Seine of Paris

From my older sketchbook, while on final stages of my two animated films this year. Deep breath. 

Theater of the Absurd

Inspired by Eugene Ionesco's "Exit the King", an improvisational play took place and time at CalArts's video studio last week. One of the side ideas of the improvisation was to carry it at a moderate tempo to accommodate sketching animators! ...Amazing actors, lights, cameras, and Masha Vasilkovsky - the organizer!

 

Japan

Japan has been struck today by what is now thought most powerful earthquake since records began, triggering a massive tsunami. I found in me this image with one of my characters. ...caring. 

School Girl

This is a traditional animation exercise from a CalArts' advanced Character Animation class taught by Ted Ty. The character was given, and all I had to do - animate! This is from last Fall's semester, while these days new shorts of Oah & Harlam Episodes are on the way! 

Home Alone

This is a short animation I did last Fall for Drawn Techniques class with Maureen Selwood. The task was to show a fall of a chair. 

Film Festival.

RE: "Of Giants"

"Your work was selected for this years' program and was consequently screened at the festival. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for taking part in the Animex Awards".

These are some still frames from "Of Giants". The festival took place in Middlesbrough, UK, from 7th to 11th of February, and I am here, in California, working on another three shorts of "Oah & Harlam Episodes". Not to complain about being in California! Nor about working on new episodes! But I never attended a film festival! 

Los Angeles Zoo, painting with Deborah Ross.

Today was a fortune. I painted with Deborah Ross, one of America's leading wildlife artist. Ross is a faculty of the School of Visual Arts in New York and also teaches workshops in animal drawing and movement at Dreamworks, Pixar, and Walt Disney Feature Animations. 

“I work in watercolor because of the speed, mobility and emotional richness of the medium. My technique derives from the oriental school of painting. A broad sweep of color applied with the full body of the brush lays down the overall gesture. I then use the fine tip of the brush for a telling detail – the arch of a wrist or angle of brow line - to set and ground .the pose. All of this must be done quickly, for I only work from life. Once the moment is past, I stop.  My ambition is a portrayal of the essence of a subject distilled during the moments of observation. This “genii loci” (spirit of the place) is severely depleted and often lost when an animal is displaced from it true habitat.” - Deborah Ross 

Robert, my friend.

Taking breaks between film work and putting some care into this blog keeps me happy and sane! 

Wait Mama...

Since working on a new film these days, I am going through some of my old work and finding interesting pieces. This drawing came spontaneously, while sitting by my old desk at my parents' house, with yellow lamp light, using the leftover ink from my childhood. That was during my visit to Lithuania in 2001.

One Boy's Horse and Meeting Norstein.

Found this old sketch of mine while looking for inspiration. This was an early stage of development for "Tomorrow", my short film from 2009, where I had an attempt to show a child's sense of beauty amid devastation of war. 


A year and a half after the production was over, I met a person to whom I am grateful for the biggest inspiration starting from my early age. Yuriy Borisovitch Norstein, an author of "Tale of Tales" and "Hedgehog in the Fog" - my favorite films of all times. On the last day of our meeting I looked through my art with a hope to find something that has a soul, that has no touch of digital, something that I drew with a free mind, and stopped at this sketch. Next, it was framed with brown tape at the back and soon traveled to Moscow! 

Animation.

Full-time film work! Oah & Harlam Episodes, my friends. 

At first glance the stories about two weirdoes Oah and Harlam may appear as senseless. But when there is an overflow of senselessness, then appears deep philosophy.

These stories are not just shorts that I wrote, they are a worldview, answers to some questions of reality, grotesque simplicity of which seems to be surreal. In this project bits of life situations, thoughts, and actions are applied to animation, music, and a spoken word. There is a need to write fairytales for grownups, to write almost impossible stories, because when we seriously begin to talk about important and intimate things in live, most of us cannot take it. 


The image above is an animation pencil test from "Of Care", the new episode I am working on right now. And so, Harlam is walking. 

Studio Time.

Recording session for the next three episodes of Oah & Harlam series! Still looking for a narrator. 

Screening with Live Music!

Oah & Harlam Episodes were screened during Yoon Lee's concert at Wild Beast Concert Hall at CalArts. We screened the episodes scored by Yoon as well as Laurent Ziliani and Thomas Parisch, film scoring composers I collaborated with. It was a unique experience, something that we wish to do again with more episodes that are coming to life this very moment! 

Lifedrawing.

Painting.

Two Candles, oil on board, 9'' x 12''

My Room.

Found this drawing from my BFA-2 layout class with Dan Hansen at CalArts. The concept of this is showing my room at the time when I was a kid.

Searching.

People who say they don't need inspiration, are inspired all the time without knowing it... Just thought of it, while searching, searching... 

Guardian Angel.

This is a pick from my Life Drawing session with two models, something that I do between film and painting. Many ideas are coming out from these spontaneous drawing sessions. 

Concert Invitation.

This is a poster I created for Yoon Lee's recital that is coming soon! December 9th, Wild Beast Concert Hall at CalArts, at 8 PM.  Pieces of Yoon's and other composers will be performed at the concert by Yoon and with some great guest musicians joining in, playing classical and folk/jazz, improvisations, etc. Also, three films from my "Oah & Harlam Episodes" will be screened at the recital. Some solo parts from the films' final mix will be extracted and played live. We never did it before, it is going to be an experience! You are warmly invited. 

Winter Light.

I painted this in two years. Started it one winter, and painted for about two hours. Then I took a year to think and completed it next winter in another two hours. It would not be possible for me to come to this result in that first year. 

Winter Light, oil on board 8'' x 10''