The Sands of Time Workshop

Okay, I admit, it’s been a while. To say it has been a busy past few weeks here in the Land of Enchantment would be an understatement. I have been planning, coordinating and juggling several different projects and I am starting to see some positive outcomes from all the hard work put in.

On Saturday, April 26th, from 9am to 1pm, I helped to co-host a workshop for the Sands of Time production. The first of several we will be doing to fulfill the stipulations of the New Visions Award we have received. This workshop focused on a “soup to nuts” approach of animating a short series for purposes of pitching to a network.

Brad Stoddard, the director, Aaron Barreras, the Art Director, Catherine Fridey, the Screen Writer, Ty Beh, Assistant Director/Producer, Paul Ziomek, Character Design and Storyboards, Tim Nenninger and Jamie Haqqani, Voice Over talent and three of the interns, Kevin Baker, Ryan Salway and Michael Wieclaw were all in attendance to deliver short lectures on what their role is on this production.

Brad delivered a beautiful PowerPoint presentation that walked the students through the job of a director on an animated production. He used a lot of examples of the artwork created and answered questions about wrangling all the talent on this production.

Brad and Ty also photographed and filmed the workshop for documentation of the process to send to the NM film office. There were about 24 high school students present and several parents and instructors were also in attendance.

All of the participants took great strides in keeping their sections short, sweet and to the point. No one spoke for more than 20 minutes at a stretch and we had frequent speaker changes to keep the energy and momentum fast paced and engaging for an audience whose attention span is often challenged in a lecture type environment.

Tim and Jamie, the two men who did several of the voices on The Sands of Time production spoke about doing voice overs for animation, several of the students wanted to know how to get into this particular part of the industry. Tim and Jamie spoke from a film and Tv actors point of view and suggested that students get some acting lessons or try out for casting calls for experience. We pointed them to the NM film website for casting calls and classes.

We also suggested that they practice doing dramatic readings with various voice interpretations in front of a mirror or camera. They could select a simple storybook and do all the characters in the story. It would be good practice and they could critique themselves.

Aaron Barreras spoke for the longest period of time about what the job of an art director is and he used lots of artwork and examples from the production to illustrate his points. He also worked out a demonstration with Michael Wieclaw on how the motion capture process works and how it will be used on this production.

Paul Ziomek did a wonderful presentation on the similarity of comic book art and storyboarding. He offered fun examples and explained why you would do some things in one that wouldn’t work in the other.

We ended the workshop with Paul Ziomek leading the students in a storyboarding exercise that was well received. The student offered suggestions for how to set up scenes and how to advance the plot. Everyone, it seemed, had an idea and eagerly participated.

After the workshop and during the two breaks for snacks and restroom visits, the teens present would swarm the members of the production to ask pointed, one on one questions. I heard from several of them that they were having fun and learning a lot. They also seemed to appreciate the format.

From personal experience teaching teen summer camp at the Art Center for the past several years, I can say that this group was very engaged and energetic. When asked for their opinions and suggestions they were very forth coming with their answers.

I was pleased to hear that among the teens there was as solid mix of style preferences ranging from 2D and 3D to stop mo and puppet animation. One gentleman said his favorite animations were done by the famous and historically significant female animator, Lotte Reiniger. You gotta love a guy who loves the classics!

About half the students who started the workshop said they were interested in animation and the other half said it just sounded like a fun way to spend a Saturday morning. By the end of the workshop I believe everyone in attendance was interested in animation.

AniMotion NM - Alex Lindsay 03/10/09

Tuesday, March 10th, AniMotion NM was proud to host an evening with Alex Lindsey of Pixel Corps. Alex did a fabulously in depth presentation on Green Screen techniques, tips and tricks to an audience of roughly 70 animators, VFX and Motion Graphics artists.

The evening was a combination of lighthearted banter mixed with tech talk and explanations on how to achieve a quality key. The audience was an interesting mix of film, TV, and gaming folks, but everyone seemed to take something away from Alex’s presentation.

I was pleased to learn that there were quite a few attendees who had driven down from Santa Fe for the event. In addition, Sony Imageworks had a fairly good-sized contingent in attendance. It was nice seeing their familiar faces in the crowd.

As always, Elaine and Becky from the Adobe User Groups, Zocoloco and motion09 brought great Adobe swag and names were drawn out of all the tickets people brought to get into the event.

Art Center students, Jake Mirabal, Nikki Sandoval, Jon Kamps and Tey Guzman showed up early to help set up the event and Jake helped to wrangle the winners of the raffle in choosing their prizes.

The next AniMotion NM event is Tuesday, March 17th where Elaine and Becky are planning a movie night to get together as a group to watch the movie The Watchmen.


I am hoping that the large numbers that came to the March 10th event will come to future events and help to grow the animation, motion graphic and VFX community here in New Mexico. We have over 100 members currently in AniMotion NM and more are always welcomed.

The Michael McCormick Gallery Exhibit

The Art Center Design College is proud to announce a retrospective exhibition of work by artist and puppeteer Michael McCormick featuring sculpture, painting, and installations as well as masks, puppets, and other performance objects. Credited for creating memorable props, puppets, and models for films including The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, Return of the Jedi, and White Sands, McCormick explores the theme of Gravity: Decay and Resistance in this comprehensive show of personal and commercial projects.

