Pinoy Anime | Miracle Animation Studios Inc.

Dennis E. Sebastian – 3D Animator & Producer Story

11 09 2015

Last September 7, 2015, Dennis was invited by Grace to give a talk at Top Peg Animation Studios for the staff and students about his experience as an independent 3D animator and producer. The talk was from 9:30 am to 12:00 pm and its about the story behind his creation Kaleh & Mbaki, the 3D Animation Pipeline.

Dennis is a 3D animator and a professor at the College of St. Benilde. He is an architectural graduate and a practising architect before he became a 3D animator. He says he didn’t stay long being an architect because his creative juices weren’t fully utilized in the firm. These days the architectural firms with large projects are the ones credited unlike before the individual architect was also recognized.

After his brief stint being an architect, he applied at ImaginAsia in the year 2000 at Mandaluyong City. He remembers at that time they were using very expensive equipments that were also used in Hollywood films such as Jurassic Park. Back then they would work on commercials and other video presentations but he was still searching for projects that he could be proud of. After sometime, the studio closed and he worked on the 3D movie Hoodwinked, which was voiced by Anne Hathaway and other celebrities. This was a great opportunity for him to learn and be part of a full length animated film. Despite his work, he still wanted to create his own project and this was when he began his work on Kaleh & Mbaki.

Dennis had a fiancé of 3 years, and they had a dream of migrating to the US one day. Their plan was if either of them flies there first, he or she would help the other one to follow. When an opportunity came for his fiancé to go to the US, he stayed behind. While still working here, he decided to start on his short film. He needed time to work on the project, but his work didn’t allow him any. So he quit his job, but he needed money to survive and finance his project. So he tried to work but quit again in other firms. Then in the middle of his project, his fiancé broke up with him. Heart broken but not deterred, he now thought he had more time for his project, which showed him where his passion really was.

He showed us the short about a shaman – Mbaki and his hornbill friend – Kaleh. The story starts with Mbaki carving a drawing in stone. When Kaleh goes to him asking for fruits, Mbaki gestures him to wait as he was still busy. As Kaleh walks away he then threw a stone towards Mbaki, which angered him. Kaleh acted as if he didn’t do anything. As soon as Mbaki finished his work and was to say something to Kaleh; Kaleh threw a spider at Mbaki which scared Mbaki and made him grab his jungle bolo. Seething with anger, Mbaki pointed his bolo at Kaleh. Kaleh thought he was going to be killed by Mbaki and he lost consciousness. Kaleh woke up beside a basket of fruits that Mbaki prepared for him. Kaleh approached Mbaki and shared him some of the fruits and Mbaki thanked him. When Mbaki was about to grab another fruit, Kaleh quickly got the basket and turned away. But Mbaki had a basket of fruits bigger than what he gave Kaleh which made him smile.

After the show, Dennis gave tips on how to start your own story. He says the story comes first. Originally, Kaleh was a dog and his story was much more elaborate which had another character – a quail. He created a storyboard which he posted on his wall. He showed a picture of the storyboard panels covering the wall behind his computer. He broke every scene down to the number of scenes and the duration of each scene, the number of characters, props and effects of the shots. He then started to do all the assets. After the story, do some research. For me (Alstaire), I didn’t notice the film looked Filipino, but when Dennis told us his research, it became clear. The shaman – Mbaki looked like a native statue, his texture and anatomy were wood like in character. He said the design was based on the Ifugao’s wood carvings. He then searched for an animal, other than a dog that was endemic in the Philippines. He wanted a Toucan bird, but these birds are only found in South America. He then found a similar local bird but of a different species called the hornbill. He had to change the design by incorporating 2 kinds of hornbill species to come up with a colorful design. He said the formula was FU – which he teaches his classes at St. Benilde. The F stands for familiarity and U for uniqueness. You should make your film familiar to draw audiences but at the same time make it unique.

