jessicabayliss.com

ToonZone Studios

2010-11-10T02:08:00.004-06:00

After being in LA for a little over 3 years, I finally work at an animation studio. I love my new job at ToonZone Studios.

They are a small studio which is really a great opportunity for me. As a jack-of-all-trades I think I am a valuable new asset for them as well. I get to work in many different areas of the studio. In addition to editing, I am working on ad layouts for marketing and I am also designing and building a database for the studio's work flow. I even put together things like this animated gif for the website. It is a great environment to work and learn. I am loving it.

Wild Inspiration

2010-11-10T01:44:00.004-06:00

Last October I documented the building of my Where the Wild Things Are costume. I never intended it to be step by step instructions for creating your own wild thing, but apparently they could be used as such if you happened to find yourself with the desire, time, and crafty skills to pull it off.

A few months back I received an email from a stranger with a few questions about my wild thing. After a few clarifications on my process she got to work. I never expected to hear back from her with pictures of a finished wild thing of her own, but amazingly I did. Thank you Amy Skinner for sharing your photos with me. You did a fantastic job and it looks fabulous. Seems like you may have even improved upon the design.

Amy's brother even wore the costume to work..... he's an orthodontist.

Thanks again Amy for sending me the finished photos. It turned out great and I am glad I could help.

A Dreadful Opportunity Part II

2010-09-16T11:49:00.017-06:00

Dread Dismissal from Jessica Bayliss on Vimeo.

Here is the final product. Lindsay and I spent the Saturday prepping from 9am until around 5pm before we started shooting. Amazingly, we finished at around 2am (I thought it was going to take even longer). It took 9 hours, but we decided to power through. We were all tired and a little grumpy, but we finished! A few process shots below.

Jury-rigging a camera onto a ladder. It was the largest tripod we could make.

Leave the make-up to the expert. Emily Adams, our fashion guru, kindly offered her make-up services and like a trooper stuck around till the bitter end helping move Lindsay parts and take photos.

Lindsay was pulling popcorn out of all sorts of places after this part.

Its really gone Lindsay. Like a weight off your shoulders... literally.

Left to Right: Jamie Bayliss, Jesse Bayliss, Lindsay Nack

More behind the scene pictures and video to follow in "A Dreadful Opportunity Part III."

A Dreadful Opportunity Part I

2010-08-19T16:13:00.024-06:00

A few weeks ago I received a phone call from a close friend on mine from college, Lindsay Nack.

Lindsay had decided a few months ago that after 5 long years of growing her gorgeous dreads, it was time to cut them off. As you can imagine, this is an occasion to be documented. Lindsay, being a photographer herself, knew that pictures must be taken and they were.

This was not really enough though. Lindsay wanted to document the actual cutting of the dreads. A YouTube search revealed that most videos posted of cutting off dreads kinda suck. We can do better than that.

So Lindsay called me for advice on how to make a stop motion video. Lindsay lives in Portland and I live in LA, so at this point, all I did was attempt to explain the issues and techniques behind turning her head into a puppet. I realized very quickly that I was way too excited about the opportunity to not jump on a plane and fly to Portland and do it myself. How could anyone really resist that?

So before flying all the way to Portland to shot a video in a single day, I figured I should make a plan. I set up a rig for the camera that was made of things around the house that Lindsay could find herself.

So we both gathered the supplies we needed, I packed my bags and flew to Portland. Stay tuned to find out what happened to these lovely babies.

Storage Woes

2010-02-10T12:00:00.002-06:00

I promise I am not being lazy about making things and posting about it. My entire life has been put on hold and into storage since the end of January. I moved out of my apartment. Unfortunately, I have yet to move in somewhere else. So for the time being everything, sans a couple suitcases of clothes and other necessities, is in storage.

I have been itchin' to get back to work on something but I have no idea where anything is and probably won't for another couple weeks. I know I have been attempting to buy this condo since April of '09, but I really think we might be getting close now. Cross your fingers and maybe I will be able to unpack and start blogging again by March :)

Blake Thomas Puppet Idea

2010-01-13T17:39:00.012-06:00

I am in the process of making a Blake Thomas puppet with the idea that I could make a music video for one of Blake's song once it is finished.

The video quality is not very good here, but this is a live performance of the song I want thinking about using. I am open to suggestion though, if any Blake Thomas fans would like to see a different song used. Just leave me a comment about it.

Watch this. He just needs a to be a puppet, right?

So this is my initial concept drawing.

I think it is all in the eyes. Sad eyes and red hair.

