TV is power

My Oct 2009 entry for the 11 second club.

view better quality version here

I really had a fun time trying to keep this subtle. I was watching a lot of live action reference with a more dramatic mood to it like this one and most of the ref I've found have VERY minimal movement. Hand gestures were kept to a minimum personally because I was hoping to keep the audience looking into his eyes for the most part, and the hand coming into the foreground was done to show that he has the viewer (whom he's addressing) under his control... and I stayed away from the cliche' fist at the end because if it came up it would distract from the face. Now it's time to move onto next month's clip... or a different clip of my choosing. :)

By the way, thanks fer watching! ;)

Theodore

Wrapping up on Alvin 2 this weekend.

It's been awesome!!

Poison

Just for FUN!

Don't trip... it's just a ball!

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Quick rough blocking test I did for fun tonight with an old AM rig I had from class 2. While animating at work I was wondering what the hell would I be doing if I wasn't animating?? Man, I'd be wanting to animate for a living. You gotta' do what you love 'cause doing something besides that isn't worth it.

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Keep the dream alive.

ALVIN 2

New Job!

One chapter of my life has just ended today while another is just beginning. Today was my last day at Reel FX. Sadly I'm going to miss all of the great people there, but I'm off to LA to work on some more cool stuff. With such short notice I start at Rhythm and Hues on Monday to work on Alvin and the Chipmunks 2. Even though I'm sad to have left a solid team at RFX, I'm very excited about the opportunities I'll come across in the pages ahead. Good luck to the team at RFX on their current and future projects, and here's hopin' the future ahead of me is a bright one out in Cali. WOOHOO, Rhythm and Hues here I come!

Lookin' forward to it. :)

Pepsi commercial

I as well as Randy Hayes animated a few different bird and butterfly cycles for the motion graphics animator/s on this. We gave them a couple cycles and they used what they wanted. Not much animation to show for it but it was cool to be a part of.

Updated REEL

Contains a few of the shots I animated on Open Season 2 and KFP:Secrets of the Furious Five:



It's also up on YouTube.

Merry Christmas!

Travel safely and Happy Holidays to everyone!

Quickie

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Finished up that quick animation I started a few weeks back. I haven't really had too much time to work on personal stuff so it's nice to have a little fun on my own stuff at home. Hopefully there'll be some more involved animation to come in the near future.

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BOLT!

Running in with only a couple of minutes to spare before it started on opening night, I expected to see the entire theater filled with anxious kids. On the contrary, the theater was pretty empty and the line for 'Twilight' wrapped around the hall... which meant I got a good seat but is unfortunate for this nicely animated and well told story by the people at Disney Animation.

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I saw it in 3D and I have to say that I liked the amount of detail that was noticeable... you could appreciate the great animation since it was so in your FACE. The characters were great, and their relationships felt pretty sincere to me. The story also had a nice progression, as Bolt left his world as he knew it, he needed to learn how to adapt without his powers, but his first task was something that would have been simple to him just a few scenes earlier, smashing through a wired fence. As the story advanced, he learned how to deal with these everyday obstacles the real way, and as each new obstacle made him grow little by little, he was ready for his last task of truly saving Penny's life as the building where she was shooting her last episode went up in flames. As much as I liked it, it wasn't very original and I definitely see the influence Pixar has had at Disney with this one. The look (and music) at times reminded me of The Incredibles (like this chase scene below), Linguini from Ratatouille made an appearance in the movie (or the same model just slightly modified), and the idea of a big actor having to make it in an ordinary world slightly reminded me of the premise behind Cars... especially during the scene when Mittens grew a liking to Bolt and was expecting him to stay with her instead of continuing on to Hollywood to find Penny. REGARDLESS... the movie took me along for the ride and I enjoyed the characters... especially Rhino the hamster.

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Good animated movie, and I hope it only gets better for Disney. I give it 4 out of 5 stars in the Segarra Scale.

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Thought I'd throw one of my shots up here. :)

Kung Fu Panda DVD

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Kung Fu Panda has just come out on DVD. You have the option of buying a version with the short film that we helped animate at Reel FX. (CG was done at RFX and the 2D at Dreamworks) It was an awesome and fun project for us so hopefully you find it fun and enjoyable too. :)

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quick animation

A little quickie I blocked out for the fun of it. The AM rig is such a nice and simple rig that I pretty much wanted to keep the test simple and just enjoy it.

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Animation is awesome. If you animate for a living, pat yourself in the back and be proud that you're living your dream on a daily basis. If you're still struggling to realize your dream, keep at it 'cause passion and practice are the name of the game.

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The King

...well, in his own imagination.

Alien Pets

Exer-MATION!

squishy squishy bounce...

WALL-E comes out in less then 24 hours!

YES!!! Can't wait to see it!

Exercising

Really small overlap test to keep the juices in my animation brain flowin'... don't blink... seriously.

New Camera

A few more photos I took today.

