Rumble in the Jungle 2018

Hi guys,

After doing the festival run last year, I can finally share with you my short-movie, "Rumble in the Jungle"! Wohooo! It's a super-short movie about a dancing elephant and a curious little mouse. 

I started making it as an animation exercise, but per usual with my ideas it turns into something bigger in the end. I started it early 2015, and finished around end of 2016, and although that's longer then expected I only had time to work on the film in my free-time. I also learned a lot from doing this short which is probably one of the biggest paybacks an animator can get. 

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy it! It's  a short movie, but one that I'm very proud of!


Rumble in the Jungle 2018 from Muhundan Bala on Vimeo.

Cheers,
Mui B

Dino Runner

Look at Lucy riding her pet Dino - SPOT! 

Hehe, I'm gonna post more finished works on here.:) I really enjoyed doing this piece. I didn't realize it, but it could even work as an "endless runner" game!

El Famoso

I really missed drawing again, and since it's Easter Monday I gave myself a little break from Obscurum and did this little piece instead!

Presenting the AMAZING LUCHADOOR.... EL FAMOSO!!!! *Crowd Applauds!*

A little update

Hi guys!

I wanted to give you a little update since the long "radio silence" from me. 

I'm okay, I'm not dead! XD. I've actually been working hard on Obscurum, my upcoming short film, and I can tell you that I've done more work on the film the last 2-3 months then the last few months of 2017. It's been quite a journey so far, and the film has come really far, I would say almost production ready!

But alas this also means I don't have so much time to draw - which again means less time to update this blog. However, I refuse to let this blog die, so I will keep it open and update you with new stuff when I can, although most of the updates might be "Obscurum" related.

If you want to follow my Obscurum production blog, please check it out HERE

But before I leave, I wanted to show you what I've been up to the last week. I've been experimenting a little with compositing in After Effects, and how I can use it in my film. My knowledge is basic at best, but it's been really fun playing around with it!

Obscurum poster

Hey guys!

Hope everyone's doing fine. I took a months break to refuel my energy, so I haven't worked so much on anything. It's good to be back though, and although I never finished INKTOBER, I will start updating this blog with new stuff (including art for Obscurum). 

I finally finished the character design process, and will be working on general concept art for the film! Here is a poster I made for the film. I initially made it just for fun, but I liked it so much that I will be using it after the movie is done.

Lets get'r dooone! 

Day 8 - Steve

Day 5, 6,7

Day 5 - SEB

 Day 6 - BOB

Day 7 - Tick & Tak

Day 4 - Fuzz

FUZZ

A doting father and winner of "Father of the Year" award

Day 3 - Johann

Meet Johann, the marathon running Ogre. He's training for the next "Iron Monster"

Day 2 - Tilly

Meet Tilly the French melancholic little monster. She loves her balloon...

Inktober 2017

Hope people have their pens and brushes ready because its that time of the year again...

INKTOBER! Wohoo!

I will be doing funny/weird monsters this month. Anyway, here is my 1st entry. 

Pongo - Pingu's long lost cousin!

Obscurum Update!

A few months ago, I wrote down some deadlines for myself to finish the pre-production part of Obscurum before this year is done. I've almost locked down the color design and model-sheets to all of my characters (only 1 more to go!). You can check out more art in the production BLOG

After this, it's concept and world design!

Gather around children, it's story-time!

Rumble in the Jungle

It's still making the festival rounds, but since I'm in the reflecting mood...

It was initially a project which I'd loved, worked and prodded on for almost over a year, and a project I thought I'd never actually finish. Heck, I even lost 50% of the work I'd done halfway through because my computer crashed! I freaked out then, but now I see it as a blessing as I went into the project again with new vigor and new eyes. I wanted to PUSH myself, both artistically and technically as character animator. I've always loved to learn, but was never good at crossing the finishing line though...

My friends sometimes asked me:"If your doing it for yourself, why is it so important to you? You should be working on Obscurum instead". 

But the truth was... I DID make the film for myself. And it later BECAME more important to me then I initially thought. 

In the end, the process has been both wonderful and painful, but one which I learned SO much about myself as a director, animator and mostly as an artist!

Jake Parker's mantra is: "FINISHED, not PERFECT".

This mantra is something I will always keep with me. Rumble in the Jungle became a great little "monster", not perfect... but FINISHED! I will forever cherish the adventure!:)

Color studies

Started doing color studies of the characters in Obscurum. 

They changed a little a long the way as I thought I needed to cut down on some of the details:) If you want to see more work, check out the production blog on TUMBLR

A Time for some Relaxation

Nobody knows how to relax more then Orvill, the owl. Lets all treat ourselves with some kite-flying and some sleep;) 

It's summer after all!

Whats happening?!

After a little hiatus, I wanted to post an update on whats been happening in my life (not that my life is that interesting:D). The biggest news being the start of Season 6 of The Amazing World of Gumball, a show I've been with, on an off, around 4 years. 

