Drawn with Coffee

VIFF 2009 Trailer

2009-10-10T14:17:00.005-07:00

This is the trailer I directed & animated for the 2009 Vancouver International Film Festival.

Rethink Happiness

2009-08-08T12:45:00.003-07:00

Here it is! This is the environmental public service announcement I made for this year's Animation Block Party.

Thanks again to the good folks at Animation Block for commending the Bunnies and awarding me this chance to make another film for them.

If you like it, show it to your friends! Show it to your mom! Heck, show it to your mom's friends!

Spread the word... Rethink Happiness! =)

To watch it in its full HD goodness, click here.

Hidden Elephant

2009-07-28T23:32:00.007-07:00

I'd never thought of a turkey baster or a vacuum cleaner hose as musical instruments until I saw the Robert Minden Duo's performance of "Hidden Elephant". Using an incredibly imaginative mix of words, song and "found sounds" the duo told the true story of two circus elephants who were separated for years and were later reunited in a sanctuary.

I recently had the privilege of working with the duo as they composed and performed the soundtrack of my newest film - "Rethink Happiness". In exchange, I made them these drawings!

Fish & Chicks

2009-06-19T11:42:00.002-07:00

Tracks

2009-05-14T01:07:00.002-07:00

Procrastina....

2009-05-13T11:35:00.003-07:00

I used to think having a blog was a great way to procrastinate.. until I started procrastinating my blog updates too. I guess I'll just stick to colour coordinating my shelves.

But hey, all that procrastination has paid off! Finally some sort of art! These are a couple of variations on a background from my next film.

Home again, Home again...

2009-04-21T20:07:00.003-07:00

I have no real excuse for the lack of posts so I'm making up for lost time with lots of pictures! I just haven't really drawn anything post-worthy in a while but hopefully that will change soon.

Valhalla!!!!!

2008-11-12T23:29:00.003-08:00

Not quite my usual style but this image was in my head just before I fell asleep 2 nights ago and I was compelled to reproduce it. Along with it was a voice that kept shouting "VALHALLA!!!" over and over again in my semi-conscious brain. I'm no expert on Norse mythology but I guess it's got something to do with war.. and battle... and stuff.

Fall...

2008-09-30T23:20:00.004-07:00

My seabus drawing for the day to commemorate the change of seasons. I've always wanted to know what it felt like to jump into a giant pile of leaves....

Bunnies on the Block

2008-09-01T18:08:00.005-07:00

Wow... a whole two months without any updates. Things have been pretty insane and I'm glad I finally managed to catch a breather this Labour Day Weekend. The biggest news on the animation front for me had to be, first of all, the Bunnies making the screening list for the Brooklyn-based Animation Block Party, and then taking home the "Best Student Film" award!!! It was such an honour and my thanks go out to the organisers and jury at ABP. Thanks also to the marketing guys at VFS who posted an article about the event on the VFS blog.

Also, Bobble & Sqweek and the Bunnies both made it into Stash 47 thanks to the awesome guys at Channel Frederator - yet another high point of the last 2 months!

More updates to come soon (I promise!!!)

Summer Cleaning

2008-06-22T15:05:00.002-07:00

With the weather finally warming up, I think I'm starting to awaken from my winter coma.. right in time for the summer solstice! So I've been scrubbing, cleaning, organising and I found these videos which upon re-watching, didn't make me cringe so I thought I'd share them.

This was made for my Grand Aunt, Lily Ong, who was diagnosed with lung cancer when I was in the last stages of making "In the Beginning" and passed away the day after I completed it. Because of the tight deadlines and the crazy amount of work I had to do on that film, I never made it back to see her or to attend her funeral so the least I could do at the time was to make a little animated clip for her memorial service. She was born (and also died) in the year of the pig and collected pig figurines and memorabilia obsessively throughout her life. By the time she passed away, she had amassed thousands of those little guys.

And some pixie dust I animated for an FX assignment in VFS.

I'd Like to Thank...

2008-06-15T23:09:00.005-07:00

To everyone who voted for Bobble & the Bunnies in the 2nd Annual Channel Frederator Awards, a big THANK YOU from the bottom of my squeaky rabbit infested heart. You know who you are - every last one of you. Without you guys, I wouldn't have these awesome Freds standing guard over me as I sleep .

