Jonathan M Grimm's Portfolio via Blog

Eclecticism

2011-12-24T02:42:00.000-07:00

I've noticed how being exposed to diverse ideas and mediums, broadens my horizons and helps to both inspire me and guard me against creative stagnation, regardless of my current occupation at the time. As a result, the work I create is very eclectic. Meaning, thefreedictionary.com's definition of eclectic, "[to] employ individual elements from a variety of sources, systems, or styles."

If you aren't already, would encourage you to be more eclectic in your life and work; always looking for elements and concepts from areas unrelated to your own. Who knows? You my find something that sparks that "ah ha" moment to make what you do better.

On a related topic, I've recently added some new blogs to my "Creative Feed" below. Here are a few of them:
http://archidose.blogspot.com
http://www.linesandcolors.com
http://typographica.org

On a slightly unrelated topic:
I've been working on some illustrations for Madwire Media's motion graphics artist, Brian Davey, on a series of online video spots for local publishing company, Group Publishing. Below is the video of the animation that I mentioned in the previous post as well as another video spot we just finished. The idea was for us to communicate the product message effectively using a very simple style and stick figures. As it turns out, the publishing company liked them a lot and will be doing several more fun spots like these.

2011 Madwire Media / 2011 Group Publishing

Madwire Media Illustration Project and Notes on Life

2011-10-20T13:18:00.000-06:00

Here are a few vector illustrations I did for a motion graphics ad promoting a local publishing house's re-launch of a Sunday School Curriculum. The client wanted very simple stick figures that would communicate their ad script in a fun way. Although these are just still images, I wanted to draw the figures in an animated way using expressive poses. I then vectorized the drawings and sent them on to the motion graphics artist who is now in the process of creating the final ad. I'll hopefully be able to post the final video once it is complete.

2011 Madwire Media

Other notes:
Oddly enough, my current job as a marketing account executive at a marketing and webdesign firm isn't closely related to animation or illustration. If you've read my previous posts, you'll discover that I went to school for animation and that one of my life goals is to run my own animation studio. I've come to the conclusion everything you do in life can be significant step toward your goals, no matter how insignificant.

Let me show you what I mean. I want to own my own animation studio, right? Ok. Now think about some of the skills that an animation studio executive needs to have.

Work ethic (anyone can work hard, but not everyone can persist or persevere)
Sales skills (the ability to convince)
Business knowledge (how to structure, form, and maintain a business effectively and profitably)
Management skills (this is more than a one-man show)
Networking skills (how one finds the best employees, advisers, and investors)
I could keep going, but you get the idea.

Over the course of my working career I have learned a lot of these things from jobs seemingly unrelated to animation, from pizza boy to retail clerk to office assistant to salesman to the job I have now. Although I've worked on a number of animation projects while I worked at those jobs, including an internship at a major studio and working as a shortfilm producer, the skills that I learned from those seemingly unrelated jobs propel me toward my goals. I often remind myself of this: A mountain isn't conquered in a solitary step.

Until next time...

2011-03-02T21:23:00.004-07:00

"The Sign": A Charcoal Experiment

^ Charcoal on paper,

colored in Pixelmator

I was going over some of my old charcoal drawings from college, when I started thinking about how some renaissance artists painted over charcoal to get better contrast between the lights and darks in their pieces. I thought to myself, "what would my charcoal drawings look like in color?" So, I whipped out my Mac and fired up Pixelmator... and voici! I think that the hand colors turned out pretty nice.

Interface Design and Fan Service

2011-03-01T23:32:00.009-07:00

^ Illustrator, Photoshop, and ImageReady

This image is a hypothetical website design that I created recently to help me practice web interface design. Since Joe is one of my friends and favorite artists, and since he doesn't have an official website, I decided to design a site which not only captured the feel of his work but also the amazing future that I see in him as an artist.

In the past, I've worked with print design a lot and have developed a working knowledge of how visual hierarchies can guide a viewer's eye communicate information quickly. From what I have observed about web graphic design so far, I believe that my print design knowledge can be applied to web design. This belief rests on my perception that both signs and websites are similar in nature and depend on similar communication concepts.

I will need to expound this idea more, however, I have run out of time for this post and will continue this at a later date.

Design, 3D Modeling, and a pinch of Techno

2011-02-02T22:11:00.012-07:00

^ Maya, Photoshop, and Illustrator

This is a fun little design project I worked on for a friend's youth event. I modeled, textured, lit, and rendered the speakers in Maya 7; touched up the render in Photoshop; and assembled the rest in Illustrator. All work (except the AudioProphet ID) done by your's truly, Jonathan Grimm.

2010-12-04T16:59:00.005-07:00

Jonathan Grimm's Portfolio Via... hold on... An Actual Website.

