the funkship

2012-01-11T10:15:00.000-08:00

Check out this amazing hand-drawn animated short by Minkyu Lee!! Stunning and beautiful work by one of the most talented friends I know~

Adam and dog Trailer from Minkyu on Vimeo.

2011-12-20T16:52:00.001-08:00

fanart I did for Matt Roberts' character designs (http://hoodoohullabaloo.blogspot.com/) .. My version of Shade and Jangles ..something that's taken years for me to finally finish.. sorry Matt!

2011-02-01T11:37:00.000-08:00

testing out TVPaint brush engine.. trying to get a similar brush with the one I have in photoshop.. The thing that annoys me is that there isn't a way to control the size of the grain in pencil mode.. and it also has some semi opaque marks .. anyone out there know where I could get a good croquil ink pen for TVPaint?

2011-01-04T11:17:00.000-08:00

Thanks again for all the wonderful comments on the end credits! Here is something I did for the micro gallery show~ I learned painfully how hard it is to pull off real ink drawings without a undo button! My respect for real ink illustrators has gone up tremendously- This is my first attempt (besides the ones I ruined by smudging the ink with my pinky) with a actual croquil ink pen~

2010-11-29T14:04:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody!

Thanks for all the wonderful comments for the last post! It's always great to hear encouraging words from fellow artists~ Just came back from a awesome vacation week and decided to put up more tangled stuff- these are from the end credits of tangled~ really tried to push a bit more caricature/cartoon look for these.. Some pretty obvious inspirations were Searle, Hank Ketchum, Owen Fitzgerald, and Mel Crawford.. all awesome artists I look up to!

2010-11-18T17:06:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I've posted anything on this blog.. just been really busy at work and usually too tired to draw anything not work related.. which is not good~.. Next weekend the movie "Tangled" is coming out, and it's my first real screen credit on a feature film as a character designer! I'm really proud to be a part of this film and the talented people that worked on it, especially the directors (Byron and Nathan) who gave me my first real opportunity to do character design proffesionally.. On the actual film there only a few credited for the character designs (me, jin kim, bill schwabb, and glen keane).. but there were many talented character designers that were on it earlier that had tons of fantastic stuff.. (joe moshier, tron mai, lorelay bove, claire keane, brigette..etc) that never made it to the art of book but should have been recognized as well..

Stylistically, my job was to make the characters fit in the same world as Rapunzel.. who was drawn by none other then the great Glen Keane! He had already done soooooo many awesome drawings on her for the past 7 years at Disney that Rapunzel already had a real clear direction on who she was and how she should drawn.. It was a tall order for me to follow up on it so I did my best to really understand Glen's aesthetics and his influences.. I made it a point to really look at his work from his more recent Tarzan drawings.. to some of his early stuff like Oliver and Company and Ratigan from the great mouse detective.. even looking at earlier artists like Ollie Johnson, Fred Moore, Hank Ketchum, Kathee Kollwitz, Leyendecker, Robert Fawcett, Hirschfield, Carl Spitzweg, Raphael and photographers like Edward Steichen.. I found that even Glen's animation notes were hidden gems on his design process as well.. It wasn't good enough to just copy shallow mark making or shapes but to understand his perspective and the "why" he draws the way he does..

In the end, I don't even know if all this studying had a direct impact on the drawings I did.. or if I really succeeded in understanding the "glen keane" style.. but I did learn a lot and grew from it..

Glen's vision for the aesthetics for the film was summed up with one word: sprettzatura.. which means "art that hides it's art".. something I'm always trying to strive for myself every day!

So go check out the film next week~ Practically all the shots had Glen drawing over the key poses in the scene so you can see his touch everywhere..

..and stay and check out the credits as well! : )

2010-08-06T09:26:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody!

