Avatar -A New Era of Cinema?

Read on below to see my additional comments.....

Well, almost everyone I know has been to see Avatar by now, James Cameron's new 'masterpiece' of futuristic, psychedelic, action-packed movie magic madness. So I can safely write about it without blowing any surprises for readers, (I hope) If you haven't seen it yet, I won't really give any of the story away here, so don't be afraid to read this...

I hesitate to say how much I really enjoyed this film because, well, it seems really fashionable for writers to be professional critics, and expose whatever flaws a movie might have. This film has plenty of flaws. What film doesn't? If you've tried directing a big budget blockbuster film lately, you know just how difficult it really is to even begin to approach 'perfection'. Something tells me, not many who read this will have directed any big budget films lately. He he....sure!



I love this movie.

And I've heard every conceivable bit of criticism you could possibly throw at it. But it's beautiful, it's even visionary. Regardless of the countless subtle ways it may have been improved, regardless of the occasional corny moments, or lame attempts at humor when it really didn't need it....

It's gorgeous, and flawlessly put together from a technical standpoint. I cannot remember one single scene that really stood out as far as anything not quite working. The character animation, the special effects animation, and the compositing is all so beautifully done, that it was easy for me to completely abandon my critical animation artist side, and just let go, fall in, and enjoy the ride.

This is just the beginning of this report....I have alot more to say about this film, stay posted!

SECOND POSTING
Now I have actually seen this movie twice, as an incredible number of other people have done. I can hardly believe how many people I have spoken to are going back for seconds and even third viewings. Pretty phenomenal reaction to this film. Seems folks can't get enough!

Myself, I went to see AVATAR first in regular old-fashioned 2D mode. I wanted to watch it first as a regular movie, without the added distraction of the 3D glasses and effects. And that first viewing was extremely satisfying. I liked it far more than I expected to, and I was ready to go see it in 3D as soon as possible....

So I just got back from the 3D screening, and I actually have to say, I enjoyed it more without the 3D effect. Although the 3D is certainly fun, I still found it somewhat of a strain. It was distracting. It had many glorious moments, but overall it took me OUT of the story more, it really did. Surely everyone won't agree, but I urge you to watch it in 2D and see what you think. Something about the 3D glasses makes me feel like my eyes are straining a little bit, especially when there is a cut to a new scene, I found my eyes had to readjust for a few moments, and that distracted me severely a couple of times.

So I certainly can see cinema going more and more frequently with 3D, it is SO MUCH better than it used to be, and hopefully it will continue to get better. I am hoping to someday go to a 3D film and not feel that subtle eye strain. Only then will the 3D effect work 100% for me.

Back to the film itself.

You know, I am hearing so many people complain that the story is contrived, the whole 'Tree of Souls' thing is corny, they say, and the whole 'Save the Rainforest' idea has been done.

But this is our story people! The story of so called modern man, conquering the 'New World'. That is our legacy, that is who we are here in the new world, and if we don't learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it. Telling this tale over and over, it is something that desperately needs to be done, lest we 'progress' ourselves right in to extinction! The idea that the 'undeveloped' countries of the world were inhabited by 'savages' that we needed to teach how to be 'civilized'. Folks, there is nothing civilized about what we have done all over the world, to indigenous peoples, and to nature itself. Civilizations who understand the delicate balance of nature around the globe, have been slaughtered and laid to waste, their history, culture and languages destroyed. They are the civilized ones! WE are the savages. No amount of technology and so called progress can mask the fact that we are ignorant, destructive savages, completely out of touch with what is really important in this miraculous journey we know as our lives.....

And we need to learn that. Now.

We are like lost babies, just like she says in Avatar....like stupid stumbling babies, with big guns to protect our fragile, misguided egos. We are an absolute mess, with all our glorious technology, we are just becoming more and more depressed, more and more disconnected from Life, Love and Truth. The more we surround ourselves with consumer gadgets and toys, the less we are able to wake up to the call of the wild.

Somewhere perhaps, in our futures, there is a place for technology and Love to work together, but technology without spiritual wisdom is a frightening dead end road, that is swallowing our souls. We all need to connect with the 'Tree of Souls' or we we will eventually see the beauty and magic of our natural world taken away from us and extinguished from our ability to perceive it, in a nightmare of darkness.