It took him almost 4 years to finish the 5 minute short. He wasn’t happy with it though, as he originally wanted a longer story that had more drama, but because of lack of budget and time he had to change the story. He said in the original script, there was suppose to be a sacrifice, close to the biblical story of Abraham and Isaac. Even though he wasn’t happy with the output, he entered it to different festivals and contests, where it got 8 recognitions here and abroad. He quoted Pixar director – Ronnie del Carmen who emphasize that you create then get feedback, then repeat. Although he was not satisfied with the story, at least he finished it and got some feedback and recognition for it. Rather than going back and correcting the animation to its original story, Dennis would rather make a new one. He is now creating a new project about the local tribe Aetas, but he now he has a small team to work on it.

Dennis recalled his days at ImaginAsia as he was starting in 3D animation. The computer that he was using at that time was a Silicon Graphics work station which cost about 1.2 million pesos. This was the same computer used at Pixar at that time. He then compared that machine to today’s laptop with the same power but more capability that only cost 35,000 pesos. So what is stopping us from creating our own Toy Story.

Article by Alstaire A. Sarthou

Photos by Grace A. Dimaranan

Comments : Leave a Comment »

Categories : Animation, Anime, Crop Circles, Jobert, Jobert Animation, Jobert Anime, Jobert Cartoon, Miracle Animation Studios, Pinoy Animation, Pinoy Anime, Uncategorized

Jobert and the Crop Circle Warriors New Posters

7 09 2015

Jobert with Cyber Pulsar Guns with Neutron Discs Blasting Away Lamprey-like Aliens

A new art graduate from a nearby ASEAN country sent her portfolio to us last mid-June as she was applying for a position as a conceptual artist; unfortunately we have no job offers for her. But one of her digital paintings caught my eye, as it was rendered differently compared to the traditional style, as it was more colorful and emotional. I wanted to have the quick sketch of Jessalaine by Alstaire colored like her style, so that I could put the poster in the widget area of this website as something new and refreshing to look at. If the coloring is good, I will ask Alstaire to do quick sketches of the other characters and have it colored and placed it in the widget section also. I asked Alstaire to look for artists who can do it like what the new graduate did. After a few weeks, there were about 6 local artists at Top Peg Animation who tried but they did not follow what I asked for, they all did it in the traditional style, with some really ending up short of the quality I was expecting.

Jessalaine Quick Sketch

Traditional Digital Paint Style

I set the coloring project aside for the time being as I cannot find a local artist to do the job. Sometime in late August I even emailed back the new foreign graduate and asked her if she wants to do the job, how much is her fee and how do we pay her but I received no reply. Maybe in the future we’ll be able to find that artist who can do the work.

Since there was no artist for the poster, around mid-July, I was looking at posters or wall papers at deviant art as sample for our property. There were posters or wall papers that were conceptual and hyper realistic that could work for Jobert and the Crop Circle Warriors®, so I asked Alstaire if he knows some local artist who can do a job like the samples I showed him. One local artist known by Alstaire showed his portfolio and a sample sketch, but it was not the type of art I was looking for. Alstaire emailed a message to another local artist as his art was one of the handful of poster samples chosen as a guide but Alstaire received no reply.

I was thinking of making new realistic posters for Jobert and the Crop Circle Warriors® to push the conceptual boundaries of the property. The chosen artist was free to do his own interpretation of the faces and costumes for the characters in the series. I remembered that Alstaire talked about Anthro who worked with the Jobert and the Crop Circle Warriors® animation series years ago; and he contacted Alstaire out of the blue last year as was he itching to do some more action scenes in the Jobert series. I even wrote about this story somewhere in the earlier topics of this website. Anthro for a few years now is based in Dumaguete City. I was thinking Anthro might be the right guy for the job as he was motivated, he has the feel about the series and the characters compared to outside artists.

Alstaire contacted him, but it took Anthro many days before he replied and I was already thinking that he might not be interested in the project. But eventually he sent his portfolio and he reasoned out he was just busy with other projects. I was not really hopeful to get the type of poster I was looking for from Anthro, based on his portfolio his style was different and he admitted he cannot do the type of style that I wanted. After a few days, he sent his sample poster and his idea was to do 3 separate posters for the characters but he can combine all of it to make one poster. The preliminary sample sketches were okay for the budget but they were not exceptional. Alstaire and I agreed that he should do one action poster for Jobert first and the group poster later on as it was financially risky on my part if the first poster did not work out to my satisfaction.