In addition to film work, the native New Mexican recently spent six years in Ireland, performing puppet shows at the National Wax Museum of Dublin and lecturing on his specialty, Punch and Judy, at the International Puppet Association at Trinity College in Dublin. Before returning to Albuquerque he taught for one year in the Creative Media Center at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces.

In The Art Center show, McCormick will reconstruct part of his actual studio space, assembled from objects that have influenced and inspired him over the years. Imagery will be drawn from his childhood in Los Alamos and early work with Native American populations as well as international travels as a performer.

Michael will be giving an Artist Talk in the Gallery on March 11th at 7pm, which is open to everyone and is free of charge. In addition, Michael will also be offering several acting and puppetry workshops TBA.

I am pleased to have had a hand in bringing Michael McCormick and the Art Center together for this event, as I had the pleasure of meeting Michael a few months ago at a Town Hall meeting in Santa Fe. We have been fast friends ever since. His slightly dark and macabre take on the world fits in nicely with my own dark side that doesn’t see the light of day very much.

If you haven’t had a chance to meet Michael or see any of his fine art pieces, you really should make a point of making it to the Art Center’s William Platz Gallery to get a glimpse into the mind of this native New Mexican’s twisted and fascinating world.

“¡Fuera, Perro!”

Jess Evans, 2008 Art Center Design College Animation graduate, has just put the finishing touches on the animated music video for the children’s song,“¡Fuera, Perro!” (Out, Dog!) is a lively song with a meringue rhythm, about a dog that gets in the house and causes trouble in various rooms, before finally being shooed out by a young brother and sister and their grandpa. To view the video go to... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAbJ6Vi4yB0

The lyrics shift back and forth between English and Spanish, just as many conversations do in our hybrid New Mexico culture. Take the chorus, for example:

¡Fuera, Perro! de la casa
Or I’m gonna show you who’s the boss-a
Me enojo and I shout, “Get your furry cola out!”
¡Fuera, Perro! de la casa

Jess was awarded this freelance animation job in late September of 2008 and worked closely with the song’s composer and singer, Mister Felipe, to get the music video done under very time constraints. Jess was the only animator on this production and had to create time saving techniques in order to meet the deadline for the corresponding release of the accompanying music CD, Cruzando el Border.

Cruzando el Border is a children’s music CD available online through Mister Felipe’s website, http://misterfelipe.com/. Kids love the catchy melodies, Latin rhythms, and lyrics that playfully mix Spanish and English, and they end up learning Spanish words easily. It's fun for parents too, featuring a range of Latin styles, creative arrangements, and great musicianship.

Mister Felipe is Philip Handmaker, a Spanish and Music teacher with a background in linguistics and a passion for music. Living in Taos, a town in northern New Mexico, he hears lots of delightful Spanglish around and decided to write songs that combine Spanish and English. It was only natural that these songs take on Latin styles ranging from reggaeton to ranchera, mambo to meringue. Felipe had a blast layering the percussion instruments and adding contributions by talented local musicians, including his dog.

Metro Youth Art Exhibit & Addy Awards

Oh boy, there has been so many amazing things to write about I hardly know where to start.

One of the recent events I am very honored to be a part of is the Metro Youth Art Exhibit going on now through April 5th at Expo New Mexico in the Fine Art Gallery. I was asked to judge the digital art entries with my dear friend Hue Walker from the ARTS Lab. We both took great encouragement from the entries we saw in that many of the clichéd topics were under represented.

This year there were few scantily clad, buxom women brandishing swords or lightening, skull, blood and gut motifs. Instead, Hue and I were pleasantly surprised by the thought, concept and skill put into many of the student entries.

Perhaps it is a sign of the times, but there seemed to be a lot more personal reflection on the state of the world and the artists place in it. Many of the pieces were very moving and thought provoking and many pieces of artwork had a definite message. All in all, it was a very good year for entries and picking our top five was difficult to say the least.

If you are in New Mexico and want to get an inspiring dose of some amazing up and coming young artists, you really should stop by the Fine Art Gallery at Expo New Mexico and see some of the fabulous art being done by students in the Albuquerque public high schools.

Another fantastic event that I attended last weekend was the New Mexico Addy Awards. Like many years in the past, this was a great evening of the best in New Mexico advertising art.

The theme this year was Mexican Wrestling, so the organizers of this event brought in professional Luchadors to entertain between award presentations. I am not entirely sure the crowd was completely embracing of the whole wrestling extravaganza, but the night's awardees were well deserved.

The Art Center Design College Albuquerque Branch took home 22 awards including the Student Best in Show, which went to the ever-inspiring senior, Zak Rutledge. Another winner for the night was Aaron Barreras, instructor at the Art Center and silver award winner for his website design for a local advertising firm.

The Addy Awards here in New Mexico are never boring and always offer ample opportunity to network and connect with the local movers and shakers in the industry. I find it particularly gratifying to see how many of the Art Center graduates have gotten fabulous careers in their field working for local ad firms and making the art that is taking home all the awards.

