Help Art Story!

There are only 4 days left to help fund the Art Story Kickstarter! Please consider donating and sharing the link if you would love to see this short film produced. It's a great way to introduce people and children to the wonderful world of fine art through animation. The directors are my former producer and director on Disney's "Brother Bear", Chuck Williams and Aaron Blaise respectively. Aaron has found a new career in teaching animal & fantasy art in Photoshop here: http://creatureartteacher.com/ but he is still very much involved in animation.

Great rewards at the website and every little bit counts so please help them if you're able! Check out the entire campaign and donate here:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/291846368/art-story

"Kleeman and Mike in Backyard Jam" wins Best Animated Short at Florida Film Festival!

Great news: "Backyard Jam" won Best Animated Short at the Florida Film Festival this year! Now that the short has won a festival, it was necessary for the filmmakers to take it down from the Vimeo and YouTube page in order to submit to more festivals. You can check out a new trailer for the short here:

http://www.kleemanandmike.com/
http://vimeo.com/64579951


Press Release:

Full Sail Course Director Credited on Florida Film Festival Winner

On Saturday April 13, 2013, in Winter Park, Fla., Randall Christopher's independent animated short "Kleeman and Mike in Backyard Jam" won the Grand Jury Award for Best Animated Short in the Florida Film Festival. Full Sail University Course Director Hugo Giraud is among the animators who helped make the short come to life.

In addition to being a full-time instructor at Full Sail, Hugo is an animation industry veteran whose work has appeared in productions by Walt Disney Animation Studios, DreamWorks Animation, Sony Pictures, Universal Studios, MTV Animation, and Cartoon Network. "Kleeman and Mike in Backyard Jam" is the third film Hugo has worked on that has made it to the Florida Film Festival and the first winner. He previously represented the first "Kleeman and Mike: Animated Short" film and supported the Walt Disney Feature Animation documentary "Dream On Silly Dreamer" at the festival in 2005.

About Hugo Giraud:

Hugo Giraud is a Central Florida-based illustrator, animator, fine artist and instructor. He is currently the Course Director for the on-campus Design and Art Theory class in the Digital Arts and Design and Graphic Design programs at Full Sail University. Hugo attended the famed Barbara Bassett Art Workshop in Winter Park and the Columbus College of Art and Design in Columbus, Ohio. He is a 15-year animation industry veteran with former clients including Walt Disney Animation Studios, DreamWorks Animation, Sony Pictures, Universal Studios, MTV Animation, and Cartoon Network. His fine art has been exhibited throughout Orlando at OMA, Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival, Full Sail University, Überbot, The Peacock Room, Substance, Thee Grotto, and craft beer bar Redlight Redlight.

hugogiraud.blogspot.com
www.imdb.com/name/nm0320783/

Twitter: @HugoGiraud
 

About the Florida Film Festival:
The Florida Film Festival is the premier showcase in Central Florida for American independent and international film. Celebrating its 22nd anniversary, the Festival debuted in 1992 and is a core program of ENZIAN, a nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1985. ENZIAN and the Florida Film Festival have served more than 1.5 million guests and hosted hundreds of notable celebrities including Paul Newman, Christopher Walken, Oliver Stone, Glenn Close, John Waters, Emma Stone, Campbell Scott, James Caan, Ed Burns, Jason Lee, Gena Rowlands, William H. Macy, Jon Voight, Barry Levinson, and Edward James Olmos. The Festival is funded in part by national and local businesses including Primary Sponsor Full Sail University and receives support from United Arts of Central Florida and the State of Florida, Department of the State, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Council on Arts and Culture, National Endowment for the Arts, and Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. In addition, this project is funded in part by Orange County Government through the Arts & Cultural Affairs Program.

