Sketchbook Club!

Animators! There is a new opportunity this Winter quarter -- Sketchbook Club! Grab your sketchbook and your favorite drawing supplies and join us every Wednesday afternoon at 5pm, in room 803 (the Solid Objects Lab on the 8th floor). We will draw from life and our imaginations, and I will give you challenges that you can work on throughout the week. 

Hang out with fellow animators and faculty, practice drawing, generate project ideas, and get into the best habit you can have besides brushing your teeth -- keeping a sketchbook! 

First meeting is January 9th, and every Wednesday following for Winter quarter. 

2012 Eyeworks Festival of Experimental Animation, Oct. 27-28

The 2012 Eyeworks Festival of Experimental Animation will be held Oct. 27-28. The opening program is at the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St., at 2 PM on Saturday Oct. 27. Festival guest Nancy Andrews will present her films at the 7 PM program on Saturday at DePaul in the Daley Building theater, 247 S. State St, and there will be two programs on Sunday at 1 PM and 4 PM at DePaul.

Eyeworks is a festival focusing on abstract animation and unconventional character animation. Festival programs showcase outstanding experimental animation of all sorts: classic films, new works and rare masterpieces. We have collected some really amazing short films this year, including some classic abstract films, some rarely-seen treasures, and some of the best new experimental work being made by animators today. We're especially excited about our festival guest, Nancy Andrews, who will be showing three of her beautiful puppet films on Saturday evening. And, DePaul's very own Jo Dery will have a piece showing on loop in the theater lobby throughout the weekend.

The full details on the festival, including showtimes, lineup of work, and tickets, are on the festival website: www.eyeworksfestival.com.

We would be thrilled if you would join us for the festival! No matter what kind of animation you like, I guarantee that you will see something unexpected, inspiring, hilarious, and amazing at Eyeworks.

Double Fine Art Director Scott Campbell visits Oct. 19

The CIM Visiting Artists Series is proud to present:

Scott Campbell

Painter, illustrator, comic artist, and Art Director at Double Fine Games

The DePaul School of Cinema & Interactive Media Visiting Artist Series is excited to announce our second guest for the Fall 2012 quarter, Scott Campbell. On Friday, October 19th, Campbell will present a program of his work, followed by a moderated conversation and question and answer session.  During the day he will conduct a participatory workshop in character design, so bring your sketchbooks.

Scott Campbell (Scott C)  is a maker of paintings, illustrations, comics, kid’s books and video games. He studied illustration at the Academy of Art in San Francisco, focusing on comic and children’s book illustration.  Soon after graduating, he began at Lucas Learning as concept artist on children’s video games.  Four years later, he joined Double Fine productions as Art Director on such games as the critically acclaimed Psychonauts and Brutal Legend.  Alongside this career in games, he has published numerous comics and created paintings that have appeared in galleries and publications around the world. Some of his most notable projects include theGREAT SHOWDOWNS series, “Igloo Head and Tree Head” series, Double Fine Action Comics, Hickee Comics, the children’s book’s Zombie In Love and East Dragon, West Dragon, and Psychonauts and Brutal Legend with Double Fine Productions. The book Amazing Everything: The Art of Scott Ccollects many of his paintings over the past few years. Scott lives in New York City.

You can find out more about Scott Campbell’s work on his website http://www.pyramidcar.com/

RSVP and invite your friends to the facebook event!: https://www.facebook.com/events/239646352827951/

Like the CIM Visiting Artist Series!  https://www.facebook.com/pages/DePaul-School-of-Cinema-Interactive-Media-Visiting-Artists-Series/169010999782858

Visiting Artist Talk

6pm Friday, Oct. 19th

DePaul CDM Theatre

14 E. Jackson - LL105

Open to the public

Character Design Workshop

2pm Friday, Oct. 19th - 243 S. Wabash - CDM 924

DePaul students and faculty only

Gravity! Gravity! Gravity! Oh, and Entropy! by Molly McCandless

Molly McCandless (BA '12) just posted her stop-motion animation "Gravity! Gravity! Gravity! Oh, and Entropy!" online. If you saw this at the Capstone screening last year, you'll remember that it's a totally unique film that deserves to be seen more than once. If you didn't see it, please watch immediately! Bravo to Molly for such an ambitious, fun, inspiring, and wonderfully weird animation.