I now have an official, honest to goodness, portfolio site. It is still a work in progress, feel free to check it out here: www.jmgrimm.com or click the image. I will still be posting new work here, though.

2010-08-19T13:34:00.002-06:00

A New Journey Begins

This is an illustration I did as a going away present for my friend Tatiana over at TatiMari Art before she left for college. Currently, I don't often use 2D animation-style coloring, called 'cell shading,' in my art, but it seemed appropriate for this piece. Also, attempting to match the visual style of Tatiana's characters, all while trying to do something fun with them was a great challenge.

The more I use cell shading, the more I am discovering how it requires an understanding of volume, line, and form. It's astounding to me how well flat divisions of color, if put in the right place and shape, can imply a degree of 3D volume.

2010-07-28T11:24:00.009-06:00

Back to Animation

-
Here is some character animation that I've been working on recently:

2010-06-23T08:32:00.017-06:00

Indelible Skills

Ever since I was a kid, I loved drawing with graphite pencils. I would ink over the drawings and then clean them up.However, my perspective on drawing began to change when I met friends like Phil Lietz, Michael Berardini, and Riki Takaoka who often work directly in pen and marker. Graphite was and is a very flexible medium, but I started to see that I was missing out on some valuable skills. I've noticed that plain ink drawings seem to require line efficiency, line quality, and avisual and mental understanding of what you are drawing in order to communicate. So, I began to force myself to do more and more pen drawings. In the last six months, I've forced myself to ONLY work in pen to sharpen my drawing skills, and so far, I'veseen some nice improvementsto the cleanliness and the speed at which I can construct my drawings. I still have room for improvement, though.

2010-06-22T20:08:00.005-06:00

"Counterclockwise"

I've been up to a lot since September. I'm discovering how often living life takes precedence over posting. Anyhow, I was going through some of my old work and discovered this fun little shortfilm I made with Josh Mills and Michael Berardini when we were in college. It's old stuff, but it's a good example of my sound and video editing.

2009-09-20T19:20:00.035-06:00

Immersive Design Project

In 2009, I had the privilege to head a team charged with creating 3D rear projected backdrops for a live theater production of The Secret Garden.

The Secret Garden a Broadway in Boulder Production Directed by Angela Gaylor and David Ayers ® Parlando School of the Arts / Broadway in Boulder (video created by Noah Kloor)

The Secret Garden production began as part of a program to introduce collegiate acting students to the world of professional musical theater. The Directors' goal was to create a professional level production using costumes from the original Broadway production and a limited number of physical props. Because of the small performance space and the large number of sets, they used rear projection screens to display the story's numerous backgrounds.

Although projected backdrops are becoming popular in New York, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles professional theater, the Directors and I wanted to take the medium a step further by making the projected imagery hold up as physical sets behind the actors. The sets would need to be photo-real, have perfect perspective, and align correctly with the audience's view of the stage from every seat in the house. As the project progressed, the production crew and I developed a process which would meet all three criteria.

We first created detailed CG models to establish precise and consistent perspective for every set element. Next, we rendered the screen images with my custom CG camera rig which was designed to compensate for the side screens' forward swing and to allow us to independently tweak and troubleshoot each screen image's perspective. During the troubleshooting process, we placed the images onto a digital, scale model of the theater to test how the perspective held up from each seat. Once the directors signed-off on each set, my team and I would render each final model with a black and white ambient light pass, and then send the images to our matte painting team in Germany who applied photo-realistic textures on top of the high-res images.

In addition to leading the CG team, I also discovered and championed a new cost effective media server which delivered and controlled the projections--saving the production thousands of dollars.

My sincere thanks to the Directors, David Ayers and Angela Gaylor; the head of tech, Noah Kloor; and the amazing artists who partnered with me on this project, Andy Gerding, Tony Elmore, Maciej Kuciara, Xenusion, and Sarah Gentry.

2009-04-06T22:20:00.003-06:00

One Brush Wonder
One night, I discovered some really sweet PhotoShop brushes, so I decided to take a look at them by stamping each on a blank page and seeing what kinds of textures they could create. After using a few, I noticed that I was creating, what I thought, were some pretty interesting images ...ok it was really late--and my creative mind gets very lucid around 2:00 am.

