Charles Huettner Animation

goodbye blogger

2012-01-20T18:40:00.000-08:00

For various reasons I have decided to stop posting here at blogger and move on over to tumblr. I probably wont be deleting this blog for a long time, I guess. Anyway, come on over to the new hotness at........

http://charleshuettner.tumblr.com/

Oh, one more thing... I don't know if anyone noticed but for a while I had a secret area to click on and it would take you to an unlisted page where I would post shots of stuff that I was working on. Right now there's just a stupid little watercolor that probably wont be for anything. So, here's where to click for that...

Knife Fight.

2012-01-19T12:37:00.001-08:00

go get em

Alt music

2012-01-18T15:25:00.000-08:00

I got a nice email today from a grad student named Katalina. Shes getting a degree in music composition and made an alternate audio track to my swift wings video as part of an assignment. Have a listen, it's quite nice.

pencil drawing

2012-01-09T22:27:00.000-08:00

some dogs

Some kid of falling baby person thing.

I call this sketchbook page "crazy limbs".

Some recent gif's

2012-01-06T12:32:00.000-08:00

What was that?

Oh, it's just you...

dog secrets 1

dog secrets 2

comic book

2012-01-02T22:34:00.000-08:00

A year ago this month I started making a comic book. Incoming work was slow, and I had a lot of free time. I basically just started drawing something simple with the hopes of the idea sticking to the wall and maybe getting a little pamphlet comic printed on demand. Real printers are nice, but too expensive for me right now. 6 months later I had about 120 pages. Then work on the book slowed to a stand still when work started coming in and in general spent more time on animation.

During the time off of the comic I read a bunch of books (black hole, jimmy corrigan, big questions, etc...) Even though I didn't love all the comic books I read, they really helped me get a fresh perspective on it all. Most of what I have so far is pretty rushed, I'll probably go back and add more pages in between to slow things down.

So right now the book is at 136 pages with about 40 more pages yet to be made. However I'm not ready to back to it yet. There's a film that needs finishing.

136 pages doesn't look like much when you see them all at once...

postcards

2011-12-30T10:55:00.000-08:00

Earlier this month I found this pack of thick watercolor cards that I've had for many years. Instead of just throwing it away or whatever I thought it would be cool to make some postcards and send them out. I put the call out on twitter, but only got two people to send me their address. I wasn't sure the post would even deem them suitable for mailing, but both cards made it to their destination safely, despite some markings and stamps. I made a third card, but nobody wanted it so I sent it to my friend, Matt. Here are scans of the cards before I sent them.

I Still have some cards left, but I'm not making or sending them out right now. Maybe I'll do it again in a month or so.

this video just happened

2011-12-28T21:59:00.000-08:00

I was talking to my friend online and I started drawing this thing without really thinking about it. I'll warn you, its pretty dumb.

random stuff

2011-12-17T16:46:00.001-08:00

here is some stuff!

Also, one more roodoff thing... just wanted to see what it would look like...

In the spirit of the holidays and all that, here's a little teaser gif of the next short film.

and here it is....

2011-12-11T12:40:00.001-08:00

If it wasn't for Sculptris I wouldn't know how to model anything.

DDD

2011-12-09T23:48:00.001-08:00

I made a 20 second 3D christmas video. The hd upload limit resets on sunday. So for now here are two images.

I don't have any deadlines to worry about this weekend. Can't wait to use the free time to work on my various 2D projects.

I really enjoy making animation. I only regret that I don't finish things more often.

Three Dee

2011-12-04T15:11:00.001-08:00

Mostly just messed around with 3ds max this weekend. But like usual I hit the brick walls pretty fast.

Recent Images

2011-11-29T21:29:00.001-08:00

First/Every/Last

2011-11-27T11:52:00.001-08:00

It's coming along nicely.

3d and a picture

2011-11-22T19:45:00.001-08:00

Some day I'll figure this out......

I think I like 3ds more than maya. Every now and then I get the urge to do some 3d stuff. right now is one of those times.

Here is a picture I made for the grass zine, but I changed my idea of what the zine should be and this image doesn't fit. So I'll just leave it here.

a drawing

2011-11-11T22:04:00.001-08:00

I don't know why I drew this gnome. And I don't know whats going on in the picture either, I'll leave that for the viewer to decide...

new post

2011-11-11T13:14:00.001-08:00

2011-11-10T23:45:00.001-08:00

This...

2011-11-06T18:20:00.000-08:00

...is what I'm doing right now.

