I absolutely love South Park so I was pretty excited when they released these videos showing the technical process behind the show. This two part episode, The Pandemic was a Randy heavy episode so naturally one of my favourites ^-^ Just thought I would share, check it out -> here <-
This photograph is of the paper cinema test carried out a few weeks ago. It was posted on the Horse + Bamboo website so I thought I would share it here as well. I am planning on creating the rest of the elements for the paper cinema today which will be mostly clouds as well as Zeus and the mortal Alcmene. I've got a busy day ahead of me! ^-^
Hello! I have been a very bad blog keeper these last few weeks. I have being doing lots of work on Deep Time Cabaret but most of it is preparation work so I don't actually have anything to post about.
The deadline for this project is fast approaching! Only about a month left until everything needs to be completed. I am working on 5 separate things for the production plus the online education pack and a making of film. These things will be keeping me very busy for the next month but I do have a couple of personal projects I have started which I will update about soon.
I also have had a weekend away in Bath to give myself a little bit of time off. It was a great trip just not long enough! The city of Bath is lovely! I fell in love with all the oldness instantly, I guess I just have a thing for old buildings :) We did the touristy thing and paid to go look around the Roman Baths which was pretty cool. I now want to plan another trip there so I can actually use the spa facilities in the city centre. ^-^
On another note I am looking at entering this competition... to win a trip to Pixar Studios. I have realised how little animating I have been doing recently so I really want a project to get me back into it all. This seemed like the perfect opportunity, plus I would be in with a chance to win a trip to the U.S. ^-^ All I need to do is create an original animated short with the theme of "an animated adventure"... time to get out the thinking cap!! ^-^
Sorry for the delayed post on the Deep Time Cabaret workshop. My blog post on what went down during that week is featured on the Deep Time CabaretProduction Blog this week. Click the link to check it out! ^-^
Disney has recently released concept images from their new film, Rapunzel which is due to be released in 2010. They are absolutly gorgeous! I am so excited for this film. See more here.
Jupiter, wishing to immortalise the infant Hercules (whose mother was the mortal Alcmene), held him to the breasts of the sleeping Juno. The milk which spurted upwards formed the Milky Way, while some fell downwards giving rise to lilies.
I am working on re-creating this painting as a paper cinema piece for the Horse + Bamboo production Deep Time Cabaret. Below are a few drawings I have been working on. The bottom image is the closest to what I'll be creating for the final piece.
I will be going up to Horse + Bamboo next week for the production workshop. This is where everyone on the production will be working together to develop Deep Time Cabaret further. I will be involved in lots of projection tests etc... so will update with the results of that soon.
The Disney version of The Little Match Girl came on the special edition of The Little Mermaid. The You Tube version is pretty bad quality so if you can get hold of the DVD I really recommend you watch it.
This short film is really sweet and to me really feels like an old Disney film. I am hoping the Princess and the Frog has a some of that old Disney magic. I love this story and always have since I was a kid, which is probably why I based my graduation film on it. I always felt so sad for the little match girl at end but still wanted to read it over and over, I was a strange child I guess...
I have also heard that my film is supposed to be shown at Latitude Festival which starts today. Which is pretty cool although I am not actually sure whereabouts or when it is going to be shown.
[EDIT] Relating to Latitude my film can actually be seen here atDitto.tv.
I haven't actually entered any festivals for a while now as I just haven't had the time. I will hopefully get back on it the next time I have a break as I think I only have one year left until my film becomes "too old" to be screened anywhere. :)
I just thought I would share some of the latest animated features due for release this year that I really wanna see! I am a HUGE Pixar fan so am really looking forward to seeing UP which will be released here in the UK in October. It has already been released in the US which I am a bit gutted about :( But the trailers and clips look great and I can't wait to see the usual Pixar short at the start of the film. :)
I also can't wait to see the new traditionally animated Disney film The Princess and the Frog. I think the last hand drawn piece they did which I actually liked was the Emperor's New Groove which was years ago now. There are a couple of featurettes over at AWNtv.com that are worth a look.
