More Giraffe Drawings

Been thinking a lot about my main character for my film. Lots of work to do still on new story, but excited about the new direction. It will be locked this summer (finally). I think it will be solid enough to proceed to layout/ animation (full on production). Boy, my hand/ wrist is going to hurt getting back into drawing shape. Really love the traditional hand drawn look. So excited to get back into production on a film. Getting close! But, story, Story, STORY is SOOOOO important that I want to make sure I have it right before I dive into animation.

Library Book Sales

I always stop by the local Worthington libraries to see what books they have for sale. I will sometimes buy four illustrated kids books for a dollar (good reference material) and will always grab a film and tv book if its there for a dollar. Today, I found 'The Men Who Would Be King', a story about the birth of Dreamworks.   Looking forward to going through this one.

More Sketches

Playing with the female giraffe. Love the stumper tool! Miss paper and charcoal pencil and the stumper :-)

Giraffe Sketches

Working on changing my main character to a female giraffe. Pushing the look/ design a bit away from the cartoony.

Marketing a Book or Even Your Own Art

Great post that you can use to make sure you're maximizing your online presence.

Book Marketing Tool Kit Link

New Giraffe???

Taking a new approach to my story and the lead giraffe may change gender and get a makeover. This is he direction I'm leaning.

LCC Holiday Gift Fest Coloring Contest Winners

On November 10th at the LCC Holiday Gift Fest, we held a coloring contest at the Captain Cheeseball Books table. Here is the winning piece! Colored by Sydney age 9. Congrats Sydney and thanks to everyone who participated. A selection of some of the best entries can be found on the Captain Cheeseball Books Facebook Page.

Working on Animatic

Working on revising a section in my Animatic. Had to rearrange a few shots. Working to finish up the animatic by November 10th for my trip out to L.A. Probably going to have a few late nights this week.

T-Shirt Design

Did this logo/ t-shirt design a couple months back. Have two more t-shirts coming out soon. This one is for a friend who started a physical fitness website and company in Indianapolis. http://jimbeebeamrap.com/

Scene 27 from Animatic

Scene 27/ UCF FILM from tom richner on Vimeo.

This is my first attempt at a 3D shot in Storyboard Pro 3D.  It's basically doing what I want it to do.  Need to get more comfortable with the tools in the program, but not bad for a first attempt (good enough for the animatic/ time to move on).  

Working on Animatic

Working on the animatic for the animated film I am working on.  I still do not have title and refer to the film as UCF Film (Untitled Cleveland Film... Film).  These are two images from the storyboard.  Not terribly exciting right now, but had them on the desktop and thought I'd throw up here.  Excited about the bottom image though.  This is a 3D model that Mark Fitzpatrick (CCAD Instructor) created for me based on some sketches I gave him.  Great modeler.  Will be attempting to use this model in Storyboard Pro 3D.  Just imported it into the program tonight.  Will see how it ends up going! 

The Saga of Captain Cheeseball Arrives!

Starting tomorrow, Wednesday September 26th, The Saga of Captain Cheeseball book series will be available at Larson's Toys and Games located at 1617 W. Lane Avenue Columbus, Ohio 43221. On November 10th, from 10am to noon, I will be at the store doing a book signing. Please come and check us out if you can! Thanks!!!

 

'The Boy Who Cried Free iPad' PDF

Dan Ewen wrote this story and I illustrated it.  A twisted modern take on a classic story.  Enjoy!  We're planning on doing one of these per month and hopefully get them out there wide for all to see.   The Boy Who Cried Free iPad

CCAD Article About One Drop Comic Project

CCAD published a short news article about the One Drop Comic Project.  You can read the article here. 

Quote For The Year

I have a few lofty goals and aspirations this year and over the next few years including an animated film and some other personal goals. I love this quote and think it will be my guidepost for this year:

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.

T. S. Eliot

Quick Sketch

Just a quick sketch.  Guy surfing.  Gotta transition out of the world of Captain Cheeseball and back into the animated film I am working on.  HARD to switch gears mentally. 

Sample from Captain Cheeseball Comic

I am currently collaborating with some fellow UCLA Animation Workshop graduates on a graphic novel which will be a compilation of short stories from many different artists.  It might be available by the end of this year (I will keep you posted). I wanted to share a page in progress from the piece I am submitting. My short story elaborates on the dream sequence in Volume II of The Saga of Captain Cheeseball. I'm excited that the book will be printed in color!!! Enjoy!!!

Captain Cheeseball Books on Facebook Reaches 1000th 'Like'!!!

