HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Thanks to everyone for stopping by and taking a look.  Have a Happy New Year and a prosperous 2011!!!

Action!

I've been working away at a couple projects that I haven't been posting about.  One is character designs for a friend's comic book that I will post when they are done.  The other is a cartoon portrait of my girlfriend Trayce's sister and her family for Christmas.  There's a lot more pressure to get a likeness when you know the people, I tell ya.

and I haven't had the time to work on the comic book that I've been working on with my buddy Chris Mich.  So here's the latest rough for an action panel.  I've been doing a lot of characters standing still, so this was a real treat.  I'll try to do more work on it today, to keep up the momentum.

Wow, just ... wow.

I'm a monster from Headless Productions on Vimeo.


Here's a little teaser trailer for an unproduced film from Headless Productions!  They are a small independent animation studio founded by Adrian Garcia, Alfredo Torres and Victor Maldonado, based in Barcelona. ..... I guess I'll have to get working on that teleportation machine so I can commute to Barcelona.

Animation Progression Reels: Tangled

Animation Progression Reels: Tangled: "Tangled Progression Reel -©Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Pictures."

Sorry, I couldn't embed the video. But just click on the link.  It's a great little and succinct video on "How they do it."

Conan Gets Animated - or Comic-ized

TV Sketch

Sketching from the TV.  My 1st drawing was the best.  Actor Mark Duplass while watching The League.

And here's another plug for my pal Chris Mich's DIGGING STARWARS: Webisode 2.  Here he examines Empire Strikes Back next to Gone With The Wind.  Great Geek Out stuff!

http://diggingstarwars.blogspot.com/

AAH! IT'S MOVING! or How To Make A GIF File

I finally made point to find out how to make a GIF file the other day.

IN PHOTOSHOP

1. Put each separate image on a separate layer
2. Open the ANIMATION window from the drop down menu
3. Have image #1 on frame #1.  Create a new frame. Turn on image #2 for frame #2 - and so on.
4. Time the frames as you like. (bottom right corner of frame box)
5. Save As for Web & Devices.
6. Set the format appropriately.
7. Enjoy.

P.S. If you want to post the GIF in your blog as I have done, you need to:
A. Find out the pixel dimensions it you want it to be displayed at.
B. Open the file in Photoshop (or a copy to be safe)
C. From the IMAGE drop down menu choose IMAGE SIZE
D. Change the pixel dimensions to what you need.
E. After uploading your GIF to your post, click the image and choose the "Original Size" option.

Animopus: Interview with Pixar Storyboard Artist James Rober...

(UPDATE: ALL BOBBY CHIU'S INTERVIEWS HAVE BEEN MOVED TO http://schoolism.com/interviews.php - CLICK ON OVER AND CHECK THEM OUT)


My Google Reader had this little tidbit waiting for me today to listen to from artist Bryon Caldwell who has a great animation oriented blog over at http://bryoncaldwell.blogspot.com called Animopus.

  

Animopus: Interview with Pixar Storyboard Artist James Rober...: "Great interview here with story artist James Robertson. Be sure to check out his blog as well: The Iron Scythe"


James Robertson Interview from Bobby Chiu on Vimeo.


Bobby Chiu  (the interviewer) Runs a studio up in Canada called IMAGINISM and an online school called SCHOOLISM.  He has a number of great interviews of artists one of his blogs at http://chiustream.blogspot.com/ he also has some others that aren't up on his blog yet at http://vimeo.com/user2694854/videos 

1st page done - pretty much

Hey folks.  Thanks for tuning in.  Here's the 1st page of a comic I've been working on for a while.  Some of the grey tones still need to be adjusted and there's a couple tweaks I'm sure only I see, but I'm moving on to page 2 for now and I thought I'd post this.

I'm working on this comic with my buddy Chris Mich.  Chris has also just started a blog & podcast about the coveted Star Wars.  It's a great "Geek Out" listen.  Here's a blurb about it:

“Digging Star Wars” explores the films that inspired and are referenced by George Lucas in his six Star Wars movies via short podcasts (about 10 minutes per episode). Each episode is dedicated to one of the six Star Wars films and a predecessor film from a previous era. One of the goals of “Digging Star Wars” is to combat age-discrimination against films made prior to 1977-2005 (era Star Wars films were initially released). While it is no longer surprising to encounter professors, students, and industry professionals who have never seen Star Wars, it is discouraging to hear people who refuse to watch any foreign films, black-and-white films, or films made prior to their own birth. The films covered in these podcasts are considered cultural artifacts of their era and country of origin, yet share in common themes, philosophies, and symbols that are reinterpreted throughout time and, specifically, in the Star Wars film series. By unearthing these films and tying them to one of the most financially successful film series of all-time, we hope to encourage people to watch these worthwhile movies!

