TOPIC: First words and roundtable chat
Guest: Jalil Sadool, Senior Animator at Dreamworks

As is par for the course, it’s been a while since our last episode and when we finally got together to record on April Fool’s Day, our original guest had to drop out at the last minute because his house was under siege by bears.  Luckily, we’ve been wanting to talk shop with Jalil for quite some time now and he came to the rescue at the last minute.  Not from the bears.  We don’t help people with their wild animal problems if they snub us for the podcast.  Bad luck too, since Mike’s wife is a taxidermist and probably knows a thing or two about making bears dead.  But one must have principles.

We talked about how much creative control fans should have, RPGs, Kickstarter with it’s potential ups and downs, talk comic books, gush about Journey and Mike tells us why he loves mocap so much that he wants to marry it.

Show Notes:

Hollywood’s Waning Creativity

Ryan’s Kickstarter Blog/Rant

 Episode 38-April Fools: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Born from twitter, we thought it would be fun to create a blog where “industry pros can post horrible old work and give some current students hope.”

A sort of “It Gets Better” for aspiring artists. So, as to never miss out on a pun, we bring you:

Art Gets Better

Mike Jungbluth
Senior Animator at Zenimax Online
Final Semester, Senior Year (2004)
Lightwave – Modeled, Rigged & Animated

TOPIC: Animation Inside and Out
Guest: Daniel Floyd, Animator at Pixar Canada and Host of Extra Credits

“Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives.”

Let’s play a game. Guess why we went months between episodes.
A. We got busy
B. Mike/Ryan/Both moved jobs/homes
C. We couldn’t get our crap together
D. Any of the above

Yes, those are all proper answers.

This episode we talk with Daniel about a Gordon Ramsay for games, handheld devices, free-to-play, animation sharing, story, better character performances, what we have been playing and how much we draw. Damn, it feels good to be back.

Well, back again. again… again.

And if you haven’t checked out Extra Credits before, you really should. It covers some really great topics in an incredibly smart and honest way. It has been on The Escapist and now Penny Arcade, so if you have some how missed it, yet found us, then you use the internet in some weird ways.

Show Notes:
The ReAnimator Map showing where we have all lived since we started the show
Satellite Soda Daily Draw Challenge
Game Feel by Steve Swink
Why Touch Screens Aren’t The Future of Input Design
Raph Koster’s thoughts on Story

 Episode 37 [118:40m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

TOPIC: Breaking in to the industry
GUEST: Jorma Auburn, Lead Animator at Junction Point

It almost looks like a regular schedule, doesn’t it? I don’t want to say we’re back in the swing of things and jinx ourselves but Episode 35 is back to what this show is at it’s best: a guest, a topic and a good conversation surrounding it. Jorma joins us from Junction Point Studios and the discussion is one of the most requested topics we get: how to get that first job in games.

Jorma tells his story (the rest of us told ours waaaaay back in Episode 00 and of course, episodes 25 & 26 were nothing BUT breaking in stories, some from some pretty heavy hitters in the industry) before we hit some different points about getting into the industry, including do’s and don’ts of demo reels, what you can do to stand out (hint: It’s all about work! Work hard and and network), and many other subjects, including a chunk of listener questions.

Like every episode, we start with first words, where Mike confesses his newfound love for motion control, Jorma talks about using 2d sketchovers as a faster way to review and critique animation (a technique Glen Keane used on “Tangled”; linked below), Rick brings up the inevitable discussion of super-powers and I share my theory of how the rental and used market for games contribute to game bloat.

Show notes:
-Untangling the look of “Tangled”
-CTN Expo Channel on Vimeo
-A stormtrooper gets a job at Epic Games

Enjoy!
Ryan

 Episode – 35 – Breakin' In Too: Electric Boogaloo: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download