NOIR needs your help!

Before I go any further, be sure to check out Greg's Noir the Film IndieGoGo Campaign.
They put up a new video explaining the film and asking for your support. If you love mysteries, monsters and movies, you will want to help these two guys. Here's the video and a link to the campaign!

NOIR Indiegogo Pitch from Lee Anthony Smith on Vimeo.

While cleaning up my garage, I came across some free time inside a box full of styrofoam peanuts. I used this extra time to work on the storyboards for the next WatchCat episode. Here are several scenes showing our bad guys tell their side of the story to police and what happens to them while they inside the house.

These are some of the rough storyboards which I will go back and refine before I make an animatic. If you have any suggestions or comments, please let me know because I value your feedback. It let's me know if the story is being understood or if I need to go back and fix something. 

I will be posting the rest of the storyboards if I get a few comments on this batch. Thanks for your support!

Jimr 

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Stay in the Light!

Lots of gears are in motion right now as both Greg and I are busy doing other things. For one, Greg's Indie Go Go campaign for "NOIR" is up and running. Here's a link to this independent feature film that needs your help asap.

As for myself, I'm still working on a freelance project that I have been documenting the process on  Animateducated blog.

We are happy to welcome two fine artists who are tag teaming to help us produce the next WatchCat episode. Introducing Rachel Morels and Anika Fisch! They are both currently attending Woodbury University, taking tons art and animation classes, eating, sleeping, breathing animation and helping us with background artwork. 

The background below was created from my rough layout drawing by Rachel Morales. Here's a link to her website!

Here's a rough motion test...

At the end of the scene, the camera moves towards the Police station and will dissolve into an interrogation room where we will see one of the bad guys.

Here is a rough layout drawing of the interrogation room.

 

The final background was created by Anika Fisch. Here's a link to her website!

And for all you animation geeks out there, we can reuse this background in a later scene by simply flipping the image.

So there you go, please visit the Noir Indiegogo campaign and stay in the light! 

Cats in Literature

While researching the subject of Famous Felines in Animation, I am reminded of a few favorite cat characters from literature. Click on this book cover to hear an excerpt of the story...

First published in 1939, T.S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats is a wonderful collection of poems about cats and is illustrated by one of my favorite artist, Edward Gorey. Many years later inspired Andrew Lloyd Webber to...

Many years later, this book inspired Andrew Lloyd Webber to compose "Cats", the longest running musical in the history of the British theater.

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was a shy math professor at Oxford University when he began telling the stories as Lewis Carroll, that eventually developed into the Alice books. The Cheshire Cat was one of the characters that Alice runs into throughout the book.   

 

                   
Which kind of reminds me of the CatBus from Hayao Miyazaki 1988 anime classic My Neighbor Totoro...

 And I could go on and on, but what about you dear reader? Do you have a favorite cat character that you like? How about any photos of watchcats in your neighborhood? Please let me know...