Demo Reel Update! -- Big Hero 6

I've added a few of my shots from Big Hero 6 to my demo reel!  I plan on making a "Big Hero 6" only reel with all my shots from the film as well, but for now, here's the update!


Demo Reel 2015 from Kyle Mohr on Vimeo.

Radiator Springs 500 1/2

**UPDATE 10/03/14**The full short can now be viewed on the Disney video website, so you don't have to create an account on Disney Movies Anywhere to view it.  Also, just watch it here, embedded below!


Radiator Springs 500 1/2

Hey all!  Just wanted to post that "Radiator Springs 500 1/2" was recently released on Disney Movies Anywhere, Disney's streaming website.  It's free to watch, but does require creating an account (also free).  RS500 was the second to last short we produced at Pixar Canada, and I think showcases how much all departments in the Vancouver studio grew over three years, specifically in the "Cars" world.  The next one I believe we were even more fluent in that world, and it will always be a question as to how much better we would have gotten.  As I'm sure anyone would tell you, we grew a lot, but of course had more to learn.  I see that in my own work already.

Still, with the distance I have now, I'm proud of the end result, and the care that really brought it to life.

Which leads me to a quote that I think is appropriate for ending this post.  It's a lesson that was really a big take-away from the whole Pixar Canada experience.  I'd experienced it before, but perhaps appreciate it more maturely now.  I was reading The Illusion of Life today for inspiration, (some of it, it's long!), and the third paragraph of the Preface says something that I think is often forgotten when trying to produce "great" work, or when creative people are afraid of making a good impression, or demanding it from others, or themselves:

"It is, perhaps, misleading to credit specific artists with the drawings we show in the book, since this might imply that both the idea and style came from one person; for this was seldom the case."

It truly is the caring, generous, and forgiving team, or people, who help us reach for our goals.  Take pride in your accomplishments, yes, but take comfort in this good news.

See "Small Fry" in front of The Muppets this week!

In case you haven't heard, our second short, "Small Fry", will be debuting this week in front of The Muppets!  We're all really proud of this short, it's really funny, and was our first venture into the Toy Story world!  You'll enjoy it, and from the looks of Rotten Tomatoes The Muppets is getting very positive early reviews.  Go check it out!  There's a bunch of press on it out there, check out this interview from IGN, with director Angus McClane, as well as a 30 second clip...that is, if you don't mind spoiling some of the gags ;)

Also, in case you missed it, you can check out Pixar Canada's first short, "Air Mater", already available on the Cars 2 DVD and Blu-Ray!

Side note, you may notice some significant changes around this blog...more to come!  With patience ;)

Announcements, Announcements, Announcements!

  I like this guy

Good news everybody!  They've FINALLY announced what we've been workin on over the past year!  "Air Mater" is a new Cars Toon that will be on the Cars 2 dvd/blu-ray release this fall, and "Small Fry", a Toy Story toon that will be released in front of "The Muppets" in November!  That's a ways off still, but so great to finally have these projects publicly announced!  There's a short clip from "Air Mater" online, just a teaser really, but it's something! 

Air Mater teaser:

Frank Naranjo's Rigging Reels

Check out my buddy Frank Naranjo's new reels and rig demos he uploaded to Vimeo!  I had the good fortune of working with Frank on various projects at Nathan Love over the course of 8 or 9 months, where his awesomely fast and animator friendly rigs made animating exciting and freeing.  Check out the cool rig demos of a couple of the characters from the Baskins campaign, as well as his full showreel!  Metal Approved, Frank, Metal Approved.  :)


Baskin Robbins - Harry - Rig Demo from Francisco Naranjo on Vimeo.


Baskin Robbins - Polly - Rig Demo from Francisco Naranjo on Vimeo.


Francisco Naranjo - 2011 Rigging Reel from Francisco Naranjo on Vimeo.

Nathan Love: Pop Secret "When Harry Met Sally"

At long last!  The third and final Pop Secret commercial we worked on at Nathan Love has been released and will be airing later this month and during some big tv programs!  While we were proud of the entire campaign, and certainly we all loved Dark Knight, we saw each subsequent spot improve in quality (Dark Knight to Caddyshack to When Harry Met Sally), so I'm really happy this third one will finally air!  It was a huge treat to work with largely the same team on each one of these, and watch our work progress from spot to spot.  Luckily not long after this we moved on to the Baskin Robbins campaign that aired during the summer, where we continued to hone our skills and build upon the trust we'd established as a team throughout the past few months, starting with Pop Secret.  I don't want to over-state anything, but I can't help but compare it to the stories I've heard of other productions, where the right team was there at the right time, people were inspired, and proud of the work being done.  There weren't any egos getting in the way, just the right people, inspired to make something great...and having a ton of fun in the process.




