Killara

When our daughter started to crawl she used to marvel at the colourful parrots on the eucalyptus branches in our backyard in Killara, Australia

OS Catalina vs ToonBoom

Well played ToonBoom, well played...


⁣“Apple’s macOS Catalina (version 10.15) is expected to be released on a yet-to-be-announced date in October 2019. “…With its arrival comes stricter signing requirements for all applications as well as the removal of support for 32-bit code. These changes will affect Toon Boom’s software, including Harmony 16, Storyboard Pro 6 and prior versions. These applications will not function with macOS Catalina…”⁣

The Irrelephant

"Anything unrelated to elephants is irrelephant"  the internet

Storyboard Workshop

My next Storyboard Workshop is coming up in November. Always nice to get off my desk and in front of a real story “board” for a few days….

Guppies

...great to see the trailer from the BubbleGuppies...it brings back some memories from working overseas a couple of years ago.  I believe the show currently is airing in North America. I am glad Nick had the strength to pursue their vision and hoping the show is looking as good as all the clips I have seen so far.

Speaking about trailers. I just watched the 2 minute preview of Blue Sky´s RIO. Really nice!!! (almost as good as Bubble Guppies) (click here to watch it)

I should get back to posting some artwork again soonish...

Seasons Greetings

Seasons Greetings to all of you. Thanks for following my artwork throughout the year!

On this side of the pond everything is covered in freezing snow in time for Christmas. 2010 was an exciting year for me and all the signs promise more good things to come in 2011.  I feel very lucky to be part of so many interesting projects, also to have the pleasure working with amazing artists all over the world. Two of the projects will finally be aired in 2011. "Bubble Guppies" from Nickelodeon  I worked on the TV show almost 3 years ago and it now seems to be scheduled for 2011. The second one is Lauras Stern und die Traumonster, which is scheduled for theatrical release later on in 2011 on which I boarded a few sections.

I particularly enjoyed working with students in 2010: I learned A LOT  from you, thanks to all of you in case you make it to my blog. If the airports will be open for business again I will do a little talk in Dublin about the industry on the 8th of January at the ISA. My first time back in Ireland since 95. Hope to see some of you there.

Vancouver

having a great time out and about in BC,Canada right now with the added benefit of visiting lots of friends and collegues over here. The animation industry looks really healthy in Vancouver at the moment which is so nice to see, after a seemingly long lasting dip in activity.

I just read the news that MGM filed for bancrupcy and on a much smaller note Trickompany in Germany did just the same (not related in the least I am almost certain ). It will be interesting to see if Trickompany will manage to relaunch for a third time...

trumpeting elephant

way back when, I animated a so called "name slate" in college that resembled an elephant, with tones and sfx, cell painted it, but never got around to shoot it on film. I thought this would be a fun little side project for me to animate a part of this past project again, while teaching animation at the animation school hamburg. well, I guess I talked way too much during the course , because all I got to show for after weeks of teaching is this test. I will try to finish it off using toonboom animate in the coming weeks...hopefully. which reminds me I still have to color some old crockidz comics, let alone ink some new ones...

Teaching and Practising

Last year I started a collaboration with a client who develops and distributes software for the hospital field Medlinq . The goal is to develop a series of cartoons that reach their (prospective) clients in a fun, but also thought-provoking way. Not an easy task and this one did not make the cut, but I will post the ones that did once they are published. Sorry, this one is only in German, but all finished ones will eventually be in English also.

I am just back after a full day of teaching anatomy to a group of future comic book artists at the Comicademy. i am so thrilled to be part of this school. During the years I met so many great artists that came out of the comic art schools (which mostly teach animation as well) of Belgium, France and the US. This kind of education is still light years away for German students interested in the art of the graphic novel, but it could be one step towards it.



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A Few More

...Just a few more and then I should be ready for some new posts of my own!

Christmas Cards pt2

Christmas Cards

...Not too many days until Christmas now. Nothing new to post of my own yet as I am pretty busy with work these days. Every year I receive great Christmas and new years cards. I thought I would share some of this years. If you click on the image it should lead you to the artists homepage or blog.
Hopefully I have my own to post soon.

Thoughts from Pascal

....he usually never writes more than a few words. click here to read some of his thoughts about drawing and developing a drawing style.

Rich Santa

Obviously we are not even close to Christmas, so I hope Cheyenne will get sidetracked by then.
I am not entirely sure if this comes across as funny. It just made such perfect sense to her, that Santa is a big time employer...and they have all this money to pay people....or dwarfs.

All day I had such a terrible drawing day. I am not sure what happens on such a day. I am sure my drawings are not much worse then on other days. I just seem to notice the mistakes more. I then try to struggle through as best as I can, try variations, draw my own stuff (like the comics) and usually snap out of it eventually. Sometimes it takes longer...like today. Wanted to finish 2 jobs, but thats not going to happen tonight. At least the deadline is not overdue yet ...

A Common Mistake...

I am not how many times this has happened to me. I work a lot between paper and Cintiq (which I mounted into the round hole of my old animation desk) and it gets very confusing a times....like when you think of the undo button, while you are drawing on paper...

Karl

Turning somebody into a cartoon character can sometimes be easy. I had not seen Karl for more than 10 years and drew him from memory. My second try was the final one. Usually I have a much harder time. Today I am trying my luck with another cartoon stylization for two friends who are starting a pizza service in New Zealand. So far I tried several times with no satisfying result. Getting closer though.

I have been keeping busy building my German illustration website (I still have to add the button for the english version). Check it out here if you have some extra time: www.tobiasillustration.de

See You In Annecy

Getting ready to leave for Annecy. Nicht Lustig (not funny) from the German cartoonist Joscha Sauer is a project we have been working on. You can see some artwork on our website here.

Pirate Party & the European Elections

Who ever said that Germans have no sense of humor. I am very tempted to vote for the Pirates this year, or maybe the "Violette's, Party for spiritual politics". Voting for Europe has never been so much fun. I have been missing out for many years.

Short North Koreans

While watching the first Presidential Debate on you tube I took notice of this stunning argument Senator McCain had about why the North Korean Regime is evil. I could be wrong, but now I am almost certain that he will be the next American President (even though he is shorter than Obama).

The Dead Sea

I just calculated that I have lived and worked in 7 countries during the last year. This, after I swore that I will travel less and not move around too much more. I am over in Israel at the moment and it has just been too hot in my air-condition-missing-apartment to get any drawings done. But I escaped to the Dead Sea and the Red Sea over the weekend (where it was even hotter BTW). Roland posted an animated B-day wish to me on his blog...and I must say, after almost 20 years of animating I have never managed to do this for anyone. Thanks, Dude!