2008-12-12T00:31:00.006-07:00

Lines of Action and Line Weights:

^The first image was inspired by a photo from a fashion blog called The Sartorialist, which I stumbled upon while I was doing research for an art history presentation. I may later post the full story of how I stumbled upon this interesting blog (it's interesting, honest), but I really need to sleep now. The second image of the bunny-slippered pyromaniac started as a random doodle then evolved into a line weight experiment. Seeing the two images side by side is a little odd. A pattern? {^_^}

2008-10-14T08:50:00.010-06:00

Shifting weight

2008-07-05T14:22:00.004-06:00

Just a Little Bit

Vector Illustration - Adobe Illustrator -
2008 Jonathan Grimm

2008-05-13T00:44:00.004-06:00

Graduation Has Come at Last

I have recently graduated with honors--Cum Laude--with my Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in 3D Animation from the Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design in Denver, Colorado. Although I graduated with a degree in 3D animation, I have learned much more than just my major. I can produce and direct films, animate in both 2D and 3D, write stories and great papers, do graphic design, illustrate, paint, draw, and sculpt. However, most importantly, I have learned how to learn. Now I need a real job.

Since the time I graduated, I have noticed how disciplined and regimented I have become, but I have also noticed that I need to be less restrained in my art. I went to school to learn technical skills, but now it's time to play. The images in my head can finally become reality. The illustration below is from a story I'm in the process of writing, currently titled Canopy. The Canopy universe has been under development in my head for the past 7 or 8 years, and now I finally have the skills and understanding to bring the story to life. Well, at least I'm getting back to the whole sketch blog thing.

"Out of the Darkness"

^medium: graphite on paper

2007-10-05T18:35:00.001-06:00

Loyd Vader

2007-10-01T15:56:00.000-06:00

Caricatures & Conversations

This is a caricature I did of one of my professors and current RMCAD Animation Department chair Dan Seely. It's not as exaggerated as a true caricature would be, but it was fun. He's not really that fat by-the-way.

This set of pictures is a photoboard I made during a discussion three of my classmates were having during a break one day. Here, I'm striving to portray the dynamics of their conversation through the use of my camera angles.

2007-08-23T19:45:00.001-06:00

2007 Loveland Sculpture Show

Go Fish by Randy Hand^
"Sculpture in the Park" and "Sculpture Invitational" were great this year, as always, and I try to make it a habit of posting a few of the sculptures that caught my eye during the show. I would like to take some time to explain a bit about why I come to show every year, besides just to see great art. I believe that every artist should view and experience as much art and as many types of art as possible. Aesthetic diversity can consciously and unconsciously add to our own art, expand our creative potential, and inspire us to create.

Thinking out of the Box by Rod Ford^
I like to think of an artist as a sponge. When a wet sponge is wiped over something, it picks up a residue, and if it isn't wrung out, some of that residue comes off on everything it's placed on. The same applies to viewing and experiencing a wide diversity of arts. Although you may not realize it, you are influenced by the art you enjoy and elements of the art you enjoy manifest themselves in your personal aesthetic when you create. The degree that those artistic elements influence you unconsciously might depend on your degree of creative talent.

The Oracle by Gil Bruvel^
Different types of art can expand what you think is possible in concept and form. Although I believe that an entirely new ideas do not exist, just new combinations, I believe that the world of art is full of endless possibilities, and that those possibilities are explored as artists create. We can only create from what we know. When we view other form and design combinations, we know more. After we know that these combinations are possible, we can add those possibilities to the ones we know, enabling us to create new combinations; thus, original art.

Incubation by Katie Caron^
The new possibilities presented by diverse aesthetics can inspire us as artists. An artist has a choice with this fact. Although certain arts may seem completely unrelated to the art you create, you must understand that, like language, all arts use the same design elements but in a different form. Take writing and speaking for example. Both use the same words and can embody the same combinations when applied with skill. When you realize the connections between all the arts, you can be just as inspired by great separate area of art as you are by your own--if that makes any sense.

Village Life Africa by Stacy Bayne^
As a 3D animator, the sculpture show--as well as other gallery shows--has taught me how art outside of my artistic focus can influence my art, helps me synthesize new possibilities, and artistically inspire me. That's small part of why I go to the show.

Iztacuauhtli (WhiteEagle) by David Enrique Garcia^

Laughter series by Michael Buonaiuto and Shelly Tincher Buonaiuto^

Band of Brothers by James Muir^

2007-08-13T22:52:00.000-06:00

The Super-Huge Siggraph 2007 Summery Post

Preface:

I had originally intended to post periodically over the course of the Siggraph conference, however my wireless card was having problems connecting to the San Diego Convention Center's network. Now that I have access to the web again, I'm posting a giant summery of some of my conference experience. If you happen to be unfamiliar with Siggraph please click here to learn more about it.

Siggraph was a great ride which finished far too quickly. However, although this was my first time at the Siggraph conference, I felt like a Siggraph veteran. I learned about efficient networking, made great connections, saw what standards of work is making it into the Siggraph student and professional animation festivals, and had a great time hanging out with my peers in the industry.

