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- CalArts alumnus and aspiring paleontologist currently working as an animator at Pixar. All original artwork is copyright Austin Madison 2010. Please do not reproduce without permission.
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There is no 'I' in 'ANIMATION'.
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May 16, 2012 5:07:00 PMLast night was the final class of my third semester teaching at the Academy of Art University.
Brave's director, Mark Andrews, was our guest lecturer. Fresh from finishing the final cut of the film, Mark gave a talk on the slings and arrows of filmmaking and the story process. I think it's safe to say all of the students came bounding out of the lecture, their cups brimming with a fresh serving of inspiration.
We asked our class to bring in scenes where a character experienced victory, to celebrate the end of a successful term. This scene, in particular, fit what Paul and I put our students through and the vindication of passing our class.
The clip warranted a final whiteboard sketch.
As you may know, we have a tradition of bringing a dessert to class. This week it was my turn, and I wanted to send my class of in the most decadent chocolaty style.
Congrats to our class, and all you film students out there who are wrapping up a semester of hard work!
37 days... -
May 15, 2012 6:41:00 PM
"You have saved our lives! We are eternally grateful!"This week, The Avengers joined Transformers, The Deathly Hallows, and Toy Story 3 on the other side of the $1 billion mark. Congrats to Joss Whedon and his team for a fantastic film and all the well-deserved accolades. -
May 14, 2012 6:03:00 PM
Nothing says Mother's Day like arboreal marsupials. This was my gift to my mom, seen here with my brother and I.
You can blame her for my sense of humor, though she's much better with puns than I am.
39 days... -
May 11, 2012 4:50:00 PM
My buddy and fellow improviser, Kitt, had a house-warming party last weekend and I wanted to give him something special to brighten the walls. Kitt is known for having some of the most amazing Halloween costumes and by far his best has been the Han-and-Tauntaun combo. His tauntaun even had removable guts to warm your hands with. So the gag above was really a no-brainer.
Kitt also has one of those faces that's fun to caricature. He even gained a little notoriety at work for bearing a striking resemblance to the Lao Ming meme.
Happy Friday everyone!
42 days... -
May 9, 2012 6:22:00 PMThis post is for Diana, who prompted me to post about Discovery.com's reports that dinosaur farts caused prehistoric global warming. According to researchers, the aptly-named thunder lizards created an estimated 520 million tons of methane gas every year. That's as much as today's natural and man-made sources combined.
Well, it's no wonder Noah wouldn't let them on the ark.
44 days... -
May 8, 2012 4:46:00 PM
After seeing The Avengers, I'm convinced a bow and arrow are our best defense against alien invaders.45 days... -
May 7, 2012 4:42:00 PM
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May 5, 2012 1:22:00 AMMy Dad and I used to draw cantina characters all the time. If there's one thing I enjoy drawing more than aliens, it's drunk aliens. May the Fourth be with you!
If you have any additions to the Star Wars cantina, let me know and I'll post them below. Otherwise, join in May 18th for...Chades Challenge LXXIII: Heist Gone Wrong
0 days...Avengers Assemble! -
May 4, 2012 6:32:00 PM
Yesterday, I gave animation lectures at San Jose State and Cal. A note to anyone giving a lecture at Cal: don't open with, "Hello Stanford!" I thought I was going to be drawn and quartered for that one.
At San Jose State, I was greeted by members of the Shrunken Head Man Club, the campus's animation collaborative. The group is named after a fortuitous paint spill on one of the department stools.
The students at both campuses were fantastic, and I was more than happy to hang around afterward for questions and drawings. I even signed a few sketchbooks, Pixar postcards, and the odd sweatshirt or two.
These are actual notes for my lecture. How the students gleaned any information from my talk is a mystery.0 days...AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!
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May 3, 2012 5:48:00 PM
Last weekend was a huge gaming marathon at my buddy Jay's house for his birthday. After about seven board games, I was getting a bit distracted.
Luckily, Space Alert came with these little wooden counters which I quickly discovered could be made into 8-bit characters, like Devo here.
Or kicking Devo.
When our Space Alert battle station was attacked by an Interstellar Octopus, my solution was to send Boba Fett after the beast (though he hasn't fared particularly well against tentacled monsters in the past).
I quickly progressed to Frolicking Fidel Castro...
...The Grinch...
...Lorne...
...More abstract depictions of Santa Claus/Pokeball, Yoda, and The Creeper...
...And, of course, Jurassic Park.
We didn't win the game, but the 8-bit characters were a fun exercise and well worth the distraction. I heartily recommend Space Alert, if only for the 8-bit art potential!
1 day... -
May 2, 2012 5:31:00 PMYesterday I issued the Twitterverse the following challenge: What can you make of this scribble without erasing anything?
It's an age-old trick to get a fun, quirky design when your drawings start to look similar or contrived. The Twitterverse rose to the challenge beautifully, and the result is a bunch of fun (and very unique!) scribblings.
@munchanka (yours truly)
I'll have to do this more often! Or maybe I'll just write an app. -
May 1, 2012 5:21:00 PMWhile I'm on the subject of birthday cards, here's another that I did for my friend and fellow gamer Jtop.
Jay was gracious enough to pose with his new portrait. A stunning likeness, if I don't say so myself!
