Getting Started

Every time I make a new video, it's a slow process at first. I only have an idea, and a few rough sketches. There are almost no backgrounds painted, and I don't know how many different characters there will be. So step by step, I start animating characters, and I try to get a feeling of what kind of a place they are living in.

As I make more and more backgrounds, I start to understand what the place is and how it looks. As I animate more and more characters, I start to see what their relationships are, and I know what they would do and not do.

As I was finishing up Carmen, the process was very fast at the end. I could see where the story was going, and I knew just what I wanted to see on the screen. Now I'm back to square one, starting over again! Although I'm not sure where I'm going, it's fun getting used to the new story--and it feels like an adventure.

Something New

Wow--it has already been over a week since our last post. As you can see, I've already started drawing the next video, and like Carmen, this one will also have colored lines on the characters. 
As I get more animation drawn, I'll be posting more drawings. For the moment, this is it!

E-MAIL ADDRESSES THAT DON'T WORK

I wish to thank all the friends of Animan who have been kind enough to buy the video of Carmen.

Unfortunately, a couple of e-mails bounced back. The senders gave me e-mail addresses that end in @comcast.net.  A few months ago, I received some video orders from comcast.net addresses and was able to fill the orders with no problem. For some strange reason, I'm no longer able to get through now! Technology fails us again.

Here's the message I keep getting:

 I'm sorry to have to inform you that your message could not be delivered to one or more recipients. It's attached below............ Comcast block for spam.  (ad nauseum)

For the two gentlemen who haven't heard from me yet (because I can't get through), I have messages for both of you in the comments section of the last post.  I'm sorry about this mixup.

CARMEN IS NOW AVAILABLE!

Thanks to all of Animan's friends for being so patient these past months while Carmen was in production! 

Carmen runs at 14 minutes, has both music and human voices (in Spanish), and is $7. 

If you've never ordered Animan videos before, please check this out first:

"How do I buy the videos?"

Download the free HD trailers!
BY CLICKING THESE LINKS YOU WARRANT THAT YOU ARE OF LEGAL AGE TO VIEW SEXUALLY EXPLICIT MATERIAL.

Carmen Trailer MOV

Carmen Trailer WMV

IMPORTANT !!

To download smoothly, click the LIGHT BLUE BOX which says:

"Click here to start download from sendspace"

 HERE'S WHAT THEY'RE SAYING ABOUT "CARMEN":

"This is the best so far.  I didn't want it to end.  My favorite things: Big Asses/Big Hang Downs, and Big Cocks.  You did so much detail...the background, dick heads, long fuck scenes....the best in color and quality with a great theme and music…YUM."

"Man, you EXCEEDED my expectation! The scenery, colorization, characters, vocals, and music were right on! Everything you created was Beautiful!

 Everything you’ve made are all my favorites. I cannot choose!

Which is a Very Good thing! Anyway, thanks so much for all

your efforts and creativity... Send me a head’s up on your next production as I’ll be Very Eagerly awaiting your next Beautiful Production. I’ll Always support you!"

"A MASTERPIECE!  If I were a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences I would strongly recommend it for consideration for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short!  Looking forward to the NEXT release."

"That was wonderful!  Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful talent with like-minded people.  Now THAT's what I call a Bull Fight!  I'll watch that again and again!"

"I would like to purchase the Carmen movie. I have all of your other vids too and they wear my dick out!"

well...i have now watched carmen to the point of total exhaustion (too much information lol) and all i can say is you have another big fat hit on your hands....my local opera company is doing a production of carmen next year and i have a feeling i will be squirming in my seat trying to concentrate on the production while images of your video are dancing in my head.....i know a former television movie review show used to give films "two thumbs up"....well, it isn't the thumb that's up, but it's way way way up....lol....oh hell i guess i better take matters into my hand and watch your incredible video again....i can tell i'm not going to get much done this weekend....lol.....btw: what's next????   lol....i have all kinds of ideas.....btw...i know i said i was gonna be late for work...after i watched the video...i just called in and took a vacation day.....wink

Carmen is Nearing Completion!

Here is the workflow for "Carmen".

WHAT HAS BEEN FINISHED

1. Painting backgrounds

2. Drawing characters

3. Animating the characters and objects

STILL TO BE DONE

1. Assembling all the different scenes into one video

2. Putting in all the sound elements and effects

3. Putting in the music 

So now, one by one, the hundreds of scenes must be assembled, one by one, and finally the sound must be put in. I promise to have it ready by August 20th, or my name isn't Animan!

Animating a Horse

Animating the walk of a human being is difficult enough, but animating a four-legged animal can be very challenging.  Here is a test I made for the horses which pull the carriage of Escamillo through the city. 

A Funny E-Mail!

A friend of Animan sent me this e-mail today. I can't help sharing it with you!

OMG thank you soo much man!

I ended up showing one of my 'straight' friends your videos and we ended up hooking up! We were laughing our asses off because my friend looks and acts exactly like Freddie (even the whole "my dick has never been this hard" he had already said it a few times and when Freddie said it during 'CAMP' we lost it haha) and I'm bulky and hairy bottom like Larry but I have long hair and his is short haha. I just wanted to thank you because it was the funnest night I've had in a while! :)

Happy Summer to You

It's very hot all over the world, and Animan's studio is no exception. My trusty electric fan keeps a gentle breeze blowing, so it's not so unbearable.  

