=====07/01/07=====

I hadn't realized it's been this long since I last updated. Time really DOES fly when you're having fun.

I'm still in Belgium, living in Brussels, co-directing (with my buddy Mark Mertens) the feature 'Suske & Wiske: De Texasrakkers / Bob & Bobette: Les Diables de Texas / Spike and Wanda: The Texas Rangers' for Skyline Entertainment. I have been here since February 07, and it's been a very busy 2007 so far indeed. Alicia is still in LA kick starting her TV writing carreer, and that sometimes complicates life a bit, but we both realize this is an amazing time, for both of us actually.

We're almost through storyboarding the whole feature film for a first time. It's quite an undertaking, but the two storyboarders, Pierre Neira and Philippe Capart, are very fast and really good. Philippe works remotely and will be responsible for about 15% of the storyboards, and Pierre and I have almost daily sessions of 4 to 6 hours of brain-wrecking découpage and draughtsmanship. Very trying, and sometimes literally exhaustng - not only trying to be creative non-stop, but explaining it in French ... fhew! It gets so I can't speak any language anymore by the end of the day, and we mix 4 different languages without even knowing we're doing it. We will have finished the first pass of the storyboards and animatic in two weeks, in about two months total, which I think is amazing, considering most of the time it's just one of or both the co-directors talking, and Pierre drawing.

Today I ought to finish the 'temporarily definite' edit of the storyboard animatic of the first act of the film, with scratch voices (where available), for our producing partner Cotoon, so they can start on the 3d animatic. Theoretically rigging should start pretty soon, our production designer (merci Paul) still kicks ass, the first character model has come out of the pipeline, most job positions are being filled, pieces of the puzzle are beginning to fit together. It's all very exciting. We could/should start animation tests and design in a month and a half or so. And then we have, uh, 9 months to finish? Something llike that. Better not think too hard about that deadline.

Even though I have my home base in Brussels now (finally my own place!), and Skyline Entertainment is in Wemmel (just 15 minutes north of Brussels), I'll spend most of my time commuting between Liège and Luxembourg (repectively 1 hour east and 2.5 hours south of Brussels), who, as things stand now, will divide most of the visuals between them.

I'd post some of the stuff we've done already, but understandably (eh, heh) there might be some legal language about that. I think it's safe to post the following image though - it's from our publicity file intended for presentations - the test version of Suske & Wiske, the kids from the title. More soon I guess! Until then: hope you're all happy as can be.

 

=====10/26/06===
E-MAIL MADNESS - SPAM ATTACK
Holy Cow! I need to apologize to everybody who received spam (and hopefully only that) supposedly sent to you by me. Yesterday some nefarious punk must have somehow decided to start sending massive spam mails using my webspace adddress. That was not me! I apologize! I never send any mail from any xyz-AT-wimbien.com address. I found out because I now receive hundreds and hundreds of bounced and non-deliverable mails in MY inbox, which has completely messed up MY normal email. So again, I apologize and I'll look into a sollution (if one exists).

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=====10/26/06===
Keith just made me realize what a lazy bum I sometimes am! Time to get get back to work!
The translation was my pleasure sir - I am thankful for the continued education, it's the least I can do in return!

I've been back in LA for about 3 weeks now. It always seems to take a while to pick up my life here again. The Orphanage was cool: nice people, cool projects, particularly the last one: a Nicoderm TV commercial with Genndy Tartakovski, father of Samurai Jack and Dexter's Lab etc. That dude is GOOD! It's always refreshing to see a basically 2D guy take a look at 3D and go: 'Hm, no, more like this', and sketch out a complete animation in 20 seconds, that you KNOW will take you HOURS to reproduce in this wonderful medium of ours! 3D still has some ways to go, and it's nice to be reminded of that by somebody who doesn't see why it should be so difficult to 'keep the pose but clean up the silhouette like this and here and there' in 3 pencil strokes. And he's right dammit!

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=====08/10/06===
I started working a contract job at The Orphanage a good week ago. People are extremely sweet here, both at The Orphanage and in the city. Maybe it's the San Francisco air, but dangit, it's nice being here. Back to my US beginnings five years ago, but this time without the stress of no money, income, prospects, friends, family and .com bubble implosion. Hmmmmmm. All of that and Beard Papa! Life is GOOD! Oh yeah.

Oh, and The Ant Bully didn't do too well at the box office. Ahem. Well, actually, it's a box office stinker. Many reasons can be ascribed to that, and Keith Lango does a good job pointing out quite a few of them. If you have a few minutes, it's a good read. I'd like to add that one can only hope that Warner Bros will someday learn that if you're going to spend many many millions on making an animated film, it might be a good idea to use a few of those millions on advertising. Maybe they did, which would be sad. Looking at the films themselves, there is no reason why Barnyard or Hoodwinked should do better than The Ant Bully, but they both did. Because people knew they existed. Too bad.

