tomsaville.com ::character animator::

My Halo: REACH Showreel!

2010-10-17T19:22:00.002-04:00

Hello peeps! It's been too long! Almost 2 years have passed since I started at Bungie and recently shipped the mega-shooter, Halo: REACH! So with that, I've included my showreel of a good chunk of the work I did for the project. There is still a lot of work that I didn't include in the showreel but only to keep the final time of the video down. Otherwise, I could see it going into 3-4 minute territory and bore you. :P Most of what was left out was Jorges move sets and some small cinematic shots I got to help noodle with.

It was a great project to work on and to say I'm honored to be apart of the definitive Halo is an understatement. All of the fine people at Bungie put their hearts into this game and if you've played it (you've played it, right? :) ), it is absolutely apparent. To work with some of the most creative geniuses in this industry on an epic game has been humbling. My hat is off to every single one of you!

UPDATE! -> So this showreel was featured on Kotaku and Microsoft requested it be put on hold until being properly reviewed. Thanks to the rad dudes at Microsoft, it's now approved for your viewing pleasure. :) BTW, thanks for the shout-out Kotaku!

My Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs showreel!

2010-02-03T03:42:00.008-05:00

After a year, I finally put together my IA3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs showreel. It's only a minute long and thats because I migrated to Bungie before production wrapped. I don't feel like it's my best work but I'm still proud of it all the same. I can't thank Blue Sky, and the amazing talent there, enough for giving me the opportunity to work on such a beautiful film. Enjoy!

Halo: Reach trailer!

2009-12-13T13:37:00.008-05:00

The opening cinematic premiered on the 2009 Video Game Awards! It's all in-game and looks so damn good. More info soon...or visit Bungie.net! I'm not sure how much I can even talk about now so I'll just say, it's an...AWESOME game!

Halo: Reach Xbox 360 Trailer - In-Game Trailer

Halo: REACH announced!!!

2009-06-05T04:23:00.006-04:00

I've been waiting for this since I found out what I was working on at Bungie. It's gonna be a great game and I think everyone is gonna be blown away by it! Here's the E3 teaser...gave me shivers the first time I saw it.

The chronicles of Adam Green!

2009-01-26T02:18:00.004-05:00

Back on the Horton production crunch, I thought it would be fun to annoy the hell out of the dude who was sitting across from me. That guy, Adam Green, was fortunate enough to 'participate' in a little photo log....against his knowing and will. Over the period of a couple of weeks, I would take a couple of pictures a day or a few days or something. I don't really remember. But when I told some of the Blue Sky folks that I'd eventually put all the pictures to some wacky music, they demanded to see the final product as soon as possible. Fast forward to over a year, and I have found a way to produce such a video. So all my friends who wanted to see it, here it is. I hope you find it as pointless as I do.

Horton Hears A Who showreel!

2009-01-25T17:13:00.002-05:00

This has been a long time coming...I hope you guys and gals enjoy it. :)

Test animations!

2009-01-23T23:42:00.006-05:00

Back when I was looking to break into the game industry, I approached a few companies. Out of the four that I was looking at, I did tests for two of them. Now what you're about to see isn't my best work... in fact, when I was doing both of these tests, I was pushing myself as hard as I could. Staying up late and coming home to lunch to work on these was common. I did one fight scene for Sony Online Entertainment in Austin. That fell through, then I got in touch with a friend at Blizzard Entertainment to help me out and was approached to do another fight scene with an additional walk cycle. Here they are...nothing fancy.

Sony Online Fight Test

Blizzard Walk Test

Blizzard Fight Test

Here are the sketches I did for the Blizzard fight.

The trip to Seattle!

2009-01-14T16:53:00.027-05:00

My final route

Hey everyone...man, it's been a while. A couple of weeks ago I got here in Seattle. The total trip was around the 5,300 mile mark and for the most part, four 13.5 hour drives. My first stop was Atlanta, Georgia to visit my good buddy, Nick Gibbons. I was only there for 3 nights but that was enough time for him to show me around Atlanta and even visit Radical Axis, where they produce the Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Squidbillies cartoons. I liked Atlanta...reminded me of Austin in alot of ways.

Nick in front of the Vortex in Atlanta

Nick and Nancy's wicked cool patio porch thing!

After I left Nick's place...I was headed to Justin, Tx to visit my younger brother, his wife and my totally awesome little nephew, Noah. Spending time with them was great...they have a great home and are just fun to be around. But most of all, little Noah was my highlight. Not to detract from Stephen and Darby, but since I was living in NY, it was hard for me to not want to be around my nephew (or niece...but I'll get to that), it kinda makes me sad that I won't be as close to him to watch him grow up but that just means I'll have to make regular trips to see him. He was sick the entire time I was there, he had this little cough he'd picked up in day care that kept going but every time I would look at him, he'd smile and want me to pick him up. And if you're an uncle to a rad little kid, that burns ya up. All in all, he is a happy little boy. I can tell he's gonna be a social dude. Everyone he met, he would smile at.

Steve holding his shotgun after we shot clay pigeons. I desperately wanted a picture with the shotgun but...alas.

After the 4th night there, I headed South to Austin, Tx to visit my older brother, his wife and my niece. Hal and Jess have a great life together...two really awesome pups, a big uncluttered house, and a cute little girl. It was great to spend even a couple of nights with them. Cameron, my niece, is coming up on 2 and she's already got a big personality. She's completely enthralled with Sesame Street and Yo Gabba Gabba. After watching it I can see why, Yo Gabba Gabba has Kid Robots designers. Gotta give it to her, she's got good taste.

Duke totally chilling out!

Those are some big shoes to fill, little lady.

Yo Gabba Gabba...don't interrupt.

Hal picking up dog poo...Cameron supervises.

So then it was down to Converse to visit my mom. While I was there, I had dinner with my aunt Bertha and Uncle Mike (great folks), got my car serviced at a VW dealership, and spent some quality time with my ma...and her 6 cats. Because most of the family was visiting the West Coast, we decided to have Christmas in Dallas with my Aunt Stella and Uncle Ryan. So I spent a night in Austin to spend Christmas Eve with Hal, Jess, and Cameron and my ma and myself drove up to Dallas the next day.

Ma is a bit shy.

Get off of my car, cat #4!

Hal and Jess got me an umbrella for Christmas. Actually, a perfect gift for Seattle.

Hal got a way cooler gift though.

Cameron got a jiggling Elmo or something. It stands up...high tech.

DUKE!

Christmas in Dallas was relaxing. Usually when a guest comes into town, the hosts try to show them a good time...luckily for me, my family was completely understanding that I just wanted to relax, eat alot of good Mexican food, and get ready for the rest of the trip to Washington. A few days in Dallas, I was ready to go.

Robbie and his son, Tanner, made this. Deliciously impressive!

My uncle built this...even more impressive!

Raddest little dude ever!

Now I don't know what it was...maybe spending all that time with my nephew, maybe being around SO many people for Christmas, or maybe it was all the stress of the holidays (imagine that)...but the day I started my trip to the Northwest, I was getting sick. Around 2 hours after I left Dallas, the aching, chills, the fatigue started setting in. Thirteen and a half hours later, I landed in Flagstaff, Arizona feeling the worst. That night, I had the most ridiculous dreams about fighting bears or something stupid like that, and shivering myself awake every 10 minutes. People, friends, worst enemies...DO NOT get flu-like symptoms during a road trip.

Somewhere in West Texas. Flat.

The next day was much better...not 100 percent but much better. It was more like 38.7 percent better. That night, I was staying in Redding, California. And thanks to my GPS, I (well...IT) decided I should cut through all of Arizona. Now Arizona was beautiful, really it was. But the two-way road has got to go...and passing huge trucks on those rolling roads was SCARY! When it started getting dark, I really had to pick my battles. By the way, Area 51 was billowing smoke.

I also stopped off at the Hoover Dam. Way too crowded.

And to your right, you'll see a dragon.

So I got to Redding no problem. LOTS of winding roads for about an hour toward the end was the only problem. The good news was no more 13 and a half hour drives to a destination. This is New Years Eve and I'm heading up to Portland, Oregon to see my ex-DNA (now Laika) friends, the Gorskis. 7 hours after I'd left Redding, I was at Joe and Michelles. We spent New Years together in a very low-key, sickly, stay at home and eat chinese food setting. It was great. I don't think I had enough energy in me at that point to go out and party...plus, the roads were REALLY crummy. Thanks again, you two!

