Alright,
before getting back to, Montreal is this, Montreal is that.. some words/links from the animation field.
Monsters vs. Aliens

After liking “Kung Fu Panda” and REALLY liking “How to Train Your Dragon” I wanted to give another Dream Works animated Movie a shot at winning my heart. But OH BOY, this one was terrible.
And the big problem is not the boring story or the uninspired character design. The problem is really the animation itself. Feeling rushed, feeling done while doing too many other thing and way too LOUD!
The whole movie is like a book that ONLY USES CAPSLOCKS. FOR EVERY WORD, EVERY SENTENCE, EVERY EVERYTHING. There is no subtle emotion, no small gesture.. its all about being as broad and loud as possible.
I wonder how quality control works at Dream Works. How did this happen?
Did it just SLIP BY?; was it rushed?; was there too much “suit” interference”
OHWELLS!
On to nicer things:

I saw “Pixar Is In the House | Story Story Story“.
Here is the selling point:
“Join award winner animation director Roger Allers and Pixar Story Artists Ted Mathot, Scott Morse, Bill Presing, and Derek Thompson, in this rare opportunity as they discuss Pixar’s unique and exciting Story Development process.”
All of those people are awesome, famous and interesting. It takes them some minutes to “warm up” but once they get going, information spills out of them.
I was blown away by the AMOUNT of story boards they had on Wall-E.
A normal Pixar movie has around 50.000 boards, Wall-E had 127.000!
Worth watching!

Apart from this, Mark Kennedy`s blog “Temple of the Seven Golden Camels” had a great post about “APPEAL“.
All of his recent “A Kick in the Head” posts are superb, but this one hit a special spot.
I`m currently not very interested in drawing things realistically or in laboring over small details.. but what a drawing really should be is APPEALING.
I`d rather write a small up beat song that everyone wants to whistle, then a big symphony or an dramatic Progressive rock piece of 15 minutes.
So yeah, I`ve been thinking about this a lot but really there is not that much to say that Mr. Kennedy has not already spoken about.
I think it is important to KNOW what your drawing/work should convey and then work on saying it clearer and clearer.
It bugs me somewhat that my own stuff is not as pretty as I want it to be.. but I guess that just means to keep on drawing and to have fun doing it!
“You have 10,000 bad drawings in your hand and you just have to do them”
INDEED!
+ On the next episode, finally some more photographs!
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