Tag: seaf

Categories
Animation

Sweaty Eyeballs 2023

It was a true honor to see my film Brains screen at both MICA (where I attended my first Sweaty Eyeballs and got started with all this) and also at Towson University.

I’ve talked quite a bit about the importance of Sweaty Eyeballs to me and Baltimore, and how it’s inspired me over the years. Everything I’ve written and said is still true for me, and made even sweeter this year because I was invited to contribute to the festivals signal film, which ran at the start of every screening. A game of exquisite corpse, I was given the prompt “jump,” and asked to make a 2 second animation.

I was going to do the obvious – some feet jumping, and then, upon reflection, decided on jumping a battery. I made the car Sea Foam green as a nod to my entry in the festival, Brains. I was going to use a character from the animation, and then used a raccoon, because, well, it’s me.

I’ve squashed the video down into the .gif below:

This festival was more expansive than last year, and there were workshops and talks. I got to meet and talk with Isaac King, and I look forward to continuing the conversation with him. An amazing animator, Isaac puts forth compelling messages about humanity’s place in nature, social media, and subtle explorations about conflict. His film Second Hand is a mind boggling achievement of animation, and very beautiful. We started talking about experimentation, and I hope to keep talking about that.

I also spent hours with both Joanna Priestly and Paul Herrod, and their conversation, advice and encouragement will remain invaluable to me. It was THE best weekend.

We (Beverly, our kiddos, and Dusten) started out on Thursday for the Baltimore Showcase at the Brown Center (Falvey Hall) at MICA after a nice dinner at Joe Squared.

Sweaty Eyeballs ring leader Phil Davis (above) has done so much for our region and for animation. He’s funny, kind and really, the best.

Paul Harrod gave an incredible presentation of his work over the years – I was particularly inspired with his work on Isle of Dogs with Wes Anderson. It was fascinating to look behind that curtain.

There was another screening at Van Bokkelen Hall Theatre at Towson University.

The exhibit at Current Space was wonderful, especially Isaac’s projection work. I got to talk with Stephanie Williams again, and many other Baltimore animation folk. I feel connected to, and part of, a community.

The animation programming was expansive, diverse, and plentiful. I’m so impressed with how strong the work in the Baltimore Showcase was, too.

This weekend, and the festival, has left me inspired, thoughtful, grateful, and fortified.

Onward.

Animation
Categories
Animation

Sweaty Eyeballs 2022

The Lunatics entered the greater world at the 2022 edition of the Sweaty Eyeballs festival here in Baltimore. Always a big inspiration, this year’s festival did not disappoint! The Baltimore showcase was sold out, too.

Here on some pics from the night.

Looking up at the screen in the parkway theater before the show
My friends and family seated in the theater.
Beverly and Me
Myself and my old friend Jeff Zukor
Me, My daughter and close friends
Animation
Categories
Animation

Behind the Screens

I’ve written and talked about the Sweaty Eyeballs animation festival/screenings extensively. It’s always an inspiration, and I’m grateful to have it in my home town of Baltimore. And I am very very happy to be a part of this fantastic show!

There are over 3 hours of reels running in the gallery, and art from some great independent animators.

From the Goucher website:

February 11–March 27, 2022

Featuring:
Adam Davies with Leili Tavallaei & Nick McKernan
Albert Birney
Cassie Shao
Christopher Rutledge
Corrie Francis Parks
Eric Dyer
Erinn Hagerty & Adam Savje
Evan Tedlock
Gina Kamentsky
Ismael Sanz-Pena
Jim Doran
John C. Kelley
Karen Yaskinsky
Lynn Tomlinson
Ru Kuwahata & Max Porter
Stephanie Williams
Tynesha Foreman
Zoe Friedman

Curated by Phil Davis with Alex Ebstein

Goucher College is pleased to present Sweaty Eyeballs Animation – Behind the Screensin Silber Gallery, on view from February 11 through March 27, 2022. Behind the Screenspresents animation highlights from the Sweaty Eyeballs Animation Festival, exhibited alongside additional artworks and process ephemera that provide a window into each of the artists’ unique approach to the medium. The animations range from documentary and narrative to the visually abstract. They span digital and analog, with examples of stop motion, rotoscoping, hand-painted, hand-drawn, clay, collage, puppetry, and zoetrope animation.

Founded by Phil Davis in 2012 as a series of one-night-only events, Sweaty Eyeballs has been a consistent platform for and champion of animation in the Mid-Atlantic region. In 2019, Sweaty Eyeballs became a full-scale animation festival, hosted at the Parkway Theater.

In this gallery exhibition, artists who’ve participated in various iterations of Sweaty Eyeballs spill beyond the monitors to reveal their frame sequences and material experimentations. Others present drawings, collages, sculpture, filmstrips, and their preparatory notes. Behind the Screenscelebrates the extensive work that makes up and supports animation in a survey of style and format.

Phil Davis is an animator, avid musician, cartoon watcher, and professor of animation and film at Towson University. His animations and music videos have been featured in festivals internationally. He is currently working on an animated documentary short about the town of Millinocket, ME, and incidents surrounding a fatal paper mill accident.

Update 3/17/2022

We had a screening and artist talk this evening. I got to see Brood X and A Job as the Moon projected in the theater space. An interesting artist talk followed.

There were a lot of insightful comments. I’ll share a few of my top favorites here. Lynn Tomlinson, when asked if she had any advice for students, said:

  1. Don’t wait until the end to think about sound. Sound is at least 50% of the finished work and so very important
  2. If your process allows, film the beginning and end of the film first. People are always tired and/or rushing at the end, and it can show.