For additional information:
www.floridafilmfestival.com
www.facebook.com/floridafilmfestival
Twitter: @FloridaFilmFest

About Full Sail University:

Full Sail University is an award-winning educational leader for those pursuing careers in the entertainment and media industry. Founded in 1979, Full Sail has been recognized as one of the Top Five Game Degree Programs by Electronic Gaming Monthly, one of the Best Music Programs by Rolling Stone Magazine, and one of the Best Film Programs by UNleashed Magazine. In 2011, Full Sail received the “21st Century Best Practices in Distance Learning Award” from the United States Distance Learning Association, was named the “School/College of the Year” by the Florida Association of Postsecondary Schools and Colleges, and was recognized as one of the Top 100 Social Media Colleges by Studentadvisor.com.

Full Sail offers Master, Bachelor, and Associate campus and online degree programs in areas related to animation, art, business, education, graphic design, film, marketing, web development, music, recording arts, sports, and video games. Full Sail graduate credits include work on OSCAR®, Emmy®, GRAMMY®, ADDY®, MTV Video Music Award, and Spike Video Game Award nominated and winning projects.

www.fullsail.edu
www.twitter.com/fullsail
www.facebook.com/fullsailuniversity
www.fullsailblog.com

Kleeman and Mike THIS WEEK at FFF!

"Kleeman and Mike in Backyard Jam" will screen as part of the Florida Film Festival's Animated Shorts program: this Wednesday 6:45pm at the Enzian and Friday 9:45pm at Winter Park Regal Cinema. I'll be there on Friday, come say hi... there'll be Q&A! Buy tickets soon, that screening sells out!

http://floridafilmfestival.com/films_events/film_guide/backyard-jam

http://floridafilmfestival.com/films_events/film_guide/shorts-program-5-animated-shorts

Also of interest for animation lovers is the International Animated Shorts program, Sat. 4/13 @5:30pm and Sun. 4/13 at 2pm both at the Winter Park Regal:

http://floridafilmfestival.com/films_events/film_guide/international-animated-shorts

How to buy tickets:
http://floridafilmfestival.com/tickets/how_to_buy_tickets

Hope to see you there!

-hugo

Kleeman and Mike at the Florida Film Festival 2013!

Great news! The Florida Film Festival will be screening "Kleeman and Mike in Backyard Jam" as part of their Animated Shorts program this year! This program is one of the most popular at the festival and it's actually Kleeman and Mike's second time at the festival, the first being the "Kleeman and Mike: Animated Short" back in 2005 (which I represented).

Creator Randy Christopher will be flying in from San Diego for the event and I will be there as well showing support. I actually go every year to both of the Animated Shorts and International Animated Shorts programs as there is always something interesting to see every year. It'll be great to see the short on the big screen. Hope to see you there, make sure you say hi!

You will be able to buy tickets soon at the Enzian box office or the website: http://floridafilmfestival.com/

Also check out Central Florida's Enzian theater if you like independent movies: http://enzian.org/


If you haven't checked out the short, see it here:

http://kleemanandmike.com/
or
http://vimeo.com/53638798


ps. I will also be doing a presentation of the short and it's process at my school, Full Sail University, during their "Hall of Fame Week 2013" in the 2nd week of February. You'll be able to get in if you're a student or staff member!

FROSTED

Hey guys, first off I want to thank everybody who's been watching and liking the "Kleeman and Mike in Backyard Jam" animated short. Feel free to share it an like it on the Vimeo page by clicking on the heart and if you haven't seen it, it's located here: http://vimeo.com/53638798

Next I want to talk about a project that I am involved in promoting: my über-talented friend James Parris' "FROSTED". It is a 3D stereoscopic animated short that will also serve as an anti-bullying tool. Very cool (sorry for the pun) & commendable! At the moment they are looking for funding on Kickstarter and we would be forever grateful for your help in spreading the word and contributing if you are able. I know the kind of work that James produces and this will prove to be as great as his other professional work. Here is more info on "FROSTED" and check out the video on the Kickstarter page:



If you or someone you know has been a victim of bullying, we're launching a project that will interest you. Without a doubt, FROSTED will be the coolest piece of anti-bullying entertainment EVER.

