So now that Ratatouille is finally out on DVD I thought it would be fun to take a few screen grabs off the DVD of the 2-D animation that we did for the movie and post them. Now these obviously aren't the complete credits of the film, but just the first few to show the style we chose to go with. The Idea really came from Harley Jessup the Production Designer who saw some of my illustrative design work on Ratatouille and wanted to pitch the art as an Idea for a credits sequence. And as we moved forward Teddy Newton came up with all the gags for the sequence and keyed out a lot of the animation, I created the style, design and look of the sequence as well as painted some of the animation and layouts for the sequence, Scott Morse helped me paint some of the BG's, Bob Scott led the animation team, and Andrew Jimenez put everything through AfterEffects and created all the camera moves. There were way more than the five of us that helped make this happen so I have to tip my hat to them because they all did an amazing job. Everything was animated by hand, and since we wanted such a painterly look on the finished animation, we had to paint all the animation in a futuristic old fashioned way, all in the computer, but frame by frame in photoshop with no cheats or short cuts. Unfortunately we didn't get to use any cell painting gloves, maybe next time.
As for the Short film "Your Friend the Rat," Jim Capabianco had this great idea about the history of rats and humans and wanted to do most of it with hand drawn animation. Doing the production design for this short was tons of fun but was also quite challanging with trying to incorporate several different styles of animation all in under 11 minutes. In the end we used a combination of 3-d animation, 2-d animation, stop motion animation, and AfterEffects animation. There also is a shot in the short that we actually projected animation and traced it frame by frame on a large chalk board. It took me 13 hours to do and I swear I was coughing chalk for a few days after, so it's not some fancy animation filter, trust me it's all real chalk. Anyways if you pick up the DVD, I hope you enjoy it.
Viva la 2-D Animacion!
48 comments:
I couldn't wait to see Ratatouille, it was a pain for months, I was walking past the cinemas in France where it was playing almost crying I so wanted to see it! But I wanted to see it in English with my boyfriend so had to wait the end of my holidays. I think that's the first thing we did when we came back : go see it!
And that was GREAT!
Now I'm in the same situation, can't wait to have the dvd blablabla... but have to wait again! ARG! Cruel!!
Go Nate! Your work is awesome!
Just watched it, and WOW! There's a lot crammed in there! Awesome stuff, Nate!
Dave
Nate - I just watched the DVD last night and it was amazing! You're all over that thing, great work man! You're such an inspiration.
Nate, just wanted to say a huge congratulations for the Rat short, that was nothing short of brilliant :)
It takes a lot to get my husband rolling on the floor, but that's just what he did when the Canadian video game started up. But then, he's a computer geek. Me, I was busy drooling at the BEAUTIFUL styling and the 2D animation and YES, the chalkboard! I wondered if that was real or a CG simulation, but awesome to you if it was real!
Shoo - Wow, Im so glad you liked it. I was in France this summer with my Fiancee and we say the ratatouille stuff everywhere, it was really exciting to see. Cool, I'm glad you liked it.
Dave - Cool man, I'm glad you enjoyed it, there is a bunch crammed in there.
Paul - Hey thanks man, yeah, I feel really lucky to have gotten to be a part of so much of it, it was a blast.
Amy - Thanks so much, my office mate worked on the video game sequence so I'll have to let him no that it went over well with you, and that chalk was all real.
-N
N,
picked up the dvd last night was delighted to see the "friend rat" short you did production design on. great job man both on that and all the other credits animation/artwork!
well done.
>oVi
Nate,
Just watched the short...It was beautiful...and it was great to see so much of your influence on it (which made sense after the credits)
Anyway, beautiful work as always...and it was nice to see your caricature in there.
i couldn't have made the short with out nate. i love that pointy haired man. we had one heck of a time. if you want to see some images of him drawing shot 77, the chalkboard, there are some photos on my blog. we are all stoked you guys like the film. it means a lot. thanks
jim
I picked up the DVD the other day at Circuit City. It came with this mini toge and apron. Excellent work on the short Nate! It was awesome sauce, and I couldn't help but notice they snuck you in at the beginning of the DVD!
I remember in my early life drawing classes how i would inhale tons of dust from the charcoal sticks they made us use. So much until my spit was black. That's when I wizened up and got myself a dusk mask.
I really liked the movie when I saw it in the theatre and am really looking forward to the extras, moreso now that you describe what's in them. I loved the 2D credits. Great work. Thanks for posting the stories behind your work on the film!
