A New Multiplane Background

Today I worked on this background of a Spanish courtyard with a patio.  In the finished scene, the fountain will be gushing water, and there will be some characters moving.

My software allows me to look at the multiplane drawings from different angles, and I thought you would like to see that!

Progress Report

In spite of my heavy schedule of outside work, animation for the next video is making progress. But progress is a little slow this time. Why? The biggest reason is that I'm using more special effects than before. 


I use two types of shadows for characters--a shadow underneath the character makes it appear to be drawn on celluloid, and another different type of shadow over the character darkens it slightly, and makes the colors deeper and richer.

There are lots of rooms with dark shadows, illuminated by candles. All these things have to be included for every scene. It's more work and it takes more time, but it will add a lot to the atmosphere of romance, as well as the sexual tension.


I'm doing my very best to make this "Animan's Masterpiece"!

New Pictures

Here are some sharper pictures of the sculpture.

The Sculpture is Painted!

Today, I painted the sculpture. It took me exactly 2 1/2 hours (much longer than I expected!)  I was able to take these pictures just as the sun was going down--so the picture quality is not very sharp. Tomorrow, I will try to take sharper pictures.

By the way, this piece is not for sale.  If it is possible in the future to manufacture Animan merchandise, sculptures like this will be used as prototypes, so for now, it will remain in the Animan virtual museum!

Another Type of 3D

Every week, I teach a sculpting class, using paper clay. Of course, during the class time, I cannot work on my animation.  So, I decided to take a character from my next video and make a bust.  When the clay becomes hard, I use sandpaper to make it smooth. It has taken about 12 hours to complete. The final stage will be painting it with acrylic paints.  Of course, that will be on the next post!

More About the Multiplane Camera

Like so many innovations in animation, the multiplane camera was developed at the Disney studio. When I visited the old Disney studio, I got a chance to actually see this huge machine. 

Here's a video that does a wonderful job of explaining how this amazing camera works.

A Multiplane Background

This is a moving background from my upcoming video. As you can see, the different parts of the background have been placed at different distances from the camera; when the camera zooms in, it gives a sort of 3D effect. This is different from the 3D background scene I featured in an earlier post.
In the days before computers, making a multiplane scene of even a few seconds was an enormous task. The different background elements were painted onto big panes of glass, and these were set at varied distances under the camera, which faced downward. For each camera move, the camera and all the different panes of glass had to be moved in minute increments. When the finished film was projected, it looked as if the camera was moving smoothly. 
There were all sorts of problems. Photographic lights had to be used, and they were super hot! Then, there was always the possibility of the camera being reflected in the panes of glass. Since it was film, if you made a mistake, you had to go back and start all over again. Doing it on a computer is a zillion times easier!

Letter of the Year

My thanks to all the fans and friends of Animan who send their greetings and messages. I am always deeply moved by the warmth and goodness I find in them.

Today, I received a message that was so wonderful, I decided to share it with you.

"Animan--
 
I've spent the entire weekend watching and rewatching all of your films on Gaytube.  I stumbled upon School Fantasy on a porn site several months ago and was both entertained and aroused by Coach Ben's nasty exploits.  I'd been trying to find more of your films ever since and on Friday, to my great surprise, I found Twister Party online.  It is my favorite of all your films, not only because of its orgasm-inducing, manic sex scenes that defy reality but also because of its retro setting, colorful animation and its take on sex.  Your characters inhabit a world in which same-sex sex holds no stigma or shame and is devoid of political complications, and I think that's what so many of your fans respond to.  So much of gay porn is rough, mired in darkness and danger.  Gay porn in 2012, populated by tattooed, steroid injected men who seem more concerned with looking good on camera and earning a paycheck, lacks the free spirited nature of your films.  Each of your films exudes tremendous joy; watching them puts me in a very happy mood and a very horny mood.  While 2012 porn stars busy themselves trying to be as gruff, aloof and masculine as possible, your characters, regardless of their size or station in life, delight in their sexuality and are genuinely secure in their masculinity.  If all porn could be like your films I think there would be a distinct change in the attitudes and sexual attitudes of Western gay men."

Today's Animation Tip #1

THE SILHOUETTE TEST

On the movie screen, there isn't very much time to study the pose of the character, because it disappears very quickly. So, the pose must be as clear as possible.  A good way to test the pose is to fill it in with black. If you can still see exactly what the character is doing, then the viewers will understand it.
In illustration A, it is very clear that Jack is eating a banana, even when the pose is blacked in. When we black in illustration B however, we cannot see what Jack is doing.
This is a very basic and easy rule, but it's one that beginners often forget about. 

Tutorial Time!

No, this lady is not Gloria Swanson from Sunset Boulevard. She's a dancer in the upcoming Animan video. It's obvious by now that my next video will have a Spanish theme. To create the right atmosphere, I have to animate all types of characters. This dancer is just a part of the background, so her movement repeats in a cycle. It saves drawings! But even a short cycle like this one is a lot of drawing and animating. Download the tutorial and see for yourself!


