Animated Thoughts: Realms of Wonder

After a quick lunch and a nice walk at Meijer Gardens, I drove over to the John Ball Zoo. It was time for the annual lantern festival. This year was... interesting. They didn't have the Chinese acrobat show when I was there last year. It didn't feel like they had as many of the sensor-activated animatronic statues. But what they had was enjoyable.

The "Realms of Wonder" had three sections this time around: Underwater, Cultural and Fantasy. Obviously, my favorite was the fantasy realm.

I made my usual two passes through the Zoo, once in daylight and again in darkness with all the lanterns lit up. 

The best animatronic statue there was the ice dragon--though the sensor to activate it was a little frustrating. They had this "gravity sensor" in front of the dragon but it was a little difficult to get the timing right--activating it once it stopped moving. I kept asking little kids to step on the sensor so I could get pictures and video. Fun for them once it started roaring and breathing smoke at least.

The gravity sensor was new. I'm use to those pressure plates that are hidden under mats. This one was a circle that would light up when stepped upon. 

Haven't decided yet, but am debating the merits of going back in June before the event closes. Would really like to take a closer look at the sensor arrays and compare them to the Detroit Zoo's "Dinosauria" animtronics. Sometimes the "how it works" is just as interesting as the end product itself.

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Animated Thoughts: Unexpected Finds in Unexpected Places

"Follow your nose!"

Every so often you find an unexpected find at an unexpected place. Every couple of months, the Lansing Collectable Toy, Comic and Record Show is held at the Okemos Conference Center. It's one of those fun events to wander around and look at the nostalgia. People are there selling records, comicbooks, old G.I. Joe, Micronauts, Shogun Warriors toys and much, much more. There's no admission fee, just come in and browse. I'm usually on the look for the old Marvel Red Sonja comics from the 70's and 80's at a reasonable price. My plan is to donate my comic book collection to the Wallace Library at R.I.T. when I die, so I'm looking to complete the full run of those two series along with a couple others.

Well this time, there was a guy who had included a box of animation cels with his toy selection. Lots of Filmation stuff: He-Man, She-Ra, Conan, Ewoks, and My Little Pony. But stuffed in there was a single bag with about forty production drawings from a couple of Kellogg's cereal commercials.

Now animation cels are wonderful for framing and hanging on the walls, I'm in total agreement with everyone on that score. But I still love production drawings more. Mainly because you can really see the mind of the animator at work in the different shades of pencil that make up the drawings, the areas that have been erased and redrawn, and the notes that they leave behind--in the above and below cases: a timing chart written in the margins.

You can also see scene instructions like "Reg BG4". This one puzzles me. Could be a notation on what background cel to use. Could be something else. Would really love to see the X-Sheets for this commercial.

I'm slowly working on an assignment for my animation history class that deals with how animation was used in advertising. These drawings will make for some great examples to show my students, even moreso if I can track down the commercial that utilized these drawings. There are a fair number of 'how we made it' videos on YouTube from feature film and short film productions; not so many videos on 'how we made that cereal commercial'--which makes production drawings like these all the more valuable to people like me.

A most excellent find, if I do say so myself.

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Animated Events: Butterflies are Blooming, part 1

It's March and that means two things: taxes and butterflies!

One of the things that I teach my students during my end-of-semester professional development lecture is the importance of having a good accountant. I understand the desire to save money and do things yourselves, but I cannot stress how important it is to have someone double-checking your numbers. I manage my own books for Smudge Animation, but my accountant is the person who keeps me from making mistakes. So the drive to Grand Rapids every year is well worth the time.

Now, if I'm going to be on the west side of the State, I like to visit some artistic venues and recharge my batteries after the long, cold winter. I normally maintain a yearly membership to the Detroit Institute of Arts. This year though, I decided to let it lapse and reallocate those funds to the Frederik Meijer Gardens. Nothing against the DIA, but they're doing a lot of construction and it's affected a number of the displays that I like to frequent. Some have been moved to less accessible rooms, others taken off exhibit for the time being. So, I'm kind of staying out of the way while they get the renovations completed and the artwork back to their usual rooms. 

Looking for alternates, I reviewed what Meijer Gardens was offering this year and quickly determined that there were four upcoming events that I'd like to see. There was my two yearly visits to see the butterflies which coincide with the meetings with my accountant. However, this year they're bringing back the indoor/outdoor Chihuly exhibition. Last time Dale Chihuly's works were on display at the Gardens, I didn't learn about the exhibition in time to drive out there. So, I'm not missing out this year. I won't say that I'm an expert on his artwork, but I fondly remember seeing the glassworks that the students were producing back in the '90's when I was at R.I.T. and that fondness for glass and ceramics hasn't dulled over the years. Look for those photos later this year. So there will be more than enough going on in Grand Rapids to justify the cost of a one-year membership.

And for the rest of this post, here are some of the best photos that I took with some very agreeable butterflies.

Zebra Longwing
Heliconius charitonius

Doris Longwing
Heliconius doris

Tiger Longwing
Heliconius ismenius (possibly)

Postman
Heliconius melpomene

Doris Longwing
Heliconius doris

Banded Orange heliconian
Dryadula phaetusa

And here's the obligatory lunch photo from the cafe. They've done some remodeling recently. Not sold on it yet, but the menu is still solid.

Yup. That was one tasty burger. Granted, it wasn't a Kahuna Burger, but still... And I always appreciate how they go the extra mile for the butterflies event. Usually it's butterfly-shaped cookies, this time it was a flower-themed chocolate cupcake with a gummy butterfly.

Feeling the internal artistic batteries charging.

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