I see a film with a story like this as a clarion call for mankind to wake the hell up. Exploitation of resources and billions spent on developing bigger better weapons to protect us from ourselves.....in our hearts and souls, we know where it will take us. Reformat your hard drives into the tree of souls people. Unplug the iPod and listen to the wind.....

James Cameron is just trying to remind us that the alarm clock is going off, and it's time to wake up!

R.I.P. Roy Disney

Today marked the passing of Roy Disney, Walt's nephew, and the last truly great man (as far as I'm concerned) to carry Walt's legacy. I had the great privilege of meeting the man, several times actually, during my 8 years working at Walt Disney Feature Animation. I first met him back in 1994, when I had just started working for Disney, moving to Florida after living in Ireland for three years. Since Roy owned a house in Ireland where he spent time each year, we had something in common, and we talked for a while about life in Ireland, and also about the history of animation. He was extremely humble, warm and engaging, and I liked him a great deal. The fact that he looked a lot like Walt, made it that much more interesting to talk to him. But what made the greatest impression was the complete and utter lack of bullshit that came through. He took a genuine interest in every artist that worked at Disney, and he made it abundantly clear that he admired and respected any artist who made it into the Disney studio. Read on and I will tell you who Roy Disney really was....

In the next 8 years, while I was working for Disney, I watched in horror as the studio slowly transformed itself from an incredibly supportive, creative, and exciting place to work, into a faceless corporate entity ruled by fear, lies, and the 'bottom line'. By 1998 the studio had decided on an extremely aggressive production schedule, that would have us releasing a brand new feature film every year. My take on that strategy, was that they would shoot themselves in the foot by saturating the market. And on top of the 'one feature film per year' schedule, they also began to release a ridiculous number of poorly animated direct-to-video sequels of their great classics, even further saturating the classical animation market, as well as degrading the public perception of the 'Disney Quality' that they had come to expect.

Although I was still pretty happy to be working at Disney, and we were starting production on what turned out to be the most enjoyable production I have ever worked on (Lilo & Stitch) I was disillusioned by the overall direction that the company seemed to be headed in. The 'president' of Disney animation at the time, Tom Schumacher, was in my eyes, literally dragging the studio down the tubes with his creative meddling, and bizarre production decisions. I watched aghast as tens and even hundreds of millions of dollars were thrown away on ill-conceived productions that were not followed through after countless millions were squandered. But when the studio started to falter and box office numbers began to slide, it was the hard working artists who took the brunt of it, even though they had seen the folly all along and had been trying to raise the red flag. Blame was put everywhere except where it belonged, directly on the shoulders of the profit driven suits who were making all of there decisions based on fear and greed.....

Then in 2003, Roy Disney resigned, and sent an incredible letter to Michael Eisner and the Board of Directors. In it, Roy echoed my exact sentiments of where the company was heading. Here are a couple of quotes from that letter:

"consistent micro-management of everyone around you with the resulting loss of morale throughout the Company"

"The perception by all of our stakeholders-- consumers, investors, employees, distributors and suppliers-- that the Company is rapacious , soul-less, and always looking for the "quick buck" rather than long-term value which is leading to a loss of public trust"

"The creative brain drain of the last several years, which is real and continuing, and damages our Company with the loss of every talented employee"

At that same time, Roy partnered with Stanley Gold and created the SaveDisney.com website. I'll keep this short, you can 'read all about it' all over the internet, but in short, over the next several months, Roy brought down Michael Eisner and ultimately Eisner was shamefully ousted from the company.

This all happened at precisely the same time that I left Disney and returned to Canada, to raise my son far away from the stifling corporate culture that was apparently strengthening. On my way out, I spoke to my colleagues, imploring them to get out while the getting was good. My warnings were almost word for word the same words that I read in Roy Disney's letter just months after my leaving.

And that was when I knew, that Roy was the real deal. A man of principle, willing to stand up, with his family, and fight the likes of Michael Eisner. My respect and admiration for him are of the very highest order. He was the last gasp of the true Disney legacy.

