Holy Grail of Production

I've been dealing with a "problem" lately that I hope to correct soon, a artistically diverse and versatile show that still has a quick and simple production line. This is the Animation Producer's "Philosopher's stone", the almost impossible quality of any company but for animation, even more rare. Animation is a time consuming and costly medium, once the commitment to a story is done, the ability to change or adapt is almost gone. The other side is having the free nature of creativity in your work (whether it be TV or a full feature) obviously limits the quality of the animation. A good example of great story and free creativity is South Park or Archer, but obviously the "style" they have chosen is very minimal, identifiable but still limited in animations as an art. If the look is more the importance, you either have an amazing story, the money to spend the time on story, or a lack in story all together. I want to find the Holy Grail, the medium, the right amount of animation to be able to express myself and the ability to fluidly write a story and produce it all in little time with little production cost. Right now the best answer is 3-D cel shading with simple character designs (that are reused for the most part) and the most open and fluid amount of story writing. I think that the easiest explanation for now is a Warner Bros, Chuck Jones, short-style production but still having the 2-D animation quality in a 3-D easy production. All of this is not too rigid as to restrict any artistic fluidity.


Being as I have no example of this idea, I'll leave with a facial character test I did for my first Thesis idea; a Mandrill character going through emotion tests...

Brown Pelican

This is a more realistic detailed pen and ink of a Brown Pelican that I did for my Uncle Ron and my Aunt Zona, who focused my nature obsession on birds. I penned this when I just got out of the hospital to correct a heart condition (WPW).

Stylized Drawings 2

This is a Sketch I did of a Peregrine Falcon that I really enjoyed doing. The best drawings that I've done (in my opinion as the artist) are not the ones that are the most aesthetically pleasing, but the ones that are the most fun to create. These are the ones that I spend hours on and I get so lost in the moment that I feel no time passing at all. Allowing yourself to just go with whatever feels natural is actually harder than it sounds, but worth it.

Stylized Animal work

Here are a few Drawings I did, the start of series that displays a specific style I want to continue. The style is mostly about clean lines that are found using the most economical motion in my wrist. Some time ago I wanted to create a style all my own that could be well recognized and easily created (Honestly expressing myself).

"Froogal Flakes" rough

"Froogal Flakes" is the name of my thesis project that I will be working on during the summer and then producing and documenting over the year. Froogal Flakes is a 3D animated short that satirizes the cartoon cereal commercial. It's about a Scottish cereal that is hawked by the "Scott" (current short-hand name) who is an angry, cheap, crazy Scotsman that yells and endorses his product with the help of his mascot; a one eyed pitiful goat. This is a gag driven short and I haven't nailed down any concrete story.
I want to list a lot of hanging possible gags...

- For the opening I'm thinking about a 50's black n white style introduction that involves an innocent "Leave it to Beaver"-like character, "jeeze misters" and all.
If I do end up using the child in the final, I want to have the "Scott" treat him like crap, yell at him constantly, and eventually knock him unconscious.
-At some point ( 3/4s probably) I want the "Scott" to address his competition (parodies of current cereal mascots, including "Lucky"). Cardboard cut outs of each of these pop up and Scott takes a golf club to each of them, and yes accidentally hits the young kid. Oh, and while Scott is breaking these cut outs, he's also breaking them apart by saying all the wonderful mascots, marshmallows, and wonderful prizes are not what any kid would want.

Authority Zero Design Contest

One of my favorite bands is holding a design contest for new ideas to be used on t-shirts, merchandise and concepts for the new album. Authority Zero's music embodies the beach loving, drinking, easy going, partying, pirate that this Irish bastard loves, so the concepts I'll be deigning are more about fun than getting my name out there, or winning some prize... all are good thou. I'll put some up soon enough.

(Oh, and this picture I posted is not of my creation, I just wanted to display something of Authority Zero's)


Joe.

Tenative Mission Statement...

Art is first and foremost. We are committed to honestly expressing ourselves without compromising the essence of the art involved. Self refinement is essential, but not to the point of second guessing or baiting demographics. We are not limited to any one medium, only our experience in that area. Efficiency is paramount as long as it doesn't sacrifice the artistic expression, regardless of current standards.

Current projects involve
-3D Animation
-Storyboarding: Feature Film, Short Film, and Music Video
-Graphic Design
-T-Shirt Design
-Feature Film Story

Founder, President, and Lead Artist



Joseph Turner Kennedy Hogan