Podcast interview with Deanna Marsigliese!

As promised, my interview with Deanna Marsigliese is ready to go at my podcasting website; The Animation Workout! There's a bit of me yamming about my experience at The 2014 Animation Show of Shows at the front of the podcast. Here's the link: http://www.theanimationworkout.com/stream/the-animation-workout-episode-3-chatting-about-design-with-deanna-marsligliese/

a concept sketch by Deanna

Coming this Wednesday…. PODCAST WITH PIXAR’S DEANNA MARSIGLIESE!

I recorded the portion of this week’s podcast with Deanna in February 2014 about a week or so before she took off to see the world for a year. Finally I share it online! I didn’t have big plans for the podcast while I was making it but I wanted to grab Deanna for an interview before I wasn’t going to see her for a full year at least. I can’t wait to see all the amazing artwork she’s making on her trip and the photos she’s taking!!! So visit theanimationworkout.com on Wednesday Oct 15 to hear my interview with her!

Here are a couple of drawings that Deanna has done while on her travels:

Deanna's incredible travel blog: http://dmexplores.tumblr.com/

Deanna's website: http://www.deannamarsigliese.com/

Exciting things to come...

Today I recorded my first ever podcast! I interviewed Pixar character designer Deanna Marsigliese. Deanna is going to be leaving shortly for a year to travel. She graciously took a bit of time out with me today to help me record an interview and a bit of promo material for a future Kickstarter. It just occured to me this past Friday that getting a Kickstarter together for my short film (Pickled) would be a great idea because it could allow me to raise money to hire some other animators to help me complete my film! A three minute short film is a lot of work for one busy person to complete after all. I've been trying to get it done in my spare time for awhile now.

So watch out for exciting new things from me in the future! First I've just got to finish up my iAnimate workshop and then a workshop with Animsquad. So, in July I'm going to have much more time to get back to my short! I may put together some animation and/or Toonboom Animate tutorials as well, we'll see.

Stay tooned!

Too much to chew

Firstly, check out the post that Deanna wrote on her blog about designing characters for my film!
The cake is not too much to chew, I mean I've taken on too much work. Since my last post I had a birthday! That picture above is a the last piece of chocolate cake Steve and I baked.

I've continued to kill myself with roughing out backgrounds since my last post. Since then I've concentrated on getting the rough kitchen shots out the door. The one I just finished today I ended up redoing 3 times after the first go and I think it's finally right. Sucks doing one background 4 times. Oh well.

I realise I have taken on too much, I always do, (but I don't like to admit that). I am making the film I want to make, but it is just taking a long time. I guess that's not really so bad... Sometimes art takes awhile. But next time I make a short film... I may just skip the bgs or have them be extremely simple. (Ha, I say that now.) I'd rather be animating. I actually love writing, boarding, timing the leica, animating, producing and directing. But drawing backgrounds... I don't mind, it's just not my favorite. Actually I've started enjoying drawing up the bg's more as I've been going along which was a surprise. It's interesting and satisfying to encompass nearly every department. I make all the creative descisions regarding the cutting, timing, composition and animation. (Being your own boss is pretty cool but also can be scary.) And then when I am working on a bg, I need to go back and forth between the leica and looking at the size of the characters and consider what they are doing. Revisions that have to go between departments and levels of approval in a studio can be frustrating.

I actually love to paint too! I used to paint a lot more especially when I was in highschool and in college. I don't think I suck at it either. I mostly preferred to paint "organic" subjects though, (as compared to buildings and vehicle, things that fill out landscapes. I painted people, plants, food, fabric, clothing, objects...

A great inspiration for me is listening to music. I love using itunes and youtube to find new artists and having a stream of music or podcasts is a great fuel. I've recently discovered a few artists I like, Dragonette, Annie and Porcelain Black.

I actually just formed an idea for an animated feature the other day. (gulp) I'd LOVE to get a team together in Canada and produce a feature. Recently that desire was reignited and I started thinking of feature ideas. There is no plot, fully formed characters or setting... but I do have an idea that I love. I'd like to write a big post on ideas sometime. People always seem to be asking how to come up with ideas and companies are desperate for fresh ones. I have my own way of coming up with ideas and harnessing them.

Below: me on the day I went out for a birthday dinner. My expression seems a little crazed, eh? I tried a look of sparkly white eyeshadow all around my eyes with no eyeliner or mascara. Kind of a La Roux type look. It looked cool in the mirror.

I get to start making an animated short film! (Post Previously titled "Music and Design")

It looks like I am going to have some time to make this story idea of mine into a film at last! My husband has been hired by an animation company in Australia so I'm going to finish up my contract at Elliott Animation and then we're going to both head out there to live for a year or so. We're waiting on our visa's right now. My current work contract goes until late November and I'll move in early December. When I move there I plan to focus on creating storyboards and a leica (animatic) as well as backgrounds for this short film. I can do freelance or find a part time job on the side if I like. Until then, when I'm not packing up every belonging I own, I will be prepping my film. I've gotten ahold of a Toronto jazz singer songwriter and I'm meeting up with her in a couple of weeks. Her name is Larra Skye and she's fabulous. And really professional. And very nice. I have some rough lyrics right now and I need a musician to collaborate with to craft that into music. I also contacted an artist about doing some character designs. When I thought about who in the world I would want to work with more than anyone on my film I thought of Deanna Marsigliese. I asked if she would work with me and was thrilled that she said yes! Deanna was in the year ahead of me at Sheridan and I've always admired her beautiful work.

Here's an image by Deanna:

Vespa by Deanna Marsigliese

While looking for some musical inspiration I searched for some images of jazz and here are my 3 favourites:

logo at All that Jazz and More's website, a jazz band for hire

a music inspired painting by: Nancy Peacock

Jazz Face by Ryanselow