Gellnerism - 10% less spam in Trockenmasse

goodbye blogspot, hello wordpress

2010-03-13T07:56:00.000-08:00

hey gang,
I moved my blog my own webspace and I hope you all come along. the new place to be is www.alexandergellner.de for old wine in new tubes and more german idioms directly translated to english.

blogspot has been fun but i guess i am more a my own webspace kind of guy. also, i fear, now that there are those possibilities, i will never stop tweeking...

How i am I

2010-03-11T09:02:00.000-08:00

When you go out in my barrio, there is at least two schmocks in every cafe or diner playing with their iPhone or showing off their new apps. I like the iPhone and I like apps and there is probably not much not to like about iPhonery aside from the rediculus price, T-Mobile contract and the annoyingly fetishising community. But when they came up with the iPad I had to giggle. It is not only what the ladies tell you, size does matter again. When deciding, Pad or Pod or Phone, it only comes down to the following: Either you like the free hand for bevarage, self pleasuring or making gang signs or yo go the extra mile with a supersize that nobody can ever overlook again. I fear, nobody will care much for the googlePhone, so could not be bothered to render it. drawn with my right hand btw...

Pictoplasma Festival 2010

2010-03-02T02:56:00.000-08:00

If you know me, you know that I am a big fan of the pictoplasma events. They are not only about my favorite subjects like characters, animation and playful design but also amongst the most pleasant, friendliest and well organised fairs you can attend. Dany and I already got our tickets, and you can come, too. Get tickets here. I am already looking forward to a weekend of watching movies, lectures, meeting people and getting inspired.

Pixel me

2010-02-28T03:50:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I just finished my four weeks freeelance gig for a rather big client and the weekend off has been awesome so far. The job had been hairy at times but I had a great team and it was much fun overall. I am just about finished recharging my batteries and jumping into the next adventure just now!
We visited Prenzlauer Berg's Steakhouse the Bird with some friends to celebrate the project and Dany and I had a great, juicy steak. Very good. The hamburgers I would not recommend, they were average, according to our company. For burgers, you should try Burgers Berlin here in Friedrichshain's Sonntagstraße. A small joint but very to our liking.

But I digress...

The picture shows me in my favorite track suit - for I will hopefully get my ass to work out more now. I have a small collection of those for running and workout but also for leasure time at home. They are so comfi :)

Pixel Snikt

2010-02-11T14:38:00.000-08:00

In kindergarden, I was always Wolverine. My friend was Gambit, running away from my deadly claws and throwing energy poker cards at me. One day he threw a box at me. I woke up in the hospital where they stitched my upper lip. The scar, that would have been a fatal wound sans my mutant healing powers, is now idly concealed under my manly manly beard.
In other news, I have been working a freelance job as AD / Compositing Artist that will last up until March and recently I have been a little sick which resulted in a lack of Gym time. Damn you, Christmas eating sprees, 15 Kilos to go.

Yes we Pixel

2010-02-01T13:58:00.000-08:00

Man, Big Barack is getting alot of heat these days. At the state of the union addresse, he was throwing hooks and punches left and right. Politics apart, which I am not fit to judge anyhow, I think he is a very gifted person. I also would like to hang out with him one day and through some hoops. In other news, the awesome Amazing, incredible, wonderful, beautiful, phenomenal iPad

Angela Pixel

2010-01-30T04:51:00.001-08:00

Less a fanart than a portrait of our beloved She-Chancellor Angela Merkel. I like the eery posture. She always does this thing with her hands that is supposed to underline a centered warm, maybe even loving personality. I like this one even more than the hellboy. Here are two more cool Merkel-themed things I like. Merkel and Burns & Ms Steffi's illu with a nice explanation of the 2009 campaign poster and the german viral sensation called "und alle so: yeah!"
Have a good one.

Hellboy Pixel

2010-01-29T03:45:00.000-08:00

As I wrote in my last post, pixelart is new to me. To get more adept and to figure out a style for me, I decided to do more practice pieces. It is also a fun and fast way to do fanart, which I also have been craving for awhile. And fanart is a good way to learn new techniques or solve design problems because you don't have to invent new things, you can immediately skip to the interpretation and figure out aesthetics. It turns out, doing pixel art is a pretty delicate endaevor, more like building stuff with Lego bricks, where every brick you add or subtract makes the a huge change in the overall message. Stay tuned for more.

Pixel Art: Sheer elegance in its simplicity

2010-01-27T07:40:00.000-08:00

You need to watch this show if you did not get the reference.
My current project has me embarked on a sail through the realms of the pixel art. Something I have never done before and did not fancy all that much. Plus, after all that 3D- and compositing work, I am starving for some honest pen drawing. Being the clever schmock, I pitched the style for the project as 8bit retro game art but executed as a hand drawing. I figured, not many have done this kind of high concept approach and at the time it seemed like a clever idea, like this here sketch.
But the ass-for-a-face client liks my preliminary sketches in "real" pixel art more so I unwillingly am pushed to do an all out pixel art project without any real pen work. But as I dig into it a little bit I grow to like it more and handling the new rules makes one come up with new ideas all of a sudden. I come to appreciate all the cool things pixel artists have given us so far. From the original 8-bit veterans who handled technical restrictions and build a style out of necessity to the current designers who self impose pixel art rules either because their monkey brains are stuck on super mario land or they just can't draw.
Either era bred tons of cool designs and styles. My project is not going to be released until April so bear with me and have fun checking those links:

Eboy - I don't really have to explain the guys who made pixel art cool again 10 years ago. Mostly poster art, but also lots of toys and designy stuff.
Flairs - Truckers Delight I love this Music Video. Its retro but it's cool too.
Cave Story A very cool freeware game. Very famous too as I just found out. Super gameplay, nice story and lots of cool artwork. They are working on a Wii portation.
Super Brothers They make illustration and animations and I think something for the Iphone. And this is currently my desktop picture. I love their stuff. I don't really understand it, but I guess that is part of the appeal.
Architecture in Helsinki Do the Whirlwind - nice Music Video. I love their music, too.
Kings of Power 4 Billion % by Paul Robertson. Sick sick sick Animation reminiscent of videogame titles like Metal Slug and streets of rage.
Meatboy very cool game by indie developer Ed McMillen

For some reason, I am starting to hate on all that 8bit style music that has to many high pitched sounds, blips and squeeks in it. It is exhausting. If you are the twittering type, follow me on twitter - there I am even more boring (and german!)

Kick Daimler to Reparations

2010-01-21T13:41:00.001-08:00

Medico International asked me to make a flyer for two events on the fight for reparations by victims of South Africa's Apartheid-Government. Daimler, amongst many other big corporations, benefited big time from their collaboration with this regime and I was fixing to go all Bob Geldorf on their asses.

This year, Mercedes-Benz will sponsor the German national soccer team in the South African World Cup with millions of dollars while neglecting to take responsibility for their involvement with a brutal and racist regime in this very same country.

Medico's overall style of communication is more keen on showing the positive side of people's actions rather than relying on imagery that is supposed to make you feel sad and guilty, ultimately exploiting the suffering for financial gain. That's how I came up with the motive, that reminds one of a soccer themed festivity or a joyful uprising. My buddy Michael did the typography and the layout of the flyer's text on the back.

There are going to be two events that you can attent to get educated this month.

Mo. 25.1.2010, Frankfurt: 19 Uhr
Ort: medico international, 1.Stock
Burgstr.106

Fr. 29.1.2010, Berlin: 19 Uhr
Ort: Bildungswerk Berlin der Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, 5. Stock
Kottbusser Damm 72

The Überundertow

2010-01-16T11:10:00.001-08:00

Breaking a promise is worse than not being there in the first place. My toes are smelly and you think you are clever. Amen brother - have a drink with me.

