Story samples from the PAN sequel...

Max Douglas's illustrated story set to music...

Arna's son, illustrator Max Douglas, completed a lovely graphic story a while back. Here is the finished work set to music.
For more, visit Max Douglas.

 

FRESH IDEAS IN PUPPETRY DAY...

Posted by Arna: Meant to post this weeks ago when it happened, so sorry it's late.

I was a lucky participant at an all day puppetry workshop in June at Puppetmongers Studio. I met a very cool bunch of people with tonnes of passion for their storyteller's art. Here are some of the shots I took at the event:

Above: David Powell of Puppetmongers and Brad Harley of Shadowland Theatre check out one of Eric Woolfe's puppets. Taken at the FRESH IDEAS IN PUPPETRY DAY, June 16, 2007 at Puppetmongers workshop.

Above: Eric Woolfe (THE BABYSITTER) and his crew...

Above: Ronnie Burkett reads from new work in progress, BILLY TWINKLE, REQUIEM FOR A GOLDEN BOY. BILLY TWINKLE is about puppeteers and promises to intrigue and mystify as did his shows: The Trilogy: TINKA'S NEW DRESS, STREET OF BLOOD, and HAPPY, and more recently TEN DAYS ON EARTH. You can read more about him here, and take a tour of Burkett's workshop.

Above: Panel on Story and Scripting. Members of the puppeteers group The Raucus Caucus ~love that name! Left to right: Ruth Howard, Brad Harley, Ann Powell, David Anderson. Turns out that storytelling with puppets presents many of the same challenges that animation storytelling does. Ann and David explained that they storyboard their shows together, working out ideas on the wall of their studio.

Earlier in the day we heard a discussion on directing, moderated by Anne Barber (Bread and Puppet Theatre, Shadowland Theatre). Directors Mark Cassidy (click here for current info), Michael Waller, and Jim Warren shared their insights. Eg: (I'm paraphrasing here, not actual quotes!!)

Mark Cassidy "Use puppets in a story to open up the telling of the tale, and create a situation that will bring out the unexpected".

Michael Waller "When giving direction, sometime it's best to talk to the puppet, not the puppeteer".

Jim Warren: 'When adding puppets to a dramatic production, integrate the puppets into the story and allow adequate time to develop the puppet designs!"

Funniest line in this discussion(I think it was Michael Waller's) :

" Little balls can make you cry".

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The evening was given over to performances, which included Mark Keetch and Noah Kenneally performing their bittersweet piece on relationships: OUR TIME, Johan Vandergun of Lampoon PuppetTheatre and Pat Lewis of Meadowsweet Productions perform THE PARK BENCH and David Powell and his puppet Alex performing LONG LIFE AS BOUNDLESS AS THE SKY, (named for the Korean musical accompaniment) in which we saw Alex stand on his head. You really do believe that there are muscles and tendons in Alex as he goes through the various yoga-like positions.

:)

SunsetTunnelMountainTrail

Posted by Arna.

Just came back from Banff where I was lucky to spend 4 days in the fresh air, and experience an amazing story conference. Got my head clear and came back to Toronto to finish a board that is keeping me very busy for the next three weeks. I'll post more about the conference in the next days.

Thanks to Warren Leonhardt who encouraged me to go. Thanks to Chad Kerychuk and Ken Bautista who put the conference together.

Big thanks to speakers Ronnie Del Carmen, Kris Pearn, Josh Staub, and George P. Georgeadis for your energy, insight and inspiration.

This photo was taken on the way up Tunnel Mountain Trail. I am now walking hills in our neighbourhood to get in better shape so the next time I'll make it to the top of that trail!

The Way of the Dackel...

snail in the big world...

Posted by Arna:

A snail's pace. No, this is not about how slow my current storyboard is going. That's maybe a subject for another post. Or not.

This is what I saw on a Go Train platform on a rainy Toronto Sunday morning this week. I hope the little guy wasn't stepped on. It was heading towards the safety of the brush behind the platform. Slowly.

going squirrelly...

Posted by Arna:

A small mangy squirrel is eating our house. The little rodent comes back day after day and gnaws at the rotten window ledge on our decrepit back sunporch. The thing seems to want in. Winter's coming, so maybe it thinks it can make a nest or maybe it actually wants to hang out with our cats. It's really their sunporch. They spend most sunny days sleeping there.

Today I tried to make the squirrel go away by yelling and banging on the window. It's chewing its way into our house after all! I started to growl like an angry cat. I waved around a cardboard poster tube, trying to look ferocious. The squirrel just sat on the ledge staring back at me while I went nuts. But our cat Kiki lunged and grabbed me by the hair. Guess she had enough of my shenanigans.

If you look closely in the drawing you'll see the chew marks on our windowsill. We really have to stop this critter! Anyone have suggestions for getting rid of a pesky squirrel??