Kudos to the crew over at Frederator for putting together such a cool episode announcing the results!

"..."

2008-05-30T14:08:00.003-07:00

Could it be that I miss Ye Olde Arte offe Typographie?

Today...

2008-05-19T22:13:00.003-07:00

51 Weeks early!

2008-05-17T14:53:00.004-07:00

I made this for my mom for Mother's Day... a week late.. or 51 weeks early, depending on how you look at it. To my mom, who knows a lot about germs.. from me, who thinks they look like rugs and have articulated limbs.

When All Else Fails...

2008-05-07T17:35:00.004-07:00

...Watch British Panel Shows until inspiration strikes....

So Wrong.. and Yet...

2008-05-03T19:34:00.004-07:00

This is Baggy the Anorexic Elephant. I think it needs no further explanation save to give credit to Colin "Captain Hair" Mochrie for making that brilliant throwaway line...

Bobble & Bunnies on Fred!

2008-04-13T12:34:00.007-07:00

I just found out today that "Bobble & Sqweek" and "In the Beginning" were nominated for the 2nd Annual Channel Frederator Awards!!

They were nominated in the "So Cute it Hurts Award" category and the "Bad Ass Bunny Award" categories respectively. If that isn't an honour, I don't know what is :D Voting begins April 16th so if you think Bobble & Sqweek are cute enough to give you stomach ulcers or the rabid exploding bunnies are indeed Bad Ass, do vote for them!

Thank you Fred! <3

Natty Dread Rides Again

2008-04-09T11:47:00.003-07:00

If Jared owned a Vespa...

By the Beard of Moose!!

2008-03-02T20:01:00.007-08:00

This blog was becoming so stale from the lack of updates it was starting to smell like unwashed socks. Soooo.. here's some freshly laundered animated goodness for all to enjoy!

These are 4 bumpers that I worked on with the 1337 animation crew also known as By the Beard of Moose , a ragtag bunch of vfs classical animation alumni (and one instructor!) who got together for the trick17 stop motion competition in November and have since been joining forces to take over the world, one frame at a time. This time, we stormed the Mytoons front for the Mytoons Bumper Blastoff in the hope of attaining eternal glory In the Name of His Mighty Beard (and maybe some cash too :D).

Kudos to (in no particular order): Tzanko, Michelle, Ian, Tammy, Jim, Jared and Temris for awesome work on this project.

Seabus Sketchery

2008-02-02T12:36:00.000-08:00

I take the seabus everyday to work and it's by far my favourite part of the morning. It's also the most ideal mode of public transportation to draw on (in my experience). It doesn't make frequent stops or sudden turns, no one gets on or off for 15 minutes and at the time I take it, there's always plenty of room so I can draw without the constant scrutiny of my fellow commuters. Also, most people are so busy enjoying the view they don't notice me staring while I scribble their likenesses :)

Northwest Film Forum

2008-01-28T18:45:00.000-08:00

Here's a little collage I made to commemorate my trip down to Seattle this past weekend to attend the Children's Film Festival organised by the good folks at the Northwest Film Forum. "Bobble & Sqweek" was showing on Saturday so I got free passes to see the whole show which was about an hour in total.

After the show, Liz Shepherd (one of the organisers) asked me and Aniwa Marisawa (who also had a film in the show) to do a little Q&A for the audience. One of the questions I was asked was where I got my ideas from. If I had been completely honest, I probably would have said "I watch a lot of TV and drink a lot of coffee" but I didn't think the parents would appreciate their kids hearing that. Some of the parents said they liked my film because it didn't make their kids cry... which is always a good thing I guess lol :)

So here's a special thanks to the Vancouver Film School for submitting my film to the festival & to the Northwest Film Forum for picking it!

You Ire What You Eat

2008-01-05T20:59:00.001-08:00

This image was in my head this morning as I spent 2 hours between hitting the snooze button and struggling to figure out if I was awake yet or not. Apparently my subconscious finds reprimand from anthropomorphic lettuce amusing...

Only this and nothing more.

2008-01-05T15:21:00.001-08:00

"Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December..."

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-24T13:55:00.000-08:00

Season's Greetings from me and my squeaky friends. Hope everyone has a good one!