Now on Kickstarter!

BLOODWING FIRE FIST ANGEL

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/johncelestri/fire-fist-angel-book-1-screwed-by-the-gods

I've created a video comic in episodic form!

In this episode, an innocent angel is hurled out of Paradise, and into the cold cruel world of mortal beings!

Here's a some sample page from the comic!

 

 

My First Kickstarter Campaign Is Now Fully Funded!

 

Ruff Sketch!

An Animation & Comic Book Portfolio

Do you want full size copies of my animation drawings? I launched a Kickstarter campaign to publish a softcover book containing rare animation drawings and short accounts about being a young animator back in the 1970s & early 1980s.

Check out this link: http://kck.st/2nrqrnX

Star Wars Holiday Special Boba Fett Animation Roughs

Happy Holidays! Here's my Holiday Musical Extravaganza on YouTube!

How To Draw Animation (Part 3): Overlapping Action! Secret Sauce of Animation!

In this tutorial, I show you advanced examples of overlapping action, a basic animation principle.

If you like this video, please leave a comment on YouTube...and if you like my channel and need a coffee mug or a T-shirt, check out: http://www.cafepress.com/johntheanimatorguy

How To Draw Animation-Squash and Stretch More Than Bouncing A Ball (Part 2)

My latest video. If you like it, please leave a comment on YouTube!

How To Draw Like An Animator

My latest YouTube video is now published! Hope you like it, and if you do, please leave a comment on YouTube!

Squash and Stretch More Than Bouncing A Ball (Part One)

The first full episode of my YouTube series is now live!
If you enjoy it, please subscribe and leave a comment on my YouTube channel.
I'm now editing the next video, and as I plan on maintaining a weekly schedule, it will be posted on my channel Saturday, October 28.

Introducing John the Animator Guy Celestri YouTube Trailer

I'm busy editing together the first episode...it should be ready next week!

John the Animator Guy Celestri Animation

Check out my YouTube playlist of some of my favorite animation clips!
If you like what you see, please leave your thoughts in the comment section below the video.

Thanks!

Announcement: John the Animator Guy Store Opened at CafePress.com

The John the Animator Guy mug is perfect for coffee, tea, or pencils!

YES, I finally got my online store up and running at 

http://www.cafepress.com/johntheanimatorguy

I've kept my inventory basic, simple, and affordable. Besides mugs, you'll also find a wide variety of T-shirts for both women and men, tote bags, computer mousepads, and magnets.

Check it out...and if you've enjoyed (and found helpful) the information I've freely given you over the years here at my blog, please consider buying an item or two.

Thank you...and Keep Your Pencils Sharp!

My YouTube Channel

 

I'm prepping my first animation video to launch my "John Celestri" YouTube channel in a month's time. It'll be a mix of information and new personal animation projects I'm creating... I hope you will visit me weekly at my old school 2D animation desk.


I'll make a formal announcement here when I'm ready to launch!

Snuffy and Zoey Website

I've developed an independent animation-centric website (separate from this one); and created the first in a series of short whimsical 2D web cartoons starring my characters Snuffy and Zoey. The website (https://snuffyandzoey.com/) is now live. This "John The Animator Guy" blog will continue to be supported and I will be posting about the production process of my new cartoons.

The purpose of the new site is to freely share my knowledge and enthusiasm for classical 2D hand drawn animation with children ages 8 and under (and their young parents and/or grandparents); and, in so doing, present a positive way to express oneself creatively.

The limitations of Blogger forced me to launch a standalone website where I can have total control of the quality of the material I post...and also (perhaps) in the future have a small online store offering licensed merchandise of Snuffy and Zoey.

This is my contribution to helping keep the art of classical 2D animation alive. I guess I'm sort of an internet Johnny Appleseed of animation…you never where those scattered seeds will land or what kind of good fruit they will produce.

Rock & Rule - Cindy and Angel escape

 

This is my favorite sequence I animated on. Basically, I directed myself and was allowed complete freedom...as long as I followed the basics of the script and the recorded dialog.

Below is the thumbnail analysis I did for one of Cindy's early scenes. I animated this particular scene 35 years ago, but I don't think I could do a better job today...the result might be different but not technically any better.

2D Animation Work In Progress

I've been working on this two and a half minute short web cartoon on and off for the past year. It's my way of keeping my hand in traditional 2D animation, using pencil drawings scanned into ToonBoom Studio software. This file shows the various stages I go through to produce my final color...there are completed color scenes, cleaned up animation, rough inbetweened animation, and basic key poses.

For those viewers who can't see the below embedded file, please go to Vimeo at:
https://vimeo.com/152711633

A frustrating aspect of Blogger is how it messes with the quality of the uploaded HD video clips. But this gives you an idea of how my characters' relationships are developing.