The primary reason I came to Siggraph was to make connections which could turn into job leads after I graduate in the spring. I can gladly say that I accomplished that goal and made quite a few friends along the way. My biggest concern before coming to Siggraph was my business cards. I was told to bring around 250-300, but I didn’t believe people when they advised me to bring so many. I figured that I would be doing great if I made two strong contacts by the end of the huge conference. And the conference wasn’t all that large—or at least it didn’t seem that large because of the convention center’s size. Anyway, I didn’t expect much, career wise, to come out of Siggraph. Once I was at the conference—almost the first day—I made two very promising contacts. In fact, I averaged two good contacts just about every day I was at the conference! What blew me away was that the contacts got more and more promising with each day!

Something that I discovered was to be bold. Don’t be afraid to talk to random people in lines, before and after the Animation or Electronic theaters, or even at a book shop booth while you’re browsing over all the cool stuff. Just striking up a casual conversation about practically anything is a point of entry. Be friendly and sociable. You really want to genuinely care about their interests or function in the industry no matter how small or seemingly divergent from your industry function—casting a broad net so to speak. Who knows? They may know of a job or someone who may help you later down the road. Kind of like the Grip guy who holds the motion capture camera wires for the director James Cameron, but he only refers to himself as a Grip. I didn’t meet this guy, but if you do, please let me know. If some people snub you off, they might not be worth working for or with in the industry anyway. Bad attitudes burn bridges. Burning bridges is career suicide, especially in the computer graphics industry.

Another thing I learned by the end of the conference is how to spot appropriate times to exchange business cards. Sometimes when I talked to a person and there was no energetic interest or connection, just a friendly conversation that doesn’t go anywhere, that person may have no personal interest in contacting you in the future—much less helping you find job leads. I know some exceptions might exist, but logically, the chances are extremely slim. If you discover a personal or professional connection with someone, such as a common interest outside the industry or common passion for an area within the industry, don’t hesitate to exchange your information. A good test of this type of connection is to ask yourself, “in the future, if I hear of a position that this person would be great for, would I go out of my way to let them know about it?” If you can answer yes, by all means, hand them your card. See if they hand you theirs, or you could go the bold route and ask them for their card first—it depends on the situation.

Siggraph is known for its great ‘after parties’—some of the best places for networking. The only party I was able to attend was the annual Breaking the Barrel ceremony, one of the oldest traditions in the history of the conference. The event was huge mystery initially because, although it was listed in all the Siggraph event information, no one could tell my friend Melissa and I what the event was or what “Breaking the Barrel” meant. So, we decided to go out of sheer curiosity. The event began with a projected visualization made with seething and pulsating, zero gravity fluid dynamics in on a screen with the motion precisely timed with live music and traditional Japanese dance. After the video art presentation, several Japanese officials, members of the Siggraph administrative committee, and the president of Siggraph—all donning traditional Japanese jackets—broke open the top of a Sake (rice wine) barrel with large wooden mallets and personally served the drink to each attendee in square wooden cups. Before the barrel breaking, the president of Siggraph announced the launch of Siggraph Asia, set to debut this October in Tokyo, Japan. In addition to drinking some really good saki, I got to meet some amazing people, such as Shuzo John Shiota, Executive Producer and CEO at Polygon Pictures in Minato-ku, Tokyo. He told me a lot about the Japanese CG animation industry and especially about working overseas.

Later in the week, more great people kept popping up. I ran into Valerie Lettera-Spencer, one of the Layout artists I worked with when I interned at DreamWorks Animation, and she introduced me to a friend of hers, Pamela Thompson, a professional recruiter who had tried to recruit her for another company before Val was hired at DreamWorks. Pam graciously invited me to a class she was speaking at concerning demo reels and resumes. I couldn’t pass up some great career information. The class was in a huge room and was packed to the doors with people! I went early, so I got good seat. The title of her talk was “If Your Resume Doesn’t Work, Neither Do You.” The biggest lessons I took from the class were these: Like it or not, I’m a product, so market myself with that in mind; keep my contact information on everything—it’s a common mistake; refer to myself as what I want to be, not what I currently am; always show my best work first, because I have about 30 seconds or less to sell myself on a reel before a recruiter moves on to someone else; and a lot of other great tips that I transcribed in my very thorough notes, but I can’t seem to remember them all off the top of my head. It’ll all come back to me, eventually. She also gave some good tips for the Siggraph Job Fair.

