Dan Forgione's Blog

New Blog/Website

2008-11-17T02:57:00.002-05:00

I have officially switched to WordPress (which is another kind of blog), and have set it up to be my website, so any further posts I make, as well as updates to my reel, resume and whatever else can now be seen at www.danforgione.com

Please update your bookmarks and or RSS feeds, as I plan on not using blogspot.com any more.

Thanks

Dan

Sorry for Slacking

2008-09-17T23:49:00.002-04:00

I know it's been a while, but since getting back from the honeymoon, it's been a little crazy getting back into the swing of things. I promise some sketches and more work soon, but for now, here is the latest of the Bronx Zoo commercials I did earlier this year for their Madagascar exhibit. I have a higher res version, however it doesn't have the audio, so once I get that, I'll post it. For now enjoy the youtube version... Enjoy!

D

Honeymoon here we come!!

2008-08-09T22:57:00.004-04:00

Well it's finally a done deal, on 8-8-08 we officially became Mr and Mrs Daniel Forgione.. and now were off on our honeymoon....Here are some sketches we used for our "Save the Date" cards (the first one is the one we actually used)....and for those of you who don't know what the deal with the turtles is, you can check out the Youtube clip below...

Concepts

2008-08-06T01:00:00.003-04:00

Just some character concepts for a project at Dancing Diablo that fell through...

Finally some sketches

2008-06-03T00:20:00.004-04:00

Sorry I've been slackin on this. Been pretty busy with the new job, which is great so far. Anyways, check these out...got into a stylized superhero kick for a while...

Been meaning to do a tribute post...on my To do list...

Some random stuff...

Hmm, wonder when I did these...

Thanks ASIFA East!

2008-05-05T22:19:00.003-04:00

Congrats to Dancing Diablo for taking 1st Place in the Commercials category at the 39th ASIFA-East Animation Festival , and thanks to ASIFA East and to all who worked on the Bronx Zoo spots to make them so great!

ASIFA East Awards

2008-04-29T14:11:00.002-04:00

Beatriz Ramos, who runs, Dancing Diablo Studios, is due to receive an award at The 39th Annual ASIFA-East Animation Festival, for the Bronx Zoo spots I animated last year. So come check out the screening, awards, and reception to follow.

Sunday, May 4 from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Tishman Auditorium
@The New School
66 W. 12th St
(bet. 5th/6th)
NYC

Also on a similar note, I was offered and accepted a full time position as lead animator with Bea, and am happy to be joining her team in hopes of creating more great projects like the Zoo spots.

Thanks Bea!

"City Suckers"

2008-04-24T14:47:00.004-04:00

Just wanted to do a quick post about a project I helped out with which is currently featured on Cold Hard Flash.
"City Suckers" is a music video produced by the record label Ghostly International and directed by Jessica Milazzo and Daniel Garcia.

(go to the "City Suckers" link above and click on the banner on the bottom right labeled "exclusive video")

I only did a few scenes of rough animation, and the rest was handled by a talented team made up of animators, Chris Siemasko , Nick Bertonazzi, David Haines, Anne Witbeck and BG artist Liz Artinian.

Great job to everyone, and thanks Jessica for allowing me to be a part of it, it was fun!

Huggies Cleanteam

2008-04-10T21:42:00.003-04:00

Here are two of my most recent freelance projects. I was hired by Ben Porcari, who owns IBC Digital to put together a team of animators to produce 2 commercials for Huggies Cleanteam products, directed by Frank Drucker. Both spots were animated in Flash by myself, Mike Carlo, Matthew Jenkins, and Dagan Moriarty, with design work by Sal Iovine, and Thomas Smolenski, and BGs by Soonmin Chung. Compositing was divided up between the IBC team up in Buffalo, and the team at, NYC based post house, Edgeworx.

This was a lot of fun to work on, and even more of a pleasure to bring in some friends on it. Hopefully there will be more to come in the future. Thanks for all your help guys!

By the way, check out the Huggies Cleanteam site:
http://www.huggiescleanteam.com/

And thanks to Aaron Simpson, once again, for a plug on his site:
http://coldhardflash.com

"Reporting for Dirty" Music Video
(Is also being screened in select AMC, United Artists, and Regal theaters before "Horton Hears a Who" and other family oriented pictures)

"Bath Time" Narrative

Happy Easter

2008-03-21T12:29:00.005-04:00

Sketchbook

2008-03-20T22:09:00.006-04:00

Been a while since I last posted some actual drawings, so to make up for it, here is a bunch of sketches from my sketchbook. These are all from my very first Moleskin Sketchbook. I bought one a few months back because I've always heard of people using them, but never have myself, and I have to say I am a little disappointed. I feel like I am drawing on manilla folders, and it is nothing what I expected.
But in all fairness I have never been an "artsy" person. Growing up, I never used any other mediums other than regular white paper and pencils, and while I was at SVA, I did some experimentation with pastels, water color, and Conte Crayon's, but rarely did I ever experiment any further when it came to supplies and materials. Not that I was never open too...I just...didn't. My loss I guess.
But anyways, on to the sketches....

These first 2 I wanted to emulate my pal Jimbo and experiment with shapes...

These 2... I wanted to try my hand at character design. Now by no means would I ever consider myself a good designer, because I am far from it. But I thought it would be a fun little experiment to pick an animal at random, do some reference sketches, and then see if I could turn that animal into a cast of characters. Again I tried to explore different shapes and body types,and personalities and I think I did an okay job, but I feel very limited when it comes to this stuff. I have a hard time breaking out of my comfort zone, and often revert back to certain stylistic choices. It's a fun little challenge, regardless of whether it is successful or not...

