joe blogger

BLOG Consolidation

2008-11-19T06:49:00.000-08:00

joesdrawings.blogspot.com

Don Herzfelt @ the Music Box

2008-10-31T11:09:00.000-07:00

The beautiful thing about animation is that there are so many ways of doing it, so many things you can do and say with it like any artform. I went to what was billed as "A Night With Don Herzfelt" at the Music Box here in Chicago last Friday night. I still have mostly mixed feelings about Don's work and Don himself but I will say that I appreciate all that he has set himself up for. The obvious reasons being that he continues to explore the visual possibilities of older techniques and technology. The one thing he said during the completely unnecessary Q & A after the screening that was refreshing to hear was his continued interest in those things. Reading through his blog about the thoughtfulness that has gone into the 2 Bill films I get the sense that he's fully engaged in the structuring of his stories but at first look the structure becomes fairly well played and old. I didn't feel like I went anywhere with Proud that I didn't already go with OK...and mention of perhaps a 3rd Bill film is something I'm not looking forward to.

Don is an interesting study in an artist who is fully aware of himself as a showman when he talks about his work. He plays meak, unwilling to be a "star" but he is more aware than anyone of his status among animation followers. He says the things you want to hear from an artist who has found his identity...things like "I try to stay true to what I'm saying or it doesn't work, isn't funny..." Of course if you're engaged in what you're doing creatively it's a given that sincerity is a big part of creation. But it's hard to tell if it's sincere coming from him or rhetoric that makes people fall in love with the persona of Don Herzfelt as an ARTIST/FILMMAKER. If it inspires up and coming animators, artists, filmmakers to look at their own work and decide to be sincere and make their indie short then that can't be all bad...but to be sure he's selling a brand...he's no different than your favorite indie band who ends up signing to a major label...the music is still mostly the same but the package is shinier and somewhat insincere (or can be)...

So he hasn't really done that but talk of a TV project is not that far off. I should note that I don't necessarily feel that that's "selling out" or whatever, in fact I think it can be a great opportunity if and ONLY if he can remain in full control over the content he provides...then he deserves it...his success will have afforded him a chance to challenge himself with another way of conveying what's on his mind. I would never deny that...as long as it maintains the honesty, truthfulness and sincerity he appears to have.

It is clear that Bill is close to him....you can see it in the drawings, the expressions, so I think for the most part he feels he is being truthful...but then comes the shiny, flashy "gimmick" that is the way he produces his work, which seems to be more of what's on his mind than anything. It should never matter HOW you achieve your end although process is so important to many artists, myself notwithstanding...But I feel like process shouldn't be the focal point of someone's work and at times with Don's work I feel like it has too much presence...

Mixed feelings all around but great respect and appreciation.

~JM

NEW BLOG

2008-10-31T10:44:00.000-07:00

A bit behind in storyboards but I will be updating progress on the film at my image blog Joe Drawer which will include concept art, inspiration, research material, animation stuff, etc. as well as things I'm doing for fun and stimulation...~JM

9to5

2008-09-15T08:44:00.000-07:00

Just finished some animation for a musical production of 9 to 5. I didn't really know what I was getting into until about 2/3 of the way through. The section we animated was reflective of a fantasy scene from the movie where Lily Tomlin's character "Violet" is dressed like Snow White singing with Bluebirds. We animated 3 Bluebirds at 30 fps in a little under a month for the 37 seconds we were allotted. The interesting thing about this was that we had to build the animation so that the tech guys had control of when the bird's were syncing with Violet. It ended up being a lot like how gaming works in terms of getting in and out of cycles. Not really sure how it's all working out in L.A. and don't know how it looks with composited video from their end but I think what we were able to accomplish in a relatively short amount of time was pretty good. Jerry Chambless of Illum Productions in Fla. Produced and did some CG animation for a section following the Bluebirds. BJ Crawford, Catherine & Sarah Satrun assited in animation and Tom Riffel painted a large portion of it. The show opens in L.A. on the 20th of September and on Broadway in March. Jada asked me at some point if this was the Broadway one with Dolly Parton writing the score...I didn't know at the time and thought it was just an off broadway hole in the wall play...so it was a boost to find out it was a bit bigger than that..."Wicked" director Joe Mantello is directing and Peter Negrini is the Production Designer noted for using a lot of video elements in stage productions...

Lately

2008-08-22T08:11:00.000-07:00

my face has been well planted in the bosom of Dolly Parton and 3 bluebirds...

