Dublin summertime

Ireland seems to have finally received it’s much needed summer with the past month being generally warm and filled with blue skies…I could get used to this! The reason I bring it up is it affects my day so much, what with a walk to work along the canal, lunch there and walking home along the tree-lined avenues. If it’s sunny, it’s so much better!

I have around 3 months left on the first series of our children’s TV show. It’s coming along well, lots of great work being done by all and the animation is really flowing after several months of getting to know the characters. We’re at the stage where we don’t have to think what to create so much and interpret what the character would do. It’s good fun!

In non-career related news, I’m heading off the the USA for Christmas and New Year. It’s all because I met a really great girl over here and she’s now had to return home due to her visa. It’s tough being away from her but she motivates me to work hard and inspires me to capture things I see around me, so she’s worth every ounce of waiting! I’m really looking forward to a Vegas new year too. Should be fun

I thought I’d give a little intro as I’ve sent her a few things in the post and one was a watercolour I did of her. I can’t believe it was so cold that we needed coats only a month ago! Crazy weather, the world’s ending I tell yer.

I love that orange bag! Works well for this picture too

An Irish update

So here’s the update I’ve been meaning to write for a while now! I’ll try and be a bit more regular with the posts, it just threw me out of sync with a new country, job, people and all.

I’ve been here over 2 months now and so far it’s whizzed by. When everything was new the first few weeks felt like I fitted a lot in and made the most of every day, but as you get used to your surroundings and fall into patterns an extra effort has to be made to continue to make the most of the situation!

First of all to work, as that’s why I came here. I’m working as a 2D animator (using Flash) on a children’s TV series and it’s going really well. The main area of note is that it’s more fun than I expected! We’ve just ramped up to full blown production right now, so no doubt it will get more stressful occasionally, but the way how the team has been introduced to the workflow, series style and characters has been pretty impressive. I’m looking forward to seeing the episodes roll in and watching the various parts form together.

I’m enjoying the animation process and learning a lot about the production pipeline and what the director is looking for (especially when you consider the production schedule during the planning of your scene). It’s a constant lesson in visual communication! One of my favourite parts so far was recently. We’ve been working on the many jaunty songs plotted throughout the show and each one is like making a music video for kids…about space! There’s rockets, high energy and generally a load of fun. I go into my 5 year old mind for around 8 hours a day! Maybe the youthful nature of the work will affect my looks as the years progress…

National pride down near the docks

As for Ireland and living in a new country, it’s not so different to back home. There are enough changes to make it interesting but not too many that it’s hard work to sort out life here. The evenings out are really great and there’s a general friendly nature to people when you’re having a pint after work. People talk outside their ‘groups’ which makes nice change to where I’m used to.

I’ve had a visit to Belfast and a fair old look around Dublin by now, but nowhere else much yet. I’m planning on doing some trips in the coming months. Hopefully there’ll be a bit of sun too! Oh and my new place is cool, I get a relaxing stroll along the canal on the way to work in the morning with the southern hills in the distance, so a pretty good place to be situated (especially for greyhound racing or the Aviva stadium…they’re practically next door!)

That’s about it for now. So far it’s all going well. Next stop, finish a few side projects and get some video work under way!

Ireland awaits!

The news I’ve been waiting to tell is that I’m moving to Ireland this month to start a new job as an animator! I’ll be working for Monster Animation who are based in Dublin and am excited about all the other animation buzz going on around the city right now. The team I’ll be part of will be creating a whole series of space themed animation for young children…Brian Cox for kids as I keep saying! To celebrate, I’ve created a picture for you to get your LOL on to. If you’re working out there, get in touch!

Note: My mobile number will be changing so in the meantime, please use the contact page or add me on Skype. It’s adamoliveranimation

Irish mash up! Don't spill the black nectar...

Chevrolet Volt animation

Here’s the video I made for Chevrolet. The excellent colour and nearly all of the animation is down to the assistance of a certain Lauren Morse. Check her stuff out, I see a rather nice style developing! So the director/producer cap was on for this one, including the spiffy bit of marketing speak (Chevrolet Volt – the future, today) All down to yours truly…don’t tell me, wasted talent aren’t I?

Valentines Day voting!

As I posted earlier this week, I made a short 2D experiment for a competition. Please spare 10 seconds of your time and click [edit voting ended].  I’d be very grateful and for all those who vote I will draw a caricature if I win! [I didn't win...no pictures...you should of all tried harder I've posted the video below now instead of a link to voting ]

12 Dessins par Jour

’12 Drawings a Day’ by Denis Chapon is a project whereby he did exactly that, creating a spontaneous piece of animation that oozes interest and fantastic draftsmanship. If you’re a 2D animator, you will appreciate this for it’s pure underlying quality (and his ability to turn most things into squid or Octopus!) Set mind to blown…

The Liquid Lover

Just had a quick bash at this competition Toon Boom have going on. They gave away Flip Boom Doodle (a simple animation program) for free during January, so I grabbed a copy! Then they published a Valentines Day contest whereby you can win an iPad, so I thought I’ll have a crack at that! I’ve wanted an iPad to experiment with sketching on since I borrowed one for a project. It would be a most excellent surprise if I won! You can vote on my entry from said link: Vote for my entry here!

Voting open 10th – 14th February . . . thanks in advance for your click!

In the meantime, you can watch it here.

Campbells Soup advert

I did this as a quick competition entry to loosen myself up with digital drawing again (it feels a bit strange after working on paper for a while!)

The entry had to lead and finish with the text you see in the video, and had to say why a bowl of soup is…well, nice to eat. I’m lucky, I quite like soup, so it wasn’t too difficult in that department. the hard part was keeping it simple as I only had two days to come up with the idea and make it. The sound was provided by the competition organisers. I would have liked it to run for the whole piece but it was good enough to get the idea across to them. I’m releasing it now as I didn’t win (none of the winners for any of the brands were animated..possibly not a good sign!) One other comment about the wiggly lines…I don’t know what is going on with Wacom’s calibration, but it seems to be worse now they’ve updated (aside from it being more accurate). It seems to do a bit of the shake rattle and roll when I’m trying to draw a smooth line, even when playing with the smoothing settings. Paper is so much easier!

It’s soup season!

Here’s a preview image from a project I’ve just finished. I’m working on some other nice illustration and animation jobs too…whilst enjoying the warm weather! It was my mum’s 50th this weekend so a good meal at a French restaurant in town topped off a midsummer-esque weekend. Now back to work!

Corgi’s reflection

…and this is the animation I was working on.