Character Design | Artist Interviews

Rad Sechrist Interview

Rad Sechrist: Storyboard Artist at DreamWorks Animation, Comic Book Artist, Illustrator, And Designer
CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE INTERVIEW AND SEE HIS GALLERY
Media: Adobe Photoshop.

French Roast Nominated for Best Animated Short

Congratulations to Fabrice O Joubert, and all the talented artists that worked on French Roast for being nominated for Best Animated Short. You can now view the entire short in large QuickTime at http://www.frenchroast.fr/fyc_watchfrenchroast.html

If you would like to view the interview I had with Fabrice about the making of French Roast, follow this link at http://characterdesign.blogspot.com/2009/06/french-roast_06.html

The Story of Walls

I want to tell everyone about this wonderful, funny, and great looking short by Pete Oswald and written by Sandeep Sood.

Here's a short synopsis

The Story of Walls is an absurdest history of trade protectionism.  We made this short film so that we could point out the obvious: protectionism is absurd.

In ten minutes, our film takes you from ancient civilization to the modern day. Despite its breadth, we succeed in providing the viewer with a thorough education and understanding of our world’s economic history. We describe events that are intriguing, insightful, and mostly falsified.

Pete, when did you start creating The Story of Walls?

My partners and I came up with the concept in May 2009.

Where is your studio located?

Badmash Animation Studios is located in Los Angeles, San Fransisco and Pune, India. We did most of the preproduction here in the states and all of the animation in India. We are a global production.

Who were the artists that help create the film?

Directed By: Pete Oswald

Written By: Sandeep Sood

Storyboard Artist: Andy Suriano

Art Director: Pete Oswald

Background Layout: Chris Reccardi

Character Layout: Vikram Athavale

Animation Director: Noor Mohammed

Music Composed By: Chad Seiter

Sound Design and Mix By: Alex Levy

How long did it take to create The Story of Walls?

The entire production of this film took 4 months.

What types of media did you use?

We animated mostly every scene in Flash. There are a few scenes that we composited in After Effects. I really wanted to explore using two dimensional characters in three dimensional space.

What type of design style where you going for?

I have always been inspired by Disney's short films from the 1950s, specifically "Toot, Whistle, Plunk, Boom." Ward Kimball became the major inspiration on how I directed and designed the film. Also, we looked at many UPA shorts for inspiration.

How many different versions of characters and designs did you go through?

I took a few weeks in the beginning to explore different styles for the film. Due to the tight production schedule, there were very few versions of character designs. We didn't have a lot of time to explore each character. Andy Suriano's storyboard was very tight. We kept pretty close to some of his original sketches.

Being the Director, did the final look and feel of the film meet your expectations?

The final look of the film totally exceeded my expectations. We were fortunate to work with many talented people so I was able to trust everyone. I am a firm believer that when you hire talented people and allow them to do what they do best, you will get a successful outcome.

Have you been able to received some awards for the film?

We just recently got nominated for an Annie Award in the "The Best Animated Short Subject" category. We just started the film festival submission process. We are hoping the attend many festivals in the upcoming year.

What film are you planning to do next?

I have a few ideas brewing, but I need to find funding first.

Is there a way to buy The Story of Walls on DVD or Blu-ray?

Not yet. We will Hopefully have a DVD available to buy soon. I will keep everyone posted.

Thank you so much Pete for talking about your amazing short as well as letting us see the production art. The Story of Walls is one of my favorite shorts that I have seen. The mixture of Pete's art direction, the comedy, as well great storytelling makes this short, one to see. I hope everyone can get a chance to view it. I'm looking forward to see what Pete comes up with next. To see even more pictures, go to Pete's blog at http://peteoswald.blogspot.com/

THE AUCTION HAS BEGUN

As of 10am Pacific Time this morning, The Help the Hodges auctions (on eBay under the seller name NCSFoundation) has gone LIVE!

Go bid like crazy in this charity auction to help a very worthy family!

Leo Matsuda Interview

Leo Matsuda: Story Artist/Character Design
CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE INTERVIEW AND SEE HIS GALLERY
Media: Gouache, Watercolor, and Digital Media .

Carlos Grangel Interview

Carlos Grangel: Owner and Designer at Grangel Studios
CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE INTERVIEW AND SEE HIS GALLERY
Media: Pencil, Brush, Colored Pencils, Markers, Gouache and Pastels.

The Art of The Princess and the Frog Video Preview

Here is a preview of the The Art of The Princess and the Frog
book, and once again it's a lot cheaper to buy it at Amazon link here.

Zaruhi Galstian Interview

Zaruhi Galstian: Designer/Animator
CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE INTERVIEW AND SEE HER GALLERY
Media: Traditional Media and Adobe Photoshop.

Lots to show and tell.

I got back from California the other day. I was able to see many friends and artists. I got to walk around many of the studios there as well. I have many interviews to post and thanks to the animation expo, I have a ton more coming. There are some amazing things happening in Burbank and I can't wait to share some of the stories and talk about the people I met. This picture shows just a few of the up coming artists that I will be interviewing too.

The Art and Making of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs Video

I can't say it enough... Sony Pictures Animation have the best "Art Of " Books! If you were able to get their last two books (Open Season and Surf's Up) then you know how much art they put in them. Sony's books are HARD COVERED, BIGGER, MORE PAGES, AND HAVE LOTS OF CHARACTER DESIGNS! Tracey Miller-Zarneke and the people over at Insight Editions really know how to put a book together too. Tracey Miller-Zarneke was the same person who Authored The Art of Kung Fu Panda (Which is sold out now). I would like to thank the person at Sony for sending me this book and everyone who signed it too. My honest opinion is that you will really enjoy having this book and it will also get you excited to go see the film.
I really love it when someone puts out a good product, and I want to make sure everyone knows about it... So to all those who helped put this book together... A BIG THANKS!

The Book is normally $50 but if you get it at Amazon now, you can order it for $31.50 which is well worth it.

By the way, there's more than 2/3 of the book that isn't even in this video.

Also if you enjoy the art from that book , you might also want to consider getting "Flint Saves the Day" It has some more artwork by Carey Yost and Pete Oswald both character designers that worked on the film.