More Aaron Blaise Animation using TVPaint

UPDATE , Feb. 28, 2021: definitely check out Aaron Blaise's YouTube Channel for the many additional animation tutorials he has posted in the past six years since I first made this post. You can learn a lot about animating and using the TVPaint interface just from watching his Livestreams of him animating scenes using TVPaint.

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Check out master animator Aaron Blaise's new set of Video Tutorials on the 12 Principles of Animation , using TVPaint.   (this is really good stuff , whether you're using TVPaint or not  ... it's not software specific , it's all about basic principles .  Highly recommended) .

Here's a free sample of one of Aaron's animation tutorials using TVPaint:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0i36AlJciI

Also see Aaron's recent short film "Trunk Troubles"  with Cyrano the Elephant , animated in TVPaint:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i9jJsPH-L0

Also, be sure to subscribe to Aaron's YouTube Channel .  He has other free animation tutorials posted there:

https://www.youtube.com/user/AaronBlaiseArt/search?query=animation+tutorial+

Including this great overview of the basic functions for animating in TVPaint:

TVPaint Animation, a quick start guide 

BugBox Animation - Coke commercials animated in TVP

Coke commercials made by BugBox Animation Studio. The character animation in these spots was done with TVP Animation .

"Love and Anarchy" Helsinki International Film Festival

Animated trailer for Helsinki International Film Festival "Rakkautta & Anarkiaa". Which means "Love and Anarchy", and that was the theme of the film. The film was directed by Eliza Jäppinen, Viljami Eronen , animated by Anima Boutique). TVPaint was used for the 2D-character animation, Maya for 3D animation, After Effects for FX animation and compositing.

Love and anarchy film festival : Love in the mountains from Viljami Eronen on Vimeo.

"Joust" Animatic by Mike Koizumi

Found this amazing animatic posted on the TVP Animation User Forum . Animator Mike Koizumi writes:

"This is my first post and I wanted to share with you an animatic I made with the old Mirage program. I used the demo to create this and finished it in three weeks. It features a battle between a griffon rider and an undead dragon rider.

When I discovered that Mirage had been discontinued I was saddened because I had hoped to purchase it to create more animated works. Recently, I learned that the developers of Mirage had created TVPaint ! It looks fantastic and there seems to be many improvements since the old Mirage. I'm looking forward to testing out the demo soon and I'm sure I will be purchasing the software as well."

Drawn with "Mirage" (an earlier version of TVP Animation, but essentially the same software as TVP) -

"The Sword and the Paintbrush" by Jean-Jacques Chen

"The Sword and the Paintbrush" by Jean- Jacques Chen , animated and colored in TVP Animation. It was created and drawn by Jean Jacques Chen also well known as "L'apprenti roi des singes".

Interview with Jean Jacques Chen

You can view the film on the TVPaint web site:

  "The Sword & the Paintbrush" Quicktime --Click HERE -- 

(sorry, no embedded version available) .

Kid Rocket Clean-Up in TVP Animation by Jeff Baker

Jeff Baker rough animated this on paper, then imported to TVP for clean-up.

"Le Chat Noir" TVP Animation

 

 A short film animated with TVPaint Animation (BG's done in Painter) made by students Xavier Gorgol, Rony Hotin, Sébastien Genre, Yoann Robert  at Lycée technique des Arts et Métiers in Luxembourg.

 

Chad Essley - TVP Animation

Very fun piece of paperless animation by Chad Essley drawn with a Tablet PC  (Motion Computing LE 1700)  animated directly in TVPaint Animation:

Rusty Mills' "Gotcha Covered"

Rusty Mills is a classically trained animator who has been on the forefront of embracing the new paperless animation technology . Here are some scenes from Rusty's work-in-progress reel for a film called "Gotcha Covered". Rusty is animating this on a Motion Computing tablet PC using Mirage. (a previous version of TVP which is no longer available, but very similar to the present TVP Animation). He did most of this animation while commuting on the train into Los Angeles . Now that's a portable animation tool !

 

 

©2008 Rusty Mills 

 Notice how Rusty's rough animation looks virtually the same as traditional pencil-on-paper animation. There is no discernible difference in this that screams out "digital". The drawings look very natural and organic, like real pencil sketches. 

If you don't immediately recognize the name Rusty Mills , you've seen his work: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0589278/ on shows such as Animaniacs and Pinky & The Brain , among others.   Sadly, Rusty passed away from cancer on Dec.7 , 2012.  He was a fine animator and director/producer and a good friend.  All of us who knew and worked with him miss him.

"Stranger" by Alon Boroda

Short film "Stranger" by Alon Boroda , made while a student at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design. Animated in "Mirage" (which is the name TVP was marketed under from 2003 - 2005 when it was being distributed by BHS. Mirage as such is no longer available, but TVP is the same as Mirage , only better, with more features) .

Eric Goldberg : "Racetrack" Drew Carey's Green Screen

This piece wasn't animated directly with TVP or Mirage , but does show how TVP can be used to color animation with a "hand-painted" look. The drawings were done on paper , then scanned into Mirage (an earlier version of TVPaint ) for coloring.

 

There's more about that in the linked article from AWN , so take a look . I think that the Racetrack segment from Green Screen is as fine and funny a piece of animation as you're likely to see , so just for the pure enjoyment factor I wanted to share this .

  -------- "Racetrack" is a beautifully animated piece by Eric Goldberg, as a segment of Drew Carey's Green Screen Show.

 

  "Drew Carey's Green Screen Show" featured Drew Carey as the host , and an ensemble cast of improv actors doing skits in front of a "green screen" . After the live actors had done their stuff , the footage was handed over to various animators (coordinated by Acme Film Works) to embellish the skit with animation. The show never really took off , and like all improv sketches there were hits and misses . One of the hits, in fact probably the strongest piece that came out of this show, was a sequence called "Racetrack" animated by master animator Eric Goldberg.

 

In an article on Animation World Network there is a bit about the production process they used on the piece . I was interested to note that they used Mirage for the ink & paint. Notice how the drawings have a beautiful, organic hand-colored look , like watercolor washes or markers.

According to the article :

Without pre-sketching or testing, Goldberg animated with ink directly on paper, working in a style he was comfortable with, allowing for a certain amount of boil and spontaneity. He wanted the game's horse character to have the same scratchy, rubber-hose freedom of the Fleischer and Krazy Kat cartoons.

His wife, Susan Goldberg , assisted as art director, and his two daughters helped with mattes. Using Shake for compositing and Mirage for ink-and-paint, Scott Johnston helped achieve the animation's watercolor look.

Goldberg was committed to putting in as much technical detail as possible, such as the secondary action of the horse's reigns (animated by Todd Jacobson), because it makes the piece more convincing and compelling to watch. Goldberg feels this added effort adds a quality and touch that really sells the whole illusion.

As I've mentioned before, the application called "Mirage" is no longer available as such . The company that used to sell Mirage , Bauhaus Software, no longer sells it . However the software development company (TVPaint Development Co.) that originally developed Mirage has taken over and is now marketing a much improved version of Mirage as TVPaint Animation.