The Jim Henson company made a few muppets for a preformance of The Country Trio. Each puppet looked like it's puppeteer: Jim Henson, Frank Oz, and Jerry Nelson. I would like to go for a similar style with this puppet. I posted one of their performances below.

Holiday Game House Animation

2010-01-06T14:26:00.002-06:00

I created a holiday animation for Real Arcade's Game House website. It was a super tight schedule and most of it was finished in my spare time over the Thanksgiving Holiday. Considering the frenzy I was in (30 sec. of animation in less than 2 weeks), I did not post anything about it at the time. But here is the finished piece. Enjoy!

Where The Wild Things Are - More Halloween

2009-11-01T18:15:00.001-06:00

Where The Wild Things Are - Halloween Night!!

2009-11-01T02:13:00.006-06:00

Where The Wild Things Are - 0 days to Halloween

2009-11-01T02:07:00.002-06:00

Where The Wild Things Are - 1 day to Halloween

2009-10-30T13:31:00.002-06:00

Makin' stripes.

Hand sewing the whole freakin' thing.

The belly is not ALL natural.

Painted on the eyes.

Where The Wild Things Are - 3 days to Halloween

2009-10-29T11:28:00.002-06:00

So there are no pictures today since last night my sewing machine decided to quit on me. Apparently it does not like furry fabric. So I brought a bag of fur to work with me and I am feverishly attempting to sew it all together by hand. Lets just hope no one at work says anything about what looks like a dead animal in my lap. Wish me luck. Only have a few more days...

Where The Wild Things Are - 4 days to Halloween

2009-10-27T23:08:00.001-06:00

Made some teeth.

Made a nose.

Made Patrick try on the hula hoop belly suspenders.

Shading and painting.

Where The Wild Things Are - 5 days to Halloween

2009-10-27T01:23:00.010-06:00

A little paint around the horns and mouth.

Spray adhesive the hair in place.

Pattern out the face.

Transfer the pattern to the fur, cut it out, and apply.

Where The Wild Things Are - 6 days to Halloween

2009-10-25T01:22:00.008-06:00

Got the eyes secured on here. Then I took the pattern I made for his hair and actually cut it out.

Then I skinned a wolf... I mean I made my Max outfit. Which is really not very interesting actually. Just cut out the pieces, sewed them together and then dyed the whole business gray. Here it is drying and dripping and turning my tub gray. Actually the tub was kinda gray to begin with.

The hair pattern.

Comb-over.

Added some horns.

Where The Wild Things Are - 11 days to Halloween

2009-10-19T21:27:00.003-06:00

Here is a time lapse of me adding paper mache to the to the mouth. I added the eye brows and base for the nose then I paper mached them as well. The last section of the video is me creating a pattern for Carol's hair.

Where The Wild Things Are - 13 days to Halloween

2009-10-17T23:08:00.002-06:00

Things are moving along. Got the basics done, but felt the face needed more dimention and did not want it to look like an bunch of crap glues to a giant ball. I traced a circle around the eye socket area. I cut the circle out of the giant ball. Then fliped over the piece I just cut out to make it concave. Taped it in so that it hung down a bit and voila! eye sockets so that the eyeball can be recessed in the head.

Then bent done the section left between the eyes to get that lil indent that happens between your forehead and your nose. Held it down with a string tethering it to head hole on the outside, just till I can get it paper mached in place.

Added a layer of paper mache to everything. I have been alternating between news paper and brown craft paper. The news paper allows for very flexible curving while the brown craft paper makes a super thick and sturdy layer.

Where The Wild Things Are - 14 days to Halloween

2009-10-15T23:14:00.000-06:00

The paper mache ball is dry and thick enough to remove the inside support. Patrick decides to try to on for size.

Added some extra support at the based around the hole for Patrick's head. Traced the opening and cut out a piece of foam core to glue on.

Sketched on the rough layout for the facial features.

Created lips from tag board with tabs that fold over in order to glue it on the face to match the curve. I hate compound curves. Makes everything more difficult.

Where The Wild Things Are - 16 days to Halloween

2009-10-14T14:52:00.006-06:00

I decided it has been far too long since I have made a really kick-ass Halloween costume. I really wanted to make something challenging and awesome, something I would be proud to wear and tell everyone that I made it. Of course that left me with only one option this year. Where the Wild Things Are. I will be Max and Patrick will be Carol. I wanted them to be as real to the film/book as I could. I have limited time and funds so lets see what we can do.

I started a base for the giant head Patrick will need to wear. I used my large exersice ball wrapped in grabage bags as a base. Now I am using paper mache to cover it. This weekend will be our grand day out to the fabric district downtown to get FUR! So much to do and only 16 days left to do it.

