Awesome Stew - A Year in Review

Awesome Stew - A Year in Review from Joshua Lightle on Vimeo.

Substitute Teacher

I think this is funnier than the D&D bit.

D&D DOINGS TV Spot

The Hobbit

You're welcome guys, it was a pain in my ass to bootleg this thing.

The Glitch

A hilarious real life take on the horrors of game glitching courtesy of Corridor Digital.



See the making of below.

Yep.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is now on Netflix

Just thought you should know

Cranboard

Flying Lotus

Ok, I know I am posting two Vimeo Staff Picks, but hey good work is good work. Haunting and hypnotic this also further sealed my man crush for Elijah Wood

Flying Lotus - Tiny Tortures from dlew on Vimeo.

Flying Lotus "Tiny Tortures" Process montage from dlew on Vimeo.

Galeria

Galeria from robert proch on Vimeo.

The transitions and ultra flexible use of space.

Controller Evolution v. 2 and the Evolution of an Animator

Nintendo always has been and always will be a constant element in my life. This piece is a tribute to their life thus far.

Music by Heath McNease

I said this over a year ago when I made the first Controller Evolution, and now with the introduction of the Wii U, it only seemed fitting to continue this tradition. I can't think of a better controller's history to track than Nintendo's. The changes made have been so dramatic yet so subtle all at the same time. You really don't notice that until your animating every little piece.

People probably don't know this but the original Controller Evolution was one of the most played videos on my Vimeo page. Mostly due to the content and the fact it was posted on a few gamer blogs. When I had first completed it I was still working in Apple Motion; I was really proud of that piece at the time too. I recall seeing it posted on a blog not too long ago and the poster saying, "I wonder if Chris will update the animation with the Wii U?" At the time it hadn't even occurred to me, but as I started looking at my year old animation I knew it was time for a change. I not only owed it to Nintendo for the many years of joy they've given me, but I owed it to myself to show how much I've evolved as an animator in a little over a year. I am no longer animating in Apple Motion (not that I don't like it, I just think Adobe After Effects is a little more robust). I've taught myself everything I know about Adobe After Effects through experimentation and tutorials. I still have a lot to learn, but when I can look at my work side by side and visually see the progress it helps me know I haven't been wasting my time. Check it out for yourself.

Farmer's Recruitment / History

I thought this might be a cool alternative style for history pieces.

Amazing fight scene using projected enemies.

Dockville Trailer 2011

If I ever had the time to make a MeanMug & Slim movie I would DEFINITELY do it in this style.  I love that it's not only mixing live action and animation, but that it's on a miniature scale.  I think this helps to blend the two styles together because the tiny props they had to create are a little "cartoony" in nature so it all looks as if it's from the same world.  Make sure to check out all the work from Robert Loebel, his stuff is amazing.

Cool

Lava Meets Ocean

Rollin' Wild

Funny how such a simple idea can make for so many hilarious scenarios. Can't wait to see more Rollin' Wild work!

Love Letter to Plywood. By Tom Sachs

Directed by Van Neistat, I thought this was fun, intense, but fun. I checked out some of the other videos too. The rigid standards of Tom Sach's studio are cool but limiting. Then again, I guess it's like any other brand standard or guidelines.

There's something in the instructional quality of the video too. Perhaps we could apply this to some of our work in the future. Minus the quick flash of boobs around the 5.5 min mark of course...

Love Letter to Plywood. By Tom Sachs from Tom Sachs on Vimeo.

Form 17 - A New Film from Red Giant

Every once in while, Red Giant creates a short film that demonstrates the capabilities of some of their software. The writing is pretty sharp too.

Form 17 from Red Giant on Vimeo.

How to kill a mustache

Jacopo Rosati

Jacopo Rosati has some amazing work on his website, but recently he has been playing around with felt and I must say that I am in love with the results.  The final works have such a vibrant, playful look to them and the felt adds just enough depth and texture to make the art look as if it's popping off the page.  I didn't come across any stop motion videos on his site, so if you are reading this Jacopo, DO SOME STOP MOTION ANIMATION WITH THIS STUFF!  It would literally be perfect for it. That's all I have to say about that. Enjoy.

Graphic Design

Super Mario Beads 3

We're all familiar with the late night haul of doing a stop motion animation. Well these guys have done a 5 minute long Mario tribute....and it's their 3rd one.  It's not super flashy or perfectly smooth, but it's got a lot of soul to it.  I'm also posting their behind the scenes video because not only did I find it pretty amusing but also a little interesting as well (it's in another language so just hit the cc button on youtube for closed captioning).  What I actually found interesting is that they use no tripods or nice lights.  In the interview they said this was to give it a home made feel and inspire others to do it, but they also go on to say it may just be because they're lazy. Either way it's a fun piece to watch.

Behind-the-Scenes

I really like Peter Jackson because he gives access to more behind-the-scene footage than the actual length of the movie.  Its so true...there is exponentially more hours put into making an excellent product than its length.  So thank you Peter Jackson for documenting your work.  It makes me appreciate your films that much more. This kind of production has to be INSANE to simultaneously work on 3 films!

New 'Effin York

I like how the typography is integrated into the scene. It is dramatic, and feels like it's in motion. Imagine if this were a movie title? The smoke would roll in and the frame would freeze on this shot with the title, hold for 3 seconds, then unfreeze and roll on.

