R’ha (2013) is an animated science fiction short film by Kaleb Lechowski. The story takes place on an alien world where technology has surpassed the species it was created by and it seeks to destroy them.

A captured alien gives the audience the backstory all while being tortured by an artificial intelligence for information on the location of the aliens that escaped it. We see the alien escape it’s torture and immanent death and try to reach the rendezvous point with the others only to see that the computer predicted this and placed a tracker on the ship, leaving the audience at a cliffhanger.

Several things are strikingly interesting about the film, from design, to color, and even the complexity of certain scenes. The first thing that particularly stands out is that the aliens are not designed to look like humans. Rather than focusing on recognizable emotions the audience must pay attention to the slight movements of the alien and the dialogue to understand their feelings. (Which is a refreshing breath of hair from the very humanoid concepts for aliens in science fiction.)

The colors of the film is almost monochrome and very minimalist in it’s concept, but the pop of warm tones make the shadows and light even more visceral than if they stood alone without it. Many of the scenes have such complex movements that it’s hard to imagine that this film was done with only a handful of people.

R’ha is an achievement for the science fiction genre in it’s own right as a story with such beautiful world building and intricate animation and design.

Written by Shannon Sawyer

Avner Geller is a Visual Development artist at DreamWorks Animation. Having worked at DreamWorks for three years,  Avner has discovered what it takes to be a concept artist, and knows much about the animation industry.

Here’s what he had to say:

About the Artist

In 50 words or less, please tell us about yourself.

I was born in the states. My parents are from Israel and they lived here for a few years. When I was 4 we moved back to Israel where grew up. In Israel you have to do three mandatory years of military service, so right after high school I joined the army. When I completed my service, I kept living with my parents, working as a freelancer around the clock to save money for college. I finally graduated from Ringling college of Art and design with a BFA in Computer Animation. I recently moved to Los Angeles after living in San Francisco for three years, and excited to explore this city.

What inspired you to start drawing?

Hmm… I honestly can’t point that out cause I was way too young to remember. I was always drawing from a really early age. I guess I always had a great passion to observe the world around me. My mom tells how when I was three or four we would go to the lake by our house and I would sit for hours and draw the ducks. Later on when I was about 10 I started to get really interested in comic books, and that’s when I started to try and learn drawing more seriously.

Being a Concept Artist

What qualities do Concept Artists possess?

I am a big believer in having a strong drawing/painting foundation and understanding the fundamental “rules” before starting to stylize things. This requires studying and practice. I feel like it’s a norm that musicians and dancers practice 10 hours a day to get better, while drawing is more of a natural ability. I think “natural talent” has its place, but true skills come from many hours of practicing and learning. As a Visual Development artist you are often required to work in different styles and adapt different techniques depends on the show you are working on. Once you understand the principles of how to draw form, how to paint and render, you can “break” those rules and work more towards designing and stylizing. Some Artists have a very specific style that they might be known for and they can provide a lot of inspiration and a unique point of view. While this is great, I think that having strong foundations and the ability to draw anything, and jump between styles gives you more flexibility and make you a more versatile artist. Personally I like to try different techniques for different assignment. I feel like different projects or even assignments could benefit from different treatments. Also I think it helps with keeping things interesting to yourself and help your growth as an Artist. I am still learning every day from my talented fellow artists.

Many of Cartoons Underground’s young followers would like to know more about finding jobs in the industry. How did you start your career?

I actually got started working as an Animator. I went to school for 3d Animation, knowing that I want to be an animator. In my last year of school, while working almost only in CG I started to have doubts about this choice. I really missed drawing and painting and wanted to get back to it more and more. I was very fortunate to intern at Pixar as an Animator. While this was an extraordinary experience and I learned a lot, I also realized that animating for 10 hours a day is not what I was meant to do. The first job I got however was still in animation. I worked as a facial animator at Cinderbiter on Henry Selick’s shelved project in San Francisco. It was a really cool project, but unfortunately the studio got shut down after a year I was there. Like they say in animation, timing is everything and just around that time I got contacted by Dreamworks to see if I can interview for a Visual development position. They asked if I had an updated portfolio, since I applied almost a year and a half ago! Luckily, that whole year I was working at nights on new art so I had new work to show. I was really excited to finally start working in the art department.

How did you progress over the years? Was it a difficult process?

Progress is something that is very hard to feel over time. When you are a student you may feel like you progress rally fast, as you are constantly learning new things. Then you get to a certain level where the “jumps” are smaller and more refined, and then it’s a little harder to point out. I think that as your skill set develops you learn to recognize your weaknesses or when you reach a plato. As frustrating as those moments might be, these are the ones that will make you try harder to improve and become a better artist. I keep a big box with all my old sketchbooks, and it’s nice to go back to it every few years, and see that the work actually has improved, or at least changed, and that even if it didn’t feel like it at the time, I did make progress.

What is your current role in your company, and what are your job requirements?

I currently work as a visual development artist at Dreamworks Animation, on the upcoming film Trolls which will come out next year. I work as part of a team in the art department. As visual development artists our job is to design and realize the world and the character in which the world takes place. Unlike live action where a lot of the locations and props exist in the real world, in Animation we have to design and create everything that you see on the screen especially when it’s a new magical world that does not exist. How do plants look in this world? What do the characters wear? What type of tools they use and how do their houses look like, are all things that are carefully designed.

How do you handle deadlines?

I think it’s important to recognize what are your abilities and to be realistic about them. The worst thing you can do is to underestimate how long something will take you to do, and then not deliver on time. This is something you lean to gage over time. I think one important thing I learned is to “shoe soon, show early”. When you work with a team or with an art director, it’s good to show your process early on to see if you are on the same page. This way you don’t waste time polishing an idea that does not work, and you can move forward confidently.

Do you work with other concept artists in your company, or do you answer solely to the director?

At work we usually work in a team of about 6 artists on a film. On top of that we have our Production Designer and Art Director. We meet with them on a daily basis to show our progress, brainstorm and ask questions and get notes. Once a week we’ll collect the work from everyone and present it to the directors for their feedback.

How do you feel about working in a team?

I think one of the best parts of working in a studio is to be surrounded by extremely talented people. You see their work and get to share knowledge, techniques and ideas.

What is the biggest challenge of being a concept artist? How do you overcome these challenges?

The hardest thing is probably the need to always come up with fresh original ideas. Our job is essentially to imagine, and it’s like you want to imagine something new that no one has seen before, neither did you which is a little bit of a paradox. How would you design a Pegasus if you’ve never seen a horse or a bird? Everything we do is inspired by different references and experiences we are familiar with, and I think the key to being more inventive is to try and to expose yourself to things outside of Animation. Whether it is books, travel, theater or whatever sparks your imagination and inspires you. I like the idea of being a tourist in your own backyard, and trying to see the mundane things around me as if I see them for the first time, and use them as sources of inspiration. It could be characters I see, locations or the way the light creates an atmosphere that fits exactly a painting I want to make.
What opportunities are there for concept artists?

Art and design are used everywhere these days so the opportunities are everywhere. Aside from films there are so many TV productions, video games, mobile and social games. A concept artist is first of all an illustrator so there is the whole world of children book illustration, stationary design and more. But of course each artist should focus on the path that interests them the most.

About the Industry

Is it easier to enter the animation industry, or is it getting more difficult?

This is a hard question. Animation is definitely having another golden age these days and there are so many movies being made every year, which means more jobs. There are however much more schools and programs for animation as well so the market is flooded with graduating students who are looking for jobs and the competition is hard. I see so many young people online who do amazing work, and the amount of resources they have and exposure to other artists and tools is insane. It’s something I wish I had before I started college and I think it’s a huge advantage. At the end of the day getting the job is a combination of an amazing portfolio; timing (is the studio actually looking for artists right now). Connecting with artists from the industry in animation festivals or online, and building a relationship with them is also something that might help.

How do concept artists interact with the rest of the team?

Do you agree that producing an animated project is a collaborative effort? Absolutely! There are so many people working on an animated feature and good communication is super important. Within the art department we usually see what the other artists are working on, and it’s a very open an environment where you kno9w you can ask for someone’s opinion or advice regarding a certain problem you are trying to solve. But it doesn’t end there. We have to provide work to other departments such as modeling, surfacing and lighting, so it’s important we understand the whole process and can communicate with artist from different disciplines. It really is a huge team effort to make a movie happen.

What advice would you give to aspiring artists?

It might sound obvious but when your subject matter is one that really means something to you, the work becomes so much more interesting.

Draw what you love! Find what inspires you and use that as source material for your creation. It could be drawing people, animals, environments or anything really. Find your strengths and focus on it. There is great value in learning to look and study our surrounding. Whether you paint or draw you can learn so much about movement, light and color by studying from life. Learn how to pick up little details that you wouldn’t think of if you tried to imagine the. It could be a pose, a gesture, or even a fashion style. By observing, sketching and studying those things, you’ll enrich the visual library of ideas in you hard. It’s good and important to study the work of artist that you like. When you do this, try to really understand what it is in their art that you like. Is it the line quality, the shape language or maybe their use of color? Try to truly understand why you like their work and that will help you incorporate into your own art and make it your own instead of copying.

For more of Avner’s art, visit his website at http://avnergeller.blogspot.com/

Kendall Lyons, Cartoons Underground’s guest author, interviews C.H Greenblatt, the creator of Nickelodeon’s “Harvey Beaks”. Greenblatt speaks about the nature of his show, his inspiration, his experiences, and shares valuable advice for aspiring and seasoned artists.

 
C.H. Greenblatt started off as an advertising art director for TV commercials, but, he never would’ve thought that his work would end up on Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon.

The former writer and storyboard artist of “Spongebob Squarepants” and creator of the Cartoon Network series, “Chowder,” is now the head of a brand new series on Nickelodeon called, “Harvey Beaks.”

“Harvey Beaks” follows the adventures, and misadventures, of a bird named Harvey and his two imp friends Fee and Foo. The forest they live in are filled with funny, interesting characters, unexpected surprises and strange, hilarious events.

“The series is about this sweet little kid who has a hard time breaking the rules and going outside the box but is happy with who he is. He has two best friends that are the complete opposite,” says Greenblatt. “It’s about being a kid and all the things that go with it, who you’re being and who you’re comfortable with being.”

Harvey is a bird who likes to play everything by the rules. He’s more interested in keeping things in decency and in order. But, his best friends, Fee and Foo are completely out of the box. They like to take as many challenges and venture out into as many opportunities they possibly can, no matter how silly or reckless.

A sneak peak of “Harvey Beaks” is proof enough that this series will be fun for all viewers, a 2-D animated treat in all it’s cute characters, fun storyline and hilarious events.

While growing up in Plano, Texas, Greenblatt created his own comic strip in 6th grade called “Zibbler,” which was his first attempt at doing his own daily strip. His passion for cartoons and comics grew right into his college years where he attended the University of Texas at Austin.

“I did comics most of the four years that I was there,” said Greenblatt. “And then coming out of school I did more comics for ads and magazines. I tried to get syndicated. I thought going into newspaper comics was what I wanted to do. Things changed…the internet started getting bigger. This is when you started to have web comics.”

Greenblatt shared with Cartoons Underground that the opportunities to get into the animation and cartooning industry is perfect right now.

“I tell artists…you have such an advantage I didn’t have back then. You have the decentralized means. You have all these sites and sources,” says Greenblatt, referring to social media, websites and the opportunity to publish immediately through the web.

A self-taught artist, Greenblatt didn’t plan to go straight into animation, but, he saw it as one of the many avenues in which to tell his stories and create characters that are funny and appealing. His mastery of art and illustration seemed to have merged into his passion for cartooning and comics over the years.

“I thought animation was an easy extension of that. It wasn’t that I thought ‘I want to be an animator.’ I wanted to tell funny stories through funny characters,” said Greenblatt.

One day, around 1997, he picked up Animation Magazine, and read that Nickelodeon was looking for a good guy who could make good cartoons. The rest became history.

When asked about what it takes to get to where he is today, he said the following:

“Do it,” said Greenblatt. “Don’t wait for anybody. Just start doing it. If you keep getting better and build an audience, things will come to you. They will come. Theirs no excuse other than not doing it.”

“Just put your stuff out there. Seeing the work is what will get you hired.”

—

Kendall Lyons is an author and cartoonist. He has done countless interviews with artists and creatives and blogs about the latest trends in the animation industry. When he’s not writing he enjoys reading, journaling, drawing and other stuff seemingly normal people do.

You can find his work on kendalllyons.com and kencomics.tumblr.com where he does his comic strip, “By and By.”

“Conversations: Creating New Realities, Animation Now and Next” provided its attendees with valuable insights into the animation industry. It was held at the ArtScience Museum, and was held in conjunction with the DreamWorks Exhibition.

Curated by Michael Lim, and chaired by Chris Shaw, this symposium introduced key concepts about the history of the animation industry, its current state, and about future trends.

The Challenge of Dreaming in the Animation World
Jacques Frety [Project Manager, Nanyang Polytechnic]

Jacques summarised the history of animation, and highlighted important developments in the animation industry. He elaborated on techniques that are currently used by established filmmakers, and the technology that allows them to produce quality films.

Although this topic seemed relatively dry on paper, Jacques presented it with such flair and sophistication, and managed to capture his audience’s attention. Not only was his talk extremely informative, but it also identified key trends that are observed in the animation industry. Jacques highlighted that the industry is constantly changing, and that this change is rapid. The animation industry’s fluctuating environment requires us to stay updated, and to remain versatile.

