OIAF Takeaways

As usual this years Ottawa International Animation Festival was incredible. Here are a few of the things that were said in the panels that really stood out to me.

During the Advice from Animators Panel Sam Gurry told us to not try to quantify our work or put a price on the work we do.

 

José Pou shared his experience of being a security guard when he couldn't find any animation jobs. He said it was hard, but he learned that there is no shame. We should not be shamed by the work we do. This was one of the greatest take aways from the event.

Chris Rutledge reminded me that we need to finish things. It doesn't need to be perfect just finished. I love that way of thinking.

In another session, I loved learning about the development of Wild Robot. Chris Saunders, the director, made the comment that “Abstraction brings believability”  He was referring to what they learned by trying to create a computer generated forest that was as beautiful as the backgrounds in Bambi. 

I also liked his insight as to why there are no mothers in Disney films. “Mothers keep adventures from happening.”

Summer Work

This summer I was able to stretch my design skills by designing Vermont Children's Theater's Web site. 

As part of the project, I have also been expanding their brand, to include more options for their logo (to come) and brand colors.

The colors evoke summer and the joy of theater. The red (the primary color for the company) represents the barn the theater is located in.

The secondary colors each represent different aspect of summer. The blue is the Vermont summer sky, the green is the grass around the barn, and yellow is the sun.

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Puzzled!

 

I recently partnered with Vermont Puzzle and started the Barclay Collection of puzzles featuring my illustration work! The Vermonotaur puzzle is now available to purchase! 

The puzzle features the Vermonotaur, a solitary creature that roams Vermont helping collect sap for sugarers and other good deeds. It is a 12x18 inch 345 piece puzzle that has been individually printed (no mass production. 

If you are interested in purchasing one you can visit my site at barclay-studio.com

Hopefully, more puzzles will be coming soon.

Sketching at Diagon Alley

As part of my family's visit to Orlando, Florida I took an opportunity to sketch a bit in Diagon Alley at Universal Orlando. I could have spent a lot more time there. I loved all the skiwampus buildings. It was a visual smorgasbord!

If you are interested you can purchase a limited edition print of the sketch from my website here.

A Visit to Orlando: Cinderella's Castle

 

My family and I recently visited Orlando Florida for the first time. On the day we went to Disney World, I made sure to spend some time sketching while the rest of the family waited in lines for rides. I really enjoyed the complexity of Cinderella's Castle. 

There is something wonderfully calming about slowing down and looking. In the process of drawing this I saw a mother struggling to take a selfie with her two sons. I took a small break and offered to take the photo for them. I do not think I would have noticed her struggle if I had not taken the time to just look.

If you are interested you can purchase a limited edition print of the sketch from my website here.

New Book and Lessons Learned

 I recently had the wonderful opportunity to Illustrate and design "A Girl Named Gitta,” a series of stories about the childhood of Brigitta Straumer Clyde.

I will be writing more about how I got the job, and why I chose to illustrate a self-published book in a future post. Here I want to share something I learned about the process of illustrating a book and meeting deadlines.

Yesterday, while discussing procrastination and burnout in one of my classes, a student of mine shared the idea that we should do the vanilla first and then make the banana split. As I thought about this profound statement about getting the basics done and then if you have time, you add the topping, I realized that is how I approached this book. 

In order to meet deadlines at a very busy time of my life, I got out the basics first. For example, in the image below I got the idea out. 

I wasn't happy with it. I knew it could be better, but I had to get something done. At this point I didn't know how to fix it, so I submitted the preliminary black and white image. At this point this was one of my least favorite pages. The authors were happy with it, but I knew it could be better. 

Once I was finished with the line drawing for the whole book, I went in and reworked my least favorite images. This was the result.

I then went on to the next image I was not happy with and found a better solution. I used this process until each page was at a point I could be happy with. 

So, if you are overwhelmed with too much to do, do the basics first. Then if you have time, add the good stuff.

 

Vermont Animation Festival

On March 25 and 26 Northern Vermont University will be hosting the Annual Vermont Animation Festival. You can find out more about the event at vtanimationfestival.org

I also found out that one of my animations was accepted into the festival!