Lee's Blog of Random Awesomeness

Platform International Animation Festival

2007-07-02T22:25:00.000-07:00

doodle like a moodle stroodle

2007-05-16T12:19:00.000-07:00

napkin blitz

2007-05-13T11:19:00.000-07:00

a doodle

2007-04-16T01:08:00.000-07:00

Is the end near?

Drawing and Drunk

2007-04-14T00:11:00.000-07:00

This is a frame from the upcoming epic animated film by Dan Meth.

Dan and I have talked about making a drunk cartoon ever since I mentioned to him that my friend Javan, made a experimental animation piece about tracing a circle while taking shots.

Tonight was the night of the cartoon drunken mayhem. Soon the world will see the cartoon drunkenness.

Just a taste of color

2007-04-12T01:50:00.000-07:00

less talking...more drawing

2007-03-26T19:26:00.000-07:00

Flash Failure

2007-03-26T19:12:00.000-07:00

I thought this was a beautiful quote. Copyright Emmett.

yahoo video

2007-03-26T09:22:00.000-07:00

(click for bigger image)

What does that say? 8,270 views?

Yahoo video is more popular that I thought. Must be from the popular Hispanic vote.

Napkin drawings 3-25-07

2007-03-25T11:17:00.000-07:00

"anyone for the counter? counter?"

Moleskin blitz!

2007-03-24T19:11:00.000-07:00

My first shave.

2007-03-24T18:46:00.000-07:00

My Dad was kind enough to remind me that I'm a hairy boy.

How can I forget? I mean... I only made a film about it.

Napkin drawings

2007-03-23T17:11:00.000-07:00

where it all started

2007-03-22T17:17:00.000-07:00

i don't remember Raphael working for cookies....

I've heard there are only seven basic story plots. What are they?

2007-03-21T10:51:00.000-07:00

[wo]man vs. nature
[wo]man vs. man
[wo]man vs. the environment
[wo]man vs. machines/technology
[wo]man vs. the supernatural
[wo]man vs. self
[wo]man vs. god/religion

thats all she wrote.

the things animators go crazy for:

2007-03-18T11:13:00.000-07:00

God bless youtube.

Lee on el Tigre?

2007-03-08T22:51:00.001-08:00

There is this new show called El Tigre on TV. My friend Avi informed me that there is a character on that show that kind of looks like me.

what do you think?

Dan Haskett visits

2007-03-08T22:26:00.000-08:00

Dan Haskett, a veteran animator with three decades in the business, designed the character Belle for “Beauty and the Beast” and Ariel for “The Little Mermaid.” He won an Emmy for his work on “The Simpsons” and has credits for “Toy Story,” “The Prince of Egypt,” a well as for commercials and cartoons for “Sesame Street.”

Very awesome of him and his wife to spend so much time talking Animation with us.

Below is a link to recording of most of his talk , its long, about an hour, but well worth it.
click below to listen. enjoy

http://tofusquare.com/danhaskett.mp3

Marv Newland

2007-03-02T09:53:00.000-08:00

Marv Newland is a supa cool guy, thanks for the doodle!

A Change of Name

2007-03-01T10:43:00.000-08:00

I'm thinking about changing the name of my film.

"Forgetting Morty" is a great name and I hate to give it up but I feel like there is something better/stronger. I Tried asking my family and friends, here are some possible titles that I'm kicking around (in no particular order):

"We Ain't Dead Yet"
"We May Be Old But We Ain't Dead Yet"
"eLDER"
"Old Farts"
"Dirty Harry"
"Old Love"
"eLOVE"
"iLUV"
"Senior Moment"
"Senior Love"
"Old Timers"

***EDIT****

After some consultation with the peoples in G10 we have some more options:

"Pruning Love"
"Wrinkled Love"
"Lifes a Bitch"
and my personal favorite:
"Pacemaker"

***EDIT NUmero DOS****

"Bypassed Love"
"Love & Pacemakers"

Maybe I'll get some inspiration from Marv Newland. He is stopping by tonight to speak to the animation department. I'll try and record some audio of him speaking and post some thought about his presentation, I think he is bring a bunch of films to screen.

About 8 weeks left. Wow March 1st... damn time flies.

mmm texture...

2007-02-17T17:34:00.000-08:00

Here is a screen shot from the brewbucks coffee and tea house. enjoy the texture!

the joy of shaving

2007-02-10T23:47:00.000-08:00

I created this little number for my experimental animation class.

enjoy.

