What I've been up to...

"Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two"

I've had the great privilege to once again animate Mickey Mouse, as well as a few of his pals, and to be one of the few people who've gotten the chance to animate Oswald the Lucky rabbit.  I did this while working at the wonderful, Powerhouse Animation studios in helping Junction point release the sequel to their infinitely creative "Epic Mickey" game.

As an animation lover I appreciate the attention to detail and can spend hours spotting all the subtle, and not so subtle references to old animation classics that are littered throughout each and every level.  I enjoyed the amount of creative freedom I had when animating my scenes, even when we were on a short time budget.  As a result I came out of this with some shots I am very proud of, including this scene in which I did 95% of the animation, all but three shots.

Mad Doc "It's so sad"

It was a great learning experience in efficient animation, and was so much fun to work on.  Here's looking forward to a third installment! 

"Banner Saga: Factions"



Banner Saga is what I like to call a "Yahtzee!" moment.  I first learned about the project through kickstarter, and quickly backed it after seeing its deep world of vikings, giants, and magic. Little did I know that the studio producing the game was right here in Austin, and that I would have a chance to work on it.  Like I said... "Yahtzee!"

I've had a chance to play it, and I'm amazed at just how deep the strategy gets, how much thought goes into every move, and how the hours fly by when I'm playing it.  Not only has the game been critically acclaimed on such sites as Rock Paper Shotgun but it's art style has many people keeping an eye on this Turn Based Strategy game.  I worked on both the cutscenes and many of the in game assets, and now the BETA is live for you to check it out and try it for yourself!

There's more to come on this game, and this amazing multiplayer beta is just the tip of the iceberg, so keep an eye out on this project.

So that's what I have been up to.  My next updates will be about my film, so stay tuned everybody!

Happy Powerhouse Halloween!

Good evening fellow animators, friends, family, and acquaintances!  It's been a hell of a Halloween, the majority of it I spent in a 60 lb fiberglass outfit based on the popular game Gears of War.  See my exploits below.     

 Chowing down with my fellow Powerhouse'ians at Opal's, of course in costume.

 Working the armor at work.

 I rev up my chainsaw as Bruce(my boss) wields his steam punk rifle.

 The entire Powerhouse costumers.  All of these were wildly creative and spectacularly put together.

 Pallin around with Mandalorians at Wizard Con.

 Me and Pikachu (Kayla Kromer) at the Spill.com Halloween party that Kayla was nice enough to host.

 I couldn't get enough of the star wars booth. 

 Me and Jason from The Loading Bar, looking awesome!

 Probably my favorite costume of the year!

Jason and Jeff of the loading bar rocking some amazing costumes at the Halloween Party, oh and Flinn photoboming! 

 Mystery Science Theater costumes for the win!  These girls were great at the Con, especially in the Gagnam Style music video that was filmed there. 

 TF2 Heavy verses a COG soldier, who will win!?

Standing stoicly next to a horrifyingly life like Jar Jar binks at Kayla's place during the Spill.com Halloween party.

A video compilation by FrankDaTanka on youtube showing off the various costumes, including mine, at Wizard Con 2012

Keep an eye out for more updates, and Happy belated Halloween everyone! Mwahahahaha!

Powerhouse Class Animation Example

Recently I was asked to partner with two other Powerhouse Employees to produce a Powerhouse Fundamentals class on rough animation. I decided to do a little mouse character jumping to exemplify all the various types of principles that go into animating a standard shot. For the demonstration I broke it down into Keys, Extremes, Breakdowns, Inbetweens and emphasized the importance of charting. Other principles talked about were Squash and Stretch, Overlap, Drag, Strong Posing and Staging.

I'll post a link to the class itself when it is published.


Sometimes it's nice to just doodle something now and then, hope you enjoy!

Loading Bar Banner Entry

My friends at Spill and the Loading Bar have decided to have a contest for Spilleos (Spill.com fans) to enter in hopes of getting their art featured on the site.  Naturally I, being a Spilleo myself and wanting to create a nice rendered piece of art in hopes of drumming up more freelance, leaped at the chance.  So this is my entry.  No word yet on who will win, but I've got my fingers crossed.

If I can get some more freelance work going, and get paid for the bit I have done already, then the pile of savings I have for the Ottawa Animation Festival trip will be nice and plump with plenty of buffer room in case anything goes wrong.  Going to the festival will be a great opportunity for me to not only have a lot of fun, but get exposed to the new crop of short films coming out, and perhaps expose my WIP film "My Dad the Giant" to a few people as well.

Wish me luck!

-Patrick Stannard-

A years worth of sketches!

Just this yesterday I had the privilege to move into a more comfortable desk at my favorite company, Powerhouse Animation.  One of the companies longest and most admired directors decided to leave after many years of service to pursue mission work in the Dominican Republic.  His absence has been felt everywhere, and manifested strongly in the now vacant corner office he once occupied.  To fill this void Powerhouse decided that it was high time another honored employee got promoted to the space, and his own personal office.  That person was not me, and nor should it be, I've only been there for a year guys!  But, I was able to snatch up the desk my coworker left behind towards his brand new work space.  

So now I get to hold onto my traditional animation roots that much stronger with a refitted light table mounted with a Cintique.  I've only had a day to try it out, but already I am noticing much less discomfort in my back now that I don't have to bend over as much, and a bit of nostalgia to brighten my work experience even more than it already is.

During the move, I cleared out my old desk of all it's little notes, scrap pieces of paper, and all the materials I seem unable to keep my busy pen away from.  I swear I make better doodles on pieces of paper not designed for art than I do on canvas or in my sketchbook.  Those grade-school., middle-school, well high-school, hell college. . . days of doodling on my homework never seem to have left me.  While I don't have any homework left, there's nothing to stop me from sketching on a yellow notepad, or a sticky note, or one of the weekly meeting pages we get, during my downtime. 

I decided to scan all the silliness and share it with you.  Sorry for being away from the blog for so long, hope this makes up for lost time. 

 

 

Patrick R Stannard
Hey everyone! Want to help fund some really great independent animation and get yourself a DVD copy? Check out "The ARMS Masters!" a project started by my great friend Mike Winn as well as many of my friends and classmates from CCS.


http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/760823342/the-armsmasters-project-the-animated-pilot?ref=live 



A little can go a long way, and any bit you can chip in would be very helpful, plus they've put together all sorts of goodies you can get for various donation amounts!

Thanks!

16 Angry Men

One of my favorite things to do while I'm digesting my daily news story is to whip out some pencils, some paper, and draw all the weird faces that show up in the various segments.  Be it a pundit, an interview, a crime story, or just something silly there is always a funny face to be seen.  This is a compilation of all the angry white men I have doodled on napkins, scrap paper, and the like.  Some have been more modified than others.

New Animation Desk!

I know it's been awhile since last time I posted, but not to worry there is plenty happening here at the Kilted Lair.  Production on the film is kicking up again as I try to make it to the Austin Film Makers Production Fund deadline in June.  I hope to have everything ready by May 31st. 

In preparation I have acquired a full-on animation desk!  It has a disc, shelves, plenty of space for paper, and of course the valuable light box. 

More updates are on the horizon! Stay tuned.