the bare bear lair

hoppy garden diorama

2012-01-12T22:22:00.000-08:00

a diorama i made for my mom for christmas. it's made in a coconut shell :]

i actually weaved that tiny basket. i don't think i used proper weaving technique but it got the job done.

Robot Chicken season 5 props

2011-08-27T21:56:00.000-07:00

a few of my favorite props from the first half of production for the season. we took a break in the middle of production to do the starwars special and then started back with the second half of season five. props from the second half are under this post.

"rubber" chicken. this guy gets a good featured shot in the christmas special. made out of magic sculpt.

bowls of popcorn i had to make as identical as possible. for... a skit about... aw hell i think it's jake gyllenhaal and another actor... eff why can't i remember! anyway, popcorn in bowl is carved yellow foam, loose popcorn is magic sculpt.

shoebox that buzz lightyear is buried in. it's a very touching skit. i designed the graphic for the box and then had to do a lot of hard negotiating with the printer to get it to print out long pieces of brown butcher paper. this prop was way more difficult to finish than it should have been... effing printers...

stratego! this was an awesome prop to make. graphic mounted on a piece of styrene, pieces are made out of styrene as well.

dvd and vhs player. made out of wood blocks and styrene. i think we just needed these in general as set dressing, non skit specific.

lots of candy for the willy wonka skit! this picture sucks but it's the best i got. gumdrops are baked sculpey, then i painted them and rolled them in salt and then applied clear coat to finish them off. lollypops are carved styrene. lots of presents for the christmas special here too. some of them were old props i was cleaning, some i made new.

battle plan map for home alone skit! tried to piece together what i could from references of the movie on youtube.

ok, these are pretty rad. i didn't make the cabinets for these, just the graphics. i love them so much! these were some of my favorite graphics i made for the season and seeing them on tiny cabinets is just the bee's knees. i really wanna play foam finger pinball. they were made as generic set dressing but most memorably used for a humping robot sketch.

Robot Chicken season 5 props

2011-08-27T19:16:00.000-07:00

i made a bunch of props for season five. these are a few of my favorites from the second half of the season. apologies for the languge in this post, i was getting hella bored trying to describe everything.

chicken and cluckerella velvet painting. srtaight up acrylic on velvet yo. for epic 100th episode skit!

twilight books. i made the graphics for these as well. they are animateable. (pages and cover spray mounted on black wrap). guess which skit this was for.

probably the largest prop/set element i made for the season. the arms are on pegs so they can animate and allow the manure to fall. for back to the future skit.

mister mouth animateable prop! pretty proud of this one. the head spins around and the mouth can open and close. i made a press mold for all the butterfly game pieces. i included a pic of it before the paint went on to show some of the construction. for a very inappropriate skit!

dog house! for a skit with a talking dog. i know. this show is CRAZY.

lady gaga magical lion unicorn deer thing! little pig shows off how i made it. we have zero time to make stuff so we have to cut lots of corners when we can. it's sometimes cheaper to cannibalize figures and old props than have someone make the entire thing from scratch. i finished this thing in less than a day. if i had to sculpt the whole thing it would have taken days.

i wanted to put bondage on him but i ran out of time...

effing didgeridoo hero bitches!

back to the future thing... aw hell... what's it called?

megan fox's boxes! i totally made like a crap ton of tiny boxes for this skit. made wrapping paper patterns, printed them out, glued it to some thin cardboard and cut out intricate box patterns and then assembled them. also some of my favorite graphics were from this skit.

yellow pages! blam! this book is semi-animateable. i think this was for... no i can't remember the skit. one of my favorite props though! something very satisfying about the props i make graphics for.

effin night rider blanket! made graphics, patterned it, printed on iron on transfer, ironed that shit on fabric and then put it on some black wrap. for the night rider skit! yeah!

tiny ski poles! for the dora the explorer skit. SWIPER NO SWIPEY!

OATS! OATS OATS OATS OATS! those tiny riding crops totally smacked tiny rihanna puppet's ass. best. skit. ever.

bake a cake! sign that hangs in the giant generic city town set we had up all year. like one million skits going on in there.

booze signs for the transformers white trash skit. classy.

aaaaaaaand a crap ton of stuff for coffee shop... i can't remember the skit but was rad to make all the stuff for it. little art pieces were made in computer and printed on canvas then mounted on styrene. i made a stencil and used it on the crates. all of this was tedious and fun as hell to make.

not trying very hard cards

2011-08-21T16:41:00.000-07:00

"when there's nothing left to say, say it with a card"

cute things and dark subject matter always go together well in my book. i'm pretty sure this is about as dark as my humor gets.

i made a zazzle store a while ago for these cards but i just can't get over the ~zazzle~ name. still looking for better options in the ways of having an online store but for now you can ZAZZLE IT UP HERE

accurate map of the united states

2011-08-21T16:38:00.000-07:00

states are out. undefined, blurry regions are in!

new digs

2011-06-27T19:28:00.000-07:00

these bunnies are not very good at moving in...

this is a piece i made for the robot chicken and friends charity show :D the charity was to help fund trisha gum's AFI womens directing program short film titled "losing ferguson". trish is a friend of mine and is the art director over at shadow machine for robot chicken. she is taking over full direction responsibilities for the short and has asked me to be art director for the film which is pretty rad i think, so i'll be helping out with all that. anyway, i won't get into too much detail here but if you are interested check out the blog she has going : losing ferguson

i didn't exactly get the best pictures of this piece but it was sold to someone i know so hopefully i'll get to see it again and take some better pics!

how are you going to get that shelf in there! really. just leave it on the curb and hit up the bunny ikea.

i would have put the books in a box but whatever works, ya know.

man, i was super proud of the box on top with sports equipment in it and i didn't even get a good pic of it. oh well. just gonna have to get more pics soon!

my pet spider has a butt face

2011-05-14T23:20:00.000-07:00

butt i still wubb him :]

seriously though. have you ever looked at a jumping spider up close before?

total fuzzy butt face.