2008-08-11T14:08:00.000-07:00

1_I saw 2 pigeons on a window ledge and 1 was dead. It seemed like the other one was mourning the other one

2_Sitting in my car I watched a man in a wheelchair undo his pants and pee into a container then continue down the sidewalk.

2008-07-30T08:33:00.000-07:00

I've been really distracted with a number of things lately...all pointing to the fact that no matter what I think, I am not a great multi-tasker...Some of the distractions are wonderful-marriage, home, dogs...but then as summer plods on strange jobs and bad timing have distracted me from creating anything at all...least of all something of minor significance...but BJ and I have been picking at ADAM as much or little as possible...hoping to have a board finished for the Fall...

While I was at Calabash Animation I had the pleasure and opportunity to work on their most recent short, BOTNIK!, doing conceptual artwork with Darryl Young...the film's writer and director Jackie Smessaert is flying everywhere to festivals these days. Fly! BOTNIK! Fly!

2008-06-24T05:51:00.000-07:00

The progression of a painter's work as it travels in time from point to point, will be toward clarity.. toward the elimination of all obstacles between the painter and the idea.. and the idea and the observer.. To achieve this clarity is inevitably to be understood.

~Mark Rothko

2008-06-19T10:58:00.000-07:00

'Everyone's entitled to my opinion.' attr. Marian Crawford's pillow

2008-06-18T12:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my first day back in the studio after a whirlwind month...getting married and honeymooning...have not drawn creatively for over a month...was greeted by a chocolate colored male blowup doll in the middle of the street on Wolcott...he was aroused...thought maybe it was the sight of me returning to my inspirational treehouse...probably wrong, though.

eye contact

2008-04-29T06:35:00.001-07:00

I've been pulled away from ADAM for a bit to make some money...having fun doing so...
bing pulled away from ADAM sometimes means I'm not completely engaged in what I recently started writing about...but lately one thing that's been on my mind is eye contact...writing on what I've experienced and not so much researched I find myself returning to how we behave when given the chance to make simple eye contact with one another...depending on where you are geographically and culturally, I know it means different things, and even on an animal level it means very specific things...something that happens to me a lot is that in the midst of "observing" a subject for notes, sketches or whatever, the person may look up right at me at that very moment making eye contact that forces me to change my gaze...it's awkward for sure because my intent, I suppose, is to be a bit of a voyeur...I want to objectively watch, study, take notes but that's broken as soon as eye contact is made...

Another kind of eye contact that happens to me quite often is when I am passing someone on a sidewalk or something...I'll do my best to keep my eyes on that person hoping that if they make eye contact I'll be able to connect briefly enough to acknowledge them in a greeting and have them acknowledge me as well...so I keep testing...looking up and at them as they come closer...if they do and we make eye contact I'll force a head nod out of them...this is meaningful to me because I feel like we pass so many people every day and don't even acknowledge their existence...we do internally and peripherally because we need to avoid running into them or whatever...But I am part of that at times as well where I will simply keep my gaze somewhere else so as not to have to make eye contact...what is that? why is that? well I know for me I tend to be very private, liking my private space and respecting the private spaces of others not wanting to encroach...it's amazing how such a simple act can have great potential meaning...but I guess where it means the most for me is acknowledgment, connecting with someone else and saying "I see ya"...

2008-04-14T15:34:00.000-07:00

feeling bloated today...

2008-04-06T09:35:00.000-07:00

Saw an old interview with Hubert Selby Jr. (Last Exit to Brooklyn)...commented that he felt that the eyes don't function as receptors of the outside world, but as a projector, a fountain that sends out into the world our inner thoughts, feelings and perceptions...in that way making the world around us what we make it...not a new concept but one I've been back and forth on working on Adam.

2008-04-05T06:52:00.000-07:00

It hit me this morning that there is another thing that is fascinating about animals in general...this morning I was waiting for my coffee and noticed a little boy at a table with his mom...he was chattering about something and just moving around playing...there was a water bottle next to him...seemed oversized but he could handle it...the thing that I always wonder about is what goes into the decision right in the middle of playing to grab the bottle, twist off the cap and take a drink...at what point unconsciously or slightly consciously did his brain tell him to stop what he was doing and get a drink out of that bottle...I always wonder about this with my dog...she could be in a dead sleep wake up and walk over to a toy, gently pick it up and take it back to where she was laying down, either to chew on it for a bit or just have it next to her...she does the same thing at night when she takes herself to bed...she always picks something to take with her, a ratty slipper, a ball, a sock she pulled out of somewhere...how does she make that decision? Knowing that she doesn't think in our "language" but the behavior is consistant enough...she will play by herself at times, too, just waking up from a nap, walk over to a ball and pounce on it making it fly across the floor so she can chase it...what drives that? what is it that makes that activity happen? I'm sure there are many many answers, but it remains mysterious and amazing to me...

