I was asked to create projected backgrounds for a local MLK celebration this year. My favorite was a photo that I animated to screen behind a live reading of Dr. Martin Luther King’s final sermon: “The Drum Major Instinct” .
I hadn’t heard of it before and trully fell in love with its message of living life for others and helping each other. So I decided to take an audio excerpt and create the following. Enjoy!
Sophya
Hi Folks!
Last week was a whirlwind of animation goodness for me. As some of you know, the NW Animation Festival is now the LARGEST animation festival in the United States. With over 1300 accepted entries- it spanned an entire week. I have been both a Juror and a volunteer for this fest over the last few years, and this year I had the added bonus of being a selected film maker.
Drip, Drip, Drop was accepted just a couple months ago, and this little fact let me see a whole new side of the fest. I personally was handing out programs with a piece I directed inside. During the first screening of the entire festival, my favorite memory happened. No it wasn’t being there as the lights came up and strangers watched the piece unfold on a big screen. It wasn’t even the clapping of enjoyment that happened right after. It was right when the story ended and my logo was there on screen- a little kid, all the way in the front, broke the silence and said “Artful Raven!” joyfully.
I have never been prouder.
The festival week continued with great screening collections like the best of the SIGGRAPH Computer animation festival, and Oregon Industry night. The later of which had a follow-up presentation from Rob Shaw, One of the most entertaining Directors from the local animation company BENT Image Labs.
The weekend brought with it the international blocks of films, including the lovely 2014 Academy Award® nomination for Best Animated Feature Film- Song of the Sea. The evening were packed with local meet-ups and chatter- all leading to the final day.
Sunday began with the Animators talk back panel to which I was invited. I’ve never been on a panel before and certainly never answered questions along side veteran folks like Joanna Priestley or Temris Ridge. I was nervous and excited and all those feels you have on Christmas morning as a kid. It went really well:
I learned what inspired many of my peers, why we do what we do and how much this really is a calling. Sven did a great job of balancing audience questions with panel questions and keeping us focused and on track.
The rest of the day was spent taking in the last of the international screenings, watching Strange and Sexy tales, and enjoying the winding down of the busiest week I’ve been a part of in a long time.
Sven and Gretchin spend more energy, time, and sanity year-in and year-out bringing this festival to life. It’s because of folks like them Independent animation has venues and opportunity to continue sharing stories throughout the world. It’s that sharing and exposure that keeps people coming, people expressing, people learning to broaden their horizons.
I look forward to continuing to be a part of it for many years to come.
Sophya
Drip, Drip, Drop, Artful Raven’s 2014 Exquisite Corpse animation was accepted for screening at this years Northwest Animation Festival!
It is screening Monday Night, May 4th in the Northwest animation showcase Block. I’ve been invited to talk about it on stage at Sunday’s (May 10th) “Meet the Animators” Panel. It would be wonderful to see folks there.
Here are ticket and event details: http://www.nwanimationfest.com/
Hi Folks,
January’s challenge was SPACE. It was a topic I love playing with and we ended up with two wonderful snippets done by Myself and Levi Schmidt! You can watch them both here.
I decided to take a more focused path for the rest of these, so the rest of the project the topics will be: THE 12 PRINCIPLES OF ANIMATION! These will be a great practice for anyone who joins in with me 🙂
To start us off, February is that wonderful foundation of SQUASH and STRETCH.
For those just joining in- The Trigger Experiment is a monthly animation prompt series for 2015 curated by Artful Raven Studio.
The rules are simple:
1) If you wish to participate please send an email to Contact@aravenstudio.com
2) You must share at least 1 WIP post, be it FB, instagram, Twitter or Google +. Be sure to tag it with#TriggerExperiment2015
3) The final pieces are 4-8 seconds long and either .mov or .mp4 format sent to the email above (that’s it!)
Any animation medium, any style, teams or solo- it all works! Prompts are random, and announced here at the start of every month. They are due midnight the last day of the month.
Lets get going!
-Sophya
One resolution of mine is to be more playful and share more of my work this year. As some of my favorite experiences have been making works with my community. I decided to combine the two, and I’m happy to announce a new monthly project! I hope you’ll join me
The Trigger Experiment is a monthly animation prompt series for 2015. The rules are simple:
1) If you wish to participate please send an email to Contact@aravenstudio.com
2) You must share at least 1 WIP post, be it FB, instagram, Twitter or Google +. Be sure to tag it with#TriggerExperiment2015
3) The final pieces are 4-8 seconds long and either .mov or .mp4 format sent to the email above (that’s it!)
Any animation medium, any style, teams or solo- it all works! Prompts are random, and announced here on the 1st of every month. They are due midnight the last day of the month.
You are welcome to do one, or all, or if you want to suggest a prompt feel free to! Any entries sent to me will be put together and shared (with full credits) here by the 15th of each month.
Use the prompts to play, experiment or hone a skill you need practice in. No stress, just freedom to play and share.
SO ARE YOU READY?!
The January 2015 TRIGGER Experiment Prompt is: SPACE!
See you in a month!
Sophya
This years Collab project took a while to sort out, but one the ball got rolling it became UNSTOPPABLE. It was harder for me as the poem was a more personal one, but the trust I had in everyone to deliver as much as I put in certainly paid off. Once again, I’m blown away by everyone’s creativity and willingness to just play.
Special Shout out to Jon Clay- he stepped in after the first musician was unable to proceed and delivered a wonderful score.
So without further ado, here is Artful Raven Studio’s Second Annual Collaborative project- Drip, Drip, Drop:
Click here for the full project page on our site.
Thanks for reading,
Sophya
Hi Everyone-
The site has just undergone it’s first major update since I started it- Almost two years! There are more projects to post, but I hope you enjoy the new format. Please let me know if you have any thought or feedback.
This post will be followed by the announcement of this year’s completed Exquisite Corpse, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
Sophya
Hey Folks,
It has been a bit- I apologize for the delay. A lot of changes have happened in the last couple months and they are finally sorting out. I’m finally in a spot to make Artful Raven a priority once again. There will be regualar posting about our current project (and More!) starting this weekend. I hope you have all been well- I look forward to continuing this journey.
Sophya
In an effort to make sure I share more about the goings on here, I decided to update when other non-animation focused work gets done too. I was able to help out Rob Hatch and The Portland 48 Hour File Festival with an ad design for their 2014 entry in the Oregon Production Directory. Here is the final piece:
If you are interested in the full details, you can find them here on the project’s page.
It was a great experience and the fastest turn around I’ve had in a long time- 3 days! Hope you like it as much as I do.
Sophya
Artful Raven Studio 