"Mashed" in Its Entirety

I know it's been a long time since I've posted. That's for a good reason--our family is very busy right now, expecting our second child and trying our best to orchestrate a move to California as painlessly as possible. Really sorry I haven't posted anything in a long while--even more sorry that I haven't had much time to draw for fun while taking care of all this grown-up stuff.

I promised some time ago that I would get around to posting my cartoon movie, "Mashed," and today is that day. Without further ado, I present to you the fruits of my BYU education.

I hope you love it. If you do, spread the word, because I would love for many people to be able to enjoy it. Thanks so much!!

Also of note: somebody else produced a student animated short this year called "Mashed." From what I understand, it was a student from RIT. Sorry, other kid, for stealing the title to your short film. Luckily the twain shall never be confused, because while yours is a sophisticated animated short, no doubt, mine is a stupid cartoon movie.

Just Like a Car, You're Pleasing to Behold

I'll call you Jaguar if I may be so bold...

You may remember I've got a soft spot for vintage cars. But kind of in the same way that Marc Bolan does. As it turns out, as much as the flamboyant front man of T Rex loved to sing about and collect cars, he apparently never learned to drive--and as much as I like to draw old cars, I actually know next to nothing about them other than what they look like on the outside.


At any rate, right down the block from us is a little shop called Ace and Jerry's Auto Glass where there are really cool cars parked out front, pretty frequently. This one happens to be for sale, if anyone's interested in a Buick Roadmaster of undetermined year (which is to say I don't know--I'm sure the seller would have a better idea). With any luck, people will keep parking their cool-looking cars out front, giving me something to draw when I go on walks to the market to pick up cough drops and such.

Also, incidentally...

Pretty Cool

Many congratulations to my friend and co-conspirator, Richard Williams, who won a Student Emmy for "Best Composition" for the music he wrote and arranged for Mashed (with the help of Stephen Nelson).
A short article on the event can be found on BYU's page, here.

I know I haven't posted much on the film yet, so here are some stills:


And a short trailer of sorts:

Inspire Days at Disney Animation Studios

Some fellow BYU students and I had the opportunity last week to attend the Inspire Days event at Walt Disney Animation Studios. We got to tour the studios, sit in on panels and lectures, and have one-on-one portfolio reviews. Below, some sketches to document the trip:


Pictured above: some dudes at Disney (and some dudes not)...
(Clockwise from top left) Bruce Smith, superstar Disney Animator; Maurice Sendak, not currently at Disney; Bill Perkins, Designer; Paul Briggs, afraid of physical exhertion; Steve Hickner, looking like Gilbert Gottfried; Bill Caparella, clearly a distant cousin of Vincent Price; and Brigham Taylor with his doppelganger.


Spaceman doodles, cowboy doodles, girls with guns doodles.


We stayed at the Marriott hotel across from the Bob Hope Airport in Burbank; I took the opportunity to draw things that I don't usually get to see living in Utah...like espresso makers.

Assorted Animal Characters

(handily labeled individually, for ease of perusal)




Recently, it was brought to my attention that while there are many different kinds of human characters in my portfolio, there is a blatant paucity of characters of the animal variety. By means of remedy, I post here the findings of last weekend. I spent most of Saturday doing sketch-research on various animals, and a number of hours today hashing out some rough designs from what I learned.
I sure had fun learning all sorts of new things about animals, too. (Did you know that over 86% of dogs have four legs, and use all of them to walk, or even run? Funny, when you think that most humans get by pretty okay on only half as many legs.) Suffice it to say, this has been an eye-opening weekend; and I plan on doing some more of this informal study of animals...at a safe distance, across from a computer monitor.

Portfolio

Character Animation Demo Reel 2010 from Anthony Holden on Vimeo.

I've jumped on the bandwagon and created a PORTFOLIO BLOG where, amongst other things, you'll be able to see all the stuff that I've been posting here, only in a slightly more professional context. Also, here's my animation demo reel. I spend most of my time doing boards and character designs, but I sure love the heck out of animating.

Thanks, Will.

The other day, I was looking over the shoulder of my friend, Will Strong, as he drew in his sketchbook. All I could see of his drawing was goggles and a mustache; I still don't know what it was that he was doing, but because of him I couldn't stop drawing these guys for a week. Week-long sketch addictions are becoming a thing for me lately.

Dirty Birds: Sal

He sells hotdogs. Also, he's behind the stand throughout the short, so no need to design a bottom half. (Maybe he doesn't even have a bottom half?)

Dirty Birds: Herbie

Here are some explorations of the Herbie character in my latest short project. By way of excuse, I've been spending the last few weeks doing lots of storyboards, so when they get to a presentable stage, I'll post them here.

Ye Olde Sketches

Digging through sketchbooks, I found some old stuff that I never posted. I still think this is funny.

An Answer

So, I know many of you have been losing a lot of sleep over Tuesday's riddle...
"What has two horns, a wooden leg, and a super-cooled nuclear core?"

And while you probably figured out the answer on your own, I'm going to give it to you again here:

ROBOT GOAT PIRATES!

Now, for further clarification, some images for your perusal.

[Fig. 1] Regular Goat Pirates (notice the conspicuous lack of cool android limbs)

[Fig. 2] This is an example of a pretty standard Robot Goat Pirate:

[Fig. 3] Dada as a Robot Goat Pirate. (Left image, according to Sawyer's imagination; right image, according to my own estimations)

[Fig. 4] Assorted other Robot Goat Pirates. (Seriously, I couldn't stop drawing these for an entire week.)

For Further Study: I'm pretty sure that THIS and THIS are both results of the same idea-generation process that produced Robot Goat Pirates.

A True-life Mystery

A riddle, dear readers.

What has two horns, a wooden leg, and a super-cooled nuclear core?

Feel free to think about it long and hard--but if you need help solving this riddle, allow me to elucidate with the following clues.



CLUE # 1: The Costume Shop.

In our town of Provo, there is a certain costume shop on Center street that always has scantily-clad mannequins displayed in the windows. One day, while Allison and Sawyer were walking by said shop...

Dada!

CLUE # 2: The Storybook.

One day, while innocently reading a picture book together...

Dada!

Clue # 3: The Screensaver Slideshow.

And again, one morning while Sawyer was watching our family photos go by on the slideshow...

Dada!

Something the matter, honey?

Yeah...

How certain are you that I'm Sawyer's father?

These are, of a truth, how events unfolded.
So, have you guessed the answer to the riddle?





[Addendum: Sawyer has moved from the habit of pointing at seemingly random things and saying "Dada," to the habit of pointing at seemingly random things and saying "Not Dada." For instance, the other day he brought me a book from our shelf and, while pointing proudly to the cover image of a weathered and bearded Walt Whitman, exclaimed "NOT DADA!" He followed this by further explaining to me that Mr. Whitman is also "Not Jesus" and "Not Santa."]