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I just bought a new camera yesterday, and I love it! I've been carrying it around everywhere with me. I haven't had much experience taking pictures but I bought this book that has some great info that I hope to start applying in my photos... plus stuff I could use for animation and art in general too. ( about emphasizing shapes, composition, perspective, use of texture and color, etc. ) Here's Jasmin with a nice yellow monotone throughout. Makes her feel warm and cuddly, which she is. :)

...and these are our dogs. Little brats... they think they could get away with anything. Jasmin thought it would be cute to give Buddy up there a mohawk.

Just messing around with some different camera functions.

I recommend the camera by the way. My buddy Chad, who recently bought one himself, recommended it to me. So if you're looking for something nice but not so expensive go check it out. ( SONY model no. DSLR-A200 )

Animation Update

Animation on Open Season 2 is winding down and coming to an end.

Last Friday I finished my last shot and there are a couple of animators wrapping up their final shots. The project was unlike any other project I've been on and I'm very happy and fortunate to be part of this one of a kind team at Reel FX. Hats off to everyone who worked on this for dishing out such nice work, it was really a joy to be a part of.

So this week I've started my first couple of shots on the DVD short film for Kung Fu Panda. I enjoyed the movie A LOT and I'm extremely psyched to be animating on this. Hope you watch and enjoy when it comes out with the DVD.

Skadoosh!

Lupus Walk 2008

Shirt design for my friend's Lupus pledge walk this year. :)

Iron Man

I really enjoyed the movie. Go check it out!

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Happiness Panda

baby monster

Here comes trouble...

Art of Bee Movie

I went to Borders yesterday and lo and behold, Bee Movie had an art book sitting on one of the shelves. I haven't seen the movie (shame on me) but after I bought the book I wanted to see how it translated on-screen. There are a few very nice designs done for different bees and some great concept work involved in the pre-pro. As 1-dimensional the story may be (grant it I haven't seen it yet so hopefully I'm wrong about that) I'm sure the visuals and animation are worth seeing... either way, go check out the book! :)

Aphrodite

Happy Valentines Day!

Feature Film Gig!

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I recently accepted a staff job at Reel FX and I'm super excited! They've worked on some really great and inspiring work and I can't wait to contribute my best to the studio. From the looks of it I'll be animating on Open Season 2. I've really admired the designs that Carter Goodrich sketched up for this movie and it'll be a pleasure getting to give them personality and bring 'em to life. He's definitely an inspiration in my own design work. I mean look at these guys... they're so appealing! :)

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I start in December and I already feel welcomed by the people that I've spoken with from RFX. I've heard the environment is great there. I can't wait to get started!

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Snobbery

Lupus Walk 2007

Here's a design I created for a good friend of mine and Jasmin who has recovered from Lupus and is walking to raise money to find a cure. If you'd like to help out with any donations you can visit her site here.

Thanks and take care. :)

Business Card

So I have finally designed myself a business card. There have been a few moments where it would have come in handy in the past few weeks. Personally, I've always thought it's not a big deal but it wouldn't hurt to be prepared when it's needed. I think it's just that much more professional.

Looking forward to having it printed. :)

Website

Hey all! For those of you who check in from time to time... thanks! :)



I've finally created my website thanks to Amy Provine. I met her during a Chicago sketchcrawl about a month ago and she convinced me to finish my site with her help. So it's finally up and running! There may be a few bugs depending on what platform and search engine you're using, but that will be fixed shortly.

Other then that, hope you guys enjoy.

http://www.dansegarra.net/

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So it's been awhile since I've posted. I need to get back into it.

Here's a little something.

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A buddy of mine wants to create a short film with me... the same guy who painted my backgrounds for 'Sheep'. So here are some character variations I came up with for that.

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Sheep

CG Talk

Check it out! My short film was plugged on CG Talk... and on Jason Schleifer's blog. Thanks Jason!

Also, a fellow Animation Mentor buddy of mine (Emanuele Pavarotti) was also plugged. Congrats for the plug Emanuele! Your short film's awesome, a huge congrats on finishing. Pretty sweet!!!

Figure Drawing

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If you're in the Manhattan area and want to know of a good Figure Drawing workshop, Salmagundi has been a great place to go. There are a variety of good models and at a pretty low price. ( $7 for 3 hours on Monday / $10 for 4 hours on Thursday ) Check it out if you're up for it.

Here are some of the sketches I'm able to post this week. I've got some more but I haven't had the time... or a personal computer, to scan 'em. KEEP DRAWING! ;)

SHEEP

So here is my animated short film. It's been a long process but it's finally done... well, actually the music is still just a placeholder but hopefully not for very long. :)

If you want to read an interview I gave to AnimationMentor you can CLICK HERE.

Thanks for visiting and enjoy!

Animation Mentor in the HOUSE!

Check it out!

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Animation Mentor has featured my short film in their newsletter along with two talented alumni from the school.

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ANIMATION MENTOR SHORT FILM SHOWCASE

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I also have a clip of my short film in there winter student reel.

Pretty cool! Congrats to all of the students who had their work shown here.

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TOTALLY inspiring work guys!

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Whattup PSYOP!

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I was just called by Psyop a few days ago... they asked if I was available for some freelance work. So like, now I'm in New York for a few months sharing a room with Aja from Animation Mentor.