We'll see if it lasts...

2009-10-13T10:43:00.006-06:00

So here's the idea. I am really really really bad at posting on the blog. Being someone who is actually reading this now, you are well aware of that. So my idea is that if I try to commit to posting something ever couple days, maybe I will actually do something worthy of a blog post every few days, thus making the world slightly more interesting for all of us.

Here's what I did today:

Learning zBrush

2009-08-20T14:07:00.006-06:00

I have decided to spend the excess of my time at work learning zBrush and after a few days this is what I did. More models to follow I am sure. This is pretty much the coolest program I have ever used. I love it.

Celluloidering

2009-06-26T18:18:00.003-06:00

Today was the release of a new movie trivia podcast that I have helped put together. Patrick and myself along with many friends have decided to record a weekly session of movie trivia questions. Each cast member contributes 10 questions on a given topic, while the rest attempt to answer them.

You can visit the website at www.celluloidering.com or subscribe to the podcast through iTunes. Just search the iTunes Store for "celluloidering" and click subscribe. It's FREE.

A full list of answers and questions for each week is also available through the website.

Look what I found on my phone

2009-04-13T23:44:00.003-06:00

On New Years we did some face painting. Dad's head was just asking for this.

San Fan V Day Adventure

2009-03-18T20:16:00.006-06:00

Patrick and I drove to San Fransisco on Valentine's Day to catch the last weekend of the Coraline Exhibit at the Cartoon Museum (no pictures allowed). It was great though. After we went just outside the city to see the grave of Emperor Norton.

Pi Day

2009-03-18T19:24:00.006-06:00

In honor of Pi Day (3/14) as in 3.14, Patrick and I threw a party. All things at the party were π related or pie related. We played games including pi trivia, pi-ku contest, and pin the pi on the pie. All games had pi-zes for the winners such as the movie Pi, the book The Life of Pi, a π-rate gift pack, a 3CPO bubble π-pe etc. We ate pizza pie, apple and pumpkin pie as well as had pi-neapple mixed drinks. Can't wait for pi day 2015. (3.14.15)

Here are the entries to the π-ku contest (in no particular order):

Meredith:

This may be pi day
But tomorrow is Sunday
So drink up bitches

Logan:

If I were a pie
I would easily have many more friends
But I would be dead

Pi-chard:

Neverending Pi
I am lost in your numbers
More than you can know

Martin Broder:

Captain Jack is here
To sail into the distance
He likes to eat pie

Mikey:

What is a Piku?
It sounds like a pokemon
I like spaghetti

Evan:

I like pi day lots
But I can't write haikus - shucks!
No prizes for me

Alex:

So many cream pies
And all of them delicious
But none more than lime - mine - lime

Other Alex:

This game hurts my head
It makes me want to drink more
I have a Pi-grain

Reading the Pi-Ku entries.

Pin the pi on the pie

We even made everyone name tags.

Croonchy Stars

2009-03-05T16:47:00.005-06:00

I need to post this because I just got validated about my favorite cereal that no one seems to remember. It was the Swedish Chef cereal and although I was apparently only 5 when I had it, I can remember it was the best thing ever. It made the milk taste like cinnamon and it was in the shape of these puffy little stars.

This was the post that led me to know I was not crazy and every one else was for not remembering this great cereal. Perhaps you too can find your favorite gone-but-not-forgotten cereal.

http://www.gunaxin.com/a-tribute-to-discontinued-cereals/11570

oh and just as a side note... I also miss ecto cooler :(

Pizza Shuttle is my hero

2009-01-06T17:13:00.002-06:00

Behind on the Holidays - Thanksgiving Edition

2009-01-05T17:21:00.007-06:00

I'm playing catch up on Holiday photos:

Patrick and I went to Seattle for Thanksgiving and had a great time with Jamie and Zack. LOOK!

Jamie made the table pretty
Zack the fritter handed critter.

This look means Zack is about to enjoy a balanced breakfast.

Extract

2008-11-20T15:41:00.003-06:00

I started a new job a couple weeks ago. I am post production assistant on Mike Judge's new movie called "Extract". It is in the same vein as Office Space, a movie that I love. I am very excited to be working on it.

Max Payne ended and all the guys moved onto work on Season of the Witch, the new Nick Cage movie filming in Hungary right now. Although Hungary sounds delightfully decrepit, I am happy to be still here in L.A. and gainfully employed. Max Payne was met in the box office by what I would likely describe as mild success. They can't all be Dark Knight. I have high hopes for Extract. I think it will do well considering the adoring cult fan base that Mike seems to have accumulated since Office Space.