Awesomeness

2007-02-02T13:33:00.000-08:00

Alisa just sent me a link to this article about old people and the internet.

I can't believe that surfing the internet is so much more popular than gardening!

I thought old people loved digging around in the dirt?!

Anyway, why is any of this a shock to me?

Well I'm actually in production of an animated film about old people and the "internets".

So I can't believe that this is all happening.

Loose Change on telemundo?

2007-01-31T21:51:00.000-08:00

So I was checking my tracking stats on my website and apparently I was showing up on http://telemundo.video.yahoo.com/

I went to the site and to my amazement, I was the featured animation of the day on the front page!

¡Gracias Telemundo!

(click on the image to take a closer peek!)

digital illustration thursday

2007-01-25T12:51:00.000-08:00

First Scene... almost

2007-01-22T11:30:00.000-08:00

Some digital Illustration from the first week of class

2007-01-18T15:42:00.000-08:00

The Transformers Movie

2007-01-13T15:00:00.000-08:00

The movie looks good, I just thought this was funny. Click here to check out the Transformers Movie.

Adventure Time!

2007-01-11T12:28:00.000-08:00

Hilarious!

the woes of internet dating

2007-01-09T18:03:00.000-08:00

In the spirt of my film I signed up for online dating, below is a acutally conversation the names have been changed to protect the humor of it.

ME: hi
*** Waiting for GIRL to connect
***GIRL's IM window is open
GIRL: hey
ME: how are you?
GIRL: hey, sorry i didnt see u were 21
ME: i am
ME: something wrong ?
GIRL: im too old for u
GIRL: sory
ME: you never meet me
GIRL: no matter
ME: why would age matter?
ME: 2 years
ME: ?
GIRL: i can barely date guys my own age
GIRL: let alone younger
GIRL: it's like dog years, men/women
ME: i disagree
*** GIRL's IM window is closed

Fred-Ex in gateway

2007-01-07T19:02:00.000-08:00

old people dancing

2007-01-07T10:57:00.000-08:00

So I'm surfing on you tube for some good inspiration for the dance sequence in my film, and I discover this gem.

WARNING! : lyrics may not be suitable for children.

old one , but a good one!

2007-01-06T23:59:00.000-08:00

I'm Green! and Mean!

2007-01-03T19:07:00.001-08:00

Your results:
You are Hulk

Hulk		80%
The Flash		75%
Spider-Man		70%
Iron Man		70%
Robin		60%
Green Lantern		60%
Superman		50%
Wonder Woman		35%
Catwoman		30%
Supergirl		20%
Batman		20%

You are a wanderer with
amazing strength.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

Body Worlds

2007-01-01T12:29:00.000-08:00

Over the break my family and I went up to the Boston Museum of Science to see the Body Worlds exhibit. All I can say is that it was awesome!

Below are some drawings click for a larger peek.

chair on the chin, and a stupid grin

2006-12-17T13:43:00.000-08:00

click the picture for a closer look.

both photo's are from the annual Frederator / NextNewNetworks Holiday party.

Phone scene

2006-12-10T21:16:00.000-08:00

oh boy.

2006-12-10T12:09:00.000-08:00

Animation is hard.

Click the image for a closer look.

Fred-Ex is on Youtube

2006-12-07T08:41:00.000-08:00

For anyone is who missed the world premier on the Channel Frederator podcast, "Fred-Ex: the Secret Life of Robots" has now made it to Youtube for all the world to see.

Dan and I are getting ready to start up Fred-Ex 2. If you're a director who's interested in being part of it, now's the time to says so.

more doodles

2006-11-29T21:22:00.000-08:00

Click for a closer picture

young Lee

2006-11-26T21:05:00.000-08:00

So I went home this weekend for the traditional giving of the thanks.

I was going through one of my drawers at home and stumbled upon these suckers:

[ click the picture for a closer look ]

Yes, I know you are laughing, but I know that we all know we have pictures like these floating around somewhere. I expect to see some of yours on your blog soon. everyone that loves turkey, loves old photos.

30 Seconds down.

2006-11-20T01:47:00.000-08:00

Below is 30 seconds of rough animation from my in progress film. I want to thank Tony for all of his hard work on the backgrounds and light effects, and also for putting up with me. This film would not be possible without him.

relax, click on the picture, it will load.

new mole sketchbook with brushpen awesomeness

2006-11-19T11:38:00.000-08:00

Click on the image for a larger view

Oh Lee , acting like a cartoon again

2006-11-15T21:10:00.000-08:00

Character acting at its finest. Can you guess who the character is?