This one was an otter...in case you couldn't figure it out...

And lastly...just some random crap done while on the subway...

New Animation Reel

2008-03-04T22:49:00.004-05:00

Just updated this with the 3D assignments I did with Stephen. Will have more work soon to add, but for now enjoy. And there is a larger version on my website at www.danforgione.com.

"Animation Reel"

iTutor Update _Assignment 3_ Final

2008-03-02T13:57:00.002-05:00

Been really busy with a few freelance projects, so it's been difficult, but I finally managed to squeeze in some time to finish this last assignment. I simplified I few things such has his cup placement, lip sync, and facial expressions.
Overall I am pretty happy with it, and looking forward to starting the next test, but for now, it's time to add this to the reel and send it out.

"Last Assignment"

Crits always welcome!

Dan

iTutor Update - Assignment 3 polish pass

2008-01-23T10:15:00.000-05:00

Well tonight will be my last session with Stephen, at least for this time around. I've said it over and over again, but this experience has been amazing, and I really think I have made some strides into becoming a better animator. And HOPEFULLY, I will continue to make even more strides for the rest of my career. Just want to give one more thanks to Stephen for giving me this opportunity.

So here it is, my final assignment as close to finished as can be for now. There are a few things I want to tweek. I stayed up all night last night to finish it, and I feel some things are a little rushed. But overall I am pretty happy with it. Although I am looking forward to hearing what Stephen has to say, and hopefully I'll get one more pass at it after his notes, and then move on to the next shot.

Crits always welcome. Thanks

Dan

**UPDATE...uh oh....it seems the audio is slightly off sync..I swear it's not like that in the actual animation. I'll check the settings and repost tonight. In the meantime....pretend it's perfect! HA...... OOPS***

"Last Assignment"

ITutor Update _Assignment 2_ Final (for now..)

2008-01-13T03:13:00.000-05:00

Just can't seem to stop tweaking it. After meeting with Stephen, he gave me a few notes on the latest polish of my second assignment, and the 2 major notes he had were the timing in the middle when he goes into the "clenched pose" was too slow, and the way he brings his left arm down to the side before coming back up looked a little unnatural. So I fixed both, and am pretty happy with the result.

Showed Stephen this version and he said it was much better...

Dan

"Second Assignment"

iTutor - Assignment 3

2008-01-09T09:51:00.000-05:00

For this assignment I was to chose a short movie line. With the holidays and all I haven't met with Stephen in a while, so I spent some time polishing up the last assignment and did a bunch of thumbnails for this one, and finally finished a first pass at blocking last night.

One day I will post my passes at thumbs to show the difference. The biggest challenge I had to do was keep it simple. And I think this attempt was pretty good. This is only a blocking pass, and the lip sync is only roughed in, there are also a few spots where I need to adjust the timing and fix a few arcs, but I'll wait to see what Stephen thinks before I do anything else.

Feel free to crit.

"Final Assignment - Blocking pass"

Christmas Tree Vendetta

2008-01-06T23:47:00.001-05:00

This is just a little sketch of what happened to Mandy and I this past Sat night....(colored it quickly but whatever...)

Mandy wasn't feeling too well this past week, so we took it easy this weekend and stayed in. Early Sat night after some Chinese food and quality programming on the 5 English speaking channels we get on our HD television, Mandy got off our tiny couch to lay down on the floor and stretch out for a bit. Soon after, I decided to join her and, literally, no more than 2 minutes later our f'in Christmas tree said "Screw you guys for chopping me down!" and came crashing towards us. We've had the tree since Dec 2nd, and I swear it felt like it was waiting for the most opportune moment to make its attack.

Needless to say our plan for a relaxing evening was wiped away by having to clean up all the ornaments, take the tree to the curb and sweep up the millions of pine needles that fell all over....some of which I am still finding today, including one that was stuck to my arm this morning when I woke up!

Next year....A fiber optic tree from Duane Reade!! Just kidding.

Also, as you can see, the gentleman that I am, I did EVERYTHING in my power to protect my fiance.
( Ok, well THAT part didn't really happen...but everything else is true. )

Happy New Year!

Dan

ITutor Update _Assignment 2...still

2008-01-04T01:01:00.000-05:00

Been getting some great feedback/crits not only from Stephen but from friends too. I was pretty happy with the last version, but I admit is still needed work. Some things were a lil too much, and needed tweeking here and there, so here is another version. At some point I will be done with this, but I am sure I or someone else will eventually find another thing to tweek.

Also I started the next assignment as well, which is an acting piece to an audio clip from a movie. I've done some thumbs in Flash, and revisions to those thumbs, twice even...which I will eventually post, but not until after I have some blocking to go with it.

In the meantime, check this revised version of Assignment 2.

" Another Revision"

iTutor Update _Assignment 2 Comparison

2007-12-29T03:00:00.000-05:00

First off, Happy Holidays! Hope everyone is enjoying theirs. It's been slow going here in terms of working on my assignments, but not much you can do about that during the holidays.

Anyways I "finished" my second assignment, and sent it to Stephen for feedback. Overall, I am pretty happy with it, there are a few areas I think could use some more work, but I think it has come a long way since the last posting, which is why I am posting both files, the "Before notes" and "After notes" quicktimes, so that you can see the differences. Also if you re read my previous post...the comparison will make a little more sense since I went into some detail the notes Stephen had suggested. And now you will have the visuals to go with it. (please excuse the lack of attention to the cards collapsing, time is limited to work on this and my focus was on the character, and I need to move on to the next assignment)

**Also, the biggest difference between the two is that the older one isn't as finished as the new one. For example I hadn't gotten to any of the hands or facial polishing before submitting and getting notes.**

When I get feedback from Stephen I will be sure to update again. But in the meantime take a look, and feel free to comment/crit.