Update

2011-10-31T00:07:00.000-07:00

The other week I tried making a website with a proper domain and all that. But it didn't turn out well, so I canceled everything and got a refund. To hell with it all, free blog for life. I don't have much to show in regards to the things I'm making. You'll just have to wait. So here is a picture of me running in the snow storm we had the other day that knocked out a bunch of power lines and left thousands in the stone age.

There are 8 completed pages in the Grass zine. Current comic book completed page count stands at 136.

I've been curious about showing at festivals. Whats it like, is it worth it, etc...? I kind of don't think it's worth it. But I can't really say that until I show stuff. So I'm going to finish the story I always had in mind for "Every Night", and submit it. That video only took me a few days to make. I'm already almost done with the next part. Could have been finished with it already if the power wasn't out all weekend. That video was more conceptual than technical, so the trick is to extend the story but keep the focus on a concept and not so much the sequence of events you see.

I've really been in to a non narrative kind of film making lately. The idea of story taking a back seat to atmosphere, and emotional pacing, etc is very interesting.

Happy halloween, internet!

its my blog and ill gif if i want to

2011-10-13T20:32:00.001-07:00

who is this character i keep drawing???? we will never know the answers to these questions......

print

2011-10-06T16:49:00.000-07:00

I got my copy of Cat Rackham Loses It in the mail today. Read it, loved it. This is probably the first pamphlet comic I've purchased in my adult life. I like the idea of a low cost comic that's only 30 or so pages long. I wish I had started making some of those instead of this 180 page book I'm currently making. Anyway, you can find more of Steve Wolfhard (HERE) and more Cat Rackham (HERE).

At the start of 2011 when I only had maybe 15 pages of my comic done I realized I should probably read some notable comic books because the whole alt comics thing wasn't even on my radar till about maybe a year and a half ago.. The books I got were Blueberry, Jimmy Corrigan, Black Hole, Ronin and finally A Graphic Cosmony.

Out of those five, Graphic Cosmogony was my favorite. It has a great selection of artists and stories dealing with the creation of the universe.

On a final note, I'm making a zine with my friend. The zine will be about Grass. It's going to have words, it's going to have pictures, it's gonna be neat.

blog update

2011-09-26T21:11:00.000-07:00

The other day I gave a ted talk seminar workshop on twitter about how to make animation. Since I don't have much to show, I'll just leave it here.

Step 1: make a keyframe
Step 2: make a second keyframe
Step 3: inbetweening

Step 4: profit

And that's it! Go make some stuff.

This months loopdeloop theme was "down the rabbit hole" and maybe two days ago I had a idea for a quick loop with walt disneys head on alice, and then throw in some 3D references for sarcastic laughs. But then I realized the deadline was a day or two away so I only got as far as the following image before giving up.

That's all I got for now, have a nice week, Internet!

- C

gifffffff

2011-09-20T16:52:00.001-07:00

Videos I like

2011-09-12T22:07:00.001-07:00

For the past week or so I seriously considered making a website/blog focusing exclusively on independent animation. But I couldn't think of a good name for it. Then ultimately I reasoned that I should focus more on making independent animation than running a site. So, in place of all that, here's an other "videos i like" blog post.

I found these two videos today. I don't know what the plot is, or if there even is one, but I really like everything about them. Especially the end of part 2. There are supposed to be three parts, but the last one inst out yet.I guess pretty much everyone who watches animated short films online has seen this next one, but in case you havent, here's Little Boat.This next one seems like the kind of thing that's random nonsense at first, but it comes together really well. I'll end this with a music video. The visuals are really cool, even if it wasnt a music video it would still work as a narrative. Plus, the video pretty much sparked the Internets foremost discussion on axe magic.

On an unrelated note, as time goes on I feel less and less motivated to make blog posts. I like twitter better than blogging.

So I only have about 30-40 pages left for my comic book (160-170 pages in the end). I'm not sure what to do with it when I'm done. Maybe show a publisher? I can't rely on that though. I'll probably end up doing on demand printing, but that will bring the cost up to about $18 dollars an copy, that is, without me making any profits. I also might just give it away for free as a pdf or something. And if it turns out that I suck at comics, then I'll keep it hidden, for fear of shame and art disgrace.

.gif

2011-09-09T14:53:00.001-07:00

.gif

2011-09-08T21:35:00.001-07:00

I Am Sing

2011-09-06T22:14:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I was with my 6 year old niece, Tulia. I told her if she drew some pictures and came up with a story, I'd make it into a video. About 90% of whats on screen was drawn by her. I drew the heads of some of the characters, and also the blood on "Bloodfoot". Interesting note on Bloodfoot; hes based off her real life bloody foot. Her mom (my sister) was changing the bandage when she came up with him.

