So I saw Disney's Treasure Planet. Visually this film was amazing, but sadly I am left disappointed. Now I have to assume they saw Titan A.E. That flopped. Atlantis was made by the same company. We know what happened to that one. It seems nothing is learned from the mistakes of those who have gone before.

Now let me state clearly, I am not saying this film was bad. It was something worse than simply being bad. It was actually "OK" but with the potential to be truly truly amazing. Everywhere there were opportunities for greatness in this film, but it seems they chose to put effort into fart jokes. What some of the characters, the relationships, the development could have been. This is infinitely more disappointing than a bad film.

CROWDS = BAD

Now I remember why I hate crowd scenes. If you can avoid crowd scenes in your show, do so. Especially if you're on a hectic schedule and low budget!

I swear animation magazine needs to mail their newsletter out earlier. If I had know Treasure Planet was coming out on DVD today, this would have been a very different day. Oh well.. another time I guess.

I've been hearing about this movie called Delgo for a very long time and apparently it is really picking up steam. It looks to be the first major indie 3D feature. Here's to them breaking the mold and and leading the way!

I've made a minor change to the page to make the links more apparent. I've been told they are hard to spot and were often being skipped.

Up early again with much drawing to be done. However...

Over the weekend I finally had a chance to actually play with a couple of tablet PCs. I am speaking of the Viewsonic and Toshiba models, which they had at Fry's Electronics. They also had the Toshiba at Best Buy, but no pens. Anyway, I tested a bit of drawing and handwriting recognition on both. The Viewsonic was noticeably slower as it had an 800Mhz P mobile compared to the Toshiba's 1.33 Ghz P4. Of course the Toshiba will eat batteries alive.

I most certainly want this computer. When I travel I could still connect to the net from hotels or other locations and most importantly, I can draw. I can continue to create outside of the home. Now, of course, how I go about actually getting this machine is another story.

Aahhh... The beauty of waking up early. I know that sometimes schedule alone can have a great effect on the equality of my work. I remember well my studios days, staying up until 3:00 AM or later exhausting myself to get something done. More often than not the urgency of that task turned out to be false anyway. Just going home and getting a good nights rest, spending a few moments away from the project allowed me to come back with renewed energy and tackle it in no time at all.

I once spent hours lighting a scene and just couldn't get it, so I went home. When I came back the next morning, I found success within 30 minutes.

LIGHTING

Lighting is one aspect of filmmaking that is played to different levels in anime. While some shows use very formulaic lighting with 3/4 keys, other directors, like Koji Morimoto with his Magnetic Rose segment of the feature film Memories use very detailed lighting to convey a sense of realism. I can think of a few anime films that really go deep into complex lighting for mood and visual appeal. Biohunter, Akira, Ghost in the Shell... What are some other great examples?

I've been doing some tests. I am going to take my lighting very much in a new direction. That, however, will have to wait for a while. I do have a manga to do, and now the heat is on to get J4A in the can! I just got a UPS delivery of the completed J4A episode 1 from Florida. I can't wait to check it out. Then it's time... to draw!

This life I have chosen is by no means easy. Sometimes I am tempted to run into a studio where many of friends are consistently making the big bucks. Just yesterday, Q was telling me about the outrageous figures being offered to experienced artists by a new company starting up out here. By outrageous, I do mean the kind of figures where you will have a nice house and be driving a Mercedes in no time. It's enough to make an artist want to drop everything and just go there. (which is precisely why they're offering it of course, because they will steal artists from established firms.)

I remind myself of my previous experiences in studios. I remind myself that these ideas I have... the things that I want to, no have to to see go across the screen will never happen if I go there.

This is an image from the JVC consumer HD camera I raved about some days past. Note, more than anything, the crisp, clear image and the 1280x720 resolution. This, my friends,is from a camera which will debut at around $3500.00! That is thirty five hundred dollars. I haven't personally played with this camera, but I did play with the much more expensive Panasonic Varicam at the trade shows in the past and I can say that this image, which is not even shot by a professional DP, just a guy at the show, looks just as good as anything from that near six figure costing system.

This camera will record on DV tape and you will be able to firewire it directly into your computer for editing. I will say this, I have already been doing tests rendering my stuff at 1280x720.

HELP! I need to get to the top of this mountain, but there are no roads and my Ferrari just won't make it! My buddy won't stop showing me how easily his Jeep Wrangler can make it to the top! What is wrong with my Ferrari?!

Would you say "right tool for the right job"? Why is it that we hear this story so much in the world of 3D animation software?