If your around L.A., come check out gallery nucleus! Our visdev department at disney is doing a book signing/release party on August 7 (7-11pm)~ There will be a ton of great art there to look at~

Some of the people featured in the book are:

Bill Schwabb
David Wormersley
Doug Rogers
Justin Cram
Jeff Turley
James Finch
Kevin Nelson
Lorelay Bove
Mac George
Scott Watanabe
Victoria Ying
Bill Perkins
Britney Lee
Jin Kim
Mike Gabriel
Claire Keane
Daniel Arriaga
Raffaello Vecchione
Paul Felix

2010-06-23T01:18:00.000-07:00

Recently, it seems like in the animation industry drawing rough has become a style in it of itself.. and nothing else! There is the mantra "It's better to draw rough and make it clear then to worry about the details".. or.. "block in the general ideas first..then the details are secondary".. But here is another perspective from a great draftsman Rico Lebrun (famous fine artist and teacher at chouinard and disney)

"Even the slightest indication must at all costs avoid vagueness. The writing must be intense and specific. The blocking in of large mass, simulating boldness, is often a promissory note which we will not be able to honor later. It is, in fact, the story of the particular will lead properly to the general. A false reading of the particular will change the entire structure"..

here is Lebrun on sketching..

"..When we cannot really talk we gossip. When we cannot draw we "sketch" hoping to bypass the difficult through brevity.. the sketch should be the unering chart of a condition. It should never be used temporarily to placate vanity, which seeks to affirm itself through the delusion of promises made and promptly forgotten. Anxiety can encourage vacillation to suggest promising but untenable hints. It can lead you to shoot a round of ammunition at an imaginary target while the enemy is sitting on your rudder. It can reassure for the wrong reasons.."

2010-06-14T10:35:00.000-07:00

all on photoshop! : )

2010-06-02T14:49:00.001-07:00

Homage to Earl Oliver Hurst! one of my favorite artists~

2010-05-11T18:30:00.000-07:00

2010-05-05T09:39:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone~ check out the pecknpaw.blogspot.com- The visdev group over at disney is comming out with our own art book, loosely based off what the story guys did with torch tiger but this is more a art book then a comic book. There is a ton of great art in it!! we'll be selling them at comic con so come check it out~ :D

2010-01-27T10:10:00.000-08:00

this looks awesome! go Studio 4C!

2010-01-21T10:21:00.000-08:00

this battle is so fun! You can see Link from Elite Force and Salah going crazy over Yoshie and her crew~~ haha.. awesome!

I wonder if animation will ever have this vibe in the movement!

2010-01-05T10:33:00.001-08:00

Hope everyone got to see Prep and Landing on ABC this winter break! I was lucky enough to do passes over the character designs and they even used some of the designs on the show: Santa, and Ms. Holly (the secretary lady).. There were also a lot of exciting preproduction art that never made it to the screen.. We earlier envisioned a more Rankin and Bass meets Pocoyo Christmas Special style.. but later got scrapped sadly! I would have liked it to be more of a mini Asterix flavored european comic world.. but it still came out appealingly! Some great character designers that contributed were Joe Moshier, Lorelay Bove, David Coleman, Bill Schwabb, Bert Youn..

2010-01-04T11:03:00.000-08:00

Just started getting interested in learning about C.O.G.(center of gravity)! A lot of the drawing and animation books I've read mention the concept of balance in figures.. and this is terribly important in drawing, design and animation.. but hardly devote a lot of pages to it..

Remembering Milt's advice, "You need to know what you'r doing before you caricuture it".. I changed my focus from art books to google videos and books! If you really want to know what weight is and understand it is from the inside out.. I really recommend using google to find out! There are a ton of videos, and ebooks out there for free online.. and during my search I found a lot of other topics on the way as well..

During my search on google you can watch a physics teacher taught about c.o.g, people that design toy airplanes talking about balance and c.o.g, ballet books that talk about c.o.g, rock climbing books that talk about c.o.g, sports coaches talking about c.o.g, martial artists talking about c.o.g... all cross-referencing each other!

one of the most interesting things that came up from this search was learning about gait analysis.. there is actually a field of study that centers around the mechanics of human movement.. and books that talk specifically on what goes on in your body when you walk! I found that c.o.g. is extremely important in the movement and structure of humans..

learning about weight and balance really helped me connect the dots when I came back to drawing the figure.. Not only did it help with thinking about posing and movement, but how I design and structure my characters as well! It opened my eyes that there are reasons why living things are designed a certain way.. and how appropriate things are designed based on their function.. and within that amazing grace! Made me think on how God designed our world with a purpose and with great beauty!