And finally I am super excited for the latest Ghibli film Ponyo. It has already been released in Japan for over a year now I think... and I still haven't managed to see it. I am looking forward to seeing it on the big screen though and will just have to hope the english dubbing isn't terrible. Infact I don't think I have ever seen a Ghibli movie at the cinema before... so this will be a first. :) Hopefully I'll have some time to blog about these movies when I get around to seeing them so watch this space!
I am also excited for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince which is coming out next week. Anyone who knows me will know I am a MASSIVE Harry Potter fan and although I have never really been a big fan of the films I am really looking forward to this one! The trailer looks pretty good and the last one wasn't too bad.
And a non-movie release... I can't wait to get my hands on the new Assassians Creed game. It looks amazing and there is so many more things that you can do in this one that weren't possible in the first. This is released late November... so could be a possible early Christmas gift for myself. :) I'll leave you with the E3 demo (in game footage!) so you can see what I am talking about.
Over the next few months I will be working with those at Horse + Bamboo Theatre on their latest performance piece 'Deep Time Cabaret'.
This production follows on from an exhibition of artist’s work held at the Horse + Bamboo Theatre last year. 'The Valley of Stone' project asked artists to create work inspired by the landscape and geological heritage of the Rossendale landscape. 'Deep Time Cabaret' will be based around a short film created in the first year of this project, 'Hineingrabe' by Tracey Holland which looks at the Rossendale hills and quarries and their association with myth and folk-lore. You can see a short extract from this film below.
Hineingrabe - Tracey Holland
The cabaret will be made up of several components including Tracey Holland's Film, two ‘lectures’ in the form of strange performance pieces; a puppet show in three sections; a paper cinema; a dance; and 4 songs.
My work is specifically related to the film elements of the production creating a couple of short animated and film pieces for projection as well as making the elements to be used in the paper cinema.
Extracts from the latest Horse + Bamboo production 'Little Leap Forward'.
This is the short film I have been working on over the last week or two. Now that it is complete I am looking at starting work on the next Horse + Bamboo production 'Deep Time Cabaret'. I will blog more about that soon but for now you can check out the progress of the whole project on the Deep Time Cabaret Blog
I have just returned from a two day trip up to Edinburgh to see my friend Nicole and record some voices for her graduation film. It was my first visit to Edinburgh and I had such a lovely time! The city was so beautiful and it was great to see some friends after such a long time of being hidden away working in my room. We only had one full day together but we made the most of it!! We started with voice recording and then heading into town to walk up Arthur's Seat. A walk that I didn't think I could make considering my current fitness level...
...but Yay! After much huffing and puffing we made it to the top! Pretty embarrassing as there were lots of older people up there who didn't look out of breath at all.
Then after a yummy dinner we decided to go on one of the ghost tours and it was one of the funniest things ever. It was pretty interesting to learn a bit about Edinburgh's history and our guide was extremely good and succeedeed in completely freaking Nicole and me out! o_O
Now I will tell you a little more about Nicole's project. Nicole is studying her MA in Animation at the Edinburgh College of Art and Rachinta and I agreed to do the voices for her graduation film. Below is an image of the lovely little girl I have recorded a voice for. :) She is called Lilly. You can read all about her on Nicole's work in progress blog called Improve Lilly. Check out the rest of Nicole's work on her website here -->>> nicolevolbeda.com go go go!!
It's back to reality now though and I'm just working on a short film for YouTube of the Little Leap Forward production. I am also going to be involved in the next Horse + Bamboo project but I will tell you all about that another day.
For those of you who visit my blog at the web address you may have noticed that the layout around here has changed a little today. This is because today I have began phase one of my new website. ^-^
Today I uploaded a brand new version so stefflee.com is looking all sparkly and new! A lot of the content is the same but there a few new bits here and there. I will be updating this site a lot over the next few months and will hopefully have some new content up by the start of July. I am also planning to add lots of little animated extras to this site! :) These are still a work in progress but they should be popping up on the site as I finish them.
