Trevor's Blog

As someone who did a previous post on why the movie redesign for Sonic The Hedgehog was much needed, It amazes me how far the movie has come. This went from a film being widely hated due to the design and was being anticipated to be a complete failure as well another punch in the gut for Sonic's history to being one of the few good video game based movies and one of the few examples of the people behind a major movie actually listening to feedback from fans of the property.  It's because of the fact that they listened that the film was as successful as it was at the box office and now has just released the trailer for the sequel that, in a big way, promises to give fans of Sonic what they want to see.  While I liked the first Sonic movie and really appreciated the fact that the crew involved redesigned the character, I couldn't say that I "loved" the movie or consider it to be the high point for video game film adaptations. I felt that title still goes to Detectiv

 If you were to ask me what was my number one favorite movie of 2018 was I, without hesitation, would say Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse. That is the only movie I saw more than once in the theater.  Not only is it the best Spider-Man movie, it is a complete game changer in every way in terms of it's use of CGI. There is no movie that has such a distinctive style like it that merges 2D animation and stylized 3D animation to truly achieve a look that feels like a comic book come to life.  So of course I was ecstatic when the trailer for the much anticipated sequel "Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse" was released. Not only that, but it'll be a two part movie.  The trailer is a great first look into what we can expect from the movie's story and visually it looks they're pushing the animation style even more with the promise that each universe that Miles goes to in the film will have its own look and style as if it were drawn by a different artist. Something t

Just recently I posted about my appreciation for Kevin Temmer and his work.  Well, in addition to his video "What's the matter Martha?", my second favorite video from him is a song that addresses how most animated features tend to start simply titled Exposition Song. Temmer hilariously makes fun of how most animated features tell rather than show and does it via a CG character that has a flat, 2D look to them. Temmer also uploaded his behind the scenes process of crafting this video  and getting the character at a certain angle so he could animate.  Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ffLIJrYEJ8 Link to behind the scenes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KV-QCIwvbDg

 This year saw the release of a live action/animation adaptation of Tom and Jerry. Marking this the duo's third foray into the realm of live action.  As someone who is and has been a massive Tom and Jerry fan since he was a kid, has seen all the original shorts and Direct To DVD movies, and longs to write a feature for the duo who had such a huge impact on his sense of comedy I thought it was.....okay.  In comparison to the last theatrical Tom and Jerry film that was released in 1992, which had the duo talk and sing *shivers*, this new movie is much more faithful to the original shorts. Tom and Jerry don't talk and the film embraces the duo's iconic brand of slapstick and pays homage to several iconic gags and setups from the original shorts. As a Tom and Jerry fan, half of it gave me everything I wanted when the duo were on screen. However, the main thing problem with the film that brought it own for me is the focus  on boring human characters no one cares about who outshi

For awhile now I've had the absolute pleasure of subscribing to the wonderful Kevin Temmer on Youtube. I really admire what he does and love the content he puts out. Tremmer is a professional animator as well as a singer/songwriter. On his Youtube channel he uploads all sorts of great stuff from songs that he's written to his own CG animated content. What makes his content particularly unique to me is how he uses both his talents for animating and songwriting to combine them into great musical videos with a distinct style.  The songs themselves are all comedic in tone and can range from being about depression, exhaustion or breaking down the basic plot structure of an animated film. Temmer has even written songs based around certain memes that are honestly pretty catchy and are done in a way that is very funny.  The animation style he'll use in his own music videos have a style to them that is mix between character designs that evoke a 2D look and character designs that evo

If you were to ask me what canned movie had the most potential to really be something but never reached what it could have been, the first movie that would instantly come to my mind would be Genndy Tartakovsky's Popeye.  Genndy Tartakovsky is consider a legend in animation. The man has been responsible for some Cartoon Network's most iconic shows from Dexter's Laboratory to Samurai Jack. Popeye is considered to be a classic character for both his comic strips and his shorts made by the renowned Fleischer Studios.  In 2012, Genndy had been announced to be the director of a CG Popeye movie to be made by Sony Pictures Animation. Genndy had already done work for the studio after bringing their long in development project, Hotel Transylvania, to the big screen and putting his signature style on it.  It seemed like a match made in heaven. With Genndy's style resolving more around character and focus on physicality and Popeye already having high physicality and character in it

Sometimes I like to go on Youtube and search up some of the effects people have managed to create themselves using 3D and Adobe Programs. Sometimes for fun and sometimes just for inspiration for stuff I'd like to do when I can find the time to sit down and experiment with the programs.  Recently I found a wonderful video recreating a great scene from one of my favorite movies: The Mask.  The scene in question is the iconic scene paying homage to Tex Avery's Wolf character who, stunned by Red Hot Riding Hood, proceeds to have his jaw unhinge as it falls on the table and proceeds to let his tongue roll out.  Using Blender and After Effects, this channel called Film Riot made a near perfect recreation of that iconic moment. Perfectly capturing the expression and cartoonyness of Industrial Light and Magic's expressive VFX. The video goes into great detail as to how they crafted this recreation and, as someone who is fully deep into Blender, I'll admit it was hard to follow.

