This is a charming Disney short called “Off His Rockers”. I remember seeing this in front of “Honey, I Blew Up the Kid”. It’s one of the more successful early attempts of blending CG and traditional animation. To help put the technology in perspective, this was released 3 years before Toy Story. The CG might be a bit simplistic (by today’s standards) but that didn’t prevent Disney from instilling a believable and wonderfully captivating personality in the rocking horse. Just click on the image.

Wow, it’s been over a year since my last update. In short, I’ve shifted gears and have just finished up teaching my first year at Ringling. It felt, as has been accurately described by my fellow faculty, like I’ve been hit by a bus. I knew going in, the dedication the Ringling faculty have to their students, as I was proudly one of those who benefited from a Ringling education. However, I don’t know that I could ever have been prepared for the sheer amount of work required. It’s pretty much nonstop communication with the students. When I wasn’t in class teaching, I was usually answering questions in e-mails or giving critiques. In the lulls, I would prepare for upcoming classes. This summer I got some much needed rest. As crazy as it was, I’m excited to be returning for another year. I must be nuts!

Click the image above for a look at a compilation of some of my latest work, including animation from "The Wild" and "Boz". You can see a supersize version here and a reel breakdown (pdf file) here. Enjoy!

I've got some new animations going up soon. I don't want to show anything that hasn't been publicly released so it's going to be a slow trickle. "Boz" is coming in March and "The Wild" is coming in April. In the meantime, I've added a very short clip from "Aunt Fanny's Tour of Booty", the short film included on the "Robot's" DVD. I've included a link to a hi-res version for those who want to look at the clip outside me head. I've also added blurbs to each animation - not as artsy looking as before - but will hopefully give more context.

3 years with one company, while common in the traditional workplace, seems to be rather unique in the field of animation where contract work is often the norm. Reel FX has been good to me but it’s time to explore some other options. I’m still trying to figure out what exactly those options are. However, in the meantime, I’m hoping to secure some remote freelance work to help keep the boat afloat while I try to cement the path ahead. If you need an animator, feel free to give me a holler.

Just a follow up to my previous post. Bozthebear.com is now up and running. You can even request a free preview DVD!

Finally, I can talk some about a project I’ve spent the last year on. His name is Boz and he’s a big green bear dog, bog, er… initially he was a mix between a bear and a dog but seeing as how infinitely curious children were bound to ask what Boz was, it was decided that Boz was indeed a bear. He lives next door to some twins, Drew and Gracie. It’s aimed at preschoolers so there are lots of catchy songs. They’re all stuck in my head forever! Actually, all the animation so far has been focused on the singing and dancing bits which has been quite a challenge. You see, I’m a white male. Therein lies the problem. It wasn’t that bad though as most of it was silly dancing. Heck, I’m 9/10’s goofball so it worked out alright. After the models were built and rigged we had about a couple months to do animation testing, finding the character and just having fun with him. That’s a luxury on series work. It gave us the opportunity to explore different ideas of how he might behave and move which was great! That time was so valuable. It may seem like a waste of money (to some producers anyway) but man, it really enabled us to help define the character and move forward with confidence when animation began. All in all, it was a blast to work on. It’s not scheduled to hit the streets until early 2006 so there’s nothing for me to show just yet. I have a feeling you’ll hear about it when it does come out. It’s going to be big, big, big!!!