The job fair and exhibition didn’t impress me much. I’ve been to many other tradeshows in Denver which dwarfed the Siggraph exhibition in size, but the average booth height and presentation quality was amazing. Most of the booths had seemingly little to do with my focus in the industry—Character Animation and Layout. Although when I really think about it, the exhibition is representative of the industry’s diversity. However, I was extremely shocked at the shear number of motion capture companies, which may be a sign of things to come as this new wave of the future rolls in. Just the thought of that fact and what it illustrated about the current state of the industry got me all fired up, but that’s for another blog posting. Even with all that, I enjoyed the exhibition. I even took the time to look at some of the other really cool products that were geared toward other industries entirely. For example, I got to play around with a civil engineering program that allows the user to place roads and buildings in a city and test drive the roads that he/she has just built. The company, who made the program, designed it to enable civil engineers and city planners to design roads and highways better by allowing the them to test drive proposed road systems or developments to find real-world problems before going into construction. The program was a lot like playing an industrial strength Sim City game.

If gaining career contacts was my primary reason for going to Siggraph, the animation events were a very close second. The two major events were the Siggraph Computer Animation Festival (Electronic Theater included) and the iron animator contest called “Fjorg!” The animation festival wasn’t the best I had seen overall, but nevertheless it had a few excellent pieces. Here are a few, but not all, of my favorites:

Moutons - a shepherd’s tale set underwater. A fisherman with a shepherd’s crook with a harpoon on its back end dives to hunt water-born sheep grazing on seaweed on the ocean floor; however, he makes an unlikely friend in the process.

Boneheads – Two prehistoric boneheads versus everything to hold claim to their banana.

Fetch – Hilarious events ensue when a stuck-up dog gets even with his owner after being asked to fetch.

Clik Clak – two wide-eyed robots teach a mute boy to read with words represented by sounds to create some amusing famous adages using the different noises.

Oli’s Chance – A young German boy gets hit by a high-speed train only to wake up unharmed on the ground and meet a group of kids living in the train yard. Each child has their own story but all share a bone chilling secret.

DreamMaker – A bitter, retired, old, dream peddler finds the true source of happiness when a poor, mute, orphan girl comes to him for work and shelter.

Lifted – an alien trainee struggles to pass his abduction field test.

Some of the shorts in the animation festival were great, but “Fjorg!” was an out-right blast. 15 teams of 3 were each selected to create a quality shortfilm within 32 hours. The teams’ stories had to involve “An impossible escape” and/or “A fate worse than death.” Spectators in grandstands watched the contestants take their films from concept to finish in a little under a day and a half. Anytime during the day, we could check in to see how the teams where doing, but I think all the spectators were kicked out when the convention center closed at night and let back in when it opened in the morning. The two teams I was rooting for the most were “Picture This Short” and “The Pillage People.” Picture This won second place, but unfortunately, The Pillage People—who did their film in Flash—weren’t in the top three finalists. No, I didn’t declare Flash discrimination. Seriously, just being part of Fjorg! and finishing with a great film is a big accomplishment. Congratulations guys! You might be seeing a RMCAD team next year, who knows?

The speed at which the convention flew by was amazing. Although I saw a lot at Siggraph, an extra day would have been nice to see and try out everything. I accomplished my goal of establishing good connections, met a lot of great people, learned an immense amount about the industry, saw some amazing work, and got to hang out with some great people in my industry. If you haven’t been to Siggraph yet, I highly recommend going—it’s worth your while.

2007-08-03T17:56:00.001-06:00

End of Summer

Phew! Summer term is finished! I hit the ground running after returning from LA so it feels great to post again and to catch you up on what's been happening since my last post. I returned from attending a study abroad program for film majors called the Los Angeles Film Studies Center (LAFSC), located in the near La Brea. Let me tell you, it was intense! I got to write a feature script, be a shortfilm producer, study visual and conceptual philosophy in film, and intern at a 3D Animation studio. For the internship, the LAFSC requires all their students to write experience papers concerning their internships which I may post a few excerpts from a little later. As for my script, I had the privilege of practice-pitching to a professional producer. It was a little intimidating at first, but I did pretty well. Also, my film Amazo-Boy, written and directed by Ryan Burcham, when over well at the LAFSC's annual film festival. I may post some of the production stills in a future posting.

Lately, I've been taking summer classes at RMCAD (Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design) and working for VA Hayman, the college's Career and Alumni Director.

Also, here are some of my new animations:

2007-04-14T17:03:00.000-06:00

Adventures LA:
To Be Continued...

I was right, things did pick up--a lot more than I expected. I've been producing a shortfilm called Amazo-Boy. Now I have a huge respect for producers! Also, I've been writing an animated feature script for a class. Oh, and I've been interning at the place I mentioned at the end of my last post. I'm not currently interning at Frederator, but that's a long story.

I'll post more later.

