Observing life

Went out yesterday for about an hour to do some more 'field work'. One of the things I noticed was that it takes me a while to decide on a good spot to go sit at. Also gazing at people while scribbling in your sketchbook can make people feel uneasy while they're sipping their coffee or eating their sandwich.

Yesterday I found a great spot in the corner of a lunchroom with to my right a big window looking out in the shopping street and to the left a great view over the entire lunchroom. Here's what ended up on the pages...



Cheese!

Steven Macleod's Storyboarding for Animation class at CGMA started!

A few days ago Steven Macleod's Storyboarding for Animation Class at CG Master Academy started! For the next 8 weeks I will be taking his class. Steven currently works as a storyboard artist at Dreamworks and has worked on How to Train Your Dragon and The Croods. Yesterday I watched the first lecture, and we received our first homework assignment. I hope in the coming weeks to be posting some of the homework assignments on my blog.
The 1st assignment is to keep a sketchbook during the whole workshop and fill it with drawings from life. Today I had my weekly train ride to work, so a perfect opportunity to start the sketchbook and do some real life observations and drawings while on the train. As I was warmed up in the train I decided to do some more during one of the meetings I had today. Colleagues make perfect drawing models.
Here's the result:

Currently reading...

Cheese!

Merci Annecy!

This year's Annecy Animation Film Festival was again, like last year, great fun! I saw some great animation, and some a bit less great. Attended some great lectures, highlights for me were 'the Cloudy with a chance of meatballs 2 WIP' talk by Kris Pearn and Cody Cameron. Thanks again to Stephan and Kris for inviting me along. I didn't get a ticket upfront, but they were so kind to take me into the Salle Pierre Lamy to see the presentation. Second highlight for me was the presentation from Stephan Franck about 'The Legend of Smurphy Hollow', which in essence was a crash course lecture on film making and storytelling. Interesting and unexpected. Third highlight was the 'TV series and special project pitches' session I attended. Very inspiring and motivating to see young ambitious creators pitch their projects in front of a pretty crowded room full of interested people. I'll be coming back next year for sure, looking forward already!

Besides all the great stuff I got to see, it was great to meet so many great people with a similar love for animation at Annecy. It was great to meet you all: Stephan, Kris, Cody, Jana, Sam, Michelle, Joost, Erik, Erik, Jiek, Josie, Floor & Dennis, Florian, Eren, Katharina, Alexander, Henk, Anttu, Lana, Alvaro & Carlos, Christelle, Yoshiya, Shamik, Joanna, Michelle, Uri, Vinni, Dawn, Raymond, Kwame, Aimee, Daan, Pim, Ralf & Bart. (sorry if I forgot anyone)

Annecy a l’année prochaine!

Fromage!