Leonard Ward

A Bogey Brother

2011-12-14T12:41:00.006+01:00

Green Chick and Guy

2011-11-17T11:51:00.003+01:00

Latest Showreel

2011-11-16T05:23:00.003+01:00

Some Rough Stuff

2011-11-10T04:15:00.003+01:00

Heres a scene I did while working at Djang Films on "The Illusionist"
In the final colour version a lot of it is obscured by foreground characters, but I guess that's part and parcel of working in Animation sometimes. : )

Squares

2011-11-05T06:17:00.004+01:00

Nuffin

2011-10-11T15:16:00.005+02:00

Bohai

2011-03-16T00:07:00.010+01:00

I did a photo shoot for the band Bohai during Karnival to document a concert they performed at with other bands such as the Büdchen Boys and some others. It was a really great night, great atmosphere and well worth it in every way. Here are some sample picks to give you a peek from all perspectives.

Karnival

2011-03-15T23:57:00.005+01:00

Ahh ja, Karnival, you love it or hate it, 100% in it or 100% no where to be seen!!

If you go to these two links at Endoplast you can see some shots I took of Karnival (the sunny side , metaphorically) and (the dark side, also metaphorically)

Ralf Wasselowski wrote the commentary.

This Years Stuff

2010-11-26T22:33:00.008+01:00

This year really flew by, hey, and before you know it one catches oneself wondering what it is one had done in all that time. This year for me was quite a mixed bag of different animation styles, Storyboards for advertising, character Illustrations for a book series, funny stories and of course people. A really good mix and very rewarding. "Werner 5" was one of the first and if you arent familiar with it, its based on a successful German comic to a point where they made a fifth feature film from it. . I did about a months worth of work, a little bit of Workbooking followed up by Animation key framing. The style of the characters quite fun to draw and animate . Heres a Pic , but not from the film, just to give you an idea of the style

After and during Werner I also worked on development for an 30 minute animation sequence for a documentary that myself and director Claudia Schmid are trying to get film funding for. I cant share what the idea is but should it work out I think it will be a great project to be involved in.

Next was "Cowboy Klaus und das Pupsende Pony " (Cowboy Klaus and the Farting Pony) .Yep, you read it alright! This was a really, really fun project and I found myself chuckling quietly, quite often while animating pony farts. Some light adult relief from everyday daily stresses!!

Cowboy Klaus is based on a kids childrens book beautifully illustrated by a chap named Karsten Teich I believe. Heres a sample.

Next stop Brussels, Belgiam to work on a feature film project based on a famous French comic. "Titeuf". This was also a wonderful experience and I´m glad I was involved. The style was quite tough to get into but at same time good fun and something new to try out. People were great as well, but that normally goes without saying in the animation industry.

Another sample.

I also did a storyboard for a transport company for an advertisement that they are making to promote themselves, and as soon as I am allowed to post it I will put ip up.

Well thats whats been done and at the moment Im working on a short animation called " Nelli " for JEP Animation a local studio here in Köln and it will be screened on a local TV network here as well. Along side that I am in the process of creating some title character illustrations for a book series that should be launched next year.

Thats the wrap.

The Illusionist US Trailer

2010-11-14T21:32:00.005+01:00

The US trailer for Líllusionist is now online and some of the scenes ( parts of ) that I worked on have been included, which of course is always nice. It is also highly likely, the only time, I will or any other animators (amongst other trailers) be able to share our work from the illusionist online in some capacity or another due to quite strict contractual agreements. A topic in itself. Two of the scenes that were included featured Andre Pierdel, the old man with a top hat and wearing a purple suit who I was luckily enough to animate, and for me the most is enjoyable character I have worked on to this day. Pierdel is an actual person in real life, a magician, and an actor who played various parts in Tatis films. I believe Sylvain Chomet included him in the film as a small tribute to Pierdel for his career and involvement in the Tati films as well as his help in showing and sharing his knowledge of Magic that was used as inspiration for The Illusionist. Laurent Kircher a senior animator did the wonderful design for Pierdel which I think really captures him well. I have included some real life photos of him so you can see who the real man is and how he was caricatured in the film, and even though there are only snippets of the scenes you can at least see the similarity in the two. Of course watching the film you will see the whole scenes and get a better idea of character as the scenes are about 10 times than what you see in the trailer. Better than nothing though.

