A little bit of drama

Hey, tonight I spoke to Peter Williams, a stop motion cameraman at Cinderbiter. It was awesome. So awesome, in fact, that I uploaded this stop motion film immediately after I hung up. (It's something I made in 2008 for John Edmark's Intro to Animation class--fun times).



Time to start my Computer Science homework!


Good Night,
Tam

It's that time of year again!

... Time for me to make another blog post, haha.

Well, senior year is well underway. I have almost exactly three months of school left before it's time to go be an honest-to-goodness grownup. I am going to be... an Artist.


(That's not my drawing, but I sure wish I knew what comic it came from!)

In preparation for that grand exploit, I've been calling up studios in LA to request informational interviews. I've also been running around, meeting up with all the animators I know to ask about their experiences in the industry.

In a couple of weeks, I will be flying to LA to tour studios. This will be the most grownup thing I have done in a very long time. (Whether or not anything comes of it, I'm grateful to God just for a opportunity to go out there and meet a lot of cool people).



In other news, I recently finished animating the opening and closing credits for "Wonder Women: The Untold Story of American Super Heroines," a film directed by Bay Area filmmaker Kristy Guevara-Flanagan. It's a fantastic film, and if you get a chance to see it, you should! It's premiering at South By Southwest International Film Festival, and it covers the history of Wonder Woman and other heroines in popular culture.

Check out the trailer! Some of my work comes in at about 0:36, and they used my graphics for the website. Best wishes to Ms. Flanagan and the crew, and thanks for giving me an opportunity to help with such a cool film :)



For more info, visit the website: http://wonderwomendoc.com/

So much more has happened in the past year, but heck, I can't write all that in a single blog post.


More soon (I'm not kidding),
Tam

I stayed up all night looking at facebook...

... because I wanted to draw my entire facebook feed on a brown paper towel roll. Of course, that thing is pretty dang long, and I didn't make it nearly as far as I wanted. It took several hours--and if I had several hours more, I'd continue until I reached the end of my feed. (What does the end of your facebook feed look like, anyway?) Here are the pics of my progress so far!













The project was satisfying in three ways. First of all--most of us don't really read our facebook feed--we just skim it for the parts that catch our eye. This project made me have to read every single word, and it's amazing how much detail I've missed when just skimming casually.

Second, I like the analogy of our facebook feeds being disposable, kind of like a paper towel roll. We only usually read a friend's status update once before letting it pass into obscurity. Friendships on facebook can be equally disposable, especially if the facebook relationship has no real one to back it up.

Thirdly, I thought it was interesting to take something that is pretty impersonal (its a quick typed message to everyone you know) and convert it to something painstakingly handmade (more like a handwritten letter).

A side note: I discovered that there are many tendencies in informal typed language (such as no uppercase at beginnings of sentences, emoticons, and excessive punctuation) which are far more rare in handwritten language. I found out that when people use several exclamation points or word repetitions, they often use five. I don't know why, but five just seems to be the number people gravitate to.

Of course my sample pool is hardly representative--mostly social dancers and college students :P


Best,
Tam

...and PAY THEY WILL.

So during one of my first visits to San Francisco I saw something really crazy. High up in a third story apartment, someone was projecting a prizefight through a covered window into the night. It was so cool--I could see it from the street. The setup was super homemade, and really startling.

Anyway, I decided to try it myself, only a lot bigger. The dorm I live in has an upstairs lounge with patio and glass sliding doors. The patio overlooks the bike racks where everyone parks. So I thought it would be neat to project sound and image out of the huge window so people would see it as they passed by. This was partially out of artistic impulse, and partially because I'd been wanting to see a classic Kung Fu movie for a long time :)

So, I covered the window with newspaper, checked out a projector, and set up my speakers on the balcony. Very simple setup, but again, super startling at night. I played a Godzilla trailer (Godzilla vs. Megalodon), and the watched Bruce Lee in Fists of Fury. My friends, it was better than a birthday.

Here's some footage!



And Bruce Lee, tragically abridged:



Isn't he impossibly fast and beautiful? Isn't he just impossible period?


Ah, my heart!
T. King

There's a face... on my face

More mayhem from art class! This was a project I worked on for Jarek Kapunscinski and Elaine Buckholtz's Intermedia Workshop 2010. It was really awesome--they let us do whatever we wanted! Plus we got to work in the super-secret lab-mansion up on the hill, like mad scientists. (If you're ever on Stanford Campus, visit the Knoll!)

Special thanks to Alex Pounds for spending an hour in that chair. Here's the documentation footage. That's Professor Jarek's voice telling people to take programs :)



I really wanted to do this ever since I'd seen the video for Burning Down the House by Talking Heads. I discovered Talking Heads in high school, and literally spent an entire night watching the video over and over. David Byrne! Is! A! Friggin'! Genius!!!




