Summer/Winter Work Part1 - Between The Lions

This is Part 1 of my look back at the work i've been doing since going freelance in June of '08.

The reason I want to do this is because there have been so many cool things I've had the chance to work on and I haven't posted a single thing about them yet.

So here are 2 of about 10 books I animated for WGBH's Between The Lions this summer. BTL is an amazing literacy show on PBS. I love these books that are real short and sweet. Its always fun to animate with all the different illustration styles.

As for the process, I cut everything out in Photoshop and then animate in After Effects..

(*IGNORE THE BLACK OR WHITE AT THE BEGINNING OF THESE - that's where the book cover goes when broadcasted...

Catch Up Blog

Ok - wow. Somehow it's been 8 months since i last updated this thing. And a lot of stuff has happened in those 8 months...

Here's a recap:

MAY
I asked Avril to marry me.... She said yes!
So we quickly set a date(before she could change her mind):I couldn't really afford a proper ring. So my grandmother offered her's - which was her engagement ring, and before that, her grandmother's... the sentimental value of it is so cool. The jeweler estimated the ring was probably made somewhere around 1900-1920...

Grandmom:
The ring:

JUNE
I left Soup2Nuts after working as Director Of Post Production for about 5 years. It was hard to leave, but i was ready to move on and take a shot at free lancing.

JULY
Let's see.. Then we had a big Fourth of July party. Joe Pleiman and his buddies played. I think everyone had a good time. My buddies Drew, Ben, Tanner, and Eugene were all in from out of town...
Then some other stuff happened. A lot of wedding planning occured, and then we got married!

SEPTEMBER


Then Av and I were off for a short weekend get-away (honeymoon still to come). But we realized the place we were staying was where the Shinning was shot(no joke):
And besides, the staff there was horrible. The dinning room required dress shoes, but even though it was the day after our wedding and we had just driven 2.5 hours up, not to mention paying to be there, they didn't allow us down. So we took off the next day after a night of room service. Never go to Bretton Woods (Mount Washington Resort) in NH - unless you like a lot of pomp and ridiculous prices... bah.

OCTOBER
Halloween came. Av was Amy Weinhouse and I was Edward Scissor Hands:
NOVEMBER
Obama won! We were all psyched as the whole family were Obama supporters, even Rufus.

Now its the end of November, Thanksgiving is over, and the new year is coming up soon. So sweet, that's it! I'm up to date. My next blogo will be all about the work that i have done since my last post. There's been some pretty fun stuff. Its kind of cool to look back like this. It really has been an awesome/crazy year....

Speaking of old movies

Wow. So i was backing up some old stuff from my hard drive and I found this gem...

This is a movie i made in senior year of highschool i think. I can't remember exactly, but i know i was interning at In Visible Inc, a post production house in Nashville. That's where i made all the 3D elements.

But that skinny kid you see on screen 1st is me. And that black beauty was my old car. Seeing this again really makes me miss it. It had a break light out, the heat and AC didn't work, and the horn honked when you turned the wheel...it was perfect. It was a 1982 Cressida. Someone at school nicknamed it the Croissant, hence the title of the movie. Oh, and for some reason i was real into Nick Drake for a period and thought Pink Moon would make a cool name for a production company. It kind of does actually...

So check it out - Croissant Power - The Movie... The cast is me and my buddy Drew. The beautiful '69 Firebird was his brother's car.

...man i'm such a dork.

My First Movie - 8mm Memories

For my grandmother's birthday last year, which is right on Christmas, i decided to get my whole family a gift. Chanukah was also right around that time, so it was a good opportunity to do one big present.

My mom and dad were given a Super 8 camera for either a wedding or anniversary gift before i was born. So we had all of these old reels of 8mm films lying around the house that hadn't been watched in forever. I was worried about their quality and it deteriorating... so i had my parents bring them up when they visited sometime last fall and i took them to Play It Again Video out in Needham, Ma.

I had something like 3,200 ft. of film transfered to MiniDV. It was insane. That is why this present hasn't really been delivered yet. Its been a crazy process to sort through and date everything. Luckily my dad is one of those guys who is either saying the date and year out loud while he films or gets someone else to. Anyway, there are some amazing memories in there. I thought it would be cool to share a few of my favorites. So, drum roll please, here is the very first "movie" i ever shot, at age 3...