And so today I mourn a great man, and I pray that there is somebody in charge, somewhere in that massive corporate engine that is the Walt Disney Company, who can steer the behemoth in the right direction. With 'The Princess and the Frog' just coming out, it looks like the dream of the Disney Legacy, making marvelous, timeless cartoons, might actual live on. (I haven't seen the film yet, review coming shortly) And I believe that without the strength, conviction, vision and character of Roy Disney, the company may never have gotten back on track again.....

Blessings to you Roy, and to your family. As animation artists, we will carry your torch, forever. We will keep the light table fires burning, we will flip the pages, we will be true to our creative selves, and we will not allow corporate blindness to drive the creative engines of animation....

Elemental Magic Volume 2!!

Well, I have finally gotten the full green-light from my publisher, to move forward on my next book. It will be a far more in depth study of several key effects elements, and I will get in to a great deal more detail than I was able to in 'Elemental Magic'. In my first book, I was trying to touch on such a wide variety of effects elements that I was unable to get into as much detail as I really wanted to, although to its credit, 'Elemental Magic' got into effects in far more detail than has ever been published before.

The feedback from 'Elemental Magic' has been overwhelmingly positive, and I was delighted how happy animators all over the world, professionals and beginners were, to have an inspirational reference book opening up the 'secrets' behind animating the elements. The thirst for this knowledge is certainly out there, and I have had many requests for more of the same, but with requests for specific effects, such as splashes or fires, to be explained, illustrated and even animated, in step by step detail.

For that reason, my second book will include a DVD, which will feature live action footage of the author (that would be me...) actually animating in real time, and explaining, step by step, the reasoning, logic and creative process going into every stroke of the pencil, frame by frame. Design, timing, physics, stylization, perspective and drawing technique, will be demonstrated and explained with an on-going dialogue with the viewer. Clips from workshops and lectures will also be included, as well as clips of the actual animation effects drawing I have created live, in front of the camera, shot in sequence, so the viewer can see the work in motion. These will include various different frame rates and timing signatures, so the viewer can see clearly, how much a single frame (at 24 or 30 frames a second) can make or break a series of effects drawings.

I am just starting the work on this book. It's completion and release is scheduled for early 2011, which seems lake a long ways off now, but I know the time will fly by. I am currently holed up in a small home/studio, in a small town on Vancouver Island, where most of the work will be done. It is quiet, secluded, and peaceful. My social life here consists only of taking care of my aging Mother, Tommy, to whom this second installment of 'Elemental Magic' will be dedicated.

So please, send me your thoughts and ideas, and as many inspirational emails as you can! Requests for information on specific effects elements to be included in the book will all be considered. Visits from my friends and colleagues are more than welcome, as are links to cool web sites, and invitations to visit warm tropical places, or attend earth shattering cultural events.....

My purpose with this book, is to share, and spread creative energy into the world. I've discovered so far, that having a book published, unless it's a best seller, is not the road to riches. But the positive feedback I have received from friends, colleagues and 'Elemental Magic' fans the world over, is more than rewarding. It tickles me to my core, and inspires me to do more. so there you have it, and here it comes!

Stay tuned!

The Continuing Saga of 'Organic Animation'

Well special effects fans, month after month seems to go by with out a new post here on the Elemental Magic Blog, and I think it's time to remedy that! I really need to get into this whole blog thing, and I'd like to get a lot more traffic to the sight, and a lot more feedback too! This is necessary practice too, as it looks like I will soon be hosting an animation blog on the AWN site (Animation World Network). For those of you who don't already know, I wrote a column for AWN Magazine for almost three years, entitled 'The Animated Scene'. They have changed the look and content of the AWN website a great deal, but if you dig you can still find most of my columns.

http://www.awn.com/search/node/The+Animated+Scene

So somewhere in that slick new look for AWN, my new blog will be featured, and linked to everything else in the animated cyber-universe. Damn, the next thing you know I'll be 'Twittering'. Blog sounds bad enough, but 'twitter'? And with a limited amount of text...God forbid that anyone spending hours a day online should actually have to read anything longer than a freaking paragraph. Even the paragraphs have to be abbreviated, or the texting generation will lose interest.

