Still Alive, Seriously...

Happy 2010! We are living the future!

There will be more in the second half of the year on this project, but it's on hiatus right now, as there are more profitable ventures in the immediate future.

However, Fathoms will be finished. It is on my very short to-do list for this life.

Quietly creeping forward, still...

One day at a time, but long before I die...

A (very dear to my heart) professor told me in my last semester as an undergrad that although he did not think my current body of work was in any way bad, he did not think I had yet created my greatest work. He described my work (me?) as a beautiful and exotic flower that was showing a petal here and there, but that had not fully bloomed, not yet revealed all of its secrets.

It's nearly five years later....and I don't feel like I'm making or have yet created my life's greatest work.

I don't even know what that phrase would mean to me. I would think that all my future work would build off my previous and current work, making every new work the greatest work of the moment...it's a strange to me.

It depends mostly on what the viewer or artist sees as valuable. Is my greatest work the one that makes me the most money? or recognition? or critical praise? Is it a work that defines me (as an artist or a human being)? Is it the work that I will be remembered for (being conceited, and assuming I will be remembered by those other than my immediate family)? Is it the work that changes the world, or the world of one individual? Or is it the work that I am proudest of, that means the most to me, that was my greatest struggle, my darkest hour, and my most opaque triumph?

Or is it the work that is the most therapeutic for the artist? ...is it about a work that finally frees me from the constraints of this world, and all it's simple and burdensome truths?

These kind of things weigh heavily on my conscious: late at night, riding the train, or whenever the weather in my head is clear, because I do consider myself an artist, and because I am conceited as well as ponderous. Will this be my greatest work? Will any work be my greatest? And will I know and deem it so, or will it be bestowed upon me by some unseen phantoms, or will it be some thing prescribed well beyond my short time on this earth. Or will there be any of my works worth deeming great? or memorable? or important? or valuable?

If this is my life, will it be my death?

if I am a failure as an artist, then am I also a failure as a human being?

I suppose, I am starting to worry that the daylight is beginning to dwindle, and the days are rapidly accelerating towards an infinite plane just beyond the horizon...and I worry that I will never make it in time.

Slowly, so slowly...

Did I mention?

Did I mention Fathoms is in the midst of being 2.0'd??? Well, it is...and it will be completed (eventually). It will just be made of different trees from the same forest.

Into the abyss...

Style frames abound...

Redirection is in effect-ion

For better.
For worse.
I'm going to carry that weight.

We will harness the sun!

Still Alive

Image of the Day - Storyboards

The ship will be resuming course shortly...

Image of the Day - Screen Test

Image of the Day - Something different

Image of the Day - Compositing

Click for a video of what goes into shot 058.

Image of the Day - Open all the boxes!

Storyboard and final shot for comparison. Click for the larger image.

Image of the Day - Bubbles bubbles bubbles!

Image of the Day - Arken

Image of the Day - More from the deep sea!

Image of the Day - Shot 085 is Double Done!

A comparison of the storyboard frame and the final shot. Click for the animation!

Image of the Day - Shot 085 WIP

Image of the Day - Weekend Edition - Evan Eats

Click for the tiny video!

Image of the Day - Colonol Mustard; in the kitchen; with the cellphone!

Oh the ubiquitous cellphone....bloodied....whatever could it mean?

Image of the Day - The Early Years

One of the first sketches when I started toying with the idea of an underwater short almost three years ago. The sketch is of a deep sea dive suit (and a lot of scribbles).

PS - You can click on the images in each post for a bigger version (or video).

Image of the Day - Fishies!

Image of the Day - Sam - Final Character Design

The final character design for Sam. I am going for an animated comic feeling so this is very close to how she should look in the final renders.

Image of the Day - Evan & Sam in 3D

Most of the beautiful 3D modeling is courtesy of Dan Fine. Check out more of Fathoms here.

Image of the Day - Birds of a feather...die together?

Image of the Day - Scavenger Arken - Wireframe

Image of the Day - Hard rain's gonna fall

Image of the Day - Particle test - bubbles

Image of the Day - Start to Finish - Stormy Seas

Image of the Day - Scavenger Arken - Concept Art

Image of the Day - Poster 1 of ...

Image of the Day - Scavenger Arken Surfaced

Image of the Day - Sam & Evan Character Design

Image of the Day - Evan Character Design

Image of the Day - Storyboards, pg1

Image of the Day - Think Zen

I'm cheating; this is two in one day...but I'm counting this fortune cookie for the weekend.

Image of the Day - Scavenger Arken - Early Tests

Image of the Day - Software

This is the stuff that we use the most (left to right):

OS X, Expose, Brains, Ableton Live, Cinema 4D, iChat, After Effects, Textedit, Firefox, Photoshop, Maya, Final Cut Pro, Quicktime, Illustrator, iTunes, and Mail.

Image of the Day - Live every week like it's shark week!

Clockwise left to right:
Bradley, Josh, Nick, Joe (behind the lens)

Image of the Day - ???

Image of the Day - Sam

A very short animation showing a test of the wind effecting Sam's hair.

Image of the Day - Scavenger Arken

Scavenger Arken - The salvaging vessel that Samantha & Evan pilot.

So it begins....ish

There have been a lot of requests for a blog to document the production process of this short film. There will be a lot of already created material in the next few posts....maybe a start to finish comparison of shots as they are created.

Thinking, writing, planning, and pre-production have all been in the works for about two years.

Production work began on my short animated film Fathoms on June 2nd 2008.