Work Ethic

It’s been a busy past several weeks and I am woefully behind in posting, but was extremely honored to join friends and fellow animators to collect our awards at the Society of Illustrators 68th Annual NY show week before last! My short piece A Poem In A Difficult Time was made to highlight the work of Haneen Koraz’s childrens animation workshops in Gaza as part of AC4PAL’s international project To Gaza With Love. It can be seen at the Society downstairs, alongside all of the rest of this year’s incredible work while the show is up for a couple more weeks. Go see it! 128 E. 63rd St NYC >>ALL of the hand-painted artwork from the film is available in exchange for donations directly supporting Haneen and the crucial work she and her team are doing. Their needs are ongoing! See more at workethicanimation.org (linkin bio &/or @workethicanimation ) @ac4pal @animator_haneen @soi128 @longunevenhair @saksij @suejeelee #societyofillustrators #handdrawnanimation #animationart #watercolor #tvpaint

Some BTS of what the reference animation composite looked like for this sequence from A Poem In A Difficult Time. The rough animation for the whole piece was drawn in tvpaint and composited in after effects. That composited reference “pencil test” was then trace painted frame by frame on paper in watercolor/india ink using a camera lucida to create the final artwork, which was then photographed and assembled for final output. This was definitely the most detail oriented and time consuming shot in the piece, both the digital composite of the rough and the physical rendering of it in paint. Also real fun trying to avoid accidentally blacking out those little planes flying around when inking in the background. Shout out to the homie Jack Mullahy for his special attention to this matter while assisting, and as always @bottlecaptiara for documenting the process...! Every hand painted frame from the film is available in exchange for donations supporting children’s animation workshops in Gaza run by @animator_haneen and her team of incredible women. Go to workethicanimation.com (link in bio/@workethicanimation ) to see and order #handdrawnanimation #animationart #watercolor #tvpaint #cameralucida

Some cool wet on wet effects you can get with waterproof india ink (thanks @bottlecaptiara for documenting) Friendly reminder all frames from A Poem In A Difficult Time are available in exchange for donations supporting children’s animation workshops in Gaza at workethicanimation.com (link in bio/@workethicanimation ) #handdrawnanimation #animationart #watercolor #tvpaint #cameralucida

I am beyond honored to share that A Poem In A Difficult Time has been awarded the Gold Medal for animation in the Society of Illustrators’ upcoming 68th annual exhibit. For an advocacy piece like this to get this kind of award is way more than I could have hoped for, it is truly a labor of love submitted in an effort to raise the profile of the awareness campaign for which it was made: To Gaza With Love, an international anijam organized by Joanna Quinn and AC4PAL, in support of children’s animation workshops in Gaza run by Haneen Koraz and her team. Every frame of the film was hand-painted in watercolor and ink on paper, and all of the artwork is available in exchange for donations to aid Haneen’s efforts at workethicanimation.org. Own a slice of the film and support the work of these incredibile women empowering voices that would otherwise go unheard. Link in bio & @workethicanimation ’s profile #societyofillustrators #handdrawnanimation #animationart #watercolor #tvpaint

A Poem in a Difficult Time screens tonight at Paris International Animation Festival. Really wish I could be there! This animation was hand painted on paper as part of @ac4pal ’s global awareness project To Gaza With Love. All artwork from the film is available in exchange for donations in support of Haneen Koraz and her team of incredible women running children’s animation workshops in Gaza. Go to workethicanimation.org (link in bio/@workethicanimation ’s profile) to see and order. #handdrawnanimation #animationart #watercolor #tvpaint #workethicanimation

Sharing some heat on a snowed-in day here in NY, some BTS for this shot from A Poem In A Difficult Time, made for @ac4pal ’s global anijam To Gaza With Love supporting the work of @animator_haneen ’s animation workshops. The fire is a 4 drawing loop, rough animated in TVPaint and then painted at receding scales to save labor as the shot pulls back from closeup on the flames to full shot of interior room, which cycles as the ghost hands appear and move over it. The result is a choppy-looking sequence as painted, shared here with the reference frames, followed by the final composite of the scene as it appears in the film and some pics of the paintings in progress. Friendly reminder that ALL of the artwork from A Poem In A Difficult Time is available in exchange for donations to Haneen at workethicanimation.org. Link in my bio + @workethicanimation ’s profile to see and order! >>> NYC area folks, I’m putting together a program of Haneen’s workshop films along with select films from the anijam, screening this coming Wednesday December 17 at the @ridgewoodcinema in Queens via NY @culturalsolidarity Project. Proceeds will go to support Haneen and her team’s efforts, and I will have artwork on hand in person as well. Please come watch some animation and support a good cause! #ac4palanijam #haneenkoraz #handdrawnanimation #animationart #penciltest #watercolor #tvpaint #cameralucida #workethicanimation

More process pics from A Poem In A Difficult Time, my contribution to @ac4pal ‘s global anijam To Gaza With Love, supporting the work of @animator_haneen ’s animation workshops in Gaza. The storyboard started as rough thumbnails done on an ipad, then fleshed out as watercolor sketches in a sketchbook. These were then scanned & put together as an animatic to get a rough idea of the overall timing for the piece. Often a sequence works in your head, but when laid out in real time it takes alot of tweaking to actually make it jibe. Ideally the animatic stage is where you nail that down, but it necessarily continues to evolve as you begin animating and further refine pacing, etc - especially with something like this where it kind of has to reveal itself as you go, as opposed to something more straightforward/dialogue driven/etc. So each stage of production is like a blueprint for the next stage where things get closer to what they need to be. When the animatic seems to work the next step is rough animation, which for this project was hand drawn in @tvpaintanim . I’ve included a clip comparing the rough ‘line test’ animation with the watercolor frames, where you can see how ideas and timing for the first section continued to evolve (the hands morph into the heart instead of becoming crumpled paper). The rough animation would eventually be composited as reference to be painted frame by frame on paper using a camera lucida. I’m offering all of that final artwork in exchange for donations to Haneen’s GoFundMe campaign at Work Ethic Animation Art. Link in bio and @workethicanimation ’s profile! workethicanimation.org #ac4palanijam #haneenkoraz #handdrawnanimation #preproduction #storyboard #animatic #watercolor #tvpaint #cameralucida #workethicanimation

Shooting the artwork for A Poem In A Difficult Time, my contribution to @ac4pal ‘s global anijam To Gaza With Love, supporting the work of @animator_haneen ‘s animation workshops in Gaza. Super honored for this piece to be included in the program as it travels to @cinevasioniedu in Bologna, Italy next week, following screenings at @dublinanimationfestival in Ireland, @brightonanimation in the UK and @animagefestival in Brazil in weeks prior. The program centers Palestinian voices, featuring short animated films hand-crafted in workshops run by Haneen Koraz and her small but mighty team, accompanied by films made by others around the world to bring attention to the incredible work they are doing with women and children in unthinkable circumstances. All of the artwork from A Poem In A Difficult Time was hand-painted on paper and is being offered at accessible prices in exchange for donations in like amount to Haneen’s GoFundMe campaign. Get someone in your life a unique gift and help support crucial work empowering voices that would otherwise go unheard. Go to workethicanimation.org (link in my bio + @workethicanimation ’s profile) to see more and order. #ac4palanijam #haneenkoraz #handdrawnanimation #watercolor #tvpaint #cameralucida #workethicanimation