Thanks and have a Happy New Year!!

" Before Stephen's Notes"

" After Stephen's Notes"

iTutor - First pass at cleaning up

2007-12-13T10:14:00.000-05:00

Just a quick update, but I had another meeting with Stephen last night to go over my latest pass on my second assignment. So first off, here it is, but please keep in mind I turned it in unfinished. The arms need a little work, and I didn't even touch the hands, fingers, and facial animation yet on this pass, but I will complete them as well as address the notes Stephen and I talked about.

" First pass at cleanup"

So basically most of his notes, other than the unfinished parts were in regards to the timing, finessing and smoothing of some parts out. There is a little bit of a pop, right around frame 55 (about 2 seconds in) right as he begins his motion into his "clenched pose" that needs to be smoothed out. Right now it looks kinda like a half-assed antic that isn't workin properly, and may in fact be the cause of a few other problems. One of which being the arc of his left arm going into the same motion. If you follow his elbow with your eyes...there is a weird little "hitch" in the curve where it should really be smooth. So Stephen suggested to implement a little bit more of an antic in his torso, where he leans screen right and slightly rotates his chest before going into the "serpentine" motion into the clenched pose. By doing this, it may give me some breathing room to keep that arm along the smooth and fluid arc.

I know this might not make sense to some of you, and I apologize, because it is a little difficult to explain. But hopefully when I finish it and put these 2 videos side by side you will be able to see the difference.

Another area he said could use some tweaking was when he deflates. There is a slight pop in the elbows too where it seems to get hung up a lil, and that by separating the timing of some of the elements might help. For example by dropping the shoulders 2 or 3 frames earlier, will help sell the idea that they are the driving force in the deflation.

Like I said most if his comments on this were just about finessing. He seemed pretty happy with it overall and said that it was pretty close which felt really good to hear. There were a few other comments he had that were extremely helpful which I will address in the next pass, some of which were in reference to the parts I hadn't finished (ie hands and face). But they are a little more difficult to point out by just explaining in this post. So hopefully when you see the comparison of the 2 when I am finished, the differences will be a lot clearer.

Also I will be starting to thumbnail/ block out the next assignment this week which will be a dialogue shot. This will be a real test for me because my experience with true acting has been limited and may be the one thing that is keeping me from getting into feature work at this stage. So this is going to be a really important assignment. The only hitch is that we only have 2 weeks left, so if I am going to get it done with Stephen's help I am going to need to pick a really short, yet expressive piece of dialogue. Roughly no more than 4 or 5 words. That will probably be the toughest part, so if anyone has any suggestions for me I would be more than willing to consider them.

Thanks for checking in, and until next time!

Evolution of iTutor Assignment #2

2007-12-09T23:04:00.000-05:00

Week three has just passed, and my second assignment is on it's last week before moving on to a final assignment which will be a dialogue piece. But until I want to show you the evolution of my second assignment which was to animate, in about 150 to 200 frames (around 8 seconds), a specific pantomime action where there is some kind of change in emotion. For example, a character anxiously waiting at the door for a special delivery, and when the doorbell rings, he opens it expecting the package but finds it's his landlord looking to collect rent. Okay, a little more detailed of an example than I needed to give,but you get the point. Needless to say it's a great and challenging exercise for any level of animator.

I will get into this more later and how it relates to my assignment, but I realized how much I really need to break down an entire shot and think about not only the action but the underlying attitudes and purpose behind the actions. Each action has it's own story beat, a reason or purpose for happening, and it should alway convey something necessary to way that character thinking and feeling in that particular moment. Understanding what the character is thinking/feeling and why, is an important step in making choice in how you move the character.

There is a hierarchy of those beats that start with your key poses, and then break down from there to the transitions between the key poses, and then broken down even further to how you begin and end those transitions. You have you're main poses which in themselves say one thing, but how do you get to each of those poses, whether it is deciding whether to lead with the head, or torso, trail the arms, to antic, or overshoot, to zip into A from B, or ease in to one or another...whichever choice you make will have a direct impact on the translation of your main poses, because the character's body language during those transitions says just as much about how the character is feeling as do the key poses.

This is something I realized that I need to think about a little harder when planning out my shot, and Stephen suggests coming up with an interior monologue for a character in situations where there is no dialogue. By giving the character it's own thoughts and words in relation to his actions, it will help in making the right choices for the beats within your scene, and thus create a clearer picture for the audience as to what and why the character is feeling a certain way.

So now on to my assignment. I went through a whole list of pantomime actions, and ultimately settled on a character sitting at a table carefully putting the last card on a house of cards, just as he is about to release the card, the entire thing collapses. I figured for this post I will start from the beginning.

So once I decided on a scene, i stated to roughly thumbnail some poses, I knew I wanted to go from having him be really careful and determined, to becoming angry and frustrated. And my original plan was to end with him resting his head on his head and very casually wipe the cards off the table with his free arm. I didn't end up sticking with that on the first pass, but instead went with a much broader and ultimately poorer choice as you'll see in the first video.

After thumbs I blocked out my first pass...

"First Pass"

Like I had mentioned I had chosen to go with a much broader ending, which I wasn't all that happy with. And Stephen agreed, in that he says it is such a common thing to see in reels from people. People tend to make choices that feel show off that they can animate, however often it lacks the thinking the is behind the animation. Which brings me back to what I was mentioning earlier about the attitudes and thoughts behind the poses and the movements. Ultimately it is much more impressive to watch a subtler, more sophisticated approach to an action in which it is clear to the audience what the character is thinking and feeling from one moment to the next.