hulk birthday party

2011-05-10T00:36:00.000-07:00

WILL YOU GO YES NO

just another day in sunny Jotunheim

2011-05-08T14:06:00.001-07:00

a friend of mine had this idea for a character, basically a dog viking. i told him if he didn't draw it then i would, but with a mohawk. and now we have this guy. kinda looks a bit aztec-ish with the mohawk but whatever, it's not like those he-man fuzzy undies are true to viking garb anyway.

birthdaycat

2011-03-30T04:00:00.000-07:00

a friend of mine had a birthday! yay. this is the card i made. i thought this was relevant since it goes with the cat theme my blog now has. lets see how long it lasts!

kiddy kid ketchup

2011-02-07T00:06:00.000-08:00

in space, no one can hear you ketchup.

stream of consciousness painting.

headless lion

2011-02-02T23:26:00.000-08:00

trying to get better at painting in photoshop. there are a lot of headless things in my room.

stinky kitty

2011-01-25T01:27:00.000-08:00

a buttcat, to be more exact.

action cat

2011-01-24T23:30:00.000-08:00

he's a simple cat. an early to bed early to rise sort of guy. never late to work. eats breakfast at the table. keeps his apartment tidy. a real understanding sort of cat. a simple cat that also likes hip hop.

new filmmakers film festival

2011-01-24T00:52:00.000-08:00

plumbers tale screened at the new filmmakers film festival at the sunset gower studios last week. that is me on the left looking all glamorous in my sunglasses and flannel shirt channeling my spirit animal, jeff bridges. the other two i am standing with are the directors, ama birch and jasser membreno. ama brought the words, jasser brought the vision, then me and jasser brought it to life.

it is fantastic to see this film starting to go places. i hope it keeps on going!

ewok village

2011-01-20T23:45:00.000-08:00

posting stuff i made for the robot chicken star wars episode III special in one big chunk here. i wish i had a camera with a fish eye lens because a lot of these sets were BIG and it would have been nice to get the whole thing in frame. working on this project was a fantastic experience :]

ok, so this set. was my baby. when i found out i was going to make the ewok village i got kindof really excited. i think i filled my life quota for nerdyness during the build for this set. i love ewoks. i want to live in the ewok village and drink ewok juice and yell YUB YUB from my ewok hut and raise my tiny spear. i don't know what ewok juice is but i'll leave it alone. anyway...

BEHOLD! the construction of ewok village.

utilizing some forced perspective on the bridges.

little platform i made to fit around a little tree

the little ewok hut on the platform in the tree was a recycled element from an older r.c.s.w special, but i think that was the only re-used element. that and one of the platforms.

you can see a bit of how i constructed things in this behind shot.

this is where that fish eye lens would have come in handy. you can't even see the other bridge on the right.

i tried to get some good shots on stage but there was never really a good time with this one. i did manage to come away with a few decent pics though.

i made a bunch of those trees in the background, too. me and two other coworkers. we made over 40 trees in total. half of the trees were used here for the ewok village and the other half were swampy trees used for the dagobah swamp. sadly, no pics of those.

i think this is my favorite shot

naboo

2011-01-20T23:36:00.001-08:00

this was the largest set element i made. i carved the cliffs of naboo out of two 8x4 foot sheets of styrofoam. i killed two hot wires trying to carve these cliffs (but in all fairness they were already dying).

the scenic artist painted these up and then i wend back in and added some greenage.

each cliff had a crevice for a waterfall carved out. the water was added in digitally later.

after all the buildings were set up i wend back in and added more greenage. a lot of it. (i did not make the buildings. but don't they look fantastic!)

this set was too much fun to photograph. i decided that that i am going to retire to naboo in my older years and this will be my summer abode. it is the most charming, i do think.

odds and ends

2011-01-20T21:25:00.000-08:00

tiki torches

graphic that i did some magic voodoo to for the wampa gas station skit

i would like to know where this prop ended up... there was quite a bit of activity going on around me when i was painting it in my computer. i tell ya man, i work with the BIGGEST nerds <3

guitar hero guitars for the seth green and george lucas puppets. made out of that material that is like styrene but is thicker and softer. ack! i can't remember the name. anwyay, both were meticulously carved and sanded to look as identical as possible. YES the whammy bar animates!

got pictures of the paint job only after the shot was animated. only one pictured because the other wandered off to seth's office and didn't make it back, so i was told.

inside the sarlacc pit

2011-01-20T20:48:00.000-08:00

this one was a buddy effort between me and teresa. we got skillz and we know how to represent, yo.

the back wall of the pit had soft spots made from stretchy fabric. the set designer made an animateable mechanism that pushed into these spots to give the effect of something moving or being digested behind it. as you can see it was super effective. it actually digested teresa.

you can sort of see the mechanism below. the top is all me and teresa, well what was left of her anyway. lots of chicken wire, fabric, glue and latex made this monstrosity come to life.

i got the BEST photographs of this set.

tatooine set

2011-01-20T20:09:00.000-08:00

first set i made for the robot chicken star wars episode III special. this is uncle owen and aunt baroo's house on tatooine. the house started as a salvage from a previous r.c.s.w special. it was just the large dome and square base at first. i added the sections that stick out as well as had to hollow out the inside of the dome which was a solid piece of styrofoam.

the house actually goes below ground so we had to do a few special things to get everything functional such as cutting a hole in the main floor of the set and adding another floor below that for the puppet in the house to stand on. you can't see them in the shot but there are stairs that lead down to the door. that little hole to the right of the door is a control panel of some sort that i made a graphic for.

finished set with a coat of paint from the scenic artist. props (most of them) and side structure are mine as well.

and that concludes the pics of the r.c.s.w III build. i hope you had as much fun looking as i did building :]

the best gift ever

2011-01-02T20:34:00.000-08:00

in the spirit of the holiday season! (you'll have to click on it for the larger view)

