Baton Rougean

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Grappling Hook

Today starts something kinda new for the BTR Toons. I’m playing around with some ideas and different illustration styles. Over the next few weeks The BTR Toons will be an on going story about our Red Stick Avenger. I’d love to make the updates more than just once a week, but I doubt I could keep that going for too long.

I’m also conspiring with Logan about a BTR Toons Print Giveaway but we’ll let ya know more about that once we figure out how we’re gonna do the giveaway. Have a great week, and feel free to comment on the new comics, or if you have any requests or ideas for future BTR Toons, shout em out!

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Grappling Hook

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Shaw Super Hero

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[Editor's note: My hard drive crashed on me yesterday, so that's why we haven't updated in the past few days. I've got a temporary workstation until Apple gets my computer back, so I'll be updating albeit less frequently and more sporadically. Thanks for your patience.]

Memorial Day

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Logan actually did this the other night in a Halo match. Also, I don't ever want to draw a Mongoose again.

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By the way, we play Halo pretty often, so if you’re ever on, his us up. Gamertags: Logan—ustopablefury; Ethan—WALLY WAFFLE.

Jindal Trek

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Raising Cane's

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The Red Stick International Animation Festival wrapped up last week. It was a great event, and we’re so lucky to have this kind of thing in Baton Rouge.

Held at the Shaw Center, Red Stick is a four-day event that brings talented professionals from the animation, video game and film industry to our great capital city.

One of the biggest events for me was the portfolio review held by Disney representatives. I had the honor of meeting Max Howard, a fascinating man who worked on “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” and “The Iron Giant.” Disney also treated the festival with an exclusive preview of their next animated film, “The Princess and the Frog”. This new film is so special because it will be Disney’s first hand drawn 2d film in nine years.

The Red Stick festival also offered many fun and interesting workshops. Among the many workshops, attendees could learn how to do stop motion animation, draw dinosaurs, learn the intricacies of drawing animal anatomy, even do motion capture for video games. I attended workshops dedicated to character design and advanced inking techniques. The Baton Rouge Cartoonist Society was at the festival in full force. They held two workshops, as well as providing children with coloring books, which the BRCS did the artwork for.

I sat in several lectures, one of which was titled The Biology of “Bolt”. Stuart Sumida, a professor of biology for California State University –San Bernardino explained how he consulted with Disney on their 2008 CG film “Bolt”. Sumida showed us how he created skeletal structures and musculature for the film’s animal stars. He explained how the origins of Bolt lead to technical issues with the characters elbows and knees. He even showed us diagrams he created for the animators to show which paw would fall when on quadruped animals during a walk, trot and a gallop. Of all the lectures I attended during the festival, this one was the most interesting!

Red Stick is an amazing event, and I’m so grateful we have this event in our own backyard. It is a great opportunity to meet and network with industry professionals and other folks just trying to get into the business. At Red Stick, there’s an aura of excitement that you can feel right as you come through the door. Everyone there is there to celebrate animation and the great things it can do. I’m going back next year; I hope to see you there.

Old State Capitol

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