Sure you may say that my choices for the end are clear. He is pissed and throws the cards with conviction and purpose. But the point is that it was the superficial choice. The one most people will come to first in their thinking about anger and frustration. Stephen suggested something more sophisticated, because in the end it STILL NEEDS TO BE ANIMATED WELL. And a well animated piece that shows a clear and subtle thought piece will be more impressive to the audience, in this case, potential employers, than the broader less thought out piece...regardless how well it was animated.

So then came this next pass...

" Second Pass"

As you can see I lowered, and tightened the camera angle to get the shot a little better. Now you can see his torso THROUGH the cards, whereas before some of him was obstructed by the house of cards. I was really happy with the flicking of the cards at the end, and was excited to animate that. Here is the same shot broken down a little further, and the torso during its first stage of polish, which is sort of like clean up. This is where keys are broken down, and offset to get overlaps and dragging in animation. Basically getting it to look smoother and more natural.

" Second Pass,plus a little polish"

At this point however, 2 problems arise. One, the movement going into his "clenched" pose isn't working, and the clenched pose itself is starting to not read in terms of the attitude of the character. This is where the part about the heirarchy of attitudes comes in. I need to start thinking about not only how the main poses read for the scene...but also how do the transitions read as well. This may have been fixed of I simplified the motion a lil more and has him just twist slightly to his right, and get him into the "clenched" pose quicker, rather than the loopty loop way I chose. But who knows. Once thing Stephen said about his own work, he sometimes just tries multiple things out, constantly questioning whether or not its working, or whether there is a better choice for a pose, or action. This is what I need to work on but I think it helps understanding the ideas I mentioned earlier about knowing the story beats and knowing you character and how he needs to move in order to convey his thoughts and attitudes within each moment.

Now the second problem, is we are running out of time for this tutoring, and we still need to get to one more assignment with the weeks remaining. So Stephen chose a smaller chunk out of my last one to make it more possible to finish animating by our next meeting. Basically he cut it down to roughly 30 or 40 frames where he felt there was a clear story to be told, and that we would focus on just that little chunk. So here is the lastest which at this point is only blocked out...

" Third Pass - Blocking"

So as you can see it was condensed to a) puttin the card carefully on top, b) the cards dropping c) his reaction.

Stephen stressed the I focus on the beats of the story and making sure to get the attitudes across clearly. He had chosen roughly 30 frames from the original, but said that it would be necessary to spread it out and adjust the timing on things, which was fine, because this is now a more manageable piece to animate with the time left. So by the end of our session, we had broken down the story beats of this new chunk and ultimately decided on a few new poses, and much simplier action.

This time I am leading with the head into the "new clenched" pose, and then he deflates into the next before giving the cards a last look. Then after putting it down for a while I went back into it to adjust the timing one more time on a few things....and ultimately I ended up with this.

" Third Pass - Revised Blocking"

I adjusted the moment between when the cards drop and when he lets go of the last card, as well as the final head turn, which I felt needed to be slowed down and delayed a little bit. I am still a little uncertain about his last facial expression, so i need to play with it some more. And I am not sure it is there yet, but it certainly has come a long way so far.

If I don't get notes on it before meeting with Stephen next, I am gonna take it a little further and start polishing. In the meantime, thanks for checking this out, and I hope it has been at least a little be helpful to those who are interested. I know some of the ideas and concepts I am mentioning may be a little vague at times, I am going through a similar learning process and absorbing a lot from the hour I spend with him and can only reiterate so much at one time. So once again, I hope it's made sense so far and now that I am more or less caught up with blogging about my sessions I hope to post more frequently and hope that in the end I will have some nice finished pieces as well.

Comments and crits are more than welcome, and please notice that I added Labels to my posting on the side of my blog. These posts were getting long, and becoming frequent so I didn't want anything to get lost in the shuffle.

Til next time!

Dan

Bronx Zoo Ads

2007-12-06T22:58:00.000-05:00

Well these finally all aired on TV, so I am free to post these. I was hoping to have higher res versions, and a completed website to post these properly, because I am really proud of them, but I am not sure when i will get the high res versions (hopefully soon) and it appears it will be quite a while before I can finally get to finishing my website. So here they are, there are 6 videos total, two of which are pretty much identical, except for the end cards.

"Sea Lion Homecoming"

"Astor Court Renaissance"

"Play Week"

"Grandparent's Week"

"Boo at the Zoo"

"Holiday Lights"

I was hired to animate these spots by Brooklyn-based creative studio Dancing Diablo who teamed up with Deutsch NY to promote the Bronx Zoo. These were all traditionally animated in Flash, and exported into Painter for the water color style, and then composited in After Effects.

I was really proud to be a part of these spots, and none of it would have been possible without the help of all the other talented individuals who worked on it. (I'll do my best to list everyone, but some I am just not sure of)

Beatriz Helena Ramos, CEO/Creative Director at Dancing Diablo
Joellyn Marlow, Producer
Leonardo Rodriguez, Designer
Reginald Butler, Lead Painter
Vanessa Rodriguez, Compositer

Additional animation and/or cleanup:
Adam Sacks
Joe Stucky
Pedro Delgado
Jessica Milazzo

The rest of the Dancing Diablo Crew in NY and in Venezuela
and the creative team at Deutsch NY.

Thanks to everyone for all their hard work!

iTutor Update _Part 1

2007-11-24T16:00:00.000-05:00

I am a little behind in posting my progress but, hopefully that will change. I am heading into my 3rd week with Pixar animator, Stephen Gregory, and so far its been more the worth it. Going one on one with him really opens my eyes to certain aspects of my work that I have either neglected to focus on, or otherwise just really need to work harder on.