I don't think she drew the picture of the car crash. That was probably by my brother in law. But I put it in the video because I found it in a notebook full of her drawings

stuff

2011-09-04T00:03:00.000-07:00

Here is some random stuff I've recently posted elsewhere on the internet.

Actually I havent posted that last picture before. Its the title shot of that "rabbit dog and man" short film i spent a long time wanting to make over the past few years. Below are two more shots from the same project.

Safe to say I will never finish that short. It was this epic journey told in three parts. Every time I tried to work on it, it started to look drastically different. Now I just look back on it as animation practice.

Every Night

2011-08-26T17:53:00.001-07:00

Earlier in the week I had some free time in the middle of work and I kicked out this two minute animation. Technically its a loop for http://www.loopdeloop.org/ but I like how it can stand as a short on its own.

New thing

2011-08-25T10:30:00.001-07:00

Here is a shot of a new thing. Expect it to come to an internet near you, at least before Monday.

whats up?

2011-08-20T22:28:00.001-07:00

Maine Vacation 2011

2011-08-16T16:44:00.000-07:00

Dear Diary,

Last week I was with my family at my Grandmothers cabin in Maine. I enjoyed looking through the old photo albums that had pictures dating back to 1894! Judging from the pictures, everyone in the 20's and 30's wore a suit whenever they did anything. Like this old family friend fishing on the dock.

I also enjoyed the coloring of these little square photos:

The last day we were there we had a benefit dinner at my Grandmothers church. You could get a lobster or a steak. I chose steak because I can't stand sea food. The steak was insane. I've never been served more meat in a single sitting than this chunk of beef. I should have taken a picture of it, but I didn't so here is a drawing of it from memory.

I didn't eat the whole thing.

I also did a bunch of other things, but I don't feel like talking about it anymore. So here is a video postcard of random videos I took. The song in the video is something I wrote years ago because I don't feel like writing something new.

Videos I like (updated)

2011-08-04T13:42:00.000-07:00

*update* Odin's Afterbirth Part Two was posted today. I love how cinematic and epic they are. Really well done. In case you missed it, click here for part 1.

Next week I'll be on vacation in Maine! Even though the heat dome left Pennsylvania a while ago, I welcome colder weather with open arms, and gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

I don't usually care much about "making of" videos but If they had one for Jean Francois, it would have my full attention.

This next video is really great. It's been posted everywhere in the past week. But if you haven't seen it, definitely check it out right..................... now!

And finally we end with mac and cheese. My favorite part is when the dub step kicks in. Dub step on its own is kind of silly though.

A Question

2011-08-02T13:40:00.000-07:00

I never had a proper website because I never took the reality of what I do seriously. I don't mean that as in quality of work, obviously. But I kind of fell into doing motion graphics/animation, so I never thought of "branding" myself as someone who does that for money. At 28 years old I'm thinking I shouldn't be so 'whatevs' about a career.

So the question is, is having a website worth it? Does it open up opportunities that you wouldn't have gotten by not having a site? Is it basically a vanity thing, just to project a more professional appearance? Like I've said before, I don't personally know anyone else who works in the same field, so any input is greatly appreciated.

I turned on anonymous commenting for all you people that like to stay hidden in the shadows, but might have something worth saying. I actually prefer to have anonymous comments on, but then you always get the inevitable spam bots.

mix

2011-07-30T20:11:00.000-07:00

Sometimes when you get an idea, you have to see it through to the end.

(click the picture)

dvd menu

2011-07-29T19:15:00.001-07:00

When I got the adobe production package cs5 earlier this year it came with encore, a dvd making program. I don't really have a need to make dvd's but since its there, I might as well use it. Even if its only once or twice. So I mixed a bunch of my videos and some abandoned stuff together and made this spooky dvd menu background video. However, It's too spooky, so I probably wont use it. Although it is kind of interesting to look at, so I put it up on vimeo.

15

2011-07-26T22:29:00.001-07:00

too late

2011-07-23T21:16:00.001-07:00

I meant to have this done a while ago for loopdeloop. However, there's this big heatwave attacking america right now, and I don't have air conditioning. Hot humid weather is my greatest enemy, and it has defeated me. So for now just accept a small gif(t). Maybe I'll finish it for another months theme, or maybe make it it's own thing. Who knows, the possibilities are endless.

