Dilemma Premiere!

I'll be making my film public very very soon! So soon you won't even believe it! Here's some boards and final screenshots of them to whet your appetite!

Cuphead @ Gamescom

Forgot to post this here! But here's some sweet new gameplay footage of Cuphead from Gamescom with an interview with Maja Moldenhauer! Some clean up work I did can be seen during the mermaid level, specifically the water fx around her waist and the coloured fish she holds to shoot projectiles! Super cool to see it put together!

Cuphead comes out September 29!

My Big Sister

This will be more personal than usual but this is important to me. I'll make it brief.

Yesterday I had to say goodbye to my sister, my best friend, my role model, and my inspiration. My older sister Marie had passed away unexpectedly while on vacation in Cuba late May. She was finally laid to rest yesterday.

My sister (who I called Ate [ah-teh]) was the one that inspired me to do art. When I was younger I was extremely jealous of her ability to draw and be creative. I wanted to be like her. She made me interested in art and without her I wouldn't be the creative person I am today. I will always remember the times when we were younger and we would draw short comic strips together. 

I was lucky enough to watch the Family Day screenings of my year's thesis films with just her. I won't ever forget how happy, excited, and proud she was of me achieving my dream of becoming an animator after seeing my film. Her tears of joy meant a lot to me. I feel content knowing she had the opportunity to see what I've accomplished so far and be proud of me.

I'll be doing big things very soon and experiencing it without her will not be the same.

I'll make you even more proud Ate, you just wait.

Rest in peace and say hi to Mama for me.

Thanks for the wonderful memories, love, support, and overall being a great sister.

I will always love you. 

-Marco

Titmouse Inc.

I will be moving to Vancouver tomorrow to work at Titmouse as an animator! I'm super excited to start and move out for the first time to the other side of the country! This will be the start of an adventure! Wish me luck!

Cuphead Release Date - September 29

This week during E3, Cuphead, the game that I worked on 2 summers ago, finally got a release date! YAAY! Super excited to play the final product! Worked on just a few of of the levels that are in this trailer and it's amazing to see some levels in the final stages that I saw only in early stages of development while I was there! 

Get excited! Pre - order it now on Xbox One and Windows 10. Also available on Steam!

Microsoft Store

Steam Page

Cuphead Website

Studio MDHR Website

I Graduated!

Sorry for the lack of posts that I said I would do, unfortunately something had unexpectedly come up that I'll be writing about soon.

Apart from that, last week on June 6th I had finally graduated from cartoon school! What a long journey it's been since I first attempted to get into the program in 2011 starting with Art Fundies at Sheridan. I can't believe that it's over and I can't believe I managed to get into my dream school since I was a kid and finish it off with a bang with my thesis film! It was a wonderful, life-changing experience and I'm glad to have worked and graduated alongside those in my year. They helped me get through these four years and I wouldn't have managed to do it without them.

Here's just a few pics, I don't want to overcrowd this post:

My brother and I :)

Time to update all my profiles now as a Sheridan Animation graduate!

Industry Day + Post Industry Day

PHEW!

It's been 3 weeks since Industry Day and only now does it feel like it's dying down. Let me sum up that day: IT WAS WILD. INSANE. I was super nervous before it but felt prepared, but as it was happening it was unexpected! I wasn't prepared as to what occurred that day and it was probably the highlight of my time in the animation program and one of the greatest days I've ever experienced. The hard work I put getting into the program as well as the hard work that I did during it really paid off, and it felt great that day to be recognized for it. 

Here's some pics and a rundown of what happened that day! I wish I took more but I was super overwhelmed!

Here are some pics of setting up with Sarah Kieley posing in the middle.

 My station and me standing awkwardly next to it!

So after setting up super early (I wanted to make sure nothing went wrong), it was a long wait until industry day reps would come to the floor. Waiting during the time they were watching our films was nerve wracking. You knew they were in the theatre, you knew they judging them, and you knew when it was going to finish. There were some industry reps already making the rounds before the films were even done! I couldn't stop fidgeting around with my business cards and anything that I had in hand.

After panicking for some time with my friends around me one by one industry reps started to swarm onto the floor. After that moment everything was one big blur. One after another an industry person would come to my booth and talk. I received so many compliments on my film and even from people who were in 3D companies or weren't recruiting for an animator. They would just drop by (or in the case of one person slowly inch towards my booth while watching my film on my monitor), and say how much they absolutely loved my film and the animation. Lots of people caught on to what I was going for in the film and it just felt really great to have people appreciate and understand what I was going for with it!

More and more people would come by booth, I had very little downtime during it all. I loved how some were so enthusiastic about my film, expressing so much interest in the film itself and pulling other people they knew towards my booth to check it out again. The recognition was too much and I did not anticipate it at all. It felt absolutely wonderful to have your skills validated by current professionals in the field. 

To any industry people that were there, went by my booth, and are reading this, thank you so much for expressing interest in me. It meant a lot.

After the whole gigantic swarm of industry reps going to people's booths and talking business, then came the awards! And I was lucky enough to receive 2 of them that night! Another thing I did not expect! The first award I received was the Mercury Filmworks: Triple Thread Award for Story, Design, and Best Overall Animation presented by Jerry Popowich of Mercury Filmworks. I took a screenshot of my friend snapchatting it haha:

And the second award I received was the HP People's Choice Award! In which the industry people voted on their favourite film! I had a ton of people coming by my booth saying they loved my film and voted for it but I was amazed when this happened! There were a ton of other amazing films from my year and I was surprised! Nonetheless I am very very grateful of receiving this award and thankful to all those that voted for my film. Again, if any of you are reading this, thank you.

And here's a pic stolen from Ali Kellner of a selfie we took with Jim Caswell! One of the coolest teachers I've ever had!

And that was just DAY 1 of industry day. That night I couldn't sleep, I was floating and walking on air. As happy as I was that night I was nervous about the following day. That night they made a lists for people who were scheduled to have interviews the next day. Usually that interview day is for studios that aren't local to conduct interviews for students at the school. After that reception from industry day, I had a feeling I'd be listed a few times. What I didn't anticipate was that I was scheduled to have 8 interviews that day. From morning to late afternoon all I had were interviews. I think I had only an hour break at one point. It was a lot to take in and it was such a great learning experience. 

Throughout industry day and interview day, I met so many amazing people. Everyone was super nice and super cool! It was such fun to get to speak with so many of them and I managed to make some friends during that day! It was a wonderful one of a kind experience. 4 years culminated into those 2 days and I'd say it was worth it, personally. I can't speak for everyone else but my experience that day was a great success. 

***

This is a tad personal but putting it on this blog anyway!

After my last interview I literally had animation prom right after! I had a short 1 hour break between my last interview and prom. It was a fun party that some of my peers put together. It was a great night and a wonderful last party I got to spend with the greatest, nicest, and friendliest people I had the opportunity to spend 4 years with. The thing I loved the most about my program was the people in it. My year in particular got along with each other so well, I could jump between friend groups and still feel welcome. I'm glad I got to experience animation with this lovely bunch, I couldn't have asked for a better group of friends.Thanks for the 4 years :)

A quick Kaleidoscope Studios photobooth reunion:

***

I will be posting details of what I'll be up to within the next few days! Maybe tomorrow? I'll see. But big news so stay tuned! I'll also be posting Dilemma related content soon! I've got tons of artwork I made in pre production to still post!