Saturday, November 30, 2013
Saturday, January 8, 2011
EXTRATURISTAS
Hey peeps!
I'm going to occasionally draw comic strips about the things happening in Puerto Rico. Things are so hectic and interesting during these days, that it would be wrong to let history go undocumented. Of course, I'll add a comedic tone to it to draw a few smiles here and there.
Take care!
Joz
-----
Hola!
Voy a dibujar ocasionalmente tirillas cómicas sobre las cosas que pasan en Puerto Rico. Hoy día las cosas están tan mal e interesantes, que sería pecado dejarlas pasar sin ser documentadas para la historia. Por supuesto, le añadiré un tono jocoso para alegrar un poco las cosas.
Cuídense!
Joz
I'm going to occasionally draw comic strips about the things happening in Puerto Rico. Things are so hectic and interesting during these days, that it would be wrong to let history go undocumented. Of course, I'll add a comedic tone to it to draw a few smiles here and there.
Take care!
Joz
-----
Hola!
Voy a dibujar ocasionalmente tirillas cómicas sobre las cosas que pasan en Puerto Rico. Hoy día las cosas están tan mal e interesantes, que sería pecado dejarlas pasar sin ser documentadas para la historia. Por supuesto, le añadiré un tono jocoso para alegrar un poco las cosas.
Cuídense!
Joz
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Searching For A Me That Looks More Like Me...
Hi peeps! It's another thesis update!
But first, a brief "real life" update:
I went on vacations (and a mission) a few weeks ago. What was the mission, you ask? I had to go rescue my car (which I left in Savannah when I moved back to Puerto Rico. The thing is they gave me 31 days to move it from where I had it, so it was a bit of a rush, and a drain to the pocket :-|. Anyway, I got it back and now I've been working on my thesis film during this whole week.
I've been solving some things I considered issues about the beginning scene (staging being too simple and not much camera work). I recently bought a book professor John Webber recommended me, to which I find myself nodding while reading it. If you're interested in developing stronger storytelling skills, I recommend: Francis Glebas' "Directing The Story: Professional Storytelling and Storyboarding Techniques for Live Action and Animation". Here's the link in case you want to take a closer look / read reviews about it or simply get it:
I'm trying to do one of those "Less talk, more pictures" approach here in my blog, but I don't want to either give out too much or show too much. So I'll just drop a few things here and there to keep it interesting. :)
But first, a brief "real life" update:
I went on vacations (and a mission) a few weeks ago. What was the mission, you ask? I had to go rescue my car (which I left in Savannah when I moved back to Puerto Rico. The thing is they gave me 31 days to move it from where I had it, so it was a bit of a rush, and a drain to the pocket :-|. Anyway, I got it back and now I've been working on my thesis film during this whole week.
I've been solving some things I considered issues about the beginning scene (staging being too simple and not much camera work). I recently bought a book professor John Webber recommended me, to which I find myself nodding while reading it. If you're interested in developing stronger storytelling skills, I recommend: Francis Glebas' "Directing The Story: Professional Storytelling and Storyboarding Techniques for Live Action and Animation". Here's the link in case you want to take a closer look / read reviews about it or simply get it:
I'm trying to do one of those "Less talk, more pictures" approach here in my blog, but I don't want to either give out too much or show too much. So I'll just drop a few things here and there to keep it interesting. :)
In this picture (work in progress!) you can see how I update the early design I had for the character who is supposed to be me (at the right) to one that currently looks more like me (left). No, my face is not purple right now (although I did go to the beach today, but didn't get sunburnt :D ). But yeah, I haven't had a haircut in a while, I haven't shaved in a while either, and the bags of my eyes apparently have been tattooed there already since I slept so little while at SCAD, heheh. So I've included all those actual details, to design a character that looks more like me. I like the simplistic design on the right, but I felt it doesn't look much like me.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
I'm back! Moving/Watercolors
Hi, peeps!
I know, it took me forever to get another post in here, but here's why:
The last days of classes were crazy: getting classwork done, attending meetings, selling everything, mailing everything I kept (I went almost every day to the post office), giving away stuff, graduating (Yes! I graduated! I still have to finish my thesis, though!), cleaning the apartment, and moving back to Puerto Rico. Once I came back home, I had to make space and unpack the 18 boxes I mailed myself. Yes, 18. I'm very proud of the USPS. I got everything and almost nothing got broken (Only one thing, but it was my fault for not packing it right), but my guitar amp, which was my biggest worry, arrived intact! :D
Now that I'm organized, I'm back into work mode. I've noticed how my last posts have been mostly words and not so many images, and if you're like me, you enjoy watching pictures more than only reading plain writings. I'm aware of it, so I'll try to compensate the lack of images.