HAPPY NEW YEAR game

2009-12-30T10:15:00.000-08:00

I wish all of you a happy new year, all the success, health and happyness you can bear and that all goes well for you and your dear ones in the future.
The Awesome New Year's Resolutions Game
Why not start the year with a fun little game? Tell us about your new year's resolutions and tell in a fun way. Make a little picture, write a poem, draw a comic, dance a dance, make a film, whatever you can think off, that discribes your goals for the next year, be it very humble or absolutely arbitrary! I am giving away five DVDs of my collection "Animations by Alexander Gellner"( PDF Index ) to the top contenders. Deadline will be Friday, 8th of January 2010. I'll announce the winners on Sunday.
I am looking forward to your entries and see you on the other side! :)
Alex

Bronto the Saurus

2009-12-08T07:39:00.000-08:00

What's cooking good looking?
I am happy to announce that I was assigned to relaunch Spielberg's Jurassic Park. Just wait 'til this gets to the 3Dglasses stage. Blows your frakking heads off.

Bill Shannon doing his thing

2009-11-24T01:27:00.000-08:00

This guy is absolutely awesome. While being physically impared he manages to do the most amazing moves with his crutches something between brakedance, skateboarding and . Totally inspiring. There is this way of comming up with things in design called "innovation through restriction" "or designing on a shoe string" meaning achieving new solutions by focussing on very little means and tools. How this guy turns his physical restriction into a new, playful art form is nothing short of great design.

Music Video for RjD2

and here is a commercial he was hired for.

(via farbwolke)

Its a girl

2009-11-21T06:05:00.000-08:00

I don't even dare to say what that is for but she reminds me of Panny (Kaley Cuoco) of Big Bang Theory which just happens to be an awesome show!

Face to Face | In dialogue we trust

2009-11-16T04:17:00.000-08:00

Last Week my GF and I attended this year's "Face to Face | Indialogue we trust" conference. It was held in the proud city of Ludwigsburg by Stuttgart. The specialty of this conference was that it features both designers and clients so that visitors experience both sides of a deal. One could see, how a decent designer-client partnership is established and nurtured in many presentations.
The presentations were held in German and French, France being the partner of this year's presentation. So on top of featuring clients and designers, the conference also featured german-french team-ups which gave an interesting glimpse at design and enterpreneur cultur in both countries. I am happy to say that I did not need the services of the translator to follow along, my French classes in school paid off after all. :)

Many presentations showed that when client and designer understand their collaboration as a partnership rather a master-servant deal, the process and the final results are mostly fruitful and successful. The claim "in dialogue we trust" was enforced by the organisators by having 15min coffee brakes roughly every hour, so there was plenty of time to make new friends and discuss the topics of the presentations. The location in the "Reithaus Ludwigsburg" was nice and very fitting for the event.

For my taste, the presentations went a little too smooth at times, with no real dialogue or dispute about certain topics. That was probably due to the 20min format and overall amicality of the event and that nobody wants to make enemies at such a business meeting.

Only one presentation by Justus Oehler (Pentagram) on their public relation work for the Deutsche Kinemathek, Museum für Film und Fernsehen was a little diversion of this overall piecefulness. Oehler, rethorically strong and with a somewhat arbitrary but charming personality, opened with strong arguments regarding certain design choices of other museums and agencies and presented pentagrams designs for the Kinemathek as the real deal. His presentation was applauded but then he was challenged by a design professor, who I could not identify and Martin Grothmaak of ProjektTriangle.
They gave polite but certain criticism and I really enjoyed the short exchange and flaring conflict as it was a good example of making and countering arguments and it was entertaining to see some people who think they are the shit slugging it out. :)

Other than that, it was smooth sailing.
I recommend every designer out there to visit the next face to face event or even join the club.
It is an informative, relaxed and very professional event and most imporantly, the catering never disappoints.
--

Side notes:

-Visit the Mercedes Benz Museum as an absolute obligation for every design-, architecture or car fanatic. I was blown away by it. And I don't even like cars all that much.

- Ludwigsburg has some nice food joints. Hotel Rivera on Karlstraße has an excellent cuisine.

-According to google analytics my blog receives 90% traffic from Germany. But the idea of some guy sitting in Australia or Russia reading my shit feels so intruiging that I'll keep writing in English.

Zombietöter: Endstation Zombie

2009-10-31T18:35:00.000-07:00

The dream team Strangmeyer/Krehl delivered another adventure of the famous Zombietöter just right for Halloween. I did this little tribute pic. Enjoy the comic.
English Zombietöter
Deutscher Zombietöter

Chief Boss Man

2009-10-28T13:54:00.001-07:00

"Du kannst geh'n, aber deine Kopfhaut bleibt hier."

Mind Game (2004)

2009-10-14T03:09:00.000-07:00

Director Masaaki Yuasa
Studio Studio4°C

Yesterday, we saw MindGame, which was such a mindblowing experience that I had to share this. I will not get into the story and I don't recommend going to wikki since there is a serious amount of spoilers in the summary.

Being a huge fan of the studio which had done astonishing work on the Animatrix series and one of my all time favorites Tekkon Kinkreet (2006) and Spriggan (1998), amongst many, I was craving to get my hands on this piece ever since I saw the trailer. The Trailer gives a pretty good impression on the visual and artistic ballistics which are fired upon your brain in an unbelievable manner for 100 minutes, nothing I have seen since The Flying Circuis Series comes even close to this. For the visuals alone, this film is worth a cheggedicheck.

To be honest, I did expect the story to be somewhat complicated and hard to follow, which is not uncommon for Japanese animation and also the reason I have to see these movies more than once to grasp them. So I got myself in the David Lynch mode and put it on. The film throws many nonlinear sequences at you, brakes lines of thought here and there but it is a genuine plasant and easy to follow ride. Storytelling is deliberately confusing at first to give the viewer this sense of being lost, but the narration pulls it together nicely which enhances the joy of the conclusion even more. The film surfaced in 2004 and I am somewhat sad that it took five years to be released in Germany but I guess for me, the film comes just in the right time. Just when I was coming out of a rather annoying illness and trying to get my ass back in gear to tackle all the issues that build up when I was physically and mentally incapacitated, this film reminded me of what it is that I love about animation and why I want to invest so much of my life into this art form.

Go rent and buy the DVD now.

"Flix: Akte Y" now online

2009-09-21T02:06:00.000-07:00

"Flix: Akte Y" on the interwebs.
Deutsche Version ohne Untertitel auf Youtube
English Subtitles on Youtube

More infos here

Richard Byers Exibition

2009-09-13T03:40:00.000-07:00

I met Australian artist Richard Byers at the Pictoplasma Conference this year. He is a really talented and friendly guy and he is having an exibition in the RIPA.FRIES.GALLERY in Berlin-Mitte this week. Don't miss the Opening on Thursday, 17.09.2009 19:00. Gormannstraße 16.

He does look like Gon

2009-08-25T10:25:00.000-07:00

On learning 3D and hopefully keeping sane

2009-08-19T05:08:00.000-07:00

This is my first real 3D animation. I know, it's not more than a test but it shows that I am having some progress. And I have to get this out of my system because I have realised that this is not only my problem but something many have faced. Learning 3D, the hard part for me is that you don't really see your process materialise as in 2D. When you start out doing 2D animation, you make a drawing, then another one and so on and gradually you build up your animation. No matter how advanced and polished your process gets later on, this is basically your work for every animation you'll ever make - one drawing at a time.

In 3D, this process is way more abstract and you just spend your time digging into the fabric of the programm, figuring out what you have to know, where all the buttons are and what you need them for. The process in 3D is much more detached from the actual work that will come out of it. There are hardly any "milestones" (i.e. pretty pictures) that you can show your mom, your friends and yourself to make sure you are on the right road.
As opposed to the progressive step-by-step feeling of 2D, learning 3D is kind of incredible-hulk-leaping from one mountain top the next (optionally smashing battle helicopters mid-air) and hoping that you land somewhere near where you wanted to go.