I am going to be very busy the next few weeks as I am about to start work on editing together 'Little Leap Forward' for a short online film of the production. I am also trying to organise a trip to Edinburgh to visit my dear old collab partner Nicole and help her with some audio for her film. All very exciting! :)
She creates these great 3D paper collages and cut outs for her illustration work which I find just amazing to look at. I have only posted a couple of her images here but you should check out her website and blog which both contain a selection of her work.
Last Thursday Little Leap Forward opened at The Studio at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester. My family and I managed to make it up there for the show and I must say it was brilliant!! I absolutely loved it. After being involved with the production for the last 6 months it was great to finally see it all come together. The story is told so well that I felt myself become immediately involved with the main character Little Leap and felt very emotional at particular parts of the story.
This was the first Horse + Bamboo production I have seen performed live. The mixture of a masks, puppets, shadow, music and film all worked so well together. It is amazing to know that there were only 4 actors playing all the characters. I have never seen anything like it in my life and I am really looking forward to seeing it again when the tour stops by nearer to home.
After the show I was lucky enough to meet Guo Yue. The co-author of the book Little Leap Forward and the man whose childhood this story is based on. It was the truths of this story that really touched me and helped me understand some of the things that went on during the cultural revolution in China. The show highlights some really important events which happened in history as well as telling the story of friendships and the importance of freedom. I think it is an excellent show for children to see as it is very engaging and would encourage them to ask questions about history and what has been going on in other places in the world. I think this is very important as it seems the vast majority of children today seem to only know about what is going on in the present. I recommend this show not just for children but for adults too... it is an excellent piece of storytelling, visually brilliant and definitely worth seeing.
If you want to catch the production it will be in Manchester until the 13th June. You can see other tour dates on my previous blog post.
I am so grateful that I was given the opportunity to work on this production and can't wait to see what will come next from Horse + Bamboo Theatre.
I have had a very busy week but thought I should update my blog as I haven't been keeping as up to date as I would like. :)
I have been working lots of overtime at my part-time job and have also been ill at the same time so have spent many many hours in bed. I did however spend some time making these little paper cuts over the last two weeks. I have been having so much fun doing it and can't wait to make some more!
These first two cuts were me just experimenting and messing around trying to see what I could get the paper to do.
On one of my ill days in bed I watched the movie 'Marie Antoinette' and totally fell in love with everything about it. So I tried to make a cut with that famous up hair style which I absolutely love! I wish I could get my hair to do that!
And finally this was something I made for my sisters birthday. It was meant to be her birthday card but kind of turned into a wall hanging thing... It turned out a lot neater than my other cuts as it was the last one I made and had finally got used to curling and controlling paper.
I will update with website things soon. My overtime is continuing in to next week and I have another animation job coming up but I am trying my best to get my website complete. I am hoping to add a lot more of my more recent work to it.
Just something I have been experimenting with... it was a lot of fun to make the hair. I will post up some more of these when I have time to make them.
Will update soon with the latest on my website re-design. It is taking a while as I am trying to learn some more Flash as well as doing lots of overtime at work.
So this is what I have been working on for the last couple of months. This film will be projected as part of the opening sequence of Little Leap Forward. It is quite difficult to see the detail on here as I had to shrink the film to fit to a standard format. I think it works a lot better when it is being projected. Once the production begins touring I will hopefully be able to film the projections which I will then post online.
