Innovation and originality has to be the message of our Golden Pencil Award-winning films this year. Each one of our 3 award winners were very different in their  approaches as it seemed only right to honor their explorations along new avenues of expression. Consequently, we congratulate our winning films and filmmakers... 'BEGONE DULL CARE' by Paul Johnson (Music-based animation), 'PARADE DE SATIE" by Koji Yamamura (2D Animation) and "ICKY" by Parastoo Cardgar (Student animation). A special 'AIE student animation' Golden Pencil was awarded to 'SCAVENGER' by Chyann Hughes. So 'bravo' one and all - and thanks to all the filmmakers and vendors who were part out our festival this time around. It was a true pleasure to view all of your works. Keep on animating folks - we hope to see more of your work in the future!  

AND THAT'S A WRAP FOR 2017 FOLKS! :)

After our magical screening of 'Long Way North' it was amazing to meet with audience member, Tim Cant, who traveled all the way from Australia to see his film, 'Good Dog', screened at DRAWTASTICON! Tim has to be our most distant visitor ever and we thank him for his epic quest to join us. (I think even Dean Yeagle in the background was impressed!)  :)

And here we go folks! Dean Yeagle, Lawrence Ruelos, incredible Vendors, over 30 excellent animated films, 'Golden Pencil Awards' and the movie 'Long Way North'. What better way for art & animation fans in Seattle to spend their afternoon and evening? Starting at 12 noon at the SIFF THEATER (next to the Key Arena) and going on till 9.00pm. What will you do with your day Seattle?  Hope to see you there Seattleites!  :)

Great to see Dean Yeagle and his wife Barbara tonight in Queen Anne, Seattle. He's in great form and raring to go tomorrow. So if you haven't got your tickets to see his workshop then I suggest you get them asap. And if you can't get in, there's always their table in the Vendor Hall to catch up with them both... and perhaps 'Mandy' of course!  (And yes, the Indian food at 'CHUTNEYS' on 1st Avenue was terrific tonight!) See you tomorrow folks!

Our third and final blog on the animation production process concludes with the ‘Post Production’ stage...

18: Final Music, Foley and Audio Mix.

With the visual aspects of the film complete, its now rendered out to a final film version which will require a music composer to orchestrate any final musical elements that need to be added to the existing audio track. This might also be the time for any last voice and/or sound effects to be recorded and mixed together during a final dubbing session.
 
19: Distributor & Marketing.
​

Although this doesn’t really apply to short independent film production, larger productions are now handed over to the distributor and marketers to hopefully ensure it reaches a large and profitable marketplace. Short films on the other hand are mostly made for the love of doing it, as they never make any money for the filmmaker!

NOTE: SO NOW YOU KNOW HOW ITS DONE FOLKS IT'LL MAKE YOUR VIEWING ENJOYMENT ALL THAT BIT MORE SPECIAL - THAT IS, KNOWING HOW INSANE US ANIMATORS ARE FOR STARTING IT ALL IN THE FIRST PLACE!  :)
​

The 'ACADEMY OF INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT', located here in Seattle's 'Armory' building, is giving a special award for their best animation student. We thought it appropriate to provide a 'Golden Pencil Award' for their chosen student, so we've added that announcement to our Awards ceremony tomorrow night at 7.00pm.

We've been printing out some incredible artwork for our ANIMATOR'S SKETCHCLUB gallery exhibit at the festival. Checkout some incredible artwork and drawings from artists & animators from all over the world - each of whom have successfully contributed to the monthly drawing challenge that's announced on the 1st of each month. Definitely well worth seeing folks - and entirely FREE!

Its almost here folks, so here are our last 3 featured films being shown tomorrow... 'SCENT OF GERANIUM', 'THE BEAST FROM A BAZILLION FATHOMS' and 'TREASURE NEST'. We're sure you're going to love them, along with all the other fabulous animation delights we're screening!

The film: Immigration is a new chapter in one's life, a chapter with unexpected events that can take one's life down paths different from the one imagined. This film is an autobiographical account of the director's experience with immigration.

The filmmaker: Naghmeh Farzaneh is an Iranian animator and filmmaker who entered the animation world after getting her bachelor’s degree in Painting. She began her first film, trapped in time, as an exercise to learn the medium, the work got an international recognition in many film festivals. In 2011 she immigrated to the United States to continue filmmaking while pursuing her MFA in Animation. Naghmeh's films have been officially selected in many international festivals around the globe including Leeds International Film Festival, Savannah Film Festival, Festival Du Nouveau Cinema, Tricky Women, Tehran International Animation Festival and has won awards at Animateka Festival, 47ht ASIFA EAST Animation Festival, New Orleans Film Festival and Hong Kong Arthouse Film Festival to mention the few. Naghmeh currently is an animation faculty member at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

The film: Follow along as an ill-tempered sea monster, bent on world destruction, achieves one small victory during his ferocious rampage.