Preliminary Proposed Posters

Alstaire was the intermediary to relay all my messages, as I don’t know Anthro personally. I told Alstaire that I wanted Jobert doing a B-twist or Butterfly twist while holding two guns. I really wanted the B-twist as I remembered the slow motion action scenes of the films GI Joe and Transformers 4 doing something like that move. Another condition was to put crop circle designs in the poster. It took awhile before Anthro submitted his first preliminary sketch, but it was just okay as it was not a B-twist move and the face just looks like one of my office personnel. After looking at a number of B-twist tutorials at Youtube, I was finally convinced that it was not the right image for the poster. While doing a B-twist, one cannot see the face properly and the position of the hands and legs were not proper for holding 2 guns. Alstaire also emailed me photos of a male and female model holding 2 guns with different action shots as an artist reference, but I could not find the action pose that I like. So I was satisfied with the action move drawn by Anthro.

First Preliminary Sketch

Office Personnel

After a day or two, Anthro emailed his partial rendering of the first approved sketch. What I noticed right away was the way he rendered the guns with crop circle designs on the sides which I did not notice and understand before. I was blown away with the creative thinking, this was an innovation that I never even thought of and never seen before, Alstaire had the same opinion and sentiment with me. The rendering of the crop circle power discs was almost the same with the quality of rendering of the other types of powers from some of the posters I have chosen as guides. I didn’t even care that there was no final rendering of the face. I was really excited for the poster to be finished, but I wanted some organic mecha monsters attacking him like a piranha or lamprey type of creatures being blasted away by Jobert. Alstaire relayed the message what I wanted, but I was really disappointed when the next rendering came. The face was a disaster as it looked like a male geisha and the robots were from the Jobert comic book and animation, it was not something new. So I relayed my disappointment and Anthro reasoned out that it was just a quick rendering but he admitted his difficulty. I also emailed Anthro directly suggesting a particular look for Jobert and the type of monster I like – I even emailed my own sketch of the monster as a suggestion. It was at this time, that I also emailed a foreign artist whose poster was the style I was looking for, just in case Anthro cannot deliver satisfactorily. I asked for a quotation for a commission artwork at par with the quality with a particular poster that he did and I was prepared to pay for a higher fee for the quality output but the said foreign artist never replied back.

Cyber Gun with Crop Circle Power

Disappointing Face Rendering

I was thinking that this was it, Anthro may not be able to deliver, but after a few days he emailed his new sketch to accommodate the monsters. I was again blown away with the new face, monster design and action move which I never expected. I was really excited for the poster to be finished, as I was very satisfied with the new sketches even though he did not follow my suggestions for the face and monster look. The poster needed only some minor corrections in the costume and the stance. With the new quality of work, I was motivated to think of new ideas for the other characters and 2 group posters. I was glad that the 2 artists did not reply back as their fees will surely be much higher and they may not be able to think of the crop circle gun concept. It was at this time that I also began thinking of a new name for the cyber gun and the crop circle power discs and after some research I came up with the name Cyber Pulsar Gun and Neutron Discs. After a few days I called Alstaire to incorporate the Neutron Discs design and the name of the Cyber Pulsar Gun in our animation series.

New Sketch for the Jobert Poster

Lamprey-Like Alien Monsters

After more than a week, the poster was still a work in progress. When the special effects were added, I cannot see the second hand, Anthro suggested the Neutron Discs only appear when the Cyber Pulsar Gun is used, the other gun was used awhile ago. I suggested to Alstaire that I wanted the other gun to have the Neutron Discs also, as I wanted to see the hand and I wanted more action.

