Friday, June 26, 2009

Fresh Animations

Random Animations from ben russell on Vimeo.


Working freelance provides both money and work in lumps at a time. On the flipside, there's the times, that also come in lumps, where you don't work, and money doesn't come in for awhile. That's how it goes, I suppose.

What do I do with myself during these off times? Well, I've found that some people use their time to get their business cards in order to better market themselves to potential job opportunities. I have no such interest in doing that kind of stuff, so I read tutorials online, and make animations, to get better at what I do...

Here's a random assortment of animations I've made in the last few weeks. Some were from tutorials, and there's a few random things I did for work in there- some roto jobs I did- the one at the end was a back to the future knock-off for some internal video, and the other is a car hitting a wall, but the walls/floor were the incorrect color.

I'll post more of these as they come up. Maybe eventually I can post some of the larger projects I've done, when they actually go public....

Monday, June 22, 2009

Happy Fathers Day


It was nice to be around yesterday for Fathers Day, first time I have been in years...
Above is the card I gave to him, made it the morning before. Sometimes we work best under pressure...

Saturday, June 06, 2009

Roadtrip Animation- Mass to Montana 2005

Roadtrip 2005- Mass to Montana from ben russell on Vimeo.


Like a bird, I suppose, I used to seasonally migrate between summers out east in Mass and NYC to live out in Montana in the winter times. The drive used to be an endurance test, and generally I enjoyed them for the most part. I would go alone, drive straight from Mass to Chicago, which was around 24 hours, then hang out there for a few days. Then I'd go straight from Chicago to Montana, which is also around 24 hours. During the voyage, I would sleep in the back of my car at rest stops when I needed a couple hours of rest, but never in motels, because I knew I wouldn't sleep long anyways.

Those trips used to give me a chance to reconnect with old friends across the country twice a year, which was something I really enjoyed about them. Around here you can read my original post(s) about the trip.

The technique I used in animating these photos is the same one I used in the Morphing Hands video, using the pixel motion frame blending technique in after effects.