Learning 3D for the heck of it can prove to be very insightful and inspiring, as long as you get used to this feeling of not really always seeing where you are going.

The world is at least 3D

2009-08-05T07:34:00.001-07:00

Shit.
3D animation is a whole other ball game, my friends. If you are really good at something else and have a family and friends, I recommend to keep away. However, I've been learning some software and slowly getting the hang of it. It is fun, all mathematical and nice and clean but as it is always the case with new things, you feel like a retarded baby infant with no arms. By the time I am a 3D ninja, I probably won't be able to hold a pen and be really smelly.

John Jay Marathon

2009-07-24T02:24:00.001-07:00

I guess I can share the name of my thesis project now that I secured a website. I have been working on this project on and off for the last year, writing, doing concepts and sketches and figuring out how to make things. Right now, I am at a point where there is still so much learning and working ahead of me but I feel like I am going in the right direction. I am enjoying the process of learning and trial and error where I used to be very goal driven and easily annoyed whenever things did not work out perfect instantly. This is a new quality of work (and life) for me. I have been getting great support and feedback from my close friends and this makes everything easy for me, knowing that I am not sailing alone.
I hope my film will show my love for film and telling stories in this medium more than it will "only" show off my skills to score me some work. The project itself is a narrative experiment and stylistically incosistent, allowing me to explore and take in new ideas that might occur in the process of production. This is something completely different than the tight industrialisted production process of animation (writing, storyboarding, designing, pitching, sucking dick, animation, compositing, post, render, release) but it makes the process joyful and exciting.
I feel like for the first time I am really, honestly, a student of film and design.

However, John Jay Marathon is not my sole invention but the result of a collabo with my friend Roland. We did this music video together in 08. When looking for a name for my film project, this name just came up again and he was happy to let me run with it. Thanks bro!

Koma Comix

2009-07-17T03:53:00.001-07:00

My entry for the Epidermophytie-KomaComix Tribute Issue. Koma Comix is a stoner comic series drawn and published by Weißblechcomics Mastermind Levin Curio. The guys from Epi wanted to make their next issue a tribute to this series that is legend amongst stoners, students and all kinds untrustworthy folks. So be sure to preorder your copy of this comic extravaganza!

Schrottbot & Max Spoiler

2009-07-14T15:17:00.001-07:00

Last page of my entry for the Jazam Magazine. Buy, buy, buy!!! Nothing much to show lately. I'm busy on my final student project and some freelance shizzl that I can't talk about for now. We went to Teufel today to check out a surround system. It is the cheapest they have but they make very high quality design.

Unauffindbar Wallpaper

2009-07-02T07:06:00.000-07:00

Do people still do these nowadays? Anyhow, if you are not easily distracted and liked the one video I made for Lina Liko, download this sucker and slap it on your desktop.

Der Freitag Adler Animation

2009-07-01T02:38:00.000-07:00

As I wrote here and here, I've been working on a little project for Der Freitag - das Meinungsmedium. Now they released the spot upon the interwebs and I guess that is the time to come out of the closet myself. As for the process. I did the animatic in flash but then instead of doing the animation in flash as well, I painted the frames, trying to achieve a rougher, more painterly style. It was a five days assignment, so of course there were going to be parts that could have been better with more time but I am satisfied with the results.

Here are some stills I liked.

Markgrafendamm Study

2009-06-28T08:47:00.000-07:00

Just a study from 07, when they tore up the old streets. Now its all nice and shiny.

Mystery Project

2009-06-20T17:59:00.000-07:00

About halfway through a new film. But what can it be? And what purpose does it serve? Will it bring harm or jelly beans? Above pic is a still of the ongoing production.

KLEE Weil es Liebe ist

2009-06-15T04:20:00.000-07:00

The above picture shows the final artwork for the single.

Last year, I developed a music video for the German Pop Band KLEE. The project was turned down at a later state of the process but the cover artwork I did based on the MuVi came into being. As I take it, developing ideas and stories that are going to go to the bin later is the daily bread and butter of freelance designers. I got to develop a fairly thick skin over the last couple of years to cope with those disappointments. Nobody wants to work for the bin but when you try to look at every project as a part of your developement, no matter if it comes to life in the end, you can get something out of it almost every time.

This project was really cool, and I was more disappointed than usually about the halt. That shows that I made the project quite personal. The story was cool, the characters and the places were already living in my heart and mind and the song was the perfect soundtrack to my little story. I wasn't fulfilling a contract work anymore, I was telling my own piece.

I guess It is like being in love. If something is dear to you, you can easily be hurt. On the other side, if you like what you are doing, you are bound to do it good. To me, ballancing professionality and passion is a key necessity to a healthy artist's life.

Two more sketches

Popcorn Movie

2009-05-28T13:43:00.000-07:00

Popcorn Movie from Gellnerism on Vimeo.

Dany und ich haben den perfekten Popcornfilm gedreht. Wir lieben unser Popcorn gesalzen und mit etwas zerlaufener Butter. Abends machen wir uns oft eine Portion und genießen sie zum abendlichen Film oder Videospiel. Die Technik wurde von Generation zu Generation weitergegeben und wurde von Frau Doktor Dany perfektioniert. So haben wir meistens nur vier bis achteinhalb nicht aufgegangene Maiskörner pro 100g. Diese Quote wäre selbst für professionelle Popcornmaschinen beachtlich.

Jazam 4 Monster

2009-05-27T03:35:00.000-07:00

Das neue Jazam (ich erwähnte es bereits) ist draußen und darf vorbestellt werden. Ich habe das Fanprojekt aus dem Comicforum seit Stunde Null begleitet und beobachte, dass die Qualität der Arbeiten, der Buchgestaltung und der Organisation von Jahr zu Jahr besser geworden ist. Auch Jazam ist eine dieser Wundertüten, voll mit unbekannten und jungen Comicmachern, zeigt die Entwicklung vieler Zeichner seit vier Jahren und wird immer mehr auch ein Forum für erfahrene und etablierte Künstlern. Diese Mischung macht das Projekt sehr spannend - ich bin sehr gespannt. Rund 60 Künstler, 356 Seiten für 15 €. Kaufbefehl.

Da war mal was... (.de)

2009-05-18T08:03:00.000-07:00

Dem Flix habe ich letzte Woche diese schnieke Webseite geschnitzt, aus dem guten Holz das da Wordpress und Blix heißt. Sein Projekt "da war mal was..." beschäftigt sich mit persönlichen Geschichten der deutschen Trennung und jetzt kommt er GANZ groß raus. Bitte ansurfen und schlau machen. Tolle Comics.

FMX und ITF 2009s

2009-05-17T03:55:00.000-07:00

Hallo Kinder,
Ich habe einen kleinen Erfahrungsbericht zur FMX und ITFS geschrieben. Der Text ist bei Kopfbunt als Gastbeitrag erschienen. Wenn euch ein paar Rechschreibfehla und Wortdreher nicht stören, pilgert zum bunten Kopp. Schönen Sonntag!

Zurück von den Maultaschen und Monster Preview

2009-05-12T14:25:00.000-07:00

Dany und ich sind Sonntagnacht von einer Woche Trickfilmfestival in Stuttigart zurückgekommen. Das verdauen wir gerade noch und holen Arbeit nach. Da ich ansonsten nichts zeigen kann, heute mal ein kleines Making of zu Seite zwei meines Beitrages für die Jazam Antologie.
Der Majestro beginnt seine Seiten immer mit den legendär tighten Layouts.
Diese werden dann eingescannt und nach Nordkorea gesendet, wo ein unerhört teurer Servicekraft die Linien nachpaust und Schwarzflächen ergänzt. Profis nennen das inken (engl. to ink = Linien abpausen).
Nachdem die gröbsten Fehler beseitigt wurden, lasse ich in Photoshop noch einige Filter drüber laufen, fertico fanifico.

