Vivi the Bat!

Hey All!

It's been a little bit since I've posted! With end of the semester here at Calarts, I've been a very busy little veebs. I'll be posting the next installment of Reflecting on Greatness soon, so "Stay Toon-ed" .

For now, here's a little dude I've been working on, in After Effects to get used to animating in it more extensively.

I designed and animated all of it- it was really enjoyable! I hope to develop this into a small animation, a ten-second self contained film similar to my 10 Seconds of Fun.

Enjoy!

Vivi So Far from Vanessa Buldowski on Vimeo.

Glass Woman

Most recent test. not that fancy. Charcoal and watercolor. I'd like to go back in and fix some things. Because of the shimmer on the drawings (which happen because there is no way you can make watercolor drawings without them being inconsistent) I think there should be a shimmer on the seashell as well, since its an element she is interacting with.

Glass Woman Test 02 from Vanessa Buldowski on Vimeo.

Shere Kahn

Here's a Shere Kahn test I did, to try to capture a preexisting character successfully. There are a few issues I take with it still, like the mouth closing at the end needs an inbetween. Pops a little. I'm slowly getting better! Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming swimmming.

Actual voice is from "The Traitor" where George Sanders plays a bad-guy. Same voice actor. Voila.

Shere Kahn Test-Ruff from Vanessa Buldowski on Vimeo.

Logan Ruff Animation Fun

Logan Ruff Animation from Vanessa Buldowski on Vimeo.

Just some random good natured fun. Inbetweens and BD's added in. Working on cleaning it up now, taking my time on it because its on the side of all the other stuff I'm doing. Gah.

Reflecting on Greatness 01

I often sit back and think about the great artists and animators that have come before me, and what I can learn from them. I've found myself gathering as much information as I can about these great men and women, so I've decided to do something pro-active and share it with you folks! So from now on, I'll post twice monthly these little blurbs about such great animators. Enjoy!

MILT KAHL

I decided to start this series off with none other than Milt Kahl, the well respected Disney animator who was, unquestionably, the animator who defined the Disney style. He is most famous for his work on Pinocchio, Madame Medusa in The Rescuers, Shere Kahn and King Louis in The Jungle Book, Peter Pan, and Merlin from The Sword in the Stone (among many, many others).

Milt started at Disney in 1934 at the age of 25, when he was hired as an assistant animator on classic Disney shorts like The Ugly Duckling. It wasn't until Pinocchio was under production that Milt emerged as the tour-de-force of Disney studios. His decisive mark-making and excellent draftsmanship earned him his renown, and his drive and passion for his craft kept him striving for the excellence he demanded of everyone who animated under him. Veteran animator Jim Hill speaks fondly about Milt's explosive personality, remembering the first time he met the man, "Behind me was a door that led to the adjoining office, though it remained closed. I didn't need reminding who occupied the next office, because suddenly we heard the crash of a fist slamming hard on a desk. "Dammit!" shouted the artist. "Doesn't any %#*$!?# here know how to draw!?"

Milt was known for his explosiveness, but as Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston point out," He was honest to the point of bluntness. Unlike any irascible temperaments who have filled the halls of history, Milt had a very sweet helpful side, when he chose. He gave unstintingly of his time and talent when it was to help the picture, and almost as often to help a fellow artist who had a problem. However, he expected anyone coming for help to have worked hard and tried everything-to have done his best before coming."

In Richard Williams' famous and amazingly helpful book, The Animator's Survival Kit, he often mentions wisdom passed on by Milt. Within the first chapter, Dick Williams provides the reader with the following first lesson-a-la-Kahl...(Unplug, folks!!)

Milt really was an amazingly astounding draftsman. His linework has remained unparralleled, I believe, at Disney and any other studio out there ( But there are certainly MANY MANY animators, even today, who are just as dedicated and have superb draftsmanship). Milt's greatest strength was said to be from the fact that he believed animation drawings were truly two dimensional and should stick to that plane- thus he is famous for his concise, posed drawings (and pose to pose animation stlye!) where everything was clearly readable to the audience.

Here's a great example of some of Milt's work. I watched this film recently, and was blown away by this section, so you can imagine my delight in finding the actual drawings online as well! Look at how clearly you can read every action. Nothing is hidden, nothing is obscure.

Milt Kahl (Mowgli) from Victor Ens on Vimeo.

Milt Kahl - Mr. Snoops Pencil Test from David Nethery on Vimeo.

