This is the Face

This is the face Murray makes to let you know his Murray Food quota has not been filled.

I Can Haz String

I've been trying to set little goals for myself lately. I spent most of August and September pressed up against two massive deadlines, so figured a change of scale was in order.

These short-term objectives include exercises, mostly illustrating 'character animation' since I feel somewhat lacking in that department, but also tests using different techniques and programs as well.

First up, I hadn't done a whole lot of 'tradition' hand-drawn animation in a while. Doodles of my cat, Behemoth lead to a quick little test digitally drawn with the Wacom and then 'inked' and 'painted' in Flash.

Early Rough Animation

After clean-up, I exported PNGs with an Alpha from Flash and brought them into After Effects. For a background I wanted mixed-media, something like a dollhouse or diorama. I Googled about and found this incredibly talented woman's blog. I grabbed an image off of her blog* and dropped it in AE after separating out the foreground from the back in Photoshop to create some depth.

Finished MOV

Next, an exercise in 3D layers and camera moves in After Effects with digitally created cut-out characters. Will post character designs when finished.


*Call of the Small - I hope this is OK! I promise I'm only putting this on my reel and would be happy to send you a MOV of the animation for your own use as well!)

Liesje Kraai, Animator

And apparently Crazy Cat Lady. At least borderline according to New York Magazine.


I was super surprised (not really - they told me last week) to find my face on a full-page spread this week in NYMag's Look Book. I'm also excited I got to drop Behemoth's name as well as get the tag 'Animator' featured so prominently. Maybe I'll actually start believing it.

Thanks NYMag for (hopefully) directing traffic to my new reel on Youtube, Rachel for the nice interview and Pinkyotto for the adorable, Master & Magarita (at least I like to think so) shirt-dress.

Back on the Wagon

While my position at LBi technically makes me a full-time with benefits 'Animator', moving images of the Jonas Brothers around in Flash can be a bit draining on the 'soul'.


One reason I've decided to start giving myself little exercises to complete for a shiny new reel. Here's the rough animation for my first outing:

I've since cleaned it and started coloring it in Flash. Next I'll make a fun little background, possibly as a real, three-dimensional diorama (of the 3rd grade book-report variety).

And, yes, my cat really is that fat.

Master & Margarita

Spent most of my free-time this week at work drawing this.


Just in case you didn't know how much I adore my cat, Behemoth.


The first pass was done in Photoshop.


Clean-up in Illustrator, then brought back into Photoshop for color, etc.

I'm happy with it, though I miss clean-up with good ol' fashion pens. Maybe I'll break out the ink well next time.

Needle Pulling Thread

Whenever I come across a dress or top I want but can't have, I tell myself "I could make that." Sometimes, I'll actually go so far as to buy fabric and think about a pattern.

The mantra "I could make that" isn't completely unfounded. I know how to sew, understand how certain fabrics work and can sort of operate a sewing machine. In college, I even made this -


So last night I decided to actually put a little effort into seeing one of these whims to its conclusion.


Here's the sketch with measurements and start of a dress pattern. With some luck, I'll be able to have a dress that looks vaguely like Debbie Harry's in Blondie's Heart of Glass video.


And with cats helping, I'll definitely have it ready in time for my friend's wedding in April.


Unfortunately I was too tired to remember to take a photo of the final cut dress pattern. I'll see what I can do about this in the future.

Cabinet of Curiosities

A while back I posted an image of this great find I came across at a yard sale. I believe someone demanded pictures once it was full of oddities.


While not as odd as I had hoped (still in the market for a two headed ostrich fetus), here it is. Most of the items are from my time abroad.


A 'Lucky Cat' given to me by a student along with a 'Oni' bell, a gift from a co-worker at a make-shift birthday party (see Snoopy shot below).


A few objects are from my childhood. This is a statue given to me by my Opa, at one time a well-known family physician in Fairport, NY. I'm fairly certain I wasn't more then a few years old when he gave it to me.

Also from my Opa, though rediscovered just this past winter in storage-


Yes, it's a walnut, although I think my dad said it was called a 'Fairy Nut' or something like that.


Basically, every Christmas, my Opa would gather some walnuts, stuff them with strange, random knick-knacks (my brother got a vintage California State pin) and hand them round at dinner.


The Snoopy dates all the way back to 1968 and still (barely) plays. The most sentimental object housed by my cabinet?


My cat Titus' ashes. I'm hoping to find a nice jar to transfer them to, but for now I'm kind of enjoying the charm of a simple tin box.

Thanks...

Thanks to my Uncle Pete for taking care of Titus in his last few hours.


Thanks to Behemoth for showing me how many other rad cats are out there.

Thanks to Hiroko for an awesome and always educational day at the Natural History Museum.


And thanks to this mysterious woman here for finally filling up that empty wall space in my room. Of course, I still need to figure out what to do with the other half of the wall...

Hemingway Would Be Proud

For those who don't know I adopted a fantastic feline last Thursday.

His name is Behemoth ('B' for short). He's a black Maine Coon mix, has approximately seven toes on each foot and is prone to sticking his tongue out. He also sounds a bit like a Cylon when he purrs.


When I rescued him from an apartment housing at least 14 cats, 4 dogs and 3 children he looked a bit like this.


Now, thanks to the wonderful girls at Petco, he looks more like this.