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CRAZY stuff!

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I'm working on fantastic project and I'm extremely excited to be part of this talented team. Today was my first day and I can't wait to get going on this already awesome looking animation!

Bond...

Happy Valentine!

This is our puppy giving Jasmin a valentine chew toy...

yeah, our puppy chews on everything.

Happy Valentine, sweetie!

Buns

I'm planning on doing something with this little guy for the San Diego con this year... right after I finish up my short though.

Hey little fluffy bunny buns...

Squirrel

Sketch topic on the AM alumni forums was squirrel...

so I scurried to draw this little guy.

Lucky Charms commercial

Yeah boy, time for some movement on this blog. I had the pleasure of working with some talented people at Calabash Animation for a few months. They called me in to work on a Lucky Charms spot where he would be interacting with CG trees in an enchanted Forest of Questions. For these shots I animated all of the trees as well as the camera work.



Here are some of the thumbnails I drew up before getting sucked into the computer. These guys were pretty much a huge mouth with an action line. So the art director and I shot a bunch of reference reading each line to see the poses that the mouth would hit. I felt this has been a weak area in my previous work so I'm extremely happy that I was able to focus on something that was pretty much all mouth.

This shot was pretty difficult making everything read as clearly as possible with the camera rotating around Lucky. I was told to give a sense of being confused without confusing the audience. So in order to keep the attention where it needs to be (Lucky), I positioned the trees to always point in the general direction where Lucky would be at.



I didn't add this shot to the .mov file because all of these trees were blurred out of focus a bit and they were barely moving. The focus of the shot was about Lucky finding the answers to the questions by pulling out his crystal ball, so the trees were faded into the background to make all of the special effects and glowing marshmallow bites stand out more. :)



This shot was cut from the spot but I'm throwing the thumbs in here anyway... they changed the premise behind this shot so that the trees that had the questions answered would turn back into regular trees... the non-enchanted kind.

Shot 5 had a couple changes to it since the thumbnail stage. At first I had him end the shot in a friendly manner, but they actually preferred the more cynical expression.



Then this shot contrasts the previous in showing he's just a friendly old tree who just wants his question answered as the kids run off to catch Lucky with his Lucky Charms into the sunset.

Dentist

...another quickie.

Animation Mentor Graduation!!!

Woooh! I just came back from AnimationMentor in Berkeley, CA. The trip was INCREDIBLE! I finally met many of the students that I've been taking these classes with and I also was able to meet a couple of my mentors from PDI... Melanie Cordan and Mark Behm.

Bobby, Shawn, and Carlos deserve much thanks for starting an online school better then most real schools in my opinion. I don't know any other school where the president would sit and eat casually with all of the students during the reception of a graduation ceremony. I am very grateful to be part of this unique opportunity and know that only the best can come from such motivating mentors and peers. To the guys at AnimationMentor, a huge THANKS!!! You guys rock!

Ooh... here's a link to a news broadcast that took place at AnimationMentor the day before the ceremony: AnimationMentor on ABC News

Plumber

Just a quickie.

Merry Christmas from Jasmin!

My wife Jasmin drew a Christmas card this year.

Check it out, visit, and say 'Hi!' :)

If I Only Had a...

I drew this for the Outsider Art Blog for a topic inspired from the Wizard of Oz. I actually haven't seen the movie in years but I do remember it creeping me out. I think it was the flying monkeys and the wicked witch... come to think of it the good witch creeped me out too. Definitely a creative movie to grab inspiration from when drawing though.

PULL pose

On the Animation Mentor alumni forums someone recently started a thread dedicated to posing. This week's theme was PULL. AM had provided us with many great characters that we could mess around with so I chose this big guy. This was a ton of fun, try it yourself. Just don't forget to thumbnail!

Gobble Gobble

A little late... hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Short Film

Work In Progress

Here's a small clip for my animated film that I'm trying to finish from the classes I took at Animation Mentor. I've set a deadline for myself to take one shot from blocking to animation each week. Some shots are further along then others so there's a chance I might be able to finish sooner then I'm hoping. So far I've been sticking to the deadlines so if I continue on the same track I could finish the animation by the first week of January.

Throughout this process I've learned so much. Recently I've re-learned how important it is to have others look at your work. When you're telling a story for an audience I think it's generally a good idea to have a small audience look at it from time to time before you settle on your ideas. If you go through the entire process without feedback it could very well fall flat where you yourself intended something to resonate... possibly your entire message. That would totally suck! But making mistakes and learning from them is a part of growing so I think it's very important to show others your work, mistakes and all.

On another note, it's also good to be confident in the choices you've made that you feel strengthen your story. Sometimes it's more important to push along and finish without second guessing yourself and your choices. But like Shawn Kelly mentioned in one of the lectures, if 3 people make the same comment about your work, you should seriously consider taking their advice.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween everyone!

Thanks for stopping by.

Mr. Monkey

This is how I feel when I don't know what I want to draw...

Smurf sketches

Playing around with some Smurf designs.