Our office will be a stones throw from Mike's new animated series "The Goode Family". I am hoping this will give me a glimpse of life on animation production, which is very much where I would love to end up. So cross your fingers I can learn a thing or two.

J&Tiff In LA

2008-11-20T14:03:00.011-06:00

Jamie and Tiff came to L.A. Fun ensued once more.

You may wonder why this gate is so fascinating.

It just so happens this is the gate to the one and only Scranton Business Park where you may find the Dunder Mifflin paper company.

And the Shrute Farm. I always keep my farms disassembled in parking lots.
Jamie as per usual.
Jamie has a crush. She was going on and on about Jimmy Dean sausages and I tried to explain this was not the same guy.....

Jamie discovered a new crush and they watched the sunset in a smoke filled sky. Los Angles burning to the ground always make the sunsets so romantic....

Mom comes to LA

2008-11-20T13:50:00.009-06:00

This all happened in September..... I am sorry for the delay :)

Mom came it L.A. Fun ensued.
Happy day.

We went to the Santa Monica Pier.
Mom salutes the ocean for doing such a splendid job.
Patrick thinks plants are silly.
He is still willing to give the silly plants a hand.

Calliope & Ichabod

2008-10-09T17:32:00.001-06:00

My next animation is in the works. I am currently suck because I cannot find a suitable narrator. Any suggestions will be gladly taken.

Storyboards are coming along as well as a few set pieces already. I will post a few storyboards when they are finished, which I hope will be soon since they are the most frustrating part of the process for me.

Just to get you excited for the animation the first part of the poem is posted below. There is much more to come in the story of Calliope and Ichabod though so stay tuned.

Calliope and Ichabod
Climbed high atop a lightning rod
To find if they could speak to God
and ask his middle name.

He answered with a lightning bolt
that gave them a terrific jolt
of several hundred thousand volts
and set them both aflame.

No one would recognize the two
with hair of black and skin of blue
when they awoke in morning dew
and wondered just the same.

Who was this pious paradigm?
Though neither volunteered to climb
and ask the man a second time
to speak his name in pain.

Penske Truck Ad

2008-09-15T18:33:00.003-06:00

I helped out on an ad for Penske. It is a contest to win Packer tickets and have your commercial shown at the stadium. We made the final 7. Voting goes until December 9th. Please go and vote. You may vote as many times as you like... though sadly only ONCE a day.

CLICK HERE

If there is any confusion, VOTE #5.. i mean vote for the best one.

Help a girl have a Merry Packer/Penske Christmas and vote often.

:)

Hollywood - isn't she lovely

2008-08-20T13:58:00.002-06:00

Pictures I took on the way to the New Beverly Theater.

Matador 4

2008-08-20T13:14:00.006-06:00

Did I ever show you the apartment?

I don't think I did. These pictures are from when we first moved in so the poster arrangement has since changed (several times) to include mostly a lot of Dark Knight, but all in all this is where we live.

oh and the curtains there on the far wall are our screen. We have a projector. It's our home theater... with actually red velvet curtains. I made them myself :) with window curtains to match.

And when I say we I mean myself and this guy.

Don't worry. He's not as deep as he accidentally looks here. Not even close.

Recent Food Adventures

2008-08-19T10:14:00.005-06:00

1. I invented a soup.... or well made up an awesome recipe. It's something to the effect of roasted eggplant curry soup. It's delicious. If you wanna know how you will have to ask me.

2. I made green salsa (salsa verde for those of you keeping track). Strangely one of the tomatillos had a penis. I used it anyway.

3. I made a banana cream pie for the first time. It didn't really turn out. Fist and for most I did not have a mixer so I had to whip the meringue by hand. It was nearly impossible so that part didn't work quite right. Second the pudding (cream part) never got thick and solid. It stayed pudding so it was an all around failure. I will do better next time. The guys in the office will make sure I at least try again.

The Buddy System

2008-08-14T12:34:00.003-06:00

I have been talking with a new stop motion studio called Buddy System Studio. They are eager to have my help on their current projects and I am eager to oblige. They used to work with the Robot Chicken/ Moral Oral crowd at Shadow Machine, but have decided to move on and create their own studio.

I worked with them briefly before on a project for ESPN that was never aired. I enjoyed working with them quite a bit and was very excited when they called. Currently they are putting together a commercial for Penski trucking that will be entered in a competition to be played at Lambeau Field. Good ol' Wisconsin :) so you know they are good guys. Check out their reel HERE

Injured Owl for Main Titles

2008-07-25T11:43:00.001-06:00

i made an owl. it might be on The Sarah Silverman Program. :) cross your fingers.