I really recommend learning c.o.g. and concepts of weight if you are studying anatomy! Great anatomy artists that I look up to like rico lebrune and marc davis all had a great understanding of this~ why shouldn't we?

Anyway, hope everyone gets to take advantage of the google search on their learning journey!

2009-12-29T11:06:00.001-08:00

awesome! kite and fishboy~

2009-12-14T18:12:00.000-08:00

This is Popin Pete, One of the original members of the Electric Boogaloo, dancing! He's been popping since 1970s with his brother Boogaloo Sam.. A popping Legend~ (You might have seen him in Breakin next to Poppin Taco, One of the robots next to Michael Jackson in Captain EO).. Here is a clip of him freestyling with a pole.. haha

2009-09-24T17:32:00.000-07:00

Sam Jackson studies from Soul Men!

2009-09-14T14:30:00.001-07:00

in memory of michael jackson.. Kite ripping the shit out of the Heartbreaker track!!

2009-07-28T15:21:00.000-07:00

a caricuture of yumeki~ young talented dancer who destroys that guy in the clip below- found out she was out here in Long Beach but I couldn't make it to the competition.. anyway she is hella funky! She hits these poses that remind me of capcom!

2009-07-23T11:41:00.000-07:00

inspired by Bob Tupper.. just recently signed up for cartoon retro.. love all the art on that site!

2009-07-13T11:17:00.000-07:00

Now for color..

2009-07-09T18:29:00.000-07:00

2009-07-06T18:15:00.000-07:00

slowly trying to transition into tone and light..

2009-07-01T18:41:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone~ I was lucky to be a part of this project for the sawarovski's crystal cat commercial.. It was awesome being able to work with my friends from calarts.. and the final piece looks great! check it out!

http://www.swarovski.com/Web_US/en/magazine?contentid=10007.72260

2009-06-24T15:10:00.000-07:00

some cold ass shiiit.. more kids serving grownups!

2009-06-08T13:08:00.000-07:00

these kids serve some older bboys! boogie brats!! : D

2009-05-12T14:40:00.000-07:00

hey everyone! check out torch tiger book that's comming out for this summer's Comic Con~ Me and a couple of newbies were allowed to join the group of great artists in that book.. the cover for it is done by Paul Felix.. It's SICK!!!

2009-04-08T10:40:00.001-07:00

this is Frantick- one of the most amazing dancers in LA! Love the timing and staging of his movements.. His movements tells a story~ Watching him in person is unreal*

2009-04-02T11:13:00.000-07:00

this is an old clip but check out this two man tut routine from jsmooth and future! sick~~

2009-02-18T00:12:00.000-08:00

Chronotrigger fanart inspired by early Dragonball

2009-02-02T11:33:00.000-08:00

OG bopper Scorpio! this guy is nastier then michael jackson~ He was in the same crew with another famous popper Robot Prince.. They have a big rep in Los Angeles

Here's Scorpio.. (the first guy on the clip)!

2008-12-12T14:55:00.000-08:00

here's me trying to be more thoughtful and purposeful with my lines.. I got inspired from one of art babbit's lectures that said "lines have a character to them.." : )

2008-11-20T15:55:00.001-08:00

miyazaki documentary on youtube

2008-10-23T10:10:00.000-07:00

found these inspiring Jules Engles clips. Jules was the former dean of Experimental Animation and was one of the founding members of creating the animation program at CalArts besides working at Disney and UPA. He passed away recently and I was lucky enough to get to know him while I was going to school. Enjoy! : )

(click on next story to see all the other clips)

http://www.peoplesarchive.com/browse/movies/3663/en/off/

2008-09-17T17:16:00.000-07:00

Seen- another amazing japanese popper.. His style is very similiar to popping taco from breakin.. really sick waves and animation style!! : D

2008-09-05T16:14:00.000-07:00

pencil test

2008-08-23T12:22:00.000-07:00

really talented popper! Kite from Former Action Crew in Japan~ best footwork I've seen yet in popping.. including some OGs. He is on screen right..

