Andrew Chesworth

"Dailies Doodles"

2012-01-31T00:08:00.000-08:00

Joey Brown

2012-01-31T00:04:00.001-08:00

Joey Brown, Her Majesty's animation force of nature -

one of Disney's secret weapons for Wreck-It Ralph.

Notebook Doodles

2012-01-20T00:19:00.000-08:00

I like to doodle a lot during break time - often on the same pages where I've written notes for a scene I'm animating. The drawings are definitely unrelated to my chicken scratch to-do lists.

Henry and Scarlet from my animated short The Brave Locomotive make a lot of appearances lately - the kind of muscle memory that tends to occur with characters one is currently animating.

December 11 Second Club Winner!

2012-01-08T11:11:00.000-08:00

Taken aback and delighted that my entry was selected again for this month's 11 Second Club! Below is the HD version as it appears on my Vimeo page.

I was not originally intending to do two competitions back to back, but when I heard December's audio clip of Pete Postlethwaite from Clash of the Titans, it conjured an almost instantaneous visual in my mind of a mountain goat. Something about the sad, wavering, almost braying quality of his dribbly baritone. A spark had been lit, and I immediately began gathering reference images and videos. The one that most captured the spirit I was going for is right here:

The feeling of an elder imparting wisdom upon a naive youth was a scenario that felt ripe for interpretation. Gandalf and Frodo, Obi-Wan and Luke, Merlin and Wart, Mufasa and Simba, Mystics and Gelflings, Doc and Marty, the Stag and Bambi - the list goes on. And along that same path, I'd never done sincere acting with quadrupeds before. So many new challenges about this assignment made it worthy of the energy expenditure for me.

An early digital concept and a sketchbook drawing of my first impressions of the audio:

As with my November entry Rendezvous, I treated this endeavor as a hypothetical proof of concept / animation test for a larger idea. The character designs and poses were explored before animating to a degree that would give foundation to the thumb-nailing process. Once I blocked in my thumbnail key poses relative to the layout, I tied them down and made changes to the character designs on the fly to streamline them, increase the appeal, and make the spacing issues come together.

Big cats are hard to draw, so I watched a lot of footage of mountain lions pacing, and really tried to absorb what is different about their anatomy from a mountain goat's, and what defines their personality in their movement. I really responded to how big and thick their limbs are, and how their midsections have a weighted, sagging quality. Their default expression is some combination of apathy, pride, malice, and voracity.

11 Second Club Interview

2012-01-07T18:16:00.000-08:00

Here is an interview I did regarding my November entry, conducted and compiled by the wonderful Steven Hawthorne. His questions were thoughtful and specific, and really fun to answer. Thanks, Steven!

November 11 Second Club Winner!

2011-12-05T21:23:00.000-08:00

I couldn't be more thrilled about my entry being selected for this month's 11 Second Club! Below is the HD version as it appears on my Vimeo page.

Here are some quick and dirty brainstorm sketches, in the order of their inception:

From the outset the audio clip inspired in me a modern-day noir aesthetic, much like Scorsese's The Departed. I tend to be very raw and stream-of-consciousness in my initial impressions.

The antagonist became a blend of influences, ranging from Anthony Quinn, Jack Nicholson, Christopher Plummer, and other film heavies with imposing voices and physical presence.

Initially Beckett was a more upright, prissy hoodlum. I thought it made for interesting contrast and it seemed to fit the slightly nasally voice. I blocked in an entire thumbnail pass of this character, but was unsatisfied with the performance and tone, and scrapped it...

In the end, Beckett became more cool, intense, and hunched over - an arrogant James Dean / Matt Damon type.

The Flamenco Lady

2011-11-14T20:15:00.000-08:00

3-5 minute gestures from class today.

Male Figure Studies

2011-11-12T01:10:00.001-08:00

3-5 minutes poses from another recent class at Disney.

More Gesture Drawing

2011-11-03T22:37:00.001-07:00

Today I think I took more of an interest in the other artists in class than the model. There were some strong personalities in the room. Poses were three minutes long.

More Gesture Drawing at Disney

2011-10-25T20:46:00.000-07:00

These are drawings from two separate gesture drawing classes this week at the Disney studio. The nude drawings were 15-20 minute poses. The French maid drawings were 2-5 minute poses. I'm really enjoying drawing with China Markers.

Figure Drawing at Disney

2011-10-22T00:58:00.000-07:00

Every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon at Walt Disney Animation, there is an open figure drawing session. This past Tuesday, we had some long-duration poses to work with. I tried three different stylistic approaches to the same subject.

BEN RIG 2.8

2011-09-20T22:45:00.000-07:00

BEN returns with several additions and refinements based on feedback I've received from other animators. The upgrades are listed below. Thanks, everyone!

Download the Maya rig here!

BEN enjoys some new facial details.

Also fixed the "darkening head Normals" bug.

Much improved volume preservation in shoulder skinning.

Tongue controls with full range of motion.

CTRLs for tongue are inside mouth.

An extra cleanup wrist control, and individual digit joint controls.