As an independent producer, I found it very hard to look for freelance artists who are willing and able to do the job. Most of the artist we inquire from will not reply back for whatever reason. I guess they are overwhelmed with the many inquiries from people like me looking for the best price, they are too busy with other jobs commissioned or they don’t have any interest for the project. The ones who are interested in the project have a different skill set from what I’m looking for. Even with artists who I have some contact with, sometimes there is no reply to my emails, for whatever reason. I just have to learn to take the no replies professionally and not to take it personally and be relentless in looking for the people who can finish the work. From my previous experience with artists in our first poster, not much has changed with dealing with the artists, even if we agree on the price, sometimes the level of skill, commitment and professionalism is not there, and this creates a lot of problems. At first I was hesitant to put up any down payment as the artist might just change his mind or the level of skill is not there, so the work might not be finished. Grace helped me by giving a sample contract before the poster was to be done, but I left it at that. I only used the contract after the Jobert poster was done to assure some protection in terms of commitment to finish the other character posters.

The whole exercise of commissioning conceptual art was very fruitful. It achieved the objective of enhancing the property through new images and concepts which was directly applied to our current animation project which I have not foreseen. There was no way for me to know that commissioning a digital paint work for a quick sketch can lead to new concepts that could be used. Even in our mobile game, I was able to think of new powers for Jobert indirectly related to the conceptual art poster.

Jobert with Cyber Pulsar Gun

Tany with Cyber Pulsar Shield

Jessalaine with Cyber Pulsar Boomerang

For future projects, if there are any; such as new animation, games and films, the conceptual artwork has opened doors where we can apply new concepts that I already thought of to enhance the property further. I may commission for more poster art works as Jobert and the Crop Circle Warriors® property has so many angles and areas for growth and improvement visually which somehow helps with the creation of new story lines. As of late November 2015, I commissioned 3D models of Jobert and the lamprey alien with rigging for a proof of concept video scheduled to be online sometime first quarter 2016.

The rest of the other posters for the other characters and group will be added in this blog later on as Anthro is busy working on some animation work for our mobile game. Anthro had some problems with his other clients that affected the delivery of the posters, but as of late December 2015, the final Jessalaine poster still needed some corrections.

Tany with Cyber Pulsar Discs (Final)

The Tany poster had many iterations before the final one because we were not sure of the concepts, the weapons, monster, look of Tany etc. Alstaire guided Anthro with some of the corrections. Some of the drafts and corrections are shown below.

Suggestion of Alstaire

Just like the poster for Tany, the poster for Jessalaine had many iterations, because we were not sure of the concept, the look, weapons, monster, etc. Although there are many sketches, these are just quick sketches and it didn’t take too much time to do them.

Jessalaine with Cyber Pulsar Boomerang (Final)

Shown below are some of the drafts or iterations for the Jessaliane Poster.

Rejected Outright as the Character Does not Have Jet Boosters

Basis for the Succeeding Drafts

Alstaire’s Suggestion 1

Alstaire’s Suggestion 2

For the group poster, Anthro agreed to do it but it may take awhile since he is busy with other contracts. From time to time there are on-the-job trainees (OJT) at Top Peg Animation; as of early January 2016, one student – Sean Manoloto is interested in conceptual work so he was asked to do a quick group poster of the characters among other things. He came up with the characters with glass helmets on. It was very refreshing to see the characters of the property drawn with a different perspective, presentation and technique, so I’m always grateful for the OJTs.

Comments : Leave a Comment »

Categories : Animation, Anime, Crop Circles, Jobert, Jobert Animation, Jobert Anime, Jobert Cartoon, Miracle Animation Studios, mobile game, Mobile games, Philippine Animation, Pinoy Animation, Pinoy Anime, The Frontline, Uncategorized

The Making of Inside Out – Ronnie Del Carmen

13 08 2015

August 7, 2015 – Premiere Showing of ‘Inside Out’

The Animation Council of the Philippines Inc. (ACPI) and Disney Philippines organized the premiere showing and talk about the Pixar movie ‘Inside Out’. The premiere of the movie was held at the SM Aura, Imax Theater at Taguig City last August 7, 2015. The film showing was suppose to start at 7:30 pm but it started around 8:30 pm and ended around 10:00 pm. The showing started late as there were still people coming in to watch the show and there were some people trying to sit down with no tickets; there were even parents bringing their young children with no tickets, so some of them were asked to leave. Of the 350 tickets, only 50 tickets were allocated to ACPI members and 4 of those tickets were allocated to Top Peg Animation Studios.

