water shots

seq11 sh01 mermaid dives bg from Christopher Magee on Vimeo.


seq11 sh02o mermaid passes behind ogre bg small from Christopher Magee on Vimeo.


seq11 sh02a mermaid brushes ogre bg from Christopher Magee on Vimeo.

prep for exhibition

framed, and with invitation for "Drawing First + Last".

exhibition prep

the film is by no means finished, but I am participating with several colleagues in the exhibition, "Drawing First + Last: Drawing as Primary Practice," at school this and next month with these still images and a video cut from the film.

working on animating undulating waves at present, along with intern Gabrielle Patterson, introduced in a previous post.

sadly, all good things must end, and by that I mean, "summer." within a few weeks, the fall semester will have begun, and with it the hustle and bustle of academia.

the film itself is looking more and more like a film, but there's still quite a ways to go. in all honesty, it will be an indescribable relief when it's all over, even though at the same time there's nothing I'd rather have done these past several years.

the number of people who have worked on this film is...staggering, by my standards. from janelle, to eric, ellen, gabrielle, and several crews of student interns...I owe a debt of gratitude to all, and all will be recognized, but it's not time for speeches, yet!

seq06

need to take care of clouds and normalize the changing background colors, but on to the next sequence first!

work while stationarily moving

commuting might not be a bad thing...if it's long enough, you have time to get some work done.

a week's worth of backgrounds in one sitting.

words

mid-summer, behind schedule, but now getting into a work rhythm. working on After Effects wave animation, heading into seq05. the wave images need to be revised for animation purposes, slow and tedious but I've gotten the hang of it, now.

it was encouraging to receive some nice Facebook feedback on the seq04 video. this has, and continues to be, such a long haul (nobody's doing but yours truly, as we sit here trying to make a digitally handmade film, by gum), that I was wondering what the heck am I doing, taking so long with this thing, but the sound of friendly voices chiming in gave me a nice boost and made it all seem worthwhile...

I'd like to introduce our new intern, Gabrielle Patterson, fresh out of UPenn with a Fine Arts degree, focusing on animation. She's helping out with clouds after first having tried her hand at waves. Glad to have her onboard for this part of the ogre journey.







Tahirah Pryor is also back, having graduated from UArts this past spring and adjusting to life beyond school. She's working on the star sequence of the film this time around, having proven her highly competent skills in character coloring last year.

it's humid here in the summer (what else is new!), but I have a happy guardian to cheer me up here in the studio as I rearrange pixels. here is my new friend:

he sets me right when the going gets gummy.

that's it for the moment.

surrounded by ferns,

himself.

seq04

seq04_sh01-06

seq04_sh05

seq04_sh01-03

workin' on the waves...

seq01 with ae waves

after effects undulating waves added to this first sequence.

after effects water

after effects water animation test.

tvpaint wave test

test sequence showing tvpaint waves

too much...

going on. school is a demanding mistress! taking a hiatus, but coming back to the ogre and the mermaid soon. first, organize backgrounds that need recoloring, second animate wave undulations.

backgrounds

most recent revised backgrounds included.

water research

ocean color research

more backgrounds from ellen

finding the middle ground between under and over-saturated. I think these look good.

philadelphia independents ii

we will be screening a section of "the ogre & the mermaid" at the plastic club on february 28th at 6:30pm at the plastic club at 247 camac street, as part of the philadelphia independents ii event highlighting the work of top, local, independent animators.

this event is open on a first-come, first-served basis, so if you miss it, it will be followed by an open screening of many of the same films at the university of the arts on april 3rd at the university of the arts, 211 south broad street, 8th floor, connelly auditorium, 6:30pm.

wave test

dirtying it up some more.

old film look test.

yellow submarine has company.

my companions as I hunch in front of the screen, pushing pixels.

2012 animatic with rough sound.

early animatic, with rough sound design.

imua!

"I love animation." that's the look. like you've been living in a cave.

seq14 rough composite done. only three more sequences to go (although seq17 isn't animated, yet, unfortunately - lots of sand in that one, still). aim to have a very rough cut up by monday. this week has seen solid forward movement, and hopefully that will carry over into tidy-up compositing and then waves and clouds.

section of seq12

you can't see the tidal wave yet, but there is one.

what will happen to me...

...if I don't finish this film?at least the yellow submarine mug will arrive in a few days.

seq07 rough composite

these rough composites retain many artifacts to be eliminated, namely the borders and paper/background layers, amongst other things. the timing is rough, to be trimmed down, and wave and general cloud animation remains to be animated.

seq01-05 rough composite + storyboard animatic.