With just a few hours remaining...

At least on my side of the globe:

And you were expecting yet another fat cat drawing, weren't you.

2008 was quite the year, and I can't believe it's coming to an end in about three hours! Well, ready or not, 2009 here we come...

Happy Holidays!

Wishing everyone a safe and festive Holiday season! Hope it's a good one!

Here's a lil card I made for my Mom. We have a long-time running joke involving animal prints and QVC(yep, the shopping network)...add in a certain fat cat and you get:


Also, thought a new film character deserved a debut---

Here's a Rudol--nope Otis the Nile Crocodile. He's my main character in my 2nd year film and is simply thrilled to be spreading the holiday cheer. ;) Anyways, Happy Holidays!

Mele Kalikimaka

Aloha blog-land! For the past week, myself and my family were exploring the many exciting adventures Kauai, Hawaii had to offer! Overall, it was a wonderful trip and I couldn't feel more refreshed! So without further ado---my quick trip wrap-up:

Lots of rain throughout our stay, but with 80 degrees mixed with humidity, there were no complaints here. All of the "winter" weather created some fierce waves though:


Surfs up anyone???
While if you turned around and walked in the opposite direction, you'd get an ocean like this:

The following day started with a visit from some Monk Seals:



They ended up becoming daily attractions. Usually 2-3 would beach themselves on the sand, this particular morning was all about who was "King of the Shoreline."


"Oh what a hard life I have."

This fellow was the eventual loser and shortly after this photo, he literally rolled back into the ocean.
The rest of the trip involved kayaking, hiking up and down very muddy jungle-paths, rope-swinging into rivers, ziplining, general site-seeing, lots of sketching, etc.


The kayaking, zipling, hiking day also involved highlighting certain spots where famous movie scenes were filmed(mainly Jurassic Park and the first 15minutes of Raiders of the Lost Ark). These lush green fields inspired this scene:

Run Indy, Run! That mountain should look a little familiar now.

Later on we were given a sneak preview of an upcoming addition to Kauai:

A 1600ft zipline! Should be up and running by next Fall! See that tiny speck of yellow between the lines? That's the general finish line---who's with me???

Now this zipline doesn't seem so intimidating after visiting the previous one. This roughly 60 ft line was up and running and I got to race across it twice. You start at this front gate, fly across a now muddy, raging river, and eventually stop at that distance dock. Pretty fun once you get over that initial free-fall drop.
After the zipline we hiked down some slippery slopes and ended up at another popular film site:

A slightly choppy panoramic of this very beautiful waterfall.
The theatrical action took place on the land opposite of where I'm standing....

For this famous scene...and later on:


It was now about 3 in the afternoon and the group headed back. The forecasted storm thankfully held off until the VERY end...just as we reached the river shore to where a motor-boat was coming to take us back in.

This spot also had a theatrical debut:

Slightly drier and the water is blue-er too---but it's there! That rope vine was just 20 feet to my right, but my camera wasn't waterproof so I packed it away before it flooded.
The following days we toured across the island visiting spots like Hanalei Beach, Tunnels, and on the final day, Spouting Horn. We also stopped by the hotel's daily morning Koi feedings.












...and here's our hotel! Alright, maybe not--but this was still interesting real-estate.
One evening was spent at Smith's Tropical Paradise Luau:






Can't have a luau without a fire dancer!

I carried my sketchbook with me everywhere(except on the one day spent ziplining, etc.). Unfortunately, the quality of my mac photobooth camera will not do---so since updates will be needed in the coming months. I'll be posting my sketchbook studies throughout next semester. Here's a quick preview though:




Well, Mele Kalikimaka and here's wishing everyone a safe and very merry holiday!

End of the Semester! Year 2

Winter break has arrived and fall semester went out with many laughs after many days of work and stress. Finals included my 2nd year film animatic which is coming together really well. Very happy with how it's going and am dying to start animating! Also, animated to dialogue for both my 2D and 3D classes which was exciting even if the results are still WIPs(we're going to keep refining the work in January). Many long hours in the cube and labs, but it all paid off and went by so fast that I'm still stunned it's December! I'll see about doing a class review post in about a week. For now, department winter break party shenanigans!

Last night was the annual character animation holiday party and much fun was at hand. The entire student body came together for a night of the 1st year animated showcase(Great job guys! Really enjoyed watching your work!), piñata bashing, raffles, games, and basically celebrating the end of the semester!

The piñata this year featured the ever popular Beverly Hills Chihuahua!

The moment he hit the ground he didn't stand a chance and was annihilated. Afterwards was the raffle where a variety of goodies were given out---I managed to win a CalArts' t-shirt! Woo! The rest of the night was spent in the company of my fellow animators before I headed back to my apartment at about midnight to go pack because I had a 9am flight back to my homebase:


OREGON! It's also bone-chillingly cold here. I was welcomed in by a mix of rain and a few snowflakes! So winter break is underway and I'm jetting off with my family tomorrow for an entirely different climate! More details in a week, with what I hope to be many stories, pictures, and sketches!

Here are some past designs for Maki's Character Design class:



He gave us 3 breeds of dogs(Poodle, Dachshund, Pharaoh Hound) that we had to design. I forgot to scan my other designs and my zoo designs are believed to be stolen, which is just cruel. I actually liked those. And now onto the moving section of this post:

The clip is from the movie Brazil. Still WIP. I have a "To-Fix" list that's about 12 points long. We'll be wrapping this assignment up by mid-January.



And then Daffy is here to wrap things up! He's got a slightly smaller "to-fix" list that'll also be addressed in January. At least he's pretty close to the model-sheet.

Well until next post--Mele Kalikimaka!