Elemental Magic

New sketches, inspiration for Elemental Magic to begin to unfold at Finca Silencio!

2017-09-18T10:30:00.001-07:00

Recently sketching and drawing up a storm.

As our new workshop comes together,

projects become more do-able

every day.

A sweet little hang out spot that I hope to construct high on out mountainside,

a place for meditation, yoga, or just hanging out for the incredible

sunset, a picnic or dinner...

Flowers in a decidedly Japanese style...

Inner Landscape

Emerging flutter-by...

Pure Plant Energy

Heading home with a newly purchased trio-pus,

a handy little pet closely related to the octopus,

that doubles as a household I.T. Expert.....

Sea to Sky, Sky to See

"It Becomes Everything"

2015-10-10T21:39:00.001-07:00

Early Montage of Heck Flower effects test.....released for the first time...

2015-10-01T16:21:00.001-07:00

This is one of the earliest

tests I did for Brett Morgen's

'Montage of Heck'

a recent successful documentary

about the life and times of Kurt Cobain.

The final version of the scene is very dark,

fitting into the film seamlessly,

it punctuates Hisko Hulsing's exquisite

story-telling character animation sweetly
while not distracting attention away from it.

I owe a great deal of gratitude

to Hisko for insisting that I animate this shot,

and pulling me out of semi-animation retirement....

From here on in I will be having multiple

animation projects moving forward at any given time!

Animation is an addiction, an affliction....a gift..the
modern day equivalent of alchemy...

P & L

Moonrise & Sunrise

2015-09-30T11:37:00.001-07:00

Accidents will happen....

2015-09-19T13:29:00.000-07:00

"Witnesses say a small bird was seen speeding away from the area at the time of the incident. Authorities later reported finding coyote remains, underneath the enormous rock..."

"It Becomes Everything"

2015-07-10T10:05:00.001-07:00

Visual Effects created by nature, fluid, sunshine

and millions of years of geological erosion.

....an exploration of 100% natural visual effects in an extended selfie!

Amazing soundtrack courtesy of Easily Embarrassed.

Bucket Fire

2015-06-21T11:50:00.001-07:00

One of the oldest effects animation training

exercises is to try to animate a bucket of

cold water pouring over a blazing hot camp fire.

It's about time I did a live-action reference version!

Unfortunately the reason I was putting it out is because

the local fire department authorities dropped

by to tell me the small camp fire being used to BBQ on,

was against the by-laws of the town, and that he was responding to a

'complaint'.

Folks with nothing better to do

than shut down our peaceful and 100% safe

little camp fire BBQ. We even had a huge bucker

of water on hand...

Fantastic cicadas just before sunrise at Finca Silencio......

2015-06-16T08:14:00.001-07:00

My little slice of paradise..

2015-05-20T10:35:00.001-07:00

Sunrise wavesplash!

2015-05-11T15:14:00.001-07:00

Diving in, at Finca Silencio, Costa Rica

2015-05-09T15:28:00.001-07:00

Red Breasted Mergansers at sunrise, at 'The Spit' in Comox Valley

2015-04-23T10:09:00.001-07:00

I caught these red breasted mergansers in slo-mo

doing some beautiful dance moves in the dawn's first

light, near Comox Harbour, Vancouver Island,

British Columbia.

Tons of brand new Effects Reference videos on Elemental Magic's YouTube page.....

2015-04-22T08:57:00.001-07:00

Check out the new effects reference videos

on my Elemental Magic YouTube page!

I am using my new Casio EX-ZR200 Exilim camera

to get some sweet slow motion reference in some of my

favourite places in the world.

Stay tuned for a whole new world of effects video reference material

that I will be creating in my new Costa Rican jungle home this year!
The Elements, Earth, Wind, Fire and Water,
will be explored in a whole new way...
Elemental Magic goes
to Finca Silencio!

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I have been shooting reference the last few days in the

natural splendour of British Columbia's Vancouver Island,

where I am surrounded, as we will be in Costa Rica,

by gorgeous rivers and waterfalls, and endless gorgeous

coastlines, all rimmed with majestic green

mountains lined with stunning fjords.

Only difference is, the water will

kill you by hypothermia in about

20 minutes, whereas you can

play ALL DAY in the

Costa Rican ocean!

Gumby goes swimming.....

2015-04-18T04:20:00.001-07:00

My first Casio slo-mo video!

2015-04-18T04:13:00.001-07:00

New super high quality reproductions of my paintings are finally here!

2015-03-16T09:52:00.005-07:00

Emerging

Acrylic on canvas

36" x 12"

untitled

Acrylic on canvas

36" x 24"

last supper

Acrylic on canvas

48" x 24"

Please Tim, leave little Dumbo alone. No reason to go repainting the Mona Lisa now.....

2015-03-11T11:48:00.003-07:00

I think that the original version of Disney's Dumbo is a unique and unsung masterpiece in filmmaking history. One of the most gorgeously crafted pieces of animation art ever conceived. It is not a mere story to be retold through a big budget visual effects loaded live-action Hollywood blockbuster, it is a timeless work of art. Why pick on this incredible piece of animation history just to come up with a story? This is clearly a shameless grab at producing a 'product' they KNOW people will go see, because of their built in love of Dumbo, already planted there through the genius and vision of the original animated film. With all due respect to Tim Burton, he has had his go at a couple of Disney masterpieces now, Alice and Sleepy Hollow, and he did alright, they didn't stink. But please Tim, leave dear little Dumbo alone....

http://consequenceofsound.net/2015/03/tim-burton-to-direct-new-live-action-version-of-disneys-dumbo/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCtIdfd5l3w

Guabo River, Finca Silencio, Silencio, Costa Rica....