Joe and Michelles fiesty cat, Jingle.

Smear frame.

And their new pet, Perogi.

Now that all that holiday garbage was over, it was time to go to my destination. Seattle was only 3 hours away. Lucky for me, I have friends up here. The Halifax's were awesome enough to put me up for a few nights. Three nights to be exact...and in that time, I had found an apartment in Kirkland. Since I hate commuting, I opted to live close to work, which is also a good thing for a social life because lots of restaurants, bars, and shopping areas are in the downtown area...a 3 minute drive away. Heh...the 3rd place I looked at. More about my snazzy apartment for another post, but, compared to New York prices, this place is an absolute steal.

She doesn't have a problem...YOU have a problem!

Ok, she has a problem...

It showed the day before I left their place. My car got stuck battling up a hill. The hill was eventually conquered!

My view of the nearby lake from my porch. A block away from the beach!

Just got finished unpacking everything. It looked like alot more stuff when it was in the moving van.

HELL....YEAH to Bungie shwag!

So that's it. Three weeks of traveling and I'm finally here. A few of my friends have told me that a road trip by yourself is the best way to find out who you are. I don't want to get deep here but I think, if anything, it gave me a damn good idea.

I have tons of stuff to follow up on so I'll try to get to all that mess soon. Thanks to everyone who let me stay with them. I love you all. With that said, I miss all my New York friends...ALL of you.

Thats some strong coffee!

2009-01-03T02:54:00.002-05:00

I'll keep this short because I don't really have too much access to all the pictures I've taken and doing all of that on this laptop would take a while....and maybe I'm a little tired from the trip still. But after about 5,000 miles, I've made my way to the Seattle area. The next few posts will include pictures and some things I've figured out on the 3+ week drive here. Since now I have to find a place, get my stuff moved in, familiarize myself with the area, and play a TON of games, I'm so happy I get another 3 weeks to take my time with all of it. Stay tuned! It's gonna be so boring your head will explode!

Blue Sky, we have to talk...

2008-11-26T23:19:00.003-05:00

4 and a half years ago, I started at Blue Sky. At Blue Sky, I met some amazing people...incredible talent but more importantly, people that I consider true friends. Friends that I will keep with me my entire life. But now it's time to move on. Now it's time to try something different and spice it up. I've always thought that the next step in my career was games and in the next few years, the tech of in-game animation is going to rival feature animation. Luckily, a company has given me the opportunity to help them achieve that. The next step in my animation career is Bungie! Yup, they made the Halo games and, my personal favorite, Myth 1 and 2. As soon as I left the interview I was pumped. It seems like a great fit and they're awesome enough to give me a couple of months of a 'break'. A break meaning packing, road trip to Texas then Washington, stress of moving, and holiday family time.

So the next few posts will be from my trip to Texas then to Washington...and yes, they're gonna be taken with my badass camera. Stay tuned, people!

The Dude Challenge is over!

2008-11-26T22:03:00.003-05:00

Ah...it feels good to shave again. This was the first time I grew out my 'stache and even though it didn't help me in any way...it DID bring the team together in an extraordinary way. Well....mostly razzing. Here are mine for week 3 through 5.

Week 3: This is the best my 'stache looked through out....until it started going horribly wrong...

Week 4: Started going downhill...getting shaggy and started growing over my lips. Ewww...

Week 5: The end!!! Everyone dressed up all crazy but I just threw on my winter coat. I'm kinda dumb.

The final 1st Annual Dude Challenge group shot...40 people participated!

Week 2 of Dude Challenge!

2008-11-04T00:02:00.003-05:00

This is my second week of the Dude Challenge. I'm starting to hear 'it looks great, actually' or 'you could pass for Johnny Depp'. Whatever they say, it's kinda awkward. I've never had a mustache like this. You be the judge!

How to build a mustache fit for a KING!

2008-10-29T18:33:00.003-04:00

A takeoff from Tippets recent beard/mustache challenge , the first ever annual Dude Challenge was created. Not to compete....just because we thought it was such a dang good idea! I initially thought mine would grow in slowly but it turns out, 9 days later, it's getting a little thick. It doesn't really itch so much as it is annoying. I'm already looking forward to shaving this darn thing off. But still...gotta stay in it as long as I can for the 5 weeks. Am I gonna win? Heck no! (I didn't put any money into the pot)....will I tough it out? MAYBE! Thats the best I can do right now. Forgive me for the pictures you're about to see. But please...mock them.

Day 0. Notice the smooth, supple, baby-like features.

Week 1. Don't be fooled, even though it looks like I'm enjoying myself. A hidden loathing lurks!

Some family time in Texas!

2008-10-14T01:36:00.001-04:00

The Saville family got together in Dallas a few weeks ago. It was great to be back in Texas even if it was for a few days. This was the first time I had seen my 3 month old nephew, Noah Daxton, and the second time seeing my 1.3 year old niece, Cameron. It was amazing seeing the new Savilles and, of course, it was great seeing my brothers, sisters, mom and aunts/uncles. I took over 1,700 pictures (!!!) with my new badass camera but here are only a few. I mean...1,700....yeah.

Richard Williams at Blue Sky!

2008-09-24T00:47:00.005-04:00

An animation legend, Richard Williams, visited Blue Sky this afternoon. Really nice guy with some great stories to tell. We took pictures with him...I'm not in some of them because I was taking pictures with my new badass camera. I'm suprised I could fit the entire department in the picture. Like I said...badass.

From RichardWilliams09230

If you click on the link, you can see all the pictures that were taken.

Yeti for Drawergeeks!

2008-08-20T21:39:00.002-04:00

My first Drawergeeks since...well...a LONG time. The theme this week is Yeti.

Pre-production Horton crew sillyness!

2008-08-20T12:11:00.004-04:00

I can't believe I didn't post this when it was sent to our department...a GIMP (image editing program for Linux) gem from lil Jen Downs. I miss all you kids.

Kilkenny Castle in not so scary 3D!

2008-08-12T22:20:00.003-04:00

I finally got around to looking at some of the panoramic pictures I took in Ireland and was EXTREMELY relieved to find out Photoshop has a panoramic stitcher built-in. Here is Kilkenny Castle from the point of view of the courtyard. Also, I'm gonna be getting a new camera in the next week or so. Yay! A new hobby!!!

Not-so-mega-update! I'm not sure exactly where we are at this point because we were driving around so much but dang, it's pretty.

Good luck out there, Mr. Torres!

2008-07-21T12:33:00.005-04:00

Blue Sky's good friend and long-timer, Dave Torres, has left our humble halls and will be animation supervising on an unnamed PDI project. He will be missed....all you PDI'ers out there are gaining a valuable artist and a great friend. Good luck out there, Torres...we're all WAY excited for you (obviously)!

--MEGA ULTRA UPDATE...THIS ANIMATED GIF!!!--

Wall-E was amazing, Pixar!

2008-07-01T00:58:00.004-04:00

I gotta say, I like movies...period. But I love really good movies. And on top of that, I love Pixar movies. It's always been one of those studios that is geared towards the artists. Where they think of the art and not box office numbers...and judging from what my friends say who work there, that's exactly the type of studio it is. So with that in mind, how can you not like movies that come from a studio where the passion for film making is obviously still going strong.

So Blue Sky treated us to a screening of Wall-E this past Friday and am happy to say (though I'm not surprised) that it's my favorite Pixar movie yet. Right after The Incredibles. So, in summation, way to go Pixar and all your artists, Wall-E blew me away. Not only was the story great, but the acting was top notch.

Anyhow, if you haven't seen it yet, go see it.

Congrats to the Kung Fu Panda team!

2008-06-22T04:40:00.005-04:00

I saw this movie the friday it came out (at lunch) and never got around to congratulating the team that worked on it! The story was way fun, the characters were extremely entertaining, the design was IN-CREDIBLE (!) and the technology behind it (ie. rigs, effects, layout) was way ahead of anything the studios are working on now. My tiny hat is off to you guys (and gals)....it's gonna be a tough movie to top.