Photo Op

2008-07-22T18:10:00.002-06:00

Patrick and I needed to come up with a present for his mom's birthday. I thought we should give her a photo. This is what I came up with.

I think you will agree it was one of the best gifts of all time.

Dark Knight

2008-07-22T12:51:00.002-06:00

Dark Knight was a roaring success, as expected, and I am really REALLY proud to have been part of such a great movie. I may not have made it into the credits, but working on the Dark Knight was one of the best things I have ever done.

I hope it continues to break records and entertain audiences everywhere. Go Dark Knight!! Go and be free.

Reversal

2008-07-16T13:29:00.002-06:00

I helped my friends out to make this short called Reversal. It was written and directed by my friend Cullen Wright. All of his friends put many, many hours of volunteer labor to bring this piece to life.

They are currently putting together a feature called Veronica, which is also written and directed by Cullen. Hopefully it gets off the ground. I am looking forward to working with them again (hopefully this time for money).

YEA for Employment

2008-07-16T10:19:00.003-06:00

Sadly, Dark Knight ended. I suppose it had to be released sometime. Now you may all go out and enjoy it. Just so that you don't have to bother with the extraordinarily long credits and perhaps feel as though you missed my name.... it's not in there. The credits ran long and being the bottom of a very large totem pole... I was cut. Anywho ENJOY it anyway. The movie is freakin awesome.

I spent week or so in Milwaukee visiting and whatnot, extremely scared I would not be able to get a job when I got back. I did in fact have to turn down a show on the CW in order to take my trip as planned. And boy am I glad I did that. A few days before returning I got a phone call.... or rather I got 3 phone calls all wanting interviews the Monday I got back. It helps to have Andrea on you side (if any one was doubting that). I dear friend Andrea recommended me for two of the jobs that had called.

I got back, went to my first interview of the day (which happened to be the one I wanted most) left and ten minutes later I get a call and a job offer. I started the next day at 9am. :)

Now I work for Max Payne. Post PA extraordinaire once again. It's based on the video game and staring everyone's hero, Marky Mark.

Hollywood Forever

2008-06-29T03:07:00.003-06:00

A whole bunch of us went to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery tonight to watch "The Man Who Knew Too Much". Nothing beats watching a movie like watching a movie with hundreds of other living people on top of hundreds of dead people. It is pretty awesome. People flocked to the cemetery to watch the classic Hitchcock movie projected on the wall of a large building. So many people were going it took us a good 30 min to go just a few blocks down Santa Monica Blvd. two hours before the film even began.

Sadly, I will be out of town for next weekends screenings of Easy Rider and Blue Velvet, of which I have seen neither. If you get the chance to go, you should do it at least once. See a movie under the stars and over the stars...

obligatory link

best line from "The Man Who Knew Too Much": Sorry we took so long, we had to go pick up Hank".

It is really funny if you've seen the movie. I swear.

Naked Parade

2008-06-23T14:06:00.010-06:00

In the far far away land of hippies (Seattle), there is a day when the hippies get naked. Many hide from this phenomenon, but others decided it would be better to just throw them a parade. On the first day of summer every year, brave but not necessarily attractive souls take off all their clothing, paint their bodies, and ride down the streets of Fremont on their bikes. The other people who decided this was a good idea follow them with floats. The floats seemed to be either bizarrely random, or uncomfortably political - hippies go figure.

At then end of the parade the hippies gather on the hill for naked togetherness. With their bottoms missing a sweaty triangle of paint where they sat on their bikes, they party into the night with overpriced food, restricted drinking areas and bad music. Boy those hippies know how to throw a party. All in all i give it two hand slightly covering my eyes :)

Some of the people were kinda awesome though.... these two guys for example.

photos by: Jessica Eskelsen

Spore

2008-06-20T21:24:00.004-06:00

There is a really amazing game that will be coming out called Spore. I am really REALLY excited for it. Until then I will have to use the trail version creature maker. I highly recommend this download to tide you over. Make fun things with it :)

MKE article

2008-06-20T14:51:00.003-06:00

While I am trying to catch up on my blogs and all, it would be nice if I did things in order. Sorry...I don't know that I can really promise anything is accurately chronological. Especially since this atricle post happened just recently and I have nowhere near filled in the gaps yet.

A couple months ago I received a call from a guy who wanted to do a profile on me for MKE magazine. He did a phone interview and I didn't hear another thing about it for months. He calls me very recently to ask some follow up questions, which was good since I had done quite a few more interesting things (that I will blog about soon).

