Timbuktoons Studio

Carlos Grangel at CTNX 2011 reveals insights into his character design process for films such as Corpse Bride, Shark Tale, Kung-Fu Panda, How To Train Your Dragon and more.

I’m a character designer and concept artist before I’m an animator or producer, so I was thrilled to write a post about character designer Carlos Grangel’s CTNx workshop.

I love his approach to designing characters and the collaborative effort of everyone at his studio.

A huge bonus in this session was that it was moderated by Jill Culton (see credits below) who knew just what to ask to ask Carlos to draw out statements packed with amazing insight.

(From CTNx’s Website)
Carlos Grangel, character designer and studio owner
Carlos Grangel (IMDB) is a Spanish-born character designer for animated films. Carlos started as a character designer at Amblimation-Universal Pictures in London, and worked on “We’re Back: A Dinosaur’s Story” and “Balto”.In 1995 he started designing characters for DreamWorks movies “The Prince of Egypt”, “The Road to El Dorado”, “Spirit”, “Sinbad”, “Shark Tale”, “Madagascar”, “Flushed Away”, “Bee Movie”, “Kung Fu Panda” and “How to Train Your dragon”. He owns Grangel Studios along with his brother Jordi.

Original creator with Tim Burton for the characters on “Corpse Bride”, also worked on “Pirates” and “Hotel Transylvania” for Sony/Aardman Pictures and “Why I did (not) Eat my Father” for Pathé/Boreales, he contributed designing characters for various shortfilms like “Alma”, “Passage”, “The ClockWork Clone” and “The Periwig Maker” that was nominated for the Academy Awards Best Animated Short.

Moderator Jill Culton, writer and director
Originally from Ventura, California, Jill Culton (IMDB) is a graduate from the California Institute of the Arts where she was one of only five women in the character animation class of 1990.  Now, twenty years later, Culton has a thriving career in the field of computer feature animation. Having worked as an animator, character designer, concept artist, storyboard artist, Director and Executive Producer, Culton is one of the foremost talents in her industry today. She has worked for ILM, Pixar, and Dreamworks where she is currently.

Rather than list the questions Jill asked Carlos, I categorized key elements of his answers into 4 key categories: Process, Artistic Development, Studio/Business, and Features. There was so much here that I had to split it up into 2 posts. The first covers the first 3 categories and the second post will be dedicated to the key feature films Carlos has designed characters for.

PROCESS
Here are some facts and quotes regarding Grangel’s design process.

Stage 1: Shape Language and Silhouettes
In this first stage Grangel said that he looks at shapes, proportions, and costumes and how they interact.
In the sample he showed it seemed to be 40-50 designs. Grangel pointed out that he works from the outside in, focusing first on the negative space and silhouette, before adding the key inner details.

Stage 2: Medium Stage
In this stage he showed many detailed versions of a character.

Stage 3: Final stage
Grangel usually provides a few similar versions of the final character, but he shows the client/director the whole process to explain how he arrived at the finals. Hey pointed out that many times the director ends up choosing an earlier version.

Other comments included:

• “I switch techniques a lot and I try to pick the best medium to present designs for that movie.”For example, he developed some Po (Kung-Fu Panda) studies in Chinese ink on Chinese rice paper, basing the style on Chinese art.
• “I like to start with a mid tone.” (Hence the use of cereal boxes for Corpse Bride.)
• When asked how long it takes to do one of the character shape line ups Grangel replied, “About a week.” Continuing, he said, “You have to let it (the batch of loose/rough sketch designs) cook in your brain a couple of nights, then your brain will digest everything. Then it will come natural. I don’t see the first day. I’m to close to the paper, but the day after some of the more interesting designs are going to pop out.”
• Regarding his thought process, Grangel explained, “I try to put passion in everything I do.” He also mentioned that, “You create the very best where you are most happy. You have to find your space.” (this also tracked with some of Vignali’s statements (timbuktoons.com/2011/11/marcelovignali/) about getting into the zone.)

ARTISTIC DEVELOPMENT
When asked how someone should become a character designer, Grangel replied, “I don’t know what to tell you. I didn’t start out wanting to be a character designer.” He also pointed out that he developed into a character designer as those opportunities arose. Now it is his specialty.

Other insightful comments about artistic development included:

• “I wanted to work with anyone at the studio who would make me better. If you are a sponge you will get better.”
• “Don’t copy things. The best way is to find your own way.” (This tracked with Vignali’s statements [15 Things I Learned From Marcelo Vignali] about not following convention.)
• “I study from real life and observe a lot and I look at a lot of art books.”

