Fishing...

Watched people fishing on Santa Monica Pier...

9 Minutes of Ratatouille...

Apparently a 9 minute clip of Ratatouille is going up on the Disney.com frontpage on May 1st. Make sure to check it out!

Also, today I was informed that Dreamworks is not only working on two features a year, but that that have around 11 features in the works. I think they were:

1. Shrek 3
2. Shrek 4
3. Madagascar 2
4. Bee Movie
5. Creature Feature
6. How to Train Your Dragon
7. Kung Fu Panda
8. Guardian
9. Crood Awakenings
10. Monsters Vs. Aliens

The rest are apparently in early development and are unnamed.

[Update] moved some stuff around in this post. Thanks to Matt J. for clarifying some things.

Prolific Dragons...

I met the fabulous Nicolas Marlet today, and saw his work on the upcoming "How To Train Your Dragon."

Goodness gracious!

And yes, I did bug him to start a blog.

Hardcore...

There's this group of people playing in a drum band right on Venice Beach and they're there literally all day and all night. I can hear them right now even as I post this.

I'm living right in the middle of this.

I think I'm gonna have a good summer.

Heading out...

Hey there,

I'll be heading out to California for the summer. I'll definitely have internet down there but I'm not sure when I'll be able to start posting up again.

Suffice to say, when I'll know, you'll know, y'know?

Also, I always wanted to extend a congratulations to all the fourth years for a wonderful screening of some wonderful films. I wish you all the best in the industry.

Anyways, peace out - see you on the other side of the border!

Ratatouille TD's

Here's a video about the technical direction in Ratatouille. Contains some new clips!



Here's a direct link to the hi-res Quicktime as well.

Also, Upcoming Pixar noted that Pixar is now working on 6 films in total, them being:

1. Ratatouille - Brad Bird
2. WALL-E - Andrew Stanton
3. Untitled Gary Rydstrom Feature - Gary Rydstrom
4. Untitled Brenda Chapman Feature - Brenda Chapman
5. Toy Story 3 - Lee Unkrich
6. Untitled Pete Doctor Feature - Pete Doctor

Crazy!

2D Animated Shorts @ Disney...

AnimatedView.com has a post about the upcoming 2D animated shorts being produced by Disney. Among them are 'Ballad of Nessie', 'Prep and Landing', 'Golgo's Guest', and the new Goofy Short, 'How to hook up your home theater.'

Mark Henn, Eric Goldberg, and Andreas Deja are working on the likes of these. Check out the link for more info!

Lookin' for inspiration...

Swing by the incomparable John Nevarez's blog to see some of the work of the equally incomparable Paul Felix, Loic Rastout, Robh Ruppel, and Kevin Nelson.

Here are some of the above's works:

Joe....

Probably not what he'll look like in the end, but definitely a conceptual starting point.

Tanya...

from today and yesterday....

Robert Valley

All of these are animated by the fabulously talented Robert Valley.

Around the net...

Subscribe to all of the Ratatouille Video Podcasts here.

Also of note, according to LaughingPlace.com, Dean Wellins has been added to Rapunzel Unbraided as a co-director, implying that Glen Keane has taken John Lasseter's advice to either fix the story or enlist help to fix the second and third acts of the film. Check out the article here. Wellins is an Annie Award Nominated animator who worked on Iron Giant, Osmosis Jones, and was Head of Story on American Dog before switching over to Rapunzel.

More life...

Trying to get some last-minute portfolio stuff together.

Only one today...

It doesn't look like her, but...

I still like the drawing though.

From Today...

Style5

My pals Chuck Gammage and Sam Chou have started up a joint venture called Style5. Sheridan students Evan Bonifacio and Ray Xu have contributed to the project. Evan's animation is featured in the reel.

Check out their work and their site here.

Digital life...

Just taken' a spin with the new Tablet PC...

Sheridan Films...

It occurred to just recently that not everyone has seen the films that Sheridan produces. Here's a dump of several films that have been produced in the past few years.

Vera Brosgol and Jenn Kluska's "Snow Bo"




Dan Rodrigues and Jon Klassen's "An Eye for Annai"



Aiden Glynn's "A Boy and His Bear"


Aiden Glynn's "Stuck"



The first film in this Channel Frederator Episode, "The Ballad of Sheep 13", By Kyle McQueen:



Aaron White's "Grand Adventures of Rosenpig"


Sheridan Group film, "The Terrible Error of the Replacement Mayor"


Sheridan Group film, "Umbrella Boy"


Sheridan Group film, "Little Big"


Sheridan Group film, "A Present for the Eiffel Tower"


If I can find more I'll post 'em up.