Speaking of which, here are two watercolors I did while in Savannah, as gifts for friends. I like the crazy, untamed quality of watercolors. For some reason, it makes it feel like the way dreams are made of. Am I making sense here? Guess I dream in watercolor...
<-- I made this quick sketch in my iPhone. I met a girl from Germany who had a fear of butterflies, so I thought it would be nice to draw her running away from a monstrous butterfly, and give it to her as a gift.
<--This is the final version. I made it in a small sketchpad. I guess she "kind of" liked it, since she featured it on her blog, but I don't know how she felt about that butterfly, other than calling me "evil", heheh.
The other watercolor was inspired by this photo:
<--There was something about that wall on the right...
<--Yup, that wall reminded me of a giraffe, so I recreated the scene. I'm not particularly happy with the lack of detail of the girl's feet, but I had to rush it in time while juggling with class work, since it was a birthday gift.
Oh! Today around 2:00am I released one of my two experimental animations that were featured in the "Time Space Tenual" art exhibition at Meddin Studios, in Savannah, GA. It features mixed media: Stop motion, 3D animation, 2D animation and live action. It is best experienced in a pitch black room with the animation playing full screen, and the volume cranked up. Here's the link:
http://vimeo.com/11316624
I'll blog soon to tell you about what I've been doing during these days! For now, I got to go! Take care and thanks for reading!
Jose
I know, it took me forever to get another post in here, but here's why:
The last days of classes were crazy: getting classwork done, attending meetings, selling everything, mailing everything I kept (I went almost every day to the post office), giving away stuff, graduating (Yes! I graduated! I still have to finish my thesis, though!), cleaning the apartment, and moving back to Puerto Rico. Once I came back home, I had to make space and unpack the 18 boxes I mailed myself. Yes, 18. I'm very proud of the USPS. I got everything and almost nothing got broken (Only one thing, but it was my fault for not packing it right), but my guitar amp, which was my biggest worry, arrived intact! :D
Now that I'm organized, I'm back into work mode. I've noticed how my last posts have been mostly words and not so many images, and if you're like me, you enjoy watching pictures more than only reading plain writings. I'm aware of it, so I'll try to compensate the lack of images.
Speaking of which, here are two watercolors I did while in Savannah, as gifts for friends. I like the crazy, untamed quality of watercolors. For some reason, it makes it feel like the way dreams are made of. Am I making sense here? Guess I dream in watercolor...
The other watercolor was inspired by this photo:
Oh! Today around 2:00am I released one of my two experimental animations that were featured in the "Time Space Tenual" art exhibition at Meddin Studios, in Savannah, GA. It features mixed media: Stop motion, 3D animation, 2D animation and live action. It is best experienced in a pitch black room with the animation playing full screen, and the volume cranked up. Here's the link:
http://vimeo.com/11316624
I'll blog soon to tell you about what I've been doing during these days! For now, I got to go! Take care and thanks for reading!
Jose
Friday, May 7, 2010
Thesis - Women Sketches
I started sketching some women before starting designing the female characters for my thesis. I'm aiming towards keeping them in the same style of my male characters, but adding a little more definition in the details of the faces: colored lips, eye shadows, eyelashes, and eyes might be smaller than the big cartoony eyes I'm using for the guys. I still haven't decided all this, but I feel I'm heading that way. Meanwhile, here are some of my women sketches.
It's been crazy times: working with selling stuff and sending my things back home among other projects, so thesis work has gotten delayed. I'll keep you updated!
Thanks and have a good weekend!
Joz
It's been crazy times: working with selling stuff and sending my things back home among other projects, so thesis work has gotten delayed. I'll keep you updated!
Thanks and have a good weekend!
Joz
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Updates: Thesis, Those Imaginary Miles, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and the 2010 SCAD Sands Art Festival.
Hi! I know the title sounds a bit overwhelming, but I want to talk about everything and didn't feel like making four posts to cover this, so instead I'm giving you a long one.
Thesis:
I finished the rough animatic, which I'm not disclosing yet. I had different possibilities for the ending, so I asked around to get the opinion from my friends and professors. What's to follow? Character designs! I will be uploading those once I'm satisfied... Meanwhile, you can see some of the characters' faces on my website, in the images section.