"Make It A Great Day" screening, Friday, September 28th

Join us this Friday, September 28, at 5:30pm in the CDM Theater, 14 East Jackson, for a very special screening of Assistant Professor Josh Jones' new film, Make It A Great Day. The film was written by fellow faculty member, Dan Klein, and worked on by a Project Bluelight team. Hooray for Josh! 

Animation Lodge, September 28, 4:30pm

The first meeting of the Animation Lodge will happen this Friday, September 28, at 4:30pm in room 708! Hope to run into you there!

Assistant Professor Alexander Stewart goes to Croatia

DePaul Animation would like to wish Alexander good luck as he heads to the 25FPS festival in Croatia this week! His short film, Crusts, is in competition. You can watch the trailer for the film here.

Two-Week Projects - Fall 2012

The Animation Production II class had the assignment to make an entire short piece in two weeks. We started by pulling scenarios from a hat, and hit the ground running. A few pieces are below, and you can see more pieces on our class Vimeo page.

Strike by Jonathan Karavas:
A Thief in the Night by Ben Conrad:
Mine-Eee-Ay-Tour by Marc Walls:

Thanks Amy!

It was a full house for Amy Lockhart's screening and artist talk last week! She shared about 30 minutes of her animated films, as well as brought in some of the cut-out puppets used in production (pictured above).

You can watch Amy's film The Collagist below, a short piece based on the collages of artist Marc Bell.


The Collagist from Amy Lockhart on Vimeo.

Amy Lockhart visits DePaul Animation

Canadian artist and animator Amy Lockhart will screen works and give an artist talk today, Thursday, September 13, at 6:30pm in room 708 of the CDM building. Join us!

From Amy's film "Walk for Walk"

And the winner is...

Last week's Senior Capstone screening was a big success, with friends and family cheering on the accomplished filmmakers in a full CDM theater. The faculty wanted to recognize the outstanding capstone projects so we handed out a number of awards, as well as polled the audience about their favorite film. Here are the results and a few pics of the proud filmmakers! 


Faculty Award: Doublington's Disorder by Michael Tran


Below: Michael with his award, a half-lumberjack/half-werewolf stuffed doll! 





Audience Choice: (tie) Doublington's Disorder by Michael Tran and Gravity! Gravity! Gravity! Oh, and Entropy! by Molly McCandless


Audience Choice, 2nd place: The Golfer and the Goose by Andrez Aguayo and David Johnson


The "Up All Night" award (recognizing the most hours spent on a film): Gravity! Gravity! Gravity! Oh, and Entropy! by Molly McCandless


Below: Molly with her prize, a token for a free cup of coffee! 




The "Most Punk" award (recognizing the most raw animation): The Hour of the Wolf by Frank Shuford 


Below: Frank with his award, a yo-yo! 




The "Future Blockbuster" award (recognizing great production values): The Golfer and the Goose by Andrez Aguayo and David Johnson


"Best film from and Engaged Couple" (recognizing exemplary team-work): The Axius Trials by Alex Keller and AJ Klingelhoffer

"Best Poop Joke in a Film" (recognizing great character design!): Hometree Nursing by Alex Dejak & Alex Bull

Below: Alex and Alex and their trophy, a giant pencil! 

The "Wiggly Belly" award (recognizing great exaggerated animation): A Miniature Matter by Sarah Feldman

The "Cute Overload" award (recognizing  a too-cute film!): Teddy by Margaret Orr

The "Miniature Epic" award (recognizing the shortest saga): Shattered World by Trevor Kettelkamp 

Below: Trevor with his award, a light-up bouncy ball! 

