Your Friend the Rat

I don't own a hi-def tv, or a blu-ray/HD DVD player, but Hi-def 3D animation is definitely a good case for the extra resolution.

Case in point, apparently the Blu-ray edition of Ratatouille will feature an exclusive short, "Your Friend the Rat", directed by Jim Capobianco (story by Jeff Pidgeon, and Alexander Woo).

[Update] The user reviews on Amazon seem to point to the short being on both the DVD and Bluray versions - we'll see when it comes out, I guess!

Here are some stills I've found:







I'm not sure how many of you read my "News from the Grapevine" section to the left, but in related Pixar news, there was some Wall-E test screenings in Portland recently, with one account posted here. Apparently the film looked 80% finished to the viewer.

Also, according to the New York Times, Sony Pictures Animation and Sony Pictures Imageworks may be up for sale.

Send a Sendable!

JibJab's launched up their new line of videos/images/thingamabobbers called Sendables, the line of "Non-Crappy eCards".

Some of my personal favorites are New Baby, The Cuddly Bunny Birthday (Ok, I'm biased on that one - I worked on it), and pretty much all of the Postcards.

What's great about sendables is that they're created by real artists, have a credit model (instead of subscription service), and all have a level of twisted, clever, and/or silly level of humour attached to them. Also, you get 50 free credits just for signing up to JibJab.com.

It also doesn't hurt that awesome artists like Nate Wragg, Ray Xu and Johannes Uy worked on the content for JibJab. Go ahead and check out the level of artistry of some of the competition's eCards, and you'll see why Sendables are so great.

Do yourself a favor and check out Sendables!

Pfffirate

A short from Supinfocom. A great example of a created world.

Here.

Scott Caple

I'm not sure how I missed the boat on this one, but apparently the incomparable Scott Caple has a blog.

Three Fingers Hold the Pen.

Mama (again)

I guess I like drawing the Mom most....

World Animation Day....

I almost forgot to mention that today is World Animation Day!

Check out the NFB's site if you are in Canada for all the events that you can catch today.

If you live elsewhere, FPS has a rundown.

Let's Celebrate!

Showin' some love....

It's an exciting thing to be in fourth year at Sheridan.

Not only is it wonderful to be working on your own film, but seeing what everyone else is up to is a treat.

This is by no means an all-inclusive list, just a representative sample of people who have started posting work up online.


Alex Cote


Evan Bonifacio


Bartek Bugaski


Guillaume Chartier


Robert Kim


Dan Chou

Story is King...

I know that I've been posting mostly life drawing up since September so far. Truth is, the story reel for my film is taking up pretty much all of my time, with design playing second fiddle for now.

I can only really get to design when I find some spare time in between, which is pretty rare.

Sheridan is 40...

This article has been making the rounds.

There are definitely some inaccuracies in the article, but still interesting to check out.

Wacom Cintiq 12WX

Wacom of Europe has let slip that they are releasing a new model of Wacom Cintiq, the 12WX, in November. It has all the same features of a normal (21 inch) Cintiq, but in a 12 inch form factor. Unfortunately, the price still seems to be up there - the device is quoted as being around $1679 U.S (still much more affordable than the ~$3000 21UX though).

Check out the overview and the tech specs.

Momma...

So it's reading week....

That means lots of work and probably sparse posting...

The film is coming along swimmingly. We're at a leica reel (story reel, for you Yanks) stage and are just refining and whittling things down.

Oh, and another note - I will need help with voice actors real soon for the scratch track - if anyone wants to audition for a middle-aged woman and a 8 or 9 year old boy, let me know!

Sylvain Chomet's "L'illusioniste"

An apparently outdated still from Sylvain Chomet's "L'illusioniste," based on an original script by Jacques Tati.

It's being worked on at Django Films in Edinburgh, Scotland. Scheduled for release in 2009.

Ron and Murray...

Deb and Ed

Wall-E Tradeshow Promo

Check out this video featuring some newer stuff from Wall-E.

Thanks to Deep for pointing this one out.

[Update] Fixed up the link - sorry about that!

Again, from today...

Today...

From Today...

More Beegees...

They're new if you haven't seen them before.

From today...

Imagi's "Astroboy"

More Life Drawing...

Aww Yeah!

JibJab's released a new round of Starring You!s - This time around, they are fake movie trailers!

Check out:



and...



I had tons of fun working on these... a big shout out to all the guys and gals at JibJab for pushing this one out the door - especially hats off to you, Mr. Worrel

The Cool House....

Check out House of Cool's new website here.

Today...

From Today....

Linetests....

Not sure if you guys habitually check the featured videos section of the site to the left.

Make sure to check out Designing Pocahontas, If I Never Knew You from Pocahontas, and this linetest from Fantasia 2000.

Enjoy!

Georgina...

Georgina playing on a Nintendo DS during break:

Wall-E!

Don't know if you guys saw this.... It's a newish trailer for Wall-E that features one newer scene plus the Pixar Intro featuring the title character. (Just a note - the website is "en francais" - you will probably have to wait 10 seconds for the video ad to clear for the video to start playing).

Also to the left is the new poster.

Just thought y'all should know!