01/03/12

New year. New projects. Starting on a simple data entry/translation of Aesop fables. I will attempt to illustrate a panel for each fable in wood cut. Print making has been a passion of mine that goes as far back as my first years at Santa Barbara City College. There are a total of 190 confirmed true Aesop fables, with over 300 that are attributed to him. You can check some of the progress here.

Hope everyone is enjoying the new beginings.

11/27/11

New animated florish tutorial up, here. Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving, atleast in the USA anyway.

11/11/11

'It' has been done for a couple of days now, but I will make it official with an update here. The Muybridge Project is complete. Images and videos are uploaded and webpages made for all 781 plates. It was pretty time consuming, but I think it is well worth it. Animators around the world can rejoice in finding reference for a lot of different actions. I have been using the reference in the classroom for months, and it has been invaluable.

There is also a new addition to Sillydragon, the store: http://store.sillydragon.com.

It should be obvious, but, without the $$$ this website can not continue. If you have be helped by any of these tutorials or references, please make a purchase in the store.

10/16/11

150+ videos and images uploaded and the Muybridge list is updated. Most of the animals are uploaded as well, minus the horses that I am working on now. I have a little more than 200 videos to go.

After you are done going through the Muybridge stuff, cruise over to this place here. He created a pretty cool music video, here. I am a sucker for animated computer UI's.

09/17/11

The first 300 videos and large reference images uploaded to the Muybridge page. At this point I will most likely start working backwards from 781, that way I can get more animal reference videos up. Enjoy.

09/03/11

Works still continueing on the Muybridge project. All the straighting and cropping finished and at the moment up to 300 videos created. I have re-instated the link to the Muybridge page and you can find updates to the work there. Again, it is still a work in progress.

Folks have fun, and keep creating!

07/31/11

It has been a long time since an update, but with good reason. So much going on here at the Sillydragon. Earlier this July I started on a project that I feel will benefit the animation community greatly. I have started to create an archive of Muybridge's work. You can check it out here.

It will be the entire archive of his 1887 published work, Animal Locomotion (sometimes labeled Human and Animal Locomotion)

In addition to that, the "secret" project is chugging along, and I have been updating my demo reel, and... I have 3 unedited tutorials that need editing and uploading. Busy, busy, but that is an important philosophical lesson for another day.

06/26/11

Have another tutorial up. How to create animated arrows, a motion graphics staple, you can view it here.

06/03/11

Worked on illustrating a song book for Korbin and Krista this week. Threw up a simple flash of the first story here.

The book arrived today. The printers Lulu.com subcontracted did a pretty good job.

You can checkout a preview, and even buy it if you want, here.

05/23/11

Uploaded new a tutorial on how to create some common water effects without using dynamics. You can find it here.

05/16/11

Free Form Deformer tutorial up here.

Let it be known that I proclaim the year 2010 and 2011 the year of the paper cut out in motion graphics, just as the year of 1999 was the year of animated kerning text. I also see projection mapping on buildings becoming cheaper and more prevalent in the big cities.

Don't know what I am talking about? Check out these:

Hyundai , Prague Musem , Kimberly , Diesel Liquid Space

05/15/11

Getting back in the groove from what seems to be like a month full of adventure called the game of life. I have uploaded some new tutorials in the lighting and texturing and general education sections. Click the names to get to the tutorials.

Saw a pretty niffy animation/music video, "Apache", check it out here. I love the planning it must have taken to get the revolving surreal world that they created. The music and the visuals sink up perfectly to a soul searching climix.

05/10/11

Not a lot of updates lately. Short story, don't get into the rental market, you have to deal with renters. Created a reverse foot rig tutorial, it can be found here. Hope everyone is staying focused and remember the goal is creating. Ars gratia artis.

04/18/11

New Xform Modifer tutorial up in the Animation section, here. I really want to thank those people that email me with comments about how the tutorials helped you. It really makes it worth it knowing that the education is being passed on.

If you have a specific question or tutorial that you would like to see uploaded feel free to email @ webmaster@sillydragon.com

4/11/11

Was working on a tutorial for "Linked Xform" and it got a little out of hand. Sometimes you have have to go with it. You can check out the result here. Hopfully it will turn out to be a full blown tutorial from start to finish.

3/31/11

Matchmover tutorial added to the Visual Effects section. The first tutorial in that section (yeh! finally.). You can check it out here. It is the first in a series that I am trying to complete on intergrating 3D into a live action scene.

A lot of progress has been made on the "secret" project here at Sillydragon.Commercial other than these tutorials and most of that is due to the help of Jeremy Roberts. Link to his website forth coming after he finishes the sound for his 10 minute short film.

3/28/11

Just finished uploading a 2D version of the ball bouncing tutorial with a time chart blueprint, you can see it here.

Ruairi Robinson's Blinky was uploaded to Vimeo recently. Ruairi Robinson also created the Academy Award short film nominee 50% Grey. You can check out Blinky here, and 50% here.

3/18/11

New practicle example of creating a custom skeleton in 3D Studio Max has been uploaded. It is a quick and simple solution, not an in-depth study of the process, but guide to some begining steps in the rigging process. It can be found here.

Imaginary Forces has uploaded some new content in thier 'featured work' section. Let the imspirastional juices flow. Watch them here.

3/17/11

Some stealth uploads on the 12 principles of animation demos and additional rigging tutorials. On to something more important though... Dominance War V is started! The single greatest game character creation contest on the planet. What are you waiting for... enter already @ www.dominancewar.com.

3/10/11

Continuing with the 12 Princples of animation demos, Staging has been uploaded for your viewing pleasure. Check it out here. A new animation from the Supinfocom Arles is out, Matatoro, here. I really like the painterly 3D style and the stop frames are spot on for timing. Surreal and whimsical, its worth every bit of the 7 minutes.

3/07/11

Started on the 12 princples of animation demostrations today. Arcs is up and ready for viewing here. Enjoy with rants and all, and don't forget... create something!

3/05/11

LookAt Constraint tutorial is up, here. Bo Mathorne and crew finished up their new animation. A mesh of comic graphic style and 3D set in a dying western town. Check it out here. Bo's Vimeo videos here, some of the making of videos can be found there.

1/24/11

New tutorial up on Parent Child Hiearchies. Check it out here and learn how to use object linking to start some very basic rigging principles.

I found this website a couple of years ago, then promptly forgot about it, till I ran into a link recently. It has a multitude of title sequences to browse through. The Art of the Title Sequence. Some of the title sequences have commentary from the creators, which I have always found nice to hear the creators point of view.

1/20/11

Twenty days into the new year and only one new video! What is the deal yo? In doing these tutorials I have learned atleast one thing. I can not write a bullet point to save my life. Check it out here. Some new stuff from the students at Supinfocom, check it out here. And remember, it is all about creating!

12/27/2010

Marek Denko recently updated his demo reel at Viemo. Check it out here. I have personally uploaded several new modeling tutorials/walkthroughs for the Non-Organic Series, check them out at on the modeling section.

11/23/2010

CgSociety has started thier new challenge for the up coming year. Dreamscape. Some great prizes to be won and as always, a rewarding experience.

11/19/2010

Alex Roman uploaded a new vimeo video here. Check it out. He is really pushing the hyper-realism movement forward.

11/14/2010

CGTalk is hosting a Dominance War mini challage before the big January event. You can enter here. And good luck to those that give it a go. Creating is the ultimate goal!