MeanMug Loves Guns

I'm not sure where it began, but I'm pretty sure it was a combination of Adam Simpson's series-like illustrations and the Dumb Ways To Die music video...I'm talking about what drove me to make two new MeanMug and Slim shorts this weekend. I've had the idea to do a series of MM&S series for a long time, but just hadn't gotten around to animating it. But after seeing those two examples I named at the top of the post I was inspired to actually put down the videogame controller and get back in the game. My goal is to at some point create 10 of these gun animations and put them all together. I'm thinking about doing 1 every 2 weeks, and maybe quicker if I'm feeling exceptionally frisky one week. While creating the first two shorts, The Bazooka and The Revolver, I really started to feel as though I am finally making the MM&S I've always wanted to. The style is where I want it and the animation is becoming more fluid. Now it's just a matter of coming up with funny shorts. Ok, now you can enjoy the shorts, and wear headphones for a better audio experience.


The Bazooka from Chris Koelsch on Vimeo.



The Revolver from Chris Koelsch on Vimeo.

Dumb Ways To Die

At first I didn't know what to think about this, but the catchy song from Tangerine Kitty and the sheer amount of deaths eventually won me over. What I find even more interesting is that this piece was created for Metro and their campaign to educate people about safety around trains. To create a catchy tune and a funny animation to promote what could have been just another boring PSA is a brilliant idea. Makes me glad knowing that there are options out there like this that clients took a risk with.

Adam Simpson

It was Adam Simpson's Ray Gun series that first caught my eye, but after visiting his site I found much more to enjoy. I love the way he seems to make one piece out of many little pieces; his work gives you a lot to explore.

Portland/CreativeMornings - Aaron James Draplin

An extremely inspiring and engaging talk from Aaron James Draplin, respected designer and founder of Field Notes, that had me thinking and laughing all at the same time. In this talk Aaron goes over his 50 point plan on how to wreck/save your career.

WorkMusic

As people who are constantly stuck in our chairs for long hours we all know how important it is to have some good music to accompany you. I think we should start posting good editing/animating music to the stew. Lets tag them workmusic so we can easily find them. I'll start out with this song that came up today on my Pandora, Joao Gilberto - Aguas de Marco.

100 Riffs (A Brief History of Rock N' Roll)

100 Riffs (A Brief History of Rock N' Roll) from Chicago Music Exchange on Vimeo.

Eat it up Brian!

Level eater - Chicago

A Pocket Companion to Books from The Simpsons

I love things like this. French graphic designer Olivier Lebrun has collected stills of the many books in the 600+ Simpsons episodes and with the help of Rollo-Press they have published 174 of the best images in this pocket companion book. Perfect for any dining room table and you can purchase it at Rollo-Press here.

Moustache Projection

I've projected my moustache growth 200 days and created this .gif. Science tells me it's 99.9% accurate.

Phil Collins - 80s on 8

Oh my...

Dragon Baby

Sorry Micah, these folks had more resources than you did...

A Brief History of John Baldessari

A Brief History of John Baldessari from Supermarché: Henry & Rel on Vimeo.

Dungeons & Dragons Bitches

Another little gem by way of Justin T., our resident ghost writer.

Dungeons & Dragons & Bitches from Peter Atencio on Vimeo.

The 10 Types of Content We All Crave

Agent Aid

Remember, way back when, when Shauri asked us if anyone was in animating something on the side? Well, this is what I cooked up for her brother's friend's small business. I don't really hang my hat on animation as much as I used to but if was pretty fun... I wouldn't hate shooting something soon either.

Agent Aid from Joshua Lightle on Vimeo.

Airing out NYC

Superman

Here is the the latest installment of the 'Califonia is a Place' series.

Superman from California is a place. on Vimeo.

Movember.com Homepage

In honor of Dave...

Mr. Frosty Man

It's never too early to get into the holiday spirit. Check out this claymation for Sufjan Stevens' new song Mr. Frosty Man

Cadillac ATS versus the world

We do lots of serial work. It's interesting to consider a series based on challenges, like "we're on a mission to create great customer service" or "we're traveling across the country to find the best performers..." Etc.
It might be a cool device to increase the pull-through for our next serial.

Dr. Seuss titles revised according to their subtexts

Dr. Seuss' work is a study in subtlety. Subtlety enhances the quality of conversation and critique (people want to solve their own puzzles). These revised titles are interesting to me because they decode the subtexts, thus weakening the impact of the story. How can we introduce more subtlety into our films to enhance the viewers' journey to understanding and alignment?

Musicals

"Just in time for Halloween, a zombie invasion in downtown Toledo. On the stage, that is." - 13 ABC News

Dammit Dave!

Chipmunk Dave

People Who Live vs. Robots

To answer Dave's post about People Who Live: They will live until these robots kill us all.

Future Catwalk

26 iterations on one walk into infinity.

People Who Live - Terry Richardson

There must be something pretty magnetic about Terry Richardson. Not only did his disposable point and shoot style inspire the American Apparel brand photography and countless others, but his portraits are a debaucherous whose who of Hollywood. His style is simple but iconic, mischievous, trashy, and deeply personal - all at the same time.

This dude also parties. A lot.

There for he is the first in a new post series I call: People Who Live