Those Imaginary Miles:
I'm working on a second scene from the project. Today the group met and we started compiling everything into Final Cut Pro to get an idea about how it will look like. I will provide a few stills soon.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit:
I recently bought this movie. The last time I saw it, I was probably about 8 years old. I remember as well some friends had the NES game, and that I owned a coloring book from it. Watching it again, 20 years later (probably), was quite an experience. It was like watching a completely different movie. I noticed so many things I didn't notice the first just because I didn't have the malice I have today. (What has society done to us?!?! Hahaha...) If you haven't seen it, you should: It's a great movie and it set a milestone at the moment for its innovation. It's great to see Donald and Daffy in a piano duel, and Mickey becoming Bugs' accomplice. What I did enjoy most about it, besides the overlapping of cartoons in the real world, was the message about the purpose of cartoons. Being in an art school, you can meet plenty of people that suddenly become too critical about cartoons and they forget their purpose: to make people laugh, to entertain. Roger Rabbit had it clear. Jessica Rabbit understood it too. If it were for animation Puritans like that, many shows playing on TV today wouldn't be where they are. "The Simpsons" wouldn't be there because they are too yellow, and no humans are that yellow (No, I'm not going to talk about Asians). "South Park" wouldn't be there because they are too "cut-out" and "poorly animated", just because the animation is not Disney-feature-film style.
If there's something I've learned about all this, is that we should celebrate diversity. Not only in animation, but in pretty much everything: race, culture, religion, gender, sexual orientation, everything. How would the world be if everything was cookie-cut "perfect"? Perfect, really? Sounds more like boring to me...
Of course, animation as an art form can reach different sensibilities and convey different emotions. I got into art school to learn how to animate properly in order to be able to get a job, with the ultimate purpose of bringing more happiness to this problem-ridden world. "Smile, darn ya, smile" is the main song from the cartoons at Toon Town. That's what my goal is, either by music or cartoons, on the long run all I want is to make this world better. Having that said, let's go to tonight's final topic.
SCAD Sand Arts Festival 2010:
Yesterday (April 31), I went to the SCAD Sand Arts Festival 2010 with a group of friends. We were a team of four. Armed by 2 buckets and a small trash bin, we started working, in the attempt of doing two dolphins kissing. Our fourth team member then joined in, and she brought a shovel, so our working conditions improved. :) After noticing we had a huge empty space between our two dolphin shapes, I suggested my team "How about we fill this space with a turtle, so that instead of the dolphins kissing each other, they're kissing the turtle, one on each side". Everybody liked the idea, so we went ahead. First we were taking sand out of the center of the piece, now we were taking sand from outside and bringing it in to make a significant shell for the turtle. We started detailing the shapes: the faces, then adding fins, legs, shell patterns. In between, a pack of dolphins, probably about 8, was swimming close to the coast, so our piece suddenly gained more interest and relevance from the spectators. After the faces were detailed many people passed by and couldn't resist saying "Awww, that is too cute!" It was quite uplifting and it helped us to keep working hard till completion. (While I was typing this, there was a blackout and it's 11:41pm right now, so the entry might not be published until tomorrow.) I got interviewed by Savannah's local press, and I was quoted on the news (with my last name misspelled, but that's still me, heheh). We also ended up calling our sculpture "Turtlely in Love" (as totally in love) but I guess the organizers of the event understood "Turtle-y Love".
Here's a link to the article:
http://savannahnow.com/news/2010-05-01/scad-students-sculpt-tybee-beach
Oh, and I want to say thanks to the Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary, since their judge selected our sculpture as the First Place in the Best Underwater Sea Creature Contest! All our hard work paid off! Thanks also to my awesome team, for without Tran Do, Sofi Petersen and Whitney Taylor, we couldn't have made it as good. Thanks to all the friends who showed up to hang out, support and cheer us up, and last but not least, thanks to the mom that was sitting next to us for worrying about me getting too sun burnt and spraying me with sun block and ultimately leaving us her sun block bottle after she left (The world needs more people like you, lady! Thanks! :) )
Here's a picture of the team, some of our friends, the sculpture and the "first place" tag. I'm the one with the baseball cap next to the dolphin.
Thesis:
I finished the rough animatic, which I'm not disclosing yet. I had different possibilities for the ending, so I asked around to get the opinion from my friends and professors. What's to follow? Character designs! I will be uploading those once I'm satisfied... Meanwhile, you can see some of the characters' faces on my website, in the images section.
Those Imaginary Miles:
I'm working on a second scene from the project. Today the group met and we started compiling everything into Final Cut Pro to get an idea about how it will look like. I will provide a few stills soon.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit:
I recently bought this movie. The last time I saw it, I was probably about 8 years old. I remember as well some friends had the NES game, and that I owned a coloring book from it. Watching it again, 20 years later (probably), was quite an experience. It was like watching a completely different movie. I noticed so many things I didn't notice the first just because I didn't have the malice I have today. (What has society done to us?!?! Hahaha...) If you haven't seen it, you should: It's a great movie and it set a milestone at the moment for its innovation. It's great to see Donald and Daffy in a piano duel, and Mickey becoming Bugs' accomplice. What I did enjoy most about it, besides the overlapping of cartoons in the real world, was the message about the purpose of cartoons. Being in an art school, you can meet plenty of people that suddenly become too critical about cartoons and they forget their purpose: to make people laugh, to entertain. Roger Rabbit had it clear. Jessica Rabbit understood it too. If it were for animation Puritans like that, many shows playing on TV today wouldn't be where they are. "The Simpsons" wouldn't be there because they are too yellow, and no humans are that yellow (No, I'm not going to talk about Asians). "South Park" wouldn't be there because they are too "cut-out" and "poorly animated", just because the animation is not Disney-feature-film style.