So before I go into any sort of recap I just want to give a few plugs to the other lucky animators being tutored by Stephen. And a few of them are blogging their progress as well.

Bobby Pontillas
Dave Vasquez
Adam Gard
Sandra Murta
Jim Levasseur

Ok an now for somewhat of a recap of my first week or two....

I have to admit that making the transition from 2D to 3D animation has definitely produced its difficulties. One is getting used to manipulating the characters in 3D space and using Maya as a tool. But like any animation tool, whether it be pencil and paper, Flash, clay, sand, or paper cut outs, it's still animation, and the basic principals will always apply, so it's just a matter of becoming familiar with the new tool.

One such difficulty I have come across in Maya, is maintaining my arcs on every part of the character. You'll see what I mean in my first assignment below, but I just to comment on it now, and hopefully it will make sense. When you animate a character in 2D, you have total control in how you draw a pose since you don't have to deal with the 3rd dimension, but rather you are creating an illusion of depth. So you can cheat perspective, volume, and depth just by drawing the proper line. But in 3D you don't have that kind of control, because there is the 3rd dimension. And even though when you pose the character he may be anatomically in the correct position, when looking through your shot camera you can easily lose an arc of the motion because that arc may be running parallel to the camera plane, thus giving the illusion of the motion being in a straight line. Now I am not sure if that makes sense, but if you look at my assignment below, watch when my heavier character's chest as squats down into his antic, and then pushes off into his jump. It looks like he is going up and down in a straight line, when in fact he is bending forward. So to remedy this, Stephen says sometime you need to cheat certain attributes so that the arcs become more apparent in the perspective in which you are viewing the motion . So for example, Stephen says that maybe if I pull the hips back a little further and arc the back a lil more, which in any other perspective may look a little unnatural, it'll restore the illusion of an arc in the camera view.

The first assignment was to animate a character jumping with specific personality and or characteristics. For example a fat guy jumping, or a confident guy, a light person skipping....etc. I chose to do a heavy guy jumping into the arms of a lighter guy. As you will see the heavier guy is the only one thats fully animated (for now) but they will both be finished at a later date. Ok enough blabbing, here is my first assignment, pre notes from Stephen.

There are a couple other areas where I need to adjust the character to get better arcs and better posing as well. Particularly in the arms, there are a few moments where the forearm and hands get lost in the bicep, creating kind of a stump if you were to look at the silhouette of the character, so Stephen recommended I drag the hand and forearm a little more during those moments to get the separation for a better pose. This too goes along with what I am talk about in terms of getting used to that third dimension. When drawing the character, I would have already avoided that by specifically drawing the drag in the arm, or separating the hand and forearm. But since the character is moving in the third dimension I need to pay more attention to every pose to make sure that the pose/arc/motion doesn't get lost in the shot because of the perspective in which the camera is viewing it, and if it does, I need to make the proper adjustments to restore that illusion.

Other than that, Stephen's biggest note was evenness in the beginning. He illustrated it to me by counting the number of frames it took to get from one pose to another, as well as the number of frames I held on certain moment. He says this is something almost every animator struggles with from time to time, which was reassuring, but he said that by just taking a closer look at the frame counts for each action, and making sure there is some variety in the durations of thing by adding or shaving frames here and there, you can easily remedy that. So you know what I am talkin about, I uploaded one of the video notes Stephen sent to me, illustrating the evenness of the beginning.

I plan on going back in and revising this animation to completion, but for right now it is a work in progress. The other great thing about this tutoring is that Stephen and I can share our computer screens with Macs new OS, so he can point things out, make notes and sketches right on my work as if he were sitting right next to me.

I am very thankful for this opportunity, and hopefully I'll be able to take my work to the next level. I hope even the slightest bit of this made sense for those who care, and for those who don't I hope you at least enjoy some of the work I post.

All the best, and check back soon for the next installment of my second assignment!!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Dan

Cold Hard Flash

2007-11-06T22:49:00.000-05:00

I know I know, less talk and more sketches. I promise, soon. But for now, check out www.coldhardflash.com

Some of my recent work that I did for Brooklyn based, Dancing Diablo is featured on it under Monday's date. Check it out!

Thanks Aaron!

Temporary Fix UPDATED

2007-10-22T12:48:00.000-04:00

Re-edited the reel, and added a soundtrack to it. (Thanks Adam for the crit!)

www.danforgione.com

I have been in the process of getting a new website, but it has been painfully slow because I have had little time to figure out how to get it done. So in the mean time I have replaced my old unfinished site with just a place holder that has my current reel, a link to this blog, and a link to email me. So check it out, www.danforgione.com and hopefully I will have the new site finished soon.

Thanks
D

Some REALLY exciting news...

2007-10-04T10:22:00.000-04:00

I was recently selected by Pixar animator, Stephen Gregory, to be part of a private tutoring program, where 4 or 5 lucky animators will be tutored, one on one, for six weeks by Stephen.

I feel extremely lucky, and honored to be part of this opportunity, and I thank Stephen for sharing his expertise, and for choosing me to be a part of it. This is really an exciting and amazing opportunity for me and I am looking forward to learning from him, and I wish the best for the others who were selected as well.

Stephen has worked in the industry for over 10 years, and has worked on every Pixar film since "A Bug's Life." Before that he worked at Sierra-Online, and he also teaches classes at, I believe, the Academy of Art in San Fran.

Back to work

2007-10-03T00:11:00.001-04:00

This has been sitting in the "To do" pile for a while, and I know I rushed the coloring (sorry), but I didn't have a lot of time, and wanted to get this done so I can post.

