Kreidemännchen

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to do some (digital) classical animation. In close collaboration with producer Hannes Tödter at Pictorion Magma Animation, Hamburg for a ZDF promo (german public broadcasting station) . Thanks Hannes for your great work in communicating between all involved!!! The character work on the chalk board was animated by me on a tight deadline.

Two days ago I had this long and interesting conversation with a friend and animator about digital animation vs classical animation. ( I still do not really see the "vs"). One argument that came up was, that the digital animation process misses " life". I am not so sure, since this would be more up to the artist using the tools or software. The toughest part of switching to the computer is the feel of paper and pencil and the relative simplicity of it. On the other hand we like to forget how long it took all of us to master paper and pencil (if at all). Just go and watch your preschool kids.

But I would not go as far as saying digital animation automatically excludes classical animation (mind you, I do not even get into the 3d side of things).

I still would love to try plastic animation paper. I have been waiting for some years (!) now for them to write a mac version. Maybe some of you know another great 2d program, which is not vector based and has intuitive flipping options. I heard of TVpaint, but never got around trying it out in any great lengths.

Well, after not posting for a while, this has been an unusual verbal one. Hopefully nobody fell asleep ;)

Heads

...got my scanner to work again and tried it on my sketchbook. Random head doodles from my train rides to the city.

Green Thumbs

... two more scribbles of this little guy. I have been crazy busy the last few days, which is a good thing, but does not help posting. sorry.

Little Test

...Since I had the chance to concentrate on some animation for a few days last weeks I got carried away and played around with PS to do a little test of my own stuff.

Face Painting

This happened in back in February... needless to say : I am a bit behind my original plan of the daily scribbles. Its funny how much my style has changed since the beginning. Its an interesting exercise to write an English and German version simultaneously too. Eventually I want to publish the strips in both languages on a website I still have to design and build ( ...and learn how to).

I just finished a quick animation job for German TV and I am back on storyboarding for the rest of the week. Something else to share once it comes out.

There is a great new BLOG from my friend, colleague and insanely talented artist Sandro. Click here to check out his work.

...and Aya just uploaded some great screenshots from the Illusionist here!

The Flash

...not "that" Flash, but one of these characters of mine that lay dormant for a little while and just reappeared.

Bicycle

Got crazy with work this week...and some more crazy. But not before I had absolutely nothing to do and could experiment a little bit with drawing realistic. The backdrop is a little village in Hessen, where I spent some time during childhood.

Superman Is Superstrong

...superman part 2, as it happened. We were in Harrison Hotsprings at the time. I will never forget Indis expressions.

Superman Has No Kids

....some of you might remember this one. I drew this about a year ago, while we were still in Canada. I felt like redoing it in the 4 panel format. In the meantime Indi even has a proper superman costume BTW. I am doing the strips in German at the same time, since my kids are starting to read , but keep forgetting their English.

summertime

:)