Last month it was announced that a new, fully CG animated Garfield film is in development and that Chris Pratt would voice the titular tabby.  While I'm not opposed to him voicing Garfield and I'm curious to see how he'll pull it off, I care more about the look of the character.  Luckily, in addition to the announcement of Pratt's casting, they also released the first look of what will be the design of the Pratt voiced cat in the movie.  Now, I've been a Garfield fan since I was a kid. I've read almost every single book that contains a collection of comics as well as having watched the 90's cartoon growing up on Boomerang. And as someone who had quite a connection with Garfield I have to say I really love this design. It's not exactly accurate to how Garfield looks now but rather a CG version of his design from the cartoon and specials o the 80's and 90's.  As you can see in the image, similar to the CG design, the eyes aren't big and take up

When it comes to adapting a cartoon or anime to live action, you run into a variety of problems. What is the tone going to be, what elements from the show are going to work best when transitioning them to live action, and most importantly what is the look of the movie going to be. Out of all the live action adaptations I've seen, there is one that has such a distinctive look to it that really stands out. That being 2008's Speed Racer.  Directed by The Wachowski Sister's, the movie is obviously based on the 1968 show of the same name, this adaptation does the exact opposite of what a lot of adaptations tend to do visually. Whereas most live action adaptations of a popular anime or cartoon strive for realism or a sense of grittiness depending on the material, The Wacchowskis' instead embraced campy and colorful style of the show.  And no where is that fuller on display with than with the CG. This has to be one of THE most colorful movies I've seen and while some of th

Today I had the opportunity to tune into a Zoom video session for Pixar's Internship program for 2022.  After mostly hearing about the internship in a previous video session I watched with a Pixar artist, I really wanted to get more in-depth with the process of getting an internship and the positions. The season started with a great video showing some of the people who were involved with what I assume was last year's internship and talking about their experience with the program and then they talked about how there are several different departments such as "Editorial & Production Management" and "Technology & Layout" that you can choose to apply for. They also talked about what type of work you can include in your portfolio and what to put into your cover letter. As well as a reel of your work.  I asked about what is needed for a portfolio for the editorial department internship, particularly because I noticed I've been doing a lot of editing rec

In one of my previous posts I stated that I had the oppurtunity to attend a livestream panel interview one of the writers of Pixar's most recent film "Luca". I would not have been able to have that opportunity had it not been for the Sabira Cole Film Film Festival hosted by my Intro To Computer Graphics instructor Prof. Ogechi Chieke. The Sabira Cole FIlm Festival holds an annual festival of new independent films that are based in Pittsburgh, but also accessible online internationally.  The festival has a great YouTube channel run by Prof. Chieke where you can watch trailers for the films showcased, interviews, and more. I just subscribed to it today and I'm loving the content on it so far! Link to channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsTiJAHzrO_ZyXEnkW_ia8w/videos

Last year saw the release of a reboot of the beloved 90's animated series Animaniacs.  Featuring the return of Yak, Wakko, and Dot as well as Pinky and The Brain the reboot brings the characters into current times and puts them in a variety of new scenarios.  With bringing the characters into our current times, the show of course has a new animation style in comparison to the original. In addition, the show also uses different animation styles to have more variety and experimentation than the original had. From anime to stop motion, the show certainly takes more steps to be more visually diverse than the original.  One of the episodes of the current season had a musical segment that really stood out to me from a visual perspective.  In the song, Yakko takes us through the history of earth from the age of dinosaurs all the way to where we are now. The visual style showcased in this song really stood out to me for both the use of 2D and 3D. Both styles for this segment seemed to take

                                                                                                 Mosaic   Merriam Webster defines a Mosaic as “a surface decoration made by inlaying small pieces of variously colored material to form pictures or patterns. The history of Mosaics is said to have date back to as far as the Mesopotamian temple during the third millennium B.C.  The art was crafted with stones, ivory, and seashells. Mosaic then evolved through the years such as being used in the Middle Ages to decorate churches and other buildings. For churches, they were used to reflect light into the interior parts of the church that were dim. Different medias that Mosaic art is used in include: 2D, 3D, and Digital. Nowadays, modern Mosaic artist can be found via social media. Three artists using the style are: Nick Misani, Jason Dussault, and Isidora Paz Lopez. For those who want to create digital mosaic art on their own, an app that can create mosaic art is Pro Photo Mosaic Creator.    Dig

Here is a revised poster I made for the " Data Visualization/Infographic Poster" project for Intro To Computer Graphics that I based around Migraines. Particularly because they've happened to me quite a number of times.   I felt the use of magenta and red would be a good color scheme for the whole poster. I also wanted the image that I had for the brain to have a fun design that takes a look inside the mind of someone who has a migraine in a comedic and cartoony way. The original chart I had was a donut chart, but I changed it to after critique to make something that represented the information I posted better. I also brightened the color of the poster as well.