In other news I figured out there are only about 30 pages left to draw for my comic book. I kind of took a couple months off from working on it. But now I'm excited to finish.

I need to go somewhere cold and finish all my projects already...

loop

2011-07-18T19:20:00.000-07:00

I used to find it difficult to make simple characters. Now it comes a little too naturally, I think. I want to eventually make stuff that's more complex.

Also, I got stung by a bee today.

plus++++++++++

2011-07-14T12:14:00.000-07:00

I'm on google plus. You can add me if you like. Just search for my name and look for the crow icon:

I don't know any visual artists (animation, comics, illustration artists etc..) in real life. So maybe this could be fun or something.

Videos I like.

2011-07-09T10:24:00.001-07:00

I wanted to wait a while before making another one of these lists. But there's too much good stuff out right now. Check em out.

This first one is probably my favorite Gobelins animation, ever.

I love the character Abraham Willosby in that last one. The laugh at the end is so perfect because it feels so fitting of the character you just met 3 minutes prior. I wish there was more Willosby.

14

2011-07-08T22:53:00.001-07:00

A blog post

2011-07-06T20:40:00.000-07:00

When I was in Louisiana last weekend for my friends wedding (congrats Travis!) I found a moleskine book for 6 dollars. This is a rare occurrence, so I bought it. Now I feel obligated to fill it with drawings. But the drawings suck so Ill show them to you in animated gif style.

In other news, I'm working on that comic book again. I kind of stopped for about a month cause of freelance work and cause I just felt like taking a break. I made two new pages last night, so that brings me up to a 130 page count. I'm close to the end. I posted a possible cover for the book on twitter. Although I'm going to scrap that and make a better one.

Other than all that, I'll probably make another loop for this months loopdeloop. You should make one too. I'm also making a secret animation that wont take too long to finish I hope. And of course the occasional "status update" video, which only my sister and her friends seem to like.

How are you doing?

Loop

2011-06-23T00:13:00.000-07:00

I made another loop for loopdeloop

Theme: opposites

It should be noted that the robots head was heavily influenced by the cyborg in the opening shots of Ghost in the Shell.

13

2011-06-20T13:43:00.001-07:00

Videos I Like

2011-06-17T17:16:00.000-07:00

tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime for some videozzz.....

the time for videos is now over....

3D

2011-06-15T12:47:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while I get the itch to get into maya and try and make some 3D animation. The only problem is that I seriously suck at it. However, that's never stopped me from making anything... Here are the last three 3D videos I made in the past few weeks.

As you can see, they're pretty dumb.

My models all deform after adding a skeleton and my Ik is all messed up.

So that's it for 3D. I'll quit for now, and get back to 2D.

some stuff

2011-06-09T19:50:00.000-07:00

Two style shots from a freelance thing that didn't pan out. note: I took out the product in the second image.

Here is a close up detail from the set of my next animated thing (i think). I usually do minimal and suggested backgrounds for things, this time I'm going to try a more detailed approach. I'm posting this now because when its in full frame you cant even notice the dotted text or crack in the glass.

12

2011-06-08T12:24:00.001-07:00

11

2011-06-03T23:19:00.001-07:00

10

2011-06-02T23:43:00.001-07:00

09

2011-05-31T10:46:00.001-07:00

Comic Book Update

2011-05-29T23:20:00.000-07:00

I'm currently working on page 125 of my comic book. I'm getting close to the end. So I decided to celebrate that fact by posting a panel from the comic (above). And I tricked out this blog to look right at home with the style of the book. Which is to say obviously default photoshop brush and basic colors. The kid in you may be thinking, 'omigod awesome colors!' but the adult in you may be saying 'jeez, this is just too hard to look at.' Well you're both right, I'll have more to say about my choices later, after the book is out.

08

2011-05-28T22:49:00.001-07:00

07

2011-05-27T11:07:00.000-07:00

Videos I like

2011-05-26T21:05:00.000-07:00

And now it's time for yet an other addition of "Videos I Like." In no particular order.

Black Forest Loop

2011-05-22T12:03:00.000-07:00

I made that for http://www.loopdeloop.org/ This months theme is "launch".

I should make more shorty short animations, because this didn't even take that long to make. Especially since Teef Tung was sooooo long ago.

