In the Fall of 2011, I was commissioned to design the effects animation for an animated video of Coldplay's hit single, "Charlie Brown". The video was going to be directed by Mark Osbourne (director of Kung Fu Panda) and the animation production was to be handled by Passion Pictures in London. My responsibility on the project was to design and animate light graffities emanating from the characters.
My first task was to go over Mark's storyboards, and design the effects. Everything went well up to that point, and we were all getting excited about the potential of the project. As we waited to get the go ahead from the higher ups, decisions were made to take the Charlie Brow video in a completely different direction using live action instead of animation. Many of the ideas developed for the "Charlie Brown" video were then transposed to another song and used in the "Hurts Like Heaven" music video, for which I had no involvement.
I feel sad that I didn't get to animate these effects. It would have been so much fun and I think I could have done something pretty spectacular with them. Click here to see the effects designs I created for the projects.
Diamond Comics is currently featuring ZED: A Cosmic Tale from Image Comics in their December solicitation catalog, Previews, for items shipping in February 2013. It's hard to believe that after eleven years, ZED: A Cosmic Tale is finally completed. I think it turned out well—although definitely a bit on the darker side. Please, let your retailer know that you want them to order ZED: A Cosmic Tale for their store.
Or if you like, you can pre-order the book on Amazon.com.
It was sure nice to be able to take four days off after the campaign's completion. The whole experience was exhilarating and at the same time very demanding.
A few weeks before I launched The Saga of Rex on Kickstarter, I took on a small project (a 16-page comic story called "LOAH") from editor Kazu Kibuishi and Amulet/Abrams Books. In my naivety, I had planned to do this task while running the Kickstarter campaign. Little did I realize that I'd be so involved trying to get The Saga of Rex funded that everything else would go by the way side.
From now until the end of January, I will be creating original art, prints, sketches, signing books, and setting up the Secret Production Blog, while at the same time completing "LOAH".
My intention is to start production on The Saga of Rex: The Animated Film by, February 11, 2013. The Secret Production Blog will also go into action on that date or a bit earlier.
Thanks again for all your support. This is going to be fun!
It's with excitement, anticipation and trepidation, that I'm announcing my Kickstarter Campaign to finance the first four minutes of my proposed Animated Feature Film, The Saga of Rex. Please have a look at the plan I laid out and the cool rewards available. I'm hoping to make a valuable contribution to the art of Classical Animation. I hope you'll be with me on this journey. Visit my Kickstarter page here.