The first scene Tati and Pierdel show off their magic to each other ,but its one of those scenes you work on and that you really get into , knowing though, that a lot of it will be obscured by more important foreground action. When you see the full scene in the film it actually works out ok and you can still see, or feel you could say, whats going on without being too distracted from the main action. Part of the Tati style of film making.

The second scene Pierdel walks downstairs with Tati and Alice and he Introduces Tati to some prospective producers and then they are all trodden on the foot by a small man. The characteristic quirkiness and slasptick again that you see in his film.

The third scene that I worked on was actually the first scene that I animated on and the last scene in this trailer. I animated and clean-up the audience all reacting in some slightly polite but bored manner to Tatis performance. Was a good warm up an introduction to the style of the characters. You can view the US trailer by clicking on this link.

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/sony/theillusionist/

So thats it, my little bit. Or a sample at least.

Sketches

2010-04-20T23:45:00.002+02:00

I gathered together some sketches that I had done a little while ago that I thought might be worth putting in my Sketch section to add to the rest. The usual kind of weird stuff that one doodles while waiting somewhere etc.

Rudolf Rough Animation

2010-04-06T15:45:00.006+02:00

I put together a bunch of rough animation scenes I did while working on the Rudolf TV series here in Cologne at local studio called JEP Animation. Its not specifically TV showreel stuff but more some samples of scenes that were fun to work on. These samples I took from five different episodes, sometimes a couple of actual scenes connected and sometimes not, so there isnt a great deal of logic in the way they are arranged its more to get an idea of what we had to work on. The final product has been cleaned and composited in Flash but the animators could choose to either animate it more traditionally with paper and then shoot it, or to draw straight into flash. I think in the end most animators decided the paper method which would then be taken into flash by using the movie file and then cleaned and Composited in Flash respectively. The quality of the video isnt great but hopefully I can find a better compression.
All animation is copyright © JEP Animation.

Fishing Again

2010-04-01T12:46:00.002+02:00

Here's a new illustration to add to my fish series where people are always fishing in strange circumstances.

The Illusionist. New Footage.

2010-03-02T10:31:00.014+01:00

I was lucky enough to see the premiere of "The illusionist" which I worked on for two years in Scotland and which was just recently screened at the Berlinale Film festival mid February. There were a whole group of us who had worked on it who managed to get there and get some tickets and finally see the finished result on the big screen with other film and animation enthusiasts. The response from the audience seemed to be quite good and apparently its getting pretty good reviews. I think there are areas in the film where it could have been better, but then its the usual thing of having been closely involved in the film, one ends up being quite critical and doesnt necessarily have an objective view anymore. Either way, its certainly worth a look at when it comes to the cinemas. The atmosphere in the film is stunning, and for those who have been to Scotland it will definately hit a spot as a large part of the film is based there.
Here is a link which has some sample footage and an interview with Sylvain Chomet the Director.

Mercedes Illustrations

2010-02-08T19:34:00.007+01:00

These are some samples of some illustrations I did for OSK (a PR agency) last year and the client was Mercedes Benz .They basically wanted some loose sketchy styled (but still accurate) drawings of different parts of the s-class Merc to put in an events brochure. It was a nice change from the other stuff I have done and quite fun to do.