I'm totally looking forward to Monsters vs Aliens and Master Mind!

A recent CGSociety article that blew my mind...I is jealous!

Flight Explorer Volume 1!

2008-06-20T17:49:00.003-04:00

Back when were stationed on the 17th floor, I made friends with Jake Parker (of Flight Vol 1, and Vol 2 fame) because of all things, Hellboy. Jake showed me all the neat stuff he was working on for Flight and Out Of Picture Vol 2 and my enthusiasm for seeing this pre-published stuff was obvious. At the time, I was drawing and coloring a zombie comic strip called Unlimited-Ammo and wanted to get his critiques on how to make each page better. A few days later, Jake comes to me with a favor...to help him lay colors base down for his latest comic. Now that may sound like a boring task or even like a 'favor', but because I was so into Unlimited-Ammo, it gave me the chance to collaborate with an amazing artist. And with all the help he was giving me on my comics, I thought it fitting. So he showed me his process and gave me the pallete he used and the rest of the uncolored photoshop pages to gussy up and from there, set up an easier automated process for it. Believe me...it was pretty dang simple, but the automation helped quite a bit.

So this post has gone on WAY too long just to say, I got a 'special thanks' credit in Flight Explorer Vol 1 so check it out. Heck, buy it if you love good storytelling!!!

My first demo reel!

2008-06-15T13:21:00.004-04:00

Blue Sky Animation Dept is getting to know each other better and tell each other about our lives and how we got to where we are today. So to do this, we have the choice to show pictures, demo reels, anything that gives the other animators the insight how much we had to struggle or not struggle. Me, personally, got REALLY lucky with getting where I am today. When I make that presentation, I'll share with you guys the milestones in my life that got me here. But for now, you'll have to settle with my very first demo reel. I wish I had my very first animation. It was a test in a character animation class (at Art Institute of Dallas) to see if we wanted to do animation...after doing this, I fell in love with it.

Just to give you a little backstory on this. While I was finishing up AID, I knew there wasn't enough time to model, rig, and animate my epic demo idea (which was a ninja running through a fortress, battling minions to get to the head boss to a ska beat by Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra) so I ran with a character I'd been drawing for a while. After the quarter was over, I decided I needed to take another semester and do this little story. It was all fairly easy and got everything out on time. No problems whatsoever. The instructors were even kind enough to say it was one of the best reels to come out of the animation course (which turned me beet red). I showed it at the job fair but that was after I showed it to my buddy, Aaron Thedford, at DNA. So I made the trip up to DNA, showed it to him and ran into a fellow AID'er (Matthew Russell) who was more than happy to show my reel to the animation supervisor at the time, Paul Allen. They called me in for an interview the day of the demo reel fair (where all the companies in the area would check out the student work) and I sat there with Paul and looped my demo about 20 times...excrutiating. So I went to the fair and even had little root beer cans with my labels wrapped around it. Like in the demo. The fair came and went and to my suprise, the next day, Gina Shey called me with a job offer. I was so excited I took my pants off and peed all over them.

Also, I was thinking of doing a chronology of demo reels and you guys can tell me if I've progressed at all. The Ice Age 2 and Horton reel may be a bit tricky to get up here (legalities...bleh) but I'll try anyway.

I went to Ireland and all I got was 1,000 pictures!

2008-06-01T21:33:00.009-04:00

At the beginning of the year, my aunt and uncle asked me to come to Ireland with them. At the time, I wasn't really sure...I was wrapping up Horton, had plans to go the LA premiere (and Vegas), and had to find a new place. Good thing the trip was planned for May 3rd for two weeks which gave me plenty of time to decide, well the premiere came and went, got myself a place no problem and the burning out was hitting me hard. So getting the ticket was easy the only thing I felt bad about was taking the two weeks off. Next thing I know, I'm in the Dublin airport and my two week trip around Ireland began! I'm gonna show you the best pictures because as the title tells you, I took about 1,000 pictures. Maybe I'll just show you about 10 or 15 or so.

The crew we traveled with.

Me and my cousin, Lisa, are pretty cool sometimes.

Something I drew for the Guinness visitor wall...I don't like it.

I LOVE yelling poses.

I made a lake! Cool!

Haaaaaand-Weeaaavers!

Yelling pictures. Rad.

I wasn't supposed to take a picture of this room. Suck it, Ireland!

Uncle Ryan and Steven...yell for the camera.

Lil Andy...owner of Lil Andy's Pub. He was really good at darts, too.

That blur in the bottom right is me getting up as fast as I humanly can. I'm terrified of heights.

Conquered!

THIS is Ireland!

Hey that's ME!

Aunt Stella and Uncle Ryan were the coolest! They hung out with Lisa and I and listened to an Irish band....sipping a warm Irish Whiskey.

Donkey...

It's good to know my ninja skills are still working in Ireland.

Just kidding...this was in Coney Island.

My uncle was teaching me to balance rocks. Very fun....and deadly!

I got to ride a horse!

This is me and my new best horse friend, Atrayu.

Oh great...a car is coming....on this one lane road.

It's a good thing that fence was there to protect me from falling over.

This doesn't make me Irish at all.

And over here...are some birds.

After I stepped out of the crypt, I noticed a transformation!

The hike begins!

My uncle is one crazy dude.

Terrified!

The castle is THAT WAY!

George Washington is alive and well in Dingle, Ireland.

Captain Paddy was one rad dude.

More rock balancing.

Things got a little out of hand.

Giants Causeway.

The giants foot needs a hug...

Completely insane!

Terror. Conquered.

There wasn't anything within a hundred leagues...I don't know what they were talking about.

Outside of a prison.

Ok so maybe that was more like 20-something pictures. It was great and I'd love to go back. Maybe not this year....or next.......but some day!

UPDATE!!! I've added a slideshow option from my picasa account. Since the limit for each picasa album, it's broken up into two albums. Here's part 1 and 2.

My LA Horton Premiere!

2008-05-31T03:19:00.003-04:00

It's been a while since I've updated this silly little blog. Alot has happened, I went to Ireland, did some shots on the new short, starting Ice Age 3, and Horton premiered. So what a group of us did was take a pit stop in Vegas before making the LA premiere. Vegas was great and my first time there. Then it was off to LA for the premiere and visitation of old friends and picture taking with some celebs. Anyhow, here are some of the pictures! Ireland highlight pictures in the next post!!!

Will Arnett was way nice to us!

Carol Burnett was really nice, too. What a sweet gal!

Andreas and Hartline...enjoy Pixar, Hartline!

Directors love animators.

This really happened.

Great beach weather, of course.

Nice try, Coats...he was later charged with assault and is now serving 5 to 10.

Meet my brand new nephew!

2008-03-27T02:17:00.003-04:00

One of the cool things about going to Texas for the Horton premiere was seeing my family...especially my brother, Steve, and his pregnant wife, Darby. A couple of days after I left, Darby had the little tyke. The totally awesome Noah Daxton Saville! Here are some pictures of the coolest baby boy on the planet of Earth!

Steve and Noah!

Nice hat, new dude...but you'd look better with a little BEAR EARED HAT!!!

This one is for Nick and Aaron!

2008-03-18T01:26:00.003-04:00

Yup, that's Will Arnett...I mean...C'MON!!!

And, of course, the way nice Carol Burnett! More pictures from my Vegas/LA vacation coming soon!

Ice Age 3 poster!

2008-03-12T15:29:00.004-04:00

If you haven't seen it by now, then here is the rather nice sized poster of Blue Skys next project, Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. From what I see, it's going to be a fun film. And of course...GORGEOUS!!!

A cool Blue Sky gift!

2008-03-11T03:21:00.002-04:00

Following the wrap shindig of Horton, the entire company was surprised with the gift Blue Sky gave us. I got back to my desk one day after lunch and found a little box with the Blue Sky logo on the side. When I opened it up and pulled a beautiful sculpture out (provided by the sculpting geniuses at BS), I was turning it around for quite some time checking out the intricacies of it. Here it is in its horrible picture state that doesn't do the sculpt justice. Enjoy it!...or else.

Last shot on Horton....FINAL'D!

