More Hand Drawn Animation

Still trying to get the cobwebs out, people...



I wanted to try something a little more loose and exaggerated... it's not the cleanest thing ever but I did have fun with stretching parts of him out in the in-betweens.

Happy Friday!

Here's a chipmunk dressed up as a cop.
Maybe you'll see it on TV, maybe you won't.

Kid Sister "Daydreaming" Music Video

This is a video I worked on through LFS. We only had a couple of weeks from start to finish and I think the concept was simple and well-executed; props to the director Kim Gehrig for an overall smooth production (something that seems to be rarer and rarer with each passing project)!
Unfortunately my life outside of blogging (a.k.a. "life") has been a bit hectic in the last month due to putting some long hours in at the office, freelancing and the release of God of War 3 but hopefully I should be able to get back to posting more on here soon. I've been doing a lot more drawing as of late so there should be plenty to show from that bag o' tricks in the coming weeks. Until then, check out this work-in-progress that I've been doodlin' up on Adobe Illustrator:

There's a lot more detail to it! I'll post a much higher-res when I'm finished with it.

The Gift of .GIFing

Outside of the occasional venture into Flash, any animation I do designed for the web comes far and few between. That's why today is special... I made this:

If it fails to load properly that is most likely due to my lack of knowledge in compressing .gif files

To be honest I didn't do much more than add a bloody nose to a pre-existing .gif animation and then composite it onto a .gif dance floor, but isn't that 90% of animation nowadays?
My horizon is chock full of new projects, which reminds ME to remind YOU to check out one of my favorite music producers, oddisee. I could go on and on about his rich beats, devotion to providing plenty of free quality music to his fans and versatility in his music, but I'll let you check him out yourself (but only if you're really interested... I don't want to pressure you into something that you don't want to do like so many delicious-looking Domino's® ads these days). Check out his latest free seasonal EP, Odd Winter over on his blog. More on him later...
I must admit that after brainvomiting out that last paragraph I've developed a bit of writer's block & think I will call it a night, however brief it may have been. I haven't even left the office to go home yet.

I'm going to go become lost in John K's blog now.

These Are The Breaks & Such

Back in late 2009 I did a small bit of work for the VEVO program, "These Are The Breaks." I had a couple of days to come up with the intro graphics and I think for the time I had it turned out fairly well.



2010 looks to be another busy year -- I'm not really one for resolutions, and while I expect there to be a good amount of work out there to be done I hope to get more drawing and painting in. I've been doing a lot more on the commute to and from work lately so hopefully I'll have something to post in that regard when I have a bit of free time.
I also really REALLY want to start a new music video project. Hopefully I can lamaze this Locksley video project out of the uterus of my computer and get something new started in the spring time. Any hip-hop artists out there interested... hmmm??? Ghostface? CunninLynguists? Cudi? Raekwon? DOOM? Yeezy?

I'm all ears (big ones).

Updates! Finally.

Hello four people who read this (... and hello to YOU who happened across the blog by some random act of Google),

First and foremost I must apologize for my online absence as of late, I can't necessarily say that things have been consistently neck-breaking busy these last few months but sometimes I neglect to check in. Just ask my stepmother -- she's still waiting for me to call her to wish her a Happy Thanksgiving. Sorry Candy!
So what do I have to show for not posting anything since September? The long answer is I need to compile & scan a few things and wait for a few other things to go online so I can repost them here.

The short answer is not a lot, BUT allow me to share with you what I do have.

I'll start with Locksley since that seems to be all I talk about in my blog, so why stop now? First off, I not only got to design my first-ever album art for them, but it's bigger than short in Japan right now. Check it!

Rocksrey™

... and yes, the video I shot for them will be done eventually -- look out for it in the Winter/Spring of 2010! Until then, here's a screenshot to keep you occupied...

... still a work in progress!

Speaking of forays into the magical world of music videos, I recently did a bit of work* on the latest Kid CuDi video for his single, "Pursuit of Happiness." Enjoy!



I've also posted a high-resolution version of the animated segment I did for The Features video earlier this year... it's a bit more in sync with the audio and you can make out a lot more with that quality! I bet you didn't even know there was a parrot in the video... check it out by clicking on the image below!


I've got more to post but it can wait til later this week... and yes, my stepmom did try calling me again while posting this online.

Further Adventures in Animation

Today's lesson: Advanced Motion Tracking

I Done Made Things Move: "Lions" Music Video by The Features

Directed by my friend Joshua Winkler, working on this video turned me onto this band -- they're quite excellent and I encourage everyone out there to buy their album, "Some Kind of Salvation." I was in charge of the portion involving the hand-drawn cut-0ut animation which starts at around 2:40.