2015-02-18T18:34:00.001-08:00

Preparing to move into this jungle wonderland in Costa Rica.......the ultimate experiment in Elemental Magic......

A beautiful piece of craftsmanship and vision! Wood as water.....

2015-01-22T07:13:00.002-08:00

Sneak preview, working title card for one of my upcoming animation film projects...

2014-12-31T14:30:00.001-08:00

What stories would the animals tell,

and pass on down to their children

through the ages, about us modern day humans,

and our legacy on planet Earth?

How have we re-shaped the animal's reality,

after they lived in perfect balance with nature

for millenia, minding their own business,

and peacefully raising their families

for countless generations?

For millenia even us humans lived in relative

balance with nature as well, relying on its fruitful

bounty for sustenance, but never

taking more than needed, or hoarding,

or controlling another sentient being's food source.

But modern man?

We are a species unto ourselves.

A species that lost its way,

and began taking more than it needs,

more than it gives back...

the legend is told.....

Musicians With Guns - Cometa (Mandelbox Version)

2014-12-18T08:38:00.001-08:00

This is a wonderful example of what fractals are,

and what they are capable of creating.

I LOVE this stuff.

Alot.

"There's no market for 2D animation any more...."

2014-12-14T16:28:00.001-08:00

When I was working at Walt Disney Feature Animation at the turn of the century, we were just finishing Lilo & Stitch. After that film came out, Disney went public saying that box office returns were just not good enough to justify making any more films like Lilo & Stitch. No more '2D' animation AT ALL in fact, sadly for everybody, they had there minds made up to shut it all down.

HOWEVER.....Lilo & Stitch's budget was $80 million, and its total domestic total gross was $145,794,338.

Compare that to 'Minority Report', the blockbuster science fiction feature film released the VERY SAME WEEKEND as Lilo & Stitch, directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Tom Cruise and Colin Farrel that cost 102 million to make.

The domestic total gross? $132,072,926.

So, CLEARLY there would have been no market for another big budget science fiction film starring Tom Cruise...or a Steven Spielberg science fiction film for that matter. I mean, it cost more to make, and earned less, so CLEARLY it was an abject failure. Right? NOT!! We were sold up the river, for whatever reason...it was all fabricated. It baffles me.

The math is extremely simple.

It noteworthy as well, that in international markets Lilo & Stitch also did extremely well, eclipsing Minority Report once again at the box office. Additionally it spawned a couple of successful TV series for them, and multiple relatively successful sequels, AND it made billions off of toy sales as well. Minority Report? Nada.

Hmmmph. I think there should be an investigation, and the pin headed executives that made all those short sighted decisions should give us our studio back....

What think you?

This generations "the Wall? A new animation/live action film?

2014-12-06T11:38:00.003-08:00

This sounds interesting for sure....."a mix of animation and live action" yeah?

Director Brett Morgen has given an outline of the Kurt Cobain film

he's been working on for the past five years....

"We're hoping the Cobain film, that'll hopefully be released in 2014, will be this generation's The Wall – a mix of animation and live action that'll allow the audience to experience Kurt in a way they never have before. It's very ambitious. "

Read more at http://www.nme.com/news/kurt-cobain/68002#iL2SguPjsh0Ow5Ir.99

I really very interested in seeing this, I have always thought one of the best ways

to utilize animation is to combine it with live action as a fantastic

atmospheric story telling tool, so I'm intrigued to see how

Brett Morgen has integrated it into this upcoming film.

New animation in mainstream media is always a good thing!

Pas de deux

2014-11-28T14:26:00.001-08:00

When I saw this film for the first time, I was stunned. Deeply moved. It was the first thing of its kind, it took insane hours and exacting calculations on an optical printer with staggered exposures done with exquisite timing.....and it is just as beautiful as ever today. Thinking of good old Norman McClaren...whom I was lucky enough to meet almost daily for some time, at the NFB in Montreal, mid 70's.

Elemental Magic effects experiments

2014-11-27T07:50:00.001-08:00

I have started compiling a variety of visual effects experiments, many of which are actually

science based fluid dynamics experiments that are continuously being created by students of physics. Remarkably, I have taken my Elemental Magic animation workshops down the exact same path that science has taken, engaging my participants in dynamic, real-time physics experiments in order to better understand the dynamics we wish to achieve in our animated visual effects. At Harvard and MIT they are doing the exact same thing in their fluid dynamics physics studies, in order to observe and prove the various theories and that have been previously developed and observed around flow and turbulence. I think it's fantastic, that through both hard science, and through the flowing creative vibe that I try to generate in my animation workshops, we have arrived at the same process of understanding the world around us, rolling up our sleeves and engaging with the real stuff of life, real physics, the way things work....we study the exact same thing, as animators, or scientists.

Got to love that!

As you'll see, some of my student's visual effects experiments are just a little bit more 'on the fly' than a well put together Harvard graduate science experiment. But we learn just as much, sometimes with the most rudimentary of experiments. At the same time, my workshop's experiments are increasingly becoming slickly put together, with quality high speed cameras, good lighting, and some pretty solid fluid dynamics experiments are being put together. I am compiling more and more of the fantastic experiments from my workshops, soon to be posted.