Monday, November 28, 2011

Brad Graeber, one of the founders of Powerhouse, was interviewed by Animation Careers.  There are many interviews on the site by many folks at various animation studios:

http://www.animationcareerreview.com/articles/brad-graeber-co-founder-powerhouse-animation-believes-staff-pivotal-their-success

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Wizard World Austin!

Austin's very own version of Comic Con was in town last weekend, and the gang from Powerhouse was able to make an appearance! Several of our animators made their way over to Wizard World to enjoy the festivities and represent the animation studio.

Stephanie and Willis reppin' Powerhouse at our booth

Sam Lotfi talking to a fan in Artists Alley

Our very own Chris Beaver was there to showcase his talents as well

Aaron Romo taught a group of future animators on Sunday! Here he is demonstrating Mickey Mouse...


There were some celebrities attending the class.  For instance there was a tiny Princess Leia...

and a tiny (but very fierce) Bat...something...?

Thanks to everyone at Powerhouse that made it out to the event! It was a blast!

CTN Animation Expo

Brad and Rachel were in Burbank this weekend representing Powerhouse Animation at the CTN Animation Expo!

Our first stop upon arrival in California was to visit fellow 2d animation studio, Titmouse, Inc! (they make cartoons).


One of my friends and ex-coworkers from Borders in Tucson, Nico Colaleo, is now an animator there! He was nice enough to show us around the studio. Thanks, Nico! If you aren't familiar with his work, check it out... he's amazing!

Brad and I posing with the rock 'n roll Bigfoot at Titmouse

We got our booth set up on the CTN Expo floor and are ready to talk toons for the next 3 days!

There were tons of amazing artists in attendance at the convention, including long time friend of the studio (and animation legend), Stephen Silver. Stephen let us follow him around for much of the weekend while we were in awe of his artistic genius.

Here I am with the very handsome and talented Ryan Benjamin, another incredible artist. Ryan also worked as a Powerhouse freelancer on our SOE DC Universe Online motion comics!

The incredible Kris Pearn talks to adoring fans and spreads his Canadian charm at his booth. Kris was nice enough to make a visit to Powerhouse back in June for a storyboarding workshop and we are still amazed by his talent and generosity.

Ryan Benjamin promoting his latest edition of Pancratia

Rod Guen was there too!

We also got the chance to meet the very talented Mike Yamada and his beautiful (and equally talented) wife Victoria Ying!

At the end of Day 3 we donated our Epic Mickey sign to a very excited fan who was working the Cal Arts booth. I hope she treasures this forever.

And now, several photos of french fries and beer...


Thursday, November 17, 2011

Effects Animator Kevin O'Neil visits the studio


Animator Kevin O'Neil (Hercules, Mulan, Iron Giant, etc) came for a visit last week, and was pressed into service to give a talk about traditional effects animation. He's pictured here with most of the crew. That's him just left of center, in the black and white shirt.

Friday, November 11, 2011

A MoCap Note from George W.

Our good friends at Motus Digital in Dallas have been experimenting with some very impressive real-time animation technology and we have been blown away by their success. We had the great fortune of sharing a booth with them a few weeks ago at GDC Online and got to see the public reaction to their amazing motion capture abilities first hand.

To make things even more awesome, they recorded a personal note for us from their studio!! Check this out and share in the fascination of everything that is Motus.


A very special shout out to Motus' very own Webb Henderson who does a spectacular George W. impression. Well played, Webster.