Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Richard Williams

The anticipated day finally arrived this Monday, with an added bonus. Not only did we have the evening presentation, but were also graced by an informal visit to VanArts by Dick Williams, his wife Imogen (Mo) Sutton and 14-yr-old son Leif. Alan (president of VanArts) knows Dick from years back when he used to live in the Gulf Islands, so they shared some stories about flying in Alan's plane with Bob Godfrey. They dropped by around lunchtime so we gave them a tour of the school and the animation labs. The students were simultaneously stunned and excited, and plenty of them got photo opps and Survival Kits signed.






Along with Charles & Calvin, we all went out for lunch at Malone's. Conversations ranged from everything from animation stories to travel to foreign currency and everything in-between. I had a lively discussion with Dick about how music and animation relate to each other and how musicians make good animators. I was so amazed by how funny, cordial, humble and laid back he was, still talking the same way he does in all those old documentaries.



Charles is soaking up those stories...


At the theatre before the show, Dick and his family very graciously took the time to check out my story reel for Storytime with Nigel, as he seemed intrigued by the fact it's narrated by Bob Godfrey. He enjoyed it and I was glad to share it with him, as I feel that a lot of my animation style is inspired by his work.

The presentation at the VanCity Theatre was a smash hit to a completely sold out crowd that was lined up around the block. I got to introduce Dick before he took the stage to answer questions and present clips from his new DVD series. The clips he showed were priceless...very funny at times and of course loaded with exquisite animation. (There is a sequence of different animated eye designs morphing into each other which alone is worth the entire price tag to watch!) The evening concluded with a very long autograph line-up, and I got to see many familiar faces there too.

So the whole day was an absolute thrill to say the least, and I was truly honored to spend time with Dick Williams and his family. Thank you Dick for your inspiring work, kind spirit, and dedication to preserving the incredible art form of animation!

Friday, October 17, 2008

Richard Williams coming to Vancouver!

Well, it's official and I can finally break the silence...Richard Williams is coming to Vancouver! The event is being hosted by Vancouver SIGGRAPH and I'm involved in coordinating all the details. I'm sure looking forward to meeting him and hearing what he has to say. See the link below for details on the event!



Richard Williams: The Animator's Survival Kit - Animated
followed by special screening of ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit''
October 27, 2008

October 27, 2008 - 7:30 PM
**FREE**
Tickets at the door - first come, first served.

Richard Wiliams, triple Oscar winner and Director of Animation of ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' has now combined his best-selling book ''The Animators' Survival Kit'' with his legendary Masterclasses. He will present the 16-DVD boxed set filmed at Blue Sky Studios in New York which is inter-cut with over 350 specially animated examples in a mini- Masterclass.

www.theanimatorssurvivalkit.com


Richard Williams will be present in person to engage in Q&A with the audience, followed by a book signing and a screening of the feature film ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'', which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

2D or not 2D '08!

Here is the great Tony White presenting a trailer for his 2D or not 2D Animation Festival which is coming up soon! Can't wait...if you can make it, I'd love to see you there.

Weekend Ketchup

Here's a brief stream-of-conshess-ness post about stuff that's happened recently in my life as I sit here bleary-eyed from the chemicals that are present in two glasses of wine, two servings of monstrous Thanksgiving turkey dinner, and a decaf coffee...

I went to Seattle for a day...I gave blood...I went to work...I found a website through a Facebook group that allows me to download Old Time Radio Shows for my iPod...I went to Portland for a day, where I got to visit Bent Image Lab and Ward Jenkins' art show b-boy (still there if you wanna check it out!)...a student at VanArts died, which has never happened in 10 years of being there and I hope it never happens again...I went to his funeral, which was really sad....I was rather depressed & confused for a few days...been pondering my faith and getting back into the basics about Jesus and what he means to me...I'm starting to slowly come out of my funk and appreciate all who I love and all that I have...Thanksgiving (Canadian version) is a pretty good time to do that. And sleep is a good thing.

After the roller coaster week I've had, watching videos online with Ariel led me to the funniest damn thing I've seen in a long time. Pretty good therapy.

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

I Heart Pocoyo

I first discovered this show a few years ago and instantly fell in love with it. And now recently I've gotten Ariel enjoying it on Treehouse and more often on YouTube. It makes her laugh! (Not to mention her Daddy) Everything about it is rather brilliant...in particular, the design and the posing against neutral backgrounds. I think it's definitely the best use of computer animation I've seen for TV.



Hitting the road for Portland tomorrow!