Character Animation: from hyper-real to stylized, defining worlds
Juan Jose Guiraldes [Senior Animator, Industrial Light Magic]

With charisma and confidence, Juan enthralled his audience with insights about popular animated films. He highlighted the technicalities of producing an animated film, and highlighted key techniques that are applied in cinematography.

Due to the fact that there were several animation students in the audience, his audience found his talk extremely useful. Juan presented a brief overview about the animation industry, along with fundamental techniques that are applied in animation (e.g. Squash and Stretch), in a way that we could easily understand. His speech was permeated with humor and wit; those who attended found him both entertaining and enlightening.

Finding Stories and Identity through Animation: A Singaporean Perspective
Ervin Han [Managing Director, Robot Playground Media]

Ervin Han’s speech fostered a strong sense of patriotism. He revealed how local stories can be integrated into engaging animated content, and he reflects national pride through his art. With the help of a dedicated team, Ervin produced ‘The Violin’, an animated film that is inspired by Singapore’s history. During his talk, Ervin explained how it was initiated and completed.

Ervin’s speech struck a chord, as ‘The Violin’ is an excellent example of how Singapore’s local talent may produce quality content. Ervin explained how he hopes that more Singaporeans will be encouraged to integrate local content into their projects, and reveals that it is possible for our content to be internationally competitive. With the quality of Singapore’s films, and the dedication of our animators, our content has the potential to be domestically and internationally successful.

Music and Sound in Animation
Alex Oh [Film Composer, White Noise Music]

Alex’s talk was extremely informative, as he highlighted the importance of sound in animation through aural and visual examples. His interactive presentation revealed how music is integral in visual storytelling, and how foley may evoke emotion.

Alex highlights how speech, music and sound effects are all essential in cinematography. He emphasized how a film’s emotional and structural impact is reinforced by these components, and gives valuable insights into a composer’s thought process. Although composing and sound design may be foreign to many animators, Alex’s speech allowed us to understand otherwise difficult concepts, and provided his audience with insights into producing music and sound.

Growing an Animation Festival today for tomorrow’s audience
Vicky Chen [Co-Founder, Cartoons Underground]

Vicky shares her enthusiastic about leading Cartoons Underground, and establishes that she is extremely capable of sustaining this festival. She spoke about Cartoons Underground’s humble beginnings, and how (with the help of her partners, friends and mentors) it became Singapore’s largest independent animation festival.

Despite being the last speaker of the day, Vicky’s charming personality kept her audience on the edge of their seats. Her thoughts about providing local content, and allowing this content to be internationally distributed, were extremely insightful. At the age of 24, she speaks with wisdom beyond her years, and imparts lessons that are both informative and inspiring.

Chair
Chris Shaw [Head of Animation, LaSalle College of the Arts]

Chris Shaw’s entertaining introductions, and insightful comments, made the symposium entertaining and intellectual. To the audience’s delight, he wasn’t afraid to let loose, and to have fun with his chairmanship. He provided comprehensive summaries of each of the speeches, and provided insights about the educational and institutional aspects of the animation industry.

Symposium Overview
Michael Lim [Founder, Singapore VFX and Animation Group]

Cartoons Underground would like to applaud Michael Lim for his extraordinary effort. This symposium was extremely organised, and introduced concepts that applied to both industry professionals and animation enthusiasts. Overall, I’d say that the entire day was a success – the symposium’s topics were well chosen, the speakers were competent, and the symposium was coordinated.

Final Words

This symposium stayed true to its name – it established how the animation industry is meant to “create new realities”, and identified how its current state will be altered by future development. The animation industry is constantly changing; in order to thrive within it, we must not dismiss new techniques, technology and concepts. Jacques and Juan have revealed that technology is developing at an unprecedented speed, and new forms of technology are constantly used in the industry. In my opinion, artists may react to these changes in two different ways; they may be intimidated by these sudden variations, or they may be inspired to upgrade their skills. The approach that they choose may make or break their careers.

Vicky, Ervin and Alex have also revealed that the animation industry isn’t solely focused on visual design – it’s also heavily reliant on entrepreneurship. Starting an animation festival, producing animated content, or creating a cinematographic soundtrack requires ingenuity. However, starting these initiatives is only half the battle.

In order to sustain these ventures, initiators must be also be entrepreneurial. Being both an artist and a businessperson requires intelligence and versatility; these skills that can be trained, and are currently fostered in several artists.

Cartoons Underground touched on entrepreneurship, which is quickly becoming one of the most important components to a career in animation. Production companies in Singapore are shifting from content production to IP development – and this shift is happening faster that we can imagine.

In order to find out more about this topic, Cartoons Underground approached One Animation, an award-winning CG animation studio that is currently based in Singapore. Their content is broadcasted by Disney Channel, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Discovery Kids, ABC, and is seen across more than 60 countries worldwide.

We sat down with Steven Read (co-founder of One Animation), Carlene Tan (One Animation’s Director of Business Development), Enrique Caballero (head of One Animation’s R&D Department) and Woody Woodman (head of One Animation’s Story Department).

We spoke about their three projects, Rob the Robot, Oddbods and Insectibles, which are all internationally successful. Here’s what they had to say:

Producing Rob the Robot

Rob the Robot follows the adventures of an adventurous robot (Rob), as he explores the galaxy with his friends. It is a CGI animated television series for Preschoolers, and is co-produced by Canada’s Amberwood Entertainment and Singapore’s One Animation.

“In the case of Rob the Robot,” Steve (a co-founder of One Animation) describes, “We still own the underlying rights to it.”

Amberwood Entertainment was the initial producers of Rob the Robot. However, once One Animation decided to join them as co-producers, the project’s underlying rights were split between both companies. Both companies now have the distribution rights to sell the property.

Rob the Robot was based on a children’s book in Australia, which Amberwood Entertainment bought the rights to. When One Animation was introduced as a co-producer, took the concept, they felt that they could improve the visual and animated aspects of the project. Both companies worked together to produce the first and second seasons. One Animation designed the visual aspects of the project, whilst Amberwood Entertainment handled and the voices, music and story.

“We chose to co-produce Rob the Robot, as we went into the market, found something that already had a broadcaster connected to it, and a partner that had a project that we could bring value to,” Steve explains.

Producing Oddbods

One Animation’s Oddbods stars seven adorable characters, with seven distinct personalities. It is featured on Disney X D (U.S.A.), Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and has a PTDR cartoon slot on the Canal+ Kids channel Télétoon+ in France.

One Animation started on Oddbods by conceptualising the characters, and designing them with 3D Modelling software. They did a number of tests, which caught the attention of Next Media, which had a mobile platform in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

“They were looking for content that was charming,” Steve Claims, “that sort of fits the short form, so that they could broadcast their material to individuals in those territories who have Apps on their phones, and are able to view their content. They saw Oddbods, and felt that it was a really strong property. That’s how we got into production on the first 300 episodes that we developed of Oddbods, which were one-minute episodes.”

Through the use of mobile technology, new episodes appeared in the market on a daily basis. One Animation transformed their mobile content, which had been distributed in Taiwan and Hong Kong, into different formats. They took either one of two approaches – either they converted the Oddbods into five-minute clips, which consist of five one-minute episodes and simple transitions, or they left their episodes as one-minute content.

“Nickelodeon was actually the first to buy it in Asia, and then Disney bought the Oddbods,” Steve explains. “We’ve also done sales in Disney US. It’s actually a globally sold project now. Cartoon Network (South America) took it as well. Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and Disney took it – which is very rare. I’ve never seen another company in Asia develop an idea from a blank sheet of paper, and actually sell it to the US Disney market, in the same way that we have done with Oddbods.”

Oddbods’s Commercial Success

A combination of factors have led to Oddbods’s the commercial success.

“Firstly, the character designs are incredibly cute,” Steve says. “I think that the different personalities that each one of them has brings a relatable aspect to [the show]. As an individual, when you see them, you kind of relate to one more than the other. I think you sort of feel part of that character.”

“[The show] is also universal,” Woody (the Director of One Animation’s Insectibles) states. “It doesn’t rely on dialogue. It relies on physical comedy, and it’s universal. You can show [Oddbods] to anyone on the planet that doesn’t understand a word, because there aren’t any words being said. That’s very easily translatable to anyone.”

“The animation quality is very high as well,” Enrique (the head of One Animation’s R&D) continues. “This is necessary, as you’re not relying on dialogue to communicate. The show relied on very subtle acting, very clear setup and staging for the gags.”

The Oddbods’s comedic storyline also contributes to their popularity. According to those at One Animation, Comedic shows are extremely successful. Each broadcaster has their own mandates, and they focus on different target audiences. Comedy is a universal concept, and appeals to all viewers.

“We put the characters in kind of everyday scenarios, which draws you in,” says Steve.

Producing Insectibles

As compared to Insectibles, Rob the Robot and Oddbods were a lot simpler to produce. One Animation’s first animated series (Rob the Robot) was for a preschool audience. Although their second series (Oddbods) had an ambiguous demographic, it was a big step for them. Oddbods applied different textures, its storyline appealed to an audience that was more mature, its rendering process was more complex, and its animation had improved.

One Animation’s third series, Insectibles, was a quantum leap above their previous ones. It follows the adventures of a teenage boy (Zak) and his grandfather, who have been shrunk down to the size of insects, and are trying to find a way to return to normal. The show is co-produced by Discovery Kids Asia and KiKa (German children’s channel), and ZDF Enterprises (European broadcaster). It is successful in Europe and South America.

During Insectibles’s development, One Animation actively approached broadcasters for advice, and revised their ideas according to the broadcasters’ suggestions. They started with a pitch bible with the characters, and it evolved from there. With each meeting, One Animation refined their product, and eventually found broadcasters who were interested in commissioning their project.

“At first, [our broadcasters] were really happy with [the first episode of Insectibles],” Woody recollects. “However, because we are a somewhat unknown, small studio in South-East Asia, they really wanted us to prove that we could produce several [episodes].”

If a producer intends to invest heavily in animated project, they will question the project’s applicability to their channel, as well as the firm’s ability to produce it. As Steve puts it, “Making one episode – anybody can do that. Can you produce ten and a half hours of that content in twelve months? That’s a challenge.”

One Animation – Final Points

Differentiating factors

One Animation has the ability to create content that is globally accepted. According to Steve, many studios tend to struggle with global content, whilst One Animation’s international members enable them to develop universal concepts. In addition, One Animation’s series have strong concepts, and quality content – this bolsters their reputation.

Future plans

One Animation intends to evolve content that they currently have.

“Getting into feature films is the next big step for us.” Steve claims. “We think that we’re now getting a feature film ready to produce content.”

Their pipelines are improving every day, and they’re doing some major changes to both sides of their pipeline (in terms of rendering and animation.) They are upgrading all of our methods.

“We feel that we’ve mastered the TV process in terms of being able to create high-quality content,” Steve finishes. “The next step for us is to take our IP, and to develop new IP for feature films.”

Ashely Simpson is an illustrator and storyboard artist who has worked on Disney’s Phineas and Ferb. This talented artist was contracted by Disney while she was still in college, and is currently working on Disney X D’s new series, Milo Murphy’s Law. She speaks to Cartoons Underground about her inspirations and experiences.

About the Artist

In 50 words or less, please tell us about yourself.

I am a story artist, character designer and animator. I am passionate about storytelling and I enjoy making people laugh, cry and relate with characters in my stories. I love playing the piano and trumpet, and I love to read when I’m not drawing.

What inspired you to start drawing?

Besides the cartoons that I used to watch, it was actually my dad who inspired me to start drawing. He used to draw when he was younger, as did my grandpa. He drew me a poster of Beauty and the Beast when I was three, and I always have it hanging up by my drawing desk.

Did you have any mentors?

There were my instructors at Emily Carr University in Vancouver. Two of them were animators and the other was an illustrator/comic artist. I was always going to them for advice.

Career

What is the role of a concept artist?

A concept artist creates illustrations that convey an idea for use in a project. They develop the world and characters visually before production on the final product begins.

How did you start your career?

Actually, the position I got on Phineas and Ferb was the start of my career! I was still a student at Emily Carr. I did and still do online illustration commissions, but besides that, I was studying animation.

How did you become a concept artist on Phineas and Ferb?

To keep the story short, I went to San Diego Comic Con in 2012 and gave the show’s creators a drawing I had done of their characters as teenagers. I honestly did not expect it to go any further than the compliments they gave, but a few months later I was messaged by Dan Povenmire on DeviantArt, asking if I would like to work for them on an upcoming episode. I actually didn’t believe it was him until my friend told me hours after receiving the message that he had posted a photo of the drawing I made on twitter, proving it was him. And about three weeks later, I was visiting the Disney Studios for the episode pitch.

What kind of projects were you given?

I was in charge of designing the characters for the episode Act Your Age. I turned all the kids into teenagers. Besides the main five and the Fireside Girls, I also worked on Carl, Irving and Candace. I also designed Stacy and Jeremy, but their scenes never made it to the final episode.

What were the challenges you faced, and what did you have to do to overcome them?

The most notable challenge I had was that I had to balance working on the show while still attending classes and getting assignments done. One day every week, I was at school for 12 hours. A trick one of my mentors taught me was actually used in this situation, which was “keep schoolwork at school as much as possible, and keep home as home.” Since I did have some spares during the day, including lunch, I tried to work on assignments during then, and after a break at home, I would get to work on the character designs. I made sure to send in something at least every day, because I was contracted only for two weeks. I also had to boost my confidence levels during that time. If I believed I could get it done in time, then I would.

