The Badger

Made this character using liquid latex build-up technique. It was for the monthly challenge at animateclay.com. Did not have enough time to make a long entry but my main goal was to create something in a style I don't usually work in.

Stopmotion Magic!

Been a while since I've posted anything. Just finished a stop motion challenge for animateclay.com. I learn a lot from producing this one and it has given me a lot more confidence to continue creating more stopmotion films!

Stopmo Practice

Well, another year has passed, it goes so fast, and I haven't done any stop mo practice. Here is my latest attempt.

More Stopmotion

Here are a few little stopmotion practices. Its fun to get back into stopmotion but finding the time these days is hard to do.

Stopmotion Experiment

Well, I have the stopmotion bug again! Its been a long time since I've done anything stopmotion. I have been getting inspired lately and getting the books of the shelf that I have on the subject. I created this little test animation, its a bit rough but the main aim was to get back into the feel of animating real life puppets.

Page 3 Online Graphic Novel

Page 3 has now been uploaded at legendofjudiah.blogspot.com.au

Page 2

Page 2 of my graphic novel has now been uploaded

http://legendofjudiah.blogspot.com.au/

Page 1 of my new graphic novel

Follow my online graphic novel The Legend of Judiah here, http://legendofjudiah.blogspot.com.au/p/chapters.html

When it comes to creating a graphic novel I find myself feeling at home "scripting" the comic using thumbnails. I've tried writing a script but in this case I have found thumbnailing preferable for this project.

Of course, I developed the story with a written outline and from there used the thumbnails to visualize the story. Below you can see a couple of pages with my thumbnails. I drew them quite tiny and made notes beside them.

From  there I took the small thumbnails and actually started to draw larger roughs into a small notebook.

In the end I just found my self creating roughs directly into the computer. I love drawing with pencil and paper and wish that I could have done this project by hand and then colour them on the computer. The reality is if I want to complete this project in a reasonable amount of time, keeping it digital will speed up the process.

I am glad that I have so much to reference with the thumbnails and roughs that I have already done, which is the majority of the story. Its good to have this foundation to work on as it gives me a lot to consider when  finalizing a page. 



I don't want to spoil my story too much so I've just given a little example of my inked work and some colour work. Colouring is turning out to be a big challenge and I have still not completely decided what style of colouring suites my inked work.

You can follow The Legend of Judiah blog here

Here is my first post from my new graphic novel blog http://legendofjudiah.blogspot.com.au/

Hello and welcome to my first official post on The Legend of Judiah Blog! Yes, I am yet another artist with a background in animation developing that passion for bringing their stories to life in the graphic novel format. My graphic novel and this blog are both a work in progress and it is this work in progress that I want to document.

Making a graphic novel is no easy task, as one soon finds out upon embarking on such a project. For someone like me with my animation background it seemed like a pretty simple plan, you have a story, you write the script, you draw the thumbnails and best of all NO ANIMATING, just draw the pictures! Now don't get me wrong, I absolutely love animation and animating, but somehow a graphic novel seems a lot more achievable than even a short animation, which in some ways it is. That being said, just as much thinking, planing, writing and re-writing goes into this process as animation. This thinking and planning has been going on since 2007.

It is my hope that this blog will be a place for those who would like to read independent graphic novels to come and check out my little contribution to the scene as well as receive helpful comments and suggestions. It is also my hope that others find inspiration for their own work, just as I have through reading other peoples blogs and online graphic novels.

Most of all this blog and graphic novel are my way of entering into the online community of independent graphic novelists. It won't be perfect, but I'll do my best...I really want to do this story.

Currently, I have started inking and colouring and will hopefully be uploading pages shortly. One thing that I do want to do regularly is post about where I am up to, what I'm up to, and what I am currently being inspired by.

I will leave you with a few sentences of what my graphic novel is about. If anyone has any links to articles about writing log lines and such, or even your own way of writing short sentences about your comic I would love to read them.

Here is what I have so far:

Small town sheep detective, Joshua Ramsees, is at his witts end chasing around the notorius Clive Brothers on their biggest crime wave yet. The trouble is they disappear without a trace! The only clues Joshua can find lead to the unthinkable, wolves just don't exist! Will Joshua find the answer in a story that most of the town only consider legend? Is the Legend of Judiah their only hope?

Well, although I have not uploaded much as yet, I at least hope this little introduction will spark your interest to follow my blog as it can get quite lonely working on your graphic novel. 

Thanks for taking the time to read and hopefully I'll see you again soon! Please come and visit the blog  http://legendofjudiah.blogspot.com.au/

Jason Rodgers 

250 Jazz Patterns Cartoon Commercial

Recently finished animation promoting Evan Tat's book 250 Jazz Patterns. Check it out at http://www.250jazzpatterns.com

SlimeKids game intro

I recently completed a short animation for SlimeKids.com. Quoting from the website "SlimeKids features an extensive collection of book trailers organized by year and by grade level as well as numerous language arts-related games in such categories as spelling, typing, vocabulary and grammar. Additionally, the website showcases an array of exceptional literacy-related resources such as author and book review websites as well as superb learning tools including reference works and search engines." You can visit SlimeKids at http://www.slimekids.com

Latest Tips for Animation Video 5: Animatics

Hey Guys and Gals, I've completed my latest video Tips for Animations Episode 5: Animatics. Let me know what you think

My current showreel

VIDEO UPDATE

New Blog

Hey guys,

I know there are only a few of you following my blog. Thanks for the support =) I have started up my new blog and would really appreciate if you would come a follow along with me as I will yours =) Us animators and cartoonists have to stick together lol I hope all your projects are going well.

Cheers
Jason

Update

Hello everybody,

I'd like to thank those who followed my blog throughout the last year of my degree. Alot has happened since my last post in December of last year. I have graduated, moved from my old town, and am now engaged. As a result there has been a rather large delay in videos and animations as I just don't have easy access to my equipment as once before.

I've decided to finish up this blog since I intended for it to cooencide with my studies at uni which are no over.

I'll be starting a new blog very soon and I hope to keep it far more active than this one. I have posted my final animation piece for my degree below.

Thanks for you comments and if you haven't already you can wonder over to my youtube channel www.youtube.com/jazzimation
 Happy animating,
Jason Rodgers

The Easy Life :S

Well, I must say it is a strange kind of feeling having my studies over. I've been studying full-time now for 5 years gaining qualifications in music and animation. Now I'm kinda having a little holiday relaxin in this summer weather (it is summer here in Australia haha). One of the new things that I have introduced into my life at the moment is the wonderful creature known as the ferret! I absolutely love them and bought myself 3 of them last week :) They are such inspiring little animals. A lot of fun and a lot of WORK! I thought I'd post a couple pictures of my little fuzzies for you to see :)

This is oscar and the one I'm holidng is a sweet little female that I have not named yet :)

The Poodle Pipe

Well, its finsihed, my last animation for my degree. Can't say I'm extremly happy with it but what the heck, uni is over for good now so I'm happy :) Can't wait to work on a new project :) What a ride its been!

Nearly there

Well its coming close to the deadline and I guess I'm nearly in the clear! Still have a lot of animating to do and then final compositing. So looking forward to having my studies over and done with haha. Can't wait to start working on new ideas and projects for the next coming year!