"Christmas In May"

The title of the post refers to a holiday that I have to say that I don't really celebrate, not even in December. But, hey, I like other peoples' holidays sometimes. Also, I'm going to cover my recent visit to Disney's "Christmas Carol Train", which they are using to generate buzz about their upcoming release of this latest version of that classic. Technically, this is more an instance of a film made by the same team who gave us "Polar Express" and "Beowulf", and of Disney financing the film, and putting their name on it, rather than something produced in-house by the mouse. For that, we'll have to wait for the other big Disney holiday release, "The Princess and the Frog". Some might ask, "why do we need another version of "Christmas Carol"? Well, after visiting this exhibit, I'm happy to say that I think we are in for something very familiar, but coming across as very fresh. Like a classic story told by a director and cast who almost seem like old friends. Now, on to the show: One of the posters advertising the show. There is what could be considered a little redundancy in the description area. "See Charles Dickens Museum museum artifacts"? I guess since the first "museum" is capitalized, it means it's a proper noun, with the lower case one indicating what kind if artifacts you're going to see ("museum" ones).

This all took place in Los Angeles' Union Station, the first stop on a nationwide tour, ending up in New York on November 1st, five days before the films release on the 6th.

Some co-workers of mine asked me how I found out about the exhibit. I recieved a flier about it in my "snail mail", but I was obviously only on of thousands who got the word. This show was certainly no big secret.

Something about Mr. Carrey's face in the candle flame (his ghost of Christmas Past look) that reminds me of an ad for Desenex or somethng. (Oh! are your feet hot and itchy? That's because of me). I think my mind was playing tricks on me, which can happen when you wait for 2 hours in a line, which is pretty close to how long I did wait!

Palm trees, gang graffitti, and show biz, all in the shadow of Union Station. Nothing is quite like L.A.

If you recognize any of the carolers, I'm not surprised. A co-worker of mine happens to know the guy on the right, and another one knows the girl in green.

No fast-pass here. And that wait time is pretty close to what it actually was. I was undaunted, and determined to see the show.

That thing in the background with the film's title is a giant inflatable theatre with a killer sound system and 3D projection system, where we were treated to some finished sequences of the film after visiting the train. It's hard to believe that we have a whole Summer, and most of the Fall ahead of us before the actual release date.

Once inside the train, the wait seemed worthwhile as the staff allowed us time to savor all the details at our own pace. Here's a portrait of the boy Ebenezer, who really looks like, well, a really young Jim Carrey.

I guess you would call this a "zits and all" portrait. Mercifully, it looks like he only has the skin condition for his adolescence.

Even the most sophisticated CGI feature involves a lot more than just, as they say in "Tron", "nothing but a lot of cold circuits". It involves traditional skills, like costume design. Each character had actual costumes made to help with realizing what would eventually be created in the computer.

As good a Mr. Carrey is, you just know that the great performances in this film will come from the Brits, like Colin Firth as Fred, Scrooge's nephew. Note the wallpaper, lanterns, picture frames, etc. This part of the trains interior was themed to Victorian opulance, almost like the "Lilly Belle" train at Disneyland, or the "Wanderer" from "Wild, Wild West". The Wanderer, as you recall, actually concealed a series of James Bond like gadgets. Likewise, the Christmas Carol train also contains some high tech wizardry (which you'll see later) underneath the elaborate furnishings.

He "channeled" Sid Vicious in "Sid and Nancy", hijacked "Air Force One" and morphed into a dog as "Sirius Black", and now, Gary Oldman plays both Tiny Tim, and his father Bob Cratchit. I'm not sure how he's going to lift himself onto his own shoulder, but if anyone can do it, it's Gary.

People remeber Robin Wright-Penn from "The Princess Bride", a movie which I'm sorry to say, never really "did it" for me. Sorry. But Robin is a veteran of other Zemeckis projects like "Beowulf" and "Forrest Gump".

Some people find this image kind of creepy, but I think Bob Hoskins looks like he'll be a great Fezziwig. In this picture I really think it looks like he's posing to have his image engraved on paper currency of some sort.

All I can say about this display is: it truly is "better than one". I think Jim Carrey as the older Scrooge looks like a cross between his "Count Olaf" from "Lemony Snicket" and the old hag from that movie that came out of the Netherlands, "The Day The Earth Froze" which is maybe best know for it MST3K version. (Sampo! Saaampohhhh!).

Save the clocktower! Robert Zemeckis seems to have a thing for time travel, clocks and clock towers under construction (think Back to the Future III)

I'm anxious to see how the clock tower (sometimes called "Big Ben", though that is technically the name of the bell inside, rather than the tower which is sometimes called "The Palace of Westminster) is used to tell the story.

Now, on to the hi tech stuff. Again, even the most sophisticated computers do not rule out the use of traditional stuff, like building little models out of foam core to help stage shots and scenes.