http://diggingstarwars.blogspot.com/

Comic Book Designs

Here are some sketches for a character in a project I'm working on.  My friend Eugene wanted to go with a different vibe than these samples.  The blue pen ones were for the character, I based them on a sketch I did "inspired" by Johnny Depp, which is the one in pencil.  I liked the design and I thought I'd try it and see how it fit the character.  Maybe I'll get to use it somewhere else.

sketches jan 2009

Howdy,

I came across these in a folder.  They're not new but I thought they had good personality and made me chuckle.

A long time ago in a city far, far away....

Well, here it is.  My Junior/Senior thesis that started it all.  Released in 1994 to a small Philadelphia student film festival and many other VCRs and later DVD players and computer screens.  If I knew then what I know now....


The voices were fellow college students who did a great job.  David W. Ryan (http://dwryan.com) as Bob, and Eric Giancoli (http://ericgiancoli.com/index.html) as the Bum and Magician.  Both of them had and have great voices and still do! 

Der Alte Westen

Here are some sketches of a couple characters for a comic book that I'm working on with a couple friends.

Oh the irony

Over at Cartoon Brew there's an interesting article about the failed attempt at irony on The Simpsons couch gag last night.  Take a look at the clip and the small write up here:
http://www.cartoonbrew.com/tv/banksy-directs-simpsons-show-intro.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CartoonBrew+%28Cartoon+Brew%29

I found it.

It was right there on the shelf.  Duh on me.

Work In Progress Comic Book

Just a little sample of a panel from a comic book I am working on with my buddy Chris Mich.  It's not a very action packed frame, but it's one of the more finished ones.  I've been getting used to working in photoshop. This was 100% drawn and "inked" in photoshop. I'm not quite done with the inking/clean up. I need to still put a thinker line around the male character and adjust a few mroe things. That's the great thing about working digitally, you can still adjust things in the final stage. Again a big thanks to Freddie E. Williams for his book "The DC Comics Guide to Digitally Drawing Comics" Freddie's book was essential for making the move to a digital workflow..... And I can't seem to find it on my shelf right now.  I was just looking at it the other day, where the heck did I put it.  Well, it certainly didn't gather dust sitting on the shelf.

How 'bout just draw it

Yes, this looks amazing, but the best technology to animate hair ... a pencil.

Crying Reference

Here's some great crying reference I came across today.  Finding reference is usually fun but always takes time away from drawing.  So, the quicker the find the better.

http://www.onanimation.com/2010/09/30/crying-reference/

The move is final

Well, here's the new revamped Blog.  Well, it's not very revamped, all the old posts are there, it just has a new location and a bit of a diferent look.  Thank you all for following me over here and still being interested.

Just in time for the new season of Eastbound & Down

---Josh

Kenny Powers / Danny Mcbride

Thanks for stopping by the new location of my blog.  You can see the old blog at http://joshuataback.blogspot.com/.  I'll be reposting some of the stuff from there on here as time goes on.

This is a sketch of the character Kenny Powers played by actor Danny Mcbride from the show East Bound & Down.  I'm looking forward to the new season.  I was re-watching season one and got inspired.  I'll finish this up soon, but I was anxious to post something since it's been so long.

Our Friend Hurley

Hey folks. Sorry there have been no posts in a long time. I have been busy finding my legs over on Family Guy as a storyboard revisionist. It's been about a month or so now. Everybody is great there and I'm having a good time. The commute leaves something to be desired, an extra 30 min each way. I'm starting to get some extra energy back to work on more personal things. I did a couple cards for people, I'll post them soon, and I've been working on a 5 page comic book. I'll post some of that soon too when I think it's presentable enough. Anyhow I drew this picture of Jorge Garcia who plays the role of Hurley on LOST on a doodle break the other day. I have been rewatching season 5 on DVD while I work. You get a whole different perspective knowing what we know now. I'd like to do more LOST drawings, but the clock and calendar don't seem to provide me the ability, at least for now. This drawing was done in Storyboard Pro. I'm not a huge fan of this program to draw in, but for storyboarding it's great.

Thanks for checking in and I'll do my best to make a point to keep up the posts. Also, find me on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/people/Joshua-Taback/100000700395308. I plan on updating that page as well, like the blog, when I create a time machine of course.

Here's to a GREAT 2010!!!