Browse my haven of animated shorts. This showcases my development as a 2-D and 3-D animator.
Animation Central
Theader the Theta
Trailer Type: 3D Animation Year Designed: 2012 Trailer Run Time: 1:17
My character designed and rigged at University of North Carolina - Asheville. The soft-body figure was designed with a theta symbol for a head and was inspired by a tongue-twister "Theda and Thora" by 1950s actor Danny Kaye. Theader wanders through a mathematical world trying to make sense of everything, clumsily but surely, and unwittingly makes discoveries in his endeavors. He's just as good a friend as any, in his own way. He may not yet know this, but he is going to save the world some day.
Model Highway in Motion
Type: Stop-Motion Animation Year of Production: 2025 (init. 2012) Running Time: 1:08
This reflects my lifelong interest in die-cast model cars and transportation systems. As a hobby, I have collected these and built model cities where they were manipulable and showcase-able like a creative 'sanctuary'--sure beats being locked away in boxes! This short shows one such maintained highway connecting smaller towns and a truck weigh station from different angles, as though it were alive and moving on its own. Scale is 1:64 (variably) and all using homemade and crafted materials.
The Spider
Type: 3D Animation
Year of Production: 2013
Running Time: 1:43
A paranoid mental hospital patient (Diedra) calls her ex-boyfriend (Darwin) over in the middle of the night to take care of a spider in her bathroom. Being the annoyed gentleman, he fixes to take care of her troubles and finds something unexpected. Remake of a short I produced as an undergraduate, where I "reharmonized" the scene for a dialogue from the 1977 film, "Annie Hall." Accompanied with music of Thelonius Monk to set the mood.
X Marks the Spot
Type: 2D Flash Animation
Year of Production: 2010
Running Time: 2:03
This witty clip creatively revolves around the phrase's concept. Incorporates music from Bela Fleck into imagery that takes X on a journey through the treasure map. You'll notice at some point that the letters in "marks" make up a mining train.
Project was composed as part of training and familiarizing myself with Flash and is interactive in an alternate universe, hence the buttons in the final frame. I decided to keep those as part of the visual design.
Jungle Line
Type: 2D Narrative Animation
Year of Production: 2011
Running Time: 3:00
In-depth animation based on Joni Mitchell's poem, "The Jungle Line", which speaks that amidst over-development and progress, nature still manages to cut through and be part of our lives. Follows a musical depiction of the poem narrated by Leonard Cohen and accompanied by Herbie Hancock. Animations follow the verses with ambiguous imagery and video interplay.
Walkout!
Type: Stop-Motion Animation
Year of Production: 2011
Running Time: 2:13
We live in a heavily materialistic world where we depend on office supplies, technology, and ..... well all those related! This stopmotion feature stages a walkout led by my Model A pencil sharpener in response to the human's (my) overuse thereof. No precious young writing utensils or tools were injured in the making of this feature.
Webo Dali and the Mannechaun
Type: 3D Animation
Year of Production: 2013
Running Time: 3:03
A walk through the childhood fantasy of one of the children Salvador Dali never had, named Webo. He slides down a massive slide and winds up in this strange fantasy-land. As he is exploring, he finds that something keeps messing with him and he's determined to find out what... or who. Unexpected ending and triple-revitalized.
Actions
Swinging a Bat
Year of production: 2011, 2012
Running Time: 0:23
Right, so RoboRex fixes to bat a baseball. He inspects it, and checks around and he decides to take a swing at it. You will notice a Warner Bros. moment happen as he does it and it somewhat ends badly for him. Oh well, such is life I guess. But give him points for trying!
Lifting Weights
Year of production: 2011, 2012
Running Time: 0:24
So the baseball thing didn't work for him. All right, now he's going to try lifting weights. Can't be all that hard, right? Well he labors for it, and yes he succeeds! His confidence reached a peak and then.... woops. Oh well, better luck next time.
Walk Cycle
Year of production: 2011, 2013
Running Time: 0:07
Key framing techniques with timing. Essentially, this portrays the key actions of this picture before the rest is put in place. RoboRex shows his strong-man skills for those who dare cross him!
Timing Animatic with Weights
Year of production: 2011
Running Time: 0:14
Key framing techniques with timing. Essentially, this portrays the key actions of this picture before the rest is put in place. RoboRex shows his strong-man skills for those who dare cross him!