Grangel pointed out that he is influenced by nature/reality as well as art in general.

• “I didn’t go for comics or illustration. I went for everything: photography, paint, sculpt, architecture…”
• “I went to museum or art exhibit every week. It was mandatory. (personal note: I did this at the Corcoran school of Art and Design in Washington, DC. I had one class where we went to a studio or museum every week, and one class where we worked in a different medium every week. I appreciate those classes much more now, I didn’t appreciate what a great opportunity that was.)
• Grangel continued saying, “I wasn’t into animation that much.”

Grangel also pointed out the collaborative nature of animation and how it helps artists develop. Hey said, “There is individual achievement in illustration, sculpting or painting, but animation is collaborative by nature.”


STUDIO/BUSINESS
Carlos owns a studio with his brother Jordi called Grangel Studios in Spain. They have been in business for 22 years with great success in the US as well as in Europe (particularly in Spain). His brother runs the commercial side including, merchandising, mascots, commercial side. He is also a great sculptor and supervised modeling on Corpse bride.

His brother and the rest of the team help with: research, sketching, preliminary studies, logo design, presentation, adding texture, and producing commercials.

Grangel said, “I do the final transformed style to be presented. The better you can present the better you can sell your designs.”

Because of their holistic treatment of character development and branding, Grangel Studios has also had the opportunity to design several posters for Dreamworks movies.

When asked about the advantages and disadvantages of owning a studio, Grangel replied, “I would suggest not to grow too much. I never fire anyone. I don’t like that. Just keep it small and try to achieve the best quality you can. The clients will keep coming.”

So much about Grangel’s work process and business philosophy synced with my thoughts and how we do things at Timbuktoons. One of my favorite quotes is from Disney/Pixar’s John Lasseter who said, “Quality is the best business plan. period.”

As far as disadvantages or difficulties, Grangel said, “If you have a gap and you have to pay your staff, that is the worst situation you may have.” Many of the studio heads in the CAO workshop (Chief Artist Officers Workshop: Part 1) commented on this as well.

During a discussion on preliminary studio meetings, Grangel stated comically, “I will say that after 3-4 weeks of all these meetings that I could scream and kill someone. So it’s better for me to stay 2-3 weeks over here then go back to Spain to work quietly in my cave. I like to produce. I like to be on the table.”

About longevity and enjoying his career Grangel said, “I don’t work weekends anymore.”

For more information go to: www.ctnanimationexpo.com/carlos-grangel-3/

Read the next post as we unpack interesting facts and highlight key feature films which Grangel has designed characters for.

Steve Hickner has spent the past thirty-two years working at some of the most fabled studios in animation. In the CTNx workshop, "Building Your Career from Getting In to Getting It All," he shares about how to become and stay relevant in your career in animation.

As with any life goal or aspiration, anyone can start, but staying in and finishing well is what’s important.

In the CTNX workshop, “Building Your Career from Getting In to Getting It All,” industry veteran Steve Hickner shares a wealth of wisdom and experience about how to become and stay relevant in your career in animation.

Steve asks the question, “What happened to all the people that started when I did (32 years ago)?” He noted that there were few of his original peers who are still in the industry, with the exception of his friend and colleague Tina Price (Founder of CTN), who entered the field the same year Steve began his career in animation. He went on to share a wealth of information that anyone in the animation industry would love to hear.

(From CTNx’s Website)
Steve Hickner has spent the past thirty-two years (since 1979) working at some of the most fabled studios in animation including: DreamWorks, Disney, Amblimation, Aardman, Hanna-Barbera and Filmation. He has worked on such films as: American Tail II: Fievel Goes West, We’re Back! A Dinosaur Story, and Balto. His director credits include Bee Movie and The Prince of Egypt. In addition, he has contributed to such feature films as Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, The Little Mermaid, The Great Mouse Detective, Antz, Shark Tale, Madagascar, Over the Hedge and others. His television credits include such favorites as He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.

At the opening of the workshop Steve shares some funny and real stories of famous Hollywood actors lives before they had their big break. George Clooney, for example, was in 15 failed pilots before getting a decent gig. He used to make calls pretending to be his own agent, and didn’t have a real agent until he was on ER at age 35.

“This is part of the game,” says Steve. “There is a struggle to get in. It’s hard.”