Studio Soi is doing the clean up, and FX, and yours truly will be the main FX Artist for the season. I'm really excited and can't wait to see the new episodes! 

Like I've said earlier, I will double down on getting my short film, Obscurum production ready. Meaning, I will be prioritizing the film over other freelance/drawing work for the time being. Although I wont stop posting stuff on the blog, I probably won't be posting every day like I did before. 

So stay tuned, I will keep updating this blog with new stuff, and also follow my progress of my short film at Obscurum.

Annecy, Annecyyyyy c'est le plus beau des festivaux!

Hi guys, I'm back after a couple of weeks of radio silence, but guess where I've been! I've been to ANNECY!!!

Being an Annecy virgin, it was a week of awesome screenings (Really, the quality of the films were great), dipping my feet in the lake, and meeting old friends again from past jobs. I was exhausted by the end of the festival, but for anyone who hasn't been yet, JUST GO! I will guarantee you will have an awesome time!

Highlights: 

- Awesome short film screenings

- Seeing "Le grand mechant renard et autres contes" aka The Big Bad Fox from the creator behind Ernest & Celestine. 

- Guillermo Del Toro... WALKING PAST ME! *passes out*

Although I'm back now, experiencing Annecy really infused me with new vigor & motivation to really push Obscurum forward to production. My new deadline is to have it ready for production by end of this year. 

So stay tuned guys, new stuff coming soon!

Turnarounds - Obscurum

In the process of working on the character turnarounds for Obscurum, my shortfilm. I will soon move over to doing color/line tests in some of the different software as I'm not 100% sure which one to use. At the moment I know I will try to do some of the post-production in After Effects. 

Animating-wise I'm leaning towards Flash (Frame by Frame, no tweens), as I know that program inside and out. TvPaint is also an option, but I just started using it and I'm still figuring the program out. I'm kinda warming up to it too though. 

Birdy

Tweet tweet little birdy!:)

Portrait 16

Business cards!

Woop woop! Since I'll be attending Annecy this year I thought I'd design my own business cards (which I've actually never had before, shock!). Anyway, I printed out a 100 and they arrived yesterday, and they look great!:)

Color study 2

Did another color study! It took too long though, so hopefully I can try and be a little faster nest time!:)

Final Design

Woop woop! 

Just finished the final character design of my short, Obscurum. THE MONSTER.  I had a little bit of a hard time designing this character, as I wanted him to have more of a disturbing & creepy quality to him. 

Next step is turnarounds, model-sheets and color

Shape 5

Some quick and dirty shape studies:)

Magician

A Magician for ya guys:) I tried to reference him towards an owl (at least the round head shape and nose).

Shapes study 4

I was a little late with this one, but I did a a little shape/character study. I love doing these, as they really teaches me how to push the character's body shapes and contrast!

I wish I had time to color them though, but for now I'll leave them in B&W.

Portrait 15

Hey look everyone, it's the lovable John Goodman!!:D 

Comp study 1

I wanted to finish up this composition study which's been stewing in my folders for a bit. I think it took longer then it should, because it was hard to find out what to draw in each panel. XD 

I used the template from one of  Bobby Chiu's youtube streams, you can check it out here. It's a great way to brush up on your concept art - and composition skills. Hopefully I'll have time to do more of these!

Bingo time!

Bingo!:)

An "Iron Carpet" just crushed my creativity this morning, so I just decided to draw an old bingo lady...

Who doesn't love old ladies though, right?!... RIGHT?

Portrait 14

Portrait day again:)

I'm glad to be back drawing these studies after a couple of weeks off!

Character design progress

Continued my re-designs of the FATHER character in my short-film, Obscurum. I want him to be imposing and strong, but also a little off-balance, slightly like a drunk. 

Check out my production blog to follow my progress and more pre-production art for the film:)

ITFS 2017

Just finished off a week at the ITFS 2017 (International Trickfilm Festival) in Stuttgart. For those of you who's not familiar with it, it's one of the most well known animated film festivals in Europe, after Annecy. I've been going there for the past 4 years it's become sort of a tradition for me, as it's basically 6 days of screening (the newest) short and "long"  animated films, both student and professional. They also show the newest Animovies,: Feature films.

Since festivals are sometimes a hit & amp;miss with their programs, I would say the overall quality of the festival this year was great, I would even go as far as saying it was the BEST! The three main programs, "International Competition, "Young Animation" and "Tricks for Kids" were AWESOME, specially for the kiddies. The one program I was a bit disappointed with, was the "Panorama" program. It's where they show the darker/serious Int. short films.

Other highlights: Meeting friends and old acquaintances from the past. Talking to Bill Plympton, and buying a signed print from his newest film, "Revengeance"! Woop woop!!

ITFS always manages to inspire me, and although it's back to the grind again, I do so with new energy and vigor! 

Until ITFS 2018!!