2011-01-01T20:37:00.000-08:00

another diorama. this one was for a friend's birthday. didn't really have a master plan for this one, made a few of the little guys out of extra propoxy i had mixed for things at work and things just organically started to take shape. the case is an old tupperware container :]

a plumbers tale makes it to festivals

2010-12-29T16:17:00.000-08:00

unfortunately i don't have any animation stills to upload right now as i am away from home and my external hard drive but the animated short film i was lead animator for, a plumbers tale, has been accepted into two festivals. one in los angeles called the new filmmakers and another in new york i haven't found the name of yet. not bad for a 15 minute film with no sound! or maybe sound was finally put on? i'm not sure but it looks like i'll find out when it screens here in los angeles on january 19th.

tube dudes

2010-12-20T19:26:00.000-08:00

first piece of concept art for a new freelance project i am animating. LOVE it when i get to have full creative control :]

robot chicken star wars III

2010-12-19T14:51:00.000-08:00

TONIGHT on adult swim! made some sets and props and graphics for this. SUPER PROUD TO HAVE BEEN A PART OF THE PRODUCTION! best cast and crew ever :]

Hoppy Bunny Thanksgiving Dinner Diorama

2010-11-28T15:21:00.000-08:00

over the thanksgiving break my grandma, vo, turned 80 and since i thought this was such a grand age to be i made her something a little extra special.

I made the little bunny warren inside an 8.5 x 11 inch wooden frame i got on discount years ago at a wal-mart. i meant to make many different things in this frame at one time or another but it seems the frame was waiting for these little bunnies all this time.

the bunnies are baked super sculpey that were later flocked. the little props were made using super sculpey, wood or styrene. the warren itself is carved hard foam covered with texture and glue. the whole piece took me about 24 hours in total and i couldn't be happier with it :] and my grandma vo loved it, of course. she's my grandma!

took a pick with a dime in there so you can see just how small the bunnies are. TINY!

los angeles comedy festival I MISSED IT!

2010-11-13T12:23:00.000-08:00

FIRST i miss seeing No Naked at the downtown film festival and NOW i find out that i MISSED SEEING IT AT THE LOS ANGELES COMEDY FESTIVAL! UNGH! these festivals are in my neighborhood! i can go to these! but the good news is that No Naked is still touring, and people are still loving it. i discovered it had already screened last saturday morning when i woke up and had an email from someone who really loved it. it's a bittersweet sort of thing. i thought i was going to get an email from the festival people telling me when it was playing. maybe i got it... i do get a lot of emails...

but sitting in a theatre full of people watching something i made makes me all nervous anyway. i know i'm not the only one who feels this way!

anyway, haven't put any links up to it on here in a while so might as well embed it for those who haven't seen it yet, or have seen it and want to watch it again :]

everything is coming up ewok

2010-11-06T16:33:00.001-07:00

not so long ago, in a los angeles town not so far away, a drunk letter "T", a short stack of pancakes, a space bear and a wrinkled testicle crash landed their spacecraft into an animation studio. and had an interview.

it was awkward. it was weird. maybe even a little inappropriate at times. but it was good. and with a little luck it won't be cut from the dvd special footage! wuuuu!

being an ewok isn't something you wake up and all of the sudden decide to be. you are born this way. maybe you don't have a fuzzy body and greatly surpass the 3 foot 7 inch height limit, but deep down inside you feel it. we call it "the yub".

sure, i get made fun of sometimes. some people call me the space beargirl, yeah, some call me the gangster of yub. some people call me wicket ~woo wooooo~ cause i speak of the pompitous of space love. and also probably because i dress up like an ewok.

ewok lifestyle! yuuuuuub! ewok 4 life!

fuel tv set elements

2010-10-23T22:05:00.000-07:00

had a few more things from those fuel tv spots i wanted to post.

i didn't make all these buildings but i made some of them.

computers for the inside of the spaceship. the set designer laid the groundwork for the set.

i didn't paint the set but here it is all gussied up with my pride and glory, the anal probe

beginnings of the pool for the desert set

it took the better part of a day getting the pool filled out with small pieces of cardboard to make it this shape. tedious but the results were very nice.

cardboard lettering.

the whole set all done and painted up (again, not by me). the set designer did most the work on this one, i just did some of the detail work like the boarded up wall and stone detail in the middle. and the pool, of course :]

didn't manage to take pics of a bunch of the other things i worked on but you get the idea :]

props for fuel tv

2010-09-19T19:12:00.000-07:00

here are a few of the props i made at shadow machine for those fuel tv commercials. this first one is a motorcycle. the production designer made the initial frame (mostly from brass tubing. it has to be sturdy for the puppet.) and i did all the fleshing out with cardboard. the wheels and handlebars actually turn!

another cycle with the initial frame built by the production designer that i covered up with cardboard. this one also has moving wheels and handlebars.

a dumpster with an animateable lid.

some sort of space alien table/gurney thing that pinto was tied down to. the table part pivots up and down. that hole in the middle is there for tying the puppet down.

firehydrant with a removable top pipe. in one of the commercials pinto smashes into it and the top pipe opens and water shoots out. i also made the paper cut-out replacement series for that.

bad ass skull.

drum set with animateable cymbals.

animateable gong.

here's a fun one, it's the anal probe! lots of animateable stuff on this guy. the front mechanism rotates and has four claw-like pieces that move, there are some dials and knobs on the side that move and the whole unit is able to pivot on these three jointed arms i made (held up with the help of some armature wire). i was happy to see that the animator was able to get some good results out of all these movable pieces i incorporated.

i am not sure what to really call these. title cards? tags? either way they have the fuel tv name and logo and were placed at the end of each commercial. i made a few different variations of these.

fuel tv commercials

2010-09-19T18:57:00.000-07:00

after the production for frankenhole finished up shadow machine had me back to help with a smattering of commercials for fuel tv. we made all the sets and props out of cardboard. it's a really fun medium to work with. i think there were ten commercials in all but all i found online were these five posted by the director. they're pretty fast paced.

CHECK THE LOCKS: FUEL TV ID from Jeff Gardner on Vimeo.

In this FUEL TV ID Pinto locks his keys in the van and smashes a window to get back in.

Created By: Jeff Gardner
Client: Fuel Tv
Production:Shadow Machine Films
Music:Jeff Gardner

ACUPUNCTURE -FUEL TV ID from Jeff Gardner on Vimeo.