06

2011-05-19T17:58:00.001-07:00

05

2011-05-18T19:11:00.001-07:00

Status Update

2011-05-17T23:57:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago I decided all my status updates on facebook will be videos. So every day since I've made a quick little thing. Who knows how long it'll last. I figured I should post them here because I only have 19 facebook friends(I keep it low on purpose). At least half of them probably don't even care for such things. But my sister loves em. So maybe someone in blog reading world will like them too. Get ready blogspot, there will be some regular updating.

01

02

03

04

Also, the other day was a first ever "draw cat rackham day". It happened to catch me at a moment where I really felt like animating something. So I made this...

If you don't know what Cat Rackham is; it's a series of comics by Steve Wolfhard. They're really good and I like them a lot. Here is the link to the other 100+ Cat Rackham drawings made that day.

Videos I like.

2011-05-07T16:18:00.000-07:00

*UPDATE The full version of "Chick" is now online. check it out.

Hey guys, hungry for some animation? Well have a heaping spoon full of this...

I think my favorite was "girl wallet". To find out more about the animators just go to their vimeo or youtube page.

postcard

2011-05-05T11:15:00.000-07:00

Anyone want a postcard? I had three from when I drove through Utah last year. Even if I don't know you I'll write like were old pals and im still living that same day i bought the cards. I posted this on facebook, and only got one reply.... So that leaves TWO genuine authentic arches national park gift shop post cards just itching for a friendly hello.

If you want one, just leave your name and address in the comments, or just send an email to charleshuettner(at)gmail.com

Update

2011-05-02T22:56:00.000-07:00

Not working on anything but my comic book these days. Except for freelance work whenever its there, of course. Since I'm not showing the comic yet I've had nothing to post. That will probably stay true until I finish the book. I'm currently on page 105. I'm thinking maybe 20 more pages. I'm pretty sure I will finish it this month. I'm excited to show this thing when its done. But for now, have a few quick character designs that didn't fit the vibe of the comic.

Maybe that'll give you an idea of the style.

check it out, check it out, check it out

2011-04-11T16:21:00.000-07:00

I figure its not enough to simply make stuff and assume people will know about it. So I'm giving social networking a shot. Ergo this brand spanking new twitter account starring yours truely.

http://www.twitter.com/charleshuettner

You can click that link above, or click the bird image to the right to get to my profile. The "V" picture takes you to my vimeo page. Anyways check it out, wont you?

In other news, I'm trying to finish this comic book by the end of the month. Good luck! thanks...

Space Space Space

2011-04-04T10:28:00.000-07:00

A quick sketch of a space man i drew on a sheet of bristol i keep next to my wacom for quick ideas.

Videos I like.

2011-04-02T15:06:00.000-07:00

It's that time again...........

cool stuff right?

Whaaaaaaaat

2011-03-30T00:15:00.000-07:00

Finally figured out some masking and multiple comps and puppet trickery in after effects. Not that it was complicated, but still kind of a lot of tinkering just to make a running and bouncing block character.

Also, I may have wanted to make a batman comic last week. The idea was that he finds a gun and uses it to shoot the bad guys. But that's silly, I don't have time for that kind of sillyness.

update

2011-03-26T19:24:00.000-07:00

A decrease in posts can only mean one thing... I'm busy finishing projects. Here is the first page of a comic I had started a few months ago and never finished. I was in the mood for westerns back then. If I ever do go back to work on it, it'll be a long time from now.

In other news I'm on page 80 of my current comic project. At this point I expect it to be over 100 pages.

Comic Preview

2011-03-14T21:48:00.000-07:00

So I just got to page 60 in my comic book. I resisted showing anything till now for fear of early satisfaction and maybe eventually losing interest and having yet another abandoned project on hands. However there's no way I'll abandon this now. My target length is 80 pages, but my dream length is over 100. I'm writing it as I go so we'll see how it turns out. I have the story divided in to three parts. Above is the title image for part three obviously. I chose that image to show because it doesn't spoil anything. That is, it doesnt spoil anything after I marked out the text.

Speaking of comics I finished Jimmy Corrigan the other day. I liked it. Although it was hard to really get into because all the characters are so awkward. On the back of the book there is a little mini comic about the book itself being made and being sold in stores. See below:

The panels that have the parent looking for the comic and the employee mistakenly directs them away from the comic section to literature where theyll get a book of Billy Corgan song lyrics is spot on. The store that I got this book at had all kinds of toys and stuff next to the comics rack. Which was also right next to the bathroom.

In a way it's a little discouraging how after all this time making a comic book of my own only to have this thing that the average person on the street will think it childish and or silly nerd stuff. Not that I'm comparing myself to Chirs Ware. But still, It would be nice if I didn't have to say "but its not about super heroes" when telling people I made a comic book.

books

2011-03-05T13:34:00.000-08:00

I finished Black Hole a few weeks ago. It was ok. Not as good as I thought it might be.

