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International Animation

Yesterday I had the opportunity to view some amazing international 3d and 2d animation.

The event was held in the Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) theater at the Presidio in San Francisco, California, it was very entertaining, well worth the one-hour commute to the location.

This even was made possible thanks to the International Animation Association, San Francisco chapter ASIFA SF and Animation World Network, the short animations were selected and presented by Ron Diamond.

Please click here to find out how to become a member of ASIFA SF, some of the events like the one mentioned above are only open to current members, one of the many benefits of joining.

I absolutely loved La Maison en Petits Cubes which was directed by Kunio Kato, it was an unique and refreshing way to share with the viewer life memories and the passage of time.

The other two that caught my attention were Skhizein directed by Jérémy Clapin, very clever way of explaining the problems and dangers a 150 ton meteorite can cause when one is struck by it, and Kudan directed by Taku Kimura (Trailer).

We also had the opportunity to see Glago’s Guest directed by Chris Williams and produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios (I saw John Lasseter name in the credits) as well as Presto by Doug Sweetland / Pixar.

I liked the other animations as well, but the ones mentioned above were my favorites.

If you have a chance see if you can get the opportunity to view them, they were all great in their own right.

Keith Reynolds Can’t Make it Tonight by Felix Massie
La Maison en Petits Cubes by Kunio Kato
Kudan by Taku Kimura
A Mouse’s Tale by Benjamin Renner
I Slept with Cookie Monster– Kara Nasdor-Jones
Franz Kafka’s: A Country Doctor by Koji Yamamura (Present at the event)
Glago’s Guest by Chris Williams
Hot Seat by Janet Perlman
Presto by Doug Sweetland
Skhizein by Jérémy Clapin
KJFG #5– Alexei Alexeev (Present at the event)

Thank you Ron Diamond, ASIFA SF and ILM for this event.

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SketchCrawl #20

Saturday October 25th was SketchCrawl #20, I decided to stay local a few days prior to the big event.

Since I was staying local I figured it would be a great time for my little dog to spend extra time outside, and perhaps sketch a few things that have caught my attention when I take him for a walk.

I used a micron pen for the first sketch, it is always a little ‘scary’ using a pen because you cannot erase if you make a mistake. I figure by using a pen I would force myself to just sketch and not pay attention to perfection.

After the sketch was completed, i figured I should also add color, I was also curious to see how this sketchbook would handle water. Below is the result.

 

Where shall we go next?

 

The second sketch I did was that of an oak tree, but I didnt finish because my little dog was just too impatient, hehe his idea of going out was not one of staying in only one place.

Below are links of some of the materials i used, my portable watercolor (student grade) is a different model.

I buy most of my materials at Blick.

micron pen

Winsor & Newton Cotman Watercolors

Niji waterpen (love these)

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Thanks to Life – Gracias a la Vida

Thanks to life for giving us so much… opportunities, challenges, experiences both good and bad…

Sometimes we are too busy with everyday worries, we miss the beauty around us, the joy of being alive, to enjoy life at its most simple form, to simply be aware of the miracle of our existence.

Today I thank life, for what I have and for that which I don’t, for the happy moments and the sad ones too, for the past opportunities as well as those yet to come.

May we all find joy and happiness in our life today and every other day.

I hope you enjoy this song, it seems the person who uploaded the song, also translated the lyrics in English/Portuguese (at the actual youtube page).

source link: Mercedes Sosa – Gracias a La Vida

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Pacific Coast Air Museum

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to drive by the Pacific Coast Air Museum located by the Santa Rosa Airport, I have been meaning to go there for a while to sketch some of the planes. I figure I would take a couple of pictures so you can see a few of the planes they have there.

I also just found out that this weekend October 18th and October 19th is their Top Gun Weekend, they are going to allow visitors to sit in the cockpit of these planes F-14A Tomcat, F-16N Viper and F-5E Tiger II, now how cool is that.

I hope I can make it to this weekend’s event, most likely I wont time to sketch.. perhaps one of these days we can do a mini SketchCrawl there, so if you live in Sonoma County, Marin County or surrounding areas and want to set a date/time for some Saturday please let me know.

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Getting ready for Sketchcrawl

For the past month or so, I have spent my evening/night time dealing with website duties,  so I have hardly dedicated any time to sketching.

A couple of weeks ago I found myself in front of some trees with no materials and an urge to sketch them. I had read a couple of days prior to that day of a technique for drawing/sketching trees, so I decided to give it a try.

I don’t remember the name of the book but it was mentioning that one should first use dots or little lines to define the outline and work our way into the tree, by drawing more and more lines. Not having had the time to take any art courses (last class I took was back in High School days), I was eager to give this a try.

The image below is the result… I also sketched the trunk of a pine tree, at the beginning it appeared to be a difficult task but as I continued it seemed to take shape and now when I look at the sketch It seems I was able to capture what I was looking at (definitely an improvement I think).

Materials: regular ball point pen and the back/inside of a mailing envelope. (I will scan this later, here is a picture in the mean time).

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