TALKING ABOUT A WISH COME TRUE…

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We received notification that OUR WORLD was one of FOUR finalists in the animated short category at the Beaufort Film Festival- a part of a four day event called THE BEAUFORT KALEIDOSCOPE in beautiful town Beaufort, South Carolina - less than an hour from Savannah.

Beaufort has a rich film history as a location with THE BIG CHILL, THE GREAT SANTINI, FOREST GUMP, PRINCE OF TIDES and THE GENERAL’S DAUGHTER being shot in that area. In the BIG CHILL, when Kevin Kline and friends take their morning jog - it is through downtown Beaufort, SC.

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Here’s a look at one of their posters….

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A recent OUR WORLD card…just found out last week the producer and good friend Alexandra Ohlsen is engaged to be married.

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Raul O Leary awaits his turn for IN SEARCH OF OSAMA to hit the big screen…

This group is ready to make films

Family Programs 2008 at the Telfair Museum

Winter Session Dates (4 weeks): Jan 28-Feb 22
Spring Session Dates (6 weeks): April 14-May 23

Character Design for Teens (Ages 13-16) New!
Experience the art of animation in this overview session for teens. Participants will explore the basics of animation, weight, speed, timing, etc, through the creation of flipbooks, stop-motion projects, clay character-animation, and drawing. The student will be the animator and director!

Instructor: Larry Lauria
Materials included. $80 members/$90 non-members
Limit 15 students
Thursdays 4pm-6pm

Character Design for Adults Ages 17+ New!
Based on the Jepson Center exhibition Leadership: Oliphant Cartoons and Sculpture from the Bush Years, Character Design will teach you techniques to sketch and design cartoon characters. Hailing from the Disney Institute, seasoned animator Larry Lauria will guide you through the basics of animation and cartoon character development.

Instructor: Larry Lauria
A supply list will be provided. $80 members/
$100 non-members
Limit 12 students
Wednesdays 10am-1pm

To register: Please download the online registration form after contacting studio coordinator to check class availability at stifelt@telfair.org or 790-8823.

Hello.

I just cleared out my COMMENT box and the 2000 plus spam messages- that plus the 1200 + from the Christmas Holidays and it is NO FUN!

If you have a comment please email me at lanimate@bellsouth.net and I will transfer it to my page.

Thanks…

Here is Ty B. bear in Central Park skating with pretzels, a hot dog - in the bg in a subway and a carriage ride thru the Park

Okay, so I’m a bit late with the New year greetings. We spent Christmas and New Years in New York City with our son and his wife.

It was the first time we had two weeks to explore NYC - most of the time it was quick trips to recruit or use post-production facilities. As the saying goes, “I love New York”. We had a wonderful two weeks exploring Queens and Manhattan. No better place to be in the U.S. during the holidays than a large city.

This first sketch is an early compilation of our New York activities.

It did snow for about 15 minutes - just enough for us to take a walk around the neighborhood

We stayed in Astoria, Queens and it was an easy 10 minute subway ride into “Midtown”. It reminded us so much of Europe- we were smack, dab in the middle of the Greek section - it was aterrific holiday.

Astoria abounds with wonderful Greek cafes- this is an early morning sketch!

We had a couple of meals in Little Italy at Cafe Sorrento. The first was with our family and the second was with an Irish friend visiting during the holidays.

Here is a napkin sketch of Ty B. Bear in Little Italy- note the flying cannolis!

Since we returned on the 3rd - we have been up to our necks in work and projects.
2008 looks like a great year!

Even more animated…

Sometime last century, a small animation studio on the outskirts of Washington D.C. was a hub of activity. This animated clip motivated their entire process. It was the first animation produced by the Animation House, Inc. in Alexandria, Virginia.

The staff grew from 1 to 6 in about three weeks and on to about 40 artists. keep in mind this was back in the animation stone age when animation was draw by pencil in hand, those drawings inked onto cels and those cels with their beautiful hand-painted backgrounds shot under a camera stand one frame at a time….ahhhhhhhhhh, the good old days.

Freddy’s Christmas was the first animation produced. It was a huge test, a leap of faith, a coming together of kindred animated souls for the art form. Everything seemed so simple then.

It took less than two weeks to animate, paint cels, do backgrounds, do the music, voice (yes, thats me singing off key- on purpose…really), sound effects and mix, edt- out the door.

That was a great time…very special…my thanks to everyone who participated

Raul as depicted in a cartoon sketch on Tybee Island, GA.

Here is a cartoon sketch of a filmmaker friend of mine Raul O Leary. We first worked together on the North/South of Ireland project ANIMAGIC! The idea of ANIMAGIC spawned from the CINEMAGIC Film Festival in Belfast and Derry (known as Londonderry to some folks.)

Anyhow, Raul was instrumental to the animation that appeared between the animated sequences. Raul was GREAT! He never complained and just did his work.

The cartoon sketch here depicts him in his new role from his new live-action project IN SEARCH OF OSAMA.

Hopefully, I can get a hold of some footage and place it on the site or give a link to his site.

Raul spent three years on his quest, it is ALL shot POV (point of view).

Our holiday was very relaxing and it gave me a chance to enjoy “being lazy” and having some fun with my sketching…

everything from ink and watercolors to different types of pencils.
Here are a few more….

An ink and watercolor sketch on the streets of Waynesville, NC

The blue thumbnail in the upper right corner is now a Christmas Card.

A guest sits to write in her journal

This from a thumbnail in a sketch above- look at the upper right corner of the red pencil sketch

Another sketch that turned into a Ty B. Bear Christmas card

More art later…

Henri stars in the openning sequence of OUR WORLD

Whew! The annual art festival on Tybee Island coupled with their 120 year anniversary celebration as a city has come to a close.

We did very well selling tons of cards and prints - not only my paintings but Ty B. Bear, too! . My orginals did not sell- I kept the prices up there (300-400.00 for a small canvas and over a grand for larger ones). From talking to other artists, I decided to keep the prices to a point where only folks who LOVE the art will buy it.

Well I am back at work - madly rushing about…

AND…in two weeks FREE animation workshops will be presented by yours truly at AWN. It is a six week workshop… and I am finishing the materials for that…more on the workshop later…

This one was a little trickier because of the bulk of the character and the long head and neck of Tony. Note: what you are seeing stops at his nose…his eyes, forehead and head are above the nose.

In my renewed efforts toward OUR WORLD…a new card has been produced for the festival circuit (pictured above).

More later….

Here is another view of the Tybee Island Pier, Ga. It is a water color with ink sketch.

With summer coming to a close, I must renew my efforts to establish a flow and finish my projects. These include a film project, the animation center, and my artwork. Actually sales of artwork have been good the past few months as well as cards and prints.

More on all these later…

Hey!

This week is a bit of a “holiday” week while our “kids” and their spouses are in town.

I will be posting my next week. I am still doing some art…just because that inner voice never takes a holiday.

My most recent painting at Plato’s Gallery on the South end of Tybee Island…all my other shells had sold!

Here’s a sketch from a recent Arts Festival on Tybee Island

The view from A.J.’s Dockside, a cafe on Tybee…a great place to sketch across Horsepen Creek.

Another sketch of the lighthouse on Tybee Island…I had my contacts on… and no reading glasses….yikes!

Always Animated!!!