How do you handle deadlines?

I take them very seriously. Having a deadline keeps me motivated. On the rare occasion that I could not get everything completed in time, I would try to bring the work I had completed so far, so as to show that I had been dedicating time to it. Surprisingly, when I did the character designs for Disney, they were ready to expect that I would not get everything they asked finished in two weeks. I sure surprised them when I had all 21 characters, back and front, completed for them on the due date!

How do you feel about working in a team?

I quite enjoy it. I enjoy working alone, but when there are good leaders or good communication happening between the team, it makes it a lot of fun to work on the chosen project. Communication and open-mindedness is important to successful teamwork.

About the Industry

Was it difficult to leave university, and to start on your job?

As I had already been guaranteed a job because of my work for Phineas and Ferb, I admit that I did not have as many worries as some other friends did. However, I did work with some clients as a freelancer who were a little difficult to work with, and I did have to move back home to Manitoba, Canada, and take up a job as a substitute Educational Assistant for this past year while working on commissions. It was never easy, and I did worry more than I should that my chance to get a permanent job was slipping away. But I had plenty of people who believed in what I could do and reassured me that my friends in the industry would not have forgotten me.

Is it getting easier for artists to enter the animation industry?

That’s a tough question to answer. It’s a very competitive industry, but it does have some points every few years where studios hire like the world is about to end. For example, spring and summer 2015 have been exploding with animation jobs in Vancouver, BC, Canada. One simply has to keep their eyes and ears open. Talent is certainly important to finding a job, but from my experience knowing people and staying in contact with them will get you at least one foot in the door.

Final points

What’s next for you?

I’ve actually gotten a job offer at Disney as a storyboard artist for Dan Povenmire and Swampy Marsh’s new show Milo Murphy’s Law. So I’ll be heading to Burbank as soon as I get the go-ahead from Disney!

What advice would you give to aspiring artists?

First and foremost, be confident. I still struggle with that from time to time, but even some false confidence will help you get over the doubts about yourself. Show people that you are proud of your work yet still strive to improve. Secondly, make contacts. I would not have had the opportunities I have now if not for the friends I’ve made in the industry. Get your name out in the world! Go out and meet people, give your business cards, memorabilia, etc.! And don’t be afraid to draw fan art. Some people believe that fan art isn’t creative, but that’s where everyone starts, in one way or another. That’s how I started. Of course, it never hurts to draw original characters and stories as well.

Cartoons Underground’s guest author, Shannon Sawyer, reviews one of France’s most ingenious animated films. Here’s her take on Ernest and Celestine:

Ernest and Celestine is an animated film released in France in 2012 by La Parti Productions and in the United States 2013 that has garnered attention for it’s beautiful art and style at first glance and captures with a deeper story commenting on the mob-mentality of society and the role of artist to break those conformities.

In it’s story, Celestine is an orphaned mouse that collects bear teeth from the City Above for a dentist who lives in the City Below, the mouse city. She befriends a bear scraping by for food with his music and they become unlikely friends. However, it is an affront against both of their societies for a mouse and a bear to be friends so they run from the places they are outcastes from while creating a powerful bond with each other. Over time we see how each of them grow and question the stubborn and problematic traditions of their societies and eventually use their own logic and awareness to even save their kind.

From its visual aspect the movie holds a visual charm. Much of the character designs are simplistic, but through stylization of movement and facial expression they become more dynamic. It’s hard to talk about the visuals of this movie without talking about the coloring of the movie that appears like watercolor and comes into parallel with Celestine and Ernest’s desires to become artists. It’s blend of soft subdued colors meld beautifully with the characters and their environments to the point where even some of its gags and motions take advantage of the style and color within the movie.

Ernest and Celestine is a beautifully crafted film with so much love and dedication for art put into every scene and frame.

Double Negative is an award-winning company that specialises in computer animation and visual effects. It has won Visual Effects Society awards for Inception and Sherlock Holmes, and has received BAFTA awards for Inception, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 and Interstellar. It s established in London, and also operates in Toronto and Singapore.

Stuart Farley, Double Negative’s Head of 3D, gives us insights into Double Negative’s organizational structure and activities. Here’s what he had to say –

History

Double Negative started in Shaftsbury Avenue, just off SOHO in London, with a small team.

As Stuart describes, “I joined them when it hit about 60 people, and it’s grown ever since. We’re roughly around 1,100 – 1,200 people in London, and we have about 260 people in Singapore. We’ve opened a new office in Vancouver, which is growing rapidly. We have a huge amount of work, and operate just like a 24-hour facility.”

Management and Roles

Double Negative has 260 people, with 109 of them as 3D artists. Half of the company’s staff are 3D artists, and the other half are 2D compositors. Aside from the 3D department, Double Negative has a production and facility department as well. There are other senior positions in this company – Head of 2D, Head of Research and Development (R&D) and Production Manager.

The Singapore facility is a mirror of the London facility, just a scaled version of it. It runs exactly the same – it has the same technology. This is so that projects, work and clients can be shared between both studios.

Two departments manage the production of Double Negative’s shots – the 3D department, and the 2D department. These departments create elements that are included in the final image that will be given to the client.

2D artists take the footage shot on stage/set, and would clean the shots up, key out green screens, cleaning up TV elements, compositing 3D elements (along with 2D elements) into a final image. They produce initial concepts, models and assets that may be put into the show (e.g. something superficial, like an extra glass on a table, to a full city). They would model those assets, add texture, render and light. These assets would be handed to the compositors.

The Production department includes producers, line producers, coordinators, etc. These individuals manage daily operations, artist schedules, send out client liaisons, transferring data back and forth, initial budgets and budget breakdowns, working with supervisors to do that.

“We have our own internal producers and line producers,” Stuart indicates. “That production backbone sits with us constantly. Our clients are separate from our internal business operations – we’re a vendor to them.”

Double Negative is constantly looking at themselves, looking at what technology is doing, at their own efficiencies, and their potential for growth. Double Negative’s R&D Department looks after propriety tools, maintenance of tools, transfer of data between facilities, transfer of data to clients, studio editorial (take care of daily running, from backyard information to editing content so that it’s presentable to clients.)

According to Stuart, the R&D Department is currently involved with a French company (with one of their rendering engines). They’re helping them build a roadmap of their development, and have long-term solutions in mind as well as legacy items that are already in the pipeline.

Pipeline

Double Negative focuses almost exclusively on movies, although they have done several TV series. Stuart indicates that “TV is a recent endeavor in the last few years for D-Neg as a company. [Our jobs are] proving to be very fun, interesting and valid for us. The team in London is running extremely well, and we’ve had some works for some large productions.”

Double Negative’s clients complete a project’s pre-production work (in terms of the art department work). Double Negative may be involved with concept art, depending on their role in the film. They may be involved with the shoot, as well as the planning, shot methodology and budget breakdowns.

In terms of film production (work in visual effects), after Double Negative successfully bids for a film, they would start with shooting scripts (a screenplay). They would work with a visual-effects (VFX) supervisor from the studio, who may have an idea of “which chunks are visual-effects heavy”.

“It may be the case that we’re the VFX supervisor for the client’s side as well,” Stuart elaborates. “We work with the studios to do a breakdown of that bid, adding in our assumptions of how the work needs to be shot. We’d work out a budget, and we’d collaborate to work through the nuances of that script.”

“A good example would be any of the Nolan films. We’d be either the sole vendor, or one of the large vendors. We’d get a script early on, and a team (of three to four people) would read the script, and do a breakdown of it. We’d work with the VFX supervisor of that film.”

During Inception’s production, Chris Nolan wanted the buildings in a particular shot to crumble into the water, as if they were made of ice. Double Negative looked at references, worked on concepts, and worked with Nolan early on in the process to convey his vision through the images.

“The concept artists are part of our 3D team,” Stuart describes. “They use different methodologies to create 3D physical models that are painted over using a 2D mallet to create beautiful images.”

“[On one of our recent projects], one of our concept artists took the script, had an initial brief with the director, and we started working on this passage of text, which described the creatures in this film. We quickly devised several options, and our client immediately fell in love with them. He worked off our ideas to create more ideas – it was a real creative collaboration.”

Production

“At the top of the creative tree on the 2D and 3D departments of each project, there’d be an overall visual effects supervisor,” Stuart describes. “These guys are experts in their areas – they’d work with the producer to build documents of shot breakdowns, have each shot listed out, build up assumptions for how they see the shot being done, and what is shot on set. We’d add in days for each department as we see the kind of nuances of that work needed to be done. We’d build up the costs needed for that shot – it’s a standard template that we use to [estimate our budget].”

“We can analyse common shots – we can identify the common aspects of shooting different sequences. We might be able to build one asset that covers many shots, and just reuse it. We try and work into our costs that way – we consider the budgets that studios have in mind.”

“It’s something that’s built up with experience. As [an artist] gets more shows under their belt, and more exposure to the scheduling process, they can become more involved in driving that process. It builds their skillsets, management techniques and their supervision capabilities.”

The cost of a shot varies according to its nature. Stuart explains that that “a shot could be a very quick cleanup – for instance, a cleanup of a blemish on someone’s face – or it might be a short number of frames. However, the cost of building an entire environment for a single shot, with complicated elements (such as dragons with full muscle systems and special effects), would approximate a couple thousand sterling.”

As the Head of 3D, Stuart has managerial responsibilities. He explains that “[Double Negative] may have anything up to five to six shows at any one time. It’s up to me as head of department to know what work is coming, to know how work can be scheduled, to know where our staff currently is with shows. I’d need to identify how many modelers, texture artists, etc. are needed for one show. We’d have to decide whether or not we’d need additional recruitment or training services.”

Projects

Pirates: Band of Misfits

Pirates was a collaboration between Double Negative and Aardman Studio. Aardman completed the initial scripting, storyboarding, pre-visualisation. They submitted their work to Double Negative, who did post-visualisation, and included additional animation on top of these shots.

Although it was originally supposed to be produced in London, where Aardman is located, “due to scheduling reasons”, production was shifted to Singapore.

Although there was a small setup that was completed in London, most of the film was completed in Singapore. Approximately 84% of the shots were created in Singapore – 338 estimated shots were delivered as parts of the final product.

Double Negative handled the digital components of the film (mainly visual effects), whereas Aardman handled the stop-motion aspects.

“The project was Aardman’s in entirety, and we were the vendor for their visual effects,” Stuart explains. “They had a certain number of shots that required visual effects, and we supplied all the animation, the images, and the composites. When we submitted our work to them, they’d come in and do dailies, review our work, critique it, and tell us what they want. They’d give us direction.”

Hunger Games

“Hunger Games is a great film in terms of its box office success,” Stuart states. “We completed the [first part of the Mockingjay films] in its entirety here in Singapore. We worked on the previous two films in collaboration with London, but this was the first Hunger Games film that we did in its entirety in Singapore.”

“We dealt with our clients through their visual effects supervisor, and our internal visual effects supervisor. This was a big film in terms of the number of shots – our Singaporean studio created 487 shots. Our local and western crews both worked on the movie.”

Technology and Techniques

Double Negative uses a variety of products, and works closely with developers of certain software to tailor the software to their needs.

Due to technological development, and the greater availability of products, Double Negative uses more off-the shelf solutions which they would augment and build proprietary software. They would also construct a pipeline around their software, so that they can operate efficiently on large shows.

“Liaising with international contacts is multifaceted, in terms of where you’re getting your software. These companies, such as Maya, Autodesk and [Alias], may have offices across the world,” Stuart indicates. “Double Negative often liaises with companies that have offices in Singapore. However, the main push “for the roadmap for technology” generally comes through the large R&D department in London

“We have all departments in Double Negative,” Stuart indicates. “Our Animation department is just one specific department within our facility. For instance, in 3D, we have animation, as well as concept art, matte painting, modeling, texturing, rigging, lighting and rendering and look development.”

“Our look development department is where our artists would take a digital model, as well as the textures that are painted for that model, and would use various tools to plug these textures into what we call a surface shader, which would apply these textures onto our digital model. When light is applied to a scene, the shader will describe how the light reacts to the surface, and how the surface would turn an appropriate colour (that would be observed in that world).”

“Different shaders are used for material with different textures. It’s a way for the rendering engines on the computer to describe what light would return to the viewer, and how realistic the image would appear.”

Opportunities

“Relocating to Singapore was a great opportunity to grow globally, and to become part of the great, stable client in South-East Asia,” Stuart states. “The government was keen for us to help the industry grow, and we were keen to be a part of this movement. We worked with local staff, we pushed them through the ranks, and we helped Singapore’s industry grow.”

“Singapore’s well positioned in terms of its physical location, its economy and its stability as a country. It’s easy for businesses to exist here. It’s not where some of the Asian countries are, in terms of the quality of the films that they produce. For instance, China is a large country, and their film production industry is prolific. However, it has the potential to grow – there’s a huge amount of education in visual effects and animation. We recruit from local schools, and with other large visual effects existing in Singapore, we can see that growth, competition and talent is bred.”

“We’d like to work with the local crew, and to develop their industry, but we also need a thorough, healthy bloodline of foreign talent. That brings in the top level of artists, and the top level of work.”

Double Negative recruits students from local institutions, and allows them to explore the company’s various departments. “We give the students a chance to decide what they want to do. We allow them to experience different departments, and allow them to break through the ranks, so that they can decide what they want to do with their careers.”