Well, forgive me, but I'm going to try to keep some kind of literary standard going, even though I'm an uneducated bum, air force brat who never graduated from anything......even though I can't stand academic snobbery, I am even more put off by the use of 'u' instead of 'you' and all other forms of text abbreviations, acronyms, and sloppy, just plain lazy English. I could live with the silly American habit of dropping letters out of words to simplify them, as was done with words like colour (color). But must we continue with this gross simplification of the English language, until all we can do is sit staring at the sunset, a bit of drool leaking out the corner of our mouths, uttering the last known human word....."Awesome..." Is that it?

And you know where I see it most? Right here in the cozy little world of ANIMATION. I mean, why say something as long and complicated as 'motion capture' when the quick and clever 'mo-cap' says it all? Centre of gravity? C.O.G. baby!! In fact, to talk to a current pipeline technical assistant or visual effects pro, one might mistakenly assume they are actually allergic to forming entire words, such is their zeal for clipping and shortening everything into a snappy 2 or 3 letter buzz phrase......

Hell people, I am almost illiterate compared to what passed for a real writer only decades ago, and now I am stuck here whining about the oversimplification of the English language....why....that's AWESOME!!

Well, to hell with all that. I'm here to carry on about animation, what it is, what it isn't, what it could be, what it should be, etc, etc....In a universe of opinions, I throw in another one, just in case there is a gap in the fabric of animajournalism....I had better fill it up! Of course, opinions are as useful as tits on a bull, but then you know, from the perspective of a calf whose Mom has just gone to the slaughterhouse, tits on a bull might not be such a bad idea after all! So surely there's a wayward animation calf out there, too far away from Mama's milk, that could use a little animation wizardry to suckle on! Far out. Good then. Let the breast feeding begin....

It's all Elemental, and it's all magic. It's all organic, right?

What think you?

A Little CGI Elemental Magic

These CGI splashes were created using a combination of Maya and Realflow software. Some were created first in Maya, using particle simulations to create a splashing effect. The particles were then imported into Realflow, and covered with a 'mesh' that wraps a material around the particles. The mesh was then brought back into Maya and shaders applied to it to create the final 'look'. Other splashes were created using the particle simulations in Realflow, combined with a collision object created in Maya and imported into Realflow. The Realflow particles were made to collide with splash-like shapes, creating unique and watery splash effects. The same meshes were then applied and rendered back in Maya....

The surface ripples were created in Maya, using a pond surface with animated spheres to create wakes and ripples.

ELEMENTAL MAGIC at the Ottawa International Animation Festival

This week at the Ottawa International Animation Festival I will be doing a workshop called 'An Organic Approach to Special Effects Animation', which is based largely on the text and illustrations of 'Elemental Magic'. This is a very exciting event for me, as I have been going to the Ottawa festival ever since its beginning back in the 70's, and I have a great many friends from Montreal and all over the world who I always look greatly forward to seeing there. It's been four years since I've been, so to be there with my book this year is a real thrill for me! You can find the events on the festival website, under 'EVENTS' and 'WORKSHOPS'

http://ottawa.awn.com/index.php

Books still available directly from the author!

If you are still interested in getting a copy of 'Elemental Magic' directly from me, I still have a box full, so feel free to drop me a line, and I will personally deliver you a signed copy for the marked down price of $45! Just name the time and place!

The Elemental Magic Book Launch was a HUGE SUCCESS!

It was a fantastic evening of magic and music at the Ironworks Studios in Vancouver BC. Well over a hundred guests came and went as the evening progressed. Family and beautiful people from the animation industry, animation students, fans and more. And of course my wonderful family of biker friends, members of the Soberiders, showed up in force as well, filling the sidewalk with Harleys, and adding colour to an already extremely colourful crowd!

I want to thank all of you who came out and made the event so incredible, and especially those of you who waited patiently in line to actually buy a book from me. My expectations were FAR exceeded, as I sold almost 50 books! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I hope it lives up to your expectations, and gives you some magic back too! For those of you who missed the event or couldn't afford a copy, I'll be at the Comicon in Vancouver as well on May 24th! (See the poster below)
Here is some video footage from the event. I will have more, lots of professional quality video was shot, and I'll be editing together something shortly!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiFYxFwsb8s


Me and Neil Ryan collaborate on a song I wrote especially for the book launch 'Elemental Magic'


Norm backs me up on the Djembe as I roll into some rousing blues toons!