For Jay's birthday, we had a massive gaming marathon. 48 hours of Space Alert, Drakon, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Marvel v Capcom, Left 4 Dead, Robo Rally, Resistance, Aye Dark Overlord, Star Wars Kinect, and Smallworld. Basically, the ideal weekend.
3 days... -
Apr 30, 2012 4:19:00 PM
For my buddy Eric, on his 29th birthday. This is a guy who played the Indiana Jones theme at his wedding. 29 years old...he belongs in a museum! -
Apr 27, 2012 6:08:00 PM
Pixar's improv team, The Improvibles, is delving into the land of trolls, hobbits, and level eight gelatinous cubes tonight with our first Dungeons & Dragons show (the first of many, this bard hopes). What makes this show particularly special is our guest star, Brave director Mark Andrews!
One show to rule them all!
7 days... -
Apr 26, 2012 9:48:00 PMEvery now and then, working at Pixar gets a little surreal. Standing in front of a giant lamp and fictional vehicle, with a mini stone henge looming in the distance is one of those moments.
We also have the Brave wrap party coming up, so naturally everyone's getting fitted for kilts, provided by St Kilda USA.
As always, accessories make the man. And no kilt is complete without a quality sporran. The selection on the left is dire wolf fur, I believe.
And, finally, the formal jacket. Brah brecht, moonlit necht tonecht!!
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Apr 26, 2012 12:15:00 AMMore X-Men sketches. This is my buddy Tim's character, Flashkick, who has the ability to open rifts in space time through which she can teleport, or just reach out and slap someone from across the room. (Sketch by Everett Downing)
The original concept was a bit too Jubilee-ish. So we traded in the 90's jacket for the traditional unitard. (Sketch by Ev)
She's an ESL student from Korea. Her lack of communication skills have made it difficult to correct the constant mangling of her callsign. (Sketch by Emma Coats)
9 days... -
Apr 24, 2012 6:38:00 PMLast week, my friends and I played an X-Men RPG. Rather than play classic characters, we decided to create our own team! This is Meatbag, who's mutation is prehensile flesh. Yeah, gross. (Sketch by Ev Downing)
The character went through several interpretations including the gumdrop-like ginger above. We figured if Meatbag could control his skin, he would have whatever body type he wanted. (Sketch by me)
So, while he may usually look like Russell from Up, he might be able to shift into Brandon Lee mode should any ladies appear. (Sketch by Mach Kobayashi)10 days...
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Apr 23, 2012 6:34:00 PM
Experimenting with every-color pencils. I was aaaalmost able to control which color was coming out.
11 days... -
Apr 20, 2012 9:54:00 PM
Now this is the Avengers movie I want to see. Diana Rigg as Black Widow and a Hulked-out Patrick MacNee--now that would be a jolly good show!If you have any Avengers concepts of your own, let me know and I'll post them below. Otherwise, join in May 4th for...Chades Challenge LXXII: Star Wars Cantina Patrons
15 days... -
Apr 20, 2012 12:45:00 AM
Paul's character in this week's X-Men RPG was the excitable youth, Impulse. Impulse is a big fan of the X-Men and can't wait to be part of the team. There's one Canadian hero he looks up to in particular.
Impulse's mutation is lighting-fast reflexes, bordering on precognition. This skill is particularly handy in the Danger Room, where there's a surprise around every corner.
Like assassin drones...Sync gets a little irritated by Impulse's fanboy behavior sometimes, but ultimately recognizes his value as part of the team.
Tomorrow, I'll be taking a break from the X-Men sketches and switching to another part of the Marvel Universe for Chades Challenge LXXI: The Avengers!
16 days... -
Apr 18, 2012 5:16:00 PMAs I was saying yesterday, my friends and I played an X-Men RPG this week, and came out of it with a bushel of sketches. Today's art is by Emma Coats. The subject is her character Sync, the upperclassman and self-appointed team leader.
The first few sketches of a character are always exploratory, but once you find that defining trait (like a douchey, emo haircut) the character really starts to emerge.
Sync's mutation is to imitate the powers of the supers around him. The one super he can't seem to stop imitating is his hero, Cyclops. -
Apr 17, 2012 9:15:00 PMLast night, Ev ran an X-Men RPG for us. Rather than using classic characters, we decided to create a bunch of teenage C-stringers who are enrolled in Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. (sketch by Emma Coats)
Here's our roster (from left):Puff (played by me)- "the magic dragon" whose powers include flight and fire-breathFlashkick (played by Tim)- a teleporterSync (played by Emma)- has the ability to mimic other supers' powersImpulse (played by Paul)- lighting fast reflexes bordering on precognitionI'll share more sketches from our session (we drew quite a bit) over the next couple of days. Stay tuned! -
Apr 16, 2012 10:29:00 PM
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Apr 12, 2012 1:55:00 AMMy friend Kai asked me to draw up a poster for a girl named Ariel who has been struggling with cancer. Kai's idea was to have Ariel's 'Avengers' (her favorite characters) assembled to support her. I'm glad Merida made the cut!
Here's Kai with the final poster. When I was a kid, I was always comforted by visuals of heroic figures like Superman and Luke Skywalker, so I hope this poster does the same for Ariel, who is as brave as any hero could hope to be!
23 days... -
Apr 8, 2012 12:36:00 AM
Happy Easter, everyone! Make sure to hunt very thoroughly for those Easter Eggs. You never know which of them will hatch a dragon.
27 days...
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