AniMotion NM

For those of you who don't know me, I have the honor of being one of the founding members of AniMotion NM. My fellow co-founders are Elaine Montoya and Becky Pedilla of Zocoloco, the motion conference and NMAUG fame. The three of us host these meetings once a month mostly because we love to geek out over everything related to animation, motion graphics and VFX.

AniMotion NM was started almost exactly one year ago after a very successful panel at the Media Industries Conference where we discovered that there are a plethora of animators, motion graphics and VFX artists here in this state and a need to connect, educate, inspire and network everyone within this specialized community here in New Mexico.

The list of members who have attended meetings is really quite impressive. We have had nearly 50 people at a single meeting and many more than that are currently on our email lists.

Considering that the current economy is making it quite advantageous to do productions of all kinds in this state, New Mexico is also drawing in new talent on a consistent basis to the already phenomenal pool of creative geniuses we have here in the Land of Enchantment.

Sony Imageworks Animation and Sony Imageworks Interactive have opened their doors in downtown Albuquerque and they have added approximately 40 new animation and creative types fresh in from L.A. and Culver City. Rumors abound that other studios will also be headed this way, as the ground is fertile for animation, film and game developers to do business here. We look forward to adding these talented folks to New Mexico animation community and extend a hearty welcome to the Land of Enchantment.

Some of the presentations already featured through AniMotion NM have included Dan Haskett, who has worked for nearly 40 years as a character developer and animator extraordinaire at studios such as Disney, Dreamworks, and Warner Bros., among many others. Chris and Trish Meyers, who quite literally wrote the book on AfterEffects. Jeff LaFlamme of Flamdoodle Animation. Brad Swardson, animation instructor at UNM and lead animator at Boeing's Albuquerque facilities. Aaron Barreras, animation instructor at the Art Center Design College and art director on The Sands of Time educational animated series and Chris Kientz, co-director and co-writer of Raven Tales and member of the Creative Media Interdisciplinary Task Force at New Mexico State University.

The above list only scratches the surface of the fabulous people we have involved in making AniMotion NM your one stop for amazing things happening in the animation industry here in the state of New Mexico. I have to admit that I feel a bit like a teenager at a rock concert at these AniMotion NM events, as the talent assembled at these meetings always leaves me in awe.

So here is the shameless plug for why you should come to AniMotion NM meetings... You meet phenomenal members of the animation, motion graphics and VFX communities. You learn new and interesting techniques for creating and/or streamlining your production processes. There is always a free raffle for industry related goodies. And last but certainly not least, you can enjoy a snack while you support an organization that that has always been free to anyone with passion for watching and/or making the inanimate move.

AniMotion NM meetings are always held the second Tuesday of every month at 7pm at the ARTS Lab, located at 131 Pine St. (one block West of the corner of University and Central). Bring a friend or meet new ones. Everyone is welcome. I hope to see you all there.

Media Industry Conference - MIX 01.17.09

I am greatly looking forward to participating in the MIX conference this year. Last years conference was very enlightening. I am continually blown away by all the cool things happening here in the state of New Mexico.

I think it helps having the ultra brainy people at Los Alamos and Sandia Labs researching and creating great new innovations. I am looking forward to finding out what they are all working on for the upcoming year, as last years lectures on "Immersive Technology" was definitely mind expanding.

Ultimately, I think it is also good to have a state full of creative artist types too. The combination of the artists with the scientists makes for a great enviroment where phenomenal technological advancements are happening. I know a lot of independant film makers left the conference last year thinking of ways to showcase their own talents using the developments in "Immersive Technology" that the LANL and Sandia folks talked about.

In light of the recent economic stresses, I am thrilled that New Mexico is forward thinking enough to plan for its own future. By having conferences such as the MIX conference in January, like minded individuals can get together and talk about directions in which this state needs to grow to remain a viable and sustainable link in the film industry chain.

Of course, just talking doesn't do much good unless everyone gets together and acts on the plans made. I have been privvy to enough conferences, town hall meetings, summits and lectures to know that New Mexico isn't just talking the talk, it is also trying very hard to walk the walk.

I hope to see many of you at the January 17th conference at the SUB on UNM's Albuquerque campus. Perhaps we can all practice our walks.

Happy New Year 2009

Happy New Year!

Well, as of Thursday, January 1st 2009, I am 40 years old. No biggie really. I look around and see everyone freaking out about aging. I figure you are really only as old as you feel and I figure I feel about 13 years old. I have discovered boys, but love creating and watching animation, climbing trees, playing with toys and spending time with my horses and dogs.

I feel extremely fortunate to have a career where I can embrace the silly and absurd and still leave a positive mark on society. With all that is happening here in the state of New Mexico with the fast growing film industry and all its related sub-communities, i.e. animation, motion graphics and VFX, I am thrilled I have decided to call this state home.

I hope to document some of the exciting things happening here in New Mexico over the course of this blog and how I fit in to the grand scheme of it all.

Here's to an exciting and prosperous 2009!