I was in a borders today that was going out of business. I almost got Wilson, by Dan Clowes, but it was 25 dollars and only 80 pages. I decided a better deal would be Jimmy Corrigan by Chris Ware, it was cheaper and has like a million pages.

Troublemakers

2011-02-27T13:15:00.000-08:00

up to no good.

In other news, totally unrelated to the picture above, I'm about 50 pages into my comic book. how many more pages to go? About 30 more i'd say. Whats it about? ain't tellin. I've been working on it since the beginning of January, so use that to estimate about when I might finish.

Videos I like

2011-02-21T16:19:00.000-08:00

I'm still keeping what I'm making under wraps so have another post about videos I've been enjoying:

Animated Dream

2011-02-12T13:19:00.000-08:00

Last night I had a dream about a talking fox dog. It was on the run from a hunter. The weird part is that the dream was animated. It didn't look realistic, It looked very very close to the illustration I just made, and have posted above. I never dreamed in animation before.

Videos I Like

2011-02-08T12:49:00.000-08:00

UPDATE:

I'm updating this list because David OReilly's film "The External World" went online today.

It's a good film, I like it a lot. There was a lot of hype for this one. Maybe too much hype because I was expecting it to be wilder than it turned out being. That seems to be the case with most things though. The best is when you find something great without previously knowing anything about it. Anyway, enjoy the film. Consider yourself Updated.

______________________________

Here are some videos from the internet that I like. if you click on the "vimeo" logo in each video you will go to the video's page where you can find information about the artists and all that stuff.

nsfw

Comic Book

2011-02-03T12:57:00.000-08:00

I've been making a comic book. I didn't want to say anything because I wasn't sure if I'd stick with it or not. Right now I have 30 pages done. I'm thinking all said and done it'll be about 60-80 pages long. I'm not going to say what its about, or show any images until it's done. It's not about super heroes, its not slice of life, nor is it an auto bio comic. You could argue that it's sci-fi, but there isn't any technology in the story... or science.

My main starting point was from looking at photoshop's default swatches. I drew a character using a few limited colors and built a story from there.

The whole thing is turning out better than I expected. I originally just wanted to make a quick thing and have it published on demand just because I always wanted to see something of mine in print. But now I think I might send it to some independent comics publishers and see if anyones interested. If not, then I'll just self publish and put it up online for free.

I think its important to know about your mediums art history. It would be terrible to come up with an idea you think is new, only to find out its actually a cliche. I haven't been much of a comic book reader in the past so I have a lot of catching up to do. Hence, my copy of Black Hole that I got in the mail today. Anyway, I must go start page 31, which you can see laid out in its blank 12 panel glory on my computer screen.

Images.

2011-01-31T12:49:00.000-08:00

Here are some images from stuff I wanted to make but never did, so I'll just dump them here.

Death of a Short Film

2011-01-10T18:13:00.000-08:00

Concept art for title screen

A long time ago I decided to make a short film called "L'homme et la Baguette" (the man and the baguette) It was going to be a 2D hand drawn film about a man and a loaf of bread that could communicate with him. This was going to be my first big hand made short film. I even wanted to learn how to speak french so I could record dialogue. However, there was one major problem.... I didn't know how to hand animate character animation. So I put the project on the back burners until I was ready. Since then my style and philosophy on animation has changed dramatically. Were I to make the short now it would become something completely different. More importantly the shorts whole concept would bore me to death.

Yesterday I realized that I am never going to make this short. Animation takes a long time to produce, and I just don't want to spend a lot of time on something so weak. So I'm writing this blog post to officially kill it.

The following is some concept art I made for the film as well as demo songs recorded by my friend Matt. He was going to do a nice soundtrack for the film.

Matt - Paris by Russell Huettner

Matt wrote that song after we had visited Paris on our european backpack trip.

Can't make a film about Paris without this right? right?

drawing of the notre dame cathedral

Early (ugly) title screen concept

Matt - Baguette theme demo by Russell Huettner

That song was going to be the shorts main theme. Different moments in the short would have variations of this song.

Newer but still kind of bleh looking title screen concept


Street Scene

Poster design

Matt - French dem by Russell Huettner

Another song by Matt for one of the more relaxing moments in the film.

At one time I decided to abandon the whole "baguette" thing and make the story about a water vendor that worked outside of the Louvre Museum. When I was there those guys were everywhere.