Allez, vers des nouvelles aventures!

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=====08/02/06===
I added preliminary sections of a more current reel
check them out on the Animation Page. They aren't fully done yet, but better something than nothing, right? Let me know what you think! I'll try to update the individual clips next. Ciao.

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=====07/30/06===
Yahoo! Movies has posted clips from The Ant Bully online. Check them out here!

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=====07/28/06===
Today is the official release of The Ant Bully in the theaters. And it is amazing how fast the balance in the reviews seems to shift from bad to good. Up until yesterday rottentomatoes.com, the online review collector, gave the feature less than 50%. Yet today the number of reviews has almost doubled, and of the 30 new ones counted, 24 were positive!
So in short: of all the critics invited by Warner Bros and who were paid/forced by their employer to see this film the last 7 days or so, more than 50% didn't find any redeeming factors in it. But of all the paying critics who saw it today, more than 80% LIKED IT.

Man, that could almost be seen as a very convincing argument AGAINST previews and press screenings.
Let's don't have people who are not interested or don't know what they're talking about review your film. How's that for a policy? I think I might be on to something here.

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=====07/27/06===
Happy news for the many 2D artists who have been biding their time!
Disney goes traditional for 'Princess'. How cool is that? Let's see what happens next, but it looks like Catmull and Lasseter are shaking the tree. Yeah! That deserves a little applause! I am sooo looking forward to a cool 2d answer to all the Miyazaki films that have dominated the 2d animation world. Very exciting indeed!

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=====07/25/06===
Last week week I saw Monster House and was pleasantly surprised. Despite the gaps and kinks, I think the story was sufficiently meaty to make it a believable and suspensefull teen 'thriller'. The story wasn't 'Incredibles' material, but neither were 'Cars', 'Ice Age: The Meltdown' ( both of which I loved), or live action such as 'Superman Returns' - which didn't stop them from making lots of money. Given that reality, and given the target group (young teenagers), I think the story was OK. Most of the time, I could even forget that it was all mo-cap. Not that I am enamoured with the 'animation style' that results from it, but I fear and suspect that Monster House will be an argument for more fully mo-cap 'animated' films. It lacks the charm and appeal of key frame animation (when successful), but it works, and is probably economically more applealing to investors. The process is now proven to work, seemingly independent from animator input and, if not predictable, quickly and easily verified and adjusted once the 'acting' has been captured. Whereas every key frame endeavor is a jump into the unknown for the money people. It is almost impossible to know the result in advance, and very costly to adjust after the facts. So yeah, expect more of the same. And truth be told, where Polar Express was zombie heaven, Monster House succeeds in giving the characters something of a soul, a personality. Not all the time, but most of the time, and that might be enough to end up with a respectable box office result (22.2 million in the opening weekend) and justify the next one.

Then Sunday, July 23rd, I saw the crew and press screening in LA of The Ant Bully, and again I was pleasantly surprised. Of course I am biased because I animated on the film, but all fears of the film not being able to overcome the resemblance to 'Antz' or reminders of 'Honey I shrunk the Kids' etc were obliterated. The story is funny and interesting, it is consistent, well paced and entertaining, and yes, there is a moral to it, which makes some people label it as lame or 'middle America' or 'been there, done that', but I think it is a very nice film nonetheless. It is actually refreshing to see a film that tries to convey a message, that isn't all explosions and instant gratification emptiness. The animation is very nice overall, the texturing, lighting and rendering is very impressive at times, in short, it's a pleasant and beautiful film. No ground breaker maybe, but I would definitely recommend it to families with children and people who like to be pleasantly and meaningfully entertained.
People and kids in particular laughed a lot, and even some of the adults I saw the film with got teary eyed at all the correct points - not a small feat. In short: Go see it! In theaters this Friday.

===07/14/06===
A few postage stamp sized itty bitties. So what?