Stop A100

2009-05-02T09:01:00.000-07:00

Die Bürgerinitiative Stadtring Süd BISS Berlin setzt sich gegen den Weiterbau der berliner Stadtautobahn quer durch Treptow, Neukölln und Friedrichshain ein. Ich bin sehr für diese Initiative. Wir haben schon viel zu viel für die Förderung des Individualkraftverkehrs und der damit verbundenen Industrie getan, während die Politik nachhaltige Lösungsansätze für die Verkehrsprobleme der Zukunft schuldig bleibt. Die Folgen einer Verlängerung der Stadtautobahn für die Bevölkerung sind nicht abzuschätzen. Erhöhte Abgasbelastung, sowie Vernichtung von Gewerbe-, Wohn-, und Rückzugsgebieten stehen jetzt schon fest. Park- und Kleingartenanlagen werden der Autobahn weichen müssen.

Ich kann manchmal nicht glauben, was die Volksvertreter so für Scheiße aus dem Hut zaubern, um kurzfristige Erfolge vorweisen zu können. Wütend genug bin ich schon über die pathologisch konzeptlose Abwrackprämie, mit der sinnlos Steuergelder verballert werden, nur weil sich niemand in der Politik traut, im Wahljahr 2009 etwas gegen diesen Öko-Fiskal Fistfuck zu sagen. Jetzt werden halt wieder Autobahnen gebaut, für die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung. Wer hat diese Art der ABM eigentlich nochmal salonfähig gemacht? Waren wir nicht bis vor kurzem noch Vorreiter im Klimaschutz, oder taten zumindest so?

Ich bin aber froh, dass es Bürger gibt, die sich solche Dinge nicht gefallen lassen, und für das Gemeinwohl kämpfen. Auch der grüne Bezirksbürgermeister Franz Schulz unterstützt die Initiative. Also, wer was machen will für Berlin, außer Bonzenkarren anzünden und Steine schmeißen, BISS supporten!

Unauffindbar zum Tag der Arbeit

2009-05-01T02:53:00.000-07:00

Big Trouble am Little Boxi überlebt, Walpurgisnacht vorbei und das Haus steht noch, die Sonne scheint zum ersten Mai, als wär ihr alles egal. Aber nicht nur die Bullerei und Imbisbudenpimps müssen arbeiten, auch ich bin wiedermal über meinen Zeichentisch gebeugt. Letztes Jahr habe ich für Lina Liko ein kleines Projekt gemacht, erstmal 90 Sekunden Animation mit einem bewußt sparsamen Animationsstil. Das Management wollte erstmal gucken wie sich das Teil entwickelt und ist nun wieder auf mich zugekommen, mit der Bitte, einen Dreieinhalbminüter draus zu machen.
Normalerweise sind Musikvideos immer mit der heißen Nadel gestrickt. Man arbeitet wie ein Ochse, um die Deadline irgendwie zu schaffen, und freut sich am Ende wenn alle happy sind und keiner dabei draufgegangen ist. Das ist etwas anderes als in der Uni zwei Jahre an 'nem schnieken Film zu basteln, aber irgendwie mag ich das auch so. Stil aussuchen, Storyboard machen und losschrubben. Nach spätestens vier Wochen haste vier Minuten Animation im Kasten. Nachteil, ganz so stylisch wie es sein könnte, hätte man Zeit und Budget gehabt, ist es eigentlich nie und oft guckt man nach zwei Wochen nochmal drauf und sieht Sachen, die man lieber anders gelöst hätte.
Deswegen fand ich die Idee von Linas Management sehr spannend, erstmal ein kleines Video zu machen, und eventuell später was nachzuschieben - nicht nur aus ökonomischer Sicht. Erstmals habe ich die Möglichkeit, nach gut einem halben Jahr nochmal auf das Projekt zu gucken, und Verbesserungen vorzunehmen, hier und da etwas anzupassen und verändern, wofür vorher keine Zeit war.
Die Story vom Video ist im Grunde, angelehnt an Rotkäppchen und Bonny&Clyde, Lina und der böse Wolf cruisen durch die Nacht, haben Spaß (sprich: schmeißen Pillen, sind grundlos gewalttätig und machen der Bullerei ärger) und bauen Scheiße. Ja, auch ich mag Tankgirl. Die Story und das Lied ist so angelegt, dass ich das kurze Video gut auseinanderschneiden konnte, um Episoden einzufügen ohne den Grundcharakter der Story zu verändern. Hab ich vorher auch nicht gemacht, und sehr interessant ist es zu sehen, wie das den Flow der Story veränderte. In der langen Version ist das Ende neu, Lina&Wolf haben u.A. ein Scharmützel mit Dr. Stasi 2.0 und in guter Gellnerscher Tradition kriegt auch wieder uns Paris eins vor die Ommel. So muss das.
Dann habe ich einige Schnitte geändert, Illustrationen neu gezeichnet, die mich sehr genervt haben und im After Effekts viel mit Unschärfen, Partikeln, Strukturen und Kamerawigglern experimentiert, um dem ganzen noch mehr einen eigenen Look zu geben. Animationstechnik ist auch die alte geblieben, vorallem Standbilder, die über das Bild getweent werden. Aber ich hab 'n paar Schmankerls eingebaut, wo ich Flash Formtween Funktion angewandt habe. Von der neuen Inverse Kinematik-Funktion in Flash CS4, auf die ich sehr gespannt war, halte ich wenig. Viel zu unausgereift und Rechenintensiv für das was sie kann. Ich hatte für den Flixfilm damit experimentiert, fand sie aber sehr "unhandlich". Dann lieber die Puppenfunktion im After Effects, die ist lustig & viel einfacher zu handhaben. Für mich muss der Aufwand, neue Funktionen zu erlernen, eventuell neue Hardware zu kaufen, damit die Funktion überhaupt einigermaßen funzt, in einem günstigen Verhältnis zum Gegenwert in Form von Zeitersparnis oder Stylepimpung stehen. Aber zurück zum Thema.
Was natürlich eine ökonomische Entscheidung war, vor allem Standbilder mit Tweens zu benutzen, macht meiner Meinung nach sehr geile Bilder und passt zu Style des Videos. Ich hätte wirklich keinen Bock, selbst wenn ich könnte, hier mehr Frames reinzudrücken. So passt das. Hab ich mir bei Dragonball abgeguckt. Man achte mal darauf, wie wenig Bilder die faulen Hunde zeichnen.
Vor allem diese ganze Schwarzweiß-Ästhetik im Trickfilm ist ja seit Sin City, Persepolis oder Renaissance (nicht zu empfehlen) nicht gerade der neueste Hut. Vorallem ist diese Ästhetik oft zeitsparender. Man muss sich eben nicht für jede Szene nen Kopf machen, wie die Farbstimmung ist, weil man nur über Formen und Komposition gestaltet. Kurz, man spart sich das ganze Ausgemale.
Eigentlich hat mich mehr das Buch Neubauwelten zum Look für das Video inspiriert und nicht so sehr Sin City oder Renaissance. Ich habe aus dem Buch auch Sachen benutzt. Die Bäume am anfang haben als Grundlage Vektorbilder aus der Neubausammlung. Der Club, in dem Lina tanzt, ist verziert mit Grafikteilen, einer Kasette aus Neubauwelten. Trotzdem, auch wenn ich ganz anders zeichne und weniger abstrahiere, Art der Erzählung, Gewaltdarstellung und Style sind schon ziemlich nahe an Frank Millers Fachofictionbrett SinCity. Deswegen hab ich mir Gedanken gemacht, wie man da wieder etwas wegkommt.
Nicht dass mir Originaliät im ihrer selbst Willen furchtbar wichtig wäre, ich hab einfach Bock gehabt, aus dem Style noch was rauszuholen und finde dass sich die Extraarbeit bis hierhin gelohnt hat.
So, was lernen wir daraus, Kinder? Viele Projekte können nur gewinnen, wenn man mit etwas Abstand noch mal rangeht. Es ist durchaus befriedigend und spannend, alte Kamellen nochmal aufzuwärmen. Früher war ich (eine Currywurst) einer von den Typen, die eigentlich ein Ding nach dem anderen durchhauen wollten, und am liebsten immer was neues machen. Der bin ich immernoch, aber die Qualität der Arbeit, die man erreichen kann, wenn Design als Prozess wahrgenommen wird und nicht die erste die beste Lösung ist, hat was für sich. Ähnliche Kalendersprüche hab ich im Studium so oft gehört, aber es selbst zu erleben, macht's dann doch plastischer, wa?
Video kriegt ihr so in zwei Wochen zu sehen, wenn alles glatt geht. (Die Bulette sagte "Guten Tag")