Milt was a great asset to the industry, and his legend still continues in the many artists who pull from his work, freeze-framing and stepping through frame by frame to glean some of the genius away from it.

gulp...

those of you who know me well know this guy. I'll give you a cookie if you can figure out what he's saying.

Keys only. Maybe I'll actually flesh it out. It was just a pose-test for fun.

Logan Keys from Vanessa Buldowski on Vimeo.

CTN ANIMATION EXPO...

...was awesome! There is not enough time to go into how great this expo was! Amazing panels by top people in the industry, an exhibit floor filled with awesome artists and book shops and information, and DID I MENTION PEOPLE FROM THE INDUSTRY!? Here's a quick overview of what I did!

Friday night I got a small tour of Cartoon Network Studios, and took this picture of the stairwell up. LIGHTSABERSSSSSSS. This made me giggle with glee.Friday the expo was already hopping. Here's a a shot I took of Tony Bancroft, Disney animator and Director of Mulan, working and talking about animating. That's a drawing of pumba he's working on, in china marker. He gave me a really great critique on my portfolio on Saturday, and some great tips about how to approach drawing animals.I did my rounds of the exhibit floor a billion times on friday, and was finally brave enough to take a snapshot of Gary Goldman, producer and animator on all Don Bluth Studio films. I wasn't brave enough to meet the man, or Don himself, yet.Friday was a pretty good day. Then Saturday happened. AND IT WAS CRAZY AWESOME. I thought it was busy on Friday, but the weekend was hoppin!

I got to meet and talk to Andreas Deja!!!!! And he looked at my portfolio and gave me his wisdom. Gotta push myself to get better! Push my drawings skills to the max!
Joe and I met up with Valerio Ventura, an amazingly talented artist who worked on many, many things including Class of 3000, Hercules, Mulan, and many others! He's super sweet and down to earth, with a wicked design sense to boot! BUY HIS BOOK!!!
I went to a panel about Ronald Searle, an amazing artist, to support Manny Hernandez, a BFA 1 here at CalArts who got onto the panel. He got to sit with world renowned animators/artists John Musker, James Baxter, and Matt Jones. Manny is the young one with the hat. Haha. Sitting next to John Musker, the lucky dog!
Seeing this great panel gave me the courage to finally go to talk to Gary and Don! And they both were happy to look at my portfolio, and feed me golden knowledge. Don was so eager to teach me something, it was refreshing and exciting. He told everyone this piece of information-" You know when you make a drawing you like, then three hours later you hate it? Ever wonder why that is? It's because when you made that good drawing, your brain expanded, your knowledge expanded, and you conquered something." Oh man.

Then I asked them for their picture, and I was content to have the two of them in it, but they pulled me into the shot! Once Gary was satisfied with teasing me with bunny ears, Don said "Now this is a serious photo, everyone act like we've known each other for years!" Some of the most sweet and down to earth people I met at the show! I really appreciated their advice and guidance, as well as warnings for what to do. AHHH!
After this, I stumbled out of the room to find Andreas Deja giving an animation demonstration! SO OF COURSE I listened in, and asked questions to my hearts content. It was great hearing his approach to animating, and when I asked him where he thinks new animators are lacking, he said "Performance!" I found this answer to be a running theme with all the top animators I asked.So now it was time to see a screening with Joe! And guess what it was.
Heck yes. HECK.YES. It was totally Brendan and the Secret of Kells. And my mind was blown. There were certainly some issues with the film, and some things didn't work together, as well as a very anticlimactic ending with a patched up resolution....but... it was freaking such a visual smorgasbord. There were scenes where I got the chills, from the designs elements and the unique character animation. Check out this clip, when scene in context with the whole film, made me freak out and break out in goosebumps.

Banjo the Woodpile Cat was screened right before it as well, and AHH such good animation! Old school done on cells awesomeness.

And on Sunday, I met Eric Goldberg! Here's a picture of him going over someone's portfolio. I didnt get the chance to ask him to look at mine, unfortunately, but I did ask him waaaay to many questions about his approach to animation, and what he felt about the industry now. He didnt seem to mind, and shared his story about Ken Harris when he was working for Richard Williams on Roger Rabbit, and even did his impression of him, too! You can hear the story also on The Animation Podcast, where you'll also get lots of wisdom from other artists too!


So much happened. More than ALLLL of this. I don't know if Glen Keane was there, but if so I wish I could have met him and picked his brain some.