2008-04-04T07:45:00.000-07:00

Philosophy teacher asks his class "what's worse-ignorance or apathy?" 1 student raises his hand and answers "I don't know and I don't care"

2008-04-03T12:34:00.001-07:00

Met at Latizia's for an hour or so with B to sketch and talk about ADAM...found a couple places to clarify...I'd read a journal entry from 2005 regarding the premise of the story and tripped over a pretty crucial element to the thrust of the thing...will be redoing boards that play it up a bit...commercial work right now at least for the next week...back to it soon...
not that long ago, around EASTER I had a dream that took place as I was partially awake listening to a radio program...On the radio they were talking about honey baked ham that was spiral cut and as they talked about the ham (i could hear them talking) I was carressing a small pink "ball" that was a ham...but it was shaped like a baby pig without a head and it was a cool pink...the ham I was carressing was cold to the touch too...I remember thinking how gross it was to feel a cold baby pig but somehow wanting to eat it...I couldn't, though, because it sort of disgusted me...then with the discussion of the spiral cut I pulled it apart like an accordian...there were no bones so the fact that it was shaped like a baby pig scared me even more...

2008-03-31T16:27:00.000-07:00

There is a guy I see in this Chinese restaraunt near where I teach. He's about 5'8" 145lbs mid to late 20's...maybe even early 30's...pretty thin...furrowed brow, short cut med. brown hair...his bottom lip out a bit like he has a chew pack inserted...he looks unhappy (my judgement)...he's the only white dude that works there...eveyone else Chinese...What got him there? What happened that led him to fill out an application to take lucnh and dinner orders, here, in this specific place? He has a boss, a tall but portly Chinese man who also looks indifferent...expressionless...at least the order taker flicks his head up in a nod of acknowledgement...what were their childhoods like? seems like asking could lead to dissapointment as I have several stories going for both of them...the order taker wears black...at least every time I've been in there...I wonder if he's wondering why I keep half looking at him sketching and writing, scrawling something about him...I'm creepy

2008-03-30T13:39:00.000-07:00

Added some revised boards based on conversations with BJ regarding 2nd act...I feel good about this direction...the change may have added some film time but added some pretty crucial tension between the main character and his "love interest"(s)...
BJ brought his dad by to have a look at what we're doing and really the first fresh eye on our scratchy boards and hearing the full story...there were some great things he picked up on which is always exciting to have someone look at what you're doing (especially in such an embryonic stage) and "get" some pretty important concepts...so needless to say I was really happy that he understood...it also provided us with some practice in telling the story...every once in a while I do an "interview" with Charlie Rose (in my head of course) where I have to explain myself, what I'm thinking, how it relates to the story I'm trying to tell, what I want to do with it visually...all the things that are swimming around in my head manifest themselves in me talking to myself (answering Charlie's well informed questions)...what does it sound like when I answer a question about the film? Is it clear? Is the story still relevant?

There were also a few things that came up in terms of the visual storytelling that are new that I was happy to have stumbled upon...I think for the first time I'm feeling pretty good about where it's headed and to be sure, it's really come a long way...the concept and spine was always sort of there but had no structure and when I shared it with BJ we went off into some pretty interesting directions with the story that brought us to some deadends but would have been interesting to explore visually...those things went away when it was realized that they didn't make enough of an impact on the character and the decisions he needed to be faced with...It's interesting when you try things that maybe you know in your heart aren't going to work but you need to explore them anyway in case there is a nugget in there that is important, even if that nugget is the fact that it's NOT a good idea.

Some more storyboarding to be done this week...I'm not real good with choregraphing action so that's something I'm going to try to wrap my head around.

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN was on TV last night...one of my favorites for many reasons but one is realizing how obsessed Handratty was and how relevant his behavior is to Adam's...

2008-03-27T09:13:00.000-07:00

Adam is coming along pretty well. I've never done anything with any sort of story structure so it's been great to be researching structures, how they work, etc. plus BJ has been a tremendous help in keeping me in check, asking questions, making sure things are clear and points are hit...
Hopefully last of the boards will be finished in a few weeks and we can cut it together to see if any of it makes sense. It has grown quite a bit since I first had the idea several years ago, and it's still hitting on the themes I am interested in addressing...
I'm sure there will be somenudging and clarifying lots of other things once we get a cut going.