Here are 5 Rules Steve hits on and key points that jumped out at me regarding each rule. (Notes: I’ve included quotation marks wherever a quote is cited verbatim. Because of the casual nature of the workshop presentation, I combined and reordered some of the information for organizational flow.)

Rule #1: Know the Players in the Field

• Know the key players and their filmography.
• Steve clipped Disney executives pictures from trade magazines and made a chart on his wall of names and roles as each new person was hired. This helped him recognize them and proved to be pivotal years later when many of them left to go to Dreamworks (where Steve currently works).
• He did the same thing in London during production of American Tale II.
• When Steve was at Disney, he came in at 6:30am and even though he was just an in-betweener (working on the Black Cauldron), Jeffrey Katzenberg knew him by name because he saw him early every morning in the parking lot.

Rule #2: You Must Become A Student of Your Discipline

• Watch the classics. Know your field. Make it a lifelong commitment.
• “You are a product. You have to sell yourself.” (Personal note: I’ve seen this first hand as we’ve pitched shows to studios. You are pitching yourself WAY more than you are pitching your IP!)
• If you are a college student, take advantage of this season of life. You will never have the opportunity to dedicate so much time to your craft as you do now (before you marry, have kids, etc.).
• His first day at NYU Film School he realized how well seasoned the other students were. “If you can’t find the weakest guy in the room‚ it’s you! You don’t want to be that guy. Because that guy is the first guy out!”
• Discipline means you have to study. (Personal note: Discipline is agrarian, not microwavable. You plant now and harvest later. You have to sacrifice. The pay off comes after the pain.)

Rule #3: Know the Culture

• People in the industry will talk in short hand. You need to know history. If someone says, “Real Steel is Rocky meets Transformers,” you need to know what that means.
• Everyone says “No” in Hollywood. You have to persevere. You have to do what it take to move the needle from “No” to “Yes.” Breakdown every reason someone might say “No.”
• Alpha achievers…decision makers in Hollywood have egos. Be sure to let them talk about themselves.
• Don’t be difficult to work with.
• Don’t think a studio will be around for ever. He cited Tom Sito who said, “Every studio is 2 flops away from being out of business.” Most places have a shelf life.
• Don’t miss deadlines! “If you deliver, you will start separating yourself from your peers. If you say you’re going to do something and do it, you will start to separate. Drive and ambition are the gifts you give yourself.”

Rule #4: You Must Have Skills That Are In Demand

• Go to school. The national unemployment rate is around 10% but for those with a college degree it is only 5%.
• Constantly be a student of your field. Reinvent yourself every 3-5 years. “In five years time, if you’re doing the same job you were doing five years previously you are on the road to extinction.”
• “If the ship is sinking, bail out. This is not the Navy.” Find relevant skills.
• “Only 6 of 30 films (Transformers, Hangover, FastFive, Cars 2, Kung Fu Panda 2 and SpyKids 4) last summer were seen by more people under 25, than over 25. That’s a monumental shift. For years movies were made for 14-22 year olds.”
• The movie industry seems to be leveling or even declining. Age demographics show movies core demo (14-22) moving from cinema to gaming for their entertainment. Gaming is becoming more narrative because of this. Call of Duty 3 made $850 million in 1 week. This is unprecedented.
• There’s a bigger market for animators now than at any other time. He predicts the bulk of the work will be CG (because of the combination of CG films and games.)
• He saw the 2D decline at Disney after Lion King. After working as a director on Prince of Egypt he went to work for Aardman to have something additional to 2D on his resume, then he storyboarded on SharkTale to break into CG.
• “Be the canary in the mine shaft. Watch what’s going on in the biz.”
• Steve also hit on the current state of the economy (as did the CAO workshop leaders [link to previous post]). He only worked 10 weeks in 1982 after the recession of 1981 created a 10% unemployment rate in California. He mentioned that (at the time of the CTNx 2011 workshop) the unemployment rate in California was at 12%.

Rule #5: Follow Opportunity, Not Money

• Work hard and bide your time. Wait for the right opportunity. I built my whole career this way.
• I would work hard then ask for an opportunity, even if it had less pay. The opportunity is more important than the pay.
• Surround yourself with the best people you can find.
• Take opportunities where you are the “last chair in the band” (referring to his high school days trying out for the school band) so you have plenty of others to learn from. If you have a choice between being the top guy in the “B” band and the bottom guy in the “A” band, pick the latter.