Marc Watters joins me on the harmonica, as we tear up B.B. King's 'Rock Me Baby'


If you missed your chance, you can come and see me at the Vancouver Comicon on May 24th. I'll be signing books again, and I will also have fine prints of some of the books finer artwork. Hope to see you there!

The Elemental Book Launch is here this FRIDAY, APRIL the 24th!!

Come one come all to the Elemental Magic Book Launch Par-tay! It promises to be an eventful and memorable evening. I will have plenty of books on hand, and for $50 you'll get a signed copy with your own unique illustration! There is a full (not free) bar, there will be fantastic FREE food, and some killer live music too! So come on down and hang out for a while. And if you can't buy a copy, don't let it stop you from coming! I just want to see your smiling face and thank you for being a friend and supporting this really cool new book that the animation world needs so badly!

Elemental Magic Book Launch!

I am happy to announce that I finally have a finished copy of my book, 'Elemental Magic' and it is more beautiful than I ever imagined it would be. On the 24th of April in Vancouver, I am throwing a party to launch the book! Come one and come all, from near or from far! I will be signing copies for all my friends, screening images from the book, and there will be live music, food and drink. I hope to see you there! Click on the image below to read the details......

Oh yes, and the book is now available on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca for pre-order, so if you can't make it to the opening, you can still get your own copy. And if you really want a signed copy, e-mail me at joegilland@shaw.ca and I will get you a signed copy delivered for $50 US each. (that's the best price I can do for shipping and all, after buying my own copies from the publisher...but I'll make a really cool drawing and personalize it to make it worth every penny)

Thank you all for your support, hope to see you soon!

Michel Gagne leaks news of Elemental Magic

Check out the new plug for Elemental Magic on Michel Gagne's website!

http://www.gagneint.com

Michel is one of the major influences behind Elemental Magic, originally Michel was to publish the book on Michel Gagne International Press. As things progressed however, I went with Focal Press and from humble beginnings as a black & white book of 120 pages or so, Elemental Magic ultimately blossomed into a full colour volume boasting over 300 pages!

Michel has written the foreword for the book, and there is quite a lot of his phenomenal artwork in there as well.

Keep posted, I will have a confirmed date soon for the official Elemental Magic book launch party in Vancouver, March 2009.

Elemental Magic is coming!!

The question I get most often about my book is "WHEN IS IT COMING OUT!?" And I am pleased to say that I finally have an answer to that question.

'Elemental Magic' The Art of Special Effects Animation ....will be available to the public at large by March of 2009. It will be on Amazon.com, and in bookstores everywhere. I will be having a big release party here in Vancouver, British Columbia sometime in March, and follow up signings, most likely in Los Angeles, New York, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal, in May. Hopefully I will be getting over to Europe next spring to do some signings and workshops based on the book as well.

If you have any questions, or requests regarding Elemental Magic, please email me directly at joegilland@shaw.ca and I'll get back to you. If you work at an animation studio, or school, and would like to get a copy or two sent to you there, let me know and I will do my very best to get copies out to you!

Hope to see you all soon, book in hand!!

Joseph

Lilo & Stitch chase sequence

The big chase sequence in Lilo & Stitch went through some really incredible changes before actually making it to the screen. Initially, Stitch and the gang had 'hijacked' a 747 to rescue Lilo. The chase sequence proceeded through downtown Honolulu, where they smashed into hi-rise buildings and generally tore things up. I remember all to well, the morning of September 11th, as I watched the events unfold on television, somewhere in the back of my head a little voice said "Oh my God, we are going to have to change that entire chase sequence...!" Small worry to think about in the face of such cataclysmic events, but sure enough, within 24 hours, we were meeting to discuss how to change an entire FINISHED chase sequence. A new spaceship was designed and modeled, and we swapped out downtown Honolulu for a mountainous region of Kauai. Within one month, the entire sequence was re-done, with no more hijacked planes running into hi-rise buildings.