Judgement vs. Observation

2008-03-24T08:19:00.000-07:00

Human beings intrigue and repulse me at the same time...I'm very much included in that statement. It's a line I've had running around in my head since the self isolated days of middle school. But the thing that's been constant is my interest in the conditions of individuals...where do people come from, how do they get to where they are at any given time on their journey. In art school students are normally encouraged to draw from life, literally and figuratively...experience the world around you, consume it, digest it, interpret it, allow it to inform who and what you are and who and what you do. With that practice over the years I find myself sort of wondering about certain individuals paths that got them to the point where some guy is sitting a mere 10 feet away, half staring and logging something into his book. It's always been a practice for students of animation to get the quick sketch down, observe the subtleties of human behavior, use it in the characters we animate...note how someone walks, note specific postures, watch for any small "ticks". This has become one of my favorite things to do-just sit...and watch...and wonder about a person or group of people and the dynamic that each in the group brings to the group.

Whether it's some sort of wierd guilt or something, I don't know, but at times I feel as if I am making a judgement, something we are "taught" not to do from very early on. I don't view my thoughts as judgements but I do find myself wondering how someone could end up a certain that seems painful, miserable, unhealthy...and "who am I to paint such a picture for myself"...a representation unsupported by fact...but sometimes it's pretty obvious that someone's situation is terribly unhealthy and I want more for them.

A place where this is SO evident is a television show we all know...COPS...some of it's pretty humurous but when you stop to think about it, that show is mainly about exposing what ails our humanity (at the same time exploiting those indivisuals)...poverty, missed opportunity, irresponsibility...you can make your own list. I don't really intend on making this about anything political ...if anything I am apolitical. The other day I saw a segment with these 2 brothers somewhere in southern Florida who'd been fighting. One dude had a bloody face and he kept claiming he didn't want to press charges, he was drunk and had fallen and hit his face on a coffee table. As the "investigation" progresses we find that another brother had hit him in the face with an ashtray after being assaulted by the bloody brother with a metal boat paddle (which the mother told the cops she'd thrown it outside). They took both brothers away, noting that one of them had just gotten out (bloody face brother) of jail that week. Listening to them talk, noting what kind of haircut each had (it looked like a fresh haircut so what prompted him to get up that one particular morning and say "I'm gunna get a haircut today"), what they were wearing on top of their crying mother made me feel a kind of pity I don't like to feel (I'm hoping it was more compassion...but they are the same thing). Again, being taught that feeling pity is a bad thing, I wondered if I was observing or judging. For me they seem to be the same thing since I can't observe with objectivity or indifference. I want to know things about them...their story...and maybe that's what is most intriguing to me is not what I'd just seen, which in itself was sad, but what is the backstory...what was childhood like? Mom seemed to be loving...her hair that stiff straw-like blonde, obvious smoker, short and overweight. So then I want to know what HER childhood was like...watching her cry I wondered what she was like when she was happy, content. Yeah, I know, COPS...but there is a lot of pain in people's lives...the show is about "catchin bad guys" but somehow I feel like what's happening goes a little further than that.

One more example (of several hundreds) is a guys who was caught going into some wooded area...he was by himself and the cop said it was a known crack smokin hangout...well of course they found a pipe and a piece of rock...He was extremely embarrassed that he'd just gotten out of some sort of rehab...they called his parents (dude was in his mid to late 30's) to come and get him...they refused...that was hard to watch...knowing that he'd caused his parents a lot of pain but unable to pull himself together...a sort of betrayal in his mind I'm sure...but backstories...what was he like pre-addiction...family life...what did he like to do...happy? content?

All of that interests me a great deal. I do it on the train or bus or wherever. There have been times when I've wondered if who I am observing has felt connection and pleasure of love-making. Not that I see myself in that situation with them, just wondered about the connection aspect something like that brings to someone's life and if they've experienced it. But then a little voice says "stop judging them"...

Stories are made from life and I am so interested in what people's experiences have been to lead them to this specific point in life...only imagining what can happen that may change that path or not. So as I'm writing, I'm saying to myself 'Self, I really love people'...but I know that something is going to happen today that will have me thinking differently for just a few moments.

To those I have silently observed and wondered about I thank you for allowing me to do so (even though I didn't exactly ask for approval) and know that if my observation turned to judgement it was only that I hoped for something more or better, and if it wasn't needed, for continued happines and contentedness..