I can't wait to see the DVD!!
¡Viva!
I looooooove it!!!!
OV- hey thanks man, I've always been a fan of your work, and that's really inspiring to hear from you.
Danny - Thanks man, I feel like I was just in the right place at the right time to have been a part of so much of it.
Jim Capo - The man who made it all happen. If it weren't for this guy, I wouldn't have had the chance to draw on a chalk board for 13 hours, or build a mini model of alberta Canada, hopefully we can do another some day. Your the best Man!
Jefferey - Well, that was actually me who snuck that in, they asked me to paint out that whole intro to the DVD in like 2 weeks, it was crazy, so I thought I'd have as much fun with it as I could. Anyways, that's for the support, and take care.
T - No problem, it was tons of work but in the end, lots of fun.
Loren - Hopefully you'll be able to get it soon.
Walter - Awesome, I'm gald you liked it.
-N
Inspiring stuff, Nate. Can't wait to see the DVD.
Hey, Nate! I bought the DVD and a group of us at CALARTS just saw the short. Dude, you made us all proud for working on such a kick ass short! We all got pumped up for working on our films after seeing some awesome 2-D! I'm a third year at school, didn't get the pleasure of meeting you first year, but I've a lot about you. I went to high school with Austin and Josh, and I cubed with JG first year. I shooting to hopefully get something in Emeryville for the summer, and see the short got me more determined than ever to work hard for an internship! Anyways, congrats on the awesome job and take care!
Sean
Everything you do is such a joy. I always smile when I see your new posts, and I loved the animation!
Can't wait to see it, man! VIVA LA 2-D!!!!!!
I really enjoyed the credits of Ratatouille - good to be able to say thank you :)
Can't wait to see the short.
The DVD is not available yet in Barcelona, so....AAAARRRRGHHHH!!!!!! we must wait for a while.....
Congratulations for all your amazing works!
Congratulations for the illustrations you did for Ratatouille!
They were really REALLY great!
:-)
ediacarra - you can check out the short on you tube - i don't know for how long.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ScpTpcMr5M
thanks everyone for the awesome comments!
i got the dvd the day it came out and i've watched the short and the credits a bunch of times already. great job!! seriously... i knew right away when i saw the credits in the theatre that "nate wragg probably had something to do with this"! and the short confirmed my guess. love your work.
I love your work!!!
It was amazing, man - you guys knocked it out of the park!
I made my friends (who usually leave as soon as the credits begin) stay til the very end to watch your sequence...it was awesome!
---I JUST SAW THE MOVIE FOR THE FIRST TIME AND IT WAS KOOL, BU TI MUST ADMIT I'LL BE GETTING THE DVD FOR THE GREAT 2-D STUFF, GREAT WORK!!!...
Both the credits and the short were so much fun to watch. 'Your Friend the Rat' totally blew my mind away. It was really awesome. Thank you and everyone who helped make it. It was a great experience.
I said to my boyfriend and others when i came out of the flick, that the end credits stuck with me the most...i thought they were brilliant, yes, viva la 2D! im sooooo looking forward to seeing the short...oh and when i was watching the end credits, i was like, hey, that looks like Natt Wragg's stuff...i was so impressed with you guys...bring on a feature!
i love your "spiky" style, this is just fantastic 2D.
Nate,
The stuff you did in Ratatouille and the short are both stunning, I must've watched the short about 9 times since buying the dvd - which is a lot to say while you're in school. Great, great work, and thanks for being a wicked inspiration.
-R.
Ratatouille was wonderful and credits were just as fun! I love the short as well. Thanks for sharing a little behind the scenes...
Nate,
I swear Ward Kimble comes to you at night and teaches you. His spirit lives on through you. Great stuff Nate I hope Pixar keeps these shorts coming.
P.S. I liked how you drew yourself sitting at the table at the first of the DVD menu. I also like seeing WALLE driving the space car. Awesome stuff, and very well done.
Beauty!
This is by far a benchmark for me to strive towards!
Thank you so much for your hardwork and dedication as it has been shown abundently so!
Congratulations on such wonderful designs Nate!! I adored every second of it , and really glad there are artists like you to keep great 2d animation goin strong!
Wow, The credits are amazing and the short film was excellent. You can really see your style through out. Congrats, job well done. Cant wait to see more work!
Yeah man , that short is really fun. You guys did a great job. It is so good to see some new, fun 2D.
Pete - Cool man, it's out now so hopefully when you get to see it, you'll like it.