If there's something I've learned about all this, is that we should celebrate diversity. Not only in animation, but in pretty much everything: race, culture, religion, gender, sexual orientation, everything. How would the world be if everything was cookie-cut "perfect"? Perfect, really? Sounds more like boring to me...
Of course, animation as an art form can reach different sensibilities and convey different emotions. I got into art school to learn how to animate properly in order to be able to get a job, with the ultimate purpose of bringing more happiness to this problem-ridden world. "Smile, darn ya, smile" is the main song from the cartoons at Toon Town. That's what my goal is, either by music or cartoons, on the long run all I want is to make this world better. Having that said, let's go to tonight's final topic.
SCAD Sand Arts Festival 2010:
Yesterday (April 31), I went to the SCAD Sand Arts Festival 2010 with a group of friends. We were a team of four. Armed by 2 buckets and a small trash bin, we started working, in the attempt of doing two dolphins kissing. Our fourth team member then joined in, and she brought a shovel, so our working conditions improved. :) After noticing we had a huge empty space between our two dolphin shapes, I suggested my team "How about we fill this space with a turtle, so that instead of the dolphins kissing each other, they're kissing the turtle, one on each side". Everybody liked the idea, so we went ahead. First we were taking sand out of the center of the piece, now we were taking sand from outside and bringing it in to make a significant shell for the turtle. We started detailing the shapes: the faces, then adding fins, legs, shell patterns. In between, a pack of dolphins, probably about 8, was swimming close to the coast, so our piece suddenly gained more interest and relevance from the spectators. After the faces were detailed many people passed by and couldn't resist saying "Awww, that is too cute!" It was quite uplifting and it helped us to keep working hard till completion. (While I was typing this, there was a blackout and it's 11:41pm right now, so the entry might not be published until tomorrow.) I got interviewed by Savannah's local press, and I was quoted on the news (with my last name misspelled, but that's still me, heheh). We also ended up calling our sculpture "Turtlely in Love" (as totally in love) but I guess the organizers of the event understood "Turtle-y Love".
Here's a link to the article:
http://savannahnow.com/news/2010-05-01/scad-students-sculpt-tybee-beach
Oh, and I want to say thanks to the Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary, since their judge selected our sculpture as the First Place in the Best Underwater Sea Creature Contest! All our hard work paid off! Thanks also to my awesome team, for without Tran Do, Sofi Petersen and Whitney Taylor, we couldn't have made it as good. Thanks to all the friends who showed up to hang out, support and cheer us up, and last but not least, thanks to the mom that was sitting next to us for worrying about me getting too sun burnt and spraying me with sun block and ultimately leaving us her sun block bottle after she left (The world needs more people like you, lady! Thanks! :) )
Here's a picture of the team, some of our friends, the sculpture and the "first place" tag. I'm the one with the baseball cap next to the dolphin.
Friday, April 16, 2010
"Those Imaginary Miles": Photos / Fotos
Hi. Here are the pictures I promised:
Hola! Aquí están las fotos que prometí:
Here you can see my workstation cluttered with papers. The sketches of the ideas I come up with at the bottom, the writing that we're using to make the animation, and my iPod connected to get my music fix while I work. :)
Aquí pueden ver mi área de trabajo cubierta por papeles. Los dibujos de las ideas que se me han ocurrido están al fondo; arriba, el escrito en el que estamos basando la animación, y a la izquierda, mi iPod conectado para brindarme una dosis de música mientras trabajo. :)
Hola! Aquí están las fotos que prometí:
Here you can see my workstation cluttered with papers. The sketches of the ideas I come up with at the bottom, the writing that we're using to make the animation, and my iPod connected to get my music fix while I work. :)
Aquí pueden ver mi área de trabajo cubierta por papeles. Los dibujos de las ideas que se me han ocurrido están al fondo; arriba, el escrito en el que estamos basando la animación, y a la izquierda, mi iPod conectado para brindarme una dosis de música mientras trabajo. :)
A closer look to one page of my sketches / rough storyboard. Note: the content shown might or might not appear in the final animation, since we're still in pre-production.
Un vistazo más de cerca de una página de mis dibujos / secuencia. Nota: el contenido mostrado puede o no aparecer en la animación final, ya que aún estamos en pre-producción.
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