Notes
The New York Times covers StoryCorps cartoons
Our animation for StoryCorps was covered in yesterday’s New York Times. Read the story here, and don’t forget to turn on PBS tomorrow night to catch “Danny and Annie” on the documentary program POV!
StoryCorps series on PBS doc program POV
We’ve been busily working away this summer on a series of StoryCorps shorts that will air on POV, the PBS documentary program. Each episode uses original StoryCorps audio recordings, capturing the powerful and poetic stories of everyday people. The six shorts take viewers from an intimate conversation between a boy with Asperger’s syndrome and his [...]
Hey you guuuys!
Season two of The Electric Company begins airing today. Below is the spot we directed and animated for the new season.
Writer Adam Peltzman, voice actor Sean Crespo, and producers Karen Fowler, Claire Curley, and Eliza Hart.
Tim and I are both big fans of Conan O’Brien, and with all the hoopla about him lately, I [...]
Color!
We’re working on color and background design for our latest project. Our goal is to suggest a lot with only a little.
The stage will consist of abstract backgrounds that have a feeling of depth and light like the one above, and others that incorporate elements that are more specific to a particular environment.
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6 Audience Principles
I’m working to map out some core beliefs about entertainment and animation. Starting by thinking about the audience seemed most logical because without them our work has no purpose. The six principles below are just a start. They’re not the only principles, or the best principles. What principles would you add, delete, or change? Would [...]
Planning Animation at 6 fps
I’ve experimented with a lot of different frame rates over the years, but my favorite has become 6 fps. It allows me to focus more on the design of each drawing, the acting of the sequence, and proper balance with the audio. The key to making it work is planning the timing and spacing of [...]
5 Secrets to Recording a Documentary Interview For Animation
Documentary audio has been used to powerful effect in all types of animation. John Hubley used improvised recordings of his children as the soundtrack to his Academy Award-winning “Moonbird”. Man-on-the-street recordings gave Ralph Bakshi the realism he was looking for in films like Fritz the Cat. Nick Park’s inventive reinterpretations of conversations with everyday people [...]
Pencil Test
Today, we’d like to share a pencil test from a work-in-progress. We recently sold our Cintiq, a digital drawing tool, and re-upped our commitment to drawing on paper. Other animators have encouraged us to go the digital route, but I never felt I had the same control I get with well-sharpened pencils on animation bond. [...]