Through a funhouse mirror...

Posted by Arna:

While flipping through some older material earlier today, I found a few designs from a feature film project John and I both worked on years ago. These are sketches I did originally in pencil and xeroxed to 'lock in' the line, so's I could render some tone with marker. These days I might just scan and do the tone with photoshop, but I still like to work with a pantone warm grey.

Storyboard goodies...

Click on the swordplay to go to fellow board artist Warren Leonhardt, speaking about his recent experience creating boards on the television series Jane And The Dragon. We think this one covers the subject very well, with plenty of personal anecdotes and Warren's typical energy. If you haven't already done so, go there now!

Wayback machine: Family Dog boards...

Posted by Arna.

Story artist Jenny Lerew, who writes clearly and with much insight on animation, posted this recently: A short rant on mediocrity

Jenny's post generated a lively debate and a plug from Cartoon Brew. The series THE FAMILY DOG featured fairly prominently in the discussion. THE FAMILY DOG special, created for Spielberg's Amazing Stories series and directed by Brad Bird, was glorious! However, the short lived television series that followed was less so. Since I worked on said series I decided what the heck, I'll post a sample of my boards, done approximately 1993. The episode title is HOT DOG AT THE ZOO.

Looking at these boards, I'm struck by how square and small the panels are compared to the wide screen format we're working in these days. The closeups look much too close! However, I remember that I really enjoyed working on this sequence. Tim Burton was consulting designer and he did some moody inspirational designs for the zoo. Three artists split the 21 minute show. The other two-thirds were handled by uber-talented story artists/directors Alan Bunce and Robin Budd. The thing I liked about the storytelling was that as much as possible it was from the dog's point of view. However, this was also the tragic flaw of the series, since it was often hard to tell what was happening and what the canine hero was thinking.

Well anyways, here's some of it. Hope you enjoy! And thanks Jenny for the great discussion.

Eric Bruhn...and a girl's crush...

Posted by Arna:

I had a teenage crush on Eric Bruhn. He was an international ballet star and his appearances in Toronto, dancing with the National Ballet of Canada, caused a sensation. As a kid, I took ballet for several years and briefly fancied that I might become a professional dancer. I didn't have the dedication. However, learning ballet helped to sharpen my awareness of body movement, physicality and drama, which can come in handy when working in the animation biz.

Around 1984, I was doing some banking in the St. Lawrence neighbourhood of Toronto next to the National Ballet, and Eric Bruhn came into the bank. By then he was Artistic Director of the National Ballet of Canada, headquartered next door. I stared. He asked me for the time. He was smoking a cigarette. (of course it used to be legal to smoke in public places in Toronto) He stood up close, getting in my airspace. I could see the many fine lines that long-time smokers have. He wore a pale leather trench coat, long, below the knee. Faun colour. An unusual coat. I was surprised that he was smaller than I expected. He had a large head. I was thinking all these things, mentally cross-checking my in-person impression of him with my cherished teenage fantasy image, I guess. The moment passed quickly. I wanted to say how much I admired his dancing. Instead I stood stunned and told him the time.

Eric Bruhn died a few years later. His death was attributed to lung cancer.

Below is a mock poster I made, a year or so after I saw him dance in Toronto, before that meeting in the bank. As you can see in the sketch, he had a rather heroic profile. The photograph I took the likeness from was printed in the Globe and Mail. In the original photo, Mr. Bruhn was gesturing towards another dancer during a practice session at the National Ballet. I'd like to see the photo now, and compare it to this sketch.

I don't know the significance of the odd time posted on the poster. I was probably just trying to fill up the space.

Pen and brush and india ink.

What Cyril will do for shortcake...

Originally, this was a throw-away drawing from a sketchbook. It felt awkward and clumsily drawn when I did it a few months ago. Then I realized that this one is more about the character and less about the drawing. ( Hey, that's my excuse for a bad drawing, what can I say!) I've added the wallpaper and shadows in photoshop. Maybe it needs a picture of Cyril's Ma and Pa on the wall behind him, dunno what the relatives look like yet...


posted by Arna

soon it will be time for...

storyboard all done!

John and I have been busy! I hope that this picture speaks for itself. We'll post some more soon, and reply to comments ASAP.

sailing towards Neverland...

Two images from Arna's rough storyboard for Return To Neverland (Sequel to Peter Pan)

Created for Walt Disney Canada, 1998 ( studio is now closed)

Director: Robin Budd

I'm still fond of these little drawings, though it's been a while since the rough sequence that they were part of hit the cutting room floor. You can see a longer portion of the board on my portfolio site if you wish to go there. It's part of a song sequence in which we re-introduce Peter and his band of lost boys as they make their way back to Neverland after capturing Captain Hook's pirate ship. One of the boys wears Hook's coat (which is too big for him) and swashbuckles about on deck pretending to make another boy walk the plank.