Check how Dreamworks developed its animation pipeline using Linux, the best operating system on earth
Follow this link from linuxjoournal.com to learn some interesting facts about DreamWorks Feature Linux and Animation
Thursday 25 February 2016
Wednesday 24 February 2016
The Animated history of London
Check out this video of the animated history of London made with paper, amazing!
Tuesday 23 February 2016
If Disney made Suicide Squad
Imagine the Suicide Squad universe brought to life by Disney characters, click the link and get ready!
From the cool guys at
From the cool guys at
Monday 22 February 2016
The most profitable habit all artists should master
If you are goin to master just one skill as an artists, this one should be at the top of your list.
Learn the habit that every master in music, writing have animation have applied since the begining of their careers by jumping to The most profitable habit all artists should master by entrepeneur.com and start fulfilling that dream of yours.
Learn the habit that every master in music, writing have animation have applied since the begining of their careers by jumping to The most profitable habit all artists should master by entrepeneur.com and start fulfilling that dream of yours.
Friday 19 February 2016
Strategies to manage stress
Want to know how to manage stress better?, check the following link and learn how to cope with those nuances that keep us from reaching greatness.
Right from business insider comes this useful infographic that you should print and keep handy:
15 ways to manage stress according to scientists
Right from business insider comes this useful infographic that you should print and keep handy:
15 ways to manage stress according to scientists
Thursday 18 February 2016
Harley Quinn, the evolution from animated goofball to supreme villain
Harley Quinn has to be one of the most popular villains of the Batman Animated Universe. If not , one has to wonder why the appaling number of cos-players wearing every possible permutation of Harley's costumes at any comic convention you go.
Now there are more layers of complexity and conflict that make Harley a true hard core villain over any other sexy bimbo in disguise, and to learn more about it you should follow this article from melty.com about Suicide Squad, the harrowing Harley Quinn, from animation to the big screen
Now there are more layers of complexity and conflict that make Harley a true hard core villain over any other sexy bimbo in disguise, and to learn more about it you should follow this article from melty.com about Suicide Squad, the harrowing Harley Quinn, from animation to the big screen
Wednesday 17 February 2016
You got all the skills to succeed in Animation or anything you do!
You got all the skills to succeed in Animation or anything you do! by thesimpledollar.com "Here are seven skills and traits that you already have that you may not be applying as well as you could. If you can execute these things, you’ll have a massive leg up on the people in your field and find it easy to get your foot in the door if you want to make a career change."
Thursday 11 February 2016
A Toolkit for Unhooking from Criticism
A Toolkit for Unhooking from Criticism by 99u.com "Over the past several years, I’ve had the privilege of working with creatives, entrepreneurs, and leaders to help them unhook from criticism, so they can have more impact and feel a greater sense of freedom in their work."
Tuesday 9 February 2016
Animated Storytelling Book review
Animated Storytelling Book review Just recently I got a copy of the Animated Storytelling book written by Liz Blaze and published by Peachit Publishing, and here you'll find my impressions of this book that I hope you'll find useful, if you are considering in acquiring books that help you with storytelling in animation.
Animation is not just a matter of moving characters or objects in a believable way. There are certain components that need to be taken care of, so you can develop a story. Furthermore, animation is not something that you should do in an isolated way, most times than not, is directed to an audience that can be as little as one person watching TV, or as big as a music concert hall full of people whom are investing their time in watching what you want to convey,
By balancing all your ingredients correctly you get to make a great meal, right? Well, the same goes for animation. If you don't balance all the elements correctly, your story will suffer despite of having top notch resources like fancy rendering software, top gun animators helping you out and high level world artist directors with content to inspire you.
So this is where Animated Storytelling comes into play. This small book, big in content, teaches you an approach on how to take all the basic elements you need to know about telling a story, and learn how to make them work in such a way they serve the story as a whole unit.
This book encourages you to create your own animated content with some basic materials and procedures, using your own capabilities and nothing more. It won't help you to create an award winning short or whatnot right off the bat, but it will give you the foundations to build up your career as a storyteller, which is a skill you can take with you anywhere you go.
For instance, on the Weird Science chapter, which I liked a lot, you'll learn that animation is experimentation. Your characters are not affected by nothing that affects us as humans and your screen is strong enough to hold whatever thing you throw at it. For me that has to be the best chapter right after Pre-Production and Storytelling, which also have troves of useful information to learn from.
Maybe Weird Science doesn't tell you how to cope with failure while you are experimenting, but I can tell you that you should expect frustration, delays, conflicts and obstacles, even if you work on your own. And my advice would be to acknowledge those challenges you must overcome, and try to incorporate them In such a way they work for you, and not the other way around. Think of making an villain character explode and being left in an undignified state as a way to vent your frustration with your producers, clients or suppliers, it's not only pure catharsis for you, but is plain basic fun!
