A Chance to Deliver

Last week I took some time out from my latest project at R&H to pay a holiday visit to a local L.A. school. Rhythm has been sponsoring an annual toy drive for the 66th street school in Los Angeles every year for the last four or five years now. I had the chance to go deliver those toys with a group of people from the studio. We had a blast. The kids did a rendition of a Christmas song and we got to participate in some crafts projects. Donating to a drive like this is one thing, but actually interacting with the kids who were so excited to be the recipients of the toys was even better. What a great way to start your day. To see more pictures from the day, click here. All photos by Phil Holland.

I'm off to Chicago tomorrow morning and then on to Detroit to visit family for Christmas. I'll be back in LA for New Years. Merry Christmas!

Who is the real critic?

Early last week, the reviews started coming in for Alvin and the Chipmunks. Now I will admit that the film is nothing groundbreaking. It is however, made for a specific target audience. An audience I think it reached.
The film took in an estimated 45 million dollars at the box office this weekend. Its a very strong showing for a film most figured would only gross half of that in total.
I'm glad to have had a part in this film. Seeing it in the theater with a hundred screaming kids was great! They loved it. It felt good to know that someone was enjoying all the hard work put into this film. That was rewarding. Thats why I love animation! It reaches people. It doesnt matter to me if those people happen to be 3 year olds.
The film is actually better than you would expect. Like I said, its nothing spectacular to be sure, but give it a chance before you bash it. You might be surprised.

First time for everything

So I finally "finished" my first ever hand drawn, 2D animation. I took advantage of the 11 second club contest as a motivation and produced this little piece of work over a couple weeks last month. It was quite a challenge. My final score for the contest wasnt as high as I had hoped, but it was my first time entering the contest too. It was a good learning experience and I got to draw alot. I am thinking about continuing work on it sometime in the future to make it good enough to put on my new reel.