2D Wednesday: “Viewpoint”

Today’s 2D Wednesday has some nice walks and an interesting visual demonstration of a person’s viewpoint.

Is life really so beautiful? It all probably depends on your point of view.

VIEWPOINT is the first part of an upcoming series entitled MY PRIVATE DICTIONARY,
where different words will be visualized by short pieces of animation.

 

Ray Chase

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Ray Chase and I am a directing animator on “Free Birds” our first feature film at ReelFx. I am also a mentor at Animation Mentor.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I don’t know that I really had any crazy jobs.  But let’s say that I was a llama herder in Australia.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
A couple years ago I worked on a series of Looney Tunes cartoons which were a lot of fun.  One short in particular, “Daffy’s Rhapsody”, used original Mel Blanc recordings of Daffy Duck. It was pretty amazing to animate to his voice.

How did you become interested in animation?
I was always interested in animation as a kid but never thought much about doing it as a career.  Toward the end of high school Who framed Roger Rabbit came out and I was inspired; I saw it eight times in the theater.  A couple years later the Disney/MGM studios opened in Orlando where you could see real animators bringing characters to life.  That’s when I decided what I wanted to be when I grew up.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I grew up in Gambrills Maryland. And went to school at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC). They didn’t have much of an animation program at the time; this was the early 90s. After college I started applying to Disney to get a job as a 2d animator, but Continue reading

Elliot Cowan

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Elliot Cowan.My main gig for the past year or so has been Master Lecturer at the University of the Arts in Philly and other teaching appointments around Manhattan.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
One summer I worked for an accounting firm moving all their paperwork from one style of manila envelope to another.It was deathly boring.I spent most of my time making barnyard animals out of Acco fasteners and shooting them off the top of the photocopier with rubber bands.This is the only job I’ve ever had outside of media (I directed live action television commercials for about 10 years).

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Uli Meyer Animation in London were working on an animated feature project called Monstermania! Uli brought me on board initially to design a nightmare sequence but soon I was doing all kinds of great stuff.My proudest moments have been

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Jobs: Concept Artist -Santa Monica

Concept Artist

Click here to apply

It always starts with great people…

Luma was built by people who love VFX and are constantly challenging themselves to be their best. They also know that to do amazing work, you need to enjoy what you’re doing so we work hard to create a fun, challenging atmosphere that puts a priority on giving you the work/life balance that you need to grow..

Check out our work, and our culture.

(& our all around inappropriate take on halloween!)

Responsibilities

– Concept art / Mood Frames
– 3D blocking for environments and architectural subjects
– Photo-bashing technologies
– Digital painting

Qualifications

Artist should be familiar with more than one of the following applications:

– 3D package (Maya, 3DsMax, others)
– Photoshop
– Painter
– ZBrush

Jobs: Lead Look Development Artist-Santa Monica, CA.

Lead Look Development Artist

You can apply here…

Santa Monica

It always starts with great people…

Luma was built by people who love VFX and are constantly challenging themselves to be their best. They also know that to do amazing work, you need to enjoy what you’re doing so we work hard to create a fun, challenging atmosphere that puts a priority on giving you the work/life balance that you need to grow..

Check out our work, and our culture.

(& our all around inappropriate take on halloween!)

Responsibilities

– Define and establish the look for photo realistic assets/shot/sequence while guiding an asset team
– Lighting and Compositing of CG elements to establish templates for other artists to achieve the Look of the asset/shot/sequence
– Ensure consistency among shots sharing similar assets or lighting rigs in order to preserve continuity
– Work closely with the lighting department to distribute and maintain shader, texture and FX libraries for specific assets/shots/sequences
– Work closely with Compositing Leads to ensure consistency and match of Look between assets/shots/sequences

Qualifications

– Thorough knowledge of Maya and Nuke, as well as high level rendering/shader network construction principles independent of specific renderers
– Self sufficient and can complete less subjective/simpler assets with minimal input from supervisors
– Experience in acting as a lead, giving clear direction to artists in oder to achieve photorealistic results
– Must be able to take direction and work in a team focused environment
– Excellent communication skills
– Strong time management / organizational skills
– Solid work ethic and a positive attitude in the face of challenging situations

Plusses

– Experience in Arnold is a plus, but not essential, as base principles carry over from renderer to renderer