There seems to be a popular false perception, maybe fuelled by the truckloads of happy people portrait on every behind the scenes of every animated movie documentary out there, that animation is a one shot thing. That if you follow the rules, sign off on each step, color by the numbers and stay within the lines you should be gold more sooner than later, and there is nothing farthest from the truth than that.
Here is where I liked what I call "the pocket survival guide" format and style of this book. This won't only save you from having to go through tons and tons of content to help you out at any given moment., but feels great in your hands should you need a refresher on concepts, or need a quick shot of inspiration.
However, I'd like to point some elements which seem to be missing in the Color Sense chapter. A quick introduction to color theory and how a color wheel works to help with some of the terms like complementary colors,.or the the swatches used on page 61. Likewise, a bit more explaining on symbolism to break from the western perception of colors and their interpretation would be nice, in order to make the book more appealing and emphatic to audiences from other cultures that have been brought together by the Internet, which is the de facto distribution of digital content nowadays. And to take it an extra mile, warn about the use of colors on objects, for instance, I know a red or green hat mean different things to different cultures, which would be nice to know beforehand.
Also I would like to see some examples for the the Directional Movement concept the same way other examples were given in previous chapters. Directional Movement is a very cool concept to grasp, mostly when you are doing motion graphics. Being able to cue the audience by showing them how subjects move in and around the frame helps them digest the story in a much effective way through subtext than by any other means (although music helps a lot). Animation is a visual medium, and you should always present facts through visual leads.
Terri Gilliam's work could be used for examples as he conveys many of the trades necessary to make good storytelling through animation. His cut out stop motion shorts would make a good fit for the Technique chapter, and a good source of inspiration for the Weird Science chapter.
Some extra content should be dedicated to pauses in timing. Sometimes changing the duration of a shot or changing the timing of the actions of a subject is not enough. You should recur to pauses or holds to allow the audience have a very quick break, so you can give them the time necessary to absorb an idea or concept, enjoy a beautiful moment you put some good effort to create or get them ready for the rest of the roller coaster ride you got them into.
Pauses are the commas of a sentence that give your content texture and should be used with flow in mind. If you have heard a computer voice reading a piece of text, you have noticed that the pauses are sudden stops caused by the commas, hence phrases come out stiff and without life, so you should mind the pauses and make the proper arrangements to prevent sudden stops that could kill your shots.
To conclude this review, I have to say that Animated Storytelling is the book you'll need by your side while bringing that great idea of yours into fruition. It's not only a "pocket book" to help you solve a particular problem that you want to solve, or add that bit of spice that your short is missing. It's a resource you will be able to refer back again and again as you grow as an storyteller.
Thanks to Liz Blaze for all the teachings and thanks to Peachpit Press for creating this great book that is direly needed by those of us who want to create better animated stories.
God bless.
For more details on this book, please check the following links:
http://www.peachpit.com/store/animated-storytelling-simple-steps-for-creating-animation-9780134133652
http://www.amazon.com/Animated-Storytelling-Creating-Animation-Graphics/dp/013413365X
Animation is not just a matter of moving characters or objects in a believable way. There are certain components that need to be taken care of, so you can develop a story. Furthermore, animation is not something that you should do in an isolated way, most times than not, is directed to an audience that can be as little as one person watching TV, or as big as a music concert hall full of people whom are investing their time in watching what you want to convey,
By balancing all your ingredients correctly you get to make a great meal, right? Well, the same goes for animation. If you don't balance all the elements correctly, your story will suffer despite of having top notch resources like fancy rendering software, top gun animators helping you out and high level world artist directors with content to inspire you.
So this is where Animated Storytelling comes into play. This small book, big in content, teaches you an approach on how to take all the basic elements you need to know about telling a story, and learn how to make them work in such a way they serve the story as a whole unit.
This book encourages you to create your own animated content with some basic materials and procedures, using your own capabilities and nothing more. It won't help you to create an award winning short or whatnot right off the bat, but it will give you the foundations to build up your career as a storyteller, which is a skill you can take with you anywhere you go.
For instance, on the Weird Science chapter, which I liked a lot, you'll learn that animation is experimentation. Your characters are not affected by nothing that affects us as humans and your screen is strong enough to hold whatever thing you throw at it. For me that has to be the best chapter right after Pre-Production and Storytelling, which also have troves of useful information to learn from.