Dystopia Project by Cara Jones

This Spring in Storyboarding and Narrative Development, the students were asked to set their final projects in either a dystopic or utopic society. Below is Cara Jones' vision of a treetop civilization trying to survive -- against a flood of zombies!


This is a fitting project to share today, as we all learned of the death of famed science fiction writer, Ray Bradbury. More on Bradbury's contributions to the field of animation here, in this Cartoon Brew post.

DePaul Animation faculty represent at C.A.K.E.

The Chicago Alternative Comics Expo is almost upon us! This exciting event will take place on June 16 and 17, at Columbia College's Ludington Building, 1104 South Wabash (that's right down the street from CDM). Artists from all over the world will be presenting comics for sale -- including our very own Associate Professor of Animation, Scott Roberts! Scott will be there with his comic, The Hound and the Musch. 


On C.A.K.E.'s opening day, June 16, Assistant Professor Alexander Stewart will present a program of short animations, an extravaganza co-curated by his Eyeworks Festival of Experimental Animation partner, Lilli Carre. Titled Double Vision: Comics and Animation, the program showcases work from artists that cross over from comics to animation and vice versa. Filmmakers Jim Trainor, Nate Beaty, Amy Lockhart, Marc Bell, and Assistant Professor Jo Dery will be present to introduce the work, and to give insight on the parallel creative processes of comics and animation. Check out the Eyeworks website for more info, and for details on the other screenings Alexander and Lilli are organizing this month -- not only in Chicago, but in France and Croatia! 


Below, Scott's comic on the shelf at Quimby's. 

Fatal Vittles

The Animation program is proud to announce the completion of Assistant Professor Devin Bell's Fatal Vittles, which was produced with the help of a student crew as a Project Bluelight. 

Below are some stills from the film, which premiered to an audience of faculty, staff, students, family, and friends just last week at the CDM Theater on Jackson Street! 

Congratulations Devin! We are all very proud of you and your students! Bravo! 

Be sure to look for Fatal Vittles at a film festival near you! 

Premiere 7 at the Music Box Theater

We'd like to invite you to Premiere 7, this Friday, June 1st, at 7.00pm at the Music Box Theatre in Lakeview! This year we received over 100 amazing submissions, and we have chosen a 90 minute line-up of our students' best work in live action, animation, documentary, and music video. There will be an intermission between the two acts, as well as a short awards ceremony following the show.  Celebrity judges include Irvine Welsh, John McNaughton, Jon Shestack, Pam Thomas, Michael McCarthy, Steve Jones, and Tommy O'Haver. After the event, Mystic Celt is hosting a party for all guests 21 and older. Just bring your program for drink specials in a private area reserved just for DePaul. Tickets are available either at the cage on the 9th floor of CDM, or there is a stack at the 4th floor reception desk (please take only what you need.) We really hope to see you at this celebration of our students' work!

Pixar Masterclass in Chicago

Vancouver Institute of Media Arts will present a Masterclass in Animation & Story Development, featuring instructors Matthew Luhn (Head of Story) and Andrew Gordon (Animator), both from Pixar Animation Studios

This exceptional 2-day event takes place in Chicago, Illinois on June 22nd & 23rd, offering participants a rare and exciting opportunity to learn from the industry's top talent. The seminar will be held at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts, in Chicago's Gold Coast, at 1016 North Dearborn Street. 

For more information, and details on how to register, please visit this link! 

MAYDAY! 2012

Here it is folks! The MAYDAY! 2012 reel of films -- made in one crazy weekend! First, our students offered themes, and then we all voted on the suggestions. "Casual Doomsday" was the clear winner, and with that -- we were off! Animating our brains out for the next two days! There was pizza, there were energy drinks, there was a fog that settled in the computer lab... And when it was over, there were these glorious animations!