Before the start of the showing, the director Pete Docter and co-director Ronnie del Carmen gave welcoming remarks and some things about the making of the film for about 10 minutes.

Since I (Edward) was not able to attend both events, I asked Grace A. Dimaranan to share the talk in this blog. The pictures were from her and Alstaire A. Sarthou. The following is the essay from Grace.

This was my first time to attend a special Premiere wherein two notable directors from Pixar will be present. Animation Director Pete Docter and co-director Ronnie del Carmen graced the event and introduced the film to a theater full of audience in awe. With me is my husband – Luis, who is a 2D/3D director of Top Peg Studio, Alstaire another director for 2D animation and games at the same studio and Nelson Udaundo, a 2D/3D animator and trainer for TESDA courses at private schools. Nelson replaced Carly Calixtro of Top Peg, who was not able to attend the event.

Nelson, Luis, Alstaire

Before the film started, Pete and Ronnie shared short funny stories on what went on while doing the film Inside Out at Pixar. They seem to be very good friends and know each others brain waves in terms of making funny jokes on their struggles at Pixar while fleshing out the story of Inside Out. They both shared the same experiences on how they dealt with their young children growing up. Pete, on coping with his daughter’s change of moods and emotions when she was young then thru her teenage stage. His daughter went from happy, jumpy and energetic stage to quiet, solitary and moody stage which prompt him to ask, ” I wonder what’s going on in her head?” A perfect inspiration stage for the Inside Out story.

Ronnie on the other hand, coped with his family and kids emotional turmoil on the sudden change of environment. When he was hired at Pixar as story artist, he hauled his family to move from Los Angeles to San Francisco, California. This was the time when his kids were in mid-school and they have to leave their schooling, their friends and activities with his decision. The adjusting period of the whole family posted its problems to Ronnie, but in time they adjusted well.

Before the film started there was a short clip of a film called ‘Lava’ by James Murphy. Its a love story about about a volcano yearning for the love of his life. And so the film started, the theater was full and I can see people standing along the aisle at the sides which should not have happened. The tickets were all numbered. But there were some wayward theater goers who took up some seats but they have no tickets. Since every audience was given some popcorns, pins and drinks, they were also were able to get the freebies. But later on, they were respectfully directed to the side of the aisles to give way to the real ticket holders. These were the people who really wanted to meet the two celebrity directors but there were no tickets allocated to them.

The film was great! I can say young kids from 7 to 10 years old should be guided by their parents when they see this film. The film is set in 2 locations: the Outside world and the Inside world of the brains of each of the main characters. The going in and out might create confusion to the very young audiences. The storytelling is brilliant, and I can say its another Pixar blockbuster film in the making.

August 10, 2015 – Making of ‘Inside Out’

For the talk, all 350 tickets were allocated to ACPI members and and 25 of those tickets were given to Top Peg Animation Studios Inc. artists. The rest were distributed to ACPI school members and other studios. During the talk pins were also given.

Toon City People

College of St. Benilde People

Top Peg People

The registration for the Ronnie del Carmen talk started 2 pm at the IMAX Theater, SM Aura. Students from different animation schools, universities, training centers, professional artists and animators from ACPI member companies checked in for the registration. The event was a great meet up place of different studio owners, producers and directors in one place. Old, new and young faces were all excited and eager filled up the 350 seater theater. By 3 pm the lights dimmed. Mobile phones and cameras were announced to be kept inside bags and pockets. No one was allowed to take pictures of materials and video clips that will be shown by Ronnie during the talk.

Ronnie stepped in his usual bubbly self with a booming and excited voice. He started off by telling his story on how he came to work for Pixar. He was working with different studios before in the US as a concept and storyboard artist. When he first stepped at Pixar office for an interview, he was led in a room surrounded by Monster drawings, sketches and boards (Monsters Inc. movie). He thought, “Hmmmm…I might be working in this film…” But nope, after the interview, it was a few months wait before he was called back again in Pixar to be officially hired.

At this point, he was the led to an office full of concepts, drawings and boards for fishes. And he thought that he was no longer accepted to be part of the Monsters Inc. movie. Little did he know, this was the start of his career at Pixar. He started as a story artist on ‘Finding Nemo’, a blockbuster movie.