“We may take junior artists straight out of school, who may not have experience, or a full idea of what they want to do. We probably bring them into the camera tracking department, or into the compositing department, and they’ll get very solid training, and from there, they’ll move into other artist roles.”

Advice/Final words

According to Stuart, if you’re an aspiring animator, “Keep working on your own stuff, and keep working on your reel.”

“You’ll never stop growing as an artist. You can’t expect to finish a course and apply for a job without practicing or growing again. Our greatest artists work on their own stuff on their free time out of sheer passion for the art of animation, modeling, concept, etc. Our greatest guys are hugely passionate and driven.”

Cartoons Underground sat down with Ervin Han, the Managing Director and Co-Founder of Robot Media Playground. Also the Director of Singapore’s groundbreaking short film “The Violin”, Ervin speaks to us about producing his animated products, creating “The Violin”, as well as his vision for Robot Media Playground.

About the Director

1. In 50 words or less, tell us about yourself.

I’ve always loved animation and watched a ton of Looney Tunes, Hanna-Barbera, 80s boys action toons and the Disney classics growing up. But it was during my time in university when I discovered the films of Studio Ghibli that got me really interested in animated storytelling.

2. Tell us about Robot Playground Media. What does the company do, and who have you worked with?

We’re a content and production company, with a focus on animation and animated properties across different platforms. Locally, we’ve worked with Mediacorp on its first prime-time animated series, ‘Heartland Hubby’. Our corporate clientle includes Samsung, OSIM, the Walt Disney Company, River Safari and others.

3. What inspires you to create animated videos?

Animation is just a unique way to tell stories. It combines so many artistic skill sets and film languages. The Disney masters said it the best – it’s the illusion of life, and that feels inherently magical. I’m thankful the part of me that fell in love with cartoons at a very young age never faded, and now I get to do it as a career.

4. What values do you convey to share with your projects?

Depends on the story you’re telling, and the way which you choose to tell it. I don’t think too much about values or themes early on. The story, premise and characters have to be compelling first.

‘The Violin’ – Inspiration and Values

5. What inspired you to create ‘The Violin’?

I wanted to tell a Singapore story using animation that pays tribute to our nationhood and also feels personal and intimate. I was also very keen to re-imagine some of Singapore’s iconic landmarks – many of which are gone – using animation. The idea was to tell a story that all generations of Singaporeans can enjoy, and derive their own meanings from, based on their life experiences.

6. How did you create the concept?

The idea of it being a silent film set in very early, and that music would essentially ‘narrate’ the story. I then basically broke up the film to 4 parts, each covering a period in the country’s history. We spent 6 months researching, writing and storyboarding. In animation, there is usually a lot of concept design done but we did very little of that. Instead, we used a lot of historical and archival images and material as design reference.

7. What would you like to impart to your audience?

I think every person who sees the film would derive his or her own meaning from it. The story and its presentation might evoke both different and communal feelings about a variety of things, whether it’s Singapore as a country or home, our forefathers, our relationship with the country’s ever-changing urban landscape, and so on. In the end, it’s really a love letter to Singapore, albeit one without words.

‘The Violin’ – Production

8. Which software did you use to animate this film? Did you use proprietary software for this project?

We used TVPaint, Toon Boom, and a bit of Flash. Some shots were animated traditionally i.e. done on paper before being scanned digitally for cleanup and colour.

9. Was it an expensive project?

We produced it with a relatively low budget, financed through grants from the Singapore Memory Project, as well as donations and sponsorships from the private sector.

10. What were the most challenging parts of creating the film, and how did you overcome these challenges?

Condensing 80 years into 15 minutes and still be able to weave a personal narrative into the story was quite a challenge. We didn’t have a script, only an outline and detailed story treatment so I had to work very closely with the storyboard artist while giving him some freedom to visualise. Because it’s a silent film, the tone wasn’t easy to nail down. Most of it was actually set by the backgrounds, which were painted with great detail. I listened to lot of violin soundtracks during writing and the animatic editing in order to mentally lock down a certain tone before discussing it with the composer.

Doing a silent film was both liberating and restricting. On the one hand, time was saved on crafting dialogue and exposition, but on the other hand, it had to be pure visual storytelling – using action, performance, staging and cinematography to convey story.

11. How many people worked on this film, and how did you co-ordinate your team?

In total, including staff within the company and external teams, about 30 people worked on the film. We had line producers who did most of the coordination, and supervisors for each stage of the production. Because the budget was small, some of us had to wear multiple hats. I wrote, directed, produced and edited the film, for example.

12. Would you choose to redo anything on this film? If so, which aspects would you like to revise?

Most filmmakers will tell you that you never really finish a film; you simply run out of time. Animation is the same. There are always things that could be better – if there was more time, more budget etc. One thing I wanted to include but didn’t was some of the post-independence events that tested our resolve and unity as a nation, such as the Hotel New World collapse and SARS – events that I personally remember really united the country in the harshest of times.

Final points

13. What’s next for Robot Playground Media?

I would like to develop ‘The Violin’ into a feature-length film, and in the process of exploring the avenues to do that. We’re also working on a preschool storybook app that we’re aiming to launch end of the year. It’s very much an original animated property and hopefully something unique for local kids and parents to enjoy. And I’m planning to produce another animated short film for next year, and starting to sound out potential partners and sponsors.

14. Do you have any advice for aspiring artists?

I can’t speak for other professions but this business is one where more often then not, you hear the answer ‘No’. As a creative professional or artist, you have to be able to take the hits and keep moving forward, keep believing in your craft and talent, keep improving yourself. This is a job that you don’t retire from, and that is actually a blessing, because it’s a job driven by passion and meaning. To me, that means you have found your calling, so you owe it to yourself not to give up, because some people spend a lifetime searching for it.

For more of Ervin’s work, please visit Robot Playground Media’s website at http://www.robotplaygroundmedia.com/.

To watch “The Violin”, please visit its official website, http://theviolin.sg

Cartoons Underground sat down with Zachary Rich, the Art Director and Co-Founder of Skynamic Studios. He tell us about his experience as an Art Director/Animator, as well as his studio’s original animated project – “True Tail”.

About the Artist

1. In 50 words or less, please tell us about yourself.

I’m the co-owner and Art Director of Skynamic Studios, a virtual animation studio founded in 2013 alongside my producer and business partner, Allison Sribnick. I also have a Bachelors in Animation from the Savannah College of Art & Design, and am currently seeking my masters there as well.

2. What inspired you to start drawing?

My inspiration for drawing began as a means to escape the boredom of school. My first drawing was a doodle on the test paper of my 3^rd grade Math Test, which quickly turned into a giant stickman battle that covered both the front and back. Before I knew it I was doodling and drawing on every piece of paper I could get my hands on. To me, drawing is my way of visually expressing my imagination.

3. Did you have any mentors?

All of the wonderful professors I’ve had the pleasure of knowing here at the Savannah College of Art & Design. John Webber, Troy Gustafson, Brian Schindler, Jose Silva, Ray Goto, and Michael Jantze (to name a few). But I’ve also had great mentors outside of college, such as Tony Grillo (the owner of Mightypants Media) and a few teachers from my High School days, such as my Debate coach Shawn Wingfield and my Drama teacher Lisa Webb.

Career

1. What does an Art Director do?

An Art Director is in charge of managing a group of artists and guiding them all towards creating and maintaining a cohesive visual style. If an animated film looks like the entire thing was done by one artist – then that’s usually the sign of a competent Art Director who knows what they’re doing.

2. What are the skills that you require to be an Art Director?

Because the Art Director ultimately decides what the final look of a film will be, it’s important that they have strong experience in practically every area of the pipeline. This includes overseeing storyboards, animatics, character design, environmental design, prop design, color concept, character animation, effects animation, sound design, orchestral composition, compositing, and editing. They also need to be fluid and able to adapt to any change in the art direction quickly.

3. What does an Animator do?

An animator takes a series of still images and, through making them gradually move frame-by-frame, gives them the illusion of life. This includes character, effects, and prop animation.

4. What are the skills that you require to be an Animator?

More than anything else, Animators need patience. Animation takes a long time – and fantastic animation takes a very long time. You have to be willing to sit and draw the same thing tens of thousands of times in order to make it move and come to life. We also have something called the “12 Principles of Animation”, a guideline that outlines the basic tenets all animation should follow, first set into stone by Richard Williams. A good animator will have all 12 of these principles memorized and clearly showing in their work.

5. How did you start your career?

My career began the moment I decided to quit my job working as an Assistant Manager at Gamestop and move from Wichita, Kansas all the way down to Savannah, Georgia in order to attend the Savannah College of Art & Design to learn animation. From there it was simply a matter of time before I began to organize group projects and collaborative endeavours to create animated stories that I alone couldn’t achieve.

6. What kind of projects were you given?

Learning how to be an Art Director was a lot of fun! I got to write and storyboard screenplays, learn how to design appealing characters and layouts, and animate a lot of basic exercises that hammered the 12 principles of animation into my brain. At the same time I was also pushing my fine art skills by learning how to draw the human figure, how to use colours properly, and how to utilize graphite, charcoal, and paint effectively.

7. How and why did you start Skynamic Studios?

Skynamic Studios is the byproduct of what remained after a successful student project during my Junior year at college called Double Rainboom (a 30-minute fan animation that used characters from the shows My Little Pony and The Powerpuff Girls). Once the project was finished, everyone was still eager to work together and collaborate on something, so we wound up banding together under one name and began working on our own intellectual property. This IP eventually turned into a 2D animated series set in an anthropomorphic medieval fantasy world, called True Tail.

8. What were the challenges you faced, and what did you have to do to overcome them?

There are countless challenges to starting your own studio, especially when you have no funding or reputation to work from. The biggest challenge has been to find ways to keep people working and motivated even though we have no budget to pay them. Everyone works for free, even me and my business partner. We maintain a strong morale and work ethic through offering free tutelage, networking opportunities, and a creative outlet for artists who haven’t managed to find a way to earn a living based off of the thing they love doing. We hope that through pushing them to further their skills, we can help prepare them for the industry.

9. How do you handle deadlines?

Deadlines are very loose at Skynamic Studios, mainly because it’s extremely rare that we ever have money on the line. Even then, our motto is “Quality comes first”. If we reach a deadline and the quality isn’t up to par, then we push that deadline back and keep working it until it’s done. People can forgive something being pushed back a month or two – however they will always remember being presented with an inferior product.

10. How do you feel about working in a team?

I absolutely love it! For me, collaboration is the pinnacle of animation since the level of quality and scale is far greater than anything you could ever achieve on your own. People view the world in different ways, and I believe that stories become stronger when multiple creative minds are attacking them in unison.

About the Industry

1. Is it getting easier for artists to enter the animation industry?

As the internet becomes easier to use and more accessible to those spread around the globe, and as technology becomes better and more readily available at a cheaper price, so too does the ease at which artists can present their work online and catch the attention of those seeking to hire them for their skills. We’re in the middle of a golden age of animation, and entering the industry has never been easier.

2. Can you identify any trends in the Western animation industry?

I’d say the most prevalent trend that separates Western animation from Eastern animation is its tendency to lean towards cyclical storytelling where the characters always end an episode at the same spot as how they began it. This enables a show to run indefinitely with the least effort possible, since the characters and environments never change in any meaningful way. It’s very different from the kind of storytelling that Eastern animation (e.g. anime) utilizes, where the stories usually have an arc to them and the characters grow and change as the show progresses.

3. What are studios looking for (in an Animated IP)?

It really depends upon the studio, and the market/demographic that that studio is aiming for. Overall though, studios are looking for well-presented and well-thought-out ideas that are fun, creative, and tailored to match their current content. Try to have a pitch packet detailing the plot synopsis, the protagonists and antagonists, examples of episodes, and the educational aspects (all of which are accompanied by appealing artwork). A treatment of the pilot episode would also be a good idea to have.

4. We understand that you have developed your own animated IP (True Tail). How do you intend to produce it?

For now our goal is to continue animating short character introductions to help build a fanbase and awareness of the IP within the industry. It also allows us to further develop our pipeline for animation and to fine-tune our aesthetic so that we can work out the kinks now, rather than later on when money and reputation are on the line. Once June of 2016 rolls around, we’ll be launching a kickstarter to try and fund the first season – as well as try our hand at pitching the show to major studios and distributors again.

5. How do you intend to pitch/publicise True Tail?

Well pitching-wise we plan to build up our animated shorts and go from there. But as for publicity we actually already have several social media sites where you can go to keep up to date on what’s happening at Skynamic Studios.

We also have regular weekly content updates, such as Fanart Friday where we post up any artwork from our fans, Q&A Saturday where we answer any questions that fans have regarding the show, and Deviantart Sunday where we add concept art and studio work to our Deviantart page. We’re hoping to expand into other days of the week soon for other content as well (e.g. art-related tutorials and musical releases).

Final points

1. What’s next for you?

For me, my main goals are to keep Skynamic Studios running and producing content, while simultaneously finishing up my masters degree at SCAD. After that? Well, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens. ^^

2. What advice would you give to aspiring artists?

The single best advice I can give you is to never lose confidence in yourself. Success is as much a state of mind as it is a physical occurrence. If you don’t think of yourself as a professional artist now – then you will never become one. Having the confidence to make mistakes and learn from them, to grow with every drawing you make, and the courage to fake it until you make it, is the key to reaching the point where you can make a living off of your art.