2008-01-22T23:25:00.000-05:00

Today is a mighty day for me. A day that most animators enjoy as much as Christmas or falling asleep before your face hits that soft pillow at night. Today, my last shot on Horton was finaled! Mike Walling had a similar experience today and his post inspired me to share this accomplishment. I won't tell you which shot it was but it was really fun to work on. As soon as the movie is released, I'll have a reel to show you folks. Go see the movie! You'll be in awe at how beautiful it is!

I almost forgot, some silly videos that kept me entertained recently:
Animation DVD
Amy at the Club
IM IN UR MANGER KILLING UR SAVIOR
She She Shes a bombshell

Lots of news!

2008-01-15T12:01:00.000-05:00

So it's been a while since I've updated my blog/site/thing because of some reason or another. Well today is the day for uber-update-bonus-round!!! I suppose quite a few things have happened lately, new trailer, Christmas/New Years, fellow Blue Skyers having babies, Blue Sky flood of '08, and new residences. But I'll just touch on the basics for now.

New Horton Trailer
Yeah a new trailer thats not too bad! The first trailer left a bunch of us wondering what was going on but this trailer shows the lush world that Horton and the Whos live in. This one is REALLY old.

Texas Christmasness
Christmas in Texas...a gorgeous 60-70 the entire time I was there. Got the chance to see my entire family and, finally, a chance to see my niece, Cameron. She's just about the coolest kid in Texas. By the way, I got a Wii for Christmas and it's really neat! I'm addicted to Guitar Hero.

Blue Sky is Connecticut Bound
After the building rained on the animation department (a pipe burst above our floor) and the floor flooded (a pipe burst on the floor), we get news that we're officially moving North to the border of Connecticut. Since I live in Brooklyn now, this news makes me sigh a bit. Sure, it's only an extra 10 minute drive and, sure, I'll be getting a new car next month...so I should be more excited. I'm sure once all the construction is done and I'm actually walking around in our rad new space, I'll fall in love with it.

And finally, some stupid videos I thought were funny lately:
Italian Spiderman
You Suck at Photoshop, Pt. 2
I was the turkey the WHOLE time!
How do you feel?
Happy Holidays, Jerks

How many 5 year olds could you take in a fight?

2007-12-14T10:09:00.000-05:00

I'm slightly sad about this...

New Horton images!

2007-11-16T13:58:00.001-05:00

A bunch of new pictures showed up on the internets! The movie is almost out of the department and what we've seen so far looks great. Not sure when the next trailer will be out but I can't wait to see what you folks think of it.

Along with the images that were at the website (click on the image to the left) is a still of one of the shots I worked on! It was a pretty tough shot but I'm proud of it all the same.

And someone from work sent this out of one of the standees...looks pretty dang cool.

Some new Melvin Tan costumes! with RETALIATION

2007-10-16T14:30:00.000-04:00

If I had the proper funding, I would love to make a little suit so Melvin Tan can wear and be happy in. He didn't really like the ideas but I know theres one, one day, that he'll like. Just gotta keep my fingers crossed.

UPDATE: Melvin has retaliated...I like it but I'd still like to make him a little suit.

Horton needs your help!!!

2007-08-29T12:55:00.000-04:00

Blue Sky is looking for some of you talented folks (6, specifically) to help the animation department finish up this already gorgeous movie. So the question is, are you a bad enough dude (or dudette) to send us your demo reel?

Here is the LinkedIn page link.

--------------------------------------------

Company: Blue Sky Studios
Job Title: Animator
Description: TEMP POSITION STARTING BY SEPT 10TH FOR APPROX. 2 MONTHS. LUXURY HOUSING INCLUDED FOR ALL NON LOCALS.

Responsible for implementation of complex character animation. Responsible for the "Movement" in computer animations, included but not limited to timing, acting and posing of characters.

RESPONSIBILITIES :
▪ Work with Director in establishing character design and movement.
▪ Take models and or rigged models (set up for animation) to finished animation.
▪ Work with modelers, riggers, and technical directors to implement the animation.

QUALIFICATIONS :
▪ Demonstrated expertise in the following: Animation, Rigging, Sketching and/or drawing skills.
▪ Familiarity with major animation packages (Maya, XSI, etc).

HOW TO APPLY:
Please send a copy of your reel (NTSC DVD format ONLY), a comprehensive reel breakdown and your resume to:

Human Resources Department
Blue Sky Studios - 17th Floor
44 South Broadway
White Plains, NY 10601

Thank you!

Random videos I've recently enjoyed:
The Hauntening
Process Enacted
Smile
'Alkaline Trio - Mercy Me' music video
Nintendo A Capella
UCB - Fortune Cookie

Horton teaser is here!

2007-07-27T16:29:00.000-04:00

The first teaser trailer for Horton Hears A Who was released today in front of EVERY print of The Simpsons. Now, its very rare that I get a shot in any of the trailers of the movies I've worked on. However, I was fortunate enough to get TWO shots in the trailer...one of them is the Mayor hiding under the blankets like a widdwe baby and the other is (though not how it's gonna show up in the final movie) Horton jumping up in front of the clover. Not really a whole lot from me in there and a last minute change of what the teaser REALLY was (which is now the international trailer). More soon!!!

I'll post a better quality version when I find it.

Random videos I've enjoyed recently:
Barfight
Febreeze Commercial by an old DNA friend and his wife
Home Movies McGuirks Laser Eye Surgery
War Photographer
Unicorn vs. Narwhal
Adventure Time!

Horton spotted!

2007-06-29T10:30:00.000-04:00

This is actually the first WE'VE seen of this poster, too. It doesn't look too bad. The teaser is done and it looks INCREDIBLE. All you Seuss fans won't be dissappointed with the look of it.

The link to the posters are here!

Aim high, Nick Gibbons...

2007-06-25T20:52:00.000-04:00

This past Friday was Nick Gibbons last day at Blue Sky. The dude was around for 4 years and, in that time, got a lot of folks out to see comedy shows and even let some Blue Skyers act in some of his short films. He was easily one of my best friends and I'll miss him every time I take a bite out of an Atlanta Bread sangwich. Go visit his site and if you like what you see, Conan O' Brian, hire him to be a writer for your show! He's got the most amazing smile and he doesn't mind if you poke him in the tummy!

Here's just some of his work...you can see the rest by visiting his website!

my favorite of the collection!

The hugely popular, The F.N.G.R.!

The Finale to the hugely popular, The F.N.G.R.!

Someone did their research!

2007-06-21T01:55:00.000-04:00

I love everything zombies. Heck, I even wrote a comic strip about them. So when I see something like this, my giggle factor goes from "exceptionally high" to "someone punch this guy in the throat". Bonus points because these its Nick Frost and Simon Pegg.

Best 26 minutes on YouTube!

I'm a 2 month old uncle!

2007-06-20T02:49:00.000-04:00

Just about 2 months ago, my brother, Hal, and his way awesome wife, Jess, had their first little girl, Cameron. I have yet to make it out to Austin for the weekend to train her to be a master crime fighter but after my relocation (more on THAT later), I'm going to spend a whole weekend being the most raddest uncle in the history of the Saville family! Here are some pictures of the little rugrat.

Huge eyes!

She's already starting to look like Hal...poor little Cameron.

Pop, Mom, and Baby

Reels in the internets!

2007-06-15T11:55:00.000-04:00

I've been meaning to put all of my reels/shots on the youTubes or the Google Video for some time. Last night, I was bored so I did just that. And here they are...for NO apparent reason.

My Blue Sky animation test. They liked it.

Not ALL the shots I worked on for Robots but some of the better ones.

Most of the shots I worked on for Ice Age 2.

30 something minus 2

2007-06-01T00:22:00.000-04:00

I haven't posted in a while. Been working and looking for a place in Brooklyn, so there isn't a whole lot of time to post new and interesting things. Well....nothing new and interesting has happened to me yet. But when it does, you'll be the first to know.

This week, Blue Sky lost two amazing animators, Royce Wesley and Moonsung Lee. More accurately, they're moving on to do other things....we didn't ACTUALLY lose them. That would be absurd. While the department gave the two a proper hand-clapping send off, we also had the chance to take an animation department crew photo for Horton. My adopted little muppet brother, Trevor, tagged along too. Just because he hasn't been in a crew picture since the Robots crew picture.