Then I find out they need a picture of me in the next... three days. Guess they were a lil pressed for time since they wanted the article out in the next issue. They sent out a photographer, I pulled out my muppet (all my Furry Revolt characters were in storage far far away) and took some fun pictures.

Then presto. There is an MKE article on me. There are a few inaccuracies though that I would like to point out. Primarily that I would never name a character BRANDON. His name is Wendell. Which is a German name derived from the word 'wonderer'. A far more appropriate name if you ask me, since the boy in my story is both GERMAN and WONDERS around looking for hiding spots.

Of all the things that could have been mis-quoted this is not so bad. Though I'm not sure how great it is that I said the word bitch, but it is completely something I would have said and probably did say.... so yeah I'm ok with that one.

Oh and that is the puppet I made in the picture in the article. Isn't he cute?

- i'm not so sure how long they keep these online pages available so if it is not there and you want to see it, here is a screen shot I took. Minus the ads :) Make sure you zoom in on it, otherwise it is completely unreadable.

screen shot

Why are there so many songs about rainbows?

2008-06-20T13:51:00.006-06:00

Ok. Let's go back a bit here. I have not made a decent post in quite a while, but I won't bore you with EVERYTHING that has happened. Perhaps just the fun highlights and the occasional quirky detail.

Christmas 2007:

I was still living in Tarzana in the house with my crazy landlady. She happened to "do foot sessions" in the back house for foot fetish men. She also would take fetish photography of herself and sell them after (not so talentedly) photoshopping them. Here is the best way to understand her.... her myspace

I was feeling a bit depressed and all. My job sucked and I was feeling kinda lonely. I missed my family terribly. It was Christmas and I wasn't able to get any time off. Then I received a package in the mail that was absolutely wonderful. My awesome mother sent me my Christmas presents along with a whole slew of our old Christmas decorations AND... a pre-packed stocking with every individual item wrapped so I couldn't peek. This was the one and only time I cried about being in LA.

One of those wonderful presents I had in fact requested and was terribly excited to receive. I was given a class. A MUPPET STYLE PUPPETRY CLASS taught by Micheal Earl (better known as Snuffy amoung his many puppet incarnations). his website
i made it onto the U.S. workshops page :)

The class was fun. I was not bad. Could use A LOT of practice, but I loved it. I learned how to preform with muppets. I even went home and made myself a cute lil guy of my own. More to come in the future. I want to make a small army of muppets.

Maybe I Might Make More Muppets in My Myriad of un - Mployment.

Let's just pretend that this gets to completely caught up to umm.... let's say beginning of March.
That is when I got my new apartment. When I get home from from my current trip to Seattle (which is becoming a pattern of what I do during my unemployment) I will post something about how kick ass my new place is.

Bad Blogger...baaaaad blogger

2008-06-20T13:27:00.002-06:00

It has been brought to my attention that I have been a neglectful blogger. This is true.... I have failed what appears to be my fans. I must apologize for failing to update these things as well as apologize for not knowing any one actually looked at this thing. I appreciate that people read my blog and I feel terrible for the lack of new posts. I promise to bring it around here. I am unemployed at the moment and have a fair amount of time on my hands. This won't last I'm sure, but none the less I will attempt to continue to make up for my failures here.

Upcoming Blogs to look out for:

1. the awesome several month re-cap

2. cool stuff i have done lately

3. the hunt for a new job

4. new videos

birdhouse in your soul

2008-02-01T11:55:00.001-06:00

i made a little bird today.

2008-01-28T12:45:00.000-06:00

Edgar Wright and me :)

Patrick with Edgar

John Landis

Quentin Tarantino

Edgar and Paul Williams

Me Paul and Patrick

Me with Ron Underwood and Brent Maddock
(the director and writter of Tremors and many other great movies)

Patrick with John Landis

2008-01-28T12:19:00.000-06:00

A little something I did in my spare time with Patrick.

I'm Lame

2008-01-16T12:31:00.000-06:00

So I have not posted anything in a long long time. So until I sit down and write something good here are some pictures of me and famous people I have meet.

The lovey Eddie Izzard

Noel Fisher

Todd Stashwick

My buddy Tristan with Eddie

And there are more to come :)

Seattle Pt. 2

2007-10-07T12:45:00.000-06:00

Busy Busy Busy

2007-09-20T13:00:00.000-06:00

I started my new job at Laser Pacific so I have been a little busy. My schedule has been back and forth with training, but I promise soon to finish the Seattle video blog and get one up introducing everyone to my house and whatnot. I asked about pictures and cameras at work. They will be getting back to me on that one.

toodles.
<3

Jamie in her hall - creepy

2007-09-09T20:02:00.000-06:00

Trip to Seattle Pt. 1

2007-09-09T12:07:00.000-06:00

Working on blog comfy style.