28 May - 13 June - The Studio, Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester 16 June - The Rose Theatre, Ormskirk 18 June - Wolverhampton Arena 20 June - Sherman, Cardiff 25 June - Salisbury Arts Centre 27 June - Croyden Clocktower 28 June - Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome 29 - 30 June - The Carriageworks, Leeds 2 - 4 July - the egg, Theatre Royal Bath 8 July - Garforth Arts Festival 10 July - Unity Theatre, Liverpool 11 July - Clitheroe Grand 12 July - Square Chapel, Halifax 15 - 17 July - the Boo, Rossendale
I love Elsa's work. Her cuts are so delicate and carefully crafted. She usually creates small girl figures mixed in with trees and plants which I just love! As well as cuts based on old nursery rhymes and fairy tales. In her most recent post on Mary had a little lamb she gives a brief history of the rhyme and origins. For each piece she explains her personal meaning behind the work as well as leaving it open for the readers to give their own opinions.
A large paper cut I photographed in a Chinese supermarket
I am completely in love with paper cuts right now and I just wanted to share some of the work of my favourite paper cut artists. I was going to post one huge post full of all the work I loved but instead I have decided to give each artist their own post. My obsession with paper cuts is a recent thing... and began during my research for my graduation film. I came across the art of Chinese paper cutting and just loved what could be achieved with a piece of paper and a knife.
I haven't had a chance to create much of my own paper cut work but I am hoping as my workload is slowing down now that I will finally get a chance to try my hand at some really cool cutting. I will be updating this post with new artists every time I find something I like and will post links to the individual posts full of lovely images etc...
I love Pixar ^-^ Can't wait for their latest film to be realeased :) Here is a cool blog post about all the in-jokes and self-contained references Pixar tends to make in all of their films :) I love it.
My time working on Little Leap Forward has come to end. I put this film together last week to give everyone a sneak peak at the production process. During my visit I was able to see the set fully constructed as well as handle all the puppets and masks (all which have been beautifully made by Alison). I came back from watching rehearsals this week and I must say everything is looking great! The masks and puppets are now pretty much finished and being able to watch the actors and puppeteers putting the show together was brilliant. We tested the animation and film sequences together with music and the end sequence in particular looked great! I am really looking forward to the opening night and can't wait to see the production!
Pretty much every animator I know owns this book. It is exactly what it says on the cover and I have found it to be one of the most useful books I own. As I didn't have much time to learn all the basics of animation this book was essential in helping me get through my degree. I highly recommend it to everyone and anyone who is already animating or just starting out.
I have been dipping in and out of it for the last couple of years. Learning what I need to for certain projects. Ideally I would love to just sit down and learn everything in it from start to finish, unfortunately I just don't have the time. More recently I have come across this:
A DVD box set full of Richard William's lectures to accompany the book. (You can preview his lectures on the link above.) I think it is essential for all animators to learn the very basics of animation. I have often found myself struggling when animating and just a simple look over of the basics just brings everything into place.
I am sad to say the price tag on this box set is quite high. It is understandable... but much too high for me to buy at the minute. I hoping that perhaps in the future I will be able to add them to my collection. For now I'll be just sticking with the book. :)
It's a kind of alphabet zoo... helps children learn about letters :) I just like how the letters make up the different animals :) very clever. I realy want to get into Flash again. I'm planning on re-designing my website so I think that will be the perfect learning opportunity. :)
Sorry for the lack of updates I have been extremely busy working over the bank holiday weekend. Now I need to get back into my normal work routine. :) Should have the LLF promo film completed and online by next week. Updates coming soon ~~~
I have pretty much finished ALL the animation for the Little Leap Forward sequence now. :) I just have to finish it off and clean up some of the frames in the bird sequence. I don't want to post the finished piece online yet... not until it is completely finished and the show is on tour. Which will be from the 28th May :) It is such a short sequence and I think it works a lot better when it is projected.
As well as working on the clean up I am also about to start work on editing together a short collection of footage and images showing the making of the production. I haven't done much video editing before so it should be interesting. :) I have a nice piece of music to edit to written by Loz Kaye (the composer and musical director for the production).
Katy is a past NSAD graduate as well and I really loved her graduation film Gobblynne. You can see it here on her website as well as being able to see all her latest work.
Just some random things from my sketchbook. I haven't had much time to draw recently :( By the end of next month I will have a lot more time :) I really want to join a life drawing class, but I can't seem to find one in my area. When the sun shines a bit more I am planning to go to the park and draw people there :) should be fun!