Rudolf Online

2010-01-27T17:37:00.007+01:00

The TV series Rudolf that I worked on last year is now online at Canal J. There are about 13 episodes and I worked on 'Dino Parano' and 'Ca Chauffe chez les Penguins'. I did most of the animation on both these two episodes but all the animators are credited for all episodes, I guess for practical reasons. Anyway, check it out and click on the link below, they're good for a giggle.
http://www.canalj.fr/La-tele/Dessins-animes/Rudolf/Videos/Les-episodes/

Swing

2010-01-19T09:46:00.006+01:00

Happy New Year everyone!! Yet another flies by.
I was back in Australia over Christmas and was rummaging through some of my old stuff and found this photo which I took back when I was finishing high school. I thought it might be interesting to put up as i remember having to climb on top of the swing, have the shutter speed on a slow setting and pan with the girl as she was moving. It took about 20 shots I think until I finally got one where she was in focus and the background was blurred. Having said that, I shot it with film so I had no idea whether it had worked or not until I developed it. I think I got lucky in the end and it turned out quite ok.

The Illusionist

2009-09-10T21:36:00.008+02:00

Some pictures have been finally released by Pathe from the film I worked on in Scotland that had the working title "The illusionist". It is a film directed by Sylvain Chomet and is his second feature film after first making the Triplets of Belleville. Thats a must see by the way if you haven't already seen it. I have no idea though when the film is due to be finally released , so I am curious like a lot of other people as to when we get to see it in the flesh, on the big screen.

The image above is from a scene I actually worked on: I animated and cleaned-up the Shepherd and Tati and Olivier Malric did the sheep and effects and Jean-Pierre Bouchet did the compositing. I cant remember who actually did the layout and background, but as you can see it was done really well and has a great atmosphere.

There is another blog entry on the film as well as some other atmospheric stills. Its not a lot, but it gives you a good taste of how the film will look. In the mean time we must wait and see when it will come, but I will certainly blog it once I know.

Later.

Rudolf

2009-08-29T09:50:00.009+02:00

Well its been a while between drinks and since my last blog I have been working on a new TV series called Rudolf. Its a real contrast to the stuff I worked on in Scotland, going from realistic to a completley cartoony style. The character Rudolf basically goes from door to door selling something different each time ( episode that is) to an unsuspecting customer or should I say its more unsuspecting for Rudolf. Either way it ends up being a chain reaction of funny gags that have a cause and effect that liken it to Ren and Stimpy somewhat, just not as subversive and caters more for kids and adults alike.
Its produced by JEP animation and they have set it up in a way that each animator animates a whole episode which are approximatley 3 minutes long.This includes most effects as well as all characters. Which is great as you basically or almost have the episode to your name from a raw animation point of view and of course you dont need to worry about how scenes hook up as you are more or less dealing with yourself with regards to this. So far I have 3 episodes under my belt with a couple more to come and it has been really quite a fun experience and a refreshing change from the more traditional stuff I have worked on.
The director is a Belgian chap named Rudi Mertens who also does all the storyboards . For him its all about good laughs, so as long as you produce a chuckle he's a happy man. A good philosophy you'd have to say. I think it will be a really good to watch , its the kind of humour we all need when you have had a crap day at work and need a good laugh to calm the nerves. You can check out the trailer that was animated by Rudi at the link above at JEP animation and just go to" productions" and there it is "Rudolf".
I 'm not sure exactly when it comes out but it will be at least another six months I guess, but I will announce it as soon as it does and put some rough animation from the episodes I worked on online.

Fishing

2009-01-23T16:57:00.004+01:00

This is one of a handful of illustrations I have been working on with querky fishing scenarios. There are a couple other new ones on my illustration page.

Perkler Animation (not final sync!)

2008-11-11T12:30:00.000+01:00

This is a freelance project I did recently for an online portal called Perkler.

I made the film using Flash combined with traditional 2D animation techniques. My work involved concept, layout, storyboarding, character design and animation of course. It's an intro film on their landing page which describes in short how to use their website but with a little bit of flare. It started off with three illustrations that I did for their website. Then they really liked the little perkler-man so they asked me to turn it into an animation and here is the finished result.

The Perkler guys have created a handy website that allows you to manage all of your loyalty programs in one place and connect with other Perk lovers. Check out their website at www.perkler.com - besides my film on their homepage - there are some additional promotional videos that give you a good taste of what they're all about.

Sound was done by Heiner d`Alquen from picturemusic in Cologne who have excellent experience and great ideas.