It was going to be a silly story about where they get the water they sell. The alps of course.

A concept image where I used real shadows on the drawing of the character.

Concept image without real shadows.

Aaaand finally the last title concept image I made. its also my fav.

Here are the rest of the songs:
Matt - Frenchie demo 2 by Russell Huettner

Matt - Baguette demo 324 by Russell Huettner

Matt - Baguette demo real piano and whistles by Russell Huettner

Q&A

2011-01-09T21:25:00.000-08:00

There is a good Q&A on reddit with animator Don Hertzfeldt. I think he's answering questions for one week? Someone commented on the tedious nature of animating and spending so much time on one idea. I found Don's responce extremely relatable.

"when you start losing steam or scenes don't seem right anymore + you get the primitive urge to abandon and flee a project, often the challenge is simply, "how do i make this better." this is partially why i like to be able to write as i go... add additional scenes, fleshing out an idea more, move stuff around, rewrite, etc. when you stare at the same thing every day for months on end, it sort of becomes the ultimate test of whether it's really going to work or not. you kinda start only seeing its weaknesses."

Today for example I was setting up the composition for the next scene in rabbit dog that I'm going to animate and I got into this small funk. Felt like working on something different, seemed like the scene was too standard and not exciting anymore. But I stuck with it and after some alterations I was happy with it again.

What I like to do is add color alterations and corrections in after effects. That way when I animate in photoshop I'm looking at the dull version. If i need to refresh my commitment I just take some finished stuff, pop it in after effects and get motivated again.

Best of 2010

2011-01-03T18:29:00.000-08:00

I try to watch as many animated short films as I can. There's definitely been a lot of good stuff to see. I thought about doing a list of best shorts and whatnot. But that list would be incomplete. I'm still waiting for some high profile shorts to be released online.

Soooo, I'll just name my all time favorite short of 2010 (that you can see online)

See the winner after the cut:

And the winner is... OLD FANGS!!!!

Go ahead, I dare you to show me a better 2010 short than "Old Fangs". btw, watch it here.

For best animated feature my pick is....................???? I don't think I even saw any animated features made in 2010. I kind of want to see the Illusionist, buuut not really. Chomet seems like a total one trick pony.

Concept Art

2010-12-30T20:57:00.000-08:00

Concept art photoshop sketches..........

old west style.

Videos I Like

2010-12-23T14:27:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas, internet. Here are some animations I really enjoy.

Part one of a three part thing? I like how epic it feels:

Quick Christmas indents. There are four more made in similar fashion, but I like this one the best:

cool student film:

New short film from Don Hertzfeldt:

This last one has a good ending:

Merry Christmas To All

2010-12-15T23:59:00.000-08:00

I hear this is what its like.

Here is last years xmas greeting from me.

Update

2010-12-12T12:30:00.000-08:00

Here is an update on my projects.

When I came back from the road trip I said getting "Wake" done was top priority. Well, turns out shortly after I posted that I got really into making "Rabbit/Dog and Man". So right now that's taking center stage. It seems like I've been working on that short for a very long time. But really, you could say final production only started two months ago. I currently have about 30 seconds of Part 1 finished. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but I plan on releasing it in Parts (4 parts total).

The biggest obstacle in getting these shorts done was that freelance work would take priority on my time. It took me a while to adjust and balance the need to work and the desire to create shorts. I think I'm in a good place with both right now.

Wake needs some time out in the corner to think about what it's doing. Something is wrong with it, but I'm not quite sure what that is. Wake has about 3:12 minutes completed. It was meant to be this quick thing for me to work on and get out when I had free time. But, the story became more of an introspective thing for the main character, therefore making it difficult to flesh out. As opposed to a story that's more event oriented.

And finally, I have some secret things too. Non animation things in the works. Some might fail, some might be the best thing ever. Who knows, that's part of the fun.

Background

2010-12-02T14:06:00.000-08:00

Here is some background art I finished today for Rabbit/Dog and Man.

Video I like.

2010-12-01T19:09:00.000-08:00

I havent done one of these in a while. So youd think id have a whole bunch of videos that other people made to post here right? wrong! Right now I can only think of 3...

This first one has a lot of mood and atmosphere. I LOVE atmosphere and mood in animation.

This is a trailer for a full length movie or something? Not really sure, but I want to see the whole thing.

Finally, here are the opening titles from the playgrounds 2010 festival. It's awesome on so many levels.