Einsichten an der HTW

2009-04-30T07:29:00.000-07:00

Die Einsichten sind eine monatliche Vortragsreihe des Fachbereichs Kommunikationsdesign an meiner Heimatuni, der HTW Berlin. Meine tolle, beneidenswert attraktive Freundin hat damals viel für den Aufbau der Reihe getan, bei dem man oft sehr interessante und lohnende Vorträge zu allem was angehende und "fertige" Designer interessiert, erleben kann. Mitlerweile gestalten und organisieren unsere Nachfolgerstudis neben dem Bachelorstress alles und gerade zu diesen tollen Wetter kann ich einen Ausflug an die Wuhlheide nur empfehlen. Der nächste Termin ist Dienstag, 05 Mai.

Dann verlinke ich gleich noch unseren FSR mit.

Die Welt ist gegen mich

2009-04-30T03:16:00.001-07:00

Nur so ein Gefühl.

Was ist der Sinn des Lebens

2009-04-28T16:43:00.000-07:00

Wenn der Computer rendert, hat man Zeit für sowas.

Autobiografische Comics

2009-04-28T13:28:00.000-07:00

Dit musste mal gesacht werden.

Flying Spaghetti Monster supports "Pro Reli"

2009-04-26T05:47:00.000-07:00

The Flying Spaghetti Monster, holy deity of the Pastafarian, supports the organisation PRO RELI, that fights for religion being tought in the Berlin school system. Many enlightened celebrities joined the quest for freedom. Other then many states of the Germany Republic, Berlin has a history of separation of state and religion and Berlin school children are taught "ethics" together, no matter the race or confession of their parents. That of course, is unbearable. To become reasonable adults with the capacity for moral behavior, children have to be seperated in school into small groups of christians, muslims, jews, scientologists or pastafarians and taught all the right values that only religions can inspire.

Amen.

Cut and Paste Berlin 2009

2009-04-21T13:44:00.000-07:00

Yeah yeah, we have been to the cut & paste event in the Tape Club last Saturday.

If you don't know what c&p is about, in short, it is a battle of visual artists in the tradition of hip hop competitions. Four artists are giving a topic and 15minutes to create an unique piece of artwork, a jury decides who goes to the finals and then another 15min battle for the top prize, which was some new wacom tablet and a trip to the finals in New York City. Meanwhile, a crowd can follow the creation of the artwork on big screens, sheer and support and dance to the DJ set. The categories of skirmish were 2D, 3DDesign and Motion Design, the latter being the exception with a six hour time frame and only four combatants. All in all, a very cool concept for a neat event.

The Motion Design competition had the best results working around the subject "public and private". The crowd reacted really positive, too. 2D and 3D did not really blow me away. Nobody expects master pieces within 15 minutes time. But given that the competitors were told the themes a week in advance, I think the main concepts for the pieces could have been better. It was interesting to see the people build their pieces, especially in the 3D section, where the approaches of building the pieces and use of software had been vastly different. As usual, the audience prize for this category went to the bloke who brought the most friends. Cheap. Sad to see that he also won the jury price.

In 2D, I was surprised that none of the artists really used the wacom cintiqs to actually draw on them or even do a speed painting. No, real illustrators, alot of missed potential there. People mostly stuck to collague technique and illustrator style vector and besier pushing. The cool effect that you get from actually watching someone draw was not achieved.
There was robotkid, a guy who did a fairly cool pic. He tried to put the piece together in tune with the rhythm given by the DJ. That was cool and playful.

Nobody expects super dope artwork, you don't go there to learn anything or witness photoshop revelations. The artists are supposed to show of their skills and get some of that imediate feedback that a visual artist never exeriences in normal work life. Everybody else should have a good time at on a design themed party and the sponsors and media partners could present themselves as it is common these days.

Still, I left the event rather annoyed and somewhat angered. I liked the location, I liked the audience, I could live with the artists and jury and I really liked the music that day. But the two presenters were really really horrible. First off, neither the fat bloke with the bad hair nor the air head chick spoke proper german or had the slightest idea about the event they were hosting. English is not my native tongue nor is my writing very elegant. I do not expect anyone to speak perfect German. Who does?

But a presenter should present. They were mocking. I figure the little sense the two brats were talking could have been easily understood by the audience in any other language. And I could have lived with that. Easily. What made me mad was their ill-prepared performance and blatant ignorance for the event and their audience. They did not know what they were presenting, nor did they seem to care to show some interest. They even tried to be cool and even funny. Making fun of the audience by repeatedly calling the crowd "workless graphic designers" (haha, good one) or blaming them for the bad atmosphere after they managed to turn all the enthusiasm in the room into mild boredom.

Lacking rhetoric repertoir, the fat one screamed "BERLIN!" every time he felt like something had to be yelled, expecting the crowd to go ape shit. Annoying. Some people were drunk or otherwise prepared enough to bear it, my friends and I had to leave after two and half hours.

Sad thing is, it could have been such a cool night. Everybody had the best intentions to make the event a nice party. If c&p comes back next year, I'll give them a second chance. There is a lot of potential for a good event.
Rating on the shitshockminipenguin scale: 1/5

Anfang anzufangen @ Sehsüchte

2009-04-10T08:02:00.000-07:00

Anfang anzufangen is running at the Sehsüchte International Student Film Festival in Potsdam on Friday, 24.04.2009. I recommend visiting the six day festival bash that features about 160 films from all parts of the worlds. I think it is the largest student film festival of the world too.

The Thalia cinema is a very nice location. I remember that my parents took me and my brother there some time after the German reunion. I have some nice memories with this place and now I am looking forward to seeing my work on the big screen again. Also, I should really turn more of my films in to festivals... But that's a whole other story.

Monster Wip

2009-03-30T05:16:00.000-07:00

Hey ho,
on Friday I started working on a short story for the jazam magazine. The subject is "monsters". I did this first panel, pen & brush ink on Shollerhammer, as a style test. Unfortunately, I will not be able to finish the whole story due to real (paid) work so I'll turn in one or two pinups. This is a good document of me looking for a style.

Check it: Monster comes out of the water while lone adventurer crouches on the grass. Artist has not found a way to render grass nicely but likes how the water turned out.
But what is this? Artist wants to make eery mood with grey scales but hates that "fancy" inking gets lost in the process. NOOOOOOoooooo!

I'll keep you updated, folks.

