FILM FLIRT

The zoobe film flirt Edition is out now!
http://www.facebook.com/zoobe

It's the most eleborate edition I worked on for zoobe so far.

Animago

My two favourite buddies won the animago award 2011 for best student film. Thank you!

ZOOBE

Obviously I havn't been updating my blog since I'm busy with a major project for several months now.
It's a new messaging system called "Zoobe", that let's you create your own little film.
Choose a character, choose a background and give it your voice!
It'll look like this

This clip was created with the "Zoobecalypse Now" edition.
Check it out here:
http://www.facebook.com/zoobe

And the winner is...

Chump & Clump won at these festivals:

2008
Matita Film Festival
3. Prize
Chiete, Italy

2008
The Accolade Competition
Award of Merit: animation
La Jolla, U S A

2009
IN THE PALACE International Short Film Festival
Best Student Film
Sofia, Bulgaria

2009
FEST - International Film Festival Portugal
Best academic work
Espinho, Portugal

2009
ReelHeART Internatinal film festival
Best animated film
Toronto, Canada

2009
KLIK amsterdam animation festival
Best student film
Amsterdam, The Netherlands

2009
FIKE 2009 - 8th Évora International Short Film Festival
Best Animation
Don Quijote Award
Évora, Portugal

2009
The 7th International Festival of Animation Arts
Special mention for the wittiest animation
St.Petersburg, Russia

2010
NEXT REEL FILM FESTIVAL 2010
Best Animation Award
Singapur

Chump & Clump at the festivals

Since the two year run of "Chump & Clump" at the various film festivals of the world now comes to an end, I'd like to take a look back at the great times Michael and I had with film.
A big thank you to all the people who supported "Chump & Clump" and the nice jurys, who invited the film (and often also us) to their festivals and sometimes even awarded a us with a prize. :)

It all started as good as it can get, when "Chump & Clump" got nominated for Siggraph 2008 Jury Award along with "Our wonderful nature" from our buddies Dennis Rettkowski and Tomer Eshed.

So it was off to Los Angeles for the four us ( And the brilliant composer of "Our wonderful nature", Stefan Schneider. Seen here in the front) . But first we got stuck in Denver.

Here we had our world premiere at the Nokia theatre.

Dennis and Tomer were also invited to give a talk at the Pixar booth

As a special treat for the attendees of the conference, we got cards for a baseball game. That was the first time I sensed minor cultural differences between people from the US and from Europe.
Basically nothing happens in that game, most of it is strikes and players standing around.
Our bus driver told me, that people just go there to get drunk. Can't blame them.

Our last day at the Santa Monica Beach. That evening really had something magical to it.

Here we attended the Trickfilmfestival Stuttgart.
The festivals programm was a bit artsy, but I still can agree on the winning films.
On the other hand they had a great party every night of the week, so it was totally worth it.

At the filmfest Munich 2008 we didn't win the Animation Award, but "Chump & Clump" built up a fanbase with the other directors and therefore they awarded us with the "Winner of the hearts"-Award. Thank you guys! :)

These are pictures from the Giffoni Festival in Italy. It's a big film festival for kids and youths and holds a special place in heart. I never had more fun at a film festival or met a crazier crowd than there. This was Oooon!

These pics are from the Era New Horizons 2009 festival in Poland. I really liked it, because they had a great side programm and scenery to offer. Set in the beautiful city of Breslau we spent most of the time exploring the city, instead of watching films.

Pics of Michael and me enjoying various delicious beverages in Breslau.

Wow, that is quiet a longish post. A few weeks ago Michael flew to Singapur to the Next Reel 2010 festival. Unfortunatly I couldn't come, but we won the "Best Animation" there. Thank you.

Anyway, thanks again to all the film festivals that screened "Chump& Clump". I wish I could have visited all of them. But with nearly forty festivals that just isn't possible ( You can find the complete festival list on www.chumpandclump.com)

Chump & Clump development stuff

Here's some old development material from 2007.
I still like the color key. During the production,
Michael and I had a discussion about applying
a paper cut look to the film instead of cg shading,
because of this small illustration.

