2013 animation demo reel

Here it is! Includes my work from Geronimo Productions (formerly Monster animation) in Ireland and several other jobs. I’ll be uploading some other animated clips later (including a Planet Cosmo reel on its own…I did well over 10 minutes of footage for it so plenty to choose from!)

Planet Cosmo takes off!

The TV show I worked on last year whilst in Dublin is now out in the world for all to see. If you’re in Ireland, you can watch it on RTE Jr. If elsewhere, follow @PlanetCosmoTV for updates on when its coming to your country.

I’m very proud to have worked on the show, especially due to the compact crew meaning even more chances to get something special in there!

The studio I worked for (Geronimo Productions formerly called Monster Animation) have just released a sneak peak for the first episode, based around a family outing to planet Mercury! Sounds fun? It really is! Wait until you here the catchy songs…

Anywho, I’m rather pleased as all the character animation in this clip is work I produced. I’ll be adding more clips when I get the nod I can put bits on my showreel, probably in a few weeks when I’m back in the UK.

And as a sign off, a tip of the hat to a very talented Ciaran Lucas who did a sterling job on the layouts & backgrounds for the WHOLE SERIES (super human effort). His work can be found here: www.ciaranlucas.com

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!

The beginning of Ireland

Hello from Dublin!

Just a brief update. I’ve begun work at Monster Animation and the first week was really great. A fun team and the project is going to be fantastic, it has me hooked! When I’m allowed to post preview work I will, but for now I can tell you I spent all day testing out and pushing poses for various characters. They’re fun to animate too (I already have a personality for one of them carved out quite well in my mind!)

Whilst looking for more permanent digs I’ve been staying at a hostel. There’s been a couple of others here who are working and in the same boat as me, so it’s been really good fun. We’ve been out for one drink most nights (kind of hard to escape here!) Everyone has been top banana. Fun times out with the international crowd this week too!

Tomorrow is St Patrick’s day so it’ll be out and about to see what the craic is (see, so local already). A three day weekend too, so time for flat research and getting jobs done. Here’s some pictures from my phone if you’re feeling nosey.

Wandering around the bars

The walk home from work. Nice part of town!

Guinness o'clock with the studio boys in a swanky old bank

Interactive Ricky Gervais production

A pretty good walkthrough for the making of the Ricky Gervais show. Shame that it doesn’t seem to work well in animation. I think part of the problem is the overall Flintstone’s style and use of Flash with stock expressions, etc. The over the top laugh they put on Ricky shown in the final animation part in the studio just doesn’t work. It would have been much better if the animation had taken the voices to another place. If I get chance I’ll do my own test for what I’d have done.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/02/12/arts/television/20100109-gervais-interactive.html