The Horton Hears A Who animation crew!

Goodbye, Royce and Moonsung!

Subscribe to comics through the internets!

2007-04-25T02:02:00.000-04:00

I'm a betting man sometimes...and I'm betting you actively subscribe to comics. Lucky YOU then! My brother and his wife started a company that connects the customers comic subscriptions through to the retailers for you. So all you have to do is subscribe to comics through ComicSubz.com, print out what you want (as soon as the retailer portion of the site goes live, of course), and hand it over to your comic book shop! Right now, the site is in BETA but in the coming months, more neat features will be added (I've heard a whole bunch of them...they're pretty darn rad). If you collect comics, I implore you to check the site out and get the word out for my very ambitious brother.

On a personal note, not that much has been happening. Work has been picking up (which is a very good thing) and more importantly, I'm an UNCLE! My brother and his wife (yes, the very same that run ComicSubz) went and had a baby girl. I'm excited. More neat stuff later!

Sweetness in Seattle

2007-03-07T11:33:00.000-05:00

My good buddy, Aaron (and his way awesome wife, Reagan) moved to Seattle a few months ago to work at Valve Software. Those are the guys who are making Half-Life 2, Counter Strike, and the soon to be released, Team Fortress 2. It just so happens, that a couple of friends who I used to work with at DNA, now work at Valve (Andrew Burke and Matthew Russell) invited a couple MORE friends from DNA to stay with them THAT VERY WEEKEND! The roster was growing and it was quickly becoming a reunion. The entire trip was great. It was exactly what I needed as far as "vacations" go and going back to visit the Halifax's again is a no-brainer. I miss all my DNA friends...they're pretty rad.

Now here are some pictures!

No Time For Nuts gets an Oscar Nomination!

2007-01-23T23:26:00.000-05:00

The entire studio was buzzing today about the Oscar Nomination that No Time For Nuts got in the Best Animated Short Film category. A huge congrats to the Directors, Mike Thurmeier and Chris Renaud and of course the entire Blue Sky crew that worked on it immediately following the Ice Age 2 wrap-up! Awesome work fellas...I'm proud to be apart of it!

Here is the full list of nominees in the Animated Shorts category:

THE DANISH POET
LIFTED
THE LITTLE MATCHGIRL
MAESTRO
NO TIME FOR NUTS (woot!)

Sadly, Ice Age 2 wasn't nominated for Best Animated Feature...but we'll get them next time with Horton Hears A Who!

BSS Challenge: Evil Robot

2007-01-11T23:44:00.000-05:00

My first BSS Challenge in a while. The coloring could have been better...mainly struggling with a light source. I like the inking though! I'm gonna take the night off from the comic to practice guitar. Hope you folks dig it!

I really can't dance...

2007-01-11T22:23:00.000-05:00

But the Unlimited-Ammo version of me certainly can! This awesome japanese site lets you draw yourself, put a cage around said drawing, then automatically 'dances' you. I found this at Drawn.ca. Heres the site if you want to make your own and be amused for mere minutes. WARNING: The Unlimited-Ammo me can dance forever in the interwebs...and no one wants to see that.....forever.

Some more art is coming soon, I promise! I guess this is kind of a drawing though....is it?

Unlimited-Ammo: Premature Eradication!

2007-01-06T04:34:00.000-05:00

Way back when, Matt Simmons, Nick Gibbons and myself decided to do an anthology of our own zombie comic strips and ultimately, pull them together to make a comic called 'Swords are for Zombies'. Matt and Nick slowly got busier with their own projects and SAFZ sank into the shadows from whence it came. I decided to keep mine going and titled it Unlimited-Ammo.

Ok enough backstory...Nick did this one strip that was so GENIUS that a couple of years later, I wanted to put in the U-A series. I no longer have the original comic (hard drive explosion) but it's strikingly similar. Here it is now, a rough 'remake' of that very strip.

I had a great time working on this. It's my second 'comic style' page and the first where I got really ambitious with the shading. I used photos of roadsides and thunderstorms for reference, took reference photos of Nick and myself, and "studied" Bill Crabtrees work in Invincible. I'm not sure if I can go back to greyscale...coloring is just too much fun.

Here is the rough layout. It has only slightly changed...definitely for the better.

It's probably gonna be a while before the next comic is released. I had an idea on the way to work and Nick liked it. It's probably gonna be 4 pages or so.

Merry Christmas (Texas edition!)

2006-12-28T19:49:00.000-05:00

I went back to Austin/San Antonio for the Christmas break and had a great time with the family. Getting out to Austin was a bit daunting because of the delays and buses and metro. So I got there and stayed in Austin for a couple of days, hung out with my brother and his wife and my nephews, Simon and Duke. I love these little fellas...they sent me their own Christmas card.
Then I went to San Antonio, ate a ton of great food with the most awesomest family, and went to some land on the Guadalupe River. Here are some of the pictures:

By the way, ComicSubz.com is almost go for launch! Sign up and get on the bandwagon!

Unlimited-Ammo: Problem Solved!

2006-12-11T23:51:00.000-05:00

Heres a new Unlimited-Ammo! This is the first time I used "comic style" formatting and I had no idea how intuitive it is. Just reading the first chapter of Scott McCloud's 'Making Comics' helped out so much. I'm only on chapter two right now.

Nick Gibbons lent me this idea so I really gotta give him the kudos for the idea. He even helped with the dialogue! Another person who was extremely helpful was Jake Parker. He pointed me in the direction of Making Comics and Panel Discussions and also critiqued my layouts. It would look completely different if he hadn't given me some wisdom.

Here are some of the initial layouts...

First crappy layout of the comic. Click for a bigger view.
Second less crappy layout after the notes Jake and Nick provided me with. Click for big.
Final not-so-crappy approved layout! Yay! Click to become big.

Evil Dead: The Musical!

2006-11-29T01:08:00.000-05:00

I just got back from seeing the Off-Broadway musical version of Evil Dead, oddly enough called Evil Dead: The Musical. There were songs, dances, and lots and lots of blood. A friend of mine got us tickets in the Splatter Zone. I was front row but didn't want the free ponchos they were handing out so if you look to the left, you can see the horror that got all over me. I want to go back, in fact, I want to bring anyone to it who visits and says "Lets go to a Broadway play." You've been warned, future visitors.

Sorry Burke...I stole your point.

Here are some more pictures that I got today at work:

Happy Thanksgiving!

2006-11-28T01:19:00.000-05:00

Although, I wasn't able to go home for Thanksgiving, my really good friend, Nick Gibbons, invited my cousin and I over to feast on the delicious fried bird of the holiday. Boy, was it good!

Before that, I went to the Macy's Day Parade Float-a-thon! It was rainy and cold...but you probably saw that...from the warm safety of your apartment/home. Still, it was pretty rad to finally see it.

Even BEFORE THAT, Nick and his wife and I went to the float infating thing. That too was really neat to see.

I hope everyone had a great Turkey Day and have a fun, safe Christmas! Be safe!

Big Apple ComicCon!

2006-11-19T23:50:00.000-05:00

I went to the Big Apple ComicCon this Sunday and picked up a few things and took some pictures with some damn talented people. I was wandering around waiting for a friend to get there when I recognized the voice of Master Shake himself, Dana Snyder, lollygagging around, talking to another fan. I gotta admit I was a bit flustered when I approached him...maybe it was the lack of food and water or maybe because I think he's one of the funniest voice talents I've heard . One of those two. He's a really nice guy and I wish I could have talked with him further. Maybe for the NY ComicCon. And sure enough, I look like a dumbass when I take a picture with him.

Then I wandered down Artist Alley and bothered the insanely talented Khary Randolph while he was working on a sketch for a fan. He told me about a super secret project he was approached to design for, which I won't say here. Great guy and I hope he works on more projects...his work is so appealing!

So at the end of the Con, I made a "big" purchase...at least for me. An original page from one of Jim Mahfood's Marvel comics. Next time, original Mignola work and definately Cory Walker art. This one is going in my home office...when I get a home office, that is.