Excellent work Josh!

Locksley's "Love You Too" Video Shoot

... and now the real fun begins.

The State of Locksley Music Videos These Days

First off, let me say that I've watched the brand new music video for Locksley's upcoming single "Darling It's True" and it's highly, highly enjoyable. With permission of the band I was able to download a screenshot and be the first to show you all a little sneak peak!

EDIT: AT THE REQUEST OF THE BAND I WAS ASKED TO CENSOR OUT ANY PORTIONS OF THE FRAME THAT MAY GIVE TOO MUCH AWAY.

How amazing does Kai look in that shot?!

In other Locksley music video related news (or LMVRN for short) the diorama is in its final stages of completion & the band was fitted for their animal costumes last week. Exciting! Check out the screen shots of the diorama below.



Also it's worth noting that if you're looking for some good music to jam to this summer, go out and buy (by which I mean click over to the iTunes store) and pick up the album Some Kind of Salvation by The Features. I just finished up doing a bit of animation for one of their songs (see previous entry) and I'm a sold man on their music. Great job!

Coming Soon: New Animation Work

Here's a peak.


... stay tuned!

Holy Crap It's June Already

Hello hello!
I apologize to those of you that I haven't talked to nearly as much as I should have in the past couple of weeks but I haven't had too much time away from other engagements. I've been at the LFS office everyday for the past four weeks & my roommate tells me that the only way she knows that I'm alive is the jug of apple juice in our refrigerator progressively gets emptier and emptier as the week passes.
Since I'm more of a visual guy I'll post a few images rather than explaining anything.















More to come.

Photos by Mark Phillips, Rob Cohen, Sam Bair, Brian Close & Gina Vortman

More Works in the Works

What up folks! With Memorial Day officially behind us, it's time to post a few updates of the latest Brooklynz Goings Ons™. Outside of work I've been keeping pretty reasonably busy on the upcoming Locksley music video and assisting my new friend Josh Winkler on his video for The Features. I'm pretty excited to be working on both.
Below are some photos from the Locksley production, without giving too much away at the moment I can say that it does involve a lot of physical construction, something that I've always wanted to do a bit more of. Drills and powertools feel a lot more manlier than mice and Wacom® tablets.

Sam Bair and Charlie Sato

Mark Phillips

Sam Bair takes 5 minutes and 20 fl. oz.

As for The Features, I haven't begun the animation process as of yet but I do have a bit of concept art that I'll be relying on for the final product... here's a sneak peak!


More updates to come soon!

xoxox

New Feature: Animators on Set

Yup. Awkward.

Photo by Joshua Winkler on the set of the music video "Lions" by The Features.

Google Chrome Spot

Sometimes at LFS you get to do some fun things that shouldn't even qualify as work.

This was one of those projects.

We had two weeks to complete it from start-to-finish, and I got to act for once! I hope you enjoy it. Also, who knew that a drawing I made while bored while working in the science department back in college would end up being in a Google commercial? See if you can spot it.

Scrabblemation

I saw this on Motionographer today... fantastic, fantastic work for Scrabble of all things. Like I didn't enjoy America's Favorite Word Game™ enough already (that reminds me... I left my board at someone's house awhile back so I need to go buy a new one, hopefully I don't have to trip balls in order to do so). Great work by Wizz.
In other news, I'm working hard on trying to get a couple of projects off the ground. I can't discuss things in too much detail since one is still in the stages of pre-pre-production, but the other is a new music video for everyone's favorite group... Locksley! Yup. The boys that gave me the opportunity and put me where I'm at today are bringin' me back for Music Video Part Two (Part DEUX). When I'm not cooking obscene amounts of food for Sam Bair, we're crackin' away at the egg that is creative output. Hopefully I'll have a few more things to post soon as things develop a bit more.

Until then!

M

Marked Animation 2009 Reel

Starbucks "Are You In?" Campaign

Since around the time of my last post back at the beginning of January, we've been working nearly non-stop up until a few days ago at Lifelong Friendship Society getting the latest spot for Starbucks out the door. I was lead animator and Travis Spangler was in charge of design and the overall look of it. We had a great team of animators (Alex, Tim, Ish, Lily & Rosie) and knocked it out despite the seething amounts of sexual tension in the room whilst we all worked (that 3AM unshowered musk really heats things up). I've never lost so much sleep on one project, and for me that's really saying something. I even gave up my 8-month boycott on coffee so I could make it through.

So far the response has been pretty positive, and we even got featured on Youtube's main page!


And now I present to you the full 2:40 version...