The filmmaker: Patrick Neary is an established filmmaker with experience working in both live action and animation. His cinematography credits include the feature films “Black Road”, with Sam Daly and Simon Templeman, “Redwood Highway”, with Shirley Knight and Tom Skerritt and ”Calvin Marshall”, with Steve Zahn and Diedrich Bader. He has also shot series and commercial projects for ABC, Disney Channel, Animal Planet, Turner Entertainment, Kraft Foods, and other national clients.  As an animator, Patrick's work includes stop motion as well as traditional, hand-drawn projects. Patrick works out of his Portland, Oregon studio.

The film: Treasure Nest is a 3D animated short following the adventures of Blue a cat-like creature in search of hidden riches. Along his way Blue discovers a bird-like creature named Peanut who he reluctantly brings along in hopes that she will be the key to unlocking the treasure. Through the use of such programs as Maya ZBrush Photoshop Houdini Nuke and After Effects the Treasure Nest thesis group presents a beautifully hand-painted world in which Blue’s resolve is tested throughout his journey... eventually leading him to a prize of which he never expected.

The filmmaker: Joy Tien: Joy is a CG artist based in SF. Recently she graduated from the MFA Computer Art Program at School of Visual Arts, focusing on texturing/ surfacing in CG production. Her professional experience includes working as junior 3D modeler/ texture artist/ visual development artist and storyboard assistant. Not limited to the above- mentioned area, she is also proficient at shading, lighting and compositing in 3D animation production. She has been working and traveling to different cities, such as Taiwan, New York, Vancouver ( SIGGRAPH 2014 ) and San Francisco. As a visual artist, Joy considers art as a means to translate imagination into reality. Her work emphasizes the usage of color and positive spirit, giving the audience a sense of happiness and a temporary illusion of escaping real life. 

Animators should first rough out their initial ideas and film them as pose tests. This will give a very quick and basic understanding of how the proposed animation will work in the scene. When the animator is happy with their pose test, it could also be edited into the animatic in its appropriate place to see how it works in continuity with scenes either side of it. Modifications can be made at this time as if the key poses do not work the final animation never will.
 
When the animator is ultimately happy with the way the poses work they (or an assistant if they have the budget for it) will rough in the inbetweens to see how fluidly or smoothly it will work. Again, when filmed, this can be edited into the animatic for a final continuity test.
 
11: Animation: Cleaned-up Keys and Inbetweens.
​

When the rough animation is drawn, tested and approved its next necessary to ‘clean up’ all the drawings. This simply means removing the roughness from each drawing and redefining it carefully in a style that echoes the original model sheet design style.
 
12: Background painting.

While the animation is being created (or after it, if the person is working alone on their film) all the background artwork needs to be painted. (Note: Backgrounds are generally defined as everything in the scene that does not animate).
 
13: Animation: Inking and Scanning.

Once all the animation drawings are cleaned-up, they now need to be ‘inked’ (traced). (Note: This is for the traditional ‘pencil & paper’ approach to animation. Today, more and more work is created digitally (‘tradigital animation’) in which case there is no need for scanning as the clean-up is done in the computer.
 
14: Animation: Coloring.

Whether the production uses traditional or traditional animation drawing techniques, the final artwork will pretty much always become digital these days – whether via scanned drawings or having been cleaned-up directly in to the computer. At this point it is all colored digitally and combined with the painted backgrounds.
​

If diversity in animation is what you're looking for then DRAWTASTICON on Saturday is the place to be! Here are 3 more images from films to hopefully get you curious... 'SWARM', 'MOR' and 'SISTERS'.

The film: A village is overwhelmed by an unwelcome harvest.

The filmmaker: Sarah Sun is a filmmaker from Canada. She loves creating designs that engage people and spark their curiosity. She received a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design where she concentrated in animation.

The film: A girl and her younger brother are lost deep in the dark woods and afraid to move forward. When they stumble across the Well for Lost Souls, she is presented with a magical solution that promises to help them find their way home.

The filmmaker: A Bowen Welles and Lisa Wu are a filmmaking team that graduated from Chapman University in Orange County, California. Originally from Lake Bluff, Illinois, Bowen emphasized in art direction and has a particular passion for the video game industry. Lisa grew up in California and has always had a huge love for all forms of storytelling. She is an aspiring storyboard artist, and eventually hopes continue to tell unique, cultural stories that challenge convention.

The film: Part exercise of passion, and part love letter, ‘Sisters’ is a fragment of some lost, tragic opera. Trapped in the ruins of their former glory, a pair of performers bound together and abandoned by time rise up to sing once more. Conjured up by the song to which it’s set, the film represents a sincere vision of inspiration derived from the music of Karin Dreijer Andersson (Fever Ray). It is the confluence of a variety of abstract concepts, from the fragility of modern technology, to the cruelty of the passage of time. The movement of the characters references legendary contemporary choreographer, Martha Graham; transposing an exercise in human restraint and lamentation onto mechanical beings.

The filmmaker: Taylor Shortall.