Friday, December 4, 2009

Meltdown

***UPDATE*** This piece of animation got added to a Vimeo channel called MOTION FARM. Anyone who is a fan of animation should check this channel out.

The sound clip for November's 11 Second Club contest was too good to pass up. I laugh every time I listen to it. The folks that run the website are always offering up interesting and different tracks to work with. Plus, I work best under deadlines, so there you have it.

Meltdown from bj crawford on Vimeo.



My first impluse after hearing the track was to go and look at all of my Norman Rockwell books. He's the best artist to draw inspiration from because every piece he creates is teeming with rich narrative. I try and start every animation with an idea, not a specific piece of acting, but a narrative idea, and then the acting flows out of that. Here is one of the many images of Santa created by Rockwell:



I didn't get the idea of using Santa from Rockwell, but I thought of the idea while looking through his books, so I thought I'd just focus in on using his version of Santa as a starting point.


Here is the very, very first pass I did of the animation. This test is at 50% of the size I ended up animating the actual drawings at.



Thanks again to everyone who stops by to read my blog.

24 comments:

Ivan Oviedo said...

Hi BJ,

Thanks for comment in my blog, I'm a great fan of your work.
Comgrats for this animation, will surely win november contest!

Unknown said...

I knew it!!
I saw it on 11 second club and had my suspicion that it was your work.
You are going to be a 3 times winner!

Valerie Thompson said...

I laughed so hard when I saw this! I hope you win (again)!

Unknown said...

Great stuff BJ! You really brought some life to the dialogue this month. Definitely my winner.

Jules said...

Fantastic job BJ! That elf cracked me up.

thndrcat said...

Awesome!
This is just what I needed to inspire me to work thru the rest of the night!

mattanimation said...

great job again, keep up the inspiring work!

Kyrstin said...

It looks fantastic; I seriously can't stop watching it!

Jammer said...

BJ, I have been a fan of your work since I first saw you submit to the 11 second club. Always a pleasure to check out your amazing 2d abilities. With your talent, I think you could have your pick of any of the top feature studios... and if you wanted 2d, I have been hearing more good things about Disney these days... If you haven't applied, I would do so again... if that is your sort of thing.

I am a big fan of your short film as well, great work.

James

Bobby Pontillas said...

Amazing work BJ!

Anonymous said...

Congrats man! Great job. Very life-like animating.

Question(*or two) Do you work full time in the industry right now? And two, how long does it really take you to complete one of these 11Sec. excercises? I mean, i'm guessing there's 200-300 drawings in there(plus clean-ups)

Must be nice having the time to complete these so well. If it comes easy to you, then all the better!

Congrats again.

Matt Shepherd said...

Nice work man, not much to say, looks great. I like what you did with the dialogue, although I wasnt a huge fan of the track, you made it work!

As usual, great animation. Wish I could do that!

brov said...

Wonderful animation! I love it.

Anonymous said...

Damn you BJ, you're too damn good!

Congrats on 11 second.

Pete

Trent Correy said...

Hey Bj
Great job man, your acting is so amazing, not only that but your ability to capture the dialogue not only in the design of your character, but the expressions, lipsync and acting choices. I loved it man,everytime I see your work, I want to draw, draw and draw. Thanks for posting.
-Trent

Michael Sporn said...

Very nice work. Your acting is quite good. You should be working on a longer piece to really into a character. Keep up the great work.

JR said...

More beautiful work, BJ. You should maybe consider doing this animation thing full time. Skillz to pay the Billz.

messytimbo said...

congrats on the win dude! thats 3 in 3! what a record! i really love the piece. and i friggin amazed the the panda water colour animation!!! that's so beautiful!!! can't wait to see that finished

JoR said...

Just discovered your blog....and I love it! very nice works...
Prepare to be linked! hoho! :D

Anonymous said...

Hi BJ. I posted this same question at 11SecClub Foru aswell.. but here I go.

I also am attempting traditional animation this month and would like to know what you're using to scan and composite you stuff.

What do you do with multiple layers and held cels? Do you shoot under a light box or make certain poses alpha layers in photoshop?

Any info would help. THanks :)

Ariel

John T Quinn III said...

Wow, wow, wow!!! Absolutely beautiful work. I saw your entry on the 11 second club which lead me to your blog etc etc. Great, consider yourself bookmarked.

Anonymous said...

One of my friends is going through 2D animation courses and she's been posting some of her favorite shorts on Facebook via link.

She linked to "Discovery" and I have to say you've got quite the talent there Mr. Crawford. Quite the talent indeed.

Having no experience in animation, I still prefer the look and feel of 2D over 3D animation any day and you sir, have made my 2D inner child scream with excitement.

Bravo, I can't wait to see more!

Anonymous said...

That's an amazing work. Also thanks for posting a clip of your work in progress - it's very insightful.

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