2007-01-21T03:24:00.000-07:00

Now in L.A. and Happy to Be Here

Well folks, the RMCAD semester is over(all the way back in December) and I’m now living in Los Angeles and attending the LA Film Studies Center (LAFSC) for the spring! I’ve got four great roommates Ian, Jason, Zack, and Tony, all living in a sizable two bedroom apartment within walking distance of the Center.

When I arrived in LA, I hit the ground running so-to-speak. Not long after my classmates and I checked in to our apartments, we had our first class assignments! Things seem to have slowed down for the moment, yet I can’t help feeling that things are just getting warmed up. Anyway, the LAFSC took my whole class and me out to the Kodak Theater in Hollywood this weekend, which is the annual site of the Academy Awards. We went on a private tour of the famous theater including the VIP lounge and the actor’s dressing rooms! Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take any pictures. Also, I now have an internship with Frederator Studios at Nickelodeon, and I’m currently looking to get an internship with DreamWorks Animation soon (I hope I get it).

2006-10-27T14:03:00.000-06:00

Wow! The Semester is Half Over!

I realized two major facts during midterms: I need to drive myself harder, and I am solely responsible for my own success. Compared to my first year at RMCAD, I’ve been pretty lax on myself the first half of this semester. The reason for this is partly because distractions are more easily accessible, and I’m easily distracted. I currently live in the school’s dorms (out of necessity, but that’s a different story) which offer a lot of physical and social activities. Furthermore, friends and acquaintances seem to be popping in and almost all the time to hang out, talk, or invite you out to go do something. Although I knew that this is a basic fact of dorm life, I didn’t expect those distractions to pull me away from my schoolwork as much as they have. Until now, I’ve been used to apartment life which has a few more degrees of separation from the outside world than dorms do. Yet when I think about it, people frequently stopping by to talk or hang out is not a bad thing. I rather like it when they do, but I just have to regulate my time a little better.

I didn’t have much direction on how to balance my coursework either. I was devoting equal time and effort to all my classes without realizing that some of them actually needed less effort than others—in terms of quality. Midterms were a wakeup call for me to get myself organized and refocused.

My biggest class this semester is Thesis 1, where I write, direct, and produce my own full-blown film. Over the first term of this semester, I wasn’t as driven to work on it as--I think--I should have been. In many instances I would have rather go workout or hang out with friends than work on my thesis—not that I was behind—I wasn’t, but something a 3D animation senior, John Melton, said the day before my first midterm really impacted me. He said, “at this school, if you want get anything done, you’ve got to kick your own ass. No body’s gonna do it for you.” At that moment, I had an epiphany. I realized that I am the only one to blame for any mediocre work, and that I need to be more self-motivated to achieve the results I want. So far, I’m staying motivated to get more stuff done, and I’m reasonably on schedule. Hopefully I can keep it that way. {^_^}

I’m sure you’re wondering what the colorful, crazy poster is about. If you hadn’t noticed, the flier is to showcase a special speaker coming to the RMCAD campus on November 6th. Since I happen to work for the director of college’s Career and Alumni Office who is coordinating it, I had the privilege of designing some publicity for the event. I think it turned out pretty nice. What do you think?

2006-08-20T22:25:00.000-06:00

Returning to RMCAD: A Summer Summary

Yep. Summer break is over--officially at least--and I'm getting ready for another Fall semester at the Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design (RMCAD). Has it been three months already? Wow.

I really didn't have much of a break from school this summer, but come to think of it, I've never had more than three weeks out of school at one time in my entire life (I am not joking.)! Actually, I had a pretty good summer overall. I was able to get a lot of personal stuff done, earn some money, and get a bunch of college credits.

To tell you the truth, going to school and/or working all summer is actually closer to real life than a lot of school students realize. 'Real life' is not divided into semesters, nor does it stop for school holidays. Life is work. ...and if you’re a student, studying is work—work that will someday you get a real job, also called a career. With this fact in mind, I'm thankful that my mom always encouraged me to go to summer school, especially during my high school years, because I developed a lifestyle of dedicated study. In addition, I'm thankful that my dad taught me the importance of diligence and hard work. I have actively applied the patience, diligence, perseverance of those things into my life have put I'm in the position that I am today because them (not to be all mushy or anything).

Last weekend I had the chance to attend the annual sculpture show in my hometown, Loveland Colorado. Loveland is nationally known for its bronze foundries. Since the town has so many well-known foundries in one area, sculptors from all over the United States have their sculptures bronzed there. Many sculptors move to Loveland simply to be close to the foundries, and others get their start there. Every year Loveland host two major shows: Sculpture in the Park and the Loveland Sculpture Invitational

2006-07-30T21:48:00.000-06:00

Helloooo Rigging!

Well, so much for posting once a week . . . but I've been busy, honest.

