1st Anniversary for 'Deja View'

Congratulations to Andreas Deja for his first year in blogging. Over the last year his blog 'Deja View' has presented us with a wealth of knowledge from the Disney back catalogue. From scene planning to character designs to films that never even saw the light of day.

I personally have enjoyed every single post and have learnt so much from each one. His knowledge on the nine old men is amazing and his personal collection of animation drawings certainly proves that. He is truly a Disney icon and fanatic and I look forward to lots more posts and insights.

Keep up the good work Andreas and heres to another year on top!

Here are some drawings that he did for a film that never made it further that initial development. This had to be my favourite of his posts, I just love his characters, the movement and acting he gets out of a single drawing.

A Tribute to Glen Keane

There is a great tribute to Glen Keane doing the rounds at the moment and thought that I would share it with you all on my blog.

What an amazing animator he was at Disney and will always be remembered for such memorable characters such as Ariel, the Beast and Tarzan. His drawings and style were always so structured and very classical, very reminiscent of the the old renaissance artists. Powerful and well posed, he really was the something different within Disney Animation.

In directing 'Tangled' he really pushed his style of designing and animating through into the final film. His structure and animation were visible and is a sign that he was constantly improving his art and therefore pushing the boundaries of what animation could be.

I feel that in leaving Disney he will be able to push himself further and develop things that we've never seen before. Bring it on!

The Work of Sandro Cleuzo

Thought I would share some work from one of my favourite animator/illustrators Sandro Cleuzo. I think I stumbled across his blog sometime a couple of years back and have been an avid viewer ever since.

The characters he designs use the grand old technique of Milt Kahl with his straights on curves yet he seems to pull away from this ideal with very broad expressions adding a sort of slapstick cartoony effect. His creations seem to cry out to be animated and they are so full of personality and life that they seem to live and breath right there on the page.

As for his animation well thats a whole new ball game. The thing that I would point out the most is the imagination and use of poses. Below is a walk cycle of his I found a while ago and just the manner in which the archer moves is totally unique and neatly thought out. Just that quick double bounce tells you so much about what he is like, happy, free spirited and maybe slightly naive.

              

As you've probably guessed I'm an avid fan and will definitely be posting more about him when I find new things. Head over to his blog now at http://inspectorcleuzo.blogspot.co.uk/ to find out more and look through his character back catalogue. He also has a great feature on there called 'Milt Kahl Day' in which he post beautiful drawings of the master of animation. It has sadly been missing for a while but there are tons of previous posts holding a wealth of information. So go get 'em!

First test for new film 'Busy Lately'

Well hopefully this will the first of many posts about my new film 'Busy Lately'. Most of the design work is done and I am just testing out the animation style and how interprets into an editing suite.

Thought i'd share with you the first line test so I hope you like it. Much more will be following in upcoming posts

           

Sleeping Betty by Claude Cloutier

And there was me wondering what I was going to post today. That was until I visited one of my favourite blogs 'On Animation' and found this beauty of a film.

Produced and animated by Claude Cloutier 'Sleeping Betty' is a film that follows the short story of a sleeping princess and her fathers sometimes surreal attempts to wake her from her slumber. The random originality of all the characters and gags are a triumph especially my personal favourite the witch who comes in hoovering with her broom. Oh and the horse riding the taxi, theres just to many. These all coming from a man who says he is 'not' a funny man.

It just shows that there are some animators still out there producing films using traditional hand drawn techniques and with such talent and draftsmenship. There isn't a frame throughout that piece that doesn't purvey weight, character and pose. A brilliant piece of work and I look forward to seeing more and learning more about Claude Cloutier.

                 

Please watch this and enjoy every 24 frames of each second!

Secret Garden Party Animation

Over the last month I've been working with Atomic Arts to produce this years Secret Garden Party website, and I say produce the website I mean doing the animation. Secret Garden Party celebrates its 10th year anniversary this year so it was great to be apart of it all.

IMAGES  ARE PROPERTY OF PETE LOVEDAY

I animated some great illustrations by the talented cartoonist Pete Loveday. They are all over the website and more are to be added in the coming weeks which I will make sure to post up.

Meanwhile click on the picture above to head straight over to the website and check it out, or alternatively click on this link  http://www.secretgardenparty.com/2012/#!/home/

New Showreel

Thought I would post up my new showreel. It has all the work that I've been doing over the last year and a few more of my favourites. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed making them.

New Website

I have a new website. Check it out now at www.tomsandersanimation.com

Hope you like it!

My Christmas Film

This year instead of sending out cards I have decided to make a Christmas film instead, so here it is. It took me just over 2months to achieve and was all done with hand drawn principles. The sound was created by my brother Jake who did a great job and the backgrounds were coloured in by my girlfriend Hannah Lott who is an illustrator and you check out her great work here : www.hannahlott.com.

The film was great fun to make and I am really happy with the result, it was worth all the stress! For better quality go to http://vimeo.com/33457170

Hope you like it and have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Showreel 2011

Here is my new Showreel for 2011. I hope you like it. I have really enjoyed animating everything this year even if some of the projects were just a bit stressful. I just hope all the blood sweat and tears comes out in my work. Just click on my business card to access. Enjoy!

http://vimeo.com/32007252

August 11 Second Club Entry

Finally last month I entered the 11 Second Club for the first time. It was some good dialogue but as for the karate sounds, well I could have done without them but oh well. I think I would have preferred just normal dialogue but hopefully I'll do it again and the clip wil be better.

Here is the final product which is up for voting on the 1st September at 5pm GST so vote for meeee please!

 So here are some designs and roughs for the animation.