One thing about mo-cap. I think it mainly works with bipedal human characters. I don't know how willing a horse would be to wear a mo-cap suit, so I think four legged animals like horses (of which there must have been many in Dickens' London) are examples of characters that probably have to be "keyframed".

The Spirit of Christmas Future? One minute we're looking at Victorian Wallpaper, the next we're on a stage that looks like something from "2001: A Space Odyssey". Note that the figure in the chair is half a figure in half a chair, with the other half a reflection in a mirror.

It looks like he's in pain. I would be to if I was breaking out in little black dots.

The exhibit cocludes with a little interactivity, where you can take a digital photo of yourself, and morph it into a character of your choice from the film.

After viewing some finished frames of film, you pass this tableau with some very real looking food, and an animated scene outside the windows. (the snow actually appears to be falling).

All in all, the train is worth looking at if it's in your area. Here's a link to Disney's official site
http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/christmascaroltraintour/

From the look I got of this movie, it looks like a blend of high technology, with traditional filmmaking, and a very faithful, respectful adaptation of a tried and true classic, with the dialogue deviating very little from Dickens. The finished product should be very impressive, and I think, will join the ranks of the other classic versions.

Link, Love and the Loch

This is the finished piece with "Link".

N'Link

This is my own version of "Missing Link", one of my favorite characters from Dreamworks' 'Monsters Vs. Aliens". It's intended to be used for a larget piece to be posted in a couple of days.

As you can see, I've been posting a little more frequently lately. This "blog" technology is a gift, and not one to let go to waste. So here are a few items, showing my way of getting through the "stages" of a drawing. I'm still working on my clean-up line quality, and still doing it with graphite pencils. Any tips on what type to use would be great. My goal with my work is to make you feel good, and hopefully, I've succeeded. (These poses will be an element in something else I'm working on. To find out what, keep checking back!)

Pan Pacific plussed

Here's a new version of the Pan Pacific layout. I made a few corrections, like darkening the forground elements and adding some hilights. I actually got some art direction from none other than David James, the art director for "Monsters vs. Aliens", which is out in theatres in the U.S. this weekend. (for more on David, scroll down a few posts).

"Unscripted"

The title of the thread refers to a couple of animation related events I had the pleasure of attending at Samuel French's Theatre Bookstore in Studio City recently. Samuel French is best known as a publisher of play scripts, and these were a couple of book signings for animation and "Art of" animation books. This first event was last Thursday. It included Disney animator/producer Don Hahn, signing copies of "Alchemy of Animation" and legendary animator Eric Goldberg, signing his instructional book "Character Animation Crash Course"(a catchy title that only Eric would think of). Here's a window display in front of the store. If you don't know the alligator character, you soon will. He's Louis, Eric's character from "The Princess and the Frog" opening later this year around the holidays.I apologize for the focus, or lack thereof in these pictures. My digital photography needs some work. Anyway, here's a picture of Don Hahn examining the "Art of Monsters vs. Aliens" book, from the upcoming Dreamworks movie. Don has another book of his own, a retrospective of the notes of Walt Stanchfield, which is supposed to be hitting the shelves on March 28th, the same day that MvsA arrives in theatres.

Here's Eric holding a book which I think is about music in animated films. I think he actually ended up buying the book.

Eric: "With my foolproof system outlined in this book, you too, can become an ace animator, or you can just work in the front office!"

One of the unusual things about this event was the low turnout. You could pretty much count the people there on one hand, and that's almost counting Eric and Don! I ended up giving a member of the staff urls and info for animationnation.com and ASIFA Hollywood so that in the future, they can tap into the huge pool of enthusiasts in and around Los Angeles. In the meantime, I got a little one on one time with Eric.

It is really something to meet people face to face whom you mainly only knew from DVD special features, specials, etc., and to find them to be really down to Earth and easy-going in person. That is the case with Eric and Don. See the people outside the window holding scripts? There is a casting agency in Ventura right next door to the bookstore.

Eric and Don were kind enough to autograph their respective books. If you visit Samuel French's in Studio City (not to be confused with their Hollywood store on Sunset), they may still have some autographed copies available for purchase while they last.

A sign of a truly great artist, Eric is drawing one of his signature characters, the Genie from "Aladdin" which he created almost two decades ago. And with a sharpie! (i.e., no rough sketch first).

"We're Hahn, Gold & Goldberg, and we'll fight for you!"

The same venue, but with a slightly different vibe...

Just this past night, I returned to Sam French's for another event, a book signing for that "Art of Monsters vs. Aliens" book that Don Hahn was perusing. Here's a shot of the films art director, David James. To hear him speak about the film go to http://www.monstersvsaliens.com/, go to "behind the scenes", then to "the crew", then click on "David James", then click on "watch the interview". You got all that?Here's David with Linda Sunshine, who wrote the text for the book.