Wired

2006-11-14T10:05:00.000-08:00

An Article about Channel Frederator in which they used a postcard I designed.

Click THIS to check it out. I thought it was Pretty cool.

out and about

2006-11-13T22:33:00.000-08:00

Below is a picture of the senior animation class hanging out after class at Off the Wagon.

Good times were had by all.

from left to right:
Kaite Cropper, Me, Pat Smith, Jessica Plummer, Alisa Stern, Joy (or is it Noelle? damn those twins)

Jess Napkin doodle

2006-11-13T10:53:00.000-08:00

Jess is my partner in crime up on the 3rd floor yonder. Sometimes we go to Mike's Coffee shop and doodle on napkins.

Below is the result of such events.

click for a closer look

Fantastic book

2006-11-12T20:24:00.000-08:00

Last week David Levy, president of Asifa-East, came and spoke to our senior seminar class. If you haven't checked out his book, get it here.

I made a doodle of him:

Then he signed my book:

After class I scanned and emailed him the picture I drew of him, within a couple days he replied back:

Hi Lee,

Great drawing! And, thanks for sending it!
Tell Fred I said hi!

Stay in touch... and Join asifa!

: D

www.asifaeast.com

cheers,

Dave

Rock on Dave, Rock on.

FredEx

2006-11-07T14:46:00.000-08:00

Fred-Ex Delivers Robotic Animation Collaboration

In celebration of the Channel Frederator podcast’s first anniversary, Frederator Studios has created Fred-Ex, an ongoing experiment in animation collaboration. Allying some of today’s most imaginative animation directors and creators, Frederator has assembled a global group of enthusiastic filmmakers seeking to answer an age-old question: "What is it like to be a robot?"
“The Secret Life of Robots” is the first installment of the Fred-Ex series. Kicking off production in July, executive producers (and contributing animators) Dan Meth and Lee Rubenstein selected fifteen Channel Frederator alumni to animate on the project, randomly matching each of them with a single word. The filmmakers were given two months to produce 10-20 seconds of original content, using their appointed subject to depict a specific aspect of robot existence. The end result is a quirky look into the lives of robots, with each individual cartoon in the film reflecting the creator's individual artistic style, and at times, seriously twisted sense of humor.
Some of the industry's top animation talent have lent their magic to Fred-Ex, including Bernard Derriman (“Everyone Else Has Had More Sex Than Me”), Doug Bresler (“Doogtoons”), and Seed Animation (“Free Range”), as well as more than a dozen other filmmakers from five countries. Effortlessly merging Flash, stop-motion, hand-drawn, and 3-D CGI techniques, “The Secret Life of Robots” will fry your circuits.
Premiering Wednesday November 8th, the cartoon will be available for free download at http://www.channelfrederator.com as the finale for the special year-anniversary Channel Frederator podcast.

HAIR HIGH PREMIERE

2006-10-18T21:59:00.000-07:00

Jessica, Katie, and I attended the New York City Premiere of Bill Plymptons film Hair High. We arrived and were greeted with cheerleaders ( Joy and Noelle ) and a "Krazy Kock" chicken mascot.

What was the film about?

"An outrageous Gothic myth from the 1950's, HAIR HIGH is the legend of a teenage couple murdered on prom night who return as undead skeletons one year later for revenge. The film is a unique romantic comedy with a zombie-horror twist."

After the film Bill personally gave everyone drawings.

late night doodling

2006-10-12T22:39:00.000-07:00

Some Animation

2006-10-12T09:01:00.000-07:00

2006-10-11T18:30:00.000-07:00

I have been back up with work. below are some doodles. enjoy.

ps - click on the doodles to see them bigger.

Animation is hard

2006-10-03T21:27:00.000-07:00

Making a film is hard.

Best Ottawa Ever!

2006-09-25T12:13:00.000-07:00

The highlight of my weekend was meeting John K. He has been a great influence in my animation and drawing style, I was extremely excited to meet him. His Bob Clampett talk was amazing. Both Bob Clampett and John K are what make cartoons... cartoony!

doodle like a moodle

2006-09-18T21:22:00.000-07:00

Every semester I like to draw my professors, There is something about starting a new class, fresh faces to look at.
I've been in a doodling groove lately, above are some doodles from when i'm in class. The top one is my Shakespeare Professor, ( doesn't he kind of looks like shakespeare?)
The doodle below that is my Web Design Professor.

both are drawn with v5 pilot pen

Animator Attire

2006-09-13T20:23:00.000-07:00

Yes, Animators are a bit quirky, but not in the way we dress. To be honest, as a group animators we dress pretty normal, at least I think so.