Since Ani-Flop, I have been fortunate to get steady freelance work doing some commercials for the past few months, and I have been able to do it all from home, which was nice. I was able to work when I wanted, how I wanted, but after a while the lack of interaction can get a lil nerve racking.

Needless to say, though, I recently started working at Curious Pictures on their Little Einstein's production, which is on the tail end of production for the next 4 months. I've already met a bunch of great people, and I am hoping this will lead to more work down the road.

In the meantime, here is a lil sketch I did of my transition from working at home, to commuting again into the city. Thanks for stopping by.

D

From the Sketch book

2007-09-03T22:19:00.000-04:00

Here are 2 I am pretty happy with. Have been tryin real hard to get better at doing a variety of character designs. By no means am I a good char designer, but I often fall into the habit of drawing the same types of characters, and more often then not they all look like me somehow.

So I am pushing myself to get away from that, and maybe one day I'll attempt to tackle females, cause I am awful at drawing them too. But for now this will do.

BTW, I have no clue what they are looking at or why...well the second one is a little easier to come up with something but the first one...no clue. Sorry.

~D

What a WASTE of talent!

2007-08-26T22:18:00.000-04:00

Sketchbook

2007-08-21T11:25:00.000-04:00

Tried to pay a little more attention to page layout than I did a few posts ago..(Pedro) :)

Anyways, enjoy..
These are all pretty random, some inspired by "blog hopping" others from my own mind....either way, I am just trying to get better.

Let the COUNTDOWN begin....

2007-08-08T23:19:00.000-04:00

T-MINUS 365 Days..... well 366 really....(its a leap year)

8-8-08

Sketchbook

2007-06-27T23:37:00.000-04:00

Just some random sketches. Some unfinished.....others not that good....but oh well....

Anyone watch ABC 7 news in the morning? Just curious...:)

More soon....

Quick Sketches

2007-06-22T12:13:00.001-04:00

Working from home has been pretty good to me. Been getting a steady amount of work coming in on some great projects. And while I do miss the interaction with other artists, not only socially, but also creatively, I have been more inspired to take a couple minutes to pick up my sketchbook from time to time.

Something I have neglected to do way too often! Maybe it's because I don't have a 2 hour commute everyday on a crowded subway. :)

Certainly don't want to work from home the rest of my life- at least not everyday. I think we all need to be exposed to other people's work in a common setting to only get better and help each other grow....but for now, it will do.

Did these after looking at some of this year's (and past work) coming out of the French school, Gobelin's. If I ever had more of a reason to want to move to France, it would be to take classes there. The attention that pay to the craft of animation is amazing. This year's films, in my opinion, weren't as strong as past...but nonetheless were very well executed.

Timeslip

2007-06-21T16:13:00.000-04:00

While waiting for Animagic to start earlier in the year, (and way before it's demise..) I did some freelance as a layout artist on a pilot called Timeslip, which is an original production written and created by james dean conklin. It's being commissioned by Fly Cell, and produced by Red Giant Media.

Here is a link to the Production Blog, and james' company, greenhead media, where he has a promo page for it.

james and a small group of talented people put together 2 pilots, the second one being finished as I type. Everyone's got their fingers crossed that it get's picked up. Good luck james...

Here are some stills from the first pilot which is the one I worked on. None are the shots I did, and I didn't take the opportunity to scan them in before giving them to james. One day maybe I'll grab them from james and post. It was a challenge for me since it's a far cry from my typical style of drawing, but fun none the less to try something different. Anyways, check it out, and be on the lookout for it....

Goose Chase

2007-06-15T23:47:00.001-04:00

This is probably the most common sight I see while riding my bike up along the Bronx River....second only to, maybe the goose poo.....

2007-06-12T17:04:00.000-04:00

Will try to post more often....but in the mean time just needed to take a couple mins from working, to draw Stanley here....

Freelance Illustration

2007-04-29T09:52:00.000-04:00

This is one of my first attempts at a really finished piece. Most of the illustration work I do if personal work, and rarely does it make it past the rough sketch stage. But this was for a client, and my first real attempt at digital painting. I was pretty happy with it....

Pet Peeve #1078

2007-04-26T22:56:00.000-04:00

These are old, but whatever..

Seeing parents, around town, wearing earphones, talking on the phone and playing video games, while completely ignoring their young children who end up doing nothin more than twiddling their thumbs or talking to themselves.

In honor of my Cousin Ed, aka I.M Peeved

Zoo Sketches

2007-03-31T10:01:00.000-04:00

Went to the Bronx zoo for Mandy's birthday yesterday, and here are a few sketches.

Website

2007-03-06T00:22:00.000-05:00

Just want to introduce my new website,www.danforgione.com . It's still a work in progress both design-wise and functionality wise. But it's a start..

Thanks to my pal Paul for designing and helping me to get it up. I hope to be posting sketches again soon, but in the meantime enjoy the new look.

I'm Engaged

2006-12-26T10:35:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone,

Just thought I would share some exciting news. On Friday night, December 22nd, 2006 I proposed to Mandy, and she accepted. I proposed to her by making her an animation of a character she helped me conceive over a year ago.

It's technically unfinished, for those of you who are familiar with traditional pencil tests, and I do have the intentions of finishing it. But considering the time I had to do it, with juggling between freelance work and keeping her in the dark about it, I am very happy with how it turned out, from an animation point of view. And obviously estatic with the response I got from Mandy.

Anyways I hope you enjoy, and be sure to watch the entire thing, because I secretly videotaped her watching the video, the actual proposal and her response.