Will update with Little Leap Forward work soon. ^-^
I first came across Koji's animation during my art foundation in the book 'Animation Now!' where his film Mt. Head was featured on the DVD which came with the book. I thought it was great which is why I was really happy to hear he would be attending the Norwich International Animation Festival 2006.
It was during my second year of uni and I was working as a volunteer at the festival. There was a screening of his films which was great as I was able to see a full collection of his work on the big screen. My favourites being Mt Head, The Old Crocodile and the shorts featuring the two claymation characters Karo and Piyobupt. Afterwards I was lucky enough to meet him and my friend and I got a signed drawing from him. I am so glad we went to talk to him it was really cool to be able to meet someone whos work I really admired. I really love his films and if you haven't seen them before I really recommend you check them out. I have included links below the images above.
At the Norwich International Animation Festival 2006 (now known as AURORA).
This is possibly my favourite food related blog <3 My obsession with bento boxes brought me to this site and I absolutly love everything this girl makes! She has tons of Ghibli and game related bentos. My favourite being the Sleeping Totoro. So cute ^-^
I also love her Wall-E and Totoro sandwiches which I am planning on attempting to make with my friends kid next week. He is very excited about it all... almost as excited as me. :) I also want to attempt to make her Doraemon onigiri... although my last attempt at onigiri didn't go too well.
She is so creative with her food it is amazing. Plus she made a Battlestar Galactica themed feast for the season finale... this is the main reason I am blogging about this today. The three post special on BSG themed food was brilliant.
You must check out the rest of her bentos *Go Go Go*
I also have had a weekend away in Bath to give myself a little bit of time off. It was a great trip just not long enough! The city of Bath is lovely! I fell in love with all the oldness instantly, I guess I just have a thing for old buildings :) We did the touristy thing and paid to go look around the Roman Baths which was pretty cool. I now want to plan another trip there so I can actually use the spa facilities in the city centre. ^-^
On another note I am looking at entering this competition... to win a trip to Pixar Studios. I have realised how little animating I have been doing recently so I really want a project to get me back into it all. This seemed like the perfect opportunity, plus I would be in with a chance to win a trip to the U.S. ^-^ All I need to do is create an original animated short with the theme of "an animated adventure"... time to get out the thinking cap!! ^-^
The Disney version of The Little Match Girl came on the special edition of The Little Mermaid. The You Tube version is pretty bad quality so if you can get hold of the DVD I really recommend you watch it. 
I am also excited for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince which is coming out next week. Anyone who knows me will know I am a MASSIVE Harry Potter fan and although I have never really been a big fan of the films I am really looking forward to this one! The trailer looks pretty good and the last one wasn't too bad. 
Over the next few months I will be working with those at Horse + Bamboo Theatre on their latest performance piece 'Deep Time Cabaret'. 
...but Yay! After much huffing and puffing we made it to the top! Pretty embarrassing as there were lots of older people up there who didn't look out of breath at all.
Now I will tell you a little more about Nicole's project. Nicole is studying her MA in Animation at the Edinburgh College of Art and Rachinta and I agreed to do the voices for her graduation film. Below is an image of the lovely little girl I have recorded a voice for. :) She is called Lilly. You can read all about her on Nicole's work in progress blog called Improve Lilly.
She creates these great 3D paper collages and cut outs for her illustration work which I find just amazing to look at. I have only posted a couple of her images here but you should check out her website and blog which both contain a selection of her work. 
Just something I have been experimenting with... it was a lot of fun to make the hair. I will post up some more of these when I have time to make them.
A large paper cut I photographed in a Chinese supermarket
Pretty much every animator I know owns this book. It is exactly what it says on the cover and I have found it to be one of the most useful books I own. As I didn't have much time to learn all the basics of animation this book was essential in helping me get through my degree. I highly recommend it to everyone and anyone who is already animating or just starting out. 
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