This Fuel Tv Id follows Pinto to an acupuncture session, where he gets stuck in the back by his nemesis Santo instead.

Created by:Jeff Gardner
Client:Fuel Tv
Production:Shadow Machine Films
Music:Jeff Gardner

SNOW DUMPING: FUEL TV ID from Jeff Gardner on Vimeo.

In this Fuel Tv ID, Pinto attempts some urban snowboarding and ends up dumpster diving instead.

Created By:Jeff Gardner
Client: Fuel Tv
Production: Shadow Machine Films

SHOCKED & PROBED: FUEL TV ID from Jeff Gardner on Vimeo.

In this Fuel Tv ID our action Sports hero Pinto gets shocked by an electric fence, torn up by a cactus, abducted by a UFO and probed in outer space. That's how he rolls.

Created By:Jeff Gardner
Client:Fuel Tv
Production:Shadow Machine Films
Music:Jeff Gardner

POOL SKATE- FUEL TV ID from Jeff Gardner on Vimeo.

A 10 second Fuel Tv ID of Pinto skateboarding an abandoned mid century modern motel swimming pool then getting torn up by a cactus when he loses it coming off of the vert ramp.

Created By:Jeff Gardner
Client:Fuel Tv
Production:Shadow Machine Films

p.s. downtown film festival I MISSED IT

2010-09-15T01:08:00.000-07:00

"No Naked!" totally played at the downtown los angeles film festival ON THE SAME DAY AS THE SHADOW MACHINE ART SHOW and i totally didn't get to go. i could have rushed down there and then rushed back but i wouldn't have had time to shower or put on clothes that were somewhat presentable. sometimes you just gotta let something go. i really wanted to go, too :[

also, i am officially no longer submitting my little short to any more festivals. "No Naked!" has had a good run and now it's time for something new! already got something in the works. need some time to decompress from all this art show and two job business though. this will be the first weekend i have to do whatever i want in a looong time.

hoppy day monster zoetrope

2010-09-14T21:35:00.000-07:00

so for the past two and a half weeks i've been building this monstrosity in ALMOST complete secrecy. it's kinda hard to build something of this size in secret. so what the hell is it!? well it's a zoetrope... of sorts. most zoetropes are cylindrical shaped and have slits cut in the side and spin to allow for viewing of the images blurring together and giving the illusion of movement. my zoetrope (if i can even call it a zoetrope... i wasn't sure what else to call it) is more like a conveyor belt that needs to be cranked and relies on a strobe light to give the illusion of movement. oh, and it's inside the mouth of a monster.

here's a video of my hoppy day monster in action so you can see what i mean

there are seven bunnies that make up the hop cycle. you turn the crank clockwise to see them in action. turning the crank counter-clockwise shows the cycle in reverse.

i made the hoppy day monster zoetrope for the shadow machine films (the place where i work) art show which took place last saturday night. i can't really remember where i got the idea to make a zoetrope like this, i just really like zoetropes and the whole concept of camera-less (and computer-less) animation. my first introduction to 3-d zoetropes was at cal-arts through a visiting artist named katsushi boda (for reals that is his name). ever since then i have wanted to push the limits of zoetropes and camera-less animation and now that i know this particular style of zoetrope actually works i think i can do that. i have been loosely calling it a tank-wheel style zoetrope (i need to come up with a better name). my first goal is to make the zoetrope belt much longer to accommodate for longer cycles of animation. after that... well you'll just have to wait and see what i have planned ;]

also, there have been many, many other styles of camera-less animation devices but as far as i know this is the first one to utilize a crank wheel mechanism of this sort and display the animation on a belt rather than in a cylinder. let me know if you have seen any others like this!

and now for some retarded pictures of me with my monster :P

me with a co-worker. that is her piece on the right so we had to take a picture. duh! don't let that smile fool you, she is a BIG troublemaker.

me and my two roomies. obviously troublemakers. obviously.

2 le-git 2 quit dis gangstah life

my piece went over really well at the show. it made all that hard work and lack of sleep so totally worth it :] i can't wait until the next one!

and for your information, i am a real gangstah. for reals, yo. for reals.

Frankenhole: other props

2010-09-14T20:56:00.000-07:00

found two pictures of some straggling props. i believe these were the last things i made for the show. in the picture above i made the picture frame for that sexy time photo of doctor frankenstein. ooh lala! the skulls below were pre existing resin casts, i made some modifications for the lights to fit in with the wires (i remember getting those tiny wires through being a very tedious task), did some hot glue art for the dripping wax and finished up with some paint.

so this officially concludes my frankenhole postings. the next shadow machine project i'll post stuff from will be the fuel tv commercials i worked on. get ready for some cardboard!

Frankenhole: ghandi's house

2010-09-13T23:44:00.000-07:00

this was the third and final set i made for the show. the fun foam stuff was, well, FUN, but this was a nice change of pace for me since i got to get my hands a little dirtier here. the hanging cloth was a great creative challenge, especially on the brick wall that looks like it was cannonballed. i remember research for this set being really fun for some reason :D

and again, my favorite part is the stove... er... adobe oven thing.

the only real glory shot i was able to take of any of my sets. the lighting really brings everything to life!

Frankenhole: independence hall

2010-09-13T23:26:00.000-07:00

the second set i made for frankenhole. like the log cabin set this one was pretty much entirely made out of carved fun foam. believe it or not, you will go through a LOT of razors cutting this stuff. fun foam likes a sharp blade. you can see this set in the john thomas jefferson episode (the same episode with the log cabin).

