An Insurance Hero in Texas

Good Day Everyone!

The third Dillo Insurance spot that Janimation completed really pushed the envelope on the cartoony realism! 2 new amazing environments and a new character for the Dillo to  *briefly* interact with!





These spots are always so much fun to perfect the timing and spacing from both an animation standpoint and a layout/animatic perspective!

More projects coming soon!

TTFN Everybody!

~Julia

Gator Wrestling!

Howdy folks!

The latest spot in Janimation's ad campaign for Al Boenker Insurance can be viewed here! It features a new character that was quite a lot of fun to work with. :D



I was again responsible for Pre-Vis and Layout. Greg Punchatz and Mitch Lotierzo worked with  Face Robot to handle the lip-sync while I handled much of the the body animation of these two characters.

I learned quite a lot from this project. Mostly that Alligator Wrestling is not only something that humans do, but is considered a sporting event with some historical roots. I honestly had no idea, despite living in Florida for roughly 5 years!

Also, in pouring over reference, I learned that alligators and crocodiles are simultaneously goofy and terrifying at top running speed:

Croc Run Video Reference

That's it for now! Thanks for stopping by. :)

~Julia

Gearbox's Battleborn Announcement Trailer Released (and I helped!)

One of my favorite developers Gearbox Software just released a new announcement trailer for their upcoming game Battleborn. It sounds very ambitious and if I know them, it'll feature gameplay that will hack my brain and keep me playing for hours on end.

Best part is, I helped! :) Janimation created the awesome universe explosion featured at the end of the trailer, and I contributed by organizing assets used to create it, randomizing trees, and creating that single dying star that survives.

You can watch the trailer here, and lookout for this next month's Game Informer which will feature a cover story on the game!

Game Informer
http://www.gameinformer.com/p/battleborn.aspx

Official Site
http://www.battleborn.com/

Are you excited? I'm excited! :D



Also, The next Dillo Insurance spot has been playing on our local televisions for a while and I am quite happy to finally share it with you all. This was produced a while ago, and one of the first projects where I helped build an animatic, and then worked on the edit through animation the animation process! As well as handle all the animation too. Building the animatics, layout and edits was quite the learning experience but also quite a lot of fun!



And speaking of the Pre-Vis process, I had the great pleasure to help with some Pre-Vis animations for a live action spot for Mrs. Baird's Bread. Our live action crew took it from there and it was really neat to see how it turned out!



Coming Soon: More Dillo and Al Boenker spots!

Ta ta for now!

~Julia

Babies, Aliens and TP

Hello Everyone!

I apologize for not posting since March, quite a bit has been happening!

First I was officially hired on full time as an Animator at Janimation! It's really such a wonderful place to work, all of my co-workers are amazing, and we work on so many exciting projects. Everyday feels new and fresh, and I never know just what I'll be working on.

Next, The Alien Rage cinematic trailer was released last June. This project is a teaser for an new FPS by City Interactive. Quite a lot of love was put into this one, and I'm very happy I was able to contribute. The things that I helped bring to life through animation are the probe, time lapse elements, the giant mech and alien ships that tear up the place, and the hardcore looking guy with a giant gun at the end.




Next, a promotional video for White Cloud brand Bath Tissue. I made sure the packages stayed felt light and soft as it "bloomed" and floated through the clouds. It turned out very magical indeed.




Also, my best friend gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, little miss EmmaLee! I was sure to put my crocheting skills to work to make sure she would be warm this winter:

Emma's mommy loves ducks, so I thought this would be perfect.

Till next time!

-Julia

Happy Holidays! 2012 Card

Hope everyone had a great holiday season and a very happy new year!

This year I again designed and printed custom cards, but ran out far too quickly again!

I present my LolCatz Card:

Also, a number of animation projects have been released on the web! Here's one done at Janimation for United Way!



I also helped clean up motion capture with animation intern Andy Green when id Software worked with Janimation to release the Doom 3 BFG edition! I hope to get some videos from that up very soon!

Naturesweet- Tim the Tomato

Hello there everybody!

I have officially begun work as a Freelance Animator for Janimation! I couldn't be happier! ^_^

And although I am unable to tell you what I'm currently working on, I will post the past work that I can here!

So far, I can only share this little number I did back when I was an Intern! You might recognize Tim the Tomato from Post magazine where he was featured on the cover in June 2012!



The animation is mine, while it was modeled and rigged by my co-worker Cris Fudge, and textured, lit and rendered by our creative director, Greg Punchatz.

I am also happy to share some sketchbook pages from when I was working on this project! Mostly I was trying to find strong poses or just having fun drawing this guy!

More to come... eventually!

More Art Sketches! And a Self Portrait!

Above is this year's self portrait for my DeviantArt account, some animal sketches pulled from my sketchbook and done in pen, and some character design work I sketched very quickly in Photoshop!

Enjoy~ <3

Some Recent Sketches

...That I've been meaning to upload for a while now. There is a caricature of Rod Sterling, character designs for a flash animation I might complete one day, and some sketches I made while listening to the Wizard of Oz audiobook. Doing the same thing with the Count of Monte Cristo currently.

It's kind of nice having a long commute, as it is a chance to get caught up on my literature!

Metropolis (1927)

Above are sketches I made inspired by screenshots of my favorite silent film, Metropolis. From German director Fritz Lang and originally released in 1927, it is not only landmark in film history, inspiring everyone from Ridley Scott, Madonna and (unfortunately) the Nazi Party, but is a truly entertaining film.

If you have not seen this film, it is highly recommended.

Many black and white and silent films seem inaccessible to most movie lovers today, but some can transcend time and feel just as relevant as they did when they first premiered.  You know when you watch a highly suspenseful foreign film, you can forget that you are reading subtitles? By the stunning climax, Metropolis will have you on the edge of your seat; you'll forget that you are reading title cards. The shrieks of Maria, the desperate battle cries of the angry mob, and the maniacal laughter of our dear friend Rotwang will all ring in your ears, by merely SEEING them. The film's story, as well as the story of its inception, filming, reception, and rediscovery are all fascinating as well!

These sketches were a fun study of poses and expressions, so I hope to do some more of these with some more of my favorite films. ^_^

Spanish Conquistador 3D Character

Spanish Conquistador 3D Character from Julia S. Bacak on Vimeo.


A character I modeled and surfaced as a means to train myself in Autodesk Softimage while I was an intern at the wonderful Janimation in Dallas, Texas.

I designed him too! Check out my process!!

Old Sketches

This collection of sketches comes from many of my portable sketchbooks I've kept in my purse over the years! The trees were drawn at my summer job before I began work on my thesis film at Ringling.

Hooray!

Dante Alighieri

Now, it is time to feature one of my other favorite figures of classic literature, Dante. Poet whom penned the Divine Comedy, with the hit single Inferno.

Many beautiful philosophical thoughts are presented in his journey through Hell, Purgatory and Heaven. One is that the greatest sin, as Dante sees it, is deceit and betrayal, as to partake in this is to deny respect for your fellow man's humanity, and that this is the most corrosive to civilization. Might have had something to do with the fact that he was writing in exile, but still makes sense.

And if your an artist, these are his thoughts to you:

"Art, as far as it is able, follows nature, as a pupil imitates his master; thus your art must be, as it were, God's grandchild." 


<3

Shady Institute

Don't forget kids, my Ringling Thesis is on Vimeo! watch at any time!


Shady Institute from Julia S. Bacak on Vimeo.



http://vimeo.com/23137798

If you like, you can find my Storyboards, Pre-Visualization work, and much much more at

www.juliabacak.com