In the original sequence, the big fat sun-burned guy with the ice cream cone, was at a cross walk in Honolulu, when the wing tip of the 747 knocked his chocolate chip pistachio ice cream off of his cone. We painstakingly replaced the 747 footage with the new red spaceship, seated the guy on a beach, and successfully splattered his ice cream just like we had in the original sequence. Mission accomplished.

Stitch arrives on Earth

When Stitch arrived on Earth for the first time, he didn't exactly get a warm welcome. This was the very first sequence that we completed in the making of Lilo & Stitch, as well as one of the most enjoyable to create. It challenged us to create fully 3D sugar cane trucks, and put them convincingly in to a 2D water colour painting environment, and drench the whole thing in pouring rain. The basic falling rain that we used was re-used from the film 'Mulan', but the little splashes hitting the pavement were new hand drawn elements. We instanced three different splashes to a surface particle generator in Maya,to give a convincing perspective look to the rain drops hitting the ground. Stitches ray guns were actually modeled in Maya, and then we used these models to help us hand draw the guns accurately. ( We were still developing a CGI line rendering look for the film, using Disney proprietary rendering software called 'Inka' that was ultimately used for the countless CGI props in the film)

Running over Stitch with the trucks was a very involved process. The trucks were animated rough for a first pass, and then Stitch was animated being squished and thrown around between the wheels. This animation then went back to the CGI animators who squashed and ripped the tires and heaved the trucks around violently, to react to running over a bullet proof, invincible 2D cartoon character.

It is a beautiful sequence, and tells the story of Stitch arriving on earth with finesse and a powerful punch!

Stitch catches a 'plasma ball'

One of my favorite effects elements in the film Lilo & Stitch, was the plasma that shot out of the weapons that were wielded by various characters in the film. We called it P.P.P. for 'propane propelled plasma'. Our goal when creating this propellant was to make it seem almost 'friendly', that is, not too deadly looking. Keeping with the creator Chris Sanders' beautiful rounded and organic style of drawing was also paramount. This had a very practical side to it as well, as these kinds of shapes turned out to be very simple to animate, compared to a more complex or realistic style, thus also keeping the overall production costs down some what.

In the final compositing stage, I made the plasma look like it was glowing from the inside out, as if it contained quite a bit of energy inside it. Each drawing was required to be broken down in to three separate pieces of artwork to create this final look.

Seeing that Stitch could actually catch and play with the plasma from one of these guns served two purposes. It showed the viewers that Stitch was a formidable opponent, and it also took away some of the threatening deadliness of the weapons, making the film more palatable for its younger audiences.

On top of all that, it was really fun to animate this stuff!

Avalanche Special Effects from Disney's 'Mulan'

As a special effects animator on Disney's Mulan, I was given the task of animating quite a few scenes in the avalanche sequence. The sequence was shared between several animators, but the bulk of the most dramatic scenes where the avalanche races down the side of the mountain, were animated by myself and Garret Wren. There was an incredible amount of detail to contend with, as there were hundreds of CGI horses and riders galloping in every which direction. Every single horse had a trail of hoof prints following behind, as well as snow kicking up, and full cast shadows. From scene to scene we had to switch from CGI horses to hand-drawn horses for the close up scenes. The snow effects were painstaking hand-drawn and animated to match the Chinese styling of the film, with spiral accents and a water colour look to the final renders. Many of the scenes were animated entirely on one's, that is to say 24 drawings per second, and on 24 field paper, which are enormous sheets of paper, to give the drawings as much detail as possible. It was not uncommon for the clean up effects artists to spend an entire day on one drawing!

Almost a full year of incredibly painstaking work spread out among dozens of people went into this epic animated sequence, a modern masterpiece of special effects animation.

A short flash effects reel

A short little effects teaser I threw together for kicks.

A Big Splash

This splash effect is made up of several large to medium sized splashes and bubbles that I animated by hand directly in Flash on a Cintiq tablet. All of the elements except for the water surface are simple, hand-drawn effects. The subtly animating water surface effect was created in Adobe AfterEffects by my good friend and colleague Dennis DeKonnig.

A medium sized splash

This splash effect is made up of several small to medium sized splashes and bubbles that have been combined similar to the 'big' splash above.....