If you’d like to know more about Skynamic Studios, or see more of Zachary’s work, please visit:

Website: http://www.skynamicstudios.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TruetailFans

Tumblr: http://truetail.tumblr.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/_TrueTail_

Deviantart: http://skynamicstudios.deviantart.com/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/TrueTailSeries

Shannon Sawyer, Cartoons Underground’s guest author, reviews Home Sweet Home, an animated short by Pierre Clenet, Alejandro Diaz, Romain Mazevet and Stéphane Paccola.

Home Sweet Home is a CGI animated short film created in 2013 by Pierre Clenet, Alejandro Diaz, Romain Mazevet and Stéphane Paccola. The film follows the adventures of a sentient house as they travel across the country in classic take on what it means to go on a journey while still conveying the emotions of the characters.

Because the houses are the main characters and dialogue non-existent the audience forced to focus on the visual storytelling rather than any banter or exposition, stripping the film down to its visuals, sound, and music. Even with such limitations on animating the characters the houses all have their personality in the details of their structure and are highly expressive to convey their feelings on the events at hand.

The setting of the film has a post-apocalyptic vibrancy to it with isolation being so encompassing that the other houses the main character meets are far and few in-between. When the blue house does meet a much older one it no longer forces the narrative to be about isolation, but about the company and care that is developed for someone to share in that loneliness. The film’s end shows that the journey can become one about survival and that we will lose loved ones but must still carry on with their memories.

Home Sweet Home is a beautifully animated film that calls out to the solitude we embrace that comes with traveling away from home and the experience and sacrifices that life will bring to our doorstep.

Watch ‘Home Sweet Home‘ in the following video:

Cartoons Underground spoke with Neil Fernando, an upcoming Art Director and Freelance Artist. He speaks about his inspirations, his experiences, and provides advice for aspiring artists.

In 50 words or less, please tell us about yourself.

I’m a spaceman. I love to explore beyond boundaries and limitless possibilities.

I’m exploring advertising as an Art Director, and am a freelance Layout/Concept Artist. I’m also a Musician, and I’ve recently started a Design x Production company with my friends.

I don’t want to limit myself doing one thing. Like the great Buzz Lightyear said: “To infinity and beyond!”

Did you have any mentors?

I consider everyone and everything as mentors. Coming from an art school I have a lot of teachers, I also have my friends, co-workers and fellow artists.

I usually study colors from Old Masters. Like Rembrandt, he is dead long time ago but I still learned from him. When I remember my first toy being broken. I learned sadness. I learned how to picture sadness. I believe that mentors come in unexpected person, places and forces.

How do you expect to grow as an artist, and as a person?

I wanted to be a person and an artist who tells stories that will influence a person’s life and pursue emotions that make others smile, laugh, excited or even cry. I wanted to be remembered as the guy that becomes a part of their life even for a glimpse of a second.

What and/or who do you draw inspiration from?

The people around me. Emotions, stories and experiences. These things stir up my imagination and make me share message through my art.

What is your opinion on making art a career?

Perfect! Really, I can’t imagine any career that lets you do crazy stuff. It keeps my inner child in me. There’s a lot to explore. Letting your mind wander through space, create the impossible possible, tell jokes, daydream, experiment, fly and do exactly want you want to draw, draw and draw. That to me is a gift.

What are your future plans?

For now, I really want to work for an animation studio. From there, let me see where my wings would take me.

Do you have any advice for aspiring artists?

Like every artist say “Practice. Practice. Practice.” Don’t ever forget that.

But I will emphasize the importance of exploring. Never stop trying new ways to do stuff, to create your art. There’s a lot to learn. You can draw inspiration from a song, stories, an ant or even the smell of your brother’s socks. Don’t just use your eyes. Use all your senses.

Remember “Explore. Explore. Explore.” Explore like a spaceman.

Featuring Oscar Nominee Bill Plympton ‘Drunk like a skunk’.  This film is an adaptation of Walt Curtis’s poem, ‘The Time The Drunk Came To Town And Got Drunker Than A Skunk, Or So He Thought.’, about a Cowboy town that torments the local drunk.

Bill Plympton animated  a music video for Kanye West‘s “Heard ‘Em Say” and “Weird Al” Yankovic‘s “Don’t Download This Song“. Plympton’s illustrations and cartoons have been published in The New York Times and the weekly newspaper The Village Voice, as well as in the magazines Vogue, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, Penthouse, and National Lampoon.

Catch ‘Drunker than a skunk’ by Bill Plympton at Cartoons Underground on 5 December 2013 at Artistry.

Who doesn’t love cartoons? But do you know what goes behind animating a TV show? I take a sneak peak into One Animation studios in Singapore.

Alexandra road in Singapore is a long highway lined with the showrooms of mega car dealers. Rows of identical, drab, buildings of concrete and steel stand side by side, a long, tedious stretch of road devoid of soul.

It is in this most unexpected of places that I found one of the Singapore’s leading animation studios, One Animation. With over 40 staff members and hits like Insectibles and Oddbods under its belt, it is a gem in Singapore’s art scene, and a model studio for the animation world beyond its borders.

One Animation

One Animation was founded by Steven Read and Richard Thomas. After completing his degree in film theory and obtaining a masters in technology, Steven worked on TV and feature films such as Tomb Raider, Lost in Space and Happy Feet.

After spending a summer in Singapore supervising the making of a movie, he saw the potential to start his own company here. Partnering with his long time friend from university, Richard, who had worked on blockbuster games like Kill Zone 2 and Little Big Planet, he head-hunted local and regional talent to create the dream now known as One Animation studios in 2009. Since, the company has grown tremendously over the past 7 years with a new a office in Jakarta.

“Coming from a background in technology, I knew the importance of doing our own R&D to help us achieve certain effects, and to streamline our process. This allows us to create TV shows at great quality for a much lower cost,” Steven explained how One Animation differentiates from its competitors in Singapore.

Besides being a leading studio in animation technology, One Animation is solely focused on creating and developing its own intellectual property, such as Oddbods, winner of Best 3D animation at Television Asia Plus 2014 and Asia Image Apollo Awards 2014. Most recently Disney bought the broadcast rights to Oddbods, and it is now being shown globally throughout the United States and the Asia Pacific region.

At the studio, I was also greeted by Laura-Ann Chambers from the story department who introduced me to my tour guide, Enrique Caballero who was also birthday boy (!) that day. With over 15 years of experience in the CG industry, Enrique was the Character Technical Director on Happy Feet and Legend of the Guardians, and Character Modeler on Where the Wild Things Are.

Dressed in a Superman t-shirt, Enrique took me around the office, and showed me the development processes behind One Animation’s films, which comprised of several stages from ideation, execution to merchandising.

Story Department

It all starts in the Story department, headed by Woody Woodman who worked on Brother Bear (2003), Mulan (1998) and Tarzan (1999).

This is where the seed is planted and the spells are cast. Where the concept and characters, in an act of magic, are drawn out from the ether and given shape. Plastered over with colourful drawings that define the personalities of the characters and the moods of each act and scene, this room is where the look and feel of the film is determined.

Talking about Insectibles, Samantha Lee, story artist at One Animation, explained that each episode could have between 600 to 900 story and mood boards. Depending on the type of scene, the number of boards determing its narrative, would vary.

“For example, a scene of us talking would be one board, while an action scene within a few seconds with a high kick and a punch could be three or four boards” she said.

Sam’s working space

Modeling Department

After the story has been developed, the assets for the film are created. The Modeling department is where the imagination of the Story department’s artists is given shape. Here, I got to see a ship based on an illustration being sculpted into 3D. This is one of the most difficult and time intensive portions of the development process, requiring a skilled individual with a good eye, architectural aptitude and design skills.

Layout Department

After the 3D assets have been sculpted and rigged, they are used to transform 2D story-board scenes into 3D environments where the film will play out. This was where I met Bony Wirasmono, who showed me the garden scene he had been working on, from the insectibles.

Character Animator

It is the range of emotions, their appeal and believability, expressed by the characters in a film, which determines the extent of the film’s mass appeal. In One Animation studios,  Alessandro Camporota from Rome is in charge of bringing the character’s facial expression to life.

Towards this end, he creates all the expressions that are necessary, from broad adjustments of a character’s body language to subtle nuances on the faces of characters. Some of these are truly subtle, like a slight twitch of the corners of a mouth, or even a raised eyebrow.

He was working on a short clip for OddBods, manipulating Pogo’s facial expression, when I met him. He explained that OddBods is unlike other TV show, as they spend a lot more time capturing the childlike emotion of each character. Growing up with 2D cartoons, I have always found most 3D animation lacking in the natural quality present in the cartoons of my childhood. OddBods however, does not have this issue due to the focus given to the facial animation of its characters. In this show, candid and natural facial expressions imbue each character with a distinct personality, making them highly memorable.

Enrique’s work space at One Animation

R&D Department

The Research and Development unit is where One Animation truly stands out from the rest. Here, One Animation creates its own cutting edge solutions to meet their digital needs. Their customised solutions towards handling the technology they use allow them  to streamline their processes, helping them make films of a higher quality at lower costs.

This is also where Enrique works. You can find both the Batman and the Joker perched at his workspace like buddies, and Finn the Human from Adventure Time slaying an invisible dragon on his lamp, as well as his favourite Nightmare Before Christmas DVD. On his screen, he shows me how he creates the bones and joints of the characters from Insectibles which would later be animated and brought to life by the Animation department.

Igor working in the R&D department of One Animation

Beside Enrique’s workplace is what he calls ‘little Russia’, where George from Belarus and Igor from Russia were working on OddBods.

I spent some time there watching an episode of OddBods that was freshly compressed and ready to be sent to Germany. My task: Quality Control.

Up close and personal with Enrique Callabero

Texturing and Lighting Departments

Coming to the end of the animation process, the texturing and lighting departments put the finishing touches on the reels that will be released to the public. This is where the short hairs of the characters from OddBods are made, as well as the rough tree bark from Insectibles. To finish off, lights are added to finalise the atmosphere of each scene, creating a sense of realism in the way they bounce off objects both familiar like the little hairs on the characters of Oddbods.

In a nutshell:

As someone who has only dabbled in animation, it was an interesting and enlightening experience to see all the processes that went on behind the creation of an animated TV show. What really stood out though wasn’t just their R&D and cool software, but the people I met. There was strong camaraderie at One Animation, with artist and engineers from different backgrounds and cultures, working towards the same goal. This bond is critical for the communication between all the departments, and without it, One Animation would not have been able to create its award-winning TV shows.

At the end of the day, they invited me to join in their celebration of Richie and Enrique’s birthday, where we laughed over pints of beer and NSFW drawings by Woody.

Here are some embarrassing pictures from Richard and Enrique’s  birthday celebration:

Birthday celebration!

Special thanks to Isabella Chen and Priscy Dora for helping me with this post.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

This month, we caught up with Sylvain Marc, a graduate of Estienne and Gobelins. Since graduating in 2006, he has worked as an animator, development artist, character designer and director in various studios like Framestore, Cartoon Network, Laika, Nickelodeon, Sony Pictures Animation, and more.

Many of Cartoons Underground’s young followers would like to know more about finding jobs in the industry. How did you start your career?

S: I was lucky to be hired directly on my graduation day at Gobelins by Framestore in London. Such a school as Gobelins is a real asset to get noticed and start in the industry.

What is your current role in your company, and what are your job requirements?

I’ve been freelancing for the last three years, so I work for different studios at a time. At the moment (and for the last two years and a half) I’ve mainly done concept design work for Sony Pictures Animation. I worked on projects such as Genndy Tartakowsky’s Popeye, Hotel Transylvania 2 and his next project there. In a few weeks I’ll be switching to Nickelodeon as a production designer on a project in development. I also do some work in commercials when I have the time to fit it in. Working remotly, the job consists in receiving a brief on a scene or character that needs to be designed, spend a few days on it, send the result over, and address comments, improve it, and move on something else. I would get reviews through Skype or phone with the director every few days.

PRODUCING A PILOT EPISODE – “VERNE ON VACATION”

“Verne on Vacation” stars an aspiring explorer (Verne) who spends his summer vacation on his Grandparents’ farm. Their farm is located on a magical island, and is populated by whimsical creatures, which Verne enthusiastically befriends.

What is your inspiration for Verne on Vacation?

The main inspiration was memories from my own childhood holidays, that I would spend in a farm in the South of France every summer. I would spend all my time with the farmer there, following him in his daily activities, whom I’m still in contact with and consider as a grandfather in spirit. I would roam around in the fields, the forest, fishing fishes, building tree houses, bow and arrows, and getting in all sorts of shenanigans from dawn to dusk. The feeling of freedom I had for two months there was amazing and would fuel the rest of the year in the grey city, only waiting for the next summer to come. Then of course, I’ve added a good layer of cartoon fun and fantasy. That’s the main inspiration for the whole concept of the show. But the pilot itself is more a little stand alone story within the world of Verne.

How did you develop your story?

I wrote a short outline for it first, and then fully fleshed it out at the storyboard stage. I also had the input of the development team members working at the studio.

What was your role in making the pilot (a director/producer)?

I directed it as well as designed it, made the backgrounds and animated a good chunk of it.

How did you find a team to help you with the pilot?

I asked to people and friends I knew and some people were part of the development team already there working with me. The animators Alf&Ale were friends of mine and responded to a request I posted on LinkedIn, saying I was looking for animators.

How did you find the money to produce your pilot?

It was financed by Cartoon Network Europe development studio.