Here's a shot of the cover. The jacket artwork was created specifically for the book, and the size range of the characters supposedly made for quite a challenge to show them all in a group shot.

As you can see, the turnout was little higher this time, but it still made for a very intimate evening. (i.e. it certainly was not Comic Con).

This is a movie I'm really looking forward to. It was nice of Samuel French to hold two animation events over the course of less than a week, and very nice of Don, Eric, David and Linda to be so generous with their time. As they used to say in my Navy days, "Bravo Zulu"!

A Bygone Classic...

This has always been one of my favorite buildings (L.A.s "Pan Pacific Auditorium) that is no longer with us. I had this idea to show it from a high angle, and from behind, with those flagpoles and art deco things in the foreground. Here is a reference photo, probably taken in the mid 80's. (the building was closed in the 70's and destroyed by fire in 1989. It lives on though, in movies like "Xanadu"). This is a rough sketch from my sketchbook which I did at the school in Burbank where I am an instructor. (www.theanimationacademy.com).Below is a more refined version. It's a basic 3 point perspective, with the flagpoles, light posts and other strong verticals, going to a third vanishing point below the picture plane.+

And below is the "cleaner" version, with some tone I added in photoshop. I'll be refining that in the future, as well as adding some figures (I may set the scene in the 60's). For the cars, I researched classic "Woodies" as well as "Edsels" and the Ford Fairlane.

A Classic lives on...

Visitors to Los Angeles looking for the location of the old Pan Pacific wil find this Rec Center in it's place. You can see the influence of the design of the original.And if you've been to Walt Disney World in Florida, you may know this place. You can see how th imagineers borrowed the design for the entrance to the "Studios" theme park (originally "Disney/MGM Studios").

I'm no Drew Struzan, but I thought I'd have some fun...

So, my Mom's birthday recently came to pass. I designed this as a card that I could market to other people. I'm just now getting the hang of photoshop, although I still have a LOT to learn.

An epic of Biblical proportions!

This is me attempting to assist a friend of mine in illustrating the "David and Goliath" story. Ready when you are, C.B.!

"...and he shall appear!"

Just having some fun. I modeled the nose partially off of my own (every drawing has an element of a self portrait, don't you think!), so he is indeed a handsome...well you know.

It's been five(5) looong months since my last post. Far too long. So, in commemoration of the New Year (5768), here's what I hope will be a long post which I hope you'll enjoy. Here's the rough drawing for my High Holiday card:

Here's the "clean" version.

Here is the completed image with color. The inscription inside reads "Shofar, Sho good":

"A NOTE OF THANKS"

The task: To create a "thank you" card for my friends and family in Israel who were so kind and generous to me and my family on a recent visit over there earlier this month. The challenge: I was faced with the option of getting the card done quickly, or of sending them store bought cards provided by my mother. I was determined to avoid that at all cost, and to give the Israelis a card that would be unique, something specific to me. The result: A card created, drawn up, and printed, all in the course of about ten hours. (I was doing other things during the ten hours too, like unpacking, and recovering from jetlag).

As you can see, this all took place on April 16, 2007. After much brainstorming, for about 30 minutes, I came up with the brilliant idea of showing the words for "thank you" in Hebrew, but make it appear to be made out of ancient stone, weathered, and with clumps of grass growing from the cracks, like something in the old city of Jerusalem. Think of the "Ben Hur" poster. On top would be a non-descript figure, holding the Israeli flag. What could be more "me"? Here is the initial rough sketch, scanned directly from my sketchbook. Yes, Hebrew reading bloggers, it is spelled incorrectly. You can see me working out the correct spelling in the upper right hand corner. BTW, "Imcrazywonderful" is the handle of a Hebrew speaking girl whom I stumbled onto on MySpace. I made a note to check her out later.

Non-Hebrew speaking bloggers, did you know that Hebrew is written and read from right to left? Well, you know what? Hebrew is written/read from right to left! In the background on the right, is an "ancient" skyline, inspired again, by old Jerusalem, and by the port city of Jaffa (Yaffo). I think Mary Blair would like it. (Do a search on her). Getting there, but something isn't quite working...

This is more like it! Of course! Put the skyline on the left, so the letters lead to it rather than away from it!

Finally, I added some colors that would suggest old stone, using, fittingly enough, some old markers. Note to self: learn photoshop already. I used some lighter values for the background elements.

I then scanned the image, with the "Gold's Greetings" logo upside down, with the copyright and blog info, to create the back of the card. A trip to the printers, and I was done. Kind of crude, but effective. And most importantly, like nothing you could buy in a store. If it suits your purpose, feel free to print it yourself. It will need a little trimming, but should fit a 5"x7" envelope.