As a side note, I would like to thank Paul Goodrich at Merlin Studios for helping me with the sound design.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

2006-12-24T10:04:00.000-05:00

Here are 2 "Holiday Cards" I was working on but didn't get to finish. You'll see why in my next post, but I thought I would at least put these up for Christmas.

Hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday!!

Some Thanksgiving Sketches

2006-12-07T13:56:00.000-05:00

Did these while coming up with the Thanksgiving Day post, except for the lil old lady with the handbag....She's a woman I see on the bus in the morning on the way to work...Always dresses like that and has a hat to match every outfit. It's really funny to see her when shes running late, she has to "shuffle-run" holding her hat to her head.....I don't mean to be mean..but you'd have a chuckle too if you saw this in the early morning.

Wish i had used the hunter for something...he was fun to come up with....was actually gonna use him in the top left drawing, because the hunter i have there sucks.

Test

2006-11-29T22:24:00.000-05:00

How do i get this animated gif to play here, and not just when you click on it?....

UPDATE....got it to work, (obviously). Thanks to ImageShack for Free Image Hosting

Screenwriting Expo Sketches

2006-11-29T13:16:00.000-05:00

Well, I've given up the idea that I was gonna write an extensive review/ summary of the Expo.... 1. it's a lil too late, 2. even though I do have good notes it's not going to be any different than the other dozen or so posts out there. And 3. I just have too much other stuff I need/want to get done. So rather than bore you all with that, I will stick to posting the sketches I did on the trip...

and for those of you wanting to read the reviews/summary of the event you can check out The Animation Guild Blog, Kevin Koch and Steve Hulett have posted a review of the Pixar Story Telling Seminars.

You can read Part 1 of their review HERE

And Part 2 HERE

On to the images....

These first three images are mostly people I observed at the airport and conference and or misc. character sketches...

This image is caricatures of some of the Pixar guys (top to bottom) Lee Unkrich, Ronnie Del Carmen, Jason Katz, Jim Copabianco, Mark Andrews, Lee Unkrich (again), and Michael Arndt. And yes I did ask them to sign them...

In the meantime...

2006-11-22T17:07:00.000-05:00

I have a few posts i wanted to put up already, but haven't had the time...including some other turkey day sketches....but oh well...they'll go up sooner or later...

- Dan

Long overdue....

2006-10-23T07:20:00.000-04:00

I know I know...it's been way too long since I last posted, and while this isn't much more than a "pre-post," I do want to set up what is about to come.
I was lucky enough to go to LA this weekend to see the Pixar Lectures at this year's Screenwriting Expo, and I did quite a few sketches, met a lot of great people, and listened to some of my idols. In the next few days I plan on writing a review of the lectures, as well as post pictures and sketches from the Expo, so please check back soon..

In the meantime geek out over this,,,,because I certainly did!

An ORIGINAL SKETCH (in my sketchbook) by.....

Peter de Sève
http://www.peterdeseve.com/

Peter, by the way was not only nice enought to do this, despite all the other animation freaks in the room who would have liked one, but was also willing to take a picture with me. So, Peter, if by some chance you ever come across this blog... thank you again!!

Beach Sketch

2006-07-16T22:46:00.000-04:00

Was down the shore this weekend, and had the pleasure of taking in some of the sites near AC. This one was one of the most amusing....

By the way...a rotten seagull almost swooped down to steal my sandwich right out of my hand... later on I found out why they are so daring.....the little sketch to the right of Madam Ass picker was a lil girl near us feeding the seagull Cheetos.

And finally...

2006-06-18T22:02:00.000-04:00

some random little doodles....unfinished of course.... :)

2 Concept Sketches

2006-06-18T21:54:00.000-04:00

Sorry about the poor mending job...had to scan both in 2 parts cause the were in my larger sketchpad. Wanted to post this before I ruin it by inking/cleaning up...which i tend to do.

Hope to one day attempt to paint them and make them look nice and all...

Cathy expression

2006-06-18T21:52:00.000-04:00

Large Marge Revisited

2006-06-18T16:52:00.000-04:00

Posted this a while back on the Team Blog (see sidebar), and felt like posting it here to try and make up for my lack of posting over the past couple of weeks. Not that any of you really care that much.

Actually, I have a bunch more I plan on posting tonight from my slowly developing short later, but til then this will have to do...

Thesis reposted

2006-06-18T14:06:00.000-04:00

Decided to not renew my .Mac account, where my thesis film from SVA was posted. Since I have yet to put together a website, I figured I would take advantage of the free services at Youtube!!

Here is it:

Finally....

2006-04-23T23:06:00.000-04:00

This time I mean it....

2006-04-20T00:09:00.000-04:00

Maybe I was wrong?

2006-04-17T22:41:00.000-04:00

I dunno, I think I'm close with these and the post before, but I am not sure.....

Cathy's supposed to be an adorable little girl (3-4yrs old), who has an unbridled obsession with pets.

Feedback? Anyone?

I think I've got it...

2006-04-09T21:52:00.000-04:00

Other than a few tweeks, I think this is the Cathy I've been waiting for....

Still tryin...

2006-04-08T19:14:00.000-04:00

Back to basics and exploring shapes....feedback always welcome....

FREEEEEEEDOOOM.......

2006-04-04T14:14:00.000-04:00

This week's topic for our group blog is to take a movie poster and replace the character's with an animal....

My ever-so slowly developing short....

2006-03-26T23:10:00.000-05:00

There is just so little time in the week to get to everything I want, and I often get distracted by my never ending, forever growing to do list....

I am pretty set on Sheldon's design, it's the other main character, Cathy's, design I am struggling with. I am tryin so hard to keep her simple so that when I finally DO get to animating this thing, it won't take me years to finish.

