Jason F Maurer

So I was recently informed of a new tech advance – a stylus for my iPhone called the pogo sketch. It was like 15 US dollars and soooooooooo worth it. Pairing this with Autodesk’s Sketchbook app on iphone basically gave me a digital moleskin. I’m been playing around with it for a few days now and have done about 20 or so 1 min bar/cafe sketches with it that I like. While it is not pressure sensitive it does have a felt tip on it which gives the use an experience of drawing with a smug stick or a dense sponge. It takes a bit getting used to, but once you got it… it rocks solid.

By the way for you animators out there – there is a flipbook animation app available for the iphone… time out your poses maybe… hmmm….

Well here’s the drawings… enjoy.

Tags: animation on iphone, drawing on iphone, iphone, pogo sketch, sketching
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Well animation fans – I liked it. Yep. Not only was it a Wes Anderson film but it was a stop-motion animated Wes Anderson film. Talk about a perfect merger of Anderson’s typical quirky, yet cathartic storytelling with the deliberately static, and jerky motion of stop motion. He could not have picked a better medium to do this film. It had all the things you would expect from a Wes Anderson film – the witty dialogue, off beat humor and complicated family dynamics that we all can relate too. I mean who doesn’t have a cousin that out shines them at one thing or another.

One of the things I most enjoyed with this film was Anderson’s choices regarding the camera and camera movement. There was A LOT of it. Particularly chase cameras. Several times the camera ended up behind the character as they moved through the scene – while in live action this is really a no brainer – pulling this off in stop motion is bloody hard and they made it look easy. They also played a lot with flattening out shots by taking a very platform gamesk style of shooting which made for nice sense of visual texture and contrast. They were very mindful of the quality of texture in this film, maybe not as much as coraline, but very very similar. They also did a surprising number of extreme close ups on faces and eyes, where the puppets were very still, but they appeared to deliberately by accident move small hairs here and there to keep it alive.

Over all I was extremely impressed by the production value, style choices, writing and quality of film making. It was definitely worth seeing in theater. While it might be too sophisticated of humor for some of the younger audience members, I do feel that even they will enjoy the dynamic theatrics and quirky character designs to make it worth taking them.

Way to go Mr. Anderson – and thank you for re-affirming to me why we make animated films.  Because unlike Mr. Zemeckis’s Christmas carol, the Fantastic Mr. Fox truly brings life to the screen in a believable and inspiring way.

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• Last class in t minus 15. Then vacation. Oh sweet vacation. #
• 6 weeks. My list of stuff is quickly growing beyond my allotted time of vacation. I think I need to become independently wealthy. #
• @bbrathwaite I play a person who knows a game designer in real life. in reply to bbrathwaite #
• @effstops bah skip it and go straight to 3d previz. Lucas does. in reply to effstops #
• I love my ps3… Thank you Sony for hooking up with netflix. Now for some relaxation before the grading fiesta. #
• In a thousand years what will they say? #
• All hipsters must die. #
• Doodling. Piercing. Animating. Cheezits. Rain. Dog hugs. Reading. #
• If the hipsters are the new hippies what do they stand for? At least the hippie movement had something you could get behind. Love. Peace. #
• @bbrathwaite yeah cuz the coolest game designer in the biz is now there. in reply to bbrathwaite #
• Looooonnnnnngggggg day. Sweet dreams world. May tomorrow bring the sun. #
• Happy b day man!! Treat yourself. #
• And oops. Haha. Well today begins a big push… Lots of work all fun. #
• back in the saddle… finally got my monitor back from apple, this is the 2nd time its broke… lets hope it doesn’t go down again. #
• Well it is that time of year again. What am I thankful for? Another day in the sun with my friends, family and my dog. Oh yeah and beer. #

Tags: tweets, twitter
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• Icky weather better clear up before saturday cuz I want to go kayaking. #
• 1 more week to go and then sweet freedom. #
• Why use acid free paper? To save the acid of course! #
• Very cool photos of the red planet… http://bit.ly/bXqHO #
• Just had a wonderful dinner party with good friends. Thx for coming by nana, Collin, and janelle. #
• Now has full blown internet at home!!! yeah baby… online gaming to commence in 3…2…1… #
• Kayaking maddness here I come!!! #
• I love and hate my desk. It’s a pain to move but soooooo beautiful. Pictures to follow soon. Maybe I’ll sell it… #
• 525,600 minutes. #
• It’s a beautiful day. Sun is out. Temp us perfect. And apparently I slept on my stomach and didn’t snore!!!! Loosing wieght is helping. #
• Part of my desk at work…#artistsdesks
  http://yfrog.com/0pbi1sj #