Hopefully, in a month or so, he'll look more like this.

Now and forever...

Last April, Ron Tanner, a writer from Baltimore contacted me (through Facebook of all things) to work on a 'short' film based on a 'short' story he had written.

As usual, the 6 minute read through ballooned in to a 10 minute, traditionally animated project. For those reading who don't understand how this happened, try reading a paragraph straight-through, no intonation, no pausing for effect, etc. Then read again as if you were actually telling someone a story. Where'd that extra 30sec. come from?

But, my complaints on actually having to do work aside, I really like the way it's turning out and figured I should share some of the boards.

Ron wanted a loose line for the characters. It's not very apparent in the drawings here, but will definitely be applied when moving into animation.

Speaking of, once animation gets seriously underway, if any of you out there are or know of students looking for credit, let me know. I'll be the first to admit I've bitten more than I can chew and would love an extra set of hands.

Day-Tripper Part I

Did a lot of traveling this week, which thankfully, kept my mind off other things.

First stop, Philadelphia! I've been SLOWLY working on a side project with a writer from Baltimore, Ron Tanner. The piece involves cats (somewhat therapeutic) and about 10 minutes of hand-drawn animation (not so therapeutic).

The film is narrated by the main character, an old 'cat lady' hosting a afternoon brunch. I immediately thought of my friend and occasional business partner, Stephanie Yuhas who lives and works down in the Philadelphia area. We booked the sound room at our old college and spent a good four hours locked in a padded room.


Stephanie - voice artist, animator, writer, producer, curry and rice cooker... Is there any job she can't do?


Myself - trying to make sound editing look hawt...

The real fun came before and after, though. I haven't gotten a chance to just walk around the city in a while. First we headed to up to West Philadelphia so Stephanie could yell at some people.


The ice rink we use to 'hang' at.


View of Center City's skyline from Drexel's campus.


Then it was off to UArts to start the recording, with a brief stop at Hamilton Hall to pick up our Alumni IDs.

Afterward, we took a stroll down Pine, past some familiar sights.


Pine Street Pizza where the owner complimented me on my Greek pronunciation of 'gyro'.


Our old 'Slum-lord's' office and -


- preferred mode of transportation. Oh, the temptation...


Remember this?


Finally got a good shot of that Take-Out lovin' T-Rex! Would have loved to get a full-body shot but the weed-turned-tree was blocking it.


I finally headed out about 6:30PM, saying goodbye to the city that boast most murals in all of the grand US o' A (or at least it was 5 years ago).

Next post? Boston!

He is Not a Monster...

June 2000. I had just ended my first serious relationship and was about to graduate. Holly Howe's cat had a litter of kittens, most of which had already found homes. She was worried the last, a small black ball of fur, would head to the shelter if no one took him.

My family was already supporting two cats, but being the headstrong, rebellious teen I was (not), I decided to take him home that night. My parents eventually accepted him.


I gave him the name Titus after one of my favorite Shakespeare plays (I wanted to call him Saturninus but my mom forbid it).

I'm sure everyone believes this of their own, but he was the best cat in the world. He'd greet me when I came home, watch me from the driveway when I went to work in the morning, sit on my lap when I sang, roll on his back for rubs, lick my hands (even when they weren't covered with human food) and even bring me half-eaten rabbits.


He was 9 and died this past Tuesday of FIP (I had to look it up). There will never be a better cat. As my brother once pieced together from bits of newspaper clippings:

Titus- He is Not a Monster, Love Him.

That's a Wrap!

Been one of those weeks again (aka - another G-dcast due by end of day)... In an attempt to run off one more blog before the week's end, here it is! My week in photos-



Some crew has been shooting a film up and down Lewis Ave. all week. While I'm sure Mr. Cage is not involved (his latest local film most likely wrapping up in post-production), it's still nice to see all that fancy equipment.



And a little further down, a different sort of roadblock.



This is a new area that just been renovated in the building I work at. The door's locked, by the way. I guess we know where the next Ghostbusters is being shot. "There is no Dana..."


Douglas reminds me that with the end of every week comes recycling!

Beachtown - the beach = Nyack!

Headed out of town this weekend to see what was what at one of my former spots of employment: the Renaissance Faire.

I never made it. Always one for an impromptu adventure, I took a slight detour to Nyack to check out the Hopper House.

I had only been in 'downtown' Nyack once before, to drop off a DVD to the They Might Be Giants folks. It's 'quaint and cute'. I only have a problem with 'quaint and cute' when there's no beach attached to the town.


But on to the main attraction!




When visiting the Florida Keys one year, my mom and I took a tour of Hemingway's house. In a way, this was even nicer than that, being so 'off the beaten path'. There are guided tours of Hemingway's estate; Hopper has a girl sitting in a side room selling postcards. It was more personal.


Inside also housed a gallery for local artists. The outside caters to them as well, mostly in the form of outdoor concerts. Unfortunately, as far as the fine arts are concerned-


This sign was tacked up out in front. Apparently Nyack has problems with cat-burglars.


A few blocks down was this sign. Coincidence?

Now for those of you still upset by my negative view of the folksy downtown area, I'll confess it wasn't that bad. This book store (and it's non-human employees) saw to that.


Such unoriginal reading material.


Keeping an eye on everything; the store's muscle.