Good! Night!
T. King

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! I was fortunate enough to have spent Christmas Vacation back in New Mexico with my folks, getting a much-needed break from dorm life. Earlier this fall I'd been thinking about home a lot, and was missing my family. Here's one of the videos that resulted. I made it with my brother in mind. I hope you enjoy it--I got stranded on the train (twice!) and missed an important meeting with a professor making it. It was worth it though.



I'm catching a plane for Cali in half an hour! Time to dive back in.


Best wishes for the new year!
T. King

It's Time for Anarchy! (Strange films from High School)

Hooray for Winter Break! It means I can devote all my time to art and other creative craziness. It also means I have time to update the blog! So without further ado, let's get on with the updating.

Update No. 1


The Yeti book is coming along. We're aiming to be done with the color mockups by the end of the break. If we ever get published, I'll post pictures. Until then, the images will stay locked away in our secret swiss fort--the one with the dying billionaire and snowmobiles.

Update No. 2


Paul Glickman and I made it into the Heartland Film Festival with our short film El Salon Mexico! I got to stay in a fancy hotel--the kind you see on British TV, with all the wallpaper and fancy door handles! We didn't win anything, but it was absolutely worth the trip, if only to see my good friend Paul and meet so many cool people.


Update No. 3

In an effort to get that coveted summer internship with some animation studio, I'm finally uploading my short films to YouTube!

So. Let's watch some short films.

Did you take high school biology? I hated it... but also found it pretty hilarious. Nature is such a free-for-all. Death and life can be explained with very long words. If nothing else, high school biology caused me to make some very strange short-films.

Cells with McGreggor and Montey: Phagocytosis



Another strange one from high school--having nothing to do with biology, but just as anarchic.

Head, Hands and Feet:



Hopefully the next post will make more sense. I make no promises, hah!


Happy Holidays!
T. King

There's A Mouth on my Desk!

Hi guys! Check this out:



That was "Annotated," a short film I made for an animation class, freshman year. Professor John Edmark let us do crazy stuff--whatever we wanted. It was seriously one of the best classes I've ever taken at Stanford.

Here's the process I used to make it:

Step 1: Record yourself talking

Step 2: Import the footage to Final Cut Pro, and apply the Strobe filter (at like 5 fps).

Step 3: Export the movie as a series of JPEGS

Step 4: Find free printing--A LOT of free printing

Step 5: Use free stop motion animation software to capture footage of the pictures in various places. (You lay the stack down, take a frame, remove a page, take a frame, remove a page, take a frame, etc...)

Step 6: Import the new still frames to Final Cut

Step 7: Make each still frame one tenth of a second long.

Step 8: Add the original soundtrack of yourself talking, and tweak the frames so that they synch up with the audio.

Step 9: Write esoteric messages on the leftover mouth printouts and stick them up in the dorm bathroom--muhahahaha!

Frustratingly, I can't remember what free software I used to make this. But the web is teeming with free stop motion programs--so go see what you can find!


Best,
T. King

Desktop Wallpaper!

Last night my brother changed my desktop background to a picture of spiderman pulling Venom-slime off his face. This is what the wallpaper used to be:



I'd like to do more work in this style someday. The pipes are all art brushes constructed in Illustrator--so technically, I only had to draw one pipe! No, no, that's not laziness, it's efficiency.


G'night!
T. King

Vanity Search! (Because I'm too lazy to upload my own videos)

I just googled myself (hey! don't pretend you don't do that too, haha). Surprise! I've got stuff on youtube now.

First, the trailer to El Salon Mexico, posted by my close friend and mentor Paul Glickman. I was on design duty, and Paul was on animation/direction duty:



Second, a a freshman version of me talking about the Intel Computer Clubhouse. The video was shot about a year ago by the very cool clubhouse community liaison, Jeff Arthur:



And finally, one of my first ever animations, drawn as a flipbook on post-it notes. After watching the little cartoon, Paul generously scanned and assembled it in Final Cut. Fine memories. He's been an amazing mentor--I'm really thankful for the years we got to work together.



Wow two posts in two days. I guess I'm covered until November. Haha, just joshin' ya!


Happy 5th of July,
T. King

It's Yeti Time!

Sloth is sin. I haven't posted anything since last school break! Here's an update.

Well, I didn't land a dream job in California, but that's okay! I'm back in my hometown for the summer teaching animation and media at the Intel Computer Clubhouse (a community center that provides free access to computers for kids all over the world). How awesome is that?

Also, I did get to be an illustrator for the Stanford Graphic Novel project last quarter. It was amazing! The novel is called Pika-Don, and it's based on the true story of Tsutomu Yamaguchi, one of the few people to survive both atomic bombings at ground zero. Not only did Mr. Yamaguchi survive, he also went on to spend the rest of his life promoting peace, teaching children, and eventually addressing the UN. I really hope that our novel will help forward the cause that he left behind.