Maybe Weird Science doesn't tell you how to cope with failure while you are experimenting, but I can tell you that you should expect frustration, delays, conflicts and obstacles, even if you work on your own. And my advice would be to acknowledge those challenges you must overcome, and try to incorporate them In such a way they work for you, and not the other way around. Think of making an villain character explode and being left in an undignified state as a way to vent your frustration with your producers, clients or suppliers, it's not only pure catharsis for you, but is plain basic fun!
There seems to be a popular false perception, maybe fuelled by the truckloads of happy people portrait on every behind the scenes of every animated movie documentary out there, that animation is a one shot thing. That if you follow the rules, sign off on each step, color by the numbers and stay within the lines you should be gold more sooner than later, and there is nothing farthest from the truth than that.
Here is where I liked what I call "the pocket survival guide" format and style of this book. This won't only save you from having to go through tons and tons of content to help you out at any given moment., but feels great in your hands should you need a refresher on concepts, or need a quick shot of inspiration.
However, I'd like to point some elements which seem to be missing in the Color Sense chapter. A quick introduction to color theory and how a color wheel works to help with some of the terms like complementary colors,.or the the swatches used on page 61. Likewise, a bit more explaining on symbolism to break from the western perception of colors and their interpretation would be nice, in order to make the book more appealing and emphatic to audiences from other cultures that have been brought together by the Internet, which is the de facto distribution of digital content nowadays. And to take it an extra mile, warn about the use of colors on objects, for instance, I know a red or green hat mean different things to different cultures, which would be nice to know beforehand.
Also I would like to see some examples for the the Directional Movement concept the same way other examples were given in previous chapters. Directional Movement is a very cool concept to grasp, mostly when you are doing motion graphics. Being able to cue the audience by showing them how subjects move in and around the frame helps them digest the story in a much effective way through subtext than by any other means (although music helps a lot). Animation is a visual medium, and you should always present facts through visual leads.
Terri Gilliam's work could be used for examples as he conveys many of the trades necessary to make good storytelling through animation. His cut out stop motion shorts would make a good fit for the Technique chapter, and a good source of inspiration for the Weird Science chapter.
Some extra content should be dedicated to pauses in timing. Sometimes changing the duration of a shot or changing the timing of the actions of a subject is not enough. You should recur to pauses or holds to allow the audience have a very quick break, so you can give them the time necessary to absorb an idea or concept, enjoy a beautiful moment you put some good effort to create or get them ready for the rest of the roller coaster ride you got them into.
Pauses are the commas of a sentence that give your content texture and should be used with flow in mind. If you have heard a computer voice reading a piece of text, you have noticed that the pauses are sudden stops caused by the commas, hence phrases come out stiff and without life, so you should mind the pauses and make the proper arrangements to prevent sudden stops that could kill your shots.
To conclude this review, I have to say that Animated Storytelling is the book you'll need by your side while bringing that great idea of yours into fruition. It's not only a "pocket book" to help you solve a particular problem that you want to solve, or add that bit of spice that your short is missing. It's a resource you will be able to refer back again and again as you grow as an storyteller.
Thanks to Liz Blaze for all the teachings and thanks to Peachpit Press for creating this great book that is direly needed by those of us who want to create better animated stories.
God bless.
For more details on this book, please check the following links:
http://www.peachpit.com/store/animated-storytelling-simple-steps-for-creating-animation-9780134133652
http://www.amazon.com/Animated-Storytelling-Creating-Animation-Graphics/dp/013413365X
Monday 8 February 2016
Your Most Creative Ideas Are the Hardest to Sell—But They Don’t Have to Be
Your Most Creative Ideas Are the Hardest to Sell—But They Don’t Have to Be by Adam Grant at Linkedin "..The Lion King, which was the highest-grossing film of 1994, winning two Oscars and a Golden Globe. Katzenberg had said he would get down on his knees in appreciation if it brought in $50 million."
Wednesday 3 February 2016
Build a 3D zoetrope with Arduino
Build a 3D zoetrope with Arduino if you want to build a 3D zoetropre like the one in Disneyland's California adventure or the one at Ghibli museum in Japan, look no further and follow this useful tutorial that will get you spinning in no time.
For reference, this is what the zoetrope at Ghibli looks like:
and this is what the zoetrope at California adventure looks like:
For reference, this is what the zoetrope at Ghibli looks like:
and this is what the zoetrope at California adventure looks like:
Tuesday 2 February 2016
The top 12 animated shorts of 2015
The top 12 animated shorts of 2015 By 3D world Magazine "...Showcasing a blinding array of talent, they'll make you laugh, cry and, in some cases, shudder. But, trust us, you won't want to miss any. Enjoy!"
Monday 1 February 2016
Mind blowing Fan Made X-Men Intro
Mind blowing Fan Made X-Men Intro, whoa! this kid really took it to town!
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