Flix - Akte Y

2009-03-27T02:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, my latest movie premiered at "Zitty Leselounch" in the "Kantine im Berghain", Berlin-Friedrichshain. I (Storyboard, Animation, Compositing, Cut) have been working on the piece with my friend Flix (Story, Art Direction, Drawings), Stephan ( Animation), and Vincent (Sound Producer) for some time (maybe six man weeks in total) and I am really happy with the result.
The audience laughed almost all the way through the two and a half minutes film and we were thrilled to see the audience react in such a good way. The process was laborious but fun, I learned alot from this experienced storyteller and Flix stated that a long time dream has come true for him. You can watch the film at one of his mainy readings and hopefully on film festivals in the near future. We'll keep you informed.
Flix is an acclaimed comic artist and cartoonist and one of the most popular and most productive specimen in Germany. He manages to maintain and hone his trademark style while exibiting an outstanding understanding of storytelling, humor and the human condition. Stephan is a good friend of mine and easiest guy to work with with an astonishing skillset in illustration and animation. Vincent is an upcoming music producer who runs by the name of beatzarre and is one part of the infamous SDP, which should know by now.

Résumé for "Prepare for Pictopia"

2009-03-24T04:02:00.000-07:00

When You're Smiling... from David OReilly on Vimeo.

My Girlfriend and I attended the third pictoplasma conference this year and it really has been a blast for us. Unlike other conferences, this character-, animation and design- and art fest hosted a vast number of exibitions, parties, and workshops that framed the actual conference made up of speaker's lectures, smyposium panels and screenings. The non-elitist, family vibe that took over the "Haus der Kulturen der Welt" for three days was something that we really enjoyed. During the conference you always had families with little kids playing within the exibition and playground spaces, and even strollers and tourists, that would otherwise have no interest in the matter, would show up and enjoy the event. If not the exibitions throughout Berlin, this shows the interest in promoting the love for character design to the general public rather than making a class gathering of a handful of mates.

The conference audience was mainly made up of artists, students, fans, designers and journalists. There was no V.I.P. launch for the speakers so if they stuck around, fans and students could get in touch with them, ask them questions or show some artwork if they felt like it. This constant dialogue was also encouraged by the workshops and the so called "breakfast pitch" hosted by Fons Schiedon. Here, upcoming artists could share their projects with the audience.

Mawil in the middle: Panel discussion about the work of Boris Hoppek (the guy with the laptop on the right), Boris Hoppek not saying one word, the others saying a lot of words.

I did not partake in any workshop activity but tried to follow all the presentations and panel discussions. Boris Hoppek had a nice presentation where six people talked about his work while he took care the pictures were shown in the right order. Gaston Caba presented his rich body of work and finished the presentation with a song performance. That was something. Marc Craste of Studio A.K.A did a very firm and adept presentation that mirrored his experience. I find it interesting to see that a company that I really look up to for its awesome film and design work, has similar problems with clients and budgets and the urge for self expression as small one (wo)man freelancers. Only on other levels of professionality of course.

AJ Fosik just blew me away with his stunning artwork/installation pieces and probably the best structured and on point presentation of all artist speakers. I realised then, a well structured presentation and rhetoric skills really help me stay foussed as a listener. As much as I appreciate the pure entertainment value of whimsical ill-English presentations of Akinori Oishi, or Eboy , after a day of listening and talking and concentrating, it can be hard to follow a presentation that takes much deciphering on the audience side. Accordingly, I fell asleep at the presentation by Protey Temen from Russia. But Dany said his work was really astonishing.

James Jarvis from London sketching

James Jarvis, best known for his designs for collectable toys, held a really honest and interesting presentation. He pointed out that even a well established artist of almost 40 years can still be on the search for his artistic identity and unsatisfied with his achievements despite of his success. He is also a runner an finished the marathon in 2 hours 32min. He is probably the fastest character designer on the planet.

Circulus O'Reillyus

Tying in to the theme of dissatisfaction in the arts was recent Golden Bear winner and animation boy wonder David O'Reilly. He made a chart explaining his idea finding process which according his outlines is a circulus vitiosus of pain, ideas, exposition and humiliation. Very nice. David also paid his due respect to the masters by showing a clip of the Imagination Land episode.
Fons Schiedon showed some recent animation work and paintings while Wayne Horse probably produced the biggest laughs, showing off work like Schweinemann, his shorts "ponzo", "flying cars", "telltales" or the "Adrian Falk" music video. And yes, you can find all that stuff on his site, but his presentation and mild punk attitude just rocked the house. Finnish illustrator Klaus Haapaniemi concludes the list of my favorite presentations. He presented with the help of his wife (I think) and it really felt like they were having a private conversation which just so happened to be in front of some hundred people. He is a unbelievably skilled and productive illustrator.

The full list of prentations can be found here. My favorite symposium panel was called "Shaping Global Media -Character Creation" and featured Geoffrey Long, Ken Belson and Frenchy Lunning. They talked about transmedia branding and story telling, Hello Kitty, and the japanese Shojo culture Very interesting.

Mr. TTT and cute girl

We also adopted this cute Mr. TTT from the awesome "Friends with You". He adopted to life in his new environment really good and here you can see him exploring the Pictopia place.

Mr TTT @ Pictopia from Gellnerism on Vimeo.

Here are some more impressions

Aki Oishi

Motomishi installation

Exibiton

"Haus der Kulturen der Welt" with pictobanners

These potatoe people (???) are hand drawn by Aki Oishi

Installation by AJ Fosik

All in all, it has been a wonderful event and I am looking forward to preparing for the next pictoevent in the future. In times of constant media availability (interwebs and such), the worth of actually attending an event and experiencing something first hand even rises. That's how I feel about going out versus looking shit up on the computer. Joel Gethin Lewis, genius artist in his own right, said something similar at the Tocame Design conference this year.

more
picto Photostream by Allerleirei
picto Phpotostream by Visual Orgasm
pictoplasm photostream

Be a Magpie Animation

2009-03-18T05:55:00.000-07:00

Magpie - Join the Conversation from Magpie & Friends Ltd. on Vimeo.

Nadine approached me to make the animation for the be-a-magpie.com company, they offer a service for a thing called "twitter". Nadine did the Illustrations and art directed so to speak, I did animation and sound, even though the voice is not me. :)
The cooperation was a real treat.

Portfolio Update

2009-03-15T09:33:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I updated my Illustration & Motion Graphics Portfolio this weekend. I put up some more work, and chanced the look of the site a little bit. Now I have eight "hotlinks" under the update section that lead you directly to featured project. Furthermore, the work is devided into five sections, motion, illustration, comic, interactive and laboratory - the two latter being more of experimental categories. Have fun exploring and please tell me what you think.

CLICK HERE

very old sketches

2009-03-05T09:06:00.000-08:00

From a time when I just started digital sketching.

Office Lizard Man

Titti Doreen

Chilla Gellnerilla

Crisis of credit

2009-03-03T03:24:00.000-08:00

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo

Nice explanation how the financial crisis came about. More info on the movie here.

Alter Ego - Comic Artists go to Hell

2009-02-27T03:38:00.001-08:00

I reread my minicomic from 2006 this morning and really enjoyed it. And while I am not too fond of much of my work, I deem this piece a good example of a comic with a fluid story, solid artwork and funny ideas (at times).

This is one piece of work that I really like looking back at. I had good times making it and I still remember sitting in my living room with girlfriend Dany, my friends Mana, Steffi & Poly who helped me cut and staple the comics so that we could sell them on the comic fair. Fun times.

While the print has sold out you can always read it on the Net here

The short story Muse kind of ties in to alter ego.

Neon Rabbit Flyers as City Light Posters

2009-02-19T02:50:00.000-08:00

Ah well, it happened again. Some clients of mine just took a flyer design I did and used it for a city light poster campaign in the heart of Berlin-West. They totally butchered the layout, which almost always happens when a client says "me got this photoshop thingy, how hard can it be, right?!" or if there was "too little time" to ask me for a redesign. Makes me wanna kick their silly bitch-asses. :) This really is no big deal and the clients are good friends of mine but it shows me again that the appreciation for solid design is something that has to be fought for on a daily basis.

Still, kind of cool seeing my "design" on the Ku'Damm and next to the Gedächniskirche.

Here is the original Flyer design.

