i wanted to do another post like this one, showing a bit of how i animate using a combination paper and after effects. it's not the most efficient system out there, but it's the most efficient system for me, working on a train at least.

all starts with the storyboards/animatic. I try to draw really loose, but with enough poses so I know what's going to happen.

next some sort of layout to draw over on paper. it's pretty much the same here, but ideally a layout should improve the staging a bit.

Pencil animation. Really going scooby doo on this one--limiting the parts I animate with multiple layers.

From here I'll use a multiply filter in after effects to color underneath the pencil drawing. They're just shape layers with the paths adjusted a tiny bit each frame. I've found this to be a little quicker than coloring frame by frame in photoshop, but it's not nearly as exact.

Oh! add the egg too.

add the watercolor BG

and the final product

oh yeah! dr breakfast is a vimeo staff pick! thank you so much!

hi everyone. it's been a crazy couple weeks with work, travel, holidays, and commuting. and there's this thing--this is new. . .

really excited to go to park city in January!

and a huge thank you to the crew--sound designer Robin Arnott does some insane stuff--try watching with your eyes closed. And Nick Koenig's music is awesome. And we had the perfect deer, Chris Siemasko and Vadim Bazhanov.

I was going through some old, embarrassing sketchbooks and I found my first ever dr breakfast ideas. They're a lot older than I thought they were--drawn 7 years ago, right after I graduated high school.


I guess it all started with bread. Hmm. Anyhow, pretty weird how ideas come back, or maybe they never leave. Just mutate a little. Eventually, the scene became this.

from the old sketchbook

sad batman

ctn-expo was rad! got to see a bunch of friends and sold a bunch of sketchbooks. I even sold out of sandwiches--I think next year, I'm just going to sell sandwiches.

painted this in between slicing up avocados. the mountains say hi.

dr breakfast online!!!

it's been done for months, but it's finally time to put the dumb thing online.



Had some great screenings at Austin Film Festival and AFI Fest--so I finally decided to just let the world see it rather than keep it offline for the festivals. Still more festivals to come, however.

I had a great time making Dr Breakfast. I have a pretty long commute, and it's great for animating films. Metro-North even has electrical outlets in cars, so you can plug in your lightbox. I even brought my scanner along a couple trips. Word of warning though--animating in public is one of the best ways to court ridicule.

Overall, making a film is a great break from working on films every day. stills & full credits below!









written, directed, animated by
stephen p neary

sound design, mix
robin arnott

music
nick koenig

additional foley
giggles

deer 1 chris siemasko
deer 2 vadim bazhanov
pj man stephen neary
dr breakfast sean stogner
capt ahab robin arnott

additional animation
connie li chan

voice recording
tim nordquist
justine warwick

produced by
stephen p neary

with giant thanks to mrs lugo's 3rd grade elementary class!

being a kid is great. i miss after-school time--playing with legos while watching bob ross paint on pbs.

yeah dr breakfast plays at AFI Fest in LA nov 8 & 9!

s'more sketchbook

bye! gotta catch a plane now.

hello!

Going to the austin film festival next week for the premiere of dr breakfast! I'm psyched to see some Lasseter and michael arndt panels out there too. cause I'm a nerd.

I found this photo from awhile back of all the dr b backgrounds:

send me your address and I will ship one your way.

I'm also going to be at CTN expo in LA this november. I'll be selling some art. I'm also selling vegetarian sandwiches. there's never good food at those things. Do you have a favorite sandwich?

I've been super busy with this new project at work. But it's pretty cool. It's a secret.

bye!

ssketchbook dump

my newly lengthened commute means plenty of train doodle time.

toxie's back!

here's a promo I did for npr's planet money podcast. Last year you might remember the cartoon I made about toxie, their pet toxic asset.

Well, turns out that pool of mortgages became the subject of a lawsuit, and the good folks at planet money could potentially earn $75,000 as a result. Which they would give to charity.

here's the full podcast!

And here are a few sketches. We already had the toxie model in after effects, so I could crank the entire thing out in a couple hours.

thanks to connie for letting me work on this instead of going to see the lion king with her.

i blame my lack of posts on work deadlines, moving, and the hurricane.

train drawings

(sandeep loves avatar)

dr breakfast sneak peek!

Dr Breakfast will have its first public screening at the Katonah Museum of Art, on Thursday, July 21, as part of Surrealist Outdoor Cinema. Many thanks to Andy Keir for curating the rad collection of films. Watching movies outside is always a real treat, especially in friendly weather and fine company. Doors open at 8:00pm.

"hooray!"

Dr Breakfast will screen in front of one of my all-time favorite movies, Being John Malkovich. It's one of those rare, brilliant movies that I find endlessly watchable.

so yeah, hop on Metro North and check it out! It's only an hour from grand central, and the fresh air will do us city folk some good.

some puppies, babies

here's the dr breakfast trailer:



So yeah, hopefully that leaves more questions than answers.

Blue Sky has a new exhibit at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA, with tons of production work from ice age and other movies. In studio the story department has a huge wall of caricatures, so they borrowed some for the show--Here's a sketch I did of patrick harpin that's in the exhibit:

and . . . you can finally watch chicken cowboy on vimeo. quality is a lil better.

it's all done. Finished. stay tuned for screening info and eventual internet launch...

Robin Arnott did an amazing job with the sound design--we had an epic mix session at his studio in Austin a couple weeks ago. Nick Koenig lends a really awesome score. I'd say that old hat about sound being half the film, but I think in this case, the sound makes the film. check their stuffs out.

I'd like to post more how-to type stuff in the coming weeks. but here are a few stills for now.

time to catch the bus!