2008-08-01T10:39:00.000-07:00

boppin andre.. Legendary pioneer and creator of bopping/robot.. doing some sick animation!!

2008-07-23T19:05:00.000-07:00

more life drawing~ ^_^ cuz I can't use any stuff from work..

2008-07-21T19:55:00.000-07:00

Cool Western girl in Bob Kato's costume class..

2008-07-09T18:12:00.000-07:00

Where Popping and Animation come together!

2008-06-25T18:59:00.000-07:00

2008-06-12T09:25:00.000-07:00

Always loved the comics and even the anime/american animated version of it!

2008-04-25T12:02:00.000-07:00

two of my favorite bboys of all time~ alien ness and katsu from zulu kings! This is a good example of moves vs movement.. it's all about entertainment and timing ^_^
(alien ness and katsu on the right)

2008-04-21T19:47:00.000-07:00

FINGER TUTS~ some fresh tutting concepts.. sick! ^_^

2008-02-14T14:40:00.000-08:00

Some quotes from a interview with Milt Kahl in the book Walt's People.

Dr Moritz: Did you do those model sheets where they have six poses of the character?

Milt: They'd take a lot of drawings from my animation and make a model sheet of thosee.. It was much better that way because the model department.. they couldn't really draw that well anyway.. When something gets into animation, it forces itself into a different design. Especially heads. Faces. Because to articulate them, there were certain things that just didn't work.

Dr Moritz: That's true with the beginning of Snow White. They had a lot of problems articulating her.

Milt: Yes. That's just inability to draw. The judgement of how not to draw something. .

Those quotes just confirms how important having a hand drawn animation ability is so important in doing character designs~

2008-02-05T19:36:00.000-08:00

2008-01-18T09:30:00.000-08:00

Jihyun in korea! ^^

2007-11-12T18:18:00.000-08:00

2007-11-12T18:11:00.000-08:00

2007-10-25T11:13:00.000-07:00

jihyun working at karaoke ^^

2007-10-18T17:42:00.000-07:00

Robot Prince~ This man is amazing! My friend Jules had a chance to talk with him- he is another super OG~~ watch at -8 sec (the move is layered in two motions- his jaw action and him going back all robotic like) must see clip!

http://www.westcoastpoppin.com/playvideo.php?id=341

2007-10-10T10:01:00.000-07:00

really awesome japanese mime!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HanD2FsbMsc&mode=related&search=boppin%20andre%20botting%20popping%20hitting%20hit%20pop%20bot%20robot%20funk%20west%20coast%20og

2007-09-27T18:30:00.000-07:00

2007-09-25T09:09:00.000-07:00

super OG dancer/performer/mime Marcel Marceau just recently died. A world renown performer that inspired animation and poplocking! check out the clip!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNqskkKMkFQ&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ewestcoastpoppin%2Ecom%2Fplayvideo%2Ephp%3Fid%3D337

2007-09-21T09:12:00.001-07:00

man.. another AWESOME clip of amazing musicality.. this guy's named is Flatopp.. OG of strobbing and animation.. check out 4:20 in to it.. He starts animating to the trumpet horn.. INSANE!! ^ ^

http://www.westcoastpoppin.com/playvideo.php?id=331

2007-09-19T09:49:00.000-07:00

this clip is a must see!! It's a korean bboy show- really inspiring

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=youfDZgY82U

2007-09-13T09:10:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody! Look at my interview at the character design blog on http://characterdesign.blogspot.com/ or click on my link section to the right. I put up some more artwork there that's not on my blog~ ^^

2007-09-03T12:55:00.000-07:00

Seoul is such a amazing place to go visit! So many interesting things to see and learn~ I saw this old man selling these electric tennis raquets that fry mosquitos!! man did I have fun back at my friend's place ^ ^

2007-08-19T10:17:00.000-07:00

just got back from tokyo and seoul~ it was so amazing! ^ ^ u guys have no idea~

2007-06-20T15:53:00.000-07:00

kid gettin some DS action ^ ^

2007-06-12T20:27:00.000-07:00

o snap~ another U-min clip. Awesome ^ ^

http://www.westcoastpoppin.com/playvideo.php?id=300

2007-05-29T23:54:00.000-07:00

Class of 2006!! a great group of awesome artists!

