2013 Animation Reel

I'm happy to share the demo reel I cut from the absolutely massive amount of work done over the development of "XCOM: Enemy Unknown" and "XCOM: Enemy Within."  My goal was to keep it under two minutes and focused on some of the cooler moments that show weight, body mechanics, and just a willingness to try and find interesting ways of doing things.  All the work shown in this cut is hand keyed and the result of a lot of team work to develop an experience people really enjoy.



Here is the "extended version" of my reel showing many more of the cinematic moments I worked on, and shows just how much cutting goes into making the final version of a reel:

Scripting with Color

Even though this isn't a post with an actual animation this does relate to animation, and storytelling, in a bigger sense.  Idea and visual development is very important because it becomes the space where in our story happens.  It's an important element to consider before diving into animating scenes.
These are images I made back in 2005 for a friend's short film.  I've obviously done a ton of work since then, but I thought it would be fun to share a little blast from the past.  Especially because this is more closely related to the painting and illustration type work that I love doing in my free time.
Anyway, after reading an early version of my friends script I started to imagine what the spaces and lighting might feel like.  I allowed the words to percolate in my mind for a bit before I sat down and quickly visualized them.  I spent about 2 hours on each image just sort of playing around.  The "bar" image was actually built into a 3D set.  A partially animated scene done as well, but unfortunately never married to the finished set based on my concept.  Maybe some day.
I definitely recommend collaborating with people on little projects like this.  The free flow of creative ideas between friends is always refreshing.