Kickin’ Mule

This is a shot from an animation film that celebrates the old time music of Frank Lee and Adam Tanner.  I was inspired by cutout silhouette animation and the quilt tradition of the Appalachian region.  Frank and Adam have several other traditional fiddle and banjo tunes that I would like to further explore with other animation methods, traditional and modern.

 

Obama’s Fiscal Cliff

Intimacy

Greece’s Financial Follies

“Contexting” makes its premiere in NY

http://animationblock.com/summerfest2011/

My latest animation will be playing at the Animation Block Party event at BAM (Brooklyn Art Museum) . A great venue in a great city!

 

Political Animations

In addition to my political cartoons I am now producing animations based on current events.  Though things come and go real fast so animation has to be timely and you have to be willing to spend more hours and less payoff if a subject material has passed its freshness date.  I was a few days late with the Egyptian uprising, but I hope this has captured the mood and sentiment in Egypt…

12 Days of Christmas on CNN

CNN will be doing a special 12 days of christmas video.  I was happy to participate and one of my animations…”3 French Hens” aired on CNN Thursday morning.  We’ll see what the final video actually looks like!

http://ireport.cnn.com/themes/custom/resources/cvplayer/ireport_embed.swf?player=embed&configPath=http://ireport.cnn.com&playlistId=523938&contentId=523938/0&

How to Draw John Boehner on CNN

My political video, “How to Draw John Boehner” has been vetted on CNN’s i-reports!

My Pal Geo to screen at the Bloor Cinema

The Bloor Cinema is a true Toronto landmark and one of the longest running independent theatres in Canada.  My pal Geo Pal lives near the theatre and has been involved with many events there!  It’s a great place to see classics as well as independent films you usually don’t see at the Megaplexes.  I look forward to this Saturday, Nov 6th at 7pm to see my short film up on the big silver screen!

Latest film…My Pal Geo

This is a teaser for my latest animated film…”My Pal Geo”.  This is a portrait of Toronto and my good friend Geo Pal who lives in the Annex.  I wanted to paint a seedier side of Toronto, many who do not live there may never experience.  I chose the sketchy style to contrast the innocent and naive viewer from the perverse and darker side of this great city.

Bumbershoot to screen Appy Dreams

I’m proud to announce that my film will be part of a great music and arts fest.  Bumbershoot is right up there with SXSW and Spoleto.

Appy Films wins best animation award at the Mexico Intl Film Fest

Well, I’m honored to win another award, they don’t come easy!  Mexico has a great film tradition and I am happy to share a film that celebrates the arts and crafts of a local region which I believe Mexicans can appreciate as the folk arts are alive and thriving in Mexico.



Shane Acker’s visit to Clemson

Shane Acker, David Donar, Tim Davis

 

Shane came to Clemson to do workshops and lectures for our Digital Production Arts program. Here he is pictured with me and my esteemed colleague Dr. Tim Davis.  Shane’s a great speaker and even better mentor to our students.  It was a great pleasure to have him around for the week and we look forward to working with him again.  Thanks Shane!

A New Tradition

My latest animation film is based on the art quilts of two extraordinary quilters, Dixie Haywood and Dottie Moore. I met the artists while attending a gallery opening at the South Carolina Botanical Gardens. This beautiful place housed their quilts and I find inspiration every time I visit. I was very excited about working with Dixie and Dottie, they were so receptive in allowing me to work with their quilts in a digital realm. I was attracted to using a traditional medium such as quilt fabric but in a digital twist.

I used Photoshop to tear apart their quilts and reassmbled them to work with animation. I found myself making virtual patterns and colors with nothing but a mouse and a wacom digital tablet. But don’t be FOOLED, it was tedious work! The computer cannot read minds and so I had to go in sometimes, stitch by stitch to faithfully recreate the illusion of fabric. After such work, I have such great respect for quilters as they apply their crafts in the real physical world.

Dixie and Dottie both take traditional quilting and break the rules subtly and abruptly. They refer to themselves not necessarily as quilters but quilt craftpersons, an interesting coinage. The music is from very talented and established banjo player, Charles Wood, who has performed with Earl Scruggs and Steve Martin on the Late Show with David Letterman. Taking all these great South Carolinians and combining them into a one complete project is what film making and animation is all about. You take the best of ALL medium and I was fortunate enough to work with these great artists. Normally my subject material is all in my head, but there is some kind of liberation when you adapt from others. It’s a huge learning process that I constantly crave. Even though I am an educator by trade, I cannot exist in this world without constantly pursuing my own learning. It drives and feeds me.

The film is currently being submitted to various festivals and I plan on posting a snippet on youtube very soon, so stay tuned!

New Tradition, Clip

This is just a clip of my latest animated film, “A New Tradition”.  And the youtube compression doesn’t do it much justice but it gives you a taste of the work.  The film is currently being submitted to festivals and recently played at the Buffalo Niagara Film Fest.