2007-09-09T11:46:00.002-06:00

Yup, this is totally what I look like then I am hanging out and bouncing to music while working on my next blog. Once again I live in a place that has no chair, so my office consists of my computer pulled up to the end of my bed. Even as I write this I am laying in bed fairly far from the screen, which has made me love universal access. I know mac was trying to help people with vision problems when they made the zoom in feature, but I wonder if they thought of me, the lazy girl, when they created it. Did they ever suspect a girl who loves to lounge would be in bed too far from the screen and in order to blog she'd have to zoom in? Probably not, but thank you anyway apple.

SEE! I'm totally working. I just happen to also have a high regard for comfort.

Adventures with 3D Movie Maker

2007-09-08T17:42:00.000-06:00

While in Seattle, Zack showed me an old program he had when he was younger called 3D movie maker. I had fun with it, though it was surprisingly difficult to be accurate. This was what I ended up with.

Back to LA

2007-09-06T11:15:00.001-06:00

I am glad to hear people are enjoying my videos. Therefor it is likely you will be glad to here there are more to come. I just got back from a visit to Seattle. I got to spend Labor Day weekend up there with my sister and good friend Peter. I took lots of video and pictures, so there is a Seattle edition blog on it's way. In fact, it might be a two part-er.

Also I am about to move in to my new place and I have some more job interviews coming up. Hopefully I can get some footage of that so you can all keep track of me. Thanks for watching :)

Day 4

2007-08-25T10:42:00.000-06:00

Day 3

2007-08-24T21:35:00.000-06:00

Psycho Killer

2007-08-17T07:01:00.002-06:00

Currently has no audio due to Google being too efficient and copyright law :(

The Drive Pt 1

2007-08-17T06:56:00.002-06:00

Packing the Car

2007-08-14T21:08:00.002-06:00

MOVING TO LA

2007-08-13T11:40:00.000-06:00

For all those of you who may be interested. I will attempt to video blog my trip out to LA. So stay tuned for updates and fun videos of me driving a really really long way :)

ok. So its been a few months.

2007-07-09T06:46:00.000-06:00

I am currently teaching Photoshop at the Kalamazoo Valley Community College. Its been just fine, but I need a bigger city and I would rather do animation then teach. So I'm on the hunt. Wish me luck.

As soon as I get any new animating done I will post it. I am in the process of figuring out Maya and maybe Flash if it ever get less hot and I can stop yelling at the tutorials. My brain just doesn't work when its this hot and people on the computer telling me what to do when my brain doesn't work makes me angry.

The animation will come. Give it time.

HURRAY for new posts!

2007-05-24T19:12:00.001-06:00

Yes I know. I know. I haven't posted in a VERY LONG time. Thought I would just let everyone know that The Furry Revolt did make it into the Milwaukee Short Film Festival and will be playing at The Times on June 10th.

Also I am still selling DVDs for $10. If you would like one please just email me.

As for the future, I am submitting to a bunch of festivals still. Yesterday I sent off to try to get into Ottawa. Cross your fingers.

My piece also made it into the Juried Exhibition at MIAD for all of the best thesis's. As soon as the exhibition at MIAD closes I will be posting the finished piece online. I know you have all been waiting patiently. Just a little longer or you can just buy one from me :)

Thesis Exhibit - The Furry Revolt

2007-03-30T23:52:00.001-06:00

I decided not to show any more progress until after the Senior Thesis Exhibit opens. Please come and see the finished product.

Mini-Tools of the Agrarian Revolt

2007-02-28T16:06:00.000-06:00

New Demo Reel

2007-02-27T04:08:00.001-06:00

Cat Scene

2007-02-24T20:43:00.002-06:00

In this scene the cat gets away, Lou Lou hears a noise and gets worried.

Bandage Scene

2007-02-21T17:16:00.000-06:00

I did it. The bandage scene is here and I for one like it very much. I think I will be pulling some frames on the one squirrel's nod to speed it up, but that's about all I'm going to change.

Next scene

2007-02-20T12:34:00.000-06:00

This is the next scene I am working on. I figured out a way to make my job a little faster with green screen. We'll see if it's gonna work. I'll explain my process when I post the results.

