2 weeks in - Testing

Hey Guys!

   Here I am after surviving my first 2 weeks back at LAIKA.......It feels Amazing to be back in the building.....and I was Overwhelmed with all its Glory.

First Off .......KUBO is going to be cinematic Awesomeness!!! You guys are gona LOVE it!!

Laika continues to Push the boundaries of what stopmotion is capable of.....and it will be like nothing you have seen before On the Big Screen....Pure AMAZING...

So.....

My personal journey-

First days are pretty easy......-  read the story - watch the animatic and Feast my eyes on the characters........

This is incredibly exciting. You are both watching-thinking as a { FAN - audience member} but then your mechanical brain is thinking?? How the heck are we gona do that??

Then I find out what sequence I will be working on.....

......and I got a Doooozy....... My sequence is chock full of ?? How the heck are we gona do that??

This is where alot of the MAGIC lies in stop motion.....the problem solving.....the hidden wires....the slight of hand. I cant wait to see how it all works.

Then....its onto testing -

I get my first Puppets that will be my Focus for my time at LAIKA....

On Paranorman.....I mainly animated Norman and Alvin for 95% of the time I was there. So I spent my time testing them before I hit the stages.....although you do get other characters that you have not tested ......the majority of the time you will animate your expertise.

On KUBO ....I am specializing again in 2 characters....And spent the first 2 weeks just testing one of them.

Pushing the puppets to the extents - Finding and staying in character in all actions - and testing for situations that are coming down the pipe eventually.

This is a very fun time and also very good for building confidence moving forward.

I was very filled with anxiety coming back to LAIKA since they are soooooo freaking amazing in what the do.....and also because this last year I focused mainly on  my CG animation and was not practicing daily in stopmo which is all these guys do at the highest levels.

so in short - I felt I was going to be - Not up to Snuff.

Testing is a way for me to find my footing and confidence before I start shooting film....and also get used to working on 1's which is a whole different ball game that animation on 2's like most TV shows .
so....here I am headed into week 3....with a few good tests under my belt and nothing but PASSION to pour into this film....

I'll check in as soon as I get my first shot assigned in 2 weeks!!

           jriggity

New Year ----- New ADVENTURE

Hey guys,

    I am happy to say that I am re- joining LAIKA for another Amazing Film.

KUBO and the 2 Strings-

    2 days Driving and I just pulled into foggy wet Portland tonight. After unpacking and feeling the Head cold my son gave me take the last of my energy I sit to blog.

It was another BIG decision to join this project due to leaving family - LA and a great CG job....but It was time again to tackle a HUGE film and tell An EPIC story as only LAIKA can!!

My CG job is very rewarding but since I lead a team of animators I spend way more time organizing and directing than I ever get to animate. It can be very frustrating to my animator heart but that's why I try to keep animation balance at home when I don't animate at work.

I was also talking to LAIKA way before the project was announced so we knew the project was brewing and that they would like me to animate on it........me and shel had lots of time to consider and talk about the situation.

In the end Shel and Aedon were very excited again for me to join and be a part of the MAGIC!! And completely supported my return .

We have a very clear schedule of visits set and I am missing them already.

     so ..... as Monday-First Day-  approaches

 I am feeling TERRIFIED and THRILLED.....all together....Living LIFE.

       I will be working with the most talented Stopmo artists on the planet!! lucky me.....

                       more to come....

also....in preparation for coming back to LAIKA and getting some practice I created some animation with my Dirk Puppet....

I sculpted the puppet a while back after meeting a child hood animation Idle Don Bluth at CTN .

 Don Bluth was KEY to my entering the arts and animation specifically- In our talking I told him I was an animator and that he was a HUGE influence. I am sure that he heard that a million times over the weekend....and I was just another face to forget. I wanted to change that by sending him an animation of DIRK in stop motion.

NOW I had a clear reason to finish the fabrication. Shel foamed and painted the puppet and we both made some simple wire armatures to get them moving.

here are some of the tests-
Grab and slam-
Grab and Slam WIRE from jriggity on Vimeo.
Sword Fight test-
Sword Fight1 test from jriggity on Vimeo.
Here a Noise-
NOise Test from jriggity on Vimeo.
Walk-
Walk Strutsm from jriggity on Vimeo.
Run-
Run Test from jriggity on Vimeo.

Now that I feel comfortable with the puppet I am ready to create the counterpart which will blow peoples minds  over the next few months as a side project.

    I will post the progress here

                talk soon.

                           justin