But I am not all that great at character designs to begin with, so it's been a stuggle.
Although there was a post or 2 earlier that I was leaning towards.

Regardless, I am still pluggin away, little by little, working out the story in my head, jotting notes here and there. I hope to be boarding this out soon...

A trip to the Zoo

2006-03-26T23:07:00.000-05:00

I wish there were more to post, and a lot better, but it's been a while since i have been there, and it was a little chilly, so not many animals were out.

Yet another group blog, Lil Buddy...

2006-03-17T13:27:00.000-05:00

Check it out, everyone does their own version of predetermined subjects...good times!

A run of the Law

2006-03-05T18:09:00.000-05:00

needs work...but its a start...

Ok so it was a short break

2006-03-05T15:51:00.000-05:00

Sorry, can't help it...tryin to keep the ball rolling....

Break from my short....

2006-03-05T15:39:00.000-05:00

These aren't the greatest, but at least they're not turtles...right?

A change of pace

2006-03-04T10:39:00.000-05:00

Not the prettiest pictures but for a 1st timer it's a start.....stages 1 and 2...

More Concepts

2006-02-25T07:11:00.000-05:00

The trouble maker that puts Sheldon over the edge....

I know, I know enough damn turtles already!

New Blog

2006-02-17T12:57:00.000-05:00

Couple of friends and I are starting a caricature blog called MUGZ.

Check it out.

And his name is...

2006-02-16T14:02:00.000-05:00

A few quick lunchtime sketches....of Sheldon....?

Back to basics...

2006-02-11T16:18:00.000-05:00

My new bible, Draw the Looney Tunes: The Warner Bros. Character Design Manual says to go back to basics when designing characters.

Here are some poses for the turtle you see below. He is the main character for a personal project, where he has reached his wits end with a family who are extremely obssessed animal lovers.

Many more to come....

Some more

2006-02-09T16:48:00.000-05:00

Just rough ones...think im gonna change the colors of the shell...

A few concept designs...

2006-02-08T14:07:00.000-05:00

More to come...feedback welcome!

ANIMATION COLLECTIVE DEBUTS

2006-02-01T11:14:00.000-05:00

The studio I work for has three shows premiering this month! Be sure to check it out.

WULIN WARRIORS
Saturday, February 4th at 8pm is the premiere of Wulin Warriors on Cartoon Network!

CHECK OUT THE TEASER TRAILER

PRINCESS NATASHA
Monday, February 6th at 3:25pm, Princess Natasha premiers on Cartoon Network! A new episode premieres every day that week at 3:25pm.

And finally the show I am working on..

KAPPA MIKEY

Saturday February 25th, 2006

Check back for more stills!

Blue Sky Studios Hurricane Auction

2005-12-07T13:46:00.000-05:00

Bid on original concept art from Ice Age and Robots, December 9th to the 19th. They have a preview of some really nice items that will be auctioned!!
Click on the image to read more about it, or go to http://blueskystudios.com/auctions/

Lunch Hour Sketch

2005-11-17T22:03:00.000-05:00

I'll finish this one day....maybe

Morning laughs..

2005-11-17T09:28:00.000-05:00

Saw this link on the Spline Doctor's blog, and they mentioned how it could be a nice resource for animating reactions, which I agree, but I just thought it was hysterical, and wanted to share it.

Post Thesis

2005-11-15T21:14:00.000-05:00

When I finished my thesis and graduated, I spent a lot of time looking at books of concept art for movies, and looking at other artists for inspiration to help build my portfolio.

No Dice Yet Al....

2005-11-07T09:27:00.000-05:00

I getting there....my office is finally all set up at home now....regular posting will commence soon....

Hello All

2005-01-30T11:09:00.000-05:00

Dan Forgione's Blog

New Blog/Website

Sorry for Slacking

Honeymoon here we come!!

Concepts

Finally some sketches

Thanks ASIFA East!

ASIFA East Awards

"City Suckers"

Huggies Cleanteam

Happy Easter

Sketchbook

New Animation Reel

iTutor Update _Assignment 3_ Final

iTutor Update - Assignment 3 polish pass

ITutor Update _Assignment 2_ Final (for now..)

iTutor - Assignment 3

Christmas Tree Vendetta

ITutor Update _Assignment 2...still

iTutor Update _Assignment 2 Comparison

iTutor - First pass at cleaning up

Evolution of iTutor Assignment #2

Bronx Zoo Ads

iTutor Update _Part 1

Cold Hard Flash

Temporary Fix **UPDATED**

Some REALLY exciting news...

Back to work

From the Sketch book

What a WASTE of talent!

Sketchbook

Let the COUNTDOWN begin....

Sketchbook

Quick Sketches

Timeslip

Goose Chase

Freelance Illustration

Pet Peeve #1078

Zoo Sketches

Website

I'm Engaged

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

Some Thanksgiving Sketches

Test

Screenwriting Expo Sketches

In the meantime...

Long overdue....

Beach Sketch

And finally...

2 Concept Sketches

Cathy expression

Large Marge Revisited

Thesis reposted

Finally....

This time I mean it....

Maybe I was wrong?

I think I've got it...

Still tryin...

FREEEEEEEDOOOM.......

My ever-so slowly developing short....

A trip to the Zoo

Yet another group blog, Lil Buddy...

A run of the Law

Ok so it was a short break

Break from my short....

A change of pace

More Concepts

New Blog

And his name is...

Back to basics...

Some more

A few concept designs...

ANIMATION COLLECTIVE DEBUTS

Blue Sky Studios Hurricane Auction

Lunch Hour Sketch

Morning laughs..

Post Thesis

No Dice Yet Al....

Hello All

Temporary Fix UPDATED