Justin wrote the script, created storyboards, and designed, sculpted, and modeled the characters while Shel is working on creating the sets and taking on a big part of the production and editing process. Since the duo has the additional daily responsibilities of family and careers, the majority of film work happens in the wee hours of midnight to 6 in the morning – talk about dedication! Tools of the trade: their current project is being shot frame by frame with a Nikon d70 still camera and captured by MonkeyJam, an open source frame capturing tool.

So, why stop motion? Justin loves all animation, but stop motion holds a special place in his heart. “I worked in CG for 12 years and I had a breakdown a couple of years ago,” he said. “I hated how all the art I created over the last decade could disappear in the matter of seconds.” The ethereal yet tangible physicality of Stop Motion seemed to be a perfect fit for his next film. While he wasn’t well versed in the medium, he dove head first into the world of stop motion and picked it up naturally.

“It feels completely like MAGIC when I have a puppet convincingly come to life,” Justin said. “I like the improvisation that happens in Stop Motion…the puppets have minds of their own!” In the future, Justin plans to take a 2 year hiatus from the industry to concentrate on a feature stop motion film with Shel – his ultimate dream.

Justin leaves the MyToons community with a bit of advice: “Anything is possible! All you have to do is take a step. DO IT!” He adds, “Hard work is the easy part! NO EXCUSES!”

Take a sneak peek at clips from the upcoming “Gerald’s Last Day” below or check out some more of Justin’s work here

This entry was posted on Monday, March 17th, 2008 at 3:00 pm and is filed under Meet the Artist. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.