Less Red Light

2007-02-20T12:27:00.001-06:00

I redid this scene. I am much happier with the results. There still seems to be a bit of as problem with the red flashes, but they are much fewer and I think I can fix that in post. Need to finish animating before I get there though.

bizarre red lights

2007-02-14T13:13:00.002-06:00

For this shot I needed a larger depth of field. This gave me a longer exposure. What I didn't know is for exposures 1 sec. or longer sometimes random scattered red light gets in. So on a few stills of the last scene there is a bizarre red light. I did the scene twice before I figured out what caused this. Third times the charm. Shorter exposure. Hopefully everything will still be in focus. I'll post it again once I get it right.

Scene 2 again

2007-02-06T11:24:00.002-06:00

I redid scene 2. It's a little better animation now and has improved lighting.

Scene 2

2007-02-05T22:41:00.002-06:00

Lou Lou get scissors.

Post Color Example

2007-02-05T19:41:00.000-06:00

All of the feedback I received on color choices agreed; they like the original colors of my animation. With Zack Goehner's help I did this slight variation on those colors. This has slightly heightened blacks and gold and a small vignette. This will be the look of the final piece.

Scene #1

2007-01-29T22:13:00.002-06:00

Here is the new version of Scene #1. I put a temporary vignette on it. This will be imporved later during post, but I wanted something on there to represent that for now.

Scene 1 test

2007-01-29T00:15:00.002-06:00

I did a test of part of the first scene. I figured out a couple of things.

1. The head tilt doesn't come off as a tilt. I should just scratch that.
2. I need to hold the look to the side.
3. Generally, need more pauses.

Motion Control

2007-01-28T14:44:00.002-06:00

I put together the poor man's motion control. I used a tool rest from a metal lathe. It's nothing fancy. I can only do forward and back as well as left right. It does what I need it to. I did a test shot to see if it works and it seems to be alright. I'm just thrilled it works at all.

Test Shots

2007-01-23T20:20:00.000-06:00

Alright so the trees are painted, Lou Lou has shoes, and the lights are all in place. I did a test shot and I put some different post effects on it. I really would like some opinions here.
1. Original/ Unchanged
2. Desaturated
3. Desaturated with color added (color may change with scene)
4. Original with color added (color may change with scene)

1.

2.

3.

4.

New Recording

2007-01-21T14:15:00.002-06:00

I had the pleasure of working with Mark Metcalf for my voice over work. He is a great actor in the Milwaukee area and was kind enough to help out on my project. The session was very fast and easy. Mark seemed to share my vision as to what the poem was suppose to sound like. This is the edited version that I am quite happy with. Hopefully soon I will find someone to collaborate on so I can add a musical score to the soundtrack as well. I'd love your opinions on this one. Thanks everyone.

Lou Lou's First Step

2007-01-19T00:31:00.002-06:00

I needed to do a motion test with Lou Lou to see a few things. First, I had not yet used the nice camera and I wanted to see if it would work. Second, I needed to see if the rig I made for Lou Lou would hold her upright and how well I would do so and third... can she walk?

Here is what I learned
1) her rig needs to be a little more stable
2) her tie downs need to be shorter
3) I need a remote for the camera
4) I have to be careful with the tree leaves, they are easy to bump
5) I have to find ways to hide the rig better

I was a down and dirty test, not nice by any means but I learned some stuff before getting too fancy with they animating. Better tests are coming. Just wait.

Studio Set-up

2007-01-15T14:35:00.000-06:00

I have my studio mostly finished. I need to block off those windows and do some touch-up on the sets but its pretty much ready to go. I will be recording audio this week. After that is all edited and dope sheeted I can begin animating. It's all so exciting.

Puppet Motion Tests 10fps

2007-01-07T17:17:00.002-06:00

These are rough motion tests I did to make sure the puppet worked right.

The Poem

2007-01-07T17:14:00.000-06:00

Meet Lou Lou Mae, she’s all sugar and spice
Though towards small creatures she’s not very nice!
She sticks them and squee-zes, prods them and pokes--
She’s really quite cruel. To her it’s a joke!

Her guinea pig Jack puts up with so much--
Treatment so heinous, he now needs a crutch!
You can’t comprehend what her dog did withstand,
Daily torture and pain all by her hand!

Lou Lou attacked the squirrels with her shears --
Naked tails resulted, well that and some tears
They had their revenge one night in a jolt:
Militant mammals, a furry revolt!

They brought torches and shovels and shavers and rope,
For poor Lou Lou Mae, there was really no hope!
She was tied down and tortured, never let go,
They sure took their time, revenge nice and slow!

So please remember all you good girls and boys,
Fish are our friends and ferrets aren’t toys

working animatic

2007-01-07T16:03:00.003-06:00

2007-01-07T15:46:00.000-06:00

Thought I would share some of my progress with my adoring fans. Enjoy the pictures.