2007-05-25T19:17:00.001-07:00

sorry I haven't posted for awhile.. had this idea of a fopish english knight lost in the desert.. ^ ^

2007-04-28T15:33:00.000-07:00

super OG poppin taco~ most of you might have seen him in breakin with poppin pete... This guys is a Superhero when it comes to popping.. I was actually able to meet him in person with my friend jules at one of the howthawestwaswon.. asked him if he would give a lecture at CalArts .. but he said he was busy.. still was happy to able to shake his hand~ ^^

one of the pioneers in snaking, cobra, and waving.. watch the clip!

http://www.westcoastpoppin.com/playvideo.php?id=270

2007-04-23T22:52:00.000-07:00

2007-04-23T21:55:00.000-07:00

2007-04-23T21:54:00.000-07:00

2007-04-17T21:55:00.000-07:00

long line of Dancers waiting for an audition.. ^ ^

2007-03-21T22:22:00.000-07:00

2007-03-21T22:19:00.000-07:00

this is a new layout I'm working on... a lil scene in a ktown boba shop ^ ^

2007-03-21T22:17:00.000-07:00

2007-03-14T22:05:00.000-07:00

been noticing lately that most of this blog has been about animation.. so here are my top ten poplocking (popping & locking) clips .. just copy paste the address..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M7nF4dAhZw&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ewestcoastpoppin%2Ecom%2Fplayvideo%2Ephp%3Fid%3D159

the tightest bottin/animation style crew I've ever seen in my life.. supposobly they were taught by OG Boppin Andre (creator of style of boppin or bottin) .. anyway incredible control.. precision.. awesome musicality! this is fantasia in real life~

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK1FEE1sCQU

jsmooth.. one of the top new school heads bringing the funkstyle crown back to the USA.. student of poppin taco.. also taught by Electric boogaloos.. amazing musicality (animation done to the music!) .. but the highlight of this clip is the finger tuts in the middle of the set.. he knows how to pace himself well and add variety and complexity in them.. !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3QUDHKocVY&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ewestcoastpoppin%2Ecom%2Fplayvideo%2Ephp%3Fid%3D139

OG of strobing.. this is one of the originators and pioneers of strobing.. and he can do it while he's singing! no one is on his level of creativity/control/musicality in strobing~

http://www.westcoastpoppin.com/playvideo.php?id=115

Salah.. from France.. amazing dancer.. amazing performer.. he won the popping and locking competitions here in Hollywood called HowThaWestWasWon... a wonderful human being also in person!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkoAfjLJviA&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ewestcoastpoppin%2Ecom%2Fplayvideo%2Ephp%3Fid%3D101

boppin andre.. OG of bopping (aka botting).. he is the originator of this style.. strong presence and charisma~ he is the dancer in red..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_jlK1Z217I&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ewestcoastpoppin%2Ecom%2Fplayvideo%2Ephp%3Fid%3D94

budda stretch and link.. the two brothers after the brazilian guy.. they define beat freaking in this clip! listen to how they accent the music with their movement!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mwvQrtKeEQ&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ewestcoastpoppin%2Ecom%2Fplayvideo%2Ephp%3Fid%3D89

boogaloo Sam.. supposobly the originator for popping... but definately the originator of electric boogaloo style that is popular today.. respect

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_L5YDHmlKI&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ewestcoastpoppin%2Ecom%2Fplayvideo%2Ephp%3Fid%3D61

media serkus.. OG of routines.. they are one of the first groups that started popping way back in the 1970s! before all that breakin and enterin and beatstreet.. these guys were doing it a decade before that in the Bay Area.. some popping history for u guys!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScmEAvE42Vk

for those of u who dunno the difference between popping and locking.. these guys are definately lockers! They are from Japan and have world wide rep of locking~

