"Murder" Dialogue Test - render

"Murder" dialog test from Adam Strick on Vimeo.

TP!

My friend Steve recently put up some fake trees outside his cube and in my mind, that's just asking for it:) So an unnamed friend, only because I can't pronounce it, helped me tp(toilet paper, for those that don't know) it.

Number of nights trees lasted before getting tp'd...zero.

"Murder" Dialogue Test

Since I haven't posted any personal animation here in a while I figured I'd post an update to an old shot. I'm getting close to calling it quits and parting ways with this one, hopefully.

Dragons Give-Away Game over at Speaking of Animation!

Be sure to check out the riddles/word games over at Speaking of Animation this week to win a signed copy of "The Art of How To Train Your Dragon"! It's currently signed by the directors, Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois, the head of character animation, Simon Otto, and a few of the other animators. We're still adding more signatures! Check out the link for the details!

http://www.speakingofanimation.com/2010/10/dragons-give-away-game/

Busy!

Hello! Just wanted to do a quick post on what I've been up to lately since blog posts have been so scarce! I have mainly been spending time with a few hobbies outside of work, old ones and new ones. I bought a Canon T2i in April and have taken up photography and messing around with the video functions as well. I built a dolly and it seems to work out decently overall.



Here's a video test I put together with it:

Dolly Test 2 from Adam Strick on Vimeo.

I went down to Hollywood Boulevard for about two hours shooting some footage and put together this video. I also took the time to write the music for this one.

Hollywood Blvd from Adam Strick on Vimeo.

I'm really enjoying exploring and experimenting with the camera right now and hope to create some narrative short films in the future. It's nice to have a little "instant" gratification when doing the video tests. Being able to go out and shoot the footage, edit it, throw some music on top of it and be done with it in a day or two doesn't happen much in the world of animation, so even if it's just a small montage like the above clips, it's a fun process!



I'm also still playing guitar when I have the time. Took some time a few weeks ago to learn the solo from "Bark At The Moon".

Bark At The Moon-Guitar Solo from Adam Strick on Vimeo.

My friend and fellow DreamWorks Animation animator, Alexis Wanneroy, is jumping in to the world of dslr's as well with his Canon 5D MkII. He shot and edited this to help advertise the Mixed Martial Arts Madness class. The client wanted the music to be a bit heavier so he asked me to add some guitars on top of it to see if that would work so I was happy to give it a try and help out. They seem to be happy with the results and kept it in the video.

Mixed Martial Arts Madness from alexis wanneroy on Vimeo.

I'm currently taking an advanced creature design sculpting class at work one night a week for the next 5 weeks with Jordu Schell! This guy is an amazing sculptor that's been working in Hollywood since 1987. If you don't know his stuff you should definitely go check out his HUGE gallery of work at http://schellstudio.com/. He's a pretty entertaining guy too so I expect the classes to be fun. I took a figure sculpting class a few months back so this will be a fun and difficult step into creating my own character. We'll be sculpting with super sculpey, which I haven't used much so hopefully I don't hit to many road blocks while working with it.

I've been staying busy with the podcasts for Speaking of Animation as well. We have some great ones coming down the pipe in the future that I'm sure you all will enjoy!

I try to spend time animating some personal stuff in there when I have the time and am feeling up to it but it's definitely tough to do. I have a personal test that I've been working on for the longest time that I hope to eventually post. My focus is going to start pulling in on this in the near future so there should be more posts about it!


Anyways, if you've decided to read this far, I will now apologize for this long update post! I guess when one holds off on posting this long this is what tends to happen.

Giant Incandescent Resonating Animation Festival (GIRAF)

Giant Incandescent Resonating Animation Festival (GIRAF)
Wednesday, Nov 3-7, 2010
at Plaza Theatre, Calgary, AB

Call for Submissions

The Giant Incandescent Resonating Animation Festival is the only exclusively independent animation festival in Canada, with a focus on experimental and self-produced animated film. GIRAF plays an essential role in the promotion, education and appreciation of independent animation from around the world, exposing hungry local audiences to the best animated content from at home and abroad.

Important Note: Submission deadline August 2nd, 2010

Visit

http://www.giraffest.ca/

How To Train Your Dragon Podcast

We posted the podcast this morning so if you haven't seen it yet, go check it out! There's a ton of great info in there from those guys.


http://www.speakingofanimation.com/2010/06/podcast-how-to-train-your-dragon/

How To Train Your Dragon Podcast Promo

How to Train Your Dragon Podcast Promo from Speaking of Animation on Vimeo.

I wish I could post more often but unfortunately there's always so much to do. Jacob Gardner and I collaborated on this promo video for the next Speaking of Animation podcast. I wrote the music and he took care of the awesome imagery! Look forward to the podcast to be posted next week!

Ted Ty Talk Back podcast

Hey everyone,

we just posted the Ted Ty talk back podcast over at Speaking of Animation. This one covers questions sent in from the listeners that clarify or go into more detail about what was mentioned in the last podcast with Ted. Hopefully you all enjoy it and thanks again to Ted for coming back for another round!

Here's the link:

http://www.speakingofanimation.com/2010/04/podcast-ted-ty-talk-back/

How To Train Your Dragon! This Weekend!

The movie I worked on for about the last two years comes out tomorrow so be sure not to miss it this weekend!! The consensus all around from people that have seen early screenings of this film is that they really loved it. A lot of people feel it's the best DreamWorks Animation film to date and I'm glad to hear that they really enjoy the experience they have while watching this film. It was an interesting experience animating crowds and cycles through the film and am grateful to have been a part of Simon Otto's(Head of Character Animation) animation team and glad I was able to be a part of How To Train Your Dragon.

Waking Sleeping Beauty Podcast has been posted!

Check it out here:

http://www.speakingofanimation.com/2010/03/podcast-waking-sleeping-beauty/

New Speaking of Animation podcast!!

Listen to it HERE!

We were very fortunate having the opportunity to speak with Richie about his experience on Avatar. Thanks a ton for doing this and thanks to Marek Kochout for setting it up!

New Dragon Trailer!!

One Month away! March 26th!!

New Podcast on Speaking Of Animation coming soon!

Skywalker Ranch shot by Philip Bloom

Skywalker Ranch from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.

This is some gorgeous footage of the Skywalker Ranch shot with the Canon 5DmkII and Canon 7D.

You can read about it on Philip Bloom's blog here:
http://philipbloom.co.uk/2009/12/12/the-tale-of-lucasfilm-skywalker-ranch-red-tails-star-wars-and-canon-dslrs/

He has some more great stuff on his vimeo channel so be sure to check it out!