National Chris Cann's Day

House of Cool is fortunate to have the artists we have. Equally, we are also lucky to work with people outside our studio: The Freelancers. While we hope to grow and continue to hire new talents, from time to time we acquire freelance artists to help us meet our objectives.
Chris Cann, with his unique (and courageous) sense of fashion and charisma added great value to the HoC team... From the genius idea of Shawn Colbeck's National Chris Cann's Day, here are some pic's of the HoC peeps trying (however highly unsuccessful) to emulate Chris Cann's 2007 low V-neck ensemble.

Trip to South Mexico

Last week Kristen and I flew to Coatzacoalcos, Mexico for my friends wedding. After it was over, the family of the Bride took us through Chiapas, Tabasco, and Veracruz states. It was an amazing time and really beautiful country. I thought I should share some photos of some of places we visited. Hope you enjoy.

Pretending

It has been my experience in the animation industry that there are basically two types of studios. There are artists pretending to be businesses and businesses pretending to do art. In general, I do not have a problem with businesses pretending to do art because I have accepted that the animation industry is just that. An industry. It has it's own economics and rules that business people are well suited to take advantage of. My problem is when business people (executives and managers included) have the delusion that because their business is rooted in art, that they themselves become artists. This is usually manifested as using one's personal taste as the determining factor in making decision about the likes and dislikes of the audience. A business person is generally not suited for this kind of decision making because there are a plethora of other factors (budgets, timelines, corporate directions, wrangling talent, test scores) that they need to worry about that work against the clarity vision necessary to connect with an audience. For the artist, connecting to the audience is the only goal. This makes the artists the most qualified to make the most important artistic decisions. This sounds elementary but it is rarely the case in most studios.

The small studio is the realm of the artist pretending to be a business. Most artists start studios as an outlet for their passions. They see something in the industry that needs improving or they work under conditions that are not the most creative and they think that they could be more creative on their own. Wonderful intentions, but the artist that does this is stepping out of the comfy world of art into the shark infested ocean of business. Artists are good at collaboration, hiring like-minded friends and developing original concepts. They are not good at sacrificing ideas because it is better for the business, demanding proper business practices from employees and firing friends. Artists will also tend to hold on to the thing that they love about animation in the face of obvious change. An example of this are artists who refuse to accept that traditional 2D animation is no longer a dominant form. They believe that 3D is a trend that is spiking right now but 2D will recover. Do not kid yourself. 2D in feature animation will take its place right beside stop motion as just another niche player. If you are a 3D animator your are not safe from progress either. In not too many years key frame 3D will take its place right beside 2D, as motion capture becomes dominant and so on.

In the next post I will promise to say something nice about the industry.

Welcome Back!

2 planes a week for 73 weeks
146,000 kms travelled
1 crazy new hair cut
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The Man of the House is back!

After an exciting journey with Blue Sky Studios as Head of Story on the up coming feature Horton Hears A Who we welcome back the Prez of HoC. Look for us to run on all cylinders and create some really cool stuff.

Some pic's of our Welcome back Ricki-C Party

the old fashion way.

E-TRUE HOLLYWOOD STORIES: Tinkerbell

Where are they now? You don't want to know.
"Hey suga, care for some of my pixie dust? Tee hee!"

bears...

Mike's new coiffe is a hit!

BEAUTY and the BEAST

STORM!


THE THING!

She's a brick house, and he's a.....brick. Enjoy!

Sound is half the picture

Steve Strongman and Rob Szabo laying down the musical score for a House of Cool original project we're all pretty excited about.

Welcome back, Saud!

Shek the Champ....

A Champion is Crowned

Every once and a while something fantastic happens but you were inevitably somewhere else at the time. Last night was the exception.......

I was fortunate to bear witness to an amazing event, here, last night at House of Cool. Three brave, (and soon to be realized "mighty") House of Cool artist's stepped up to the push-up challenge. Thrown out to all who would accept with the promise of riches and fame to the victor. He who could do the most push-ups without resting would recieve the spoils and accolades of victory! Stepping forward were these three brave warriors. Andrew "Pecs" Shek, The "Queen of Push-ups" Alexandra Kavalova, and Robin "I really don't want to do this" Joseph.
Without hesitation "Pecs" accepted the challenge and without a hint of fatique burned out 29. The crowd went nuts. High 5's were exchanged. Never known to decline a challenge, Alex went next. Channeling the spirits of her Bulgarian ancestors, she tallied up 14 while mantaining her sunny disposition. The crowd responded with roarous applause and cheers. More high 5's. Absorbing the energy of the moment, or caving to peer pressure, Robin stood up, threw off his jacket and took up position with such confidence he refused to remove his slippers. In a blink of an eye, 21 push-ups were completed and, as you can imagine, the crowd hit such a fevered pitch that hearing your own thoughts was now impossible. Arms were thrown up in the air, hugs were exchanged, people jumped with joy and high 5's were thrown about everywhere. As I re-tell this story the goose bumps return.
In the end, Andrew "Pecs" Shek was too strong a competitor to be beaten and was quickly crowned the Undisputed Push-up Champion. A title, in my humble opinion, that will remain on his shelf for a long, long time.

Lion....