===07/12/06===
Wow, three months already since the last update! I am currently happily available and tinkering with my reel. I hope to get it up here in a few days. After a little quality time with my wife in Hawaii and visiting with friends in San Francisco , I want to get back to animation! It's great to get out for a bit, but dang I couldn't survive without. First though 8) we'll squeeze in a trip to Sequoia National Park. California is just freakishly beautiful and awesome at times. I love it. In the mean time, there's been an interview with John Davis (the director and writer) on CNN about 'The Ant Bully'. It's entertaining and informative, and over 8 minutes long! Check it out HERE. The Ant Bully is almost here! It'll be in theaters July 28th. Can't wait to see how it will be received - I bet it will do better than anticipated by most. Keep your fingers crossed and go see it!
John Davis will also be at Comic-Con 2006 in San Diego on Thursday, July 20th at 2.00pm, to present and talk about 'The Ant Bully'. You can check out the Comic-Con programming page HERE

 

<<2:00-3:30 Warner Bros. Presents a Trio of Animated Features— First up, it's The Ant Bully: Director John A. Davis (Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius) will appear in person to preview and discuss The Ant Bully—a witty and heartwarming story about a 10-year-old boy who embarks on a remarkable journey. New in town, friendless, and tormented by a neighborhood bully, young Lucas Nickle has been taking out his frustration on the innocent anthill in his yard. But one day the ants retaliate. Using a magic potion, they shrink Lucas down to ant size and sentence him to live like an ant in their colony. In this strange new world Lucas will learn important lessons about friendship, get a whole new perspective on life, and ultimately find the courage to stand up for himself. The voiceover cast features Julia Roberts, Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Paul Giamatti, Bruce Campbell, and Lily Tomlin>>

===04/12/06===
Check out the IMAX trailer for The Ant Bully. Contrary to the internet trailer and TV teasers it's made up of actual film material, and small as it is, it gives an idea of how nice everything looks.

===04/04/06===
     
Wow, last weekend Ice Age: The Meltdown opened in theaters.  It grossed $68 mil in the first weekend!  Freaking amazing.  Apart from which it is a really beautiful and very entertaining film of course.  The best time I've had going to see a film for quite a while.  My congratulations to the whole Blue Sky team, and all the temps who worked so hard on this film - it shows!  It is a great feeling to be part of something that brings happiness and joy to so many people. And it looks GOOD!  The animation is better than awesome, and the tangibility of it all, the lighting and colors, the fur, it's all very impressive.  A really great job all!

I visually simplified the site considerably.  I don't like the 'race' to 'impress by site'.  I think I like it the way it is, for now.  It's fun to play around with it though.  We'll see.  It serves it's purpose: you're here.  Glad to have you. 8)
My stay in Irving is extended by 2 weeks.  Cool.  Life is good, people are nice, I'm enjoying animation.
On a sadder note; the management has let all employees know that after the film is finished, they have nothing lined up.  Consequently most everybody will need to look for other employment or try to stick it out till the next project gets going.  Tough times for a lot of peops here - my sympathy guys.  But there is so much talent here, I'd be surprised if people won't get picked up soon.  Chin up all! 

===03/06/06===
I got bored with the look of the site, so I'll be making some changes to try some different things.  Once back home I hope to be able to do more than just the basics. 
Irving will be my home till the end of April.  Then back to LA, and then, who knows ... .

===02/06/06===
And then now, for something completely different: DNA, 'The Ant Bully'. What an opportunity - thanks to David Tart! Thanks man. And what a small world, I'm sitting next to Keith Lango: multi-talented animation guru and ex-Blur colleague teeming with good advice - check out his site www.keithlango.com for plenty of goodies and education! The movie will hit the theaters in August - go see it! Dang it! And of course, check out:
The Teaser , DNA and

===12/28/05===
A quick update before the year ends. I've been quiet, 'cause I've been busy! I moved out to NY to work on Ice Age 2 for a while, yeeehaaa! And man is it ever cool to be amongst all these talented people. I am continuously amazed at what some people here do on a daily basis, it truly is mind blowing. Some people really are natural talents: I stand in awe. And hat off to the director Carlos Saldanha and the animation supervisors. Considering the pressure they're under, they still work hard to inspire and just be nice people. I find it incredible, lessons are learned here! It's a great experience and very cool to be working on Ice Age 2! Go see the film, it'll come out on March 31st 2006, and it'll be AWESOME. Take my word for it. more info at:
the Ice Age 2 web site , and

===07/07/05===
Added an old one, Night Knight Dances with Crab - a character test for 'Night Knight', the main character in what was to become a TV series. I really had a lot of fun working on all those different projects.


===06/21/05===
I think it a proven fact by now that I am not the blogging kind. Hardly even the updating kind. Anyhow, I did update the links page. and also finally added something of a reel.
Thanks to all the peops who (all to eagerly! you know who you are!) gave me feedback. I hope you're not too disappointed when you find out I mostly only listened to the compliments. Don't you know I AM the guy in 'Loves Me Loves Me Not'? Still thank you again.
I hope to update the reel when I'm done playing with the individual pieces - I am in the process of salvaging and collecting, so it all takes a while. I also hope to add some to the projects pages. More soon.

===03/23/05===
Ai Ai caramba Belle! Gefeliciteerd! Vlaanderen viert, wij plegen Kunst, en de koeien, ...


I added a few links on the animation page, check it out