Frankenhole: log cabin

2010-08-15T14:27:00.001-07:00

this was the first set i was assigned for frankenhole and can be seen in the john thomas jefferson episode. all of the elements were carved out of soft foam and then glued on to wood. i did the paint job for this set (and the other two i made) as well.

unfortunately this is the only set i took progress pics of. glad i got at least one!

after the set was painted i gave it a dirty wash to give an aged effect.

my favorite part of the set was this little wood burning stove. second favorite would have to be the door which i don't think even got any screen time...? don't quote me on that though, i don't have cable so i can't even watch the show when it airs. but i do know a chunk of the main shot this set was for was cut due to censorship. i'm finding out that happens a lot with these shadow machine shows. just more to look forward to when the dvd comes out! (i hope there will be a dvd!)

final pic is the set on stage. i think the shot was partially animated at this point. production moves so fast i wasn't able to take a glory shot of the set but you get the idea.

props for frankenhole

2010-08-08T13:00:00.001-07:00

now that the show is airing i can finally post some of the stuff i worked on! joy! ok, so when i first got to shadow machine i was asked to modify some pre-existing resin casts that would become props for the show. i accomplished that by using a bit of magi-sculpt (a two part sculpting apoxy) and forming it over the pre-existing casts. when the magi-sculpt hardened i went over each piece with some primer and painted them up. so here are a few pictures of that.

the magi-sculpt dries grey so you can tell what parts i sculpted over.

a lot of my time was spent applying this mossy sludge to different forms to be floor covering for swampy sets. we literally went through gallons and gallons of this stuff. i like work where i can get my hands dirty so i had a lot of fun slopping that sludge around. unfortunately i didn't take very many pictures but you see it in just about every outdoor shot in the show.

i also spent a lot of time filling tiny glass jars with colored water...

...painting (SO MANY!) resin cast book spines and little creatures (already sculpted before i got there)...

...that were placed into even more tiny glass jars...

...and then placed on a set. this final picture is kinda crappy but looks kinda cool i think, but it shows a few of those props getting set up. (not my set by the way). there were a lot more props and elements i worked on that i unfortunately didn't manage to take pictures of so this is pretty much all i have for the moment. there were some cool skulls i modified and various other spooky things that went on the walls and shelves (why didn't i take pictures!). but i do have some good pictures of a few sets i made so i'll be posting those soon.

an okay interview

2010-08-07T11:22:00.000-07:00

two little clips of animation i did for "an okay place to eat" are up on the okay place blog! there is also a short written interview. check it out here!

thatsright!

2010-06-24T10:15:00.000-07:00

another one of these two.

"i'm a bear, bitch!"

2010-06-20T22:47:00.001-07:00

surprise!

an okay place to eat

2010-06-18T22:04:00.000-07:00

spreading the good word about a new project i'm animating on called "an okay place to eat". the official blog is up so go check it out! okayplace blog

night carnival

2010-06-15T22:19:00.001-07:00

a carnival came to the park around the corner from me so i went by one night to take some pictures. i didn't go on any of the rides but it was fun to walk around.

there were a lot of awkward bug themed rides...

mule pouch?

...

ok, so i've seen this ride once before at a carnival in phoenix and i almost peed my pants laughing when i saw it was called "bear affair". so what goes on with bear affair? you sit inside their tummies as they spin around. brilliant!

this funhouse dog mural was the highlight of the carnival for me. it's just so big and ridiculous! you can tell a lot of love and thought went into it.

i mean, just look at it! look!

my new life's goal is to make enough money to purchase this funhouse. i'm not sure what i'll do with it when i have it but i know i want it!

new look

2010-06-13T15:16:00.000-07:00

just trying out a new look for my blog. i know white font on black background can get really annoying after a while. orange seemed nice.

no naked poster

2010-06-09T01:38:00.000-07:00

so i found out that people just make their own laurels. i was all excited about the philadelphia ones... turns out they were just being nice. mm.

another shirt design

2010-06-07T00:13:00.000-07:00

sad and indifferent animals wearing scarves...

my second design (skelepups) is now being featured on the site so i thought i'd throw another one up. the site is so easy to use, it's rather addicting.

i made some shirts!

2010-06-05T18:14:00.000-07:00

i made a redbubble account! only two t-shirt designs up so far but it's a start. official no naked shirt to come in the hopefully not too distant future! i'll update when that happens. and i know the redbubble prices are kinda high... the base price for all t-shirts is $20 so i'm making less than $5 on every shirt but they seem to have nice quality stuff. i would have gone with cafe press but they don't offer white on black printing which makes me think all their stuff is iron-on transfer grade. not so hot. also, it seems you can buy my designs as stickers, which is kinda neat.

and in other news no naked will be shown at the san francisco frozen film festival! festival takes place july 1st through the 5th. my little film is gaining some speed, time to submit a few more dvd's!

more film festivals

2010-06-02T00:12:00.001-07:00

philadelphia independent film festival and melbourne international animation festival have accepted "no naked!" into their programs. got my first official laurel the other day, just postin it here because i'm super excited and felt like sharing it with the world. although "no naked!" has been in five other festivals so far this is the only laurel i have received. maybe not all festivals are allowed to give out laurels? i have no idea how this all works.

the minotaur seeks a bride

2010-06-02T00:00:00.000-07:00

i'm a classy lady

derp.

2010-05-11T00:22:00.000-07:00

i think all of these are up on my website but i thought i would derp up my blog a bit. it needed some love. p.s. i'm back at shadow machine, workin on the chicken. good times with he-man and all my other 80's childhood favorites are being had.

flying "T"

2010-04-27T16:57:00.000-07:00

another old test i just added sound to. i gots mad wind flute skillz, yo.

angry puppy

2010-04-27T16:27:00.000-07:00

YES to youtube embedding capabilities! animated about two or three years ago when i was first learning flash, forgot about it, found it, added some sound and threw it up on the internet. and in case you are wondering, yes, that's me barking. thank you apple internal microphone!

the fuzzy forest begins to take shape

2010-04-16T23:59:00.000-07:00

this is just a little tease of what the forest is going to look like. more trees and kitty critters and grassy things to come soon! and less window blinds.

a place for everything and everything in its place

2010-04-16T18:46:00.001-07:00

the soft forest project has slowly been taking over the livingroom so i spent a good part of the day rearranging the furniture to give it it's own special area. more progress pics coming soon as i'll be spending the rest of the evening working on it :]

greetings from the phoenix film festival

2010-04-12T16:54:00.000-07:00

actually, greetings from the phoenix airport! this was the first film festival i have been able to attend so far. flying is expensive! but the festival was very nice. i don't know how other festivals treat filmmakers but the phoenix festival has a lot of perks. you get two filmmaker passes which gets you in to every screening plus a whole bunch of free crap including a shirt and a punch card for eight free drinks. that is 16 free drinks total! they might as well just hand you a whole 16 pack of beer when you show up. i wish i had more time to really enjoy that punch card, but there is always next year. i will definitely be submitting to this festival in the future.