Moleskine Wallpaper

2009-02-18T05:22:00.000-08:00

I made a wallpaper from the first 16 pages of my sketchopolitulus.
not for the easily distracted. Click on the pic for the fun chic.

more sketches

2009-02-12T12:59:00.000-08:00

Acutally, some style tests for a new project.

Goschi Dart Fighter

2009-02-11T06:25:00.001-08:00

My dad asked me if I could do a little logo for his bar's dart team. They call themselves the Goschi (which is the bar's name) Dart Fighter(without the plural-s). I derived a logo from a popular Berlin brew, the Schultheiss beer brand. This is my dad, wearing the team shirt.

molesketching 4

2009-02-10T13:49:00.000-08:00

Fun Fun Fun

Leo Piepmatz

2009-02-09T03:46:00.000-08:00

I just received my copies of the audio book for preschoolers that I did the illustrations for. The audio is spoken by famous pop diva Sarah Connor, who is also the owner of the publisher Yummy Tummy. Designer Daniela Kleint took good care of the typography. It is a story of a little lion that does not want to roar like a lion is supposed to but wants to sing instead.
Order your copy of "Leo Piepmatz rockt das Haus" now!

The Pinky Show

2009-02-08T02:38:00.000-08:00

The Pinky Show is an alternative educational project using lowfi animation. They are really sweet and insightful, not your usual 30 sec gagreel, but a well researched and ballanced script. Go to their website and watch some episodes and if you want to support them, donate some bugs.
some more:
war on drugs: fail!
we love museums
Edit: I just finished watching this video on the Europan backed occupation of Iraq. Very worth watching.

molesketching 3

2009-02-06T11:50:00.000-08:00

My girlfriend has those fun plastic letter stancils. Cool shit.

molesketching 2

2009-02-04T15:17:00.001-08:00

My prayers are with Ratzi these days. And I went to the presentation on portfolio and self presentation by the freelance designer Sonja Vandrei. Interesting.

molesketching

2009-02-02T08:02:00.000-08:00

Those awefully expensive moleskine sketchbooks have something that makes doodling even more fun... Maybe the round corners? Or the yellow paper?
Edit: I rescanned the sketches on another scanner.

wassoabgeht 02

2009-01-30T10:13:00.000-08:00

Wassoabgeht 01

2009-01-29T03:45:00.000-08:00

Brütal Legend

2009-01-23T02:38:00.000-08:00

I am so looking forward to this game

Doublefine, makers of the awesome Psychonauts, team up with panda dubbing, ever rocking Jack Black to bring us a game that almost certainly has all a gamer can wish for. Psychonauts is one of the best games I have played, but sadly did not gain the commercial success it so much deserves. I hope with Hollywood heavyweight J.B. and the support of Electronic Arts, it will get the exposure a game needs to succeed.

Hairy Guy

2009-01-22T12:18:00.000-08:00

I don't even know what that was about. Nothing good comes out from watching all that Lynch shit.

Strangely, I had great fun drawing all that hair.

Thesis Paper Illustrations

2009-01-18T04:06:00.001-08:00

It is such a lovely sunday here!
Anyway, here are some illustrations I made for my thesis paper "Ästhetik und Ökonomie des unabhängigen Animationsfilms" ("aesthetics and economics of independent animation"). I wanted to achieve a style of illustration that mimics the effect that you get when you see more frames of one animation sequence at once. Animation, after all, is a sequence of pictures shown one after another. My illustrations make this process visible by showing this connection on one sheet of paper.

The book cover. All pictures together. Ah, the chaos!

Chapter 1 "The animation business" (Well, no sequence here. It's a mimicry.)

Chapter 2 "The Independent Filmmakers" I used photo reference by Ahrum for anatomy guidiance.

Chapter 3 "The Resumee" Look, she dances! Photo reference by characterdesigns.com

Chapter 4 "Attachment" Swim, hippo, swim!

Lina Liko: Unauffindbar

2009-01-14T14:26:00.000-08:00

Last year around October I provided a short musicvideo and fitting illustrations for a young pop singer named Lina Liko. The animation style is pretty close to the animatic and thus economical which was a budgetary requiry. I like to do more of this kind a work. Go to her myspace site and show her some love.

Lina Liko - Unauffindbar

Christmast

2008-12-27T07:18:00.000-08:00

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I made a little flash game where you have to mast the reluctant elf Prepelklum to battle santa.

Click here to play!

Nina Paley and the Copyright Issue

2008-12-14T11:03:00.000-08:00

As I conclude my thesis this weekend (Yeah! Finally. Take that, degree-still-to-come!)I came across this 42min interview Nina gives on the legal problems she has with her movie "Sita sings the Blues". Keep in mind that her film has won Best Feature Filme at Annecy this year amongst others and because of some sound track clearance issues is unable to release the movie on DVD or anyway as a matter of fact. The interview is really enlighting, yet heartbreaking to watch.

Thesis: Steamboat Willi (1928), Please Say Something and Bolt (both 2008)

2008-12-13T08:01:00.000-08:00

In my thesis work I am featuring the greatly appreciated David O'Reilly whose webserie Please Say Something explores ways to find new aesthetics for animation with the new tools of the trade. I realised that in doing so, his work gets closer to the earliest works of Disney like Steamboat Willi from 1928. Abstraction of form, movement, sound and event relationship have much in common, while of course O'Reilly applies much more current storytelling structure and a format appropriate for the Interweb. High speed Soap Opera.

Steamboat Willi

Please Say Something

PSS Season 1 from David OReilly on Vimeo.
In the meantime Disney's new feature Bolt does the "old eye candy with cute puppies and some Pixar flavour" trick.

Ohne Zucker! No Fat!

2008-12-08T02:26:00.000-08:00

This is very old.

Thesis: Nina Paley & Bill Plymton

2008-12-01T08:59:00.000-08:00

Bill Plymton pretty much got me hooked on becoming an animation guy. He makes the animation process visible, animating with illustration by really cutting back on the frames he draws but making them count. While traditional animation uses 12 pictures per secound and more, trying to hide the fact, that all the fun characters are just a bunch of flickering pen strokes, he gets by with three at times. And he makes his own stuff, so that's why I have to feature him in my little thesis. Nina Paley worked three years on her first feature that I saw at the Berlina festival. She uses flash and a lot of different styles to tell her story but she does that with such delightful humour and fun attitude that made the electrified the audience and made me very euphoric about her work.

Sita Trailer Great.

Idiots and Angels OMGWTFBBQ

Richard Dawkins & Alister McGrath on religion and atheism

2008-11-27T13:17:00.001-08:00

I really enjoyed listening to this debate that was led by Richard Dawkins (the God Dillusion) and Alister McGrath (Dawkin's Dillusion). The acclaimed atheist Dawkins explains his thoughts on religion, the lack that of and other important things whilst challenged by former atheist, now christian theologist McGrath.
Enjoy.

Thesis 2 : "Your Career in Animation" by David B.Levy

2008-11-24T13:50:00.000-08:00

Last week, I got this book in the mail, and it proves very helpful for any Animation Artist trying to get some orientation. It is not a technical manual as the "Animator's Survival Kit", it covers fields like getting educated for animation, getting jobs, marketing & networking, working in a variety of studio and people types, setting up a studio, being independent, pitching projects to networks, and many other fields that can help you out and make an intersting read. I really like the book.

Comic Quiz

2008-11-21T04:50:00.000-08:00

Who knows which famous book these panels are paying respects to?