Only one catch: It needs YOUR HELP. We have to get this fundraiser viral very quickly. Would you consider helping us by spreading the link to our Kickstarter campaign? (And of course, if you can make a pledge, we will be extremely grateful!)
Kickstarter:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1031476088/frosted-an-anti-bullying-fantasy-in-3d
http://kck.st/X1EQ0f

Follow us on Twitter @Frosted3D
twitter.com/Frosted3D
Like our FB page
www.facebook.com/Frosted3D


Check out the animatic (storyboards set in running time)!
http://vimeo.com/46079195


Enjoy and thank you for your help!

-hugo

Kleeman and Mike in Backyard Jam

So the cartoon I first wrote about here and then here is finally done! Go on over either to kleemanandmike.com or Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/53638798) to watch it. Thank you so much to all who contributed to see this project through, sincerely.

I have to mention that out of all of the Kleeman and Mike shorts (I've worked on 4), this is probably the slickest and most professional one. It looks SO good! The art direction & color of surfer/artist Andy Davis really knocked it out of the park. Cool original music by Spencer Rabin of the San Diego band "Little Deadman". My old theme park friends, Rex Russell and Tony Misiano lending their voices for K&M respectively. As for my animation, I tried to do the best that I could with the limited amount of time I had last summer. My schedule at Full Sail is demanding and so I wish I could have spent more time animating. It all was wonderfully guided by Randy Christopher's direction.

I just dropped it off yesterday as a submission for next year's Florida Film Festival, wish us luck!

Update!!!

Here's a small "behind-the-scenes" clip of my run cycles near the end of the short :

Click here for a bigger view.

The Act

Back in the mid 2000's, a few animation studios were forming here in Orlando after the closing of Walt Disney Feature Animation Florida. One of these studios, Cecropia, set up shop to make a video game with quality 2D animation; not unlike the Don Bluth games of the 80's, "Dragon's Lair" & "Space Ace", except theirs wouldn't be an action game. They ended up hiring a lot of the very talented animation artists in town (many of them my friends) and ended up with "The Act", a hand-drawn animated romantic comedy game. Luckily, I was hired to do some clean-up animation (I worked on Edgar, Sylvia, Wally, and one of the doctors) and animate the game's instructions and comic special effects in Flash ( I also ended up teaching Flash at the studio). Check out some of the original art for it here: http://theactgame.com/Creation/


I'm really glad to finally see this game out in the open and hopefully enjoyed by people. The game was originally being sold to the arcade market but it is now being released to the iPad & iPhone. Check it out and download it in the iTunes app store: http://itun.es/is44qY

New Kleeman and Mike cartoon!

I'm really glad to be helping Randy Christopher (Kleeman and Mike, Bear and Fox) make another "Kleeman and Mike" cartoon! I worked on the first 2 (after he made his first Flash game with them). A bit of history, Randy and I have been friends since we used to work at the Disney theme parks in the Entertainment department and eventually left to follow our artistic education, funny we also ended up educators as well. He taught me Flash as I would help him out with animation. The 1st one got us to the Florida Film Festival! You can watch the 1st 2 cartoons here at the old site: http://kleemanandmike.com/


He's assembled an AMAZING team for this new cartoon (including Keith Milgaten of Jamuel Saxon, Spencer Rabin of Little Deadman, surfer/artist Andy Davis, and me!) but it needs your help! Please consider donating and spread the word/reblog the link below. Every little bit helps! Thank you in advance if you donate! Go to the Kickstarter page for a video from Randy and more details:


http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/695736489/kleeman-and-mike-new-animated-short

Viva Kleeman and Mike!

2012 Animation Books

I'm a big fan of books and history and the folks over at Cartoon Brew (my preferred animation blog) are naming next year's animation-themed books. Can't wait to get my hands on some of these like Tom Bancroft's new one, UPA, Amid's Ward Kimball biography, and the "Art of John Carter of Mars" and "Brave"! Click at the address to see their run down:
http://www.cartoonbrew.com/books/2012-animation-book-preview.html