i didn't get many photographs at the festival but here's some fun art i found. enjoy!

fakey product packaging and logos

2010-04-06T23:28:00.001-07:00

did all these in about ten hours total in photoshop.

moleskine sketches

2010-03-31T14:37:00.000-07:00

i've been curious as to what all the fuss was about so i got my first moleskine sketch book a few weeks ago. it's pretty nice with its smooth corners and classy style all bundled up in a tight little package... i feel like i'm drawing in the bmw of sketchbooks. the price tag certainly reflects that, too.

i'm not a classy lady but i tell ya what, i like this sketchbok.

new yorker animated cartoons podcast

2010-03-16T00:07:00.000-07:00

for anyone out there wondering how to get their paws on some new yorker animated fun GO HERE!

there is now a podcast (apparently this is not so new) with new episodes three times a week and supposedly that page i linked you to there updates daily with cartoons but i haven't actually checked to see if that is true. there is also a youtube page but i'm not sure how often it is updated. HERE IS THE LINK if you want to check it out.

i think i have worked on about 100 of these by this point. holy crap!

"No Naked!" on channel frederator!

2010-03-14T00:05:00.000-08:00

the good people over at channel frederator are featuring "No Naked!" on their online program, cartoon hangover! i have been holding off on putting "no naked" online to give it a good chance to run in the festivals that don't allow films to be posted online, but it's been a year since i finished it up and it's hit a few of the bigger festivals so i think that's good enough. i'll probably still submit to those festivals that don't have this requirement, there are quite a few. so i guess this is the online premiere of "no naked"! and guess what! there is also an interview with me at the end :D cartoon hangover is generally an 18+ show but my film and the interview are straddling that PG line so it should be safe for most kids to watch.

p.s. that isn't me in the video thumbnail.

p.p.s. get ready for unnecessary bleeping!

building a fuzzy tree

2010-03-13T23:46:00.000-08:00

progress pics of a small-ish fuzzy forest i'm making with my roommate, dina noto, for an installation. she is making the creatures in the forest and i am making the forest itself. there will be around seven to ten trees and about the same amount of creatures in the forset. all creatures are various interpretive species of dina's "love cat" character.

most of the trees will be the size of the white one pictured here. the large brown tree is something of a focal point in the forest. look at the love cats :D

ROCK AND ROLL!

2010-02-25T12:13:00.001-08:00

acrylic and ink on drywall, painted a few months ago.

a website and a show

2010-02-22T10:48:00.000-08:00

i really should keep up with my posting here... last thursday was the "best of animation block party" show in los angeles and my little film "no naked!" played! a lot of good this information is AFTER the show, i know.

here is the blurb about it in cartoon brew

AND and and i finally got my website up! undressedanimals.com is ready for your viewing pleasure. of course i have no idea how to make the website i want to make so i threw the whole thing together real fast in iweb, but it works and it is there and i can always make changes later. and i will. because, iweb, no mater how awesome you are i just need to be me.

a shy hello

2010-02-18T02:21:00.000-08:00

i've been animating and building things for other people a lot lately but i haven't really drawn anything for myself in quite a while. so i drew this little guy. short characters with big noses and lots of hair are my most favorite thing to draw right now.

and now for a little context: it's 2:30 in the morning... i've been on ebay looking for awkward animation cels for over two hours... "no naked!" plays at the best of animation block party tomorrow night (tonight)... and i still don't have my website up. i need to do this! hopefully i'll at least have a gallery up or a link to my demo reel and email or something before the screening. i really don't want people to visit my "come back soon!" page anymore. it seems to lose meaning after a while.

i have recently become a fan of sewing

2010-01-25T10:05:00.000-08:00

after i made my bison puppet costume i was bit by the sewing bug real hard. i made two hand puppets (pics in older post), modified a giant stuffed polar bear into a halloween costume/vest (still have to fix the hood) and now i'm making my own stuffed animals. this one here is the beginnings of a coyote. i really have no idea how to make patterns so i pretty much just plan out how i want it to look in my head, make a few sketches on paper and hope everything works out in the end. so far it's working out just great.

this is a black lab i made for my sister. the body is a little long so it can be used as a pillow. my sister helps raise service dogs and they mostly use labs for that sort of thing. the most recent lab she helped raised happened to be a black lab and we all got kinda attached to him so i thought she would appreciate a black lab stuffed animal/pillow. and she does :]

i made this one for myself. he looks like a terrier or something but he is actually a little polar bear. his head is super floppy so it can turn in all sorts of directions. i think a moveable head on a stuffed animal adds a lot to the livelyness and emotion of the toy.

i think googley eyes add a lot too!

bunny and bear

2010-01-25T09:29:00.000-08:00

i first drew these characters at cal arts in 2005 during a 24 hour sound design session for "robot be-bop" with my friend debbie. we did it straight through and it was probably somewhere around the 16 hour mark (probably awake for almost 24 hours already) i doodled these two in my sketch book. i became obsessed with the bunny and the bear and created multiple universes and stories for them, all of which failed to develop fully.

i have drawn hundreds to thousands of small, random characters in my sketchbooks, on napkins and the undersides of tables but i can't remember ever being so wrapped up in any of my characters as i have with these two. in a way, they haunt me. i have no idea what it is about them, but i absolutely love my unnamed bunny and bear.

these were sculpted in 2005 or 2006 with the intent to make a mold out of them but i got carried away and decided to paint them as soon as they were cooked. they have quite a few battle wounds as a result of my semi-nomadic lifestyle.

i like to draw on the walls of my room

2009-12-12T15:42:00.000-08:00

i like living in a place where i can do this. but even if i couldn't i would still do it anyway. there's something special about drawing on walls...

