Marching On
Hi. What’s up. It’s been a while, I know. Should I even consider the last post an actual blog post? I have this idea that these things have to be substantial; blog posts should engage the reader for at least 30 seconds, like a glance, a quick read, something that makes you chuckle, or go “hm, that’s interesting”, and then click back on your Facebook or Twitter tab, waiting for something else to pique your interest.
Of course, considering the chaos of our times, I wouldn’t be able to continue before stating this: I donated some money to the Japan Society, who according to their twitter is donating “100% of donations to our #Japan Earthquake Relief Fund will go directly to victims http://www.japansociety.org/earthquake” – I’ve known about the Japan Society and their programs for a few years now, so I had no qualms knowing that my donation would be put to good use through them. It’s saddening to see so much devastation going on there, especially since I just came back from a trip there a few months ago, so my thoughts are definitely with Japan right now.
I usually don’t post about too much of what I do professionally, but, I figured a few things are worth noting, not necessarily because I worked on them, but because they are interesting projects in their own right.
The Nike World Basketball Festival spot I worked on last summer
may have been a starting point for a theme that’s been associated with me and my skills as an animator: sports.
Now, considering the content of my comics here on this blog, one would think “Of course!” but the fact is I’m not actively seeking sports related work out of an admiration for one sport or another, but coincidentally I’m just getting these gigs, so to speak. Perhaps I am becoming a sports fan while not fully being aware of it myself, but don’t worry, I won’t start posting my fantasy football stats here any time soon. Of course, the recent spots I worked on recently were really to sell shoes, so, the sports and athletes featured are supposed to be an afterthought of the product. But, I do live in a culture of the cult of personality, so it almost seems that spots are really about the athletes and less about the shoes, but for me, the spots end up just being about animation (or at least that’s how I’ve come to terms in working for corporations.)
The art direction of the Nike spot above and the Reebok spots that follow below really bring something interesting to that kinetic experience of playing basketball, soccer, football, or even cricket; there is a focus on abstracting the human figure in motion, transforming the anatomy into mosaic shapes or graphic particles, and really exalting the power of the human form in sport…
Well, before this blog post starts sounding too much like an article on Ben Ettinger’s Anipages I’ll just close by saying that I had a blast working on all these spots and loved working with the amazing team of artists at BUCK and PSYOP. You know who you are, so I’m not going to start name dropping, but just know how awesome you guys and gals are and I can’t wait to work with you again! 😉
Oh, in case you’re curious, I was responsible for most of the transitional shots in both the Nike spot above (as seen on my animation reel) and the transitional shots from graphic to live action in the Reebok spots below (except for the Peyton Manning one, which I just did some minor clean up work)
So, enjoy! And I’ll try my best to update more often…
… Yes I’m still working on my comic. Yes, it’s going really slow, thanks for asking ;p!
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Heyyy, how’s it going? So this is what you’ve been up to all this time. I’m blown away, man! Spectacular exaltation of the human figure in motion for sure. I’d love to see a whole short animation like the cricket one (ob Anipages dork comment: reminds me of Shinji Hashimoto’s action scene in Spriggan). Don’t be so shy to let us know about your awesome ad work in the future.
Man, oh man, Ben Ettinger just left a comment on my blog! Thanks so much Ben! Yeah, I did some figure work on the Reebok spots, but it was mostly animating on top of basic motion capture. The transitions were where my skills were really put to test, especially the last one (with Amir Khan, the boxer – I did transition and fx work on the shot where he punches the bag – also, the transition of the close up of the shoes, which is pretty much what I did on the other spots.) Again, thanks so much, it makes all the difference to know that there is an audience out there for my work. 🙂