Monday, October 19, 2015

New Stop-motion Commercial for NIPSCO

Here is a little stop-motion (pixilation) commercial I directed for NIPSCO a few months ago. It was a challenge to get that little 4 year old to stay (kinda) still! Other than that it was a dream. Enjoy! NIPSCO_30s from RW2 Productions on Vimeo.

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

New Stop-Motion Reel

I have a new stop-motion reel. I'm trying to drum up some work for this fall and winter.





Let me know if you could use my help!

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Kill Churchill stop-motion book promo - behind the scenes -

I've been busy having a new baby boy, fixing up my house, and working!

Fortunately I have a neat stop-motion project to show you, and some neat pictures from the making of!



Our humble, messy, attic studio

We used a basic aluminum wire armature for our puppet. Other materials are shown. If you have any questions feel free to ask!

Is it cheating to modify doll clothes? I hope not...

Isaiah the Giant
If you want to get an earful ask Isaiah about his "fractured time" theory. Spoiler: the puppets are alive.

Isaiah animated most of the sequence, but when I finished our shoot he wasn't there to take a congratulatory picture so I had to do it myself.

Just a little lighting test before we got everything finished.
I hope you enjoyed the small sneak peak into our miniature world. As always I'll try to answer as many questions that you guys have.

Be sure to download a copy of the book Kill Churchill! 

Friday, February 8, 2013

Constellatin color sketch


Just a little Photoshop sketch to work out some colors. We are going full steam ahead. I'm starting to research how I am going to make this forest (trees, rocks, grass, flowers, bushes, foliage, mushrooms, fungus, ect). I don't want to just by moss for grass, I want it to be stylized, but realistic. If anyone from the Paranorman crew sees this blog I'd love to talk to you about trees, leaves, and grass. 

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

More of our Hiker.


In this color sketch I was trying to work out mood and color of a section of our script. I also wanted to see how cartoony we can get with the Hiker(our main character) without undermining the story. The more stylized the aesthetic of the film is, the more we can make things out of cheap materials. I'd like to stay away from silicone and foam latex as much as possible.

What are your favorite stop-motion films? I need to start researching other films to help me get a context and foundation for the visuals in this film. Don't bother telling me about the big releases that have come out in the last few years. Tell me about your secret favorite films.

Monday, January 28, 2013

Long time no see.

My film is moving from writing and thumbnail story boards into character and set design. Here is a little paint/sketch of our main character. This isn't a final design, but just trying to play around with his proportions.

I didn't realize it has been almost 6 months since my last post. It definitely isn't because I haven't been drawing and sculpting. So I'm going to start posting more frequently.

Friday, August 31, 2012

Sketchin' and Designing a Character.

Things with our script are wrapping up.  So I've been trying to put some extra time into settling on a design for our character (the left side of the page).  Things are going kinda slow in that department.  But what my (little) experience has taught me anything its that if I keep working and spinning my wheels, I'll eventually snag some traction and things will take off quickly!

Do you ever feel like you are just spinning your wheels on a project?  What have you done to keep your enthusiasm and get some traction?

Monday, August 20, 2012

From the Sketchbook: Constellating - Previsualization

I'm trying something new.  I'm just making my blog post directly on facebook.  If you like this better than links to my blog let me know.

I've been playing around with the main character's proportions.  I need to get out of my own brain for a bit and get loose.  I seems like you have to draw a couple hundred crappy character designs before you get one that seems to fit.

In related news thing are gearing up with our film. We are hoping to start building puppets this fall and shooting tests.  Keep an eye out for a facebook page for updates on the film, behind the scenes photos and drawings.

Friday, August 17, 2012

ParaNorman is anything but normal...

....and that is a good thing.

Want to know what I thought of the movie?


We've all seen the trailers, so I don't need to go into how immensely awesome the animation, armatures, sets, lighting, cinematography, props, and effects animation is.

Top-notch awesome stuff...

Monday, July 30, 2012

Sketch blog

I'm going to start doing some clay sclupture sketches (inspired by my internet friend Ben Whitehouse)

Do you know of any video tutorials with little tricks to use when sculpting with clay?  I've got some experience with it, but I'm always trying to learn more.

Let me know!