And to the little tyke who lost (I'm assuming) her sock, my friend noticed it lying on the ground at Grand Central. We didn't take it...but we did steal its soul through the digital-soul-stealing-camera. If you go back now, you can probably still grab it...HURRY!!!

BSS Challenge: The Zombie Circus

2006-11-13T22:58:00.000-05:00

Ok so it's a little messed up strip. I've decided that on top of the weekly BSS challenge themes, I'm going to layer my love for zombies into it. It was fun to do...quick and easy. Now if I could get the motivation to finish another Unlimited-Ammo.

A couple more Chax friends

2006-11-12T21:03:00.000-05:00

Nestled atop my rarely used Nintendo DS...at least I used it something recently, right?

my new toy addiction

2006-11-08T22:49:00.000-05:00

Nick Gibbons and I would occasionally have a little beverage adventure in the city and among our adventures, we would stop by Kid Robot and pick up some of his favorite dunnies. That dude LOVES his dunnies. He collects them. I never understood his undying devotion to those toys (though I've had my share of toy addiction...especially with Todd McFarlanes Movie Maniacs from years back) until I came across the Chax Colony series 1 and 2, also at Kid Robot. The one that got me hooked is the business man pinching the cheek of a smaller, more squirrely business man. This one...

Wow! How funny is that. Then there's one of a cute bear kneeing some passerby in the face. IN THE FACE!!! Luckily, I got that one on my second visit. The other ones are pretty dang cool too. Here are the ones I got on my second and third purchase. I had a dup of cupid rocket launching his love to the world so I gave it to my brother on his recent visit to NYC. So here are my new Chax Colony friends that will be forever displayed at my desk at work.

I have three other ones at work, so I'll take a snapshot of those and update this post.

BSS Challenge: Tinman

2006-11-03T18:12:00.000-05:00

The competition this week was for The Wizard of Oz. Been getting inspiration from Calamity Jon.

Ya know...looking at it now, it looks more like the robotic Stay-Puft Marshmallowman. Dang...oh well...the next one'll look even better!

Flushed Away Audience Review!

2006-11-03T16:13:00.000-05:00

Overall, I gave this audience an A+!

"Wow..an A+" is probably what you're pondering to yourself. The reason for this is Nick and myself were practically the only ones in the theatre. There was a parent with her very well behaved kids a few rows in front of us. And because Nick is awesome, I gave the audience an A+...for Awesome plus.

The movie was way fun by the way...kinda slow the first 20 minutes but picks up after that. Lots of clever gags from 20 minutes in, to the end. Well done, Dreamworks Animators and Story team! (and Designers, Lighters, Modeling, Rigging, etc.)

White Ninja and The Best Movie Ever!!!

2006-10-28T01:42:00.000-04:00

A very long overdue fan comic for White Ninja is finally done...finally! There are a few panels that turned out really lite as far as the line art goes and the text was kinda small but overall, the idea was fun. I've noticed I've been "killing off" characters. Gotta stop doing that.

Plus, it's good to see someone enjoyed Episode 3...which I didn't really care for.

The Ghostbusters are here to protect us all!

2006-10-26T22:19:00.000-04:00

Dressing up for Halloween is fun. Blue Sky held a little costume party today and some friends and I were the Ghostbusters. Kathy was the StayPuft Marshmallow...uh....girl.

If you wanna see more of the Blue Sky Halloween pictures, go here!

Happy Halloween!

2006-10-25T23:01:00.000-04:00

Halloween is here, kids! What a great excuse to stuff your faces with candy and pass out in a bowl of....candy. Heres a drawing of 'lil pumpkin' for the BSS Challenge, which has oddly enough been getting alot of attention lately! The drawing was scanned in and inked/colored in Art Rage 2.0. Thanks to Melvin Tan for his coloring eye on this one.

A White Ninja fan comic should be out this week! It's done...just need to think of the dialogue. er....could take a couple of days.

No Time for Nuts ONLINE NO MORE!!!

2006-10-19T16:36:00.000-04:00

UPDATE! : I've decided to take the short down . All your positive comments were very much appreciated and the directors were glad to hear you folks enjoyed it. Heres a link to preorder it!

The Scrat short, "No Time For Nuts", that Blue Sky worked on after Ice Age 2 found it's way on the internet. Working on it was a blast...and I hope to work with Mike Thurmeier and Chris Renault as directors again.

I realize it's probably gonna be taken down and posted again on various video sites...when that happens, I'll find and update as needed.

My shots in the short: Scrat popping out of the ice, scrat kissing and hugging the snow, and Titanic coming out of the fog. Pretty much the first three shots in that sequence.

Enjoy!!!

Fear not, folks....the Halifax's are just fine.

2006-10-17T02:01:00.000-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, the animation department here at Blue Sky lost one of it's most beautiful children to a game studio out in Seattle...maybe you've heard of them....VALVE!!! Looks like things are going well for them out there. They even met up with some friends (who also work at Valve) that I worked with at DNA, Andrew Burke and Matthew Russell. So now I know they're in good hands. Me miss my friends, Aaron and Reagan. Me miss them lots.

Mini-White Plains, NY and Mini-Austin, TX (and Oahu, HA update)

2006-10-13T00:12:00.000-04:00

I came across this faking micro photography tutorial a while back and always wanted to try it didn't have the right version of Photoshop to do it. CS ran REALLY slow on my old machine so I made due with PS7. Now that I got this badass new machine, I loaded up CS tonight and found a few pictures to fake miniatureize. I thought it was sweet anyway...check it out and stuff!

White Plains, NY

Austin, TX

Update -> Oahu, HA

BSS Challenge: Crabphin

2006-10-09T23:43:00.000-04:00

I know I've been neglecting my other favorite theme drawing session, Drawergeeks, but it feels different with the BSS Challenge. Different in the sense that if you see something on the blog that is totally awesome (like Willie Real's Chirichilla on 'Animal Hybrids'), you can waltz over to the dude/dudettes cube and shoot the ships about it. There is something I've been working on for Drawergeeks (Harry Potter related) but been it off because my coloring skills aren't anywhere near the other artists. You'll see it soon though.

BSS Challenge: Link

2006-10-06T22:46:00.000-04:00

A quick sketch of Link for the BSS Challenge. I'll try harder next time, I promise!

Jake Parker: Boy Genius

2006-10-04T23:08:00.000-04:00

One of my favorite stories in the Flight books was the "The Robot and the Sparrow". Hands down...I remember reading it and saying to myself "G**damn this would make a f***ing great short film" ...ok, there was WAY more cussing than that, but kids occasionally read this, so lighten up. Anyhow, I was amazed to find out that Jake Parker, the artist responsible for "The Robot and the Sparrow" worked at Blue Sky as a designer about 2 months after reading that story. He's a swell guy! Shakes hands, kisses babies, chews with his mouth closed...I even saw him pull an ENTIRE litter of kittens out of a burning pet store this one time. And he did a 5-page Jimmy Neutron comic for Nicktoons magazine. Which is what this whole post was supposed to be about. Check out his online store (especially RGB...so cool!) and website for what else he's gonna be working on.

I think maybe I don't have enough links in this post...

A couple of drawings...finally!

2006-10-03T23:58:00.000-04:00

I was actually feeling pretty inspired today. Maybe it was the fact I'm playing frisbee again, the chance to get better on BSSChallenge, or the pumpkin muffin I had at lunch. I've made up my mind I'm going to leave my tablet at work and try to bust out a few drawings every week ala Sarah Mensinga (except she does it every day).

This image is for BSS Challenge. A group of Blue Sky designers/artists who pick a subject, and draw it. It's constantly updating and I'll contribute to prior posts if they accept me.

This is just because I wanted to try out Art Rage 2.0 again. I haven't even opened the program in a while so this was a fun little exercise. Man...I really need to get coloring and depth down.

Open Season Audience Review!

2006-09-29T14:15:00.000-04:00

Overall, I gave this audience a B.

The audience was pretty tame this morning...thats one of the benefits of going to a matinee. No cell phones or screaming babies. In fact, the only ones in the theatre besides Nick and myself were a small group of kids with their guardians. I thought maybe they were part of a "fat camp". Then we had a little dialogue:

Me: Maybe they're part of a fat camp?
Nick: Then why the f**k did they order jumbo drinks, extra large popcorn and sweets.
Me: Maybe it's a fat camp competition?
Nick: You mean like a Who's Fatter Camp?
Me: Maybe.

