Con Appearance: SoDak Con

I will be at SoDak Con on June 24th-26th. On the schedule is my panel on the History of CGI in Anime for Friday at 5PM. We will be looking at the first uses of CGI in anime and how it has progressed over the year from a technical and also a usage standpoint.

On Saturday, I will be screening the first episode, Convergence, of Cosmic Rage at 8PM. I am excited to be screening the first episode on the other side of my home state.

This will be my first year at SoDak Con. I am ready to do this!

Con Announcement: Torii Con 2016

That’s right, already planning cons for next year! This is another local (East River) South Dakota one-day con. I’ll be setting up doing some live animating and selling various prints, post cards and more.

Still up in the air on panels, I haven’t decided which ones to submit or what new ones I have up my sleeve. Hope to see you there!

Convention Recap: Akon 26 in Dallas, TX

First off, let me say “what a con!” I truly had a blast at Akon this year, so let’s recap the madness. It was about a 12 hour drive from Sioux Falls to Dallas. I actually really enjoy long drives, something zen about driving and gives me plenty of time to think about stuff.

I arrived at the con at about noon on Friday. Getting my badge was a painless process and I also met some of the con staff. I spent a bit of time checking out the con and getting reacclimatized to where everything is. I missed Akon last year. I also scored some autographs before my panel.

The time came for my panel on Friday night and it went really well. I got to show off my newly designed slides and the audience had a good time looking at some bad CGI and discussing what we all have and have not seen. (Picture of the attendees below)

IMG_1646
I went to check out another panel, this one on podcasting, before taking off for the night and getting some rest before Saturday.

Saturday was a day full of panels and awesomeness. I met up with one of my friends and we attended a panel on translating manga. Little did we know, the panel head was also a translator who was going to be leading a Q/A session with Mitsuhisa Ishikawa, the “I” in Production IG. He displayed some unseen materials and promos from some of their works and answered questions about Production IG, the anime industry and anything else we wanted to ask. He was even so gracious to allow us to take a few pictures afterwards.

IMG_1655

(Me on the left, Ishikawa on the right)

Production IG had some influential titles when I was first getting into anime. Ghost in the Shell was one of the first anime that I saw. This really was an amazing experience, and truly an honor to hear his opinions on the industry.

I attended a panel on voice acting, since I am looking for voice over talent. It was very informational since the panel was run by 3 different people and all came from different backgrounds, directorial, voice over for anime and voice over for gaming. Very cool stuff!

My friend and I grabbed a late lunch and checked out some more panels. One of which, was the Vertical panel on manga. They are the company that brought us the Flowers of Evil manga, which I highly suggested on this blog for just about anyone to read.

Sunday I allowed myself to be a little bit of a fan. I waited in line to get some Attack on Titan stuff signed by the voice actors. I went to the vendor room and picked up some merchandise, or should I say a mini library of art books. My love of art books may have to come in another post, but I picked up the following books.

Attack on Titan 1-4
These books contain the storyboards for several of the episodes and even show frame by frame drawings.

Kill La Kill
Admittedly, I haven’t actually finished this series yet but I had to pick up the book regardless. The show has such a unique style that I wanted to dive into behind the scenes content. I also haven’t seen this book anywhere before.

Terror in Resonance
I am excited for this show to be released at some point, but the overall design of this book was fantastic. I love looking at the background elements and seeing the hand painted detail. It even has a cool character flowchart to see how all of the characters are related to one another in the show.

Shinkai Collection
Speaking of sexy art books, the Shinkai book I picked up was fantastic. His artwork is simply stunning and again, the format of the book alone is worth a purchase.

I haven’t had a chance to really dive into all of these books, but as I get going through them I will get some comments or reviews of them up. I am eagerly awaiting Akon next year already.

And to the Akon staff, a big thank you for all of your work and planning!

 

Con Announcement: AkuaCon, Watertown SD

I’ll be presenting my History of CGI in Anime panel at AkuaCon in Watertown, SD. I grew up in Watertown, SD so I am really looking forward to presenting and meeting more of my fellow fans in South Dakota. The interesting thing with AkuaCon, is it is a one day free con for everyone to check out. Here are more details…

The History of CGI in Anime
AkuaCon
Watertown, SD
June 27, 2015

Post-Anime Detour Wrap Up

This was my first Anime Detour and I have to say, it was pretty awesome. First off, the convention had a pretty cool floor plan. All of the panel rooms and viewing rooms were in one area, except for the main panel rooms for the guests of honor. The party rooms were surrounding a big concourse area where people could hang out and take pictures. Overall I thought the floor plan was pretty unique.

A couple years ago I tried to get into Anime Detour, but didn’t know that they capped the amount of attendees. At the time I thought it was pretty lame, but after attending, I can see why they cap it. The convention had plenty of room to move around and like some of the organizers said, it was nice to walk around and stumble across people you met in line or at other panels and visit with them on more than one occasion.

As for my panel, it went over very well! My panel was scheduled for Sunday afternoon and I was competing against the Charity Auction for attendees.

2015_Detour_PanelThis is a picture my friend took of me at my panel. My History of CGI in Anime panel was placed in one of the larger panel rooms. The attendance turn out was great and we had a good discussion and presentation.

I look forward to being a part of Anime Detour next year. Awaiting to hear from other conventions if my panel has been approved, but look forward to meeting more friends and fans later this year! Production Update is back next week!

Anime Detour Bound!

Starting my journey to Minneapolis for Anime Detour. Very excited to get back to the cities and to actually attend my first Detour.

Be sure to check out the programming grid if you are attending or curious to see what events are going on.

I will be presenting my History of CGI in Anime panel at 1:30 on Sunday so be sure to make your way over at that time (the bad CGI is worth it).

Here is a small demo of Cosmic Rage.

 

Process clips