Yesterday, the Captain Cheeseball Books Facebook Page reached its 1000th like!  Its exciting to see that many eyes on the page!  Writing the book was easy compared to getting the word out on the book.  Reaching your audience takes some time and effort.  'Thanks' to all those who have checked out the Facebook page and an EXTRA special 'Thank you' to those who have purchased the books!!!  If you or your kids have read the books, please let people know about them.  Word of mouth can be extremely powerful.  Thanks again and its exciting to move into this next stage of the life of The Saga of Captain Cheeseball!!!  

Logo Design

This is a logo I designed for Jim Beebe who is starting a fitness center in Indianapolis, IN (Jim Beebe AMRAP).  I enjoyed this project because it relied very heavily on the character being the center of the design. 

Volume II of The Saga of Captain Cheeseball is available!!!

At midnight, on June 18th, the The Saga of Captain Cheeseball: Volume II hit the virtual shelves!!!   I'm VERY excited about this next chapter in the Cheeseball saga!!!

A book trailer promoting volume II will be online in the next day or two (working on that now).  I will post the link around as soon as its online.  Below is the blurb I put on my Captain Cheeseball Books Blog:

The adventure continues with the loveable but fairly inept captain as he moves deeper into his quest to find a treasure for the king of the island nation of Flinginghamdunbergville.  Captain Cheeseball finds himself in a few tight spots in the second chapter of the story and also meets a few new friends who accompany him on his adventure.  Its time to continue your adventure with Captain Cheeseball!!!

Cover for Volume II of The Saga of Captain Cheeseball

This is the drawing of the cover for Volume II of The Saga of Captain Cheeseball.  My son Christopher colored this cover.  Those can be seen on the blog for Captain Cheeseball as well as the Facebook page for the series.  Check them out!!!

Volume II will be available on June 18th!!!  Look for it!!!

Update: May 24, 2012

Keeping pretty busy these days with Captain Cheeseball.  After the second volume of books comes out on June 18th, I will probably take a little bit of a break from this series.  Will need to get back into the writing of the books and will probably slow down a bit.  Might be able to get the next book out by December, 2012.  Will need to be switching gears here very soon and moving into the production of my animatic for my animated film.  I have it basically roughed out in my head and on paper, but need to start building it up in Storyboard Pro 3D.  The goal is to have a finished animatic by November 1st.  So, once Volume II of Captain Cheeseball is out, its full speed ahead on the animatic. 

Ebook Blues

I'm working on getting an Ebook version of Captain Cheeseball available through the Kindle and it's not an easy process it seems. Tried to upload my PDF file; however, even though they SAY you can upload a PDF, they say there are usually problems and that seems to be the case. Looks like I will have to create a new version of the book through Word. Not a huge deal but will probably take a couple days. If it works, it's worth the effort. Will be nice to reach a larger audience. Just opened Captain Cheeseball up to overseas purchase which is cool. Will be fun to see my first international sale. Not sure how to market for that.

Plans for the Summer

With the school year winding down, it's time to switch gears from my classes to my personal work. I am thinking that I may be starting a test shot for my film here in the next couple weeks. I will be working on my boards this summer and also creating some 3D models to work inside the Animatic here and there. It might be that this takes up all my time leading up to the fall. If so, that is fine. I want this Animatic to be solid. However, if I have some time during that process I'm thinking I might want to do a shot from the film. This wouldn't probably be in the film but it would be a good bit of test animation as I move into layout and animation next year. Very excited to be posting regular pencil tests of animation when I get into that stage! Just thinking out loud.

Interview with Animation Insider.com

An interview that I did with the website Animation Insider.com just came out today. Click on the image below to check it out!  If you are a student studying animation and haven't seen the website, it is a really nice resource.   Enjoy!

Interview Coming Soon!!!

I'm doing an interview for the Animation Insider website soon. I will post the link to the interview when its available. If you've been in a class of mine before, you've probably heard some of what I talked about, but there will be some new stuff as well. Looking forward to seeing it online!

The First Copies of Captain Cheeseball Sold!

The first copy of The Saga of Captain Cheeseball: Book I sold through Amazon.com on April 16th!  The first copies of Volume I sold through CreateSpace.com today, April 19th (four copies)!  Special thanks to Jeff for that first purchase!  If and when 'Captain Cheeseball, The Movie' comes out, I'll give you a special shout out!

Breaking news!  You saw it here first on... my blog!...  I'm aiming to have Volume II available before June 1st!  