Keep it up Nathan Lovers!

Thinking Animation blog: Nathan Love, Baskin Robbins full campaign

Hey everyone! "Thinking Animation" has featured the Baskin Robbins spots from Nathan Love, as well as some comments by Ryan Moran (lead animator), and yours truly! Congrats on a job well done everyone!

BR-"Sheep/Pink Bubblegum". (First two shots animated by Tony Travieso, last two by Kyle Mohr)

Baskin Robbins "Pink Bubblegum" from Nathan Love on Vimeo.

Nathan Love: Baskin Robbins-- Birthday Cake

Here's the next Baskin Robbins ad I worked on at Nathan Love! (1st shot)


Baskin-Robbins "America's Birthday Cake" from Nathan Love on Vimeo.

Here's another new one too, entirely animated by Tony "Ryu" Travieso!

Baskin-Robbins "Baseball Helmet" from Nathan Love on Vimeo.

Hope you like them!

Nathan Love: Baskin Robbins--Baseball Nut

Check out the Baskin Robbins spot that we recently finished at Nathan Love!  We're really happy with how it turned out!  It's not often you get a fun little project like this to work on, and we all worked hard in hopes of living up to its potential.  Personally, I'm proud of everyone involved for creating what I consider to be feature quality animation in a very short time, and in a format where unfortunately some people don't expect it.  My teammates Ryan Moran and David Han kicked butt in animation.  Kudos to Frank Naranjo, our rigger extraordinaire, for providing us with a fantastic rig for a complicated character!  He stuck to his strong work ethic in a part of production that is often overlooked, but is extremely important to getting animation notes addressed and approved to everyone's satisfaction.

(click through to the YouTube page to see the full picture...this blog apparently isn't wide enough for widescreen!)



On a side note, I recently met a young animator, who knew I'd spent some time at Blue Sky, and who had recently been hired for a feature animation job.  However, instead of asking something like "How long have you been working in animation?"  or "How long have you been in New York?", their first question was "How many feature films have you worked on?"  How unfortunate is it that so many animators view features as the ultimate ranking system.  Quality work is achieved when the right circumstances (and people--not just artists) are in place for it to be created and recognized, no matter what the format.  I am proud of Baskin Robbins-Baseball Nut because I feel it shows how widely dispersed the animation talent is in our industry.

Glen Keane lectures

You Tube actually has some pretty cool animation reference, pencil tests, and the like that I came across earlier this weekend.  One of those things that I'm sure many have come across before, but still worth checkin out now.  This is part 1 of a video of a lecture he gave at CalArts.  He's just making quick sketches, but it amazed me how much of animation is just second nature to him now.  I specificially noticed how he easily kept track of the force and changing shape of the arm, elbow and back, as well as general physicality, and at the same time adding bits of the subjective character and entertainment on the fly.  Pretty cool!

With my freeze ray gun...

So, I know I'm about 2 years late on this...which in the online world is centuries ago.  But who cares?

Once upon a time in a land known as 2008, there was a web series phenomenon by Joss Whedon (and team) known as "Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog".  I remember seeing poster images of it at random places, but didn't know what it was and didn't know I should watch it.  One of my friends showed me the first act of it late last summer, and I loved it, but never got around to seeing the rest.  Netflix changed that!

Dr. Horrible (Neil Patrick Harris) who's crush on a neighborhood girl (Felicia Day) forces him to balance trying to get the girl and fulfilling his career dreams of villainy.  Oh, and in song!  Look I know there are a lot of people who hate anything called a musical, but I think they've probably only seen bad ones.  :P  These songs are varied, and the lyrics are used to tell the story, not to repeat a refrain over and over because "we need a song here".  The web series got a lot of buzz in the press, won an Emmy, and apparently placed 4th for the top 10 TV Series of 2008 in Time Magazine.  It also got me to post about it even though it's two years old!  There must be other people who haven't seen it, so my advice is to change that.  If you have seen it, get someone else to see it who hasn't!  Netflix instant streaming win! 