After ‘Finding Nemo’, he worked on movies like ‘Up’. He was the one responsible for the tear jerking sequences in most Pixar films. The montage of the story of Carl and Ellie in ‘Up’ was originally 23 minutes long but with Ronnie’s background in advertising, he was able to shorten it to 8 minutes while maintaining the essence of the story of the scene.

Pete and Ronnie became close at Pixar studio. For a concept to become a movie, they have to come up with three stories and pitch it to John Laseter and the rest of the animators and staff at Pixar for comments. Only one will be approved by John and they will flesh out the story and pitch again every 3 months. During the process they will be receiving comments, feedbacks, add ons and ideas along the way. ‘Inside Out’ was made in 5 years; 3 of this years was dedicated for fleshing out the story and the rest was for production.

For every Pixar movie that is approved, there are 2 or 3 stories that are shelved for the moment but they can be revisited later on. All Pixar movies takes 4 to 5 years to make, there are no shortcuts.

Pete Docter assigned Ronnie to work closely with him on the movie ‘Inside Out’. It has a tricky storyline and it must appeal to the general audience. They are not making a story out of the inside of the brains, they are going inside the mind on how to represent this in an understandable way in an animated film. The Inside Out human character – Riley was based on Pete Docter’s daughter. She was always bubbly and happy as a kid, but when she turned into her teens, she became quiet and reserved. Pete as a father was bewildered on how to deal with his daughter’s change of character. He wanted to know what triggers the change of emotions in a person. This is where Ronnie comes in. He is the perfect co-director who can translate these ideas into drawings and puts his own storytelling techniques to make it appealing.

Since Inside Out is about emotions, they did some research by interviewing psychiatrists and psychologists around the US. They did focus groups discussions. For additional inspiration, they also searched for the right voice actors for the film. The voice actors worked with directors on how the character should behave. It added the special appeal to the story. The Inside the brain characters were only 5 – Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust and Fear. Originally, there were more than 15 emotions plotted out for the film. But as they pitched and got comments, the emotions were organized to which ones were the most important and influential in a character’s personality. Thus, the 5 characters remained and they were the most fun to animate.

In each movie of Pixar, research was done on actual locations. The mountain in the movie – Up, the snow mountains in Frozen were based on real locations. At Inside Out, there were 2 locations; Riley’s hometown is in Minnesota, where Pete Docter grew up. The other location was in San Francisco, where the whole family of Riley grew up. Pete shared his inputs and insights on the Minnesota setting, while Ronnie help build concepts for the San Francisco setting. Ronnie’s actual experience when he moved his family to San Francisco added its flavor to the film.

Pete and Ronnie also experimented on who among the emotion characters they would pair up. At first they paired Joy with Sadness, but later agreed to use Joy with Fear, but then they realized that Fear was too predictable. “Fear leads to challenges, while sadness leads to changes”.

Pixar storytellers don’t write a story, they draw…then they put up index cards on their wall for each important aspect of the story. These cards then go down and new ones are placed as the story progresses. Comments and feedback are placed on the wall for the storytellers and directors to view. The three most important ingredients of a Pixar film should be there: compelling story, believable world and appealing characters.

They asked the question, “What if toys had emotions?” then they made Toy Story. Then they asked, “What if insects had emotions?”, then they made Bugs Life. Then they asked, “What if cars had emotions?”, then they made Cars, then they asked, “What if superheroes had emotions?” then they made The Incredibles. Finally they asked, “What if emotions had emotions?” and Inside Out was born.

After the talk, the President of ACPI -Miguel del Rosario, gave Ronnie a Certificate of Appreciation and a gift and after that it was Ronnie’s turn to give Miguel a digital painting he made for the occasion.

Miguel Giving the Certificate to Ronnie

Ronnie Giving His Digital Painting to Miguel

There was no opportunity to take some photographs with Ronnie before and after his talk, as his schedule was full of interviews and appointments set up by Disney Philippines. Ronnie was quickly whisked away to attend other meetings after his talk.

Article by Grace A. Dimaranan – Managing Director, Animator, Instructor of Top Peg Animation Studios Inc.