed by Adria Garcia & Victor Maldonado.
Written by Adria Garcia, Victor Maldonado & Teresa Villardel.

Full Tilt Boogie (1997)
Directed by Sarah Kelly.

Scarface (1983)
Directed by Brian de Palma.
Screenplay by oliver Stone
Edited by Gerald B. Greenberg & David Ray.

Gran Torino (2008)
Directed by Clint Eastwood.
Screenplay by Nick Schenk
Story by Dave Johansson & Nick Schenk
Edited by Joel Cox & Gary Roach

Mystic River (2003)
Directed by Clint Eastwood.
Screenplay by Brian Helgeland based on a novel by Dennis Lehane.
Edited by Joel Cox.

Listening to: Agnes Obel; Isobel Campbell and Mark Lenagan; Broken Bells.

Inspiration

2011-01-19T11:34:00.000-08:00