I'm So Board!

I know I sound like a broken record on this blog talking about how busy I've been, but it's true!  The last year and a half has been non-stop for me, and my brain has been too fried to spend a lot of time worrying about this blog.  But I've taken a week off to recharge my batteries, so here's an update:

The History Channel just finished broadcasting it's miniseries "The Men Who Built America".  I did some early pitch boards for an episode about Andrew Carnegie.  Above and below are some samples of boards I drew for this show.

I also worked on a film called "Order of the Seven".  It was to be another take on the Snow White story, with the twist on this film being that it took place in turn of the century China.  It was to have starred Saoirse Ronan (The Lovely Bones), and was to be directed by Michael Gracey.  The film was shut down for various reasons, but here are a few samples of work I did for this show.

During the time I was working on these projects, I was teaching a storyboarding class at Otis School of Design and was helping write a book on storyboarding with Sergio Paez.

Another project I worked on will be a straight-to-video sequel to a very popular horror franchise.  I can't show you any boards for it at this time, but the video will be released around Halloween of 2013.  Here's a little hint on what the project is:

Another film I contributed to earlier this year was a concept pitch for another horror film, this one with vampires.  It's still in the early stages, but from what I understand, it's got the green light.

Most of this year has been working on boards for yet another film pitch, which is top secret for the time being.

Anyways, that's it for now.  I'll try to be a little better about posting updates and artwork in the future.

Beat It

Things have been very busy for me. Life has delivered a few curve balls and I've been trying to keep pace. A couple of car accidents, the eventual search for and purchase of a new car, taxes, freelance work, the flu, teaching and several other things have smacked me all either simultaneously or in succession, leaving precious little "me" time lately. But, luckily I have been working--in contrast to my situation a couple of years ago. I've already worked on a feature film this year and currently have two more in the pipeline (one I'm currently working on, the other scheduled right after that). None of this I can show you, of course. But in the interest of having something I can show you, I dug up a couple of pieces I did a while back. This is part of a concept I was working on a while back for a personal multi-media project I wanted to do. It's on hold for the moment, but it's something I'd like to see cross the finish line someday.

A Bit of Inspiration

Here are a couple of my favorite lectures. They never cease to be inspiring to me...

Simon Sinek talks about commanding influence by simply changing the order in which you present your information. The basic message is that people don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it....

This lecture at Stanford by Ed Catmull talks about the beginnings of Pixar. The title of the lecture is "Keep Your Crises Small", but a lot of this is really about breaking away from certain conventional beliefs.

The Stranger

Oh wow. The last time I posted to this blog was in October. Sorry I've been such a stranger! There have been a lot of things happening in my life both professionally and personally, and though it may not be the right time to go into it in detail right now, I'll give you an update of what's been going on.

I worked on two live-action feature films that are supposed to hit the screens in 2013. One is an action-adventure-fantasy movie based on an old property made famous by Disney. The other is the latest installment of a very popular horror movie franchise.

There were also a few commercials and TV projects, including The History Channel and some commercials for companies like Phenomenon, Big Block, and Blind. There was also some illustration work I did earlier in the year for Ojingo Labs. More recently, I also managed to take a little time out to help out Mike Levine of Planet Cazmo create a logo for his latest upcoming venture, Happy Giant Media.

In the meantime, here are some sketches I did for a company that designs plush toys.

High and Dry

Power point presentations can often be dull and dry and often put viewers to sleep. With this in mind, Big Block, a digital Production studio in Santa Monica, hired me to do some cartoons for their Oracle Configurator presentation that was shown at Oracle Open World in San Francisco. I drew the cartoons and they animated my assets in AfterEffects. Thanks to all the nice people at Big Block for the work!

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Devin R. Bruce has started a new comics related podcast and blog called "Scotch and Comics". In the first episode of his podcast, he reviews several comics, including my own "Vice" Check it out!

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For those who are wondering, I'm currently working on a project with The Third Floor, currently Hollywood's biggest digital previs company. Great company, great people!

Doodlers Unite!

Getting into the Union Is An Uphill Battle

Super talented illustrator Mike Vosburg posted a little commentary on his blog about the current way the IATSE Local 800 (the union for storyboard artists, matte painters, and art directors) takes on new storyboard artists.

Currently, there is a convoluted system in which you must accumulate so many days of work within a 365 day period doing union commercials to get on a commercials experience roster (and a second number of days once you have been put on the roster) before you will be allowed to be put on another roster that allows you to work on feature films or TV. Another way to get into the union is to be hired on a non-union movie that later signs up with the union while you're on it. But this is a rare convergence of events that can't be predicted nor planned for.

Since union commercial production houses tend want to hire union artists before hiring non-union artists, and because non-union artists' days only count toward the roster if the company agrees to put their hours on a union timecard, it can be very difficult for a non-union artist to rack up enough days in a year to get on the commercial experience roster. Effectively, this makes it almost a matter of chance whether or not you can get into the union. I've been in LA doing storyboards since 2002, and only know of one artist who has gotten in by accumulating commercial hours. Most have gotten in by working on non-union films that went union while they were on it...essentially they were hired at the right place at the right time.

Before moving to LA, I worked on Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow for 7-8 months doing storyboards. That was when the movie was a small indie production. The film eventually did go union, but only after nearly a year had gone by since my last day of work on that project. I have tried to get into the union in so many ways for years without success. Mike has been storyboarding for decades, and is even an Emmy winning director, yet by the union's reckoning, doesn't have enough experience to be in the union.

Both Mike and I support the union movement and what it stands for, yet the current roster based system makes it damn near impossible for us and many other experienced artists to get into that union. There are other unions (The Animation Union, for example) that operate just fine (far as I can tell) without a roster system.

It just seems to me as though something is very wrong in Tinseltown.