TITMOUSE, BLACK PANTHER, & B.E.T.

Hello hello,

Summer is quickly approaching and I am still trying to figure out my plans,
I have been offered a summer job at Titmouse inc. the studio I have been interning at this semester.

They would have me working on a awesome new mini series that would be coming out on BET, based on the well known super hero The Black Panther



When I say it's gonna be awesome, I mean it's gonna be awesome...

This however brings up a tricky problem though... I must choose between a summer dream job in California or spending the summer months with my dream girl in Portland... Poetic ain't it?

A lot of it will come down to if I can find a good place to live for the rest of the summer...

FUN FACT: The term Mad as a Hatter was coined in the 19th century, mercury was key component in the hat making process this resulted in mercury poisoning which cause symptoms attributed to insanity. Even today mercury poisoning is reffered to as "Mad Hatter's disease"

Comic-Con Hammer

So, as some of you may know, for my 21st birthday, I got tickets for me and my girlfriend to go to... COMIC-CON!

For the last couple of days now, I have been working on a prop hammer for my girlfriends costume. She is planning on going as the ever illustrious Ramona Flowers (see below) from the amazing Scott Pilgrim comic book series.




Ramona's weapon of choice in this series is a large hammer. (+2 against girls)


I have a few pictures from the creation process...

The first step was to make the basic shape of the sledgehammer, I did this by stacking 20 strips of cardboard on top of each other. (Alyx's idea)



Then comes the paper mache...



And then the trusty "Stone texture in a spray can" (no joke) and...

Voila!

HAMMER TIME!

A mighty looking, yet lightweight hammer that won't be too much of a burden to carry around all day.

FUN FACT: When George Lucas first dreamed up Star Wars, he envisioned his main character being named Luke "Starkiller" Rather than Skywalker... Oh yeah, and he also wanted him to be a midget.

JULY IS IN THE SHOWCASE!

In the CalArts Experimental Animation program there is an end of the year event called "Showcase" in which the heads of the department choose 12-15 films created that year by the 90+ Bachelors and Masters students.

This yeah I have been fortunate enough to get accepted into this presigiouse line up with my 5 minute film "July." I have been working on it since January of 2007. The film contains several different styles of animation in it such as hand drawn, stop-motion, live action, rotoscoping, stratacut, sand animation, and After Effects.

At the time of the film's creation most of these techniques of animation were very new to me, so I learned alot along the way...

For a taste of what the film is like I'm including some new screen shots and some old ones you've already seen








Fun Fact: on an airplane the black box is acctually bright orange so it is easier to spot in the wreakage of a crashed plane.

RAAAAAWWWWR!!!

Screen shot from the upcoming game "Disneyland or BUST!"



My goal for this game is to have all of the art done before school gets out and program it over the summer.

Fun fact: When Superman was first created he could not fly, only jump really far.

SMASHING PARTY 2009

Titmouse 2009 smashing party...
The day that humans get revenge upon the machines that make there lives miserable....



You show up with your TV that doesn't work anymore, the toaster that always burnt your toast, or the fine china of your great aunt who you never really liked... Sledgehammers, Axes, Crowbars, and lead pipes are provided by the studio... Oh what sweet revenge... Oh what a sweet place to work.........

Here are some pictures of Smashing Parties of years past...
(Click to enlarge)



We'll just have to wait and see if any good pictures turn up of this years party with yours truly...

UPDATE:

MAC SMAAASH!!!




Fun Fact: April 4th was international pillow fight day... I'm pretty sure we one-upped them...

Oranges...

Here is a concept shot of a film I have been pondering in my head... take it for what you will...



Fun Fact: Bamboo can grow really fast, in fact a shoot of bamboo was recorded to have grown 47 inches in a single day.

HOLOTASTIC!

Well, would you look at that, I made a hologram!



I must say, making a hologram is the most delightfully SciFi thing I have ever had the pleasure of undertaking... It involves the use of Lasers, beam splitters and lots of toxic chemicals!

Kinda hard to appreciate when your not holding the actual hologram, but filming it seemed like the best way to show it off... It may not be the most high-tech method of display, but I think it gets the point across...

Fun Fact: In the times of Christopher Columbus nobody actually believed that the earth was flat.