ON THE SET: Bold Moves...

WOW... talk about BOLD MOVES... I had my butt in India for almost 2 years Supervising Animation on Penguins of Madagascar.  It was a tough road because my family wasn't there with me. Yes they came to visit but for the most part I was alone.  There was one good thing that came out of it and it was the extra time I had a lone made me work hard on some personal things!!! its hopefully a COOL "THING"

I hope to share this special "THING" with you in the near future but for now I have to work on it in my tiny itsy bitsy hours I get after coming home from work or the weekends.  And even that is hard because I still do work at home for Dreamworks.

I am back working with some of my favorite people in Animation: James Baxter, Kirk DeMicco, and Chris Sanders!  What else could I ask for as a fan and devoted craftsman of animation.  I will try to keep this blog updated more now that I am back in the states and will have some COOL things to share very soon.

OH!  This is a video done for Black Tree TV and Toyota to help promote Black Artists in Hollywood making bold moves.

Thanks for the fun interview Black Tree! Please stay hungry if you are wanting to do this for a living and you can always reach out if you want to talk here:

http://www.jamaalbradley.com/about/

...Acting Out My Life...

...ACTING OUT MY LIFE…

Since I have been in India I stay in touch with our country through various forms of media.  The more I watch what is going on in the US, I ask myself why I love it so much.  The race issue is never ending in America and it just becomes more frustrating over time.  The opportunities that my ancestors fought for and the life that I am able to have and give back to my child means everything to me.  So when I think about race, my mind immediately goes to her.  My daughter will face many issues growing up as a bi-racial child, but I plan to give her the tools to be prepared and overcome the obstacles that she will face.  

 What is the image about?  Hmmm…  With the discussion of race being so prominent in America at the moment, I feel its only right to show that a black man has performed as all of these faces of various races (rhymes pretty good!).  I think it says something that we are the same when we get to the core of our being.  My background is different than probably 95 percent of the actors that I have created performances for, but somehow these projects have connected to people around the world.  I am “Acting Out My Life”…  meaning my life is partly built around the performances I create.  It provides a home for my family, food on the table, and piece of mind for my life in general… 

…yes I am acting out my life. but we are all acting in some way or another.  We are all connected so we need to start ACTING LIKE IT...

MR HUBLOT... WINS THE OSCAR...

LOOOONG Ago I posted on my blog about this short... amazing... won the Oscar.

You never touch the art in the hunt for an award... you touch it because you love the craft and what you do.  The Zeilt team put every ounce of love they have for the art form into this short.  CONGRATS!

I was getting coffee when the Oscars were on.... I turned to see Laurent going up to accept the Oscar. Laurent Witz and I met because I was a fan of Stephane Halleux's artwork.  I was still at Valve at that time.  A few months later it was announced that there was going to be a short in production based on Stephane's work.  Anyway... after many emails I used my weekends helped out on the short after finishing up on Croods.  YES.. I ANIMATED FOR FREE!!!!  For me it was more about the appreciation I had for Stephane's work and knowing that Laurent had the same feel for it.

Congrats to  Zeilt Productions and All the guys who worked on it.

"The Croods": Animation Reel 2013

Its been a while since I have posted animation on my site, but here is the last bit of work that hit the big screen.  I am still trying to push myself as an animator and the Penguins of Madagascar have proven to be a big challenge.  Anyway... as I am sure I have said before, Croods was a lot of fun to work on and I am grateful to have the chance to work with some well known artists and animators.  Its always the journey that is the most memorable thing about doing this work... so hopefully I am adding to some more good memories with my current team members...  

-keep grinding

"...Slappy..." brainstorming

In India where Penguins now Exist…

It feels like I have been here forever, but it has only been a few months.  I must say that the Penguins are so simple in what they do, but are probably some of the most difficult characters I have had to animate in my career.

-keep grinding

...still drawing...

Its been a while since I posted drawings but I have a bunch of things that I have been testing out.  Luckily I brought my art supplies with me here in India (not everything though).  I plugged my electric pencil sharpener into the wall and the voltage just blew the motor up.  Yeah yeah.. I know, but I thought I could get away with just a real quick zip on the pencil.  Most of the time I spend creatively outside of work has been writing, but I make sure to always give my fingers a workout.  Anyway.. here are a few things that I have been playing with.

...looking good Mr. Hublot...

I looooooong while back I posted a link to the teaser of Mr Hublot that is being created by the talented people at Zeilt Productions.  This is one of the latest renders from the short that will be coming out soon.  I was fortunate enough to work on the film and I think its going to be something really cool.  I am a big fan and follower of the sculptor Stephane Halleux's (check him out if your not familiar) work who the character and world are based from.  This was kinda how I found that the short was being created...  If this image is a taste of how the film is going to look, it should be some nice eye candy.

-jb