Over the past three weeks or so, I've been constructing my first animation rig. It's taken a while because I haven't had all that many 'spare moments' to work on it.

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I've also been playing around in PhotoShop too. A couple days ago, I created a "Grimms Unite!" group on Facebook, since there are tons of Grimms listed. However, I thought better of idea and deleted the group, because I don't really have the time for that kind of thing. I don't see the point of creating a Facebook group that people will join but won't ever use--besides, if don't use it, it's even more useless . . . like 'USELESS' x 2. Anyway, I created a quick little picture logo for the now non-existant group, so I thought I'd show it off here.

2006-07-09T22:25:00.000-06:00

Lacrosse!

I was inspired to do this piece while at a Denver Outlaws lacrosse game last month. Since then, I've been working on this drawing off and on for the past couple of weeks. I know that the drawing is dated July 2nd, but that's just the day I inked it. What took me so long? Well, a lot of things. Most of my time has been spent reviewing a General Psychology course I took in High School, so that I can get college credit for it with a CLEP Test. Typically this Psychology class is a two-semester course, but I decided to try to get through it in two/three weeks. The result: Serious time deprivation. Fortunately, I aced the test, and I’ve managed squeeze in a little bit of time to work on art during my breaks.

Many times deciding what art to work on during those breaks is pretty difficult, because I have a pretty long ‘want-to-do list’. So, I've developed a schedule of sorts to save my sanity. For example:

Mon. - 3D modeling in Maya
Tue. - Maya tutorials
Wed. - Life Drawing
Thur. - Personal animation projects
etc....you get the picture.

Just think, if I had more self-discipline, I could get even more stuff done! ...but right now, I'm just trying to keep my sketchblog updated once a week.

2006-06-29T00:17:00.000-06:00

Pixar - Running on Fumes?

I came across this blog entree by a professional CG animator named Staloren.

"Cars was an incredible bit of lighting, textures, shading, and animation. Too bad the story was boring and putting people asleep. For the first time in a Pixar film, I heard kids paying attention to everything but the movie. Standing up, walking around, talking, totally not into the film. My wife was shuffling as well with her head propped up against her hand in boredom. I even caught myself daydreaming.

The lighting and realism was pretty breathtaking. But I ask myself, 'Is this really what I want out of an animated movie?' It was different and technically impressive. Everything else left me uninspired.

Watching animated cars for two hours was too much. Maybe I needed to be a car fanatic to watch this thing. But, I couldn't care about about any of the characters.

Everything felt forced. This was Pixar's first crapper, if you were to ask me."

---------Staloren_ June 19, 2006

Here are my comments about the boringness of the film (not the greatest response per-se, but my thoughts nonetheless):

"I think that some people couldn't relate to the story's concept or setting. Personally, I liked Cars because I could relate with it on all levels. I grew up in the country, went to a couple professional car races, my family drove on vacations rather than flew (I got to see a lot of spectacular highway scenery that way), and I have a basic enough knowledge about my own car to relate to the film's automotive terms and jokes.

Regarding the fact that the film didn't hold some children’s interest. When I first saw the film, I did notice a few kids who paid intermittent attention to the movie. However, the vast majority of children I saw were glued to the screen. I believe the former situation was the result of the unusual amount of complex concepts and dialogue, which kids younger than 6 may have a hard time understanding: For example, why sponsors are so important in auto racing (a large motivational factor in the story), and we can't leave out Doc's long conversation with Lightning McQueen about why he couldn't race again after he recovered from his crash (see, it's complicated). Despite all this, kids still want to see the movie again, and their parents keep taking them.

Overall, I have to say that Cars is doing pretty well so far, and it obviously resounds with audiences on some level or another. Hey, it's still in the weekly top 2.

----------Jonathan Grimm_June 29, 2006

2006-06-11T22:50:00.000-06:00

What a Difference Color and Creativity Can Make!

Every time that I put a drawing up, I'm tempted to just leave it black and white and just post it. I'm noticing more and more that, when I take the time to add color, the drawing seems to come alive. Yet, some drawings, like the one above, sometimes look better as plain ol' line art.

Oh, yeah! I saw Pixar's Cars today, and I have to say, it's definitely one of the best films of the entire animation industry this year.

The previews before the movie got me thinking about the state of the 3D animation industry and the things that have been bothering me about the industry. I've noticed a huge jump in the amount of 3D animated films being produced--which is a great thing for 3D animators like myself--, but the industry seems to still be suffering from a huge case of greed. Many film executives seem to be more interested in pushing a product than making great films. This fact is demonstrated through the re-hashing of old concepts and premises--a complete lack of imagination and creativity. An excellent example is The Wild by Walt Disney Pictures (2006). The film’s premise is a ragtag group of animals who break out of the zoo and roam through the big city and eventually the jungle in search of a character’s son—prompting a series of ridiculous gages along the way. The Wild seems to be a combination of the animal motley crew found in Dreamwork’s Madagascar and the quest for the lost son in Pixar’s Finding Nemo. Although their concepts may not be entirely original, Pixar and Dreamworks were tremendously more creative with the ideas than Disney was (an article in the Boston Globe goes further to describe the film’s short commings).