this particular wall drawing is based on a photo of me, my sister and two of my cousins when we were little.

scale-ee-bear: "dayton"

2009-11-28T17:48:00.000-08:00

i occasionally go to a local coffee shop to do my ringtales animation work. the atmosphere is nice with exposed brick, hardwood floors, ample space to sit and work and a few odd antiques lying around. their internet connection has been on the blink recently and while waiting for a connection that never came i noticed that the old scale sitting on a counter top looks rather like an odd bear. this is pretty much exactly what it looks like.

i want to find more things that look like bears or other animals now and draw them in this fashion.

purple bear

2009-11-09T21:40:00.001-08:00

painted with neon acrylics during my final semester at calarts around april, 2007.

i wish i had picture of him in his ultraviolet gloweyness but my rabbit ate my blacklight.

two old sketches

2009-11-07T00:29:00.000-08:00

probably from some time in 2008

this one was more recent from around mid 2009

and for those who don't know, besides animating for ringtales again i have also taken on an internship over at shadow machine building sets and props for their new show "frankenhole". it doesn't leave me much time to make stuff for myself anymore but i am making money with ringtales and having a ton of fun over at shadow, so, i feel pretty alright about not having much free time.

RingTales

2009-09-07T16:25:00.000-07:00

i got my job back! well, i never technically lost it since i was freelance... but anyway... ringtales is finally getting back on its feet which means it's back to work for me! the company just signed a few major contracts and has a full plate for the next two years. so to celebrate i decided to post a few of the pieces i previously worked on.

"animal analysis"
animatic and animation

"drive by feeding" and "kid toss"
animatic for both

"head hunter"
animatic and animation

"handy mantis"
animatic and animation

"puppy chow" (the second animation, not the first one)
animatic

"cold call" and "salmon slalom"
animatic for both (though the company that was supposed to animate it basically just colored my animatics.)

in total i made somewhere around 50 or 60 animatics for ringtales with the new yorker cartoons and fully animated five.

i don't believe i am going to be animating the new yorker comics anymore, i think i will be working on the new properties the company just landed. not sure what those are yet but i should find out in a few weeks :)

munchies is go

2009-09-04T23:15:00.000-07:00

hot out of after effects, it's... "MUNCHIES!"

unfortunately we noticed AFTER uploading the video to the contest website that the sound is not quite in sync. it is only a hair off but still enough to mess with the timing and dampen the impact (note to everyone: do NOT use mp3 type files when editing to video, stick with aiff or wav these file types are much more reliable). we might try to upload it again but i'm not sure if the rules will allow for that.

other than that little sound problem we are happy with how this came out. total hours working on it is about 24. not bad for a 15 second concept to completion i think.

MUNCHIES!

2009-09-03T21:22:00.001-07:00

it's munchies! these are all the animation elements used in the 15 second short jasser and i put together. tomorrow we are doing the sound and then we will be done! this project has come together much like a 48 hour film, except that we stop working on it after 8 consecutive hours and actually get sleep.

so yeah, these are all the animation elements used and believe it or not i actually drew more elements than we ended up using. the pages were scanned, meticulously separated and layered in photoshop by jasser and then animated in after effects. the animation is extremely limited and relies heavily on timing and expressions.

licky pup

2009-09-03T01:43:00.000-07:00

after some time playing with the timing it was decided that the last concept jasser and i came up with for the 15 seconds to fame contest was going to be longer than 15 seconds so we came up with a few new ideas and settled on one involving a dog. three dogs actually. these sketches just happen to be all of the same dog.

you better don't...

2009-09-01T22:43:00.001-07:00

look who's back! makin a post on the blog of blogs. it's a me... caroline!

so lots of stuff has been going on in my world; visited the family in arizona, went camping on the beach, been working with some crazy dogs, been chased by some dogs, had "no naked!" in a few festivals (more i hope!), finished up the animation for "a plumbers tale" with jasser, been working on a few gigs here and there and now i'm starting on a fresh new animation project with jasser for a nickelodeon contest.

here's a little snippet of a peek:

the contest is called "15 seconds to fame" and the idea is that you have 15 seconds to make them laugh. we have until september 8th to get it all done and looking snap-tacular. i feel pretty good about this.

... that's candy in his mouth by the way.

I HAVE ANOTHER BLOG!

2009-06-28T18:02:00.001-07:00

hey everybody! want to see all my stop motion fabrication work in one place? well now you can! because i have an all new blog just for that sort of thing. so head on over to the bare bear workbench. your happy times will be thankful for much fulfillment!

fun with cardboard

2009-06-28T00:27:00.000-07:00

troll

2009-06-26T01:11:00.001-07:00

fee, fie, foe... uh... gimmie your lunch money, squirt!

ANGRY HAMBURGER!

2009-06-24T00:20:00.000-07:00

i just uploaded my "angry hamburger" design to the patched together website. if it wins it goes into production to become a vinyl toy! please tell all your family and friends and everyone you know to vote for me! and don't forget to vote for it yerself here

photoshop is amazing

2009-06-16T00:39:00.000-07:00

i animated and rendered this as a quicktime... in photoshop. PHOTOSHOP! i have been dreaming of this moment for years. why didn't anyone tell me CS3 had animation capabilities sooner!?!! granted, it is a bit clunky but it is soooo worth it.

look! it's a flying "T"!

tea time

2009-06-16T00:23:00.001-07:00

i was playin around with some tea water and pens then added some color in photoshop. i rather like the technique.

little prancing unicorn

2009-05-26T17:01:00.000-07:00

little unicorn for a music video greg http://chickomon.blogspot.com/ is working on. i would have fixed the follow through on the tail but i ran out of time so i left that fix in the hands of greg.

BISON!

2009-05-20T14:32:00.000-07:00

i can't believe i actually rode around on a bike wearing this thing. i had to do it all one handed because the other hand was needed to control the head (guess which arm is fake!). this was an amazingly fun costume/puppet to build and i learned a lot. i have so many ideas for other puppet costumes now!

i have some video of the costume in action but my after effects is acting up and doesn't want to render things out properly. hopefully i can upload that soon!

a weasel, a mule and a cat

2009-05-20T12:35:00.000-07:00

more fun stuff!