I wanted to turn this dialogue into a comic but we have more interesting conversations that take priority.

If any of you folks at Sony Animation read this...great job all around! Really nice character design (especially the hunter, the lady, and Boog), great job with fur and effects, and nice animation. For some reason, Patrick Warburton felt a little out of place. Martin Lawrence and Ashton Kutcher were well cast, I thought...I hardly thought it was them. And a few friends names I saw in the credits, Renato Dos Anjos and Mike Walling....way to get one of the first title credits, Renato and yes I did see you, Mike! I didn't see Troy Saliba's name though...he may be on Surf's Up.

Off to fattest camp!

Lost Season 2 was...

2006-09-22T11:35:00.000-04:00

I LOVE TV shows on DVD...seriously. You should see my Netflix queue. It's ridiculous how many TV shows on DVD I have in there. Right now, I'm in the middle of Dead Zone season 4 and it's just 'ehh...' . So a friend at work lends me Lost Season 2 and I'm dropping whatever I'm doing to watch it.

There's a bit of a Lost club here at Blue Sky (it's more of an internal mailing list), where everyone gets together the night before, watches the show, and talks about it all day with the folks who weren't there. That's fine with me. After I plowed through Season 1 DVDs in 3.78 days, I thought it would be a good idea to just wait till the next box set to come out a year later. I cannot tell you how difficult it was to avoid all the talk, theories, and jibber-jabber about the show. But I did it!

Yeah I watched it...I watched THE HELL OUT OF IT! This took me a bit longer to finish than Season 1 just because of extra-curricular activities but it was finished...that's all that matters after all. It starts off kinda slow but halfway through escalates to introduce, do away with, and explain new/old/sporadic characters. The last episode has to be one of the best season closers I've ever seen...and I've seen alot. It's only leaving more questions and making me dread going through another year of people theorizing within earshot. But I'll do it, I suppose.

This show is tele-crack....watch at your own risk. 9/10

Calamity Jon parodies Horton...and lives to tell the tale!!!

2006-09-19T01:57:00.000-04:00

Jon Morris is a comic artist with the wackiest of styles. I've been check out his blog for some time now and ran across this gem in the form of, yeah that's right...parody! Horton specifically. Here's just one page of the two pager. Find out what happens in the THRILLING CONCLUSION!!!

[edit: Oops! The artist is actually Steve Harrison...not Jon Morris. I don't know what happened to my brain when I posted this.]

Cool Iron Man concepts.....but not cool enough.

2006-09-16T16:50:00.000-04:00

Some rejected concepts for Iron Man surfaced. Personally, I think Adi Granov did a GREAT rendition of the suit and would be simple enough not to be distracting or unrealistic. These ones look too anime to me. Heres a link to two other concepts.

Looking at it now, he kinda looks like a roach or a rolly-polly. It's still pretty cool though.

Even MORE Horton pics!

2006-09-14T16:40:00.000-04:00

ComingSoon.net posted a new picture from Horton Hears A Who! Our first glimpse of the lovable elephant, Horton. Wow...this is the first I've seen of this image but it looks like some people around here have been busy. What do ya think? Pretty boss, huh?

More Horton eye candy....in sculpture form!

2006-09-14T11:01:00.000-04:00

I gotta tell ya, the first time I saw this, I was floored! It's completely different to see Vlad in all his full-turning glory. The image comes from Jim Hill Media I guess during a sneak peek floor show. Mike Defeo was the sculptor with the golden hands on this beauty.

Just wait till you see the rest of the Vlad sculpts....or all the other character sculpts for that. You'll want to look at them for hours.

A Who revealed!

2006-09-14T09:57:00.000-04:00

USAToday ran a small article with some new info (to me anyway) about Blue Sky's next, Horton Hears A Who, including opening day (March 14, 2008). The image looks fan-freaking-tastic, doesn't it!?! The whole movie is gonna look this good if not even better. Send this to all your friends.....or people who you can relate with on a daily basis.

Pictures of Oahu, Hawaii and a special announcement!

2006-09-13T22:38:00.000-04:00

Some of you wanted to see pictures of my trip to the gorgeous Oahu, Hawaii (and those of you who KNOW me, know I really like to document trips) so I've added about 260 pictures of the week long vacation. The identities of my family have been removed because of fear they may be humiliated for knowing me...can ya blame them? Lots of pictures of me in just swim trunks (especially for YOU, Andrew Burke!) and some wicked cool shots of the beaches, coastline, and Waikiki. I had a blast there...and if it weren't for the 10+ hour plane ride, I'd make more frequent trips out there. Click here for the very tropical pictures!

Oh right...the special announcement. Comments are back. That's all for now you beautiful people!

{Edit: Starfox DS is an AWESOME game! 9.322 out of 10!}

The Superman Returns DVD cover is here...

2006-09-13T14:31:00.000-04:00

...and it truly sucks. What was wrong with the badass 'floating over the earth all cool and stuff' poster? Why does it hurt so?

I know most of you didn't like the movie, but I thought it was pretty damn refreshing for a franchise that was SUPPOSED to be adventurous...not cheesy. I'm talking about the originals. Even if you didn't like the Superman Returns, you gotta admit it's good that they're re-establishing the franchise.

Enough! Look and what is and what should be!

Goodbye, Oahu! Hello Horton casting!

2006-09-12T18:13:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone! I'm back from the beauty that is Oahu (with pictures coming soon) and ready to continue to work on Horton. It's wierd how missing one week feels like missing a month. But it's good to be back.

Today, the news broke that Horton and the Mayor have been cast! Horton's gonna be voiced by Jim Carrey and the Mayor by Steve Carrell! Wow! Steve Carrell is going to be perfect as the mayor. Heres an article on it.

More crap coming soon...

ZOMGWTF SPOILER!!!

2006-09-02T19:24:00.000-04:00

I found this over at All The Rage...woah! See you guys in a week!

Harry Potter and the Wizard People, Dear Reader

2006-09-01T13:36:00.000-04:00

It's an early out today because of the holiday coming up...that's really nice of Blue Sky. But before I depart to sun and sea, I would like to share with you something that was passed around today.

This guy narrates Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone which you should listen to WHILE you're watching Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone on mute. You will love this...especially the Quidditch match narration.

"He holds up that snitch and bellows 'I...am a beautiful animal! I...am a destroyer of Worlds! I....am Harry F***ing Potter!' And dear readers, at last, the world was quiet."

Dare me to punch a dolphin?

2006-08-31T23:24:00.000-04:00

No, no...I would never punch a dolphin. Hugging one sounds more appealing. This Sunday morning, I'll be on my merry way (albeit one helluva a plane ride) to the gorgeousness of Hawaii for a good ole vacation/family get-together. Apparently, we've got days of snorkeling, volcano hiking, and even kayaking in front of us! Wow!

Thank a pandas foot I'll have my DS Lite (with newly purchased Starfox Command! Rad!) and iPod (and sketchpad...that's a given) with me on the 7,232 hour plane ride there. Couldn't imagine how boring it would be without it. I'll probably also bring a jug of milk with me on the plane...just to keep things interesting.

I'll post pictures for when I get back. Well, the cool ones at least.

The Aqua Rangers DVD on sale! Buy one FOR GREAT JUSTICE!!!

2006-08-28T23:21:00.000-04:00

My good friend, Nicholaus Gibbons III, has his critically acclaimed DVD, The Aqua Rangers, on sale!!! Seeing it myself, I can tell you it's one of the damn funniest independant series I've ever seen. What kind of friend would I be if I didn't help him promote the series on my interwebsitenet.net ?

You can see the trailer and other really cool posters here!

The JCB in all of it's awesomeness!

2006-08-28T10:58:00.000-04:00

This video (and song, of course) never get old!

Wally Wood's 22 panels that ALWAYS work

2006-08-21T01:04:00.000-04:00

Gotta love Drawn.ca. I love it just as much as I love making silly little comics about my friends and zombies. So this awesome gem comes from a comic artist who decided to lay out the most essential storytelling panels for his assistants. I've been reading comics for as long as I can remember and it's a huge help to break the panels down and analyze them. This link originated at Joel Johnsons site....thank you so much Joel Johnson (and co.)!

