Photo of the Day - Untitled

Untitled, a photo by klOrklOr on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Location: Sheung Wan, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong

sooc, gotta love film :)

Bronica SQ-Ai, ZENZANON PS 80mm F2.8, Kodak Portra 160NC...

www.francoismarclay.com | Tumblr | making of my waterfalls project

How To Spot An Instagram Junkie

Loved the style of this infographic from Column Five Media almost as much as I love the truth behind it.

Photo of the Day - interbellum

interbellum, a photo by jes.b on Flickr.

The Shins : The Rifle's Spiral

A stunning compositional masterpiece from Jamie Caliri and his team for The Shins new track, The Rifle's Spiral. They shot this with a Canon 7D, 5D, and 60D and used Dragonframe to help with the animation. For moving shots they used a rig called the Volo by ARC Motion Control.

The Complete Animade Lernz

I love these little shorts from Animade, and up until this video I had only actually seen "Walk" and "Eyes". Truly inspirational work here.

Tenacious D - Rize of the Fenix

Happy Friday everyone.

WellDone

In East Africa, WellDone provides materials and education so villagers can build their own wells. These DIY wells last longer, are less expensive to build, and help communities stay connected. This celebration of water has helped more than 30,000 people work towards self-sufficiency, develop pride in their work, and grow healthier. Threadless has recently put on a challenge to design a logo for WellDone's cause. Below is my attempt. After researching some of their work I came across a lot of pictures of hands cupping water. I found the image very powerful and this became the basis for my design. Another theme in the design is the contrasting elements of smooth and rough. The heart and water are both smooth, life giving elements, while the hands are rough, earthy, and textured. I did this to emphasize the great impact that water can have in these harsh environments. If you like my design please vote for it here.

HPS in 60 Seconds

Fun little piece from the guys over at Breakfast of Champions.  Simple and fun way to show how much a company does in just one minute.

100 Frames

Fraser Davidson, the same person who brought us the amazing piece, Bill Maher's Irritable Bowl Syndrome, has begun to create 100 frame shorts inspired by different letters in the alphabet. Below is U and H, although O and M are both done as well.

The Camera Collection

Fun little piece from Antonio Vicentini. Reminds me a lot of one of my works.

5 Second Project - Nothing But Cubes

Grey Scale Gorilla has recently come out with a new 5 Second Project under the theme "Nothing But Cubes." Knowing GSG's heavy Cinema 4D influence and following my immediate thought was that there was no room for me to participate in this round.  I figured I would need to use Cinema 4D to create anything that used cubes. Then, while sitting at my desk yesterday it hit me.  Ice cubes! There is more than one way to reference a cube and there is more than one way to animate a cube.  With my hopes rising I went into action and created this image in Adobe Illustrator.

Then, with all my layers separated, I brought the AI file into After Effects and animated it to completion.  I'm pretty sure it's one of the only pieces in the competition that hasn't used Cinema 4D with a cube exploding, and for that I'm proud.

Nothing But Cubes from Chris Koelsch on Vimeo.

Figure Father

A really touching piece from Andrew Ellis at Nomadique Media, LLC. Those guys tell some truly touching stories. Check out more of their work at their site and read more in depth about this particular piece at their blog here.


Figure Father from Nomadique on Vimeo.

Nokia - Traffic

I really like how this short piece Punga created for Nokia displays the various text information.  In my professional work I often find myself fighting to find elegant ways to add text throughout animation.  The simplicity of the style along with the use of negative space really makes for a good composition in this work.


Nokia - Traffic from PUNGA on Vimeo.

The Workman's Guide Update

Still trying to pump out pages to my book. Lately I have been working on a few other fun projects so I have had less time to develop it, but rest assured it is still under production.

Handmade

This was a piece created by Lernert & Sander for the Handmade issue of Wallpaper*. Their style is nothing short of elegant, and if you want proof of that I suggest visiting their site for more inspiration.


Handmade from Lernert & Sander on Vimeo.

Photo of the Day - Untitled

Untitled, a photo by William's Wish Wellingtons on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
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Punks Jump Up feat Dave 1/Chromeo - Mr Overtime

Awesome new music video mixing two of my favorite things: the animation styles of ChezEddy and the funky beats of Chromeo. A winning combination if I do say so myself.


Punks Jump Up feat Dave 1/Chromeo - Mr Overtime from ChezEddy on Vimeo.

The Politics of Competitive Board Gaming Amongst Friends

I found this piece by Jay Cheel intriguing for many reasons. For one thing, I love gaming in all forms. My family is big into boardgames so I know all about competitive natures, but what I loved about this piece from a technical standpoint is that it told a story in an interesting way. In my work we have to shoot a lot of interviews, and sometimes it can be challenging coming up with ways to enhance them. I think the re-enactments that Jay uses in this piece are not only well shot but they really help tell the story in a way that's engaging and humorous, so if you have 10 minutes I think it's worth the watch.


The Politics of Competitive Board Gaming Amongst Friends from Jay Cheel on Vimeo.

Fail Again, Fail Better

I couldn't have said it better myself. That said, I couldn't have animated it better than Sara Shin and the folks over at Blind. Fail again, fail better.  That simple phrase alone says so much in an artistic industry.  To even start out in this field you have to have tough skin and be prepared for the dreaded client to take your beautiful little bird of an idea and throw in into a garbage disposal. Sad as that may be, a tough challenge is often times a great catalyst for wondefully produced work. So next time you're in a similar situation as the person in the animation below just remember,

"Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat" -F. Scott Fitzgerald



Fail Again, Fail Better from Sara Shin on Vimeo.

The Magic Seeds

Seed Animation Studio recently commissioned Yuki Nishimura to illustrate a wall-wide mural for their studio wall. The mural is based on a poem called The Magic Seeds by James Reeves. Seed asked Yuki to inject her treatment of surreal, twisted characters and her fresh approach to design into the project. Soon after the mural was complete Seed wanted to tell the back story to these characters and the poem, as it is read, so they commissioned Yuki to animate and voice an in-house ident called The Magic Seeds. While Yuki was focused on the creation of her masterpiece, Seed filmed a time-lapse that records Yuki as we see the mural developing over 2 very labour-intensive months.

Below you can see Yuki's 2 months of labor video, her short ident animation. Also be sure to check out Seed's showreel so you can become more acquainted with their wonderful work.


The Magic Seeds Mural from Seed Animation Studio on Vimeo.
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The Magic Seeds Ident from Seed Animation Studio on Vimeo.