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVYfoX6LMwk

acky is my favorite popper/dancer! He is a dancer from japan and is in a crew called OGS~ he was taught by poppin pete and most of the electric boogaloos... I luv this guy cuz he reminds me of a mix of poppin pete/fred astaire.. real smooth transitions.. nice musicality.. strong definate poses.. he is the guy in black and with the yellow hat~ ^ ^

hope everybody enjoys the clips! tell me if there is a problem with the addresses

2007-03-14T20:25:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Shane had a awesome two week character design workshop at calarts in which the assignment was to design characters from Christmas Carol.. I actually couldn't make it to the first class so one of my characters wasn't actually asigned.. (-_-).. on top of that I didn't really have time to read the book or do research.. and I squeezed it in during breaks at work.. arghh.. anyway.. here they are.. I am goin to address some of the notes I got and update them here on my blog.. hopefully I dun kill it or stiffin it up.. ^ ^

2007-02-19T19:26:00.000-08:00

some sketches I did with some friends at glendale.. ^ ^

2007-02-12T22:14:00.000-08:00

some development sketches for my film.. some of these were done after the film also ^ ^

2007-02-06T21:35:00.000-08:00

2007-02-05T18:41:00.000-08:00

more dancers ^ ^

2007-01-30T19:21:00.000-08:00

heres some calarts students I doodled today.. I'm doin another set 10 years after calarts.. ^ ^

2007-01-22T18:57:00.000-08:00

more kungfu teahouse waiters.. ^ ^

2007-01-19T19:35:00.000-08:00

2007-01-17T19:00:00.000-08:00

more doodles at work.. ^ ^

2007-01-14T21:48:00.000-08:00

heres some concept stuff I did last year for my film.. wanted to do a children's book style kinda like wut Sanders did for Lilo and Stitch.. learned a lot about watercolors.. they'r hard to do!! hopefully I'll have time to practice more..

2006-12-19T18:28:00.000-08:00

yes!! tha big deadlines at work are over.. spend most of today drawing and going to chinatown.. bought this really cool FLCL book with ruff animation drawings in them.. sweet! newayz.. here are some stuff I was experimenting with tape .. : )

2006-12-13T09:46:00.000-08:00

working at a studio is hectic.. haven't had much time to just draw on my own cuz of deadlines.. (-_-).. heres one I squeezed in last week.. ^ ^

2006-11-22T09:20:00.000-08:00

more x-men fanart.. ^ ^ storm as a teenager..

2006-11-19T00:01:00.000-08:00

some doodles from work.. ^ ^

2006-11-18T23:38:00.000-08:00

2006-11-16T09:37:00.000-08:00

clown romance..

2006-11-04T23:52:00.000-08:00

some dogs ^ ^

2006-11-04T23:34:00.000-08:00

hey everyone! I just came back from a poplocking contest .. it was friggin tight as hell!! they had some of the top poplockers in the world that night in hollywood.. there was a old school popper called One Arm Bandit.. had the crowd in his hands for a good 10 minutes of him just dancing.. at one point he was just in a pose, sitting in the pocket, just feeling the funk.. spellbounding..I think I learn more about animation from watching this old school dancer do his thing then some lectures at calarts..

here's some doodles I did after comming back from the event.. The guy in the orange was a guy called Robot Prince.. one of the original boppers (robot style popping) in LA back in the late 70s early 80s.. the other guy is one arm bandit posing in a low rider pose..

2006-10-26T00:58:00.000-07:00

bored... (-_-)

2006-10-24T23:22:00.000-07:00

2006-10-24T22:48:00.000-07:00

here is castella.. a catholic school girl.. u'll be seeing more of her soon~ It's ironic now since I live next to a catholic elementary school.. (-_-)

2006-10-24T21:54:00.000-07:00

hey everybody! this is my first time blogging so its taking me awhile to learn how to use it.. hopefully this will motivate me to keep drawing on my own time away from work.. I been struggling with perspective drawings all week.. so I decided to just do some random doodles for fun.. ^ ^