Would networks typically give you the money you need to make an animated pilot, do you have to have to fund it yourself, or can you find an investor to help you?

I think this is pretty rare that a company funds a pilot as they did back then at the development studio. It was pretty unique it that respect. I know that Nickelodeon have a program to help funding pilots for projects, but the particularity of the development studio was that making our pilots was part of the job!

What other ways are there of funding a pilot, besides funding it yourself?

I’m not too sure about that. In France there are some subsidies you can apply for, funded by the government like the CNC. Otherwise there are crowdfunding platforms that can be used for that purpose, if you don’t mind spending time and some of the money collected on rewards.

How did you find the time to produce your pilot? For instance, how did you make a schedule for your team, and balance your job as you were making the pilot?

Well, it was completely part of my job, so I was full time on it for 3 months, the time it took to produce. I had the help of a great producer, Jen to help me schedule it all. The tricky part was that I was also animating, doing the backgrounds, designs etc, as well as directing and reviewing the work made by the animators. So I would spend the day on notes and do my own work at night. But it was a very small team and project so it was manageable.

How did you win an award for your pilot?

The studio entered it to the Cartoon on the Bay festival in Italy which happens to have an entry specifically made for pilots. This is rarely the case in other festivals, so it was tricky to submit, it’s not really a series, nor a short and doesn’t fit any categories really. So this one was perfect and it got the prize.

How did your fans react to your pilot?

It seems to have been well received. It’s hard to know exactly as this is only from online audience, so hard to quantify. But I still receive comments every now and then saying they wish to see more of it, even after all these years. So it’s nice, as this pilot was primarily made as an internal tool to get the project greenlit.

Did you try to pitch your pilot to studios/investors?

The project was pitched to Cartoon Network, obviously, having it made for them. After this 3mn short, they comissioned a full 11 minutes episode in an animatic form. It wasn’t greenlit as a series, but we were interested to transform it into a feature project, for a TV special. So for over a year, I’ve worked on reshaping it, the visuals, the story, working with a writer, Will Collins (Song of the Sea). We wrote the treatment for it, I did a whole new bible but the studio closed down a month before I was due to pitch it, shelving it in the process.
Since then, I’ve put it aside to move on other things, and I haven’t pitched it anywhere. I needed to take a break from it.

What are your plans for Verne on Vacation?

The treatment is there, I’m still fond of these characters and when I reopened my files some time ago, I still felt drawn to them, the little spark was still there…so I might do something out of it one day.

INDUSTRY INFORMATION

What do you think networks/production houses are looking for?

Fresh ideas, talents, individual and unique vision…but most of all…the miracle recipe for the next SpongeBob! (that’s my touch of irony)

Many of Cartoons Underground’s followers are interested in producing their own IP. Could you please describe how to pitch an idea after the pilot is produced?

Well, The pilot would be the most important pitching tool and it should speak for itself, if you can get to that stage. But you don’t necessarily have to have a pilot to pitch an idea. The very first stage can simply be a short Bible, with a few character pages, a concept for the show and possibly a few story outlines, that shows the potential of your characters on the long run. This already can tell a lot and get someone interested to produce a pilot.

How difficult is it to pitch a pilot to networks/production houses? (Do you need an agent’s representation or credentials?)

I’m not sure about agents. But I think having a blog and getting your work out there can get you some attention. If you’re good, you’ll get noticed.

What advice could you give to aspiring artists?

Do what you like doing, but most importantly do your OWN thing, not what already exists and that you like, it’s already there and there’s no need for another one. Get your work out there online, be ready to work hard, and be nice to people: animation is collaboration.

Last week, Cartoons Underground Co-Founder and Festival Director Vicky Chen spoke at Design Talks: Singapore Animation at Library@Orchard with David Kwok (the CEO of Tiny Island Productions), Michael Lim (the Founder of the Singapore Visual Effects and Animation group), and Mark Wee (Independent Animator) about the fundamentals of IP creation, current trends observed in the animation industry, and essential lessons for both aspiring and seasoned artists.

The talk was led by Vicky Chen, who welcomed 40 odd audience members to actively participate during the session. The speakers then introduced themselves through a simple slide show which can be found here.

Based on your experiences, how do you think the animation industry has evolved, and where do you see it going?

DAVID: I started working in the animation industry in 2000. I graduated with a degree in computer engineering from the UK, and came back to Singapore to work with the government for five years. In 2007, I decided to start my own company, and my dream was to create an environment in which artists can pursue their passion, as well as make a decent living in Singapore.

Moving forward, just like the manufacturing sector, Singapore cannot focus on production alone. Asia is catching up, and with the rising costs of operation, we have to move up to a higher value chain. In the long run, we have to focus on IP creation. Although it seems relatively new, it has been around for quite some time. In the coming years, it is important to start bringing ourselves out. Singapore must learn to advance to the next level, in terms of our craft and technique. We shouldn’t depend on foreign investment alone – we should start building our own SMEs. We should go global – not stay local.

MICHAEL: I started my career in Fox Studios Australia in 1999, and returned to Singapore in 2001. I was involved with education, and helped other companies with their service work and IP production.

In terms of IP creation, you need to be a storyteller first. Even if you aren’t one of the primary scriptwriters, and/or are in a junior position, you should have a say in a film’s creative process. If you’re just starting out, absorb all the information that you can. Don’t expect to master the craft, or to measure your success according to how long it will take you to reach a senior level. Your progression is not a time-dependent process. It depends on your own experiences and choices. It’s a creative journey.

MARK: I began my journey in 2004. When I graduated from secondary school, I needed to choose where I wanted to start my tertiary education. Although I was rejected by the Junior College that I applied to, I found a new pathway in Ngee Ann Polytechnic. However, it wasn’t until I got into NTU that I decided to devote all of my time to animation. I began my course as an independent filmmaker, and decided that I wanted to make films for the rest of my life.

People are becoming braver, and they dream of more than a job in a big studio. Although working for an established corporation is not a wrong idea, I would like to reiterate David’s point, and I’d like to emphasize the importance of making our own IP. In the future, that’s the way that things will turn out to be. Students will be brave enough to fail, and to learn from their mistakes. Many more people will have their own ideas, and will aspire to convert them into stories.

VICKY: My experience with animation was from my older sister who was also the first batch of Animation students in NTU, I observed that there was more emphasis on technique than storytelling, and that people weren’t as ambitious to create independent animation shorts. Over the past few years, I observe that younger people are getting more involved with the animation industry, and as a result, it is growing exponentially — the success of an animated film extends beyond government funding or sponsorship. People are getting braver, and this courage will spearhead their success.

What are the challenges that you faced?

MARK: The Animals started off as a graduation piece. Time was a huge factor, and I had eight months to shoot the entire thing. I’ve also discovered that stop-motion animation is harder to make than 3D animation. I couldn’t rely on technological methods to animate my film. Thus, not only was my time limit (of eight months) a challenging factor, but so was my chosen medium (stop-motion). In addition, I chose to work alone, as most people naturally gravitate away from stop-motion. This was a challenging and exhausting endeavor.

MICHAEL: My greatest challenge, and most important lesson, was learning to be fearless. I intended to make films in the 1980s. During then, few creative activities were happening in Singapore. When Singapore’s film festival started in 1987, my brother took me along to an ILM seminar. It was there that I met Warren Franklin, my first industry contact.

Being fearless is really essential. School is an incubator, as your colleagues and teachers are all there to help you. When you’re on your own out there, you have to find the strength and courage (which you should learn in Film School) to continue making stories. This lesson is pertinent to those who are working in Singapore, as well as overseas. I’ve worked in the UK and Australia), and have discovered that the grass isn’t greener on the other side. Due to this, I’ve discovered that we need to be resourceful, and to make the best out of what we have.

DAVID: I’ve a whole list of challenges! Firstly, it’s difficult to manage a team of artists, technical experts and business managers altogether. Getting into the West is a challenge. We have to do that as Singapore’s industry is relatively small as compared to the West’s. China is a huge market and it will be our next biggest challenge.

Creating a IP, and learning how to monetize it, is a new chapter for us. Tiny Island needed to create a product that could sell – not just something that we like. When we started, our mission was straight forward. I had to ensure that my artists had jobs. Now that these people are married, and have families of their own, we need to do more We need to have a bigger vision to build an enterprise that sustain the crew.

My journey doesn’t end there. There are bigger things, and every day holds its own challenges.

I’m reading up on what Jack Ma does and how he builds his company. Like he said, being an entrepreneur is all about experience. It doesn’t matter whether you fail or succeed – any experience that you have will be an asset for your life. Don’t be afraid to fail – you have to fail in order to succeed.

VICKY: Cartoons Underground faced its biggest challenges during its first year. I realized that it was difficult to manage my emotional attachment to this project, and that it was difficult to excite our audience especially as a concept that is so new. Initially, Cartoons Underground was a non-profit event, and any monetary complications (finding sponsors) were difficult to manage. In order to excite our audience, we had to find ways to make each annual festival different and exciting for our audience. In order to secure sponsors, we persuaded companies to promote their brand during our festivals, and to showcase their work.

Where do you see yourself in the next five years?

MICHAEL: I’d like to complete the projects that I’m currently working on, and I intend to foster a stronger sense of community in the industry. I would also like the general public to appreciate what we’re doing.

We’re entering a different age, and we’ve evolved in terms of changing career paths – this is observed in both the creative and corporate industries. If we develop a greater appreciation for our local brands, it will help us transform them into international concepts. In addition, we have to nurture our audiences (both foreign and local) through our stories.

MARK: Eventually, I hope to transit into the commercial industry. I intend to create short content. I’m easily tired with my ideas, and I feel that shorter content allows me to experiment slightly more. One day, I’ll find a style that I can find myself in. In the meantime, I’m not done experimenting. In the foreseeable future, Singaporeans will continue to change, experiment, and produce new types of content.

DAVID: I want to retire. Ha ha I started my company in 2007 with no investors. We built up a strong production team over the years. Since then, we’ve developed Tiny Island Productions and Dream Defenders, and we continue to grow the entities. Eventually, I hope to license or sell the IP, and to build a 3^rd company that focuses on IP consutations, distributions, licensing and merchandising. In 5 years time, I hope to let my team take over the company. I’ll take a back seat, and will focus on sharing my experiences on a global scale.

Recently, I went to Indonesia to share about my experience in IP creation. I’ve discovered that their artists are passionate and talented. However, many do not understand how to globalise their IP. I hope what I share will help them in a long run to build a future for themselves.

VICKY: I want Cartoons Underground to be an international festival, and to take Singaporean animation to international countries.

The Internet enables us to create and share content to a large audience. What are your thoughts?

VICKY: I agree with your statement. Many international animators have submitted their films to Cartoons Underground over digital channels, and we have promoted their work over our social media platforms. In addition, we’ve devised crazier schemes that make full use of the Internet. For instance, we’re exploring the possibility of a partnership with YouTube, and to host an online festival.

MICHAEL: Yes, and no. Although the Internet allows us to promote our content to a larger audience, this generates a lot more content for our audience to sift through. Thus, it is important for our content to be curated.

We can get audiences to decide what shows should be made – this is facilitated through crowd-funding. From animated series to books, more creative projects are developed through crowd-funding over the last couple of years. Although Singapore hasn’t latched on to crowd-funding yet, there is a lot of money in our country. Hopefully, we can channel these funds into crowd-funding campaigns, and to develop more Singaporean projects.

MARK: There are animators who create interesting IP, and have promoted their content over YouTube and other platforms. However, I personally feel that you’ve lost your IP once you promote it online. It’s difficult for you to claim ownership over your IP, as your ideas are now available (hence, claimed) by your audience.

However, I don’t think it’s that bad to lose ownership of one’s IP through free online video sharing platforms like YouTube. It is a different publicity strategy that animators can choose to get their work out into the market and get noticed.

DAVID: Currently, I’ve observed that TV and Cable business seems to be declining , and it will continue to regress over the next few years. Over the Top players (OTT) like Netflix and Hulu are slowly taking over because more people are using handheld devices, and are watching less TV.

If you aren’t aware of that, you’ll lose many opportunities. In the past, investors could simply buy a show in bulk at a low price. If they do not show it at prime time slot, or put in effort to promote your series, the series’s ratings will be affected. Everything is under their control. Now, with OTT, producers are able to carry out their own campaigns to promote their shows. With social media platforms, there is a lot you can do to build your own fanbase.

As for crowd-funding, I agree with Michael. Crowd-funding is a viable source of funding. However, I’d encourage you to focus on an international market instead of a local one. Don’t underestimate the power of crowd-funding campaign initiators, such as Kickstarter, as they can be a significant channel for your project’s funds.

There’s a gap between Commercial Animation and Independent Animation. How can we combine the commercial possibilities of Commercial Animation with the emotional content of Independent Animation?

MICHAEL: You should primarily focus on the story, or your content. When you concentrate on the content, you’ll eventually find an audience for the work that you create. Although you’ll have a different sort of challenges, you’ll find a way to fund your animation.

I believe that Independent Animators can learn about marketing – they can learn how to promote their films on a commercial scale. As for big studios, I would encourage them to look at the young, hungry talent that they can employ. They should keep their foundation simple, and focus on their stories. (Big studios can afford to focus on their stories – if their ideas are not good enough, they have the financial and technical capability to throw the entire idea out and start again.)

MARK: The line between commercial and independent animation is blurring over the Internet. The quality of independent animation, which is improving, contradicts public expectation. People expect independent films to be lackluster, but in reality, some pieces of independent animation are commercially competitive (in terms of quality).

