Being Press

I have recently been allowed to sneak along to some great animation press screenings with Skwigly.co.uk.

I have never been to a press screening before but they are ridiculously fun and interesting experience.


As an animator (and only a beginner when it comes to writing) I have to try extremely hard not to geek out completely when you are sat down to watch an animation that isn't coming out in the cinemas for a good few months ..



The only downside of screenings is that you can't share the film with anyone else. The animation community is one that loves to chat about what they see. Not because we enjoy a gossip but I think us animators love the art and movement so much that we need to discuss it to allow ourselves to calm down. (then again this might just be my excitable mind)



It also would be nice to share the free bar at the screenings with someone too :)

Although I have to admit that it is extremely thrilling to be stood in a cinema and have already seen all the films in the 'up coming' posters. I have suffered lately from being overwhelmed by the animation choice in the cinemas.
They are so animation heavy that its almost too hard to chose which to see.
Not that this is a complaint, the more animation out there the better but its all becoming such high quality that its hard to keep up.


These do sound like first world problems that truthfully I'm happy to have as it means that our industry is doing nothing but growing and aging well. Cg is still relatively new but it feels like it has settled into its age and started to understand the nuances of story as well as art and design, Its rare that a truly awful CG film seems to be on our screens. I'm sure you will all be able to testify to my mistake in that sentence but I do feel that there isn't many films these days that don't hold at least one aspect of true inspiration in CG as well as animation.
Whether it be the story, character designs, rendering or animation.
Whether you agree with that statement or not you will have to agree that it's fantastic to have two stop motion films in the cinema as well as a Genndy Tartakovsky creation. We really are being spoilt for choice.

There are really some cracking animations coming to our theaters which I for one will be dragging people to see again, even after the press screening, which surely is a review for the films themselves.

I can't wait for you to see them too and I'll be sure to stick up reviews 'toot-sweet' once I'm allowed to.

In the meantime here is a link to my last review of Madagascar 3.
I hope you enjoy and I have no doubt that you will all have lighter pockets from your cinema trips before 2013.

http://www.skwigly.co.uk/madagascar-3-europes-most-wanted-review/

doodlezilla

This is doodlezilla. I wanted to create a character I can use to practise photoshop as well as use to get me drawing.

20 Reasons It's Hard To Live With An Animator.

1. There's no envelopes/ scraps of paper/ important documents in your house that haven't been doodled on.

2.You are the only adults without kids in line at every children's film.

3.When they talk about keys they don't mean locking up the house.

4.There's more DVD's' in your house than your local 'Blockbusters'

5.Your house has so many toys in it that people assume you have children and If you do have children they aren't allowed to touch the toys.

6. 90% of their wardrobe has cartoons on it.

7. You not only know the director of every Pixar film but also their hobbies and what they look like.

8. The sentence 'Crunch Time' fills you with dread.

9. Not only do they have more books than any other person but each one weighs the same as a small elephant.

10. They don't actually read any of them

11. Polar Express scares them more than 'Friday the 13th'

12. They're amazing at pictonary but carry on drawing even after you've guessed it.

13. You don't really know what 'MoCap' is but if you ever like a cartoon that has it they've threatened to leave you.

14.They can spend 25 minutes looking at one drawing.

15. They know every line from The Simpsons/ Family Guy/South Park/ Star Wars (delete where applicable)

16.Sometimes you talk for 40 minutes before realising they've been quoting a film the whole time.

17.When they talk about Easter eggs they are never referring to the chocolate ones.

18. 5 minutes into a film they know the entire plot.

19. You didn't know a human could drink that much coffee/tea/ red bull

20.They can sit and giggle to themselves for 20 minutes at 'the way that bird walks'

New Website

I've finally done it!
After 2 years of owning a domain I've finally attached a website.

http://www.marshmallowpenguin.com/#

heehee

I've always been indecisive about the look of it so it might change regularly but I am really happy with having a '.com' I feel all fancy and futuristic. next step Hover board!

It will hopefully also encourage me to draw more. I've been taking lots of lessons in photoshop and I'm looking forward to putting my skills to good use. (mainly drawing robots and dinosaurs but its still worth it)

x

Skwigly

My other news this month is i've started writing for Skwigly's online magazine.
After reading the pap I write on here this may suprise you but I promise to put my best authors foot forward.

http://www.skwigly.co.uk/



heres my first article with the wonderful Chris Dicker

http://www.skwigly.co.uk/whats-your-news-interview-with-chris-dicker/