Summer is already 1/2 over!  And Carmen has been in production for 5 months now. My biggest hope is that all the extra time and work will be visible on the screen.  I want this to be a good show.....

Tricks of Our Trade

Here is another wonderful Disneyland program about animation. I hope you enjoy it.

Lots of new characters

Here's a frame from "Carmen", my newest Animan video. It's still far from finished--there is a lot of work to do yet, and as you can see, there are lots of characters. If it takes 5 minutes to draw one character, then it is only logical that it would take 10 minutes to draw two, 20 minutes to draw four, and so on. The technique is to create the illusion of a large crowd of people with a minimum of animation. That's not always easy to do!

The Toreador

Here's Escamillo walking into the bullring.  The big challenge here was animating the cape convincingly. The cloth has to flow, but I also wanted to hint at the body under the cape, so that I could bring attention to Escamillo's best ASSets!

Another New Background

The setting for the story of Carmen is 1820, but the story was written in 1845. And then it became an opera in 1875. The last scene in the opera takes place outside the bullring in Seville, Spain.  I decided to  try to show the building as it must have looked back then.

First, I checked Google maps to see how it looks today. 

Then there was this picture of the stage set for the Metropolitan Opera in 1915. Even though they had no computers in those days, it looks as if they used Photoshop to stretch the building out to mammoth dimensions! I like the buildings on the right-hand side--they look like skyscrapers from Munchkinland!

Luckily, I found this old painting by a Spanish painter, Manuel Cabral Aguado-Bejarano, entitled "The Death of Carmen" (1890). The painter was born in Seville, so he must have seen the bullring many times. His version looks similar to the current building, with some small differences. For the most part, the building is the same one.

I love this painting, because the composition is so interesting. The angle of the sun shows that it is either early in the morning or late in the afternoon, which adds to the drama. This is the look I wanted for my version of Carmen, so I drew the background as similarly as I could to the 1890 painting.

Another Great Letter!

I found this nice message in my e-mail today:
I just discovered your site and all I can say is "AWESOME!" Growing up with a natural talent for art, and an afficionado of animation since I was a child, I always wanted to work in the animation field. I had almost every book on Disney animation there was, and I used to make short cartoons when I was in Junior High School, but by the time I was ready for college, my parents insisted that I focus on something more practical "in order to make a living." Well, I did, and now (coming on age 45) I find myself making a living in a career that I do find satisfying, but ever more questioning "what might have been." Thank you for inspiring me to pick up the pencils and once again try my hand at animation. Things have really changed with the advent of computers but with a little perseverence I think I am up to the challenge. Thanks for the tutorials and best of luck in your productions. I truly admire your work. It is obvious that it is a labor of love! KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!!! I LOVE your BLOG and I am Looking forward to more of your cartoons! 
*****************************************************
Isn't that great?! 


Today's video is from the old Disneyland show from the 1950's. The title is in black and white, but the show is in color. Walt Disney talks about different aspects of animation. I think you'll enjoy it!

Coming in August!

Ever since the release of "Junior College Men's Camp" way back in March, the friends of Animan have been asking, "What's next?" Today I am officially announcing that the next video will be "Carmen". 

In many languages, the name Carmen is both male and female, and so that's where the idea started. Animan always loves exotic locales, and nineteenth-century Spain is the perfect place for colorful costumes, distinctive architecture, and drama!  

Way back in one of my April posts, "Animan's Schedule April~August", I posted my first completed background for Carmen. In the original story of the opera, Carmen works in the cigarette factory in Seville, Spain... and there are some soldiers guarding the area. That building actually exists, and it is still standing, but has been transformed into the University of Seville.

A fan of Animan videos contacted me about this picture. He knew immediately what story this was from, because he's Spanish and was born in Seville! He has offered to help with doing the voices for this video--not only the old-world type of Spanish language, but even the Spanish dialect used by the gypsies! This will give the video an authentic sound, against a backdrop of the famous music from the opera Carmen.

Is that lucky or what??!

I asked my Spanish friend: "Do the classrooms in this university smell like cigars?"  "Not any more", he told me. "There are orange trees on the grounds now, so the air is fragrant with blossoms and oranges."  He knows about this, because his sister attended the University of Seville.  If you look in the picture above, you'll see an orange tree next to the little guard's shack.

Animan's Carmen is still under production, and I'm hoping to have it finished by the 20th of August. If I can finish it before that, then so much the better! As you can see, the characters are drawn with colored lines, so I have to keep changing the colors as I trace the animation, and it takes more time. Some of the costumes like Don José's uniform have more detail, so that means more drawing time. 

This will be the biggest animation project I've ever undertaken, but I think it'll be worth the wait. There will be more news about the video in upcoming blog posts. ¡Olé! 

Today's Animation Tip #3

FOLLOW THROUGH
"Follow Through" is a natural law, applying to loose appendages, such as body parts or clothing.

When the character is moving, these loose parts follow the path of action. When the character stops, these appendages continue moving and then return to the resting position.

Today's Animation Tip #2

SQUASH AND STRETCH
In real life, many actions happen so quickly that we don't have time to see them as they really are. But when we use a slow-motion camera, we can see that forms tend to become squashed or stretched during action.  The animation artist has to exaggerate these actions in his drawings.

No matter how stretched or squashed a shape is, the volume must remain the same. This type of animation gives a feeling of looseness and weight!

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!