Always Animated

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Heres some animation from a CHARACTER DESIGN FOR TEENS workshop held at the Jepson Center for the Arts - a part of the Telfair Museum.

The students had a great time exploring different aspects of animation from 2D to Stop Motion. This represents the work of 4 classes.

Many thanks to each of the students (Charish, Olivia, Stephanie, Kelsea and Jeremy) for their hard work and talents.

Thanks also to the folks at the Jepson, especially Studio Coordinator, Torrey Stifel and Kent Braun from Digicel and the FLIPBOOK software.

A very SPECIAL THANKS to Michelle Armstrong (Lauria) - an excellent musician and daughter-in-law for her wonderful music and singing.

We received notification that OUR WORLD was one of FOUR finalists in the animated short category at the Beaufort Film Festival- a part of a four day event called THE BEAUFORT KALEIDOSCOPE in beautiful town Beaufort, South Carolina - less than an hour from Savannah.

Beaufort has a rich film history as a location with THE BIG CHILL, THE GREAT SANTINI, FOREST GUMP, PRINCE OF TIDES and THE GENERAL'S DAUGHTER being shot in that area. In the BIG CHILL, when Kevin Kline and friends take their morning jog - it is through downtown Beaufort, SC.

Here's a look at one of their posters....

A recent OUR WORLD card...just found out last week the producer and good friend Alexandra Ohlsen is engaged to be married.

Character Design for Teens (Ages 13-16) New!
Experience the art of animation in this overview session for teens. Participants will explore the basics of animation, weight, speed, timing, etc, through the creation of flipbooks, stop-motion projects, clay character-animation, and drawing. The student will be the animator and director!

Instructor: Larry Lauria
Materials included. $80 members/$90 non-members
Limit 15 students
Thursdays 4pm-6pm

Character Design for Adults Ages 17+ New!
Based on the Jepson Center exhibition Leadership: Oliphant Cartoons and Sculpture from the Bush Years, Character Design will teach you techniques to sketch and design cartoon characters. Hailing from the Disney Institute, seasoned animator Larry Lauria will guide you through the basics of animation and cartoon character development.

Okay, so I'm a bit late with the New year greetings. We spent Christmas and New Years in New York City with our son and his wife.

It was the first time we had two weeks to explore NYC - most of the time it was quick trips to recruit or use post-production facilities. As the saying goes, "I love New York". We had a wonderful two weeks exploring Queens and Manhattan. No better place to be in the U.S. during the holidays than a large city.

This first sketch is an early compilation of our New York activities.

We stayed in Astoria, Queens and it was an easy 10 minute subway ride into "Midtown". It reminded us so much of Europe- we were smack, dab in the middle of the Greek section - it was aterrific holiday.

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Here is My Christmas list of My Favorite Holiday Animation....enjoy...

Peace on Earth by MGM's Hugh Harmon and Rudolph Ising (1939) nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize

Cosmic Christmas by Nelvanna directed by Frank Nissen

A Wish for Wings that Work (1991) Universal TV Animation, director Skip Jones

How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Chuck Jones

A Peanuts Christmas by Charles Schulz Produced by Bill Melendez

Mickey’s Christmas Carol, Disney Studios,1983, directed by Burny Mattinson

Ziggy’s Gift directed by Richard Williams (1982)

Sometime last century, a small animation studio on the outskirts of Washington D.C. was a hub of activity. This animated clip motivated their entire process. It was the first animation produced by the Animation House, Inc. in Alexandria, Virginia.

The staff grew from 1 to 6 in about three weeks and on to about 40 artists. keep in mind this was back in the animation stone age when animation was draw by pencil in hand, those drawings inked onto cels and those cels with their beautiful hand-painted backgrounds shot under a camera stand one frame at a time....ahhhhhhhhhh, the good old days.

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This the answer to an email I received today regarding the construction and design of Cute Little Girl Characters.

The request wanted a simple character that could be made into a CG character.

As always I began with 3D type construction to breakdown the character into simple forms and then "play" from there.

Besides the sketch I drew for the demo- I added a few more ideas...

It came at a good time for me so I jumped right in and there you go...

Our holiday was very relaxing and it gave me a chance to enjoy "being lazy" and having some fun with my sketching...

everything from ink and watercolors to different types of pencils.
Here are a few more....

The blue thumbnail in the upper right corner is now a Christmas Card.

Another sketch that turned into a Ty B. Bear Christmas card

More art later...

My warmest wishes to everyone for a wonderful Thanksgiving Day.

Here is my latest painting - just completed a couple of days ago... two more in the hopper and more on the way. The Thanksgiving break will give me more time to be with family and to draw...

While living in Ireland we had to go to the butchers, choose a bird (hanging in the window) with feathers and the parts still on...have it plucked, gutted, cleaned and dressed.

We would ALWAYS have Irish friends and students over to celebrate our American Thanksgiving!

Enjoy your Turkey Day!

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This recent video is a natural demo for ANTICIPATION...well not really, but it's a cool trick my son, Matt came up with...

I added some animation and a short video of the individual drawings- just for the heck of it!

Keep in mind, ANTICIPATION accomplishes:

1. An anticipation the audience with you...

2. An anticipation prepares the audience...

3. An anticipation helps build momentum for an action or movement...

Remember: most movements should begin with an anticipation...

For more info go to:

Ask yourself,” What happens when you get hundreds if not thousands of animators in a theater before a screening- with a few minutes on their hands?”

The answer: Paper Airplanes!!!

The object is to see if you can create a flying vessel that will guide all the way to the stage of the main theater at Annecy.

And…if others take up a supportive role in your efforts to reach the stage- that’s okay…because it’s Annecy!

Everyone in the audience joins in- whether you are the great Italian animator Bruno Bozetto (70 plus years) or a wide eyed student in attendance at the world series of animation.

What do you expect from all those animators who are given sheets of paper before the screenings.

Here are a few images from the annual Sand Arts Festival on Tybee Island's North beach. The event is sponsored by SCAD and is enjoyed by everyone= scaddie and non-scaddie alike. Nothing else to write the pictures say it all!!!