Brother Bear's Transformation

On Disney's 'Brother Bear' I was responsible for designing and creating all of the 2D and 3D special effects for the transformation sequence. The watery light tendrils that reach down out of the sky are 100% CGI, and then when the the effect shoots down and impacts the ground, it is a combination of a 3D column of light, and traditional hand-drawn 2D splash effects animation. Jazno Francouer and I animated the 2D liquid effects, and Jason Wolbert handled the CGI elements. The column of liquid light streaming down is 50% CGI, and 50% hand-drawn. Then when Kenai pierces the light with his spear, the real fun begins. We experimented for months with various ways of creating realistic, yet highly stylized aurora borealis effects, that we could integrate with traditionally animated animal spirit characters. The final product is a complex mish-mash of 2D and 3D special effects and character animation. The shifting colours of the northern lights play on an animating 3D surface upon which we also projected various levels of hand drawn animal animations running to and fro.

It is a special effects tour-de-force of which I will always be very proud.

Lilo & Stitch title sequence

The title sequence for Lilo & Stitch, is full of beautiful special effects. As the director of special effects on the film, I had to design and direct a wide variety of special effects for this sequence. Subtle, realistic reflections of the Hawaiian dancers on the floor, elaborate water surfaces, splashes and waves, a couple of very challenging underwater 'looking up' scenes, complete with lens flares, bubbles, backlit effects, and refracted light dancing in the shallows....it was a fantastic experience made all that much better by the fact that we flew to Hawaii for a research trip!

Lilo & Stitch surfing sequence

When I was the director of special effects animation at Walt Disney Feature Animation in Florida, my most enjoyable job by far was creating the effects designs and special effects animation techniques for the surfing sequences in the movie Lilo & Stitch. A small team of the core artists on the film actually traveled to Kauai, Hawaii, to research our specific areas of interest. My job was to spend as much time as possible observing the water and waves, and research how to best realistically depict cartoon characters surfing, keeping within the simple and elegant style of the film.

Although the effects animation was entirely hand-drawn, I did incorporate 3D elements to assist in the process. The surfboards themselves were 100% CGI. Also, we created animating CGI water surfaces, that we then printed out and used as guides to draw our traditional water surface effects on. This enabled us to keep our water surfaces more alive, rising and falling with subtle wave motion as real ocean swells do.

A hand-drawn techno-Flash FX extravaganza!

This collage of hand-drawn special effects works in sync with a techno soundtrack by Aphex Twin. I pieced this little animated gem together in Flash. Using the soundtrack as a guideline, I just intuitively layered the effects elements in different ways, skewing, tinting, resizing and repeating them as I went along....

Camp Fire

This campfire is a combination of little fires I animated by hand.

Flamethrower

This simple and 'cartoony' flamethrower was animated by hand in Flash.

Dust kick-up effects

I combined several of the previous 'flamethrower' animations, tinted them grey and made them transparent, to create this billowing dust kick-up effect.

Lava Bubble

This bursting lava bubble was animated straight ahead, by hand, in Flash, drawing on a Cintiq tablet.

Water fountains

These water fountain animations were hand-drawn, animated straight ahead in Flash on a Cintiq tablet, no paper at all. You will see in my earlier post of 'fountains of fire' that I used some of the same animation, simply colouring it differently.

Creating special effects for an animated shoreline

Here is an example of how an effects artist might break down the various elements necessary to add realism to an animated scene of a bit of shoreline on a sunny day, with clear, translucent, and reflective water.

The elements come together in layers.

The surface light and reflections, the light refractions on the bottom, and the background are layered together.

The final composited elements

All the water and light special effects elements sandwiched or 'composited' together.

fountains of fire!

Explosion effect created using Flash only!

This is an explosion I created using several different elements that I animated traditionally in Flash, drawing on a Cintiq tablet. These elements were put together using Flash only, there are no additional compositing techniques used. (thanks to Paul Johnson for his lovely fireworks burst flash effects which I used as well)

Breaking down special effects animation........

Here is a small example from 'Elemental Magic' of how bubbles are created underwater when an object falls from above.

A little flash splash

This is one of the first effects that I animated without paper, animating with the brush tool in Flash, drawing on a Cintiq tablet. I have since tidied this splash up a little bit, and put it entirely on one's, that is, 24 drawings per second.