Watch Chump and Clump online

If you don't have the chance, to watch the film at a
film festival on the big screen, here's the second best
solution.

http://www.3min.de/831/21/2/Short-Films-Chump-and-Clump

Chump & Clump upcoming screenings

If you're anywhere near there, go check it out!

KLIK amsterdam animation festival

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

September 2009

CAPALBIO CINEMA
International Shortfilm Festival

Capalbio, Italy

October 2009

ANIMA - Córdoba International Animation Festival

Córdoba, Argentina

October 2009

CINANIMA 2009

Espinho, Portugal

November 2009

35th FESTIVAL INTERNACIONAL FILMETS BADALONA

Barcelona, Spain

November 2009

A fate worse than dragons

A while ago I painted the cover for the german release of the
comedy/fantasy novel "A fate worse than dragons" by John Moore.
I had a nice e-mail correspondence with the Houston based author.
He told me, that it's the best cover any of his novels has ever had.
Thank you, John! :)

Here is the cover without lettering.
The book is shipping out this november.

Some more fun stuff

A tribute to Wally Wood and karate girls, of course.

Nightwalks

I call these sketches "nightwalks", because they're inspired
by the moonlit mansions of Babelsberg, the town I lived in
while attending filmschool.

Some more sketchbook stuff

Chump & Clump upcoming screenings

Back to my favourite buddies Chump and Clump.
In june and july there're some great opportunities
to see the film. So if you're anywhere near those
cities go check it out.

ARCIPELAGO
17th International Festival of Short Films and New Images

Rome, Italy

June 12-18

11/22 - Int. Comedy Short Film Festival

Wien, Austria

June 16-20

IN THE PALACE International Short Film Festival

Sofia, Bulgaria

June 20-27

FEST - International Film Festival Portugal

Espinho, Portugal

June 21-28

ReelHeART International Film Festival (RHIFF)

Toronto, Canada

June 22-27

Giffoni Film Festival 2009

Giffoni, Italy

July 12-25

ANIMA MUNDI 2009 International Animation Festival of Brazil

Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Brazil

July 10-19 July 22-26

ERA NEW HORIZONS International Film Festival

Wrocław (Breslau), Poland

July 23 - August 02

Michael and I attended a screening yesterday in
Berlin at SHORT SHOTS and the audience really
seemed to like it ( actually they were rolling with
laughter). I'm so happy that the gags and characters
catch on with audiences, since Michael and I spend
two and a half years making this film.
Would have sucked, if the film sucked :)

I'm going to be at the GIFFONI festival from the 23rd
to the 25th and at the ERA New Horizons from the
27th to the 29th to introduce the film in preson.

By the way, the photos are from MAUERSTREIFEN
in Leipzig last winter.

sketchbook stuff

Since this is blog is more a fun thing aimed
at the common man, rather than a platform
to present myself to advertising agencies
and such like, I decided to incorporate stuff
found in my sketchbook.
Therefore here're some unpolished, handpainted
works presenting such major sketchbook themes
like SUPERHEROINES and VILLAINESSES.
And dragons, of course.
Also to keep in mind, that some of the stuff is
already a few years old. Mental note myself:
Start a new sketchbook!

Chump & Clump

In 2008 I made a cg short as a graduation film together with my
great buddy Michael Herm. It's called 'Chump and Clump' and as
you would have guessed, it's about a chump and a clump.
The film does quite well in the festival rally and it was even
nominated for the jury award at Siggraph2008.
So Michael and I went to L.A. and spent the most awesome
week at the Siggraph conference and were able to meet some
of the best in the field.
I'm going to post some photos of the trip later on.
You can also watch a trailer of the film.
http://www.chumpandclump.com/trailer.html