Recently I have seen a film like no other. Last year, about this time, when I was in China, I did a presentation of my work with Lightwave and Aura at the Beijing Film Academy as part of the Newtek Asia Tour. During my time there I learned of the revered fifth generation graduates of that academy, one of whom went on to become China's number one film director. At that time he was in production on an epic film that it seemed no could stand to wait for.

Jet Li, Donnie Yen, Zhang Ziyi, Maggie Chueng and Tony Leung star in a wu xia film that is near absolute perfection on so many levels.

The film is called Hero. You can find out more about it at the official film site. Now I have finally seen it and it has become readily apparent why this director, who also wrote the amazing story, is number one in China. When I was there I was shocked to learn that all the people I talked to seemed to hate Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. After seeing this film I can almost understand why, particularly in that Hero stars Jet Li, a born and raised mainland Chinese, Mandarin speaker well trained in traditional martial arts.

The film will be released, apparently widely, by Miramax in November 2003.

I am getting better... I am getting faster. This is not to say I don't have much to learn though. Manga layout is serious business, it's amazing how quickly one can fall into simple block layout if not enough thought is put into it.

One of the groups whose manga I very much like to study is CLAMP, famous for X, Chobits, Angelic Layer, Magic Knight Rayearth and many more. They are masters of the craft and it shows not only in their stories and drawings, but in their layouts as well.

As for film, I find myself taking influences from a much wider variety of sources. I am discovering images which inspire me in all manner of arts. Painting, photography, live action films from many countries. An idea is germinating in my mind. It is forming the answer to the question of where I am going with all this. What is it I should be creating, and have been striving to create from the start... perhaps my idea film. This idea, I think will form into something very special.

Cultivate your hunger before you idealize,

Motivate your anger and make them all realize...

I am back into the realm of drawing. I am also checking out some interesting new manga, most notably Shao Lin Sisters. Reading this, I realize I still have a ways to go to master the art of the layout. I was off to a very good start but seem to have fallen back into a pattern of basic block layouts. Time for a revision pass...

With the 3D CG, or rather Lightwave 3D, portions of J4A now in the can, it's a whole new ball game now. So where does the newborn go from here? Well there's still a bit of 2D work to tackle on the remaining episodes of J4A. Still, we are closer than ever. Kevin Bair at the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office reports that the first episode is complete, edited, scored and wrapped. I can't wait to see it.

I have a lot of manga to study and it's time to really bump up the manga schedule. I need to get better, stronger and faster. Especially considering that many of the Japanese artists that grace the pages of Shonen Jump are doing 25 pages a week. More on that later.

I want to talk about monsters. How do you put a monster in a movie for our modern audiences ands not make them laugh? Can you think of any recent films that have done monsters well?

I'm alive again! I'm solid again. Well... anyway, what's the latest?

All 3D CG aspects of J4A episode 7 have been dealt with. That leaves one more episode to go! Not to say that makes the show done. Episodes still have to be comped in Aura and a bit of 2D work remains. Still the wrap of this project is certainly drawing near.

I have a quite a bit of new manga to study and read as I continue my quest for manga greatness. I am improving in terms of layouts and structure etc. Most importantly, I am having fun!

Just to let everyone know, I am still here. After an ordeal of moving many heavy boxes, in the middle of the night, in the rain, I am down sick. That's why I haven't been posting. On the plus side, though, Understanding Chaos is back in stock!

Friends, countrymen and citizens of this world, JVC did not lie. IT IS HERE!

Indies rejoice, for a new era is about to begin!

Last night I watched the first Harry Potter movie, and you know why...

I just watched the new Matrix trailer. I am glad I only do anime these days...

There are going to be Hulk dogs in the Hulk movie and there is a new Matrix reloaded trailer out on the Matrix site.

I may not have written anything of late, but I have been writing volumes on Q's blog. Now I am tired of typing.

I have some new manga to study and am very close to finishing the CG aspects of J4A. The next couple of weeks will tell tales I imagine.

I just got back from seeing the Animatrix short film,Final Flight of the Osiris. I will spare you all the incredibly long rant about the demise of Square Honolulu, what FInal Fantasy could have been (even though I am one of the few who loves that film AS IS) and just say... AMAZING!

Even though I am currently working exclusively on the 3D aspects of the final episodes of J4A, sometimes it pays to do a quick composite, just to make sure you are headed in the right direction with things.