Tags: tweets, twitter
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• Beautiful day out. Get to see syd mead speak and I’m down a total of 20 lbs!!! #
• “I render in goauche… Which is French for bitchy medium.”- Syd Mead #
• “science fiction is reality ahead of schedule.”-Syd Mead #
• On the road…
  P #
• Often wonders where the wild things have gone? #
• Im up and a bit tired but it was so worth it. #
• The animation show of shows is tonight at 8pm in the Lucas theater… It’s gonna be mind blowing!!!! #
• I am routinely appauled by the horrors of human nature. We are such selfish, violent, destructive, wasteful organisums. How can we change? #
• I went to bed at 9pm and I’m still exhausted-WTF. #
• Very interesting read… http://bit.ly/43TGVp #
• Baby Jesus is gonna kick your ass… Clap, clap, clap… #
• And wicked tired. Joy. Too much crap to do and so very little time. Break soon…. Oh sooo soon. #
• Secret of the kells is an amazing 2d film. We need more films like it!!! I highly recommend it. #

Tags: tweets, twitter
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• Beautiful day out. Get to see syd mead speak and I’m down a total of 20 lbs!!! #
• “I render in goauche… Which is French for bitchy medium.”- Syd Mead #
• “science fiction is reality ahead of schedule.”-Syd Mead #
• On the road…
  P #
• Often wonders where the wild things have gone? #
• Im up and a bit tired but it was so worth it. #
• The animation show of shows is tonight at 8pm in the Lucas theater… It’s gonna be mind blowing!!!! #
• I am routinely appauled by the horrors of human nature. We are such selfish, violent, destructive, wasteful organisums. How can we change? #
• I went to bed at 9pm and I’m still exhausted-WTF. #
• Very interesting read… http://bit.ly/43TGVp #
• Baby Jesus is gonna kick your ass… Clap, clap, clap… #
• And wicked tired. Joy. Too much crap to do and so very little time. Break soon…. Oh sooo soon. #
• Secret of the kells is an amazing 2d film. We need more films like it!!! I highly recommend it. #

Tags: tweets, twitter
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“I Met the Walrus” - is a fascinating animated piece from last year by Josh Raskin. The interpretation of the conversation, which in of itself is amazing, is a very elaborate display of visual poetry. I think Lennon would have approved.

What saddens me most is that what Lennon is saying here is still desperately needed today. Where is our John Lennon of the 21st century?

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Gillian taught me how to bow drill a fire today. She is amazing.

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• Moron driver=epic driving failure http://yfrog.com/e9hevj #
• Nothing like Indian for lunch with the gamedev goddess @bbrathwaite. Gonna miss ya B. #
• Operation cut lawn was a success. Now if only operation finish film would step it up. #
• When I’m old I hope there are still birds and trees. #wheni’mold #
• Ah film festival…. Saw the messenger. Excellent acting but definitly heavy. #
• Woke up feeling like complete crap and I’m not hung over for those of you who immediatly assume the worst. #
• Ok feeling a bit better… think food was the culprit. Stupid food… #
• Animation screening at trustees for film fest. #
• Curled up on couch feeling shitty watching football praying it’s not the flu. #
• “where shall you go?” and I answered “where the wind blows I am free.” #
• Time to get up and moving. Gotta go for a walk… But the bed is sooooo comfy and warm. #
• It’s a beautiful sunny day. Man I love this time of year here. No grey skies. No bitter cold. #
• #animtip Observation of life is key. Carry a notepad with you to jot down or sketch poses. Life is all around you, not just on the screen. #
• I am looking forward to dreams of wind, trees, thunder and stars. Four of my favorite things in all the world. #
• Ah more delgo hate mail… This one pokes fun at my Twitter name calling me teller of sucks. How creative. #
• I need to get out of bed but it’s so comfy and warm and…..zzzzzZZzzzzzz #

Tags: tweets, twitter
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• Moron driver=epic driving failure http://yfrog.com/e9hevj #
• Nothing like Indian for lunch with the gamedev goddess @bbrathwaite. Gonna miss ya B. #
• Operation cut lawn was a success. Now if only operation finish film would step it up. #
• When I’m old I hope there are still birds and trees. #wheni’mold #
• Ah film festival…. Saw the messenger. Excellent acting but definitly heavy. #
• Woke up feeling like complete crap and I’m not hung over for those of you who immediatly assume the worst. #
• Ok feeling a bit better… think food was the culprit. Stupid food… #
• Animation screening at trustees for film fest. #
• Curled up on couch feeling shitty watching football praying it’s not the flu. #
• “where shall you go?” and I answered “where the wind blows I am free.” #
• Time to get up and moving. Gotta go for a walk… But the bed is sooooo comfy and warm. #
• It’s a beautiful sunny day. Man I love this time of year here. No grey skies. No bitter cold. #
• #animtip Observation of life is key. Carry a notepad with you to jot down or sketch poses. Life is all around you, not just on the screen. #
• I am looking forward to dreams of wind, trees, thunder and stars. Four of my favorite things in all the world. #
• Ah more delgo hate mail… This one pokes fun at my Twitter name calling me teller of sucks. How creative. #
• I need to get out of bed but it’s so comfy and warm and…..zzzzzZZzzzzzz #

Tags: tweets, twitter
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