[Ivan Brunetti’s 22 Panels That Always Work… Sometimes. Hilarious!]

Favorite Nintendo DS game? I need your help!

2006-08-17T13:27:00.000-04:00

Assuming they will even ALLOW me to bring my DS lite onto the plane, I'd like to brush up on my gaming on the vacation I'm going to be taking soon. I know some of you folks are hardcore gamers and I'd love to hear what your favorite Nintendo DS game is (and why, of course). I'm looking to get Star Fox Command DS when it comes out at the end of this month...based on what you folks have seen of it so far, would you get it?

So far, I'm going to bring WarioWare Touched! and MarioKart DS (and Super Mario 3 Advance if Nick Gibbons finishes it before my trip). WarioWare and MarioKart are both SO badass by the way!

Bye, I was Paul.

2006-08-16T12:02:00.000-04:00

It finally happened. As of a couple of days ago, my alma mater, DNA Productions, has laid off the majority of it's staff. The lone riders at the studio right now are the very D and A's themselves, John Davis and Keith Alcorn. It's a shame this had to happen...everyone I've worked with at DNA had to be some of the most level-headed, egoless people in the industry. Best of luck to those who found jobs (post layoffs) and to those looking for them.

If by chance, some ex-DNA'ers (and loyal texans) want to build a studio and relocate it to Austin...keep in touch with me. :D

21st Century Animation Desk

2006-08-15T14:16:00.000-04:00

I've never worked on a 2D project but this setup is really interesting. On the Samurai Jack Season 2 DVD, Gendy Tartovksy has similar tables at his studio. While you're ogling over this guys super-sweet new desk, check out the rest of the site. You may find some gems among the pages!

http://inklingstudio.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/07/21st_century_an.html

The cool art of Kim Gilbert!

2006-08-09T17:10:00.000-04:00

The gal-pal, Kim Gilbert, of a fellow Blue Sky animator, Rylan Davies, has finished another painting that I plan to deck my apartment walls with. She doesn't have a website yet but here are a couple of her paintings...great work.

Forest Demons
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=376418

Latest Untitled
http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=74408

So I went for a walk in Central Park...

2006-08-08T01:45:00.000-04:00

and nothing really eventful happened. The end. Wait a sec...yeah I took some pictures by the water of some buildings and that great blue thing in the sky. It was a nice Sunday in the park. If you ever use that phrase, tell people I said it....because I'm going to try to copyright it next week.

heres a higher res of the top image

I'm in a commercial about farts!

2006-08-07T02:24:00.000-04:00

The young and handsome Nick Gibbons made a commercial a while back that I was lucky enough to be apart of. It's been on Fuse for some time now and now it's on YouTube.com. I'm the jerk in the blue shirt being all awesome in the elevator.

Taladegga Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby audience review!

2006-08-06T11:56:00.001-04:00

Overall, I gave this audience an A-.

For a White Plains theatre, that's pretty darn impressive. Everyone was REALLY entertained with the movie and if it weren't for ONE person's phone...I would have given this audience an A+. By the way, go see this movie...it's gotta be the funniest movie I've seen in a LONG time.

Darkplace - A show you hate to miss but you've probably missed!

2006-08-03T15:54:00.000-04:00

Nick Gibbons found this gem of a show on YouTube and ,man, is it damn funny! It's 24 minutes long but every minute is worth it. One of the best parts is 8 minutes into the show....you'll know it when you see it.

Ant Bully Audience Review!

2006-08-03T00:14:00.000-04:00

Overall, I gave the audience a B.

The only exception to going to a kids film is (suprise) the kids. These kids weren't that bad except for this one child (with ADD I'm assuming) kept jumping up and down in his seat during the slow parts. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves though. Oh and one lady in the front row kept flipping open her phone...I mentally sent her mean words and rather rude comments. Don't think she got the message though.

xkcd.com is a webcomic you should read with your living eyes!

2006-07-31T01:36:00.000-04:00

I subscribed to this webcomic through Google Reader and thought nothing of it until this gem of a comic was posted just today. There are tons of nuggets in there for you to fall in love with...or at least moderately like then leave after a few months.

Tom Greveras reign on New York is over!

2006-07-30T19:29:00.000-04:00

Yes, ladies and gentlemen...Tom Grevera has left the building. Or at least a building in New York. He is now on his way to Siggraph to secure the area and make sure no evil seeps into Boston. I gotta say, the nights I hung out with the dude, I had a blast, he knows how to party. Once he posts his pictures of the night, I'll send a link. I stupidly didn't take my camera with me on the later portion of the evening.

We missed our train into the city on Friday night, so we decided to hang out around White Plains but not before stopping by my place, pouring some drinks, and jamming out on my guitar. The night after, we went to Queens to P.S.1. to see the exhibit and check out a rad rave-type scene. A word of warning, if you're thinking of going to see the art exhibits at PS1, let me save you some time...rent a horrible horror movie where people are being "horrored" or cut your leg (accidentally of course) or witness a car accident and there you go. I just saved you 10 bucks. Oh, another thing you could do is visit Andrew Burkes site...it's not for the squeemish, folks.

here are the pictures for Friday night and Saturday for our adventures in the city:
http://www.tomsaville.com/photos/Grevera_takes_on_New_York/

Strangers with Candy Audience Review!

2006-07-30T13:32:00.000-04:00

Overall, I gave this audience an A.

With the exception of a couple of people flipping open their phones and the occasional comment from my friend sitting next to me, the audience was pretty tame. Someone from the audience even shut the theatre doors because the other theatres were loud as hell. Audience...it was a pleasure working with you!

Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie at ComicCon!

2006-07-27T11:38:00.000-04:00

I dig everything Aqua Teen. Nick and I have been waiting to see any kind of footage at from the new ATHF movie thats coming out. The footage is shaky and slightly inaudible at parts but is overall fine to look at. They're still kinda vague at the release date which is lame.

Is my neck really that long? - part 2

2006-07-24T20:58:00.000-04:00

Here's the second batch of (painful) charicature photos from the wonderful animators of Blue Sky. Yes...they are very humbling.
This one is from the too-rad-for-a-name Everett Downing. He's off at Pixar now being the coolest dude in California. Thanks Ev...it IS very close.
Sometimes I wonder why I take stupid pictures. Just because some day Jason Martinsen will take that very photo and zombify it. Then again...I love zombies. So I guess it's appropriate.
God bless "The Hotline". Aaron Hartline that is! My hat is off to Senor Hartline for his TOO accurate charicature of me. Is my neck really that long?
You're probably starting to notice a pattern here. Nick Bruno and his magically approximate pencil capture this delicously childlike portrait of some idiot that sits a few rows over....oh...wait thats me!!!

Lady in the Water Audience Review!

2006-07-24T00:09:00.000-04:00

Overall, I gave this audience an F.

The couple right next to me talking for the first quarter of the movie. They were whispering and I guess thought the audience was a bunch of deaf jerks.
Two girls and one dude a couple of rows behind me interjecting their thrilling giggling commentary through the entire.....friggin.....movie. Things like "Because she's dead..." "Oh he's the one." and "This is so stupid." I would have liked to have taken a picture of these jerk-knobs to show you but I think there's a law against it.
A row of college kids (with minds of small children) laughing through, what was supposed to be, a dramatic last sequence. Wanted to dump a bucket of warm camel saliva all over their heads.
This one is the topper...as we were leaving, a couple was making out. Well, she had her legs wrapped around him as they were making out. Get a room.

If I were to make a suggestion to folks like that...stay at home and watch TV. You're just wasting your money and the money of the people in the theatre.

Monster House Audience Review

2006-07-21T14:33:00.000-04:00

Overall, I gave this audience a C-.

Two older ladies talking moderately loud from the start of the film. Wanted to laser beam them with my eyes. Duration: 7-10 minutes
Boy child starts hissing (like a snake) every 1.5 seconds about 40 minutes into the movie. The hissing was progressively getting louder as the sound was getting more intense. EVERY 1.5 SECONDS!!! Duration: 30-40 minutes