"Turing Test" short film by Jaylinn Davidson / atoms to the universe

Been up trying to choreograph movement of my awkward, wonky 2d photoshop constructed little oxygen atom (the 2 inner electron orbit rings are hard to see, but yeah..that's what it's supposed to be if you're scientifically minded and pick apart such things). It will be at the beginning of the animation where a gamma ray passes through it and produces a loose electron and positron, which attract and destroy each other in a tiny bit of energy. After I finish that, I can echo some of the visuals in a bigger scale, when I skip to a scene in progress in the end where a universe and antimatter universe come together in a male and female form.

So anyway this is a mini motion test (sans background) for the atom:

Jaylinn Davidson, keyboardist for The Boxing Lesson (I animated two videos for the band several years ago) and Casual Strangers and also a dear, lovely, talented friend of mine has expanded her artistic reach into writing/directing/editing her first solo music video (for C.S.). Featuring Sara Eleta Reid as the robot:

Turing Test

An interview regarding her creative process is found here in The Austin Chronicle . One thing that I particularly connected with was that she discovered a driving concept of the story while deep in the process of editing it. I've tried to plan more work in advance (storyboarding, although mine can look like indeciperable chicken scratch to any other eyes than my own)  when making animations, but I've also found that sometimes the unplanned freeform random moments can lead to discoveries that can dominate and alter the course  of the project for the better.

I'm really proud of you Jaylinn! Hope we can collaborate and explore the universe further together in whatever creative form it can take.

finishing unfinished business

2 feet round-acrylic ink and acrylic paint on wood
conclusion to these previous efforts: here  and animations "One"
and "Four" embedded on upper left side of this page

Project plans for Eight - Fur State - The Boxing Lesson

I will be taking a longer, slower approach to the final animation that will conclude the first two I made (embedded in upper left corner of blog) to songs from Fur State by The Boxing Lesson. The first two parts of this project have been  an exciting and fun but all encompassing experiment in a race to get it finished in time to promote the album. Due to other pressing obligations and that I do not want to shortchange the ideas or execution for the concluding animation, I am approaching the final one as strictly a labor of love. It won't be timed with any more promotional deadlines for Fur State by The Boxing Lesson  * but it will be out eventually as I do want to conclude the story. It will leave off with the human/alien fetus conceived at the end of Four (the larger embedded video above) and will link back to the first animation One ( the smaller video below Four). She is now an imaginative eight year old and will facing a different Earth than the one she grew up on.  I will share progress as it comes though.

Yesterday I took some more reference pics using my eight year old niece as a model. Being an awesome little artist, she also provided some lovely drawings that I will be incorporating into the work. (The human/alien girl likes to draw quite a bit too) Both space pics. It looks like she painted  a Harmonic Convergence from how she lined up the planets. Hmmm. giving me ideas....

*  However I will promote this --The Boxing Lesson has just recorded a new LP with Frenchie Smith at the Bubble in Austin! From what the new album cover looks like it is going to be pretty epic:

Follow them on Twitter to get updates on their new album and more.

I should add they will be playing on Thursday, April 21 at 11:00pm - April 22 at 12:00am at Stubbs BBQ (Austin, TX) as part of the Cut/Copy aftershow. Free inside show! Doors @ 10P Show @ 11P

Dreamscape complete and The Boxing Lesson benefit for Japan

Oil on wood 24" round . Thinking of giving this one a title. Haven't decided..open to hearing suggestions (can't promise to take them but I'll read them) in the comment box.



FYI for those in Austin, TX:

The Boxing Lesson (The music behind the animated videos embedded in the upper left of this blog --please check them out!), Little Lo and others are playing a last minute Benefit for Japan on Sat, April 9 at the Scoot Inn.

It is presented by Bearded Allies and the $5 cover is being donated to MercyCorps to aid with the ongoing crisis.

EVENT FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=207140082648351
EVENT DO512: http://do512.com/event/2011/04/09/bearded-allies-presents-benefit-for-japan

The Boxing Lesson / Fur State / Three

The Boxing Lesson has just released a new video, "Three".  (I animated One and Four embedded at the upper left hand of this blog. I'll be documenting progress on Eight in the near future. If you haven't seen...get to it! Go on! ...ahem............please...)

Like the two previous animated videos, this video (directed by  Nathan Guy / IndieGuy Productions) has cats aplenty--this time making live appearances on South Congress, Switched On, Good Dannys, The Victory Grill, Side Bar, Joe's Coffee, Rooftops, front porches, etc. Enjoy!

http://theboxinglesson.bandcamp.com/
http://www.facebook.com/theboxinglesson
http://www.myspace.com/theboxinglesson http://www.twitter.com/theboxinglesson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boxing_Lesson

new stills- tornadoes

I've been tinkering with the timing this past week on what I have so far for the animation project. (To go with "Four" from Fur State by The Boxing Lesson. Check most of the posts in November for previous stills.) I've been trying to find a balance between snappy speed and transitions yet maintaining a dreamy quality.

  Just added more frames. Made about 15 seconds worth today which is good progress.

Featured in the last frame is one (or Four) of my favorite freaky things. Most likely will be able to post more on Monday. Until then, I will link a new holiday animation from the talented Eric Power sometime this weekend.