Also fixed the "collapsing wrists" bug.

BEN RIG Beta Version 1.0

2011-09-06T21:25:00.000-07:00

BEN is a FREE animation rig I built for the 3D Animation class I am teaching this semester at MCAD. He is an all-purpose learning rig for basic character animation exercises. This is the first Beta version, subject to revision upon suggestion / request.

Download the Maya rig here!

BEN features a standard facial GUI.

Easy visual guides, and only animation controls are selectable.

BEN is globally scalable, and is "life-size".

Low-poly skin mesh ideal for real-time animation playback.

BEN includes:

- Basic unwrapped UVs

- Tidy Outliner hierarchy

- Auto-clavicle arm controls

- Easily constrained group nodes

Comic-Con 2011 Souvenirs

2011-07-27T14:27:00.001-07:00

Under normal circumstances my blog is exclusively for my personal art, but this is a very unusual circumstance. I seldom splurge, and I've never been much of a collector.

However, at Comic-Con this year I was at the Van Eaton gallery booth and I fell in love with two production originals by two of my favorite animators: a razor-sharp drawing by Milt Kahl of Prince Phillip from Sleeping Beauty, and a pose from the opening of Who Framed Roger Rabbit drawn by Richard Williams and touched up by assistants with shadow placement in blue line.

"No carrots!"

"Aye aye, sir! Okey dokey!"

Not coming out of the plastic until handled with gloves and framed!

More Sketchy!

2011-07-16T22:16:00.000-07:00

My friend Chang Dai inspired me to draw a wild cat design.

My flight attendant during a trip to Florida.

Here are several sketches of my good friend Rose while the two of us went sketching, as well as some of the people around us.

Some people at Bean Good coffee shop.

Observing at the mall and the zoo.

Free imagination.

My friends Kim and Erin.

A spontaneous homage.

Quick Sketch Mayhem!

2011-07-11T20:24:00.000-07:00

Some rough and tumble sketching! You can tell by all my aggressive smudges how haphazard drawing on the fly can be.

Some cyclists at the Depot coffee shop off the Greenway.

People at the local bakery.

Caricatures from a day of people watching.

Caribou customers!

Living room observations.

Starbucks customers!

Mall of America walkers.

Mall of America Caribou customers!

Some kids at Bean Good coffee shop, and an ironic young man.

Mall of America shoppers.

Palm Springs Rough Animation

2011-07-08T23:42:00.000-07:00

I assembled my complete animation work from the Palm Springs noir short that I directed at MAKE last year. Many shots I took all the way to final cleanup, and the others I blocked in and charted so that my assistant animators could finish them. These are my raw static Photoshop animation sequences, devoid of any post-production whatsoever and set in order to the final audio track. The cars I modelled with NURBS and animated in Maya.

And here is the final piece for a comparison:

2D Animation Tests

2011-06-30T19:40:00.000-07:00

I uncovered some 2D animation I did a couple years back!

Mrs. Butter's Baby is a traditional (on paper!) animated short I started my senior year at MCAD while I was finishing up Mortimer & Bracket. It was for my Advanced Character Animation class, and I sort of lumped several exercises into a gag narrative about a plump mother and her bratty, stubborn little man-baby.

The end tags I animated completely in Photoshop at MAKE for the company reel. Justin Weber did the concept drawings that they are based on.

Samson's Railroad Workers

2011-06-26T18:10:00.000-07:00

Model sheet poses of the extras that will appear in this sequence.

Samson the Superlocomotive

2011-06-05T19:42:00.001-07:00

A concept design of "Samson" as he will appear in The Brave Locomotive. Samson is the pride of Straight Lines, the American railroad empire founded by Baron Van Kapital. The 1899 Superlocomotive is the epitome of the Dutch entrepreneur's powerful transition into the 20th century. What will become of Linus in the wake of this formidable industrial replacement?

May the Fourth Be With You - "Pixar Wars"

2011-05-03T12:55:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure what the big announcement from Lucasfilm will be tomorrow, but I have a feeling it has something to do with this.

Disney Gift Illustrations

2011-05-02T08:21:00.000-07:00

These are two original illustrations I made as personalized Christmas gifts in 2010. The top one was for my sister Emily, who is "good friends" with all of the characters in it. She currently works in Tokyo Disney (and endured the recent earthquake there) and has the picture framed in her room. The bottom one was for my friend Kelly, who works in Hong Kong Disney and is also "good friends" with those characters, particularly Fawn the fairy.

"Interrogation" - Mary Design

2011-04-29T21:03:00.001-07:00

My character sheet for Mary, also based primarily off of animation thumbnails and designed to aid in her CG modelling.

"Interrogation" - George Design

2011-04-27T18:30:00.000-07:00

Some reference poses of the George character I made to benefit the CG modelling process. They are polished versions of some of the thumbnails.

"Interrogation" Thumbnails

2011-04-26T18:39:00.000-07:00

Some rough 2D thumbnails I timed out as a first pass for what will ultimately be a 3D animation. The audio clip is George C. Scott from The Exorcist III.