Sample from Book III: Help Me Wise Old Wizard

Wanted to post some sample artwork from The Saga of Captain Cheeseball.  This page is towards the end of book three where Captain Cheeseball regains control of his ship after the wise old wizard gives him a little helping hand.  He arrives at a ship graveyard and starts to navigate his way through it.  (click here to purchase book)

Had a LOT of fun putting this volume together.  Just finished roughing out the artwork for book four.  It will probably take me about a month and a half to get the next volume complete and finished.  The other challenge is that I am also working on an animated film concurrently.  Also working on illustrations for another book with a friend of mine, so need to budget my time wisely over the next couple months.  Time is probably going to tip towards the animatic for my animated film for a while.  Need to make some progress on that and put the books on the back burner for a while (not stop with them completely, but not the priority right now).  

This book has been great for getting my energy up.  Quick and fast and loose.  Really ready to dive back into my animatic! 

The Saga of Captain Cheeseball Volume I is Available!

The Saga of Captain Cheeseball Volume I is officially available!!!

There will be a total of six books in this series for kids which will chronicle the adventures of Captain Cheeseball.  He is hand picked by the king of Flinginghamdunbergville to find a treasure for the good of his homeland; however, things may not be as they seem.   There are details throughout the stories that kids can add and draw directly into the book. The illustrations throughout the books can also be colored (my daughter Lauren colored the cover). I hope to have the next volume completed and available within the next month or two.

The story is based on a character my kids made up. I love telling them silly little stories at bedtime, and I decided recently to go ahead and actually make this story into a book series. I had a lot of fun putting it together and, if you pick up a copy, I hope you and your kids enjoy the stories as much as I enjoyed telling them and creating the books!

It will be available on Amazon.com in the next week or so. I will post a note when that happens. 

To purchase the book, follow the link below.  Thanks!!! 

https://www.createspace.com/3844362

Progressive Animated Piece

Click on the image above to view an animation that I helped out with.  Animated about four scenes in this piece: the fishing scene (at :23 seconds),the sliding on clouds scene (:52), the calendar scene (:58) and the screaming eagle scene (2:32).  Andy Friz was the animation director on this, and we used cut-out characters rigs that he created in Harmony.  Was created REALLY quickly (in a matter of 5-6 weeks I believe, which is FAST for a three minuted animated film).  Enjoy!  Had fun working on it!

http://www.progressive.com/insurance/flosbestday/index.html

The Saga of Captain Cheeseball

Everyone is doing it, so here goes.  Getting set to start a Kickstarter project.  I've been telling my kids silly bedtime stories for a while and thought, 'I should write one of these down'.  So, I am writing one down and doing the illustrations as well.  Its The Saga of Captain Cheeseball!  Having fun with it and moving FAST through it.  Keeping the illustrations line work so that kids can color their books.  I have a separate blog that I will be maintaining documenting the progress of the production.  I will also announce once my Kickstarter project goes live.  Excited to try it!!!

Messin' Around

Watched a couple Clint Eastwood films the other day while I was drawing a new kids book I am self publishing.  LOVE the old Clint films.  Fist Full of Dollars and Good, Bad, Ugly great!

Looking forward to spring break next week.  Planning on locking myself in a classroom at school and boarding Monday and Wednesday.  Will fill up the walls with blank paper and board all day both days.  Should have a good start after that for my next pass on my film.  REALLY enjoyed it the other day and got through a decent amount in an hour.  So, two days should be GREAT!

Storyoarding Time Lapse Movie

This was a time lapse of me working on the revised board for my animated film project in one of the classrooms at CCAD.  I had been working digitally on this new board and realized that I needed to go back to paper for the initial pass.  So, planning on spending spring break working through a series of passes on my board in this fashion.  Really enjoyed it and looking forward to it!

New Hall Shot With Character

Working this shot up with character in it. First pass. Will play with this some more, but basically what I want to do with this shot. Just reading 'Steal Like An Artist' by Austin Kleon. Good, VERY quick read, but one part he talks about setting up an analog AND digital workstation in his studio and it makes a lot of sense. Did that today (moved all the electronics off of my other table so I can go back to paper and rough the first pass of my new board BEFORE I jump into the computer). Like that hands on feel and you feel more physical with the paper. Then, I can bring it into the computer and begin to start working over top of the rough sketches on paper. Will follow that approach for the next version of this board. Just keeps evolving. I think the story is getting streamlined and with that, I think I'm moving in the right direction. Finding the essence of what I want to say AND trying to pull out the scenes I WANT TO SEE on the screen. GOTTA make the movie you want to see!

3D Camera Move Test in After Effects

Looking forward to a productive beginning of the year at school and on my own personal projects.