The Boxing Lesson - Dark Side of the Moog

Again, I cannot access my home computer until Monday (will have more progress on stills then). In the meantime here is a link to Eric Power who has worked on Dark Side of the Moog by The Boxing Lesson.
I love this--like an Eric Carle illustration of a nightmare world.

Stalkermobile Part II -this time it's serious! (Four-Fur State-The Boxing Lesson)

stalkermobile (Four-Fur State-The Boxing Lesson)

Nothing too exciting today. Did work out the bike in motion...now working on the stalkermobile (you'll see why later). Used my sister in law's cute cooper. The furry texas is incorporating the logo from The Boxing Lesson's Fur State, the album which I am animating selected songs to. The Boxing Lesson really needs to make some danglythang Fur State car ornament/air fresheners for their promo swag.

test run -bike in motion (progress of Four-Fur State-The Boxing Lesson)

I'm learning little things through these past two projects. Blurring can give a greater impression of movement and speed than drawing many frames of the specific movement. I had originally put more work into many frames for the peddling but simplifying it made it more successful. So here is a sample test run of the frames with the blur effect. I will be jazzing up the image a bit but here is the basic idea.

some purdier stills for the holiday (Four-Fur State-The Boxing Lesson)

A small sample of more stills. Have a great Thanksgiving!

12 hours for 12 seconds...

Worked on a frame in Photoshop layers all day (about 12 hours) today. (By working in layers I can get motion effects.) Planned to run errands, walk etc. but kept thinking "just one more fix, one more add".  After editing for speed and good transitions it was cut down to about 12 seconds. It will yield more frames tomorrow though. Getting to the higher action cartoony stuff soon so that should be quicker to process.

Time to walk away from this and animate my ass. Oy.

and more stills (new animation)

I'm not going to share so many as to give away the story, but here are a few stills.

more stills

Just wanted to mention the Topo Chico cats are returning in this project. Not starring, just featuring--sort of a Jay and Silent Bob appearance. I couldn't resist.

some flower imagery

For the starring flower in this animation (I'm not giving away how it stars), my portrait model (who is a landscaper) suggested the King Protia to base it on. I want to get one for a still life painting, too.  I'm thinking of supplementing the animation work once it is complete with a separate set of paintings. We'll see.

some sneak preview pics for second animation

I will try to resist posting too many pics for second animation project...I want to leave some surprises.  Getting close to a minute completed so far.

Goodnight (for me)/good morning (for you)

Basis for first clip of movie completed

Here is basis (I will be adding some elements to it) to the opening scenes to the new animation. This rotates.

That (just now) gave me an idea of an ongoing format for the rest of the whole video. Ooh. Love those middle of the night ideas.

There are some conflicts with my time that I was hoping could be all worked together into this animation. I thought about making more hand drawn on paper images (there was a starting element to that in the previous one) so I am not constantly on the computer, and to keep a connection to my other work. After attempting that, I found I became very impatient with the process. When I am creating  many frames I find that spending  time making a regular painting for one frame slow the flow down of the project in other ways besides the obvious one...I lose thinking of how it moves in time, the use of  multiple elements (that are created more on the fly) that can become an ongoing visual theme.

I am not ruling out hand drawn completely. I may use hand drawn on paper simple lines for the cartoonier aspect of later scenes.

I may need to just portion a couple of hours a day for non animated work, so I don't lose the different sort of energy and attention that painting and drawing on canvas and paper requires. This story is pretty much mapped out, (as opposed to my previous project which changed as I created it) and now I have an idea how to use and not fight my software so I expect this project to go faster than before. I hope.

I will try to share images without giving the whole thing away. I put a lot of examples up from my previous project on Facebook, but only because The Boxing Lesson could see my progress, and about 70% of the rest of my contacts don't really look much anyway. (shrug)

Doing some prep work for next animation

 My portrait project session has moved again, but I hope to share the results of the completed painting by this weekend.

I've been researching some imagery for the next animation for The Boxing Lesson--a deep space hypno mind control alien sex romp involving some plant life. I took a few preliminary pics for some simple drawings, will be calling in a few favors from friends for other pictures, and doing a little searching online. Thought I'd share this. Oooh. Ahhh. Purdy.

 galaxies with black hole centers

more pics from The Boxing Lesson listening party

More pics, and pretty kitties posing in the Topo Chico box like the animation! There will be a video coming out in the near future that has a smokin' Jaylinn Davidson tiger posing in it too. The Eyeball guy is Eric Powers, who made an earlier video for The Boxing Lesson called Dark Side of The Moog. http://vimeo.com/2030699

  Ryan Cano (right) from The Loyalty Firm (and present drummer for TBL) and Paul Waclawsky (left) from The Boxing Lesson

 Eric Power

 Dan Hill Juliana Dieterich of the band Hills

 Juliana and Brooke Beatty

 Katie Gunn and friend

 Jaylinn Davidson of The Boxing Lesson in a passionate three way with Hall & Oates

I can't wait till the video comes out!

Had a blast.

The viewing part of the listening and viewing party did not go as planned, but it was lots of fun nonetheless. The videographer shot scenes of both the furries and regular party goers which I will link when available. As you see I did manage to get some painting done last night.  Tonight I will catch up on a portrait  and continue to plan the second animation.