I find this production to be inspirational in so many ways!  First off, the obvious--it's really good!  Fantastic story, acting, and music.  Second, it's independent without being "indie".  This was just a bunch of people getting together, wanting to make something good on their own terms, while trying to show that anyone can create and distribute their own content on the web these days.  I mean really, is there no better time to be an artist if you want to try to get your personal work seen in public?  I enjoyed it so much and wanted to support this type of independent work that I immediately bought the DVD on Amazon.  It makes me want to create something of my own and get it out there!  Or draw more of my comic ;)  I have ideas, for the first time I actually have ideas--gotta do it!

So yeah, if you haven't seen it, watch it.  If you have, keep telling people about it!

More Pop Secret

In the grand tradition of shameless plugs, the second Pop Secret ad by Nathan Love, "Caddyshack", is also airing now!  Also, over at Motionographer there's a very nice article about "Dark Knight", that includes a link to concept art, character designs, and breakdowns of the spot in progress.  Currently we're workin on the third spot, featuring "When Harry Met Sally".  It's looking great, I'm looking forward to sharing it soon!  Here are the YouTube versions:

Caddyshack


And just in case you haven't seen it, here's Dark Knight

Nathan Love: PopSecret "Dark Knight"

And now, the first of the Pop Secret spots I've been working on at Nathan Love!  (click image below)

I animated most of the shots of Grandma, except the first one and the wide shot when she jumps off the chair.  I have to say I've had a ton of fun working with these characters and the ones on the next spot.  Added to that, the rigs were great (and fast!), making our job as animators that much more enjoyable!

Psyop: UPS Holiday

Check out the spot I worked on for a few weeks this fall at Psyop!  I animated the characters in the clock scene as well as the dad, mom, and daughter in the Christmas scene at the end.



For the past couple of months I've been animating some characters on a commercial at Nathan Love, hopefully I can post those before too long as well!

BUCK!

As it gets closer to the release date, I'm seeing more clips and trailers online and on TV. Somehow a few of my shots managed to make it into some of them! Here's a clip of the scene that introduces Buck, and has some great animation and character gags in it. A bit of my work is in there as well, Manny, Ellie, and Diego in the first shot are mine (when they stand up and Diego has the leaf collar around his neck). Nathan Engelhardt animated the main (and awesome) Crash and Eddie stuff in that shot.

Psyop: UPS Store Ad

Check out this awesome ad by Psyop! (watch it in "HD" for a much better picture)

From the creators of "Ice Age"...

...Well, maybe I can't say that... how about "From some of the people who worked on Ice Age"...? yes? Ok.

In case you've missed it thus far, Pete, Nick, Scott, and Paul have been filming episodes of "Treehouse Studios" starring Muppet "Whatnots" that they designed and ordered from FAO Schwartz. (http://treehousestudios.wordpress.com/) Hilarity ensues!

Though keep in mind, the hilarity comes with this disclaimer:
"DISCLAIMER: **Please keep in mind that these episodes are for ADULTS ONLY due to language.**"

Here is their latest episode, to catch up on earlier ones check out the previously linked blog. Keep watching for the homage to the freelancers, including some weird guy with red hair!

New Ice Age 3 trailer!

Check out the new Scrat trailer for Ice Age 3 on Apple's website, or before Disney's "Bolt" in 3D!

Batman: The Animated Series

It's always great when I revisit my favorite animated shows as a kid, and find out they're just as good as I remember them--sometimes even better! Unfortunately many times that isn't the case. Thankfully Batman: The Animated Series is in the former group. I grew up watching this show after school, and even years later I find the stories very compelling, and extremely well written. Just check out the intro:



The poses and silouettes are amazing in this intro. I love when Batman jumps and flips over the "bad guy"! It's so dynamic and moody! The art direction is something that the show was known for, and the phrase "Dark Deco" was used to describe it. I love how the Gotham Police ride around in blimps--I mean really, is that the best mode of transportation for police? But it fits completely in the world they created, and makes it unique.

The tone of the series is so incredibly dark, with some very dramatic scenes that usually aren't played in kids entertainment, even today. While the episodes need to move fast for the half hour length, it doesn't talk down to kids, or explain everything through cliche dialogue. I don't understand the perceived need to dumb down stories for kids to "understand", and while I can understand Batman on a different level now, I would say I understood it when I was a kid too. Kids understand much more than we give them credit for, and just because they usually aren't burdened with the cynicism that adult life can bring, doesn't mean they don't understand certain truths of the world.

If you want to hear some behind the scenes comments on Batman The Animated Series, there's a good commentary on YouTube. Here's Part 1:

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