For Moga Mobo's "100 Meisterwerke"

Thesis: starting out

2008-11-13T12:49:00.000-08:00

I am working on my thesis "the aesthetics and economics of independent animation" which is a very interesting subject for me to explore. These are very exciting times to be in animation and I think especially the independent, or let's say for now, the smaller studio scence, is producing a never before seen mass of artistic successes while exploring new business models. I am very fascinated by the kind of artistic driven smaller and middle size studios like Studio Soi, the Mill, Studio AKA, Psyop to only name a few. But I want to explore more on the kind of Studios and single Animators that focus on telling their personal story in their films and try to get an audience and probably a revenue out of their films.(like my peer David o'Reilly, we have little fan club here :) ) How do one approaches animation as a small venture? How does one juggle artistic and economic goals and how to organize distribution and marketing?
I have talked to and conducted interviews with people that I really admire, like Fred Seibert, Bill Plymton, Nina Paley, Pat Smith, Hanan Harchol or Klaus Baumgart, the latter being a successfull Childrens Book Illustrator and my professor, but I listen to him anyway, sometimes. :) Even though my piece will mirror my personal stand point on the subject, the interviews helped me a great deal to for perspective and to examine different strategies. My starting point is that "Independent Animation" should be both the striving for artistic and narrative fullfilment and economic independence and let's see where I get from there.

Sidenote: check out the DVD promo animation for Richard Williams DVD collection the Animator's Survival Kit Animated. I bought the book in 2003 and roled with it ever since.

Laika the space dog

2008-11-10T05:11:00.000-08:00

I did this piece for the russians exibition by rotopolpress.

Captain Russia

2008-11-06T03:40:00.000-08:00

One of my contributions to the upcoming "Russians" exibition. A sugar garlic candy cone for those who recognize all the hints. :)

Russen and Schmidt's Katzen Exibitions

2008-11-05T04:56:00.000-08:00

I am participating in two more Exibitions this year and then I am cutting the crap and finishing my thesis essay. Both are group exibitions and I will have two to three pieces in it.

Schmidts Katzen

8.November 20:00
Villa
Landsberger Allee 54

Rotopol "Russians"

rotopolpress
Friedrich-Eber-Str. 95
D-34119 Kassel

So Genial

2008-11-04T05:54:00.000-08:00

Die Band SellOut Deutsch Pop (kurz S.D.P) hat für ihren schmalzig schönen Popsong SoGenial keine Kosten und Mühen gescheut, nur die besten Schauspieler gecastet und die fähigsten Filmemacher angagiert, deren Honorare komplett keinem guten Zweck gespendet wurden. Nie hat eine Popband ein mehrheitsfähigeres Video an den Start gebracht. Mindestens Top10, mindestens.
VideoCredits:
Song: Vincent Stein, Dag Alexus aus dem Album "Die Rache des kleinen Mannes"
Animation: Daniela Kleint, Vincent Stein, Ich
Schnitt: ich
Texteinblendung & Specialeffekte: Alvin Ronninger
Danke an Steffi für Barbies, Barbiehaus und schöne drei Tage in einem soltauer Keller.

It's alive!

2008-10-23T02:37:00.000-07:00

I recently designed the little doll for the dog character from the Ich+Ich Musicvideo Video I did in 05. Isn't he adorable?

Check out the Ich+Ich shop.

And here is a manual on how to fight 20 children.

ROBOT MONSTER CHICKS Exibition

2008-10-22T03:41:00.000-07:00

Three fellow illustrators and I are going to have an exibition in BOX 32 Gallery in Berlin, Friedrichshain. More Info on our collective MySpace Site.

Come to the Opening Party
BOX 32
Boxhagener Straße 32, 10249 berlin
November 1st 2008
19:00 CET

DJ, FOOD, BEER, ARTWORK TO THE MAX

Bitey's Castle Academy

2008-10-21T06:37:00.000-07:00

I have been using Flash to learn and produce animation for quite some time. I gave lessons to teach the workflow, capacities and work arounds that are inherent to the programm and I think it is still the easiest and most accessible way to get some movement going, besides the infamous gif animator. When coworking with traditional animators or motion graphics people that used other programs, I then realised that there were many things that weren't all that clear and logical for others and I even put together a little manual. But now, the astonishing flash animators Adam Phillips introduces the Bitey's Castle Academy featuring many flash tutorials and how-tos, from a flash animator's perspective. You can download the first two chapters for free. And if you like what he does, donate some money. He is an extraordinairy independent film maker, working mostly for free and he has created some awesome exaples of animation.

OstX boy redux

2008-10-20T14:32:00.001-07:00

I painted over an old pic from 2006 this evening. There is some slight Pychonauts influence if you look closely. :)

Redesigning the Stone of the deaf production

2008-10-17T14:06:00.000-07:00

Flash Header and overall design by moi and CSS by Mr. Alvin Raminger Check it out

Island

2008-10-14T00:58:00.000-07:00

Island - Feuer, Eis... Wikinger from Gellnerism on Vimeo.

This little something-something I did for the astonishing Jojo. He recently started blogging in English which is really good for everybody who doesn't understand this Krautspeak of ours. Apart from his blog, he does illustration and a really nice webcomic which goes by the name of NERDYBERDY.
Here is his post

Everything is just borrowed

2008-10-01T11:19:00.000-07:00

"I came to this world with nothing
and leave nothing but love
everything else is just borrowed"

Being a fan of Mike Skinner's is not that hard, this is another one of the really good and touching ballads he made.
Try also: dry your eyes, or blinded by the lights, or never went to church. man, just go buy every album.

AND if you are in Berlin, you should really go to the BABYLON MYTH AND TRUTH Exibition in the Pergamon Museeum. We spent roughly 4 hours there today. It is really entertaining and educational. GO GO GO.

Unnecessary Censorship with the Sesame Street

2008-09-19T03:31:00.000-07:00

This is way too funny not to share.

Garlicked

2008-09-17T13:43:00.000-07:00

Garlicked from Alexander Gellner on Vimeo.

It isn't funny and it hurts the eyes - new millenium art! First Vimeo upload, it messed up the ration.

Schal

2008-09-16T02:32:00.000-07:00

good morning doodle1

Castle Crashers

2008-09-13T14:07:00.000-07:00

I recently found out about this guys from The Behemoth who developed a XBOX 360 Life game called "Castle Crashers"
It really struck me with its flash game kind of style and grassroots mentality and it looks like they really succeeded in getting out of the webgame ghetto into the xbox life world which probably means that there will be some revenues. I really enjoy the design and cartoony lightness of the whole thing. I dont know how the game is when playing. I am just happy that thebehemoth guys make games on a really tight budget and a really slim team and still manage to compete with multimillion dollar companies.

Here is a little interview with the two bosses and some footage of the game:

here is a review. golden axe style!

Kopfbunt

2008-09-12T07:34:00.000-07:00

Jeder weiß ja, dass ich Leute, die nicht zeichnen, erstmal nicht ernst nehmen kann, weshalb ich auch im Designstudium nicht so viele Freunde hatte. Diese Gestalter mit ihren Gestaltungsrastern und Gestaltungsmacs und ihrer Helvetica - ich weiß bis Heute noch nicht, was die den ganzen Tag machen, was mein Word nicht kann. Einer von meinen Unigestalterfreunden kommt trotzdem immer mal wieder zum Kaffee vorbei, egal wie doof ich wieder bin. Malte heißt er, er macht so Internet, und jetzt hat er auch einen schönen Blog mit dem Namen Kopfbunt angefangen. Er schreibt interessant und / oder verlinkt auch interessante Sachen, also guck es dir doch mal an, werter Besucher. Da liegt die Zukunft.

Neon Rabbit Party Flyer

2008-09-09T08:13:00.000-07:00

Logo, Typo & Flyer for Neon Rabbit Party Series. The yellow will be printed with yummy Pantone 803C neon color. Collabo with my übertalented designer girlfriend Dany who is way too busy to even think about having a website.

meh!

2008-09-09T05:52:00.000-07:00

meh!

Monobrowman represent

2008-09-05T10:05:00.001-07:00

These guys are not to mess with.

Friedrichshain Kindersitze represent

2008-09-05T09:52:00.000-07:00

Details of Old man with tattoos

2008-09-02T10:57:00.000-07:00