DAVID: My focus is to help artists fine tune their concepts. So that it is more commercially viable. Recently, in Miami’s Kidscreen festival (2015), I met one of the story artists working in one of LA’s major studios. I was honored to hear him pitch a concept that he is currently developing. He has a great story. I gave him some tips to improve his concepts that is merchandise friendly. With this, I hope it helps to attract the investors.

Some of the Indonesian artists I’ve spoken to have also developed fabulous animated films – the only problem with some of these films is that they lack commercial elements. As a result, no investors were interested in their films’ concepts. Once you have completed your film, please understand that you’re at the mercy of investors and cinema distributors. You have to convince them to show your movies/shows, and they must also show your media in good time slots. If they don’t, it will hurt your chances at the box office.

Will 2D animation and/or stop-motion animation be revived?

DAVID: From Singapore’s perspective, the success of an animated film does not depend on its medium. It depends on the film’s story and its merchandising opportunity. But due to the talent pool available, as well as cost and productivity reasons, 3D animation is preferred in Singapore.

MARK: 2D and Stop-motion never really did fade away, like many feared in the late 1990s to early 2000s. There isn’t a need for filmmakers to want to “avenge” the traditional technique’s former glory. Filmmakers who use traditional techniques have learned to adapt. And even if they don’t, traditional animation has it’s own charm which i think the lay audiences still appreciate.

MICHAEL: It’s all about technique. You have to balance your time and money with what you’ve got to stylistically create.

The audience is attracted to the characters, and to the story. They may concentrate on a film’s visuals and sound, but they will ultimately forget all that, and will focus on the human aspects of the film. We are all emotional beings with stories to tell. That’s what translates into the final version of a film.

Speakers’ Profiles

David Kwok is the founder of Tiny Island Productions, an animation company that is currently based in Singapore. Tiny Island Productions specializes in service work for international companies – it was the primary production house for Cartoon Network’s Ben 10: Destroy All Aliens. Dream Defenders, Tiny Island’s award-winning animated series, has been sold to over 60 countries worldwide, and is distributed by Dreamworks . David is also the founder of CGProtege Animation School Singapore, which focuses on industry training. CGProtege works closely with industry players – the government subsidizes 70 to 90% of its courses. CGProtege works closely with the Workforce Development Agency (WDA) and Media Development Authority (MDA), as well as other agencies in the animation industry.

Michael Lim has worked in Film and TV production for more than 10 years. His projects include Oscar-nominated best picture Moulin Rouge! (uncredited) and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (credited). His previous clients include Unicef, Sony, National Arts Council of Singapore, Singapore International Foundation and McDonalds. Michael has directed international superstar Jackie Chan for a global Unicef PSA on Avian Flu. Co-founded the first Australian chapter of ACM Siggraph in Sydney. He is the founder of the Singapore Visual Effects and Animation group on Linkedin and Facebook, which has nearly 2000 members, and works closely with the Festival Directors of Cartoons Underground.

Vicky Chen is the Co-Founder and Festival Director of Cartoons Underground. She founded Cartoons Underground in 2012 with the vision to promote independent animation shorts by award-winning local and international animators. Since its inception, Cartoons Underground has grown and transformed beyond a festival and into a platform for young animators to feature their work and connect with industry experts.

Mark Wee is the director of The Animals, an animated film which has garnered both local and international accolade. He is studying for his Master’s at Nanyang Technological University, and will graduate in 2016.

We hope your celebration, hopes and dreams of 2015 came true, if not, then let’s welcome in 2016 with open arms and a refreshing change.

2016 is an exciting time for Animation with a list of must watch movies which CartoonBrew insiders, Scott Thill and Amid Amidi has so graciously curated. You may find the original article here. I think it’s worth re-posting and getting your calendar in check!

I’m particularly excited about Finding Dory, Kungfu Panda 3, The Little Prince, The Secret Life of Pets and Ice Age: Collision Course.

What about you? What films are you excited about?

Little Door Gods

(1/1/2016, China)
China’s bid for Hollywood’s CGI blockbusters — and a hopeful Academy Award nomination — concerns the fading of the spirit world, and the attempts by two unemployed Door Gods, Shen Lu and Yu Lei, to bring humans back to it.

Director: Gary Wang
Production Company: Light Chaser Animation
Distributor: Alibaba Pictures
Technique: CG
Voice Cast: Xiaosong Gao, Hongming Luo

King of Prism by Pretty Rhythm

(1/9/2016, Japan)

A feature spinoff of the Pretty Rhythm: Rainbow Live TV series, which itself is based on the Pretty Rhythm arcade game series. The film follows the boy band Over the Rainbow who are competing for the Prism King Cup against a rival group, Schwartz Rose. The film falls under the “pretty boy” genre of anime known as bishounen, aimed primarily at girls and women.

Director: Masakazu Hishida
Production Company: Tatsunoko Production
Distributor: Avex Pictures
Technique: Hand-drawn/CG

Norm of the North

(1/15/2016)

Polar bear Norm takes on a developer threatening to build luxury condos in his icy backyard by journeying to New York City with a cast of lemmings.

Director: Trevor Wall
Production Company: Splash Entertainment
Distributor: Lionsgate
Technique: CG
Voice Cast: Rob Schneider, Heather Graham, Ken Jeong, Gabriel Iglesias, Loretta Devine, Michael McElhatton, Colm Meaney, Bill Nighy

Long Way North (Tout en haut du monde)

(1/27/2016, France)

1892, Saint Petersburg. Sasha, a young Russian aristocrat, fascinated by her grandfather’s life as an adventurer, sets out to find him and his missing arctic ship from his last expedition to the North Pole.

Director: Rémi Chayé
Production Company: Sacrebleu Productions, Maybe Movies, Norlum
Distributor: Diaphana Films
Technique: Hand-drawn

Kung Fu Panda 3

(1/29/2016)

When Po’s father reappears, the duo travels to a secret paradise to train their fellow pandas for a showdown with the supernatural villain, Kai.

Director: Jennifer Yuh Nelson, Alessandro Carloni
Production Company: DreamWorks Animation, Oriental DreamWorks
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Technique: CG
Voice Cast: Jack Black, Jackie Chan, Bryan Cranston, David Cross, Dustin Hoffman, Kate Hudson, Angelina Jolie, Lucy Liu, Seth Rogen

Dofus: Book 1—Julith

(2/3/2016, France)

Based on the Flash-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game from France’s Ankama Games, this epic adventure follows Joris and his friends as they defend the majestic city of Bonta from the vengeful witch, Julith.

Director: Anthony Roux, Jean-Jacques Denis
Production Company: Ankama Group
Distributor: Gebeka Movies
Technique: Hand-drawn/CG
Voice Cast: Sauvane Delanoe, Emmanuel Gradi, Laetitia Lefebvre

Snowtime!

(2/19/2016)

Based on the live-action film La Guerre des Tuques (The Dog Who Stopped the War), Snowtime! examines how a simple snowball fight between kids in a small village deteriorates into a more serious conflict, but builds up to the underlying message that neither side wins in war.

Director: Jean-François Pouliot, François Brisson
Production Company: CarpeDiem
Distributor: Shout! Factory
Technique: Hand-drawn/CG
Voice Cast: Sandra Oh, Angela Gallupo, Lucinda Davis, Sonja Ball, Don Shepherd, Jenna Wheeler, Heidi Lynne Weeks, Elisabeth MacRae, Holly Gauthier, Ross Lynch

El Americano

(2/2016)

The first major animated co-production between studios in Mexico and America, this comedy follows the carefree Mexican pre-teen parrot, Cuco, as he journeys to Hollywood to enlist the aid of his hero to help his father, Gayo, and protect his circus family from the threat of Martin Kingfisher.

Director: Ricardo Arnaiz, Mike Kunkel, Raul Garcia
Production Company: Animex Producciones, Anáhuac Films, Olmos Productions, Phil Roman Entertainment
Distributor: Freestyle Releasing
Technique: CG
Voice Cast: Rico Rodriguez, Edward James Olmos, Argelia Atilano, Cheech Marin, Kate del Castillo, Paul Rodriguez, K. C. Porter, Erik Estrada, Adal Ramones, Gabriel Iglesias, Don Cheto, Hector Suarez, Lisa Kudrow, Pierre Angelo

BoBoiBoy: The Movie

(3/3/2016, Malaysia)

In the popular Malaysian animated TV series about a boy with the power to split into multiple elements, he defends earth from evil squared-headed aliens.

Director: Nizam Razak
Production Company: Animonsta Studios
Distribution: Primework Studios
Technique: CG
Voice cast: Nur Fathiah Diaz, Anas Abdul Aziz, Dzubir Mohamed Zakaria, Azman Zulkiply, Nur Sarah Alisya, Yap Ee Jean

Zootopia

(3/4/2016)

An anthropomorphic tale of a mammal metropolis, Zootopia is also a police procedural partnering optimistic officer Judy Hopps with the scam-artist Nick Wilde to solve a mystery.

Director: Byron Howard, Rich Moore
Production Company: Walt Disney Animation Studios
Distributor: Buena Vista
Technique: CG
Voice Cast: Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba, J.K. Simmons, Jenny Slate, Tommy Chong, Octavia Spencer, Bonnie Hunt, Alan Tudyk

The Little Prince

(3/18/2016)

The first animated feature adaptation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s masterpiece,The Little Prince, is a mixed-media enterprise, with the original Saint-Exupéry tale made in stop motion.

Director: Mark Osborne
Production Company: Onyx Films, Orange Studio, On Entertainment
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Technique: CG/Stop motion
Voice Cast: Jeff Bridges, Rachel McAdams, Paul Rudd, Marion Cotillard, James Franco, Benicio del Toro, Ricky Gervais

Another Day of Life

(March 2016, Poland)

Another Day of Life is based on the work of Polish journalist/war reporter Ryszard Kapuściński, who spent three months in 1975 in Angola at the beginning of the country’s decades-long civil war.

Director: Raul de la Fuente, Damian Nenow
Production Company: Platige Image, Kanaki Films, Walking the Dog, Wüste Film, Animations Fabrik, Puppetworks
Technique: CG/Live-action
Voice Cast: Ryszard Kapuściński

Ratchet & Clank

(4/29/2016)

Sony Playstation’s long-running game franchise gets a feature origin story, telling the story of how Ratchet and Clank struggle to stop Chairman Drek from destroying every planet in the Solana Galaxy.

Director: Kevin Munroe
Production Company: Rainmaker Entertainment, Blockade Entertainment, PlayStation Originals
Distributor: Focus Features, Gramercy Pictures
Technique: CG
Voice Cast: Rosario Dawson, Paul Giamatti, John Goodman, David Kaye, Sylvester Stallone, James Arnold Taylor, Bella Thorne, Jim Ward

The Angry Birds Movie

(5/20/2016)

Angry Birds’ Red, Chuck, Bomb, Matilda, Stella, Hal and Bubbles defend their paradise from arrival of the Pigs, lead by Leonard.

Director: Clay Kaytis, Fergal Reilly
Production Company: Columbia Pictures, Rovio Entertainment, Rovio Mobile, Sony Pictures Animation, Sony Pictures Imageworks (SPI), Village Roadshow Pictures
Distributor: Sony/Columbia
Technique: CG
Voice Cast: Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad, Danny McBride, Bill Hader, Maya Rudolph, Peter Dinklage

Finding Dory

(6/17/2016)
Months after the events of Finding Nemo, Dory swims with Nemo and Marlin to find her family on the California coast, meeting Bailey the white beluga whale, Destiny the whale shark, and Hank the octopus along the way.

Director: Andrew Stanton
Production Company: Pixar Animation Studios
Distributor: Buena Vista
Technique: CG
Voice Cast: Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, Hayden Rolence, Diane Keaton, Eugene Levy, Ty Burrell, Kaitlin Olson, Ed O’Neill, Willem Dafoe, Vicki Lewis, Idris Elba, Dominic West

The Secret Life of Pets

(7/8/2016)

A sneak peek into the nine-to-five routines of pets living in a bustling Manhattan apartment, Illumination’s newest film is a high-concept attractor for animal lovers.

Director: Chris Renaud
Production Company: Illumination
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Technique: CG
Voice Cast: Louis C.K., Eric Stonestreet, Kevin Hart, Steve Coogan, Ellie Kemper, Bobby Moynihan, Lake Bell, Dana Carvey, Hannibal Buress, Jenny Slate, Albert Brooks

Ice Age: Collision Course

(7/22/2016)

Scrat chases his elusive acorn into space, where he accidentally sets off a series of cosmic events that transform and threaten the Ice Age World.

Director: Mike Thurmeier, Galen T. Chu
Production Company: Blue Sky Studios
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Technique: CG
Voice Cast: Ray Romano, Denis Leary, John Leguizamo, Queen Latifah, Seann William Scott, Josh Peck, Simon Pegg, Keke Palmer, Wanda Sykes, Jennifer Lopez, Stephanie Beatriz, Adam DeVine, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Max Greenfield, Jessie J, Nick Offerman, Melissa Rauch, Michael Strahan, Neil deGrasse Tyson

One Piece Film: Gold

(7/23/2016, Japan)

One Piece is an unstoppable franchise: not only is it the bestselling manga of all-time, but over 700 TV episodes and 12 animated features have been produced about Monkey D. Luffy and gang. Gold is the thirteenth One Piece feature produced in the last 15 years.