Other films that I’m concerned about and soon to be released are (issues included): The Ant Bully (Ants and James and the Giant Peach), Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (one of the thousands of “Prince and the Pauper” storylines), Barnyard (I could write an entire blog on how poor this film may turn out to be, but I think you should watch the trailer), and Open Season (so far, appears to be a very loose story held together by a series of situational gages and one-liners). Ty Burr of the Boston Globe reveals the problem I’ve seen in the 3D animation industry the past few years, “In the end, the issue here isn't originality of story but the larger creative bankruptcy in Hollywood family entertainment that the CGI revolution has brought about.”

On the other hand I see that some potentially great animated films are on the horizon: Flushed Away (the story appears interesting, but I am sad that this, Aardman Studios’ newest film, was done in CG instead of their trademark claymation), The Simpsons Movie (I think this movie, if done well and if the humor is kept reasonably clean, could be side-bustingly hilarious), and Ratatouille (Pixar is producing it, so the film had better blow our socks off again!).

Anyway, at least I’m ending this sketchblog/rant on a positive note: The 3D animation feature film industry is in a creative famine, and only true innovators will survive and succeed. The big question each of us as animation filmmakers need to ask ourselves is:
What will I decide to be? An innovator or an imitator?

2006-06-06T13:47:00.000-06:00

Animators' Sketchbook ...sort of.

One night I was thinking about how cool it would be if I could animate anywhere, any time--like an animation sketchbook. Then I had an epiphany. Flipbooks are great for animation practice on the go! Now if I can only figure out how to do tweening with such small pieces of paper. . .

Anyway, I'm almost done with my 5 week worldviews philosophy class--which I am, like, totally stoked about. Just think I'm starting another summer class in a week or so. Yeah.

2006-05-30T00:43:00.001-06:00

Experimentation & Practice

^(Black felt tip marker)

^(Black felt tip marker)

^(Pencil, ink, PhotoShop)

Three drawings in one post! I know, I know, the dates are spread out over three days, but it's still a noteworthy achievement, on this blog anyway. I've been working only with black felt markers a lot more lately because I want to train myself to be a little looser with my drawings and not worry so much about perfection. Once a line is down, it's down. If the line I put down is a mistake, I have to live with it and move on. The greatest thing I've noticed about working only with a permanent medium is that, the more I work with it, the more skilled and attentive I become when I use erasable mediums.

Oh! ...and if you're just stopping by, say hi in the comments section of the newest post.

2006-05-13T22:41:00.000-06:00

A Sketchbook. Who needs it, really?

I didn't have the o'l sketchbook with me, so what do I do? Grab a pen and the nearest piece of blank paper (which in this case happens to be the back of one my church's offering envelopes)!

This piece is a great reminder that no matter where you are or what you have with you, you can almost always find time to sketch something.

(the preliminary sketch)

2006-05-07T10:42:00.000-06:00

Marker crazy!

I originally did this piece in graphite, but when I started inking, I just couldn't stop! Before long the whole page was covered in marker. Not bad, for my first all-marker drawing.

2006-05-05T16:05:00.000-06:00

Finally! This is the sketch I've been trying to post. Every time I tried to upload the file straight to BlogSpot, a pop-up kept informing me that "An Error Occurred While Uploading." After four or five of those (each time with different formats), I just decided to host all my image files on Flickr.com and just link'm (which I suspect BlogSpot may be pushing other users to do. I don't know.).

-Jonathan

2006-05-04T16:13:00.000-06:00

Dang it!

(the sketch that would be here can't be uploaded because of a few problems with blogspot)

Today I'm starting a 5 week summer Worldview course at CCU's north campus to take care of my sophomore SBS (Social Behavioral Science) requirement. I'm not sure how often I'll be able to post in the next few weeks, but who knows? Maybe I'll post some stuff from class--it might start you thinking about a few things.

Just consider this a fair warning: All the views presented in this blog are the expressed views of Jonathan Grimm and do not in any way reflect the endorsement of BlogSpot.com.
This is just a little notice for those of you who might get a little offended at what I may be posting pretty soon.

-Jonathan

2006-04-30T17:24:00.000-06:00

Ah, so now I have a blogsite. Now the whole world can see the excellence that is Jonathan Grimm.

- Jonathan