Lifelong Friendship Society (We Go Hard)

Own Your C, a project I worked on with Lifelong Friendship Society got some love on Motionographer.com today! Not only did I get a chance to animate and help out on set, but I fulfilled my day-long dream of dressing up as an underground elephant king and dancing on a television set.

... and apparently I work for a company with " lo-fi hipster aesthetics." If only that applied to Burger King spots as well.

ALSO: The music video All Over Again that I directed last year made it into the finals for "Best Music Video" at this year's Midwest Independent Film Festival! Hopefully that works out. If I had known about it sooner I would've tried to rally everyone into an online voting frenzy but alas I was unaware. Check out the trailer for this year's nominees here.

UPDATE: Alas, we didn't win... but there's always next time.

88-Keys "True Feelings" is online!

Yes, it is available for viewing on my site as well but clicking on the link above will give the Computer Beach Party site a little more love! Hope you guys like it.

Coming Soon. Very Soon.

Well it's been awhile since I've updated this blog and I apologize to all four of you who read it. However, my absence from the bloggurobble doesn't mean I've been unproductive by any means. After weeks of no days off and late nights at the office, I can finally say that the music video for 88-Keys' mixtape song "True Feelings" is in the final stages of completion. In the next few days we'll have it posted on both Marked Animation and Computer Beach Party so be sure to check back at your leisure! Until then, here are a couple more screenshots of the beast:



This project was a lot more texture-heavy than other things I've worked on. Graduating from the School of Stealing Images Off of Google Image Search, I instead went around Williamsburg taking a series of close-up snapshots of the gritty & grainy for this video to dirty things up a bit. There's a lot of high school, neighborhood bodega and traffic signs plastered all over 88. I can only assume that's why he got into this business.

Special thanks to Lifelong Friendship Society, Anna Maltezos, and Ben Myers for lending a varietal of hands on this project.

First Screenshots from 88-Keys' "True Feelings"

Sup fam!

Here's a couple of very vague & ambiguous screenshots from the upcoming music video for 88-Keys that we're working on. The video should be done in less than a couple of weeks (shit!) so be sure to check back soon for the finished product!

Computer Beach Party is LIVE

After roughly two years of talking, concepting, forgetting & procrastinating, the beta site for Computer Beach Party is finally online. CBP is a collective effort between Marked Animation, Mark Theriault of Partially Frozen & Skylar Wesby of Convivial Enemy. The site is in its infancy at the moment but be sure to check it for regular updates of new animation & visual effects work.

I'm also a little late on posting these, but the music video shoot for 88 Keys went relatively smoothly especially working under the hungover and sleep-deprived conditions that we subjected ourselves to! If all goes well, we'll start posting a few previews & test shots for it later this month. Here's a few behind-the-scenes* shots:









... other than that, Locksley's video for All Over Again is revised and back on the web with a vengeance. If you're not a regular MTV watcher like everyone else I know (lolz jk omg), be sure to check them out on the MTV site! They're artist of the week!



* "behind-the-scenes" = Mark trying to feel useful on set with a camera.

AOA on iTunes... coming soon!

Why watch the video for "All Over Again" for free on my website after I repost it when you can just as easily pay for it on iTunes?! Godspeed.

Marked Animation on MTV

Well it sounds like the day may finally be here...

After more than 11 months after completion, the Locksley Music Video "All Over Again" will be finally receiving its broadcast premiere Monday, September 8th on MTV! I know what you're thinking, "Wow Mark, they still play music videos on MTV?" My answer to that is a resounding "Maybe!" The video will be shown in conjunction with Locksley's appearance on MTV's "52 Bands/52 Weeks" feature, so it'd probably be better to just TiVo the whole week of programming. You never know when those boys pop up during an "America's Next Top Model" marathon!
In other news, I just finished up some storyboards for an upcoming project this morning and felt really good about them until I checked out the new United Airlines spots on Motionographer.com. Seriously, what's up United?! Why you gotta make everyone else look so bad?
They're great animated pieces, check them out if you haven't already!

88 Keys

Marked Animation is reuniting with brothers-in-creativity Convivial Enemy and Partially Frozen on a new music video collaboration with the artist 88 Keys. It will be the first project we've worked on together since Locksley's All Over Again video of yesteryear. The new project will include a mix of animation and live-action footage... so really, everyone wins. Production begins at the end of this month and things should be wrapped up by the end of September.
For those of you who aren't hip on the hippo hop, 88 has produced and worked with artists like Mos Def, Kanye West, Talib Kweli, and Musiq just to name a few. He's also a fairly dapper guy and highly excels in general gentlemanliness.

Feel free to download his latest mixtape, "Adam's Case Files" for free here.