Sean - Hey man, yeah sorry I missed you. Your fisrt year, was supposed to be my fourth year, but I got the internship up here and you know how stuff like that goes, you have to take it. I'm so glad you guys liked the short, maybe theres a way I could come down and show you guys some stuff from it sometime, not sure how to set that up, but I know some of the teachers, so well see. Anyways, good luck on your film and have a great year.
Arrolynn - Cool, thanks so much, hoefully you'll continue to come back.
Chris - Awesome, hows stuff down in LA?
Doron - Cool man, that's awesome, the better reactions from everyone maybe they will let us do another.
Ediacara - Hey thanks, hopefully it will arive in Spain soon.
Rose - Hey thanks, it was a blast to work on, and such an honor.
JMC - The director of the short, we need to do another man!
Tirui - Hey thanks so much. It's really great to get such a positive response from everyone. The credits and the short were so fun to work on that it's just great to hear so many good things.
Jeremey - Thanks man.
Dave - Cool thanks, we really tried to do some new and fun stuff with these projects.
Daisy - Cool hopefully they liked it as much as you did, I hope it made a lot of people stay around.
albert - Cool man, were there is some fun 2-d stuff on the Dv D so let me know what you think.
Lizbeth Quispe - Well there are so many talented people to thank, I'm just so glad i got the chance to work with all of them.
Adele - Cool, I'm so glad you liked it so much, hopefully you'll like the short on the DVD just as much.
Muffin - Cool, it was a really fun style to worth the animation with.
Randeep - Awesome, I'ts great to hear such positive and excited reactions, hopefully we'll get to do some more.
Chris - Sure no problem, it was a really fun project to work on,and just an all around great time and I'm happy to talk about the fun behind the scenes stuff.
Randall - All I can say is I hope we get to do more aswell, it's so much fun working with these guys. Tried sneak a few things in there.
Beans - Cool, that's awesome that you enjoyed the stuff so much.
Kei - For me it's just my favorite medium, it's making vcartoons and that's what I love doing, so hopefully we can keep that stuff going here.
Steve - Thanks man, the fun thing for me is being able to see every who worked on the films style showing through. It was such a blast getting to work with all the talented and amazing people here.
Shane - Cool man, I'm so glad you liked it. It was a blast to wok on and hopefully we can do some more around here.
Thanks again everyone for all the positive feedback. After working so hard on these projocets it's really inspiring to get such great feedback.
-Nate
The credits were awesome, and refreshing! I gotta see the short now... Convince Pixar to make a 2D film, man! That would apparently be AMAZING, judging by the work you guys did on the credits!
awesome! you guys pulled out all the stops - very inspiring stuff!
I felt like I had returned to Ward Kimball's unit at Disney back in the nineteen fifties.
As an old Disney animator who worked with Art and Sven on Ward's stuff, you guys nailed it perfectly. Great job!
that was the best part of the movie!
i liked it so much i stayed in the theatre chair for hours hoping for some extra secret animation bonus..
thanx
hope so much pixar will make a full lengt or maybe small movie in the future oldschool way
cheers,
lenny
choice man it looks like such a cool short. Im planning on doing a 2d photoshop animation for my final year project, its gona have kids dressed up as clowns, robots and revolve around a dumpsite... got any advice??... Im being put off by the fact that you had a team of more then 5 doing that short sequence... arggghh..hahaha
Mad Max - All I can say is I would love it if the studio wanted to do such a thing, well see what happens.
Brent - Cool man, thanks so much, it was a lot of fun.
Floyd - I can't begin to tell you how inspiring such words are to hear from someone like your self. That's just amazing. Thanks so much for having a look at out work, I'm gonna pass it on to eberyone here, and i know there gonna hit the roof. Thanks and take care.
Lennard - Hopefully you saw the bonus bit at the end with the guy who fell of the pixar title and limped off the screen, if not watch the credits till you can't anymore, and you'll see him.
thijs - My best advise is plan for everything. I made a few short films when I was at cal arts a few years back, and all that stuff takes time. Also, know that it's just you and that's alright. We had more than a team of five doing the credits and even more on the short so just do your best man and have a blast doing it.
-Nate
i am such a huge fan of this animation short.
I checked the DVD, first thing I wanted to see again were the credits. LUV it! Honestly, loved the look and feel way of the credits better then the movie itself... :) You know about Charles Harper, illustrator?
I love the credits...I wish they had been at the beginning of the film, the way credits used to be! Also, I really enjoyed the short. Great job!
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