Download Tutorial 3 MOV
Download Tutorial 3 WMV
Click the light blue box "Click here to start download from Sendspace"

               This is the completed cycle in color.  The last drawing flows back into the first one.

A 3D Test

The animation software I use allows placement of simple 3D constructions, so I decided to use it in one scene of my upcoming animation. Here is a test I did.

The Animation Process is Slow

Many friends have asked to see how I create animation, so I made this tutorial.  It's about 47 minutes long, so it's a big file (631mb MOV,  250mb WMV), and will take time to download.

The original drawing session was about 1 hour and 45 minutes, so I speeded up the video to make it shorter.

It is a cycle of 4 drawings repeating. You will also see how I make the drawings move, and how I draw colored lines.

All the background music you hear comes from the internet, or from YouTube.

"T Town" (record)--"El Relicario", "El Curito Calacruz", "Espagna Cani", "Luna Enamorada", "Maracaibo", "The Continental", "Mexican Hat Dance"

From Youtube--

"Cuban Overture"  by George Gerschwin, "Pavanne" from Morton Gould's "American Symphonette No. 2", and "Look What I've Got" by Paul Whiteman

Tutorial 2 MOV

Tutorial 2 WMV
Click the light blue box "Click here to start download from Sendspace"

How do I buy the videos?

                                Coach Ben's Big Beach Adventure is $7 U.S.
                                Running time: 8:05
Before you decide to buy, you may want to check out these two trailers:

BEACH TRAILER #1

BEACH TRAILER #2

                                  Junior College Men's Camp is $7 U.S.
                                  Running time: 15:50
Before you decide to buy, you may want to check out this trailer:
CAMP TRAILER

HERE'S WHAT THE VIDEOS SOUND LIKE:

Translation Gadget

We have a cool new gadget on this blog--the Translation Gadget! It's at the top of the right column on this page. Choose the language you want to see, and it translates everything! Judging from the foreign languages I do know, this gadget translates a lot better than most computer translation software.  

At the moment, my upcoming animation project is proceeding very slowly, but surely.  Here's another sneak peek.

Scene by Scene

Although I'm trying to be as secretive about the next project as I can,  I see nothing wrong in leaking drawings for it, here and there.

When even one character is wearing a uniform, every part of it has to be drawn. If the character is moving around a lot, then there's even more drawing! In place of shadows, I'm using colored lines, to give it an "illustrated" look, and that takes more time too.

I love a man in a uniform!

It may look calm now, but a little wine can make guys go awful crazy....

What's Next?

The next video is cumming along, although I've only got 11% done so far. The possibilities for stories are endless, so I figured, why not try something exotic? And that's what gave me the idea for this video. 

Two Backgrounds

Here are two backgrounds from the next Animan video. I hope to inject a little drama into it, as well as humor, fun, and sexy action.

Random Sketches

Yesterday was the first day of the new school year where I live, so students in my sculpture class were busy making sketches of the cartoon-style figures they will be creating with paper-based clay and painting with acrylics.

As they literally spent hours sketching away, I decided to get my own sketchbook out and draw some stuff. Here's what I came up with... 

Animan's Schedule April~August

                                                  First completed background for the next video
Since starting this blog, I've tried very hard to answer each e-mail, inquiry and video purchase as quickly as possible, and I think I've done pretty well, when you consider that I live in Asia, which is an 8~16 hour time difference for many of you. Most of my e-mails come super-early in my morning or very late at night, so I just keep checking my mailbox, even while I'm drawing. This has worked out pretty well so far, because I've been able to mostly work at home.

Every year from April to the first week of August, I work outside of home a few days a week, in an environment without computers. This means that during the next few months, I may not be able to answer your e-mails right away, but they will always be answered well within 24 hours. I know how it feels, to send an inquiry or to send money, and then receive no answer for hours, and that's no fun. But I promise to do my best to not keep you waiting!

And, I'd like to take this chance to say "Thank you" to all the kind fans/friends who have been so generous to me. You will never know how much your kind comments mean, and they inspire me to do what I hope will be greater things. To those of you who buy the videos, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude. Please know that your generous support is making it possible for me to continue creating the videos you want to see. 

I had always feared that I would go through life, forever an outsider in the animation world, never recognized, never remembered and never rewarded in any way. Being able to sell my videos directly to you has validated my efforts, and I am probably THE luckiest animator on the planet!  To those of you who have helped make my dream a reality, I humbly thank you! :-D

Twist Party Sketches

Today, I came upon these sketches I made almost a year ago for Twist Party. I knew that I didn't want all the party guests to look the same, so I tried to come up with as many faces, hairstyles and clothing combinations as I could. Also, a lot of these never made it into Twist Party.  Oh well, there will always be another Animan cartoon to put them in!