Iphone short

I recently completed some BGs with my erstwhile buddies, Mysh Mashko, doing a short for an Iphone App. We completed this short in three weeks, whilst doing a bunch of other work, so we are, how do you say? -fairly chuffed with ourselves.

This is the establishing BG. I love anything involving planes, yum.


And here's the short.

The man is a genius

I love my work. I do.
And as I get further along, I find myself more and more drawn to the design process. some of us just fit that mold- visual geeks that love to collect things together, combine random scraps of ideas and impressions, searching for the right angle of attack. We can stop and look intently at the sky and try to figure out exactly what purple-ish blue it would take to recreate it.
IF this is your thing then, go check out Lou romano's latest post showcasing tons of his design process on Pixar's UP.

I love this guy- Totally, completely creative. I just love the fact that he's working at the worlds most successful CG animation studio, and he figures things out with little model dioramas and spotlights on his desk.

Here's a great example of his searching for that elusive 'feel'- editing design visuals with music. filmaking with images. Love it.

Allnighters are destroying my will

My wife is very patient with me as I enter these last few days of storyboarding insanity. She kisses me goodnight, and leaves me to work....And degenerate into a skeletal shadow of my previous self. If you are up all night, say hi, keep me motivated :)

This is genius

This one time... from nelson boles on Vimeo.

The work of Nelson boles, created in flash, this is a stunning glimpse into some parallel universe. Super sound design and graphic sensibilty with gorgeous animation. This guy is off the hook.

Jaffa sketches

After an insane period of storyboarding like a drawin' freak, I thought I'd do some -er- sketching, to relax. Went along the paradise of architectural decay, Jaffa. Hung out in the square with my good buddy doron and his lady Aline. I enjoyed the slanting light and the drifting tourists.

A little wierdness

...before bedtime.

monkey misery

from today's sketchbook- the latest in a long line of miserable animals...What's wrong with me?

Watercolour.

*Update*

Want to see him move?

This is what happens when you have talented flash animator friends! Check it out. By Oren Mashkovski, Flash fiend.

Mean Mutha-taurs

Gosh, they did turn out mean lookin'. Minotaur doodle, charcoal, ink and digital.

I continue to plow through boards, a large portion of which are for Aardman's Shaun the Sheep. My crew are finally looking to wrap on more than two hours worth of story reels, so I'm very proud. It's going to be barbecue time soon :)

In other news, flowers are all over the place right now. In Israel, the seasons break down as winter (a week of rain) Spring (two weeks of explosive flowery profusion, soon to wither under the relentless sun) and.. Summer. They say Autumn exists here but so far I haven't seen any evidence.

Here's of pic of lovely wife and daughter in the flowers. If I had had a long-haired blond couple nearby I would have shot a 70's shampoo advert with them, frolicking about.

Bustin ma behind

Hey there- Many many things are happening to me right now, both good and challenging. I'm now freelancing and having a hell of busy month, which is wonderful. But I walk with a permanent slouch and can't handle daylight. All that said, I'm truly excited about going into business on my own.
So, anytime you need a penguin painted- you know where I am.

More soon. I'm off to do allnighter number 2.
JPx

Adrenalin Lemmings

Here's a test I directed for 'Adrenalin Lemmings', a project I created with Alex Orrelle of crew972. They came out of some rough sketches I drew about 4 years ago. I was trying to come up with something funny about koalas, but got distracted by drawing lemmings with crash helmets on in the background. So I thought it best to run with that, because koalas aren't exceptionally funny anyway.

The concept follows the activities of these four ambitious but idiotic lemmings as they use the urban jungle for their own perilous ends. It got picked up by a studio, and then got released back to crew972 again as their slate got cancelled. We're hoping somebody out there will give them a home before they explode.

The test was fun to shoot- we did it fast and dirty with a cheap camcorder, and a few health and safety infringments, hanging out of the side of the car.

Here a little vis-dev. They drive a modded lemming mobile- essentially an R/C car with the controller taped to the hood -I loved tamiya cars when I was a kid :)

Credits:

Director JP Vine Producer Alex Orrelle

Cgi and animation Producer Nir Ginat

Technical Director Menashe Morobuse

Compositor Ron Ganbar

Animators: Alex Orrelle, Nir Ginat

CG Modeller: Rafi Ben Aharon

Lighting and shading: Dror Revach

Sound design: Nati Zeidenstadt, Silk city Sounds

Music: Sepultura, Ratamahatta

Produced at Crew972

Visual development, a short history

I've been developing a tv show here a Crew972 over the last year, and thought you might like a peek at the visual development. It's a knights and dragons-based slapstick social commentary.

... I'm still working on ways to pitch it.

Anyway, in terms of style: My catchphrase for the design style, for all the talented folks that I'll hopefully work with on this show, is 'funky medieval', -or Medifunk, or Funkieval. A quick google search tells me I might just have coined those last two. I'm hoping it will catch on, you know, like steampunk.

I took some visual reference from some gorgeous danish architecture, which despite not being medieval, were funky. It's all subjective.

-Filled a sketchbook with scratchy little drawings like this:

And then played around with colour in photoshop,

-followed it up with some very rough previs:

And then, bringing it all into CG, we mockup the look and feel, aiming for a graphic, textural look, that should in the end be the essence of Medifunk.

I'll keep you posted. :)

The Battery Menace

How's about a bit of pulp-inspired cutout animation?

I recently had the fun task of designing this little viral for Mysh Mashko, a pair of directors over here. The brief was to get a classic b movie low-fi look. We collaged and distressed and scuffed up a bunch of photos in photoshop, and all the animation was created in flash. A soaring, ambitious picture, I think you'll find.

Oh, and I'm the guy with the gun.

See more at Mashko.com

lunchtime doodle

Tel Aviv has the best lunch time food....kebabs, felafel, humus...

-too bad I brought sandwiches.

Sketch update

I usually venture to and fro with my black a4 sketchbook and weapon of choice, a Japanese brush pen---ooh I love that pen. Can't find any more in my local art store, so may have to resort to mail order. Trying to get studies of people on buses usually ends up with awkward moments of eye contact with the subject. I'm not attracted to you sir/ma'am, I'm just - sketching you.

Want to smile?

Just a reminder that bad news is not the only thing that comes from Israel right now.

A gorgeous music video that should set you up for the day nicely, made for Oren Lavie by the Animation duo Yuval & Merav Nathan.