Director: Hiroaki Miyamoto
Production Company: Toei Animation
Distribution: Toei Company
Technique: Hand-drawn

Ping Pong Rabbit

(7/29/2016, China)

Stop motion veteran Mike Johnson, who co-directed The Corpse Bride, teams up with Chinese animation director Yuefeng Song to make this film about a ping pong-loving rabbit written by High School Musical scribe Peter Barsocchini.

Director: Mike Johnson, Yuefeng Song
Production Company: Mili Pictures Worldwide
Technique: CG

Sausage Party

(8/12/2016)

This R-rated comedy follows a sausage and his friends, as they try to get back to the shopping market aisles for a Fourth of July sale after falling out of a cart.

Director: Greg Tiernan, Conrad Vernon
Production Company: Nitrogen Studios Canada, Annapurna Pictures, Point Grey Pictures
Distributor: Sony/Columbia
Technique: CG
Voice Cast: Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Salma Hayek, Edward Norton, David Krumholtz, Michael Cera, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Craig Robinson, Bill Hader, Paul Rudd, Danny McBride

Your Name (Kimi no Na wa)

(August 2016, Japan)

From the director of The Garden of Words and 5 Centimeters Per Second, Makoto Shinkai’s latest film is a “story of miracles and love” revolving around two Japanese teenagers who lead very different lives yet manage to find each other through their dreams.

Director: Makoto Shinkai
Production Company: CoMix Wave Inc.
Technique: Hand-drawn
Voice cast: Ryunosuke Kamiki, Mone Kamishiraishi

Kubo and the Two Strings

(8/19/2016)

Laika’s latest stop-motion wonder is a Japanese fantasy about kindhearted Kubo, whose humble seaside existence is shattered when he accidentally summons a spirit from his past which storms down from the heavens to enforce an age-old vendetta.

Director: Travis Knight
Production Company: Laika
Distributor: Focus Features
Technique: Stop motion
Voice Cast: Art Parkinson, Matthew McConaughey, Charlize Theron, Rooney Mara, Ralph Fiennes, Brenda Vaccaro

Storks

(9/23/2016)

Junior and Tulip, two top storks delivering packages for a global Internet giant, accidentally activate a Baby Making Machine, which produces a girl they must deliver to the only human on Stork Mountain.

Director: Nick Stoller, Doug Sweetland
Production Company: Warner Animation Group, Sony Pictures Imageworks
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Technique: CG
Voice Cast: Kelsey Grammer, Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Andy Samberg

The Red Turtle

(September 2016, Japan)

Hayao Miyazaki hand-picked the Oscar-winning director for this dialogue-lesss film collaboration between his legendary studio and France’s Wild Bunch, which tracks the life stages of a castaway on a deserted tropical island populated by turtles, crabs, and birds.

Director: Michaël Dudok de Wit
Production Company: Studio Ghibli, Why Not Productions, Wild Bunch
Distributor: Toho
Technique: Hand-drawn

Día de Muertos

(October 16, 2016, Mexico)

In the town where the Day of the Dead legend arose, there is an ancient secret that is about to be revealed by a brave young man.

Director: Carlos Gutiérrez Medrano
Production Company: Metacube, Red & Black Films
Technique: CG

Trolls

(11/4/2016)

Princess Poppy and Branch venture beyond the world they know in a quest testing their strength and true colors.

Director: Mike Mitchell, Walt Dohrn
Production Company: DreamWorks Animation
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Technique: CG
Voice Cast: Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake

Moana

(11/23/2016)

The Princess and the Frog directors tell a tale of the navigator Moana, as she sets sail in the ancient South Pacific world of Oceania and teams up with the heroic demi-god Maui in search a fabled island.

Director: Ron Clements, John Musker
Production Company: Walt Disney Animation Studios
Distributor: Buena Vista
Technique: CG
Voice Cast: Auli’i Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Alan Tudyk

Sing

(12/21/2016)

Buster the koala recruits his best friend Eddie the black sheep to help him drum up business for his theater by hosting a singing competition.

Director: Garth Jennings
Production Company: Illumination
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Technique: CG
Voice Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Seth MacFarlane, Scarlett Johansson, John C. Reilly, Taron Egerton

No Release Date Set, But Scheduled For Completion or U.S. Distribution in 2016

April and the Extraordinary World

(2016)

In a dystopian steampunk sci-fi set in an alternative Paris, a young girl, April, sets out to find her scientist parents who have disappeared.

Director: Christian Desmares, Franck Ekinci
Production Company: Je Suis Bien Content, Studiocanal, Kaibou Production UMT, Need Productions, Arte France Cinéma
Distribution: GKIDS
Technique: Hand-drawn
Voice Cast: Marion Cotillard, Jean Rochefort, Olivier Gourmet

Ana y Bruno

(2016, Mexico)

Mexican director Carlos Carrera has experienced success both in live-action, nominated for a foreign language Academy Award for El crimen del Padre Amaro,and animation, winning the Cannes Palme d’Or for short film in 1994 for El héroe.Now, he makes his feature animation debut with Ana y Bruno, about a young girl who teams up with a creature named Bruno to help save his mother from grave danger.

Director: Carlos Carrera
Production Company: Anima Estudios, Discreet Arts Productions, Lo Coloco Films
Technique: CG

Animal Crackers

(2016)

A family’s life is turned upside down when they inherit a rundown circus and a magical box of animal crackers, which change those who eat them into the animal they’ve eaten.

Director: Tony Bancroft, Scott Christian Sava
Production Company: Blue Dream Studios, Beijing Wen Hua Dong Run Investment Co., China Film Co., Exit Strategy Productions, Landmark International, Storyoscopic Films
Distributor: Odin’s Eye Entertainment
Technique: CG
Voice Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Ian McKellen, Danny DeVito, Patrick Warburton, Wallace Shawn, Gilbert Gottfried, Raven-Symoné, Tara Strong, Harvey Fierstein

Ballerina

(2016)

In 1879, an orphan girl named Felice dreams of becoming a ballerina and flees rural Brittany with the orphan boy, Corentin, setting out for Paris, where she assumes another identity and becomes a pupil at the Grand Opera house.

Director: Eric Summer, Éric Warin
Production Company: Caramel Film, Quad Productions
Distributor: Gaumont International
Technique: CG
Voice Cast: Elle Fanning, Dane DeHaane

Cinderella the Cat (Gatta Cenerentola)

(2016, Italy)

This adult iteration of Cinderella is set in Naples and based on Roberto de Simone’s 1976 opera, La Gatta Cenerentola, a futuristic adaptation of the classic fairy tale celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2016.

Director: Alessandro Rak, Ivan Cappiello, Marino Guarnieri, Dario Sansone
Production Company: Mad Entertainment
Technique: CG

Detective

(2016, Bangladesh)

Produced for well under US$1 million, the film is notable for being the first animated feature ever produced in Bangladesh, according to its producers. It’s based on a story by Bengali hero Rabindranath Tagore, the first Asian writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913.

Director: Tapan Ahmed
Production Company: Jaaz Multimedia
Technique: CG
Voice cast: Arifin Shuvoo

Dragon Nest: Throne of Elves

(2016, China)

Throne of Elves is the second animated feature based on the popular online gameDragon Nest. The first feature, Dragon Nest: Warriors’ Dawn, was released in 2014.

Director: Yuefeng Song, Yi Ge
Production Company: Mili Pictures Worldwide
Distributor: Avex Pictures
Technique: CG

Henchmen

(2016)

Sidekicks to super-villains take center stage in this tale of a new recruit, Lester, who joins the Union of Evil and is assigned to a motley crew of blue-collar workers seeking to defeat their nemesis, Captain Superior.

Director: Adam Wood
Production Company: Bron Studios
Distributor: Entertainment One
Technique: CG
Voice Cast: Rosario Dawson, James Marsden, Nathan Fillion, Jane Krakowski, Bobcat Goldthwait, Alfred Molina, Rob Riggle, Craig Robinson, Thomas Middleditch, Will Sasso

Howard Lovecraft and the Frozen Kingdom

(2016)

Based on the graphic novel by Bruce Brown, Howard Lovecraft is a blend of fiction and biography that combines new storytelling, events of H.P. Lovecraft’s life, and iconic elements of his writings.

Director: Sean Patrick O’Reilly
Production Company: Arcana Studio
Distribution: Shout! Factory
Technique: CG

Loving Vincent

(2016)

An ambitious animated feature in which every frame is painted about the challenging life and mysterious death of the timeless artist, Vincent van Gogh.

Director: Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman
Production Company: BreakThru Productions, Trademark Films
Technique: Hand-drawn/CG
Voice Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Aidan Turner, Douglas Booth, Helen McCrory, Chris O’Dowd

My Life As A Zucchini (Ma vie de courgette)

(2016, France)

Based on Gilles Paris’s novel Autobiographie d’une courgette. After his mother’s sudden death, a boy named Zucchini struggles and learns to find his place in a foster home.

Director: Claude Barras
Production Company: RITA, Blue Spirit Productions, Gébéka Films, KNM
Technique: Stop motion

Phantom Boy

(2016)

From the makers of the Oscar-nominated French film A Cat in Paris, Phantom Boy is described as a “stylish animated noir” that follows a New York City boy named Leo with a mysterious illness who haunts the city as a ghostly apparition.

Director: Jean-Loup Felicioli, Alain Gagnol
Production Company: Folimage, Lunanime, France 3 Cinéma, Rhône-Alpes Cinéma
Distribution: GKIDS
Technique: Hand-drawn

Robinson Crusoe

(2016, Germany)

Tuesday the outgoing parrot lives with his animal friends in a tiny island paradise — until Robinson Crusoe shows up — in this Belgian adaptation of the classic Daniel Defoe novel.

Director: Ben Stassen, Vincent Kesteloot
Production Company: StudioCanal, nWave Pictures
Distributor: Lionsgate
Technique: CG

Rock Dog

(2016, China)

The most expensive 100% Chinese-financed animated production to date, and animated entirely in the United States, Rock Dog marks the first time a Chinese animated feature has been designed as a cross-cultural project for both Chinese and Western audiences. The movie tells the story of Bodi, a Tibetan Mastiff who becomes obsessed with an old-school rocker (and cat) named Angus, and must prove to his father that becoming a musician is a worthy career path for a dog.

Director: Ash Brannon
Production Company: Reel FX, Mandoo Pictures, Huayi Brothers
Technique: CG
Voice Cast: Luke Wilson, J. K. Simmons, Eddie Izzard, Lewis Black, Sam Elliott, Kenan Thomposon, Matt Dillon

Sheep & Wolves

(2016, Russia)

Wizart, the Russian studio responsible for the popular Snow Queen franchise, takes on another classic set-up: sheep and wolves. Scriptwriter Neil Landau (Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead) adds some twists though, such as a wolf who accidentally takes a magic poison that gives him the body of a ram.

Director: Maxim Volkov
Production Company: Wizart Animation, CTB Film Company
Technique: CG
Voice Cast: Ruby Rose, Tom Felton, China Anne McClain

Sly Cooper

(2016)

Based on Sony Playstation’s game franchise, this animated comedy follows the adventures of the orphaned raccoon thief, Sly Cooper, and his childhood friends (and partners in crime), Bentley Turtle and Murray Hippo.

Director: Kevin Munroe
Production Company: Blockade Entertainment, Rainmaker Entertainment, PlayStation Originals
Distributor: New Line Cinema, Cinema Management Group
Technique: CG
Voice Cast: Ian James Corlett, Matt Olsen, Chris Murphy

Spark

(2016)

Spark and his friends, Chunk and Vix, are on a mission to retake Bana, a planet ruled by the evil overlord, Zhong.

Director: Aaron Woodley
Production Company: Toonbox Entertainment, Redrover, Gulfstream Pictures
Technique: CG
Voice cast: Hilary Swank, Susan Sarandon, Jessica Biel, Patrick Stewart

Tad Jones: The Hero Returns

(2016, Spain)

A follow-up to the hit 2012 Spanish children’s feature Tad, The Lost Explorer,which held the number one spot at the Spanish box office for five weeks in a row. The franchise stars a bricklayer named Tad who moonlights as an adventurer/archaeologist.

Director: Enrique Gato, David Alsonso
Production Company: Lightbox Entertainment, Telefonica Studios, Telecinco Cinema, Los Rockets AIE
Distribution: Paramount Pictures
Technique: CG

The Nut Job 2

(2016)

Surly the squirrel’s adventures continue. Originally scheduled for a January 2016, release, the film has been pushed back and does not have a new release date as of this writing.

Director: Cal Brunker
Production Company: Gulfstream Pictures, Red Rover International, Toonbox Entertainment
Distribution: Open Road Films
Technique: CG
Voice Cast: Will Arnett, Jeff Dunham, Joe Pingue, Rob Tinkler

(Feature film list compiled by Scott Thill and Amid Amidi.)

Beautiful pages form Australian artist Liz Steel.

Sydney based architect specialising in media projects, who is also an obsessive sketcher. Since discovering watercolour in a field kit in 2006 she has not stopped painting her life in her sketchbook. Her architectural background gives her an analytical and conceptual approach to art.

Patrick Smith, co-founder and advisor of Cartoons Underground, and co-writer at ScribbleJunkies Blog, started exploring different types of sketchbooks from artists from all around the world. Looking into these Epic Sketchbooks we see more personal work from these artists and get to know their thought process and them as people in a more intimate way. Thanks Pat for sharing these Sketchbooks!