2009-05-20T12:25:00.000-07:00

more plumbers tale animation

2009-05-19T10:27:00.000-07:00

waiting for carol to pick me up so we can go to disneyland!!!!

updated 2-d demo reel

2009-05-18T14:29:00.000-07:00

with a side of super special sauce

Caroline Foley 2-D Animation Demo Reel from caroline foley on Vimeo.

party town party for party people!

2009-05-15T03:37:00.000-07:00

flyer i made for an upcoming event

be there or kindly be somewhere else

the wind wolf

2009-05-14T03:03:00.000-07:00

old sculpture! geez, i haven't posted in a while. but i have been busy animatin and doin art related stuffs. i have two new demo reels, fabrication photos, animation footage and other crap so i will steadily be uploading that here whenever i can remember.

so for now, enjoy the wind wolf! made in... 2006? maybe? somewhere around there.

baby mammoth and friends

2009-04-21T22:40:00.001-07:00

oh look, i made a crappy little title thing for my blog :o

so i was up until about 4 in the morning watching this thing on the national geographic website about a frozen baby mammoth. the thing looked like a giant hunk of beef jerky shaped like an elephant. needless to say, i was inspired. but in a cute way.

i made the little mammoth pretty quick since i opted to use hot glue instead of hand sewing it. it is just a bit chunky but really not as bad as i thought it would be. definitely passable.

i am also now working on a series of monster paintings for a gallery that will happen in two months. the theme is monsters and robots. oh boy!

i made a hand puppet

2009-04-20T15:45:00.001-07:00

i based the pattern from a hand puppet i already have. i am really on a puppet kick right now, i think i am going to try to make another one of these little ones. sewing things by hand takes a long time though so i am gonna bust out the old glue gun on this next one. i hope it doesn't turn out too chunky...

scrunchy face!

sad and indifferent animals wearing scarves

2009-04-20T04:08:00.001-07:00

i couldn't sleep...

i think i like the tiger and the mule the best.

dancing televisions, cockroaches and butt shakin

2009-04-18T14:49:00.000-07:00

more animation from that short film i am working on with jasser and javier. the film has a plumber in it so of course you have to show plumbers crack.

the easter bison

2009-04-12T02:22:00.000-07:00

happy easter from the easter bison! well it is just about 3 am here so if this post is incoherent you can guess why.

progress is being made but i am finding that the problem with controlling the head with my hand is that my hand is attached to my arm on the side of my body. if i had an extra arm coming out of my stomach things would be just swell right now, but i don't... so i'll just have to make one!

diabolical plans that need more planning. it needs to be able to sway from side to side and up and down if possible and also needs to be able to open and close the mouth. it must also be made with things i have laying around or can get for very cheap because i am dirt ass poor.

the awkwardness! see, it looks like the head is shooting out of the side of the body. it also KILLS my hand to try to get it into a semi decent position. i also need more fur.

good news is the head is almost done now! but it is kinda small i think. hopefully i can stuff the top with enough fluff to fix that problem without giving him a neanderthal forehead.

hummingbird colored

2009-04-11T14:21:00.000-07:00

this is the hummingbird footage i did for that film i am working on, but it is a bit confusing without the rest of the footage and the background which jasser has. the hummingbird flies down to smell some flowers, there is some rumbling which he reacts to and he flies away as some pipes shoot out of the earth. the timing on this test is going to be different from what is in the film but you get the idea of what is happening. i am pretty excited, this thing is coming together pretty fast and it is looking really nice.

c. bison

2009-04-08T16:41:00.001-07:00

so i am making a bison costume for some reason. it started out as a puppet and things just escalated from there.

the head

the horns

first stage of hump, made out of lycra for stretchy bonus

i sewed the rest of it together and stuffed it with fluff. the hump is complete!

PILLOW FIGHT

2009-04-08T14:54:00.001-07:00

on saturday there was a giant pillowfight in pershing square in downtown los angeles. can you believe that? a giant pillow fight! in los angeles! there were so many feathers in the air i was literally inhaling them. good thing i had my bandanna, i put it on cowboy style and used it as a breathing mask. my camera took a beating but it amazingly is still working (check out the video for proof). i have no idea how long the event lasted, i was there for maybe an hour smacking people around and it was still happening after i left. there is something rather satisfying about slamming complete strangers with the pillow you rest your head on at night.

and apparently there were pillow fights all over the world, it was global pillow fight day!

hummingbird test 1

2009-04-04T00:52:00.000-07:00

my friend jasser asked me to help him on a project he is working on. this is the first test from the opening scene, which looks very different from the rest of the film.

i love going over to peoples houses and animating with them :D i love it so much! this was a lot of fun. good thing there is more work to do :)

care bear STARE!

2009-04-02T00:03:00.000-07:00

i have had this idea on my mind for a few days now and i simply couldn't do anything else until i had shat these out of my brain. thank you google images and cheap photoshop techniques! what i really want is to get some taxidermy animals and have an exhibit of "real" 80's cartoon characters. unfortunately taxidermy animals are very expensive. i need a sponsor or something.

shapes comic

2009-03-26T18:41:00.000-07:00

a comic i made for the artichoke anthology my roommate, moses (mocherz), is putting together. i am in the process of turning it into a short animation but am still undecided on if i should use flash or animate it traditionally. i like the traditional look a lot more so i am trying to go that route but flash is just so fast. hmmmm...

pat the dog storyboard

2009-03-16T22:35:00.000-07:00

storyboards from my "pat the dog" concept.... funny thing is pat the dog is not in any of these panels. toby the elephant and alex the weasel have just arrived in the deserted dessert city in the sky ruled by the evil baker queen. she has taken pat prisoner and the two friends are there to rescue him. meanwhile, back in little town, toby's grandfather has just discovered he has won the lottery.

dialog key:
"b" is for scrubby bear
"e" is for toby the elephant
"w" is for alex the weasel

red dots indicate scene cuts