I'm not sure if my dad is going to appreciate me posting this one on the internet, but here is one of my absolute favorite finds from looking through the films. This is me, again at 3 or 4 years old, dressed up like Batman(aka wearing a towel around my neck). I'm also being somewhat of a brat about the particulars of Batman as my mom introduces me... But what's funny here is the surprise cameo by another superhero about halfway through the movie...

The sprinkler is like the coolest thing when you're a little kid. At least it was for me.

And finally - my very favorite video. Its not really funny, but just a cool moment with my mom. She was teaching me to smell a flower. This was 1982, Valentine's Day. I was 1 and half years old. I didn't know yet how to use a pencil right-side up.

Hope these are funny to anyone else besides me...

WEBSITE REVAMP

Its been over a year since i've done ANYTHING with my website. I'm sick of looking at it and everything is very old and, to me, boring.

Soooo I've solicited the help of Drioux Galvan to help me get it up to date. Besides art direction and making websites, Drioux also creates some pretty bad ass music. Check it out: http://www.myspace.com/drioux

Anyway, here's a not-so rough test of what the new evansussman.com layout will look like... i think its pretty cool. Who doesn't like tacky wall paper and old picture frames?

Also, I've also been working pretty hard on a new reel. Here is what is hopefully the final version of it: Of course, there will be a much higher resolution version on the new site...

Avril's Ugly Babies

This is Windy Wendy, one of my favorite of Avril's Ugly Babies... Isn't she beautiful?

Check out my girlfriend Avril's new Etsy site. Etsy is an awesome venue for independent or part-time artists who want to get their stuff out there and maybe even try to make a little money on the side. Very cool.

Click it:
http://avrilsuglybabies.etsy.com/

Let Me Dust This Off For You

A few weeks ago Dan Flynn and I (check out Dan's blog and amazing stick figure animations) got to talking about our old work. He showed me his older character designs that he was embarrassed about, which had a very strong anime influence. I thought they were great looking, but he's definitely come a long way since those days. In any case it was better than anything i could do.

But that conversation got me thinking about an old "resume" i made in college of all my 3D stuff from highschool. "You did 3D?", you ask. Yup, i made characters that look pretty much like the only ones i draw and the stories i pretty much made up as i went along. I think my only really impressive character was optimus prime.

The reason i gave it up is simple. One day my computer crashed and i lost every background, every character, and every prop model i'd made over the past 3 or 4 years. It was right when i was getting somewhat decent at modeling too. So i said "f*ck fish" and i never went back into the water again.

But thanks to my conversation with Dan, here is my old old old "reel". Oh, and there are a few shots of films i made back when i was 15 at a summer program at BU... enjoy...

Walking The Cow

So this doesn't have anything to do with a current project or anything, but i recently saw Daniel Johnston in concert. It was great, and for those who are familiar with him, exactly what you would want from a show of his...pretty much.

Anyway, my new friends Josh Bean and his wife Karen have started this website called Melophobe.com. Its all about show reviews and interviews and amazing concert photos. Josh takes most of the pics and they're really awesome.

So check out the site if you get a chance. Josh asked if i would write a review of the show. So i did and i think it turned out alright, after a lot of editing from my lady friend Avril D.

Here it is:
http://mel.opho.be/index.php/show-reviews/daniel-johnston-the-roxy-boston-ma-feb-20-2008.html

First!

THIS IS MY FIRST BLOG POSTING!!!...

...this is my first blog posting.

It feels like the first time i got my car up to 100 on the interstate: i thought there would be a lot more excitement surrounding it, but like driving, i'm just sitting in a chair and nothing too crazy is happening.

BUT! i did want to start doing this because i'm always working on little tidbits of stuff i'd like to get feedback on. I can't draw though, so expect more in video form, or drawings in other people's styles. Like Steve Young!

He made the backgrounds in a movie i shot a little while ago. It was all done on greenscreen with help from John Slyker, Joe Gaudet, and Danielle Kosann.

Its about a guy who takes his girlfriend to the moon in a homemade rocketship. Here's the ship that Steve so creatively came up with. When i first saw it i was blown away.


Also - check out this quick test render i did of Steve BGs composited with the live action in AECS3. I hate the quality of googlevideo, but it'll have to do...



Word

-E