Friday, March 25, 2011

Kontakto

Here I am featured on the cover of the latest Kontakto, one of the most popular magazines in Esperanto, distributed in approximately 90 different countries.  The interview, luxuriously illustrated with sketches, movie stills, and photographs, spans multiple pages.



Jen mi sur la kovrilo de la lastatempa Kontakto!  Tra pluraj paĝoj de la revuo, oni povas legi detalan intervjuon, lukse ilustritan per skizoj, bildoj, kaj fotoj.  Legu la novan numeron hodiaŭ!



Simmon Keith Barney is an animator living in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Examiner.com

I was recently interviewed by a reporter for Fort Collins Places & Faces. She asked me about animation, film school, filmmaking, and my animated short, Ĉapeloj. You can read the interview in all its stuttering, rambling glory on Examiner.com:




http://www.examiner.com/places-faces-in-fort-collins/simmon-keith-barney-fort-collins-animator


Intervjuo (en la angla) ĵus aperis ĉe la retgazeto Examiner.com. Espereble, en miaj venontaj intervjuoj, mi respondos demandojn iom pli glate.


Simmon Keith Barney is an animator living, as you may have guessed, in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Animators @ Walnut St. Gallery

A few years ago I had the pleasure of meeting animator Ron Campbell at the local Walnut Street Gallery. As I had not yet left for film school, I had a million unformed questions I wanted to asked him, yet most of them would not take shape. I watched in awe as he doodled the Saturday Morning Beatles with the ease and confidence of someone who has drawn the same character tens of thousands of times. All I could think to ask him was what advice he could give a budding animator. This is what he said:

"Learn to do it with computers. And learn to draw; go to art school."

He went on to say he had worked with a lot of famous animators over the years, and many of them "couldn't draw for shit." In hindsight, I might have struggled less learning animation if I had taken his advice to really learn to draw before attending film school.  Seeing how many of my classmates worked, it became apparent that a fine arts degree would have made a better foundation than I had.

Last night, at the same gallery, I was pleased to meet Todd White, former character designer for Spongebob Squarepants.  Among his paintings he had one or two sculptures that reminded me of maquettes that are sometimes used by traditional animators to supplement the model sheet.

When I told Todd that I had recently graduated from Vancouver Film School and was trying to start a career in animation, I could tell part of him wanted to warn me to steer clear of the industry entirely. Instead, he bit his tongue and simply reminded me that it's extremely competitive field. Then he said (more or less):

"But hey, you gotta do what you love, right?"




Simmon Keith Barney is an animator living in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Usona Esperantisto

Ĉapeloj made the front cover of this month's American Esperantist. It's a small article, but the cover looks great. Click for a close-up:


Ĉapeloj regas la kovrilon de la nova numero de Usona Esperantisto. Por detale vidi la kovrilon kaj legi la anoncon, klaku sur la foto supra.


Simmon Keith Barney is an animator living in Fort Collins, Colorado.