 

The MAYDAY! 2012 participants, including our cohorts in Mexico, on screen via Skype!

Here are some pics of the students at work:

Even faculty member Lisa Barcy stayed up all night animating a psychedelic puppet disco! 

MAYDAY!

It's that time of year again, birds are singing, flowers are blooming...and animators will soon be sleep-deprived! 

That's right -- time for DePaul Animation's 2nd Annual MAYDAY! event.

In conjunction with our student group, the Animation Lodge, we’re again hosting an all-weekend long group animation project. MAYDAY! is a fun, educational, and exhausting endurance test that also gives everyone a chance to hang out and get to know each other.

Students, alumni and faculty will join together for 44 hours, working from 6pm Friday night through 2pm Sunday afternoon (but you don’t have to stay at school the entire time -- and you can work from home as well).  Remember, MAYDAY! is NOT a contest but a creative social event, so don't miss out! 

The schedule for MAYDAY! 2012:

6pm Friday, April 27: KICK-OFF!  We’ll meet in room 924 to introduce ourselves and choose a THEME.  Then we’ll animate. You can work on projects as groups or as individuals, in whatever medium you choose.

9am Saturday, April 28: breakfast

6pm Saturday, April 28: dinner

9am Sunday, April 29: breakfast

2pm Sunday, April 29: wrap-up

In order to participate, you need to RSVP Meghann Artes, at martes@cdm.depaul.edu  In order to plan for food and building security, let us know when you plan to be around (which night(s) you’ll stay over* and which meals you’ll be here for). *A word of advice: If you want to take naps, remember to bring a sleeping bag! 

Style Frames

In Storyboarding and Narrative Development, students were asked to take a panel from a completed project and depict it in the final style of their film. Next, the students were asked to visit the Art Institute and create the same panel in the style of an artist in the museum's collection. Below are two great examples from Maria Morales and Johnhenry Clark.

Above: Maria's style. Below: An homage to Impressionist painter, Edgar Degas.

Above: Johnhenry's style. Below: An homage to Cubist painter, Pablo Picasso.

Motion Graphics Typography Animation

In the Motion Graphics class this quarter, students have been working to interpret short pieces of stand-up comedy as motion typography. The goal is to learn something from the timing that these comedians use in their delivery. Here's three finished pieces:

Julia Simplicio, with a joke by Louis CK:

Tanner Wickware, with a joke by Steven Wright:

Matt Eriks, with a joke by Aziz Ansari:

Animation I is off to a roaring start!

Animation I is off to a roaring start this quarter! I am so pleased with the group of talented and motivated students I have this Winter.

Our first assignment was to create a morph animation. Below is Lucas Goins' incredible depiction of a human tail bone turning into a bird. Luke was inspired by the etymology of "tail bone" -- which you can read more about here. Check out Luke's Namesake below.

Working in Flash, students were then asked to animate an evolving cycle -- a loop which repeats, and with each repetition a new element is added to the animation. There was one catch -- each animation had to include a BEAR. Below is Colin Farrell's epic rendering of one bear's journey on his hog. Feel the roar!

Assistant Professor Jo Dery included in the deCordova Biennial

As DePaul Animation's newest faculty member, it is my pleasure to share news of my latest creative project. A new multi-media work, titled Chapter Three, was included in the deCordova Biennial, at the deCordova Museum and Sculpture Park in Lincoln, Massachusetts. The piece features an animated video projection as well as hand-bound books and sculptural objects, and it is installed in the museum's DeNormandie Library. Below you can find a still from the animated video.

Japan Animation/Game Dev Study Abroad Trip

During November-December 2011, twenty-two animation and game development students from DePaul traveled to Japan on a two-week Study Abroad trip, and toured several gaming and animation companies, including From Software, Grasshopper Manufacturer and Toei Animation. Look at some pictures of their trip to see what amazing and incredible experiences they had.