The Zen of Animation

Animator: BILL TYTLA

 
Animation that is entertaining is an extremely taxing process, both mentally and physically...so, it's best to enjoy experiencing the process itself. If you do, you will spend many positive hours in "The Zone", where you become one with the drawings you create.

Animator: BILL TYTLA

 

Old School Pencil + New School Tools

I've been working on simple action cycles that are entertaining to watch and play with...as in a mobile video game. I created this clip of simulated game play, using a combination of old school and digital methods...animating with pencil on paper, then scanning the drawings into ToonBoom Studio for color and assembly.

Click on the video below to watch it. 

Brad Bird and Jerry Rees Letter

One of my mementos I picked up along the road to developing as an animator is this letter I received from Brad Bird and Jerry Rees.

Notice the lack of a formal letterhead on this letter from Brad and Jerry. They definitely weren't wasting any of the budget on non-essentials.

Several months after receiving Brad and Jerry's response to my portfolio and sample animation scene of The Spirit, I visited with them at their KINETOGRAPHICS office in San Rafael, California and showed them my animation reel from "Rock & Rule," which consisted of my characters Cindy Schlepper, Officer Quadhole, and Mylar the Club Owner. At that meeting, I was offered a spot as an animator on their Spirit crew once they got the project off the ground...which unfortunately never happened. A few years later, Brad tracked me down and asked me to animate on his "Family Dog" episode of Steven Spielberg's TV series "Amazing Stories." However, my plate was extremely full at the time and I had to decline his offer.

The following is my interpretation of The Spirit for animation. It would have been fun to do.

John Celestri's interpretation of Will Eisner's Denny Colt aka The Spirit.

My Disney Letter And The Road It Set Me On

I had finished my summer school animation night class at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and decided to apply to Disney. For my portfolio, I sent in my one-minute-long silent pencil test I'd completed as my class assignment...which was the very first (and only) animation I'd ever done. This is the response I received.

Below is the one surviving animation drawing from my very first piece of animation (a rabbit character boxing with his own shadow), which is the film the above letter refers to.

 
Six months after I received the Disney letter of rejection, I was hired in 1975 at New York Institute of Technology as an inbetweener to work on "Tubby the Tuba"...where I met and worked under the master Popeye and TerryToon animators Johnny Gentilella and Marty Taras. During the 14 months I worked on that feature, I developed into a Cleanup Assistant Animator...which led me to getting hired in 1976 for "Raggedy Ann & Andy", directed by Richard Williams...which led me to getting hired by Friz Freleng as an animator in 1977.

But when I tried to reapply to Disney in that summer of 1977 (less than three years from my initial submission), I was told that I'd had TOO much experience and they preferred to start with younger art school students...they were clean slates that could be "molded to the house style."

The influences of working daily on those rare non-Disney features for almost two years led me on a path that enabled me to develop my own style of animation. I have NO regrets!

Animation Studio Setup

This is my animation work area. It's a combination of traditional animation board and computers for scanning my pencil art and importing into Toon Boom Studio. It's not glamorous, but it gets the job done.

Seen below is my animation drafting with my old Filmation disc. This can handle both 12 field and 16 field paper.

I've had this Acme Peg registration punch since 1987. I use it to punch cheap paper for my rough animation. I save the pre-punched Ingram Bond for my clean-ups.

Here are my 3 Computers: Moe, Larry, and Curly! Moe (on the left) is a Mac G3 I've had since 2001 (along with an Epson Scanner); Larry is a Mac Quadcore Tower (on the right) I've had since 2008; and Curly (in the center) is my iMac I bought in 2009.

My 15 year-old Epson Scanner...I call it Shemp (for those of you who know the Three Stooges and understand the inside gag)

 

Nelvana Seminar Notes (circa 1981): Part Three

These are the third and final set of notes from my Nelvana seminar. Please remember that I was asked to explain my personal method of animating (and the Frank and Ollie tomb "Illusion of Life" had not yet been published). We were all youngsters, experimenting on our own and trying to learn from each other.

The third seminar session consisted of answering questions that were handed in by animators a week after the first two sessions. I believe that the material covered in this series is as relevant today as it was 30+ years ago.
 

The following is how I rough out my full-size poses after working out my thumbnails.

Above is my first rough pass at a Quadhole key pose.

Above is my second rough pass at a Quadhole key pose...I mold the character's form over the forces I laid out on the first pass, making subtle changes as I feel the body reacts to those forces. This pose would be cleaned up on a third sheet of paper.

The next three sheets show how I filled out the basic posing and interpreted the timing of the previous examples shown in sessions one and two. Please refer to the exposure sheets in session one to see how I described the action with particularity. I find that writing it out in this manner forces me to analyze the movement in terms of "anticipation, action, and reaction".

If you have a mind to, you can cut out the poses (registering them by their leg placement and shifting of weight), then film them in sequence as a rough pose test, using the exposure sheet for timing.