Phil Davis commented that being an animator is a lot like being a god – you can to create and control everything in your film. He was speaking about and to experimental animators, and that’s very true. My advice for the students was this:

  1. Finish something. Just finish it.
  2. Don’t sweat mistakes, embrace them. They can lead to new pathways.

In the beginning, I had so many ideas and things to cram in a single story, but once I got started, I figured out that either it wasn’t going to work, or I couldn’t actually do whatever it was, or something else made more sense. Being fluid helps.

Animation
Categories
Animation

Sweaty Eyeballs 2021

In 2015, I attended a Sweaty Eyeballs invitational screening at the Brown Center at MICA. If I were a religious person, I would probably say it was like a religious experience. Alas, I am not, but I will describe it as an important night for me – I left feeling inspired and full of wonder. My glass was full. I had just started graduate school, and this night was like a big, welcoming door that swung open for me.

It was a fantastic night – sitting in an actual theater and watching programming one doesn’t often see in actual theaters. I was moved. I loved it. I wanted to be a part of it.

@sweatyeyeballsanimation is a 7-day juried festival of the world’s most boundary-pushing, mind-blowing animation, and this year you can watch from anywhere in the world! Sweaty Eyeballs is hybrid for 2021 and will offer both online streaming AND in-person screenings at the historic SNF Parkway Theatre in Station North Arts + Entertainment District theater in Baltimore, MD. Follow @sweatyeyeballsanimation for ticketing and pass updates and programming news. 

I am so happy, therefore, to say The Benefits of Radiation will be screened at the SNF Parkway Theatre, for the first time in an actual theater. I love this film, and I am happy for it to be included.

UPDATE

It was a wonderful evening. I’ve never seen one of my film shown in a theater before, and I loved how it turned out. The Parkway Theater has such character, too.

I wanted to sit in the back – I always like to sit in the back – to hear and see what happens.

In this last photo, the animators who were present were called up to the stage for a very short Q&A and to say “hi.” I’m standing on the left, next to my friend Lynn Tomlinson.

Animation
Categories
Opinion

The Labors of Love: Animation

I started animating stuff back in 2001. I was working at a shop that needed a Flash developer to accompany their Director developer (software for making CD-ROMS). I liked Flash’s drawing interface, and I was able to quickly get a grip on ActionScript. When the iPhone came out, Flash lost favor and marketshare, and I stopped working with it. Flash finally died last year.

In 2016, I began animating again in earnest, this time using a DSLR on a camera stand to make stop motion. Sometimes, I drew on an iPad. I decided to focus my graduate school efforts on pursuing animation. I’m still putting down roots as an animator, and finding my way.

In 2020, I made eight animated films. They are all “shorts,” and they all took a long time to make. On more than several occasions, I would glance at the clock and see it was 2:00am, and I would wonder why I decided to undertake such a long, protracted project that asks for so much patience, concentration and focus.

Then, I’d finish the project, edit it, and publish the video. Soon, I’d forget all about what it took to make the film, and I’d start thinking about the next one.

A colleague warned me that it’s difficult to find festivals to show work. The competition is thick. Most festivals charge an application fee, which violates my rule of never paying to enter work for a show. It can get expensive. My pal Martha Colburn advised me to drop animation and just keep working on dioramas. Lucky for me, I ignored that advice.

I’ve had some luck. I checked a big item off my bucket list by having not one but two films in 2020’s Sweaty Eyeballs Animation Festival. I’ve had a few other screenings, too.

So, animation is expensive, both in terms of my time, and trying to find an audience. And what I’m doing is not likely to make money.

Why do it?

First, I don’t make art to make money. It’s delightful when someone buys something, for sure. Money is important. But having other sources of income lets me make the art I want to make, without the consideration of living off the proceeds of sales.

Second, I’m a storyteller, at heart. Animation has been a lovely addition to my artistic pursuits. I get to combine and incorporate many things I love into a single work: drawing, storytellings, puppets, writing, costumes, decor and sets, music and sound. Animators invent both technical and narrative solutions, while completing projects. There’s a kind of magic in thinking of something, giving it form in the world, and creating the illusion of life. Like Dr. Frankenstein. It’s challenging and rewarding.

While I was watching other animations at Sweaty Eyeballs, and listening to some of the animators talk, I was struck by the idea that animation is a lovely labor of love. Independent animation is a form where the animator has the complete freedom to make lots of decisions and choices about what to do. The end result can be a singular piece of work reflecting its creator in a way other forms do not, and it’s a form that, to me, inspires wonder.

I make these films because it’s fun to make them.

Opinion
Categories
Animation

Sweaty Eyeballs

I’m so very happy to say that A Job as the Moon will be screened at this year’s Sweaty Eyeballs Animation Festival: Friday, Oct 23, 2020 – Friday, Oct 30, 2020. I’ll post more as I know it.

From the event site:

?Sweaty Eyeballs Animation Festival is a 7-day juried festival of the world’s most boundary-pushing, mind-blowing animation.

Since 2012, Sweaty Eyeballs has carried the torch of the animation scene in the Mid-Atlantic with independent programming & special events. Now in our 9th year, we have partnered with our longtime friends at the Maryland Film Festival to launch our 2nd international festival of animation. 

The festival will take place October 23-30, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic the festival will be held online in 2020. The festival will open with six original animated music videos set to music by six Baltimore area bands, an international competition of 80 animated shorts, a Baltimore showcase, animator retrospectives, and online workshops. 

Animation