One thing that I do find interesting is that if an animator likes an article of clothing, we will wear it constantly. Not that its dirty, we will wash it, we just wear it a lot. Solid blocks of color are popular. A pair of "Chucks" are typical.

Lets talk about eye-wear. Square or oval shaped black rimmed frames. I'll admit it, I'm guilty. But since when did wearing those frames make us so damn artistic, or are we all just pretending to be artistic?

We are definitely not high fashion, and we know that, we want to be comfortable in clothes we will be in for many hours, slaving over the light table or keyboard.

But honestly can we try to match are hoodies with are spongebob sleeping pants?

moles

2006-09-13T13:26:00.000-07:00

meet the actors

2006-09-10T12:21:00.000-07:00

love the smell of a new book

2006-09-05T08:29:00.000-07:00

damn, school is hard

2006-08-30T20:40:00.000-07:00

Wow, I have less than 8 months to make a film. Babies aren't even made that fast. So I'm knee deep in recording sound and editing sound. Above is a picture of Harry.

Click here to listen to am audio clip from my new film.

mo lee mo lee

2006-08-17T16:33:00.000-07:00

I've always wanted to try out a moleskin sketchbook. I don't think I will ever go back to a regular sketchbook again. below are some beauties.

Zander

2006-08-08T11:58:00.000-07:00

DAMN! Zander has gotten big. I just thought I would post this , thought it was cool, give you a sense of the look of the character. He Will be seated at a table so don't worry about his lower half.

doodle on a placemat

2006-08-05T13:37:00.000-07:00

Grandma Edith, chillin' at our favorite diner.

laserdisc and me

2006-07-31T10:48:00.000-07:00

Damn, whatever happened to laserdisc? Growing up my family only had a VHS player. It was only a few years ago that I convinced my family to make the switch to DVD.

Today at work I had the task of hooking up and converting cartoons from laserdisc to digital video. Radical! Killer!

God only knows when my family are going to make the jump from dial-up to DSL.

Gray Pants on a hot day.

2006-07-24T19:06:00.000-07:00

Today was a good day. I was wearing gray pants. I never wore gray pants before.

Today, Dan and I did a lot of planning for the big Animation Collaboration "FredEX" and tonight will be awesome because Tony and I are going to be working on the toonfuse podcast, then go to the Animation Block Party at BAM, then come back and finished up the podcast.

Oh also, I got an email from Ottawa offically rejecting Loose Change from the Festival. It's Cool, I didn't expect it to get in anyway. On a lighter note, Friday I'm leaving for the Cape with Kim. My film is going to showing at the Woods Hole Film Festival. We will also be hanging at the beach.

New Screen Name!

2006-07-22T13:45:00.000-07:00

For those of you that don't know, I have had the same screen name since the invention of Internet. Finally after much consideration I have changed it to:

SquareheadLee

Please feel free to IM me and say hi.

More Production drawings

2006-07-17T20:29:00.000-07:00

Say hello to Mildred, she is a retired dance instructor, and yes, boy can those hips move!

This Is Harry, the main character of the film. He is a retired traveling salesman.

Zander is the kind of man you don't want to mess with.

Frankie is a retired Latino Lover.. whatever that means.

Toonfuse Podcast: Episode 11

2006-07-11T19:26:00.000-07:00

Hot this week on the Toonfuse podcast

Lee and Tony, conquer the most controversial Hot Button Issue ever....

find ot what it is by Downloading Episode 11 now!

or subscribe in iTunes by looking up "toonfuse" in the podcast directory.

Let us know what you think about the toonfuse podcast, call tool free at 888-810-6906 or email us at hey@toonfuse.com

Little Pinchy

2006-07-07T06:13:00.000-07:00

Thought you guys might like a little pinchy. All animated in Flash.

New Production

2006-07-05T16:15:00.000-07:00

So I'm starting to get into the swing of things for my degree project. The title of the Film is " Forgetting Morty". Yes there are some old people.

Woo new Blog!

2006-07-04T22:46:00.000-07:00

Yes, It's True, my name is Lee and I'm a Blogger. I started this new blog to coexist along side my website LeesCartoons.com. I'll be posting stuff about the projects I'm working on and things like that.
enjoy.