It's so frustrating to not have my own personal projects completed and out there for the world to see.

Thanksgiving Jam

2010-11-26T17:25:00.000-08:00

Nightmare by Russell Huettner

Me and my 5 year old niece had a little jam session this thanksgiving. She plays some random keyboard, and I'm on guitar. I like her lyrics.

In other news; I'm animating and drawing. Id show you evidence of that, but I don't want to until It's done. soooooooooo, youll just have to wait.

Gif

2010-11-14T10:36:00.000-08:00

Here are some animated gif's of animations from the past that I have abandoned.

Sketchy sketch

2010-11-06T11:16:00.000-07:00

I was drawing last night with this fine tipped brush. Things got a little repetitive so I grabbed this old ratty looking brush with a blunt tip that was totally destroyed from not being taken care of and drew out this guy in a few minutes. I guess its some more concept art for something that I've been only thinking about. I do that a lot. It probably wont become anything though.

Insects

2010-10-26T20:30:00.000-07:00

Here's some concept sketches of some insects for a secret thing I'm making.

I might be working on too many things at once.

Critters

2010-10-23T10:33:00.000-07:00

I need a critter, so I made these line ups to choose from. Witch critter will I choose???? Well you'll just have to wait and see.

Not in Portland / Back to Animation

2010-10-22T19:45:00.000-07:00

So the move to Portland didn't take. We got there, looked around, everyone was really nice, but it just didn't work out. Every apartment wanted us to live there for a long time, but we were only committed to about 6 months. Long story short we came back to good ol Pennsylvania.

The time off from animation did some good. I got a lot of new ideas for future projects and good revisions for current ones. At the top of my priority list is to finish "Wake". I started making that short just to have an animated narrative short completed quickly. I would have finished it already if it wasn't for a big busy time with work projects followed by a road trip.

Anyway fall is in full swing and winter is almost here. I work faster in cold weather so expect some cool stuff in the near future.

Moving

2010-09-29T12:38:00.000-07:00

In a few days I'll be leaving Pennsylvania and moving to the pacific north west. Portland, OR is the unofficial destination.

I probably wont be posting anything while traveling. This blog is going on a two or three week vacation. But before I go, heres some concept art for a short I had an idea for and may or may not make.

laterzzzzz

September

2010-09-12T14:33:00.000-07:00

September Jam by Russell Huettner

In honor of September I'm reposting this song me and my sister made a couple years ago. It's always been one of my favorites. The other day I considered making a quick music video for it. However, anything worth doing takes time. So I only got as far as making a few background images.

Yesterday I took my old guitar out of its case and found that it was in this weird tuning. So, I recorded this next song just for kicks.

Old guitar by Russell Huettner

End Of Summer

2010-09-09T22:04:00.000-07:00

Summer is nice for a bit, but I'm always glad to see it go. I'm more productive in the winter.

Right now I'm on hold awaiting feedback for three work projects. In the meantime I don't have anything to do except work on my own stuff. It's pretty nice. Reminds me of when I was unemployed and just created videos for the fun of it.

So with this time off I've been going outside

Spending time with my grandmothers water color set. It has these shells in it for some reason.

Still messing with 3D

And of course trying to finish "Wake". I saw this video that said you shouldn't tell people what you are doing because it lowers the chance that you'll actually do it. So I'm going to try that for a bit. You wont see anything else from my next animation projects until I'm almost done. Hopefully with winter coming up, I'll get a lot more done.

Three Dee

2010-09-06T18:34:00.000-07:00

Messing around with 3D software. I'll figure it out some day.

Gobelins Short

2010-09-03T22:40:00.001-07:00

Thats my favorite video from the new Gobelins shorts.

Two Things

2010-08-17T22:56:00.000-07:00

A video taken by me at the farm I grew up on:

And another "noun and situation" comic.

Noun: fish
Situation: food poisoning

Good Short

2010-08-16T20:05:00.000-07:00

By Caleb Wood. I like it.

Wake Trailer

2010-08-14T17:14:00.000-07:00

password: wake

My goal was to have that short done before I move. By the way, I'm moving to the north west next month. But, like I've said before, work projects have taken up most of my time. So it wont be finished till after I move etc... Since I haven't posted anything in a while, I figured I'd post a trailer for the short. I have it password protected because I'd rather not have it spread around too much. Blogger's stats feature tell me I only get a little bit of traffic on this blog, which is fine by me. But if you're one of the few who look at this it means you're interested. So there you go, a sneak peek trailer.

I made the trailer pretty vague on purpose.