Let me tell YOU.. about "Tell Her This"...

Hey Travelers,

For the good of your mortal souls, take a gander at this here short film.  A heartfelt, feel good yarn spun by some really damn fine people.  A lot of hard work was poured into this project and it turned out quite lovely!  Give it a viewing and please share with your friends.

Tell Her This - Short Film from Gregory Rizzi on Vimeo.

- Love Graham

Her majesty presents, Mr. David Sloss, Esq.

Heres another caricature, this time, of my friend and fellow cube-mate, The always Daper & Dignified,  Mr. David Sloss, Esq.  He's a damn fine animator, which would be bad enough, but couple that with his snappy dressing and posh British accent, and he seems to be on a plane above the rest of us.  That or the fact that he's like 8feet tall, that could be it.  Did I mention he drives a Mini.
Pip Pip Jolly Good Show sir.. WhatHO, would you look at that, its Tea Time. what.!!

Final Color

Rough Sketch

Until Next time then, Cheerio!

-Graham

A case of DEJA vu.

One of the many things I love about being part of the Blue Sky Anim Team is hearing from some fantastic guest speakers.  A few weeks back, one such presentation was given by none other than Mr. Andreas Deja  (http://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/).  Needless to say, for the entire team, it was pretty GeekTastic.  Andreas spoke for about an hour about his beginnings, his life in animation, and insights on being part of some really amazing films.  Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Beauty & the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King to name but a few.  He delved into his thought process on creating/designing characters like Aladdin's sinister villain Jafar, using video clips and drawing live on screen for us all to see.  It was super inspiring!

After the talk, he was kind enough to hang around a while, take some photos, and chat with some of us animators.  I took the opportunity to thank him for his work, as some of the films he had a big part in 

( Beauty & the Beast, Aladdin & The Lion King specifically ) had a great influence on me artistically.  

All in all he was a super nice guy, who kept us all enthralled with great tales of animation wonder.     

Thanks again Andreas!

Heres a couple pics taken of us after the talk.  The first is the original shot, where Mr. Matt Doble sidled on up as the pic was being taken, and Andreas said, "No Problem".. then looked at me and said, "We can just crop him out later".  The "Cropped" image is there too, but we all had a good laugh at the comment, so I added em both!  High five Doble!

Awesomesauce!

-Love Graham

    

Thou shalt heed the Siren's Call...!

I had the privilege of being a co-character lead with Mr. Matt Doble on the Siren characters in IA4!  They were only a small sequence in the film but were tonnes of fun to work on.  I hope they gave people some laughs.

Mr. Patrik Puhala approached me the other day about doing a drawing for his little Niece.. or was it Cousin.. anyway...  he wanted some of the artists here at work to do some sketches to give to her as a present.  So hey, I thought Id draw the Sirens.  Here were a couple I whipped up.  He chose the first one.  I hope she liked it.

                             

...And heres my next attempt at some digital painting....  Slowly but surely, I shall learn how the hell to do this!  As always, Tips n Tricks welcome.  These were done in Alias Sketchbook Pro.

 

I got me a Scratchy!!!

... and not the kind you get from a drunken night out in Tijuana!  But rather an award from the awesome Directors of Ice Age 4, in which I not only animated, but was the Scratch dialogue voice of the villainous Captain Gutt!  If you don't know what "Scratch" dialogue is, its the voice track thats used as placeholder for editorial before the final voice is recorded.  I prefer to think of it as being Peter Dinklage's understudy really :P

It was a blast to get in the booth and let my Pirate Flag Fly!  Thanks Mike, Steve and the Editorial Crew!

YAAAAAARR!!

-Love Graham

ICE BERG.. RIGHT AHEAD!!!

Well, maybe not right ahead.. but Darn close!  Like...  July 13th close!  Me and some of the greatest animators I've ever had the privilege of working with have poured our blood, sweat & beers into this here flick and I hope you enjoy it!  Heres one of the many trailers/tv spots that are floating around the interwebs.  Keep yer eyes peeled... theres a Scrat shot I worked on at 1:55.. don't blink or you'll miss it.



-Love Graham

He's Gonna WRECK IT!!!

So, theres this small, artsy, independent studio called The Walt Disney Animation Studios.. Maybe you've heard of 'em.  Well, there making this new movie called Wreck It Ralph, and it looks pretty awesome!  Heres the trailer for it!



I'm pretty stoked to see it, so a hearty high five to Isaak, Hobbie, Nathan, Paul, Brian, Bobby H, Benson, and Bobby P and all the other artists that poured their blood, sweat n tears into this.

ps..   That Zombie is freakin' awesome!

I was inspired by this trailer do a caricature in the spirit of Ralph.. so I give you "Break IT Bobby".

Well, thats.. uh.. thats all I got....  TOODLES!

-Love Graham