(I penciled and inked this picture!) ^

We sent the novel off to the presses in June. I'm supposed to be getting my copy soon (yay! there will be pictures!). Anyway, the post production team has been working hard to get the website up, and they can explain the project far better than I can.

Also...


This summer I got recruited to help illustrate a book by Chris Kientz, the creator of the animated series Raven Tales! The book involves Manhattan, vinyl, and abominable snowmen. That's all I can say for now--stay tuned for more very vague, cloak-and-dagger updates, if you feel so inclined :P


Thanks for reading, and Happy Independence Day!

T. King

New Reel

Okay, it's time to go get an internship. I just spent 6 hours working on my packets to send out to the studios. It's 5 am, and I have a plane (and a bus, and a train) to catch tomorrow. I hope all this pays off with a summer internship in California--that would be great...

Here's my new reel, in all its pixelated, web-ravaged glory! If you're a potential employer, and you'd like a full quality demo, just send me an email: jesterskull59 [at] yahoo [dot] com.



This is where I'll be sending potential employers, so everything on this site is has to be 2% more professional from now on :)

Going to bed now. Will pack in the morning. School starts Monday, argh...

Night,
T. King

Finals Week!

Well hello there!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while! I've got plenty of new work from Drawing II--just not enough time to photograph it. It's finals week, friends. Fortunately, I did grab a quick snapshot of my application to next quarter's Graphic Novel class:



This is the same Graphic Novel class that produced the novel "Shake Girl" in 2008. It got published and everything. Their application process is pretty nifty. Basically you write your name, student info, and a paragraph expressing your reasons for applying on one side of a piece of paper. On the other side you write or draw something creative--whatever you want!

I hope I get in. Who knew they had such neat art classes around here?

Mammoth!

Hello friends. It's time for more art! I'm in a drawing class this quarter in which we have a new project due each week. It's nice to have a steady deadline to work with, because it means that I get things finished rather than just mulling over them forever.

A couple of my favorite projects below:

"Hour by Hour" - Paper shopping bag, book page, permanent marker.



"Summer 2006" - Brown paper and marker.



"Hoff" - Inspired by Night Rider and IKEA assembly manuals. Brown paper and marker.



Next project will be on toilet paper. Not even kidding.


Have a great week!
T. King

Come on. It's not that hard.

Making the world a better place, one poster at a time.




By the way, the unicorns aren't mine. They're from ChildStoryHour.com, an online coloring book page resource.


Happy February!
T. King

Timothy Trailer!

Hey, here's the trailer for "Timothy and the Great Robotic Invaders from Outer Space!" Gosh, I haven't seen this in ages. This was the first project that I had to get a writer and voice actors for. It was such a blast to animate--especially since I was such a 50's sci-fi nerd at the time (and kind of still am).



By unlucky coincidence, Disney's "Meet the Robinsons" came out the same year as Timothy did. See below to witness the tragedy. Haha, oh well.






Okay. Time for bed. Bye for now!


Tam

Old designs from way back...

Hey, it's a new year already! January will be gone before we know it. That means spring is coming--it's almost time to start hunting for a summer job. So you'll be seeing a lot of old portfolio stuff as I rummage through old art and find new stuff to add. Check it out :D

Here's some of the graphic design stuff I worked on last year.



Another poster for the same group. This one modeled after an advertisement for the old film "Soul Patrol." It didn't get used--I mean Soul Patrol was a blaxploitation film, so I kind of see why. Regardless, I thought it was pretty hilarious :D



Some animation stuff:

These are storyboard frames from a shortfilm I animated/directed--"Timothy and The Great Invaders from Outer Space." It's on IMDB! I was glad to see that.



Concepts for the tripods in "Timothy":



And some concepts for a 50's style horror short I wanted to do once--then gave up on. Nobody can get away with making vampire stuff now, haha



And a monkey in a cherry tree. This is from back in '07, when I was applying to art schools. Time flies!



So yes, lots of old stuff. Now it's time to start scanning new stuff. I'll post some of that soon--when I can find a free scanner :)


Happy new year, folks.

Tamarind

Viennese Ball Logo Contest!

Hey, it's winter break! That means tons of free time, and lots of frivolous ideas floating around to play with. Here are some random designs I cranked out for a logo contest that was recently announced back in California. The event is a classy Viennese Ball with waltzing, and tuxes, and the works. The winner of the logo contest gets free tix. Since "classy" means tickets cost about $85 bucks a person, I thought entering might be fun. What the heck, right?





And of course, if anyone's actually reading this blog, Merry Christmas!

Hello!

Welcome to my blog! I'm hoping to post some more interesting things soon, mostly relating to animation, graphic design, and my latest artistic exploits. Hopefully, this blog will be a nice way for me to track my own progress, a good spot for sharing work, and maybe a helpful resource for other students like me who are interested in animation and graphics.

We'll see how it goes!

Thanks again,
T. King