First Draft Character Concepts

2011-04-24T22:20:00.000-07:00

Some character design color thumbnails for an animation clip I'm working on that's set to audio of George C. Scott.

Self Portrait

2011-04-20T00:48:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd point the pencil at myself for a change.

Animaton Reel 2011

2011-03-27T09:15:00.001-07:00

Baneful Buzzards

2011-03-08T14:35:00.000-08:00

More extras from The Brave Locomotive, these grim birds of prey reside along the uninhabited stretches of Linus' railroad. They are more than delighted when the irritating little engine is condemned to the scrapyard.

Turtle 2.0

2011-03-07T15:04:00.001-08:00

Creating a rounder, more streamlined version of 'Mokey' the turtle became a necessary design change to better integrate him with the look of The Brave Locomotive. He is more pleasing to pose and animate, and the color shifts and texture placement are more calculated to make him visually complement his specific scenes.

Mountain Countryside

2011-02-08T14:02:00.000-08:00

A layout I painted for the opening number of The Brave Locomotive. Birds and beasts inhabit this clearing and wave to the passersby.

The Brave Locomotive - Linus and Henry

2010-12-19T12:15:00.001-08:00

Here is a production style frame for the opening song number "Linus and Henry" in my animated short The Brave Locomotive. Special thanks to Kazimir Iskander for the color thumbnail that inspired the final aesthetic.

Henry and Scarlet Model Sheets

2010-11-18T19:51:00.000-08:00

Pose explorations for Henry and Scarlet, the principal romantic leads from my short film about a little engine that could named Linus, The Brave Locomotive.

Palm Springs Concept Art

2010-06-17T09:34:00.000-07:00

Here is some concept art I created for an animated short I directed at MAKE called Palm Springs. It is the show opener for the Palm Springs International ShortFest 2010.

Janeane's Walk Cycle

2010-05-31T09:02:00.001-07:00

A walk cycle I created for a character named Janeane, with every stage of production represented.

Janeane's Walk Cycle from Andrew Chesworth on Vimeo.

Early Publicity: The Brave Locomotive

2010-04-29T17:10:00.000-07:00

Here is a lovely article Alison Morse wrote about two of my mentors and collaborators, Tom Schroeder and Tom Hambleton, for www.mnartists.org

http://www.mnartists.org/article.do?rid=261907

My collaboration with Tom Hambleton on my in-progress film The Brave Locomotive gets mentioned toward the end.

Japan and Hong Kong Sketches

2010-01-09T13:47:00.000-08:00

While traveling through the airports in Narita, Japan and Hong Kong, I passed the time by drawing a lot of the really interesting people that caught my eye. Some of them inspired higher degrees of caricature than others. The first few sketches I did in charcoal pencil, and the smaller character sketches at the bottom I did with mechanical pencil in a pocket-sized sketchbook. I tried to be discreet, but a lot of people caught me.

Turtle Time

2009-12-12T17:10:00.001-08:00

Here is the meek sinner who crosses the railroad tracks.

Turtle Crossing

2009-11-15T19:46:00.001-08:00

Here is another background I painted for The Brave Locomotive.

Mortimer & Bracket

2009-10-10T12:47:00.000-07:00

My MCAD senior film from back in 2007.

Mortimer & Bracket from Andrew Chesworth on Vimeo.

The Brave Locomotive Railroad Workers

2009-10-10T12:42:00.000-07:00

And, here are some designs I made of the railroad workers that get featured in a few scenes of The Brave Locomotive.

From left to right:

O'Malley, Chan, Lee, Daggett, Washington, Madoff, MacDonald, and Moosburger.

The Brave Locomotive Jailers

2009-10-10T12:22:00.000-07:00

Here are some designs I did for the labor camp gang in my film The Brave Locomotive. Thanks to Kazimir Iskander for inspiring all of their personalities and appearance (and naming them, too.)

From left to right:

Clemens, Gorgeous George, The Foreman, Fandogan, The Farnum Twins, and Mandrake the Mighty.

The Brave Locomotive Passengers

2009-09-21T18:02:00.000-07:00

These are some designs I did for secondary characters in my film The Brave Locomotive. Thanks to Kazimir Iskander for inspiring several of their personalities and appearance.

From left to right:

Mildred and Aubrey Cumings, Hilda Heffner, Stovepipe Steve, Jane Connelly, Teddy Abbalard, Lulu Longbottom, David Lundowitz, and Father James "Golden Boy" Graham.

Fruitless Efforts Illustrations

2009-09-20T10:35:00.000-07:00

Here are some illustrations I did for the release of MAKE's new film Fruitless Efforts: Fruit of the Womb.

The Birds and the Beasts

2009-09-16T22:12:00.000-07:00

These are some incidental animal designs I created for sequences in my film The Brave Locomotive.

Background Painting

2009-08-21T00:02:00.000-07:00

This is a nearly finished piece of background art I made for my in-production short film The Brave Locomotive. There are some stylistic choices I need to bring together for future backgrounds, which may cause me to revisit this one in subtle ways.