I really enjoyed this workshop from Steve Hickner. One of the things I love about CTNx is that you get to hear a variety of perspectives from different artists and industry veterans. The key things they all have in common are a love for their craft and a determination to persevere and succeed regardless of any barriers to entry. I’m thankful that they choose to give back by sharing their wealth of knowledge and experience!

Timbuktoons won bronze at the 33rd Annual Telly Awards for work on a series of "how-to" webisodes.

The Telly Awards has named Timbuktoons as a Bronze winner in the 33rd Annual Telly Awards for their piece titled Superhero “How-To” Webisodes.

With nearly 11,000 entries from all 50 states and numerous countries, this is truly an honor.

Timbuktoons helped develop a series concept of fun animated “how-to” videos to help encourage, inspire and train officials on new reporting procedures for helping former military in their educational endeavors.

Timbuktoons worked on the concept and visual development, scripts, art direction, character design, and final animation.

The Telly Awards was founded in 1979 and is the premier award honoring outstanding local, regional, and cable TV commercials and programs, the finest video and film productions, and online commercials, video and films.

Winners represent the best work of the most respected advertising agencies, production companies, television stations, cable operators, and corporate video departments in the world.

A prestigious judging panel of over 500 accomplished industry professionals, each a past winner of a Silver Telly and a member of The Silver Telly Council, judged the competition, upholding the historical standard of excellence that Telly represents.

“The Telly Awards has a mission to honor the very best in film and video,” said Linda Day, Executive Director of the Telly Awards.  “Timbuktoons’ accomplishment illustrates their creativity, skill, and dedication to their craft and serves as a testament to great film and video production.”

“We’re excited that our hard work was recognized as award worthy by industry pros among such an amazing group of creatives who entered this year,” said Todd Hampson, Chief Artistic Officer of Timbuktoons.

“It encourages us to keep doing what we do with excellence and it validates our clients’ efforts,” said Sean Copley, Creative Director.

For more information about this and other animation and illustration projects Timbuktoons has worked on, visit www.timbuktoons.com.

About Timbuktoons
Timbuktoons is a leading pre-production and 2D animation cloud based studio with customers all over the world. Founded in 2003 by animator and illustrator Todd Hampson, they specialize in creating family-friendly media for the broadcast, education and gaming industries.

Client, Project: Graebel, art direction, multiple character design, ink and paint

Description: Graebel is the leader in relocation and moving services worldwide. When a major client asked Graebel to storyboard the best possible moving service, Timbuktoons was chosen to develop a series of presentation panels to illustrate the Graebel high-touch customer service that’s matched with its cutting edge technology.

We approached the quick-turnaround (weekend) project the same way we handle storyboards for animation or production boards for film. The Graebel team wrote the script and Timbuktoons illustrated the character design and backgrounds for each panel. The panels were then printed in large format by Graebel and were met with ‘applause’ following the team’s successful presentation.

The Mac Lack Hack is made from the access panel of a 2006 Quad Core G5 and a Black Brown Ikea Lack Side table.

I’m always on the lookout for creative ways to repurpose old Mac gear.

When our old quad core G5 workhorse breathed it’s last breath I decided to craft a project that combined two of my favorite things: Apple and IKEA.

Since in middle school I’ve drooled over the IKEA catalog and dogeared countless pages of their offerings of modern style for the every day consumer.

Their popular Lack furniture lineup is the epitome of minimalism- in aesthetics, function and (of course) cost. I chose to start with the Lack Side table because it would frame the G5 inlay nicely…plus at $9.99 it was a low risk option if met with a runaway Rotozip.

Below are details and notes about the Mac Lack Hack:

1. To prep the G5 piece I took off the side access panel, unscrewed the part attached to the back and had a friend with the right tools to cut off the bottom lip to match the other edges.
2. Then I used a grinder to take off the leftover screw holes.
3. I centered the access panel on the top of the Lack table and marked the lines.
4. Then I cut the marked panel out of the Lack table. Note: I used a Rotozip with the depth adjusted as little as possible for a shallow cut. I knew what was inside the table thanks to WIRED and National Geographic but was not expecting the sides to be solid particle board. Because the G5 is rectangular, the sides extended into the reinforced areas of the table.
5. The Rotozip couldn’t handle cutting the side so we switched to a Router with a straight bit set at a shallow depth. The nice thing about that was it left two ledges for gluing the G5 panel onto. The G5 panel is the same thickness as the Lack’s veneer so the honeycomb still worked well for supporting the inlay.