It would appear as though I may already have to face that which I most feared. When I woke up this morning and pressed the button to turn on my monitor, nothing happened. I had to move it around a bit and it finally came on so I am writing this.

Although DVD sales have been great this month, I wasn't exactly planning on having to use the money to go buy another monitor. Strangely enough, this monitor is not only old, but went with the old Vaio computer system that had been going downhill over the last few months. I got rid of that. Will I have to get rid of this too?

Maybe I'll have to pick up a cheap (read small) LCD for the interim. I've got tons of mail to answer, so I will do that now.

I had something I really wanted to write, but now I have forgotten.I truly cannot remember it. Is that bad?

I saw Ghost Ship today. I was unaware that this was the third in a streak of films that started with House on Haunted Hill. Joel Silver, a producer on The Matrix says they will do one every Halloween. I did like the film, as it is my kind of subject matter, but it could have been a lot better in many aspects.

I am looking forward to seeing this new show, Scare Tactics on the Sci-Fi Channel. If I was ever to do a TV show that wasn't straight drama, this is what I would do. If I wasn't an animator I would probably want to run a haunted house theme park anyway. Not a cheap one with rubber skeletons or anything, but one with ghost effects like you see in movies. Have no idea how it would be done live though.

So I have wondered for some time, can an anime be truly scary? I know they can be disturbing and sometimes creepy, but what about scary? I would like to try that one of these days.

I still don't remember what I originally came to write.

I just got in a car accident!

Ok, it was nothing too serious. No real damage to either car. Neither I nor the other guy seem to be hurt in anyway. This accident, however, was not my fault. It was not his fault either. I blame the city.

We were sitting at train tracks. The lights were on, the bars were down and a long line of cars were piled up. No train. After waiting for who knows how long, you would think somebody got the idea. The lights went off, the bars went up and traffic moves once again. I was the last to cross a light right before the tracks as it turned yellow. However, just as the guy in front of me is right before the tracks, the light come on and the bars drop! They actually hit the roof of his car. He slams on his brakes. I slam on mine. I hit him. We both actually have to throw it in reverse and he does it in good time as a train suddenly goes rushing by.

After that we drive further down the road, pull over and check cars. Nothing really wrong, but who is to blame here? If the train was coming, should the bars have ever been let up in the first place? This could have turned out a lot worse. Someone needs to check into the system that runs those train warning signals.

The next time I sit down to do a movie, I want to really start making a movie. What I mean is where every aspect of what goes into a final film counts from the very beginning, particularly motion and audio.

This doesn't mean start animating without a script or boards, just that the script and boards may include some animation, sound and music. I could imagine, for example, how I want a film to open, perhaps with a camera pan on my first location. Rather than draw a long image on paper, start drawing right into Aura, even if just on a scribble level. Actually do the pan across the scribble in 2D. How long does it take? How big does the background image need to be. I could start building scenes, from quick sketches, 3D box animation, video, photos, lines recorded on a cheap mic, anything "quick and temp".

If this is done, making the film becomes a process of refining something that is established early on. Replace that scribble of a sketch with a final background. The same Aura project and the same 2D camera move would still apply, just the content changes. Replace those 3D boxes with the final car models. The animation was already done. Refine... refine...

I've been sitting here for a very long time thinking about the many roads available for the indie artist to take in the future. Of course, that could be looked at as having wasted four hours sitting in a chair or pacing around look at walls. Still, thinking is good. Planning, even better.

The indie artist must consider the world market. Too many artists have the immediate goal of "make something cool and break into Hollywood". Most of us know that is not even remotely realistic. Those of us who are into things like anime, Hong Kong action films and the like know that even the big guys don't "break into Hollywood". (or if they do their film is hacked to bits and.. that's another story) The stuff we like, though, is popular around the world and there's no stopping DVD.

You must consider though, the world market is different. There's nothing stopping you from getting theatrical releases in other countries. For this reason film festivals can be great exposure. While many indies will be there groveling for that Hollywood deal, imagine using film festivals as your tool to get your film seen where it needs to be seen. When the two bit, wanna be Hollywood studio offers you pennies so your hard work can end up direct to video, next to a line of titles you never heard of, tell them you have other plans. How many stories do we know of artists who have thrown their work away and ended up with nothing, all for chasing a Hollywood mirage.

I better get back to work...

Ok, the page is back to normal now. For those who missed it, I had a gag title screen for the day.

There's a new trailer for the making of features of Shadowskin, to mark our April No Fooling Sale, throughout which Shadowskin will be only $12.99!