Drunken Snowmen and Other Shenanigans

Last night was my Google Doodle deadline. I'm sorry for not uploading this then, but something went wrong in the export and it's just worked now. Please enjoy this Christmas-inspired Google Doodle, featuring a drunken snowman.

Snowman Doodle from Julia Young on Vimeo.

Also yesterday, my review of 'The Book of Life' was published on Skwigly, so you can read that here if you'd like. It's a beautiful film and I recommend giving it a watch!

Until next week!

Doodles and Skwigly

Hi all! Sorry for missing last week but to say it's been hectic doesn't even cover it! First of all, have a quicky flash doodle animation.

Flash Flower Doodle from Julia Young on Vimeo.

Second of all, I thought I'd update you on what I've been up to for Skwigly. At the beginning of the summer I had the enormous pleasure of interviewing Peter Lord and David Sproxton at the premier of the new 'Morph' series that was aired on YouTube over the summer. They were completely lovely and Peter Lord complemented me on my Morph-making skills! If you haven't already seen the series, watch it here and enjoy!

More recently, I headed down to the Bristol Encounters Short Film Festival. Each day of the festival has its own write up and the highlights have their own articles too. Have a look here if you want to see what I thought of Day 3 but spoiler alert, I enjoyed it immensely because I met Glen Keane! Honestly, it was such an incredible day!

He was there to present his film 'Duet' and the interview I had with him will be on Skwigly's Youtube series 'Lightbox' soon, so keep an eye out!

Until next week!

Summer Holidays

Hello all and happy summer holidays! I've been looking back on the year this week and thought I'd share some things with you. Thing number one; I found this photo of me from the day I finished animating. Take a look at tired-but-happy me with my stack of frames!

So tired, but so happy!

Thing number two; the lovely Bethan has posted some more of the backgrounds she coloured for me. Check them out here!

Thing number three; a production test for which I used AfterEffects for the first time ever! A big shout-out to Amber (one of the lovely third years) who helped me work out how AfterEffects works!

Production Test from Julia Young on Vimeo.

Thing number four that I should have mentioned a while ago; I went to see 'The Wind Rises' in London before its official release and my review of it has been published on Skwigly. 

The End of Second Year!

Hello all and welcome to the end of second year! I have handed in my final film, gone on holiday to Ireland with my lovely big brother, been nominated for a Glammie Award and written another article for Skwigly. All-in-all, it's been a seriously jam-packed few weeks!

Before I finally unveil to you my finished film, 'A Midnight Tale', just a quick word about the other bits. Here you can find the latest article I've written for Skwigly. It's about the Brian Boru exhibition at Trinity College Dublin, illustrated by Cartoon Saloon. It's a great exhibition and if you have a minute have a look at the article! I had a great time in Ireland and here are just two of my sketches from the trip for your enjoyment.

A few faces of fellow passengers on our eight-hour
ferry trip from Liverpool to Dublin. Pencil.

Sketch of two little islands of the coast of Howth. They were covered in
birds! Ballpoint and brush pen with some blue coloured pencil.

The next thing I mentioned was that I was nominated for a Glammie Award. For those of you who don't know, the Glammies is the annual showcase/awards show for animation from the University of South Wales (formerly the University of Glamorgan) and this year was its twentieth anniversary. I was nominated in the category 'Best 2D Animation' and, once the site is up, I will post a link to the page where you'll be able to see all the nominated and winning pieces from the Glammies. The show went really well and I met some lovely people at the networking event afterwards; all in all it was a great day!

Now, without further ado, here is my final film. I hope you enjoy it!

A Midnight Tale from Julia Young on Vimeo.

I would like to thank again all those who I've mentioned in my credits and special thanks and give you links to those who have work online because you really need to check them out!

Daniel Lewis - Soundtrack

Tad Davies - Run Cycle Animation

Bethan Davies - Backgrounds

My incredible tutors:

Nikki Marlborough - Darren Fereday - Brian Fagance

My wonderful housemates:

Georgia Dutton - David Holland - Amy Little - Lucy Morgan

My ever-awesome coursemates:

Saeed Ahmed - Josh Cranton - Hugh Parry - James Stafford

Adventures in Tokyo, Day Five

Conscious that this was our last day in Tokyo, we left the hotel early and headed to the Imperial Palace. The Palace itself is only open to the public two days a year but the east gardens are always open and an attraction we were determined to see.

Skwigly: Online Animation Magazine

As some of you may know, I was asked by the lovely Ben Mitchell (Skwigly-man, animator and author of the fantastic graphic novel Throat) to make an 'Un-Advent' banner for the Skwigly site just for the 27th. Here it is! You can also check it out on the Skwigly site. Those of you who have been following my blog will know that I don't normally promote things but today will be an exception; you really need to hear about Skwigly!

For those of you unfamiliar with Skwigly, it's an online magazine for animators; "We love animation; love seeing animation, hearing about animation, talking about animation and showcasing animation." Based in the UK, it covers news, interviews, reviews, podcasts, videos, tutorials and on top of all that has a very strong community. On Mondays, promote your work using the tag #skwiglyselfpromotions and join in on Tuesdays with 'Chatty Tuesdays' at 9pm GMT; register to meet and chat with other animators!

This has been a great year for Skwigly, with December as the icing on the proverbial cake! They've been running an advent calendar and advent animation showcase; I've discovered so many great animators and animations this month that I'd never heard of before! Watch their interview with Joanna Quinn about the making of the BAF trailer and check out their latest podcast, featuring:

• Richard Williams; animation legend of 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' and 'The Animator’s Survival Kit' fame.
• Ian Mackinnon and Peter Saunders; recent recipients of the BAF Lifetime Achievement Award and craftsmen behind the puppetry of 'The Corpse Bride', 'Frankenweenie' and 'Fantastic Mr. Fox'.
• Animation historian, author and Cartoon Brew co-founder Jerry Beck, currently running Cartoon Research and Animation Scoop.
• Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, directors of Disney’s latest holiday feature 'Frozen'.

Well that's enough pushing from me. Please go check out Skwigly and follow them on Facebook and  Twitter for all the latest! I'll leave you in peace now with another idea I had for the banner.