YELLOWSHED

Happy New Year

2011-12-14T20:30:00.001-08:00

Here are some designs/layouts for a New Years card at American Greetings. I worked with Jenna Bors -- who did an amazing job adapting and helping to animate these graphic treatments into a 3D environment (in Maya)...
Music from Nicole Atkins and The Black Sea.

You can view or send the card by clicking HERE: "A wish for the new year"

....more Merry Christmas

2011-12-05T23:20:00.001-08:00

Here's another Christmas piece that was just released -- and I was thrilled to be able to work on it with my friend, Michelle Tessier (a super talented and versatile illustrator/animator/storyteller)! I designed the characters a few months back, and she worked out the rest! T'was a big sigh of relief for me - since we were overbooked on creating new holiday content at Am. Greetings. Also - many thanks to Steve Belfer, my art director at AG (and mutual colleague of Michelle), for bringing her on board... we couldn't have done this without her...

Check out more of Michelle's work here: michelletessier.blogspot.com
View or send the card here: American Greetings

Merry Christmas

2011-11-21T21:30:00.001-08:00

Here's the second card that I did with Lauren Alane's felted birds... and once again it was one of my favorite projects of the year to put together... The turnaround time was too short to really develop the story and animation, but those limitations didn't seem to stop this little critter from being as cute as could be! Thanks again to Paulina Hernandez for her amazing end copy design... and to Mike Murray and his team for the audio.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays-

Preview or send the card here: American Greetings

Border-Collie-rado

2011-10-18T21:53:00.000-07:00

Zippy (left) and Darby (right)... in the back of our wagon on a recent trip to Colorado (this photo was taken near the summit of Independence Pass - at the continental divide).

Autumn To Winter

2011-09-22T21:31:00.000-07:00

...some designs from an animated card that I just finished for Thanksgiving. Thanks to Jenna Bors for her assistance and Paulina Hernandez for the cool end copy design... Yum, turkeys!

Preview or send the card here: americangreetings.com
Or check out a slightly higher res. version here: Big Bird

Some Character Design...

2011-07-22T12:35:00.000-07:00

...some character development for a project in the works.

Birthday Birdies

2011-07-19T19:28:00.000-07:00

When American Greetings contracted designer Lauren Alane to make some of her felted birds for their site, I jumped at the chance to put together an animated version! Check out her website to see some of the cutest little critters ever: www.laurenalane.com

Lauren supplied us with all the designs, and her husband Joey took care of the photography. Everything was shot from various angles and brought into After Effects to create a stop-motion type hybrid animation.

Click here to see it properly on the Am. Greetings site: Chirpy Birthday
Or here to see a higher resolution version: Bigger Chirpy

Animation Test...

2011-07-07T22:03:00.000-07:00

Here is a little test that I did a couple months ago (at American Greetings)... trying to see what we could get away in After Effects - without having to do a full-on stop motion production. When my creative director, Jenn Branch, was out of town - I stole one of her sock puppets (that she designed and made) and photographed it from various angles... and Voila!

Click here to see the result of this experiment: Sock Puppet!

Halloween

2011-07-07T21:19:00.000-07:00

I've always loved silhouette puppet animation, so I was really excited when American Greetings assigned me this piece! It started with a short story written by Ken Gilroy at Am. Greetings... which I adapted into a little short for Halloween. Here are some stills (and designs) from the project (visually influenced by one of my favorite animation artists, Lotte Reineger)... I kind of ran out of time at the end, so there are a few shots that aren't quite done - but it seems to hold up ok.

Preview or send the card here: American Greetings
Or for a slightly larger version: Halloween Silhouette

Fathers Day

2011-06-01T23:52:00.000-07:00

Here's an unofficial version of a Fathers Day card that I recently completed for Am. Greetings. It's posted here as more of a "director's cut" because I really wanted it to be in black and white (vs. color which was the actual version). If you dig deep enough - you can find it on the American Greetings website... Anyway- here's my take on it, which serves as a good reminder of what can be concepted, designed, and animated in 1 week (with a team of 1)! Oops, that's not true - Heather Dunn designed the yummy manwich and bear rug. I wish I had a bear rug.

Roll the clip: Fathers Day!

Mother's Day Card

2011-04-04T14:14:00.000-07:00

Here are some designs for a Mother's Day card that I just finished for American Greetings. Thanks to Mike Murray and crew for the lovely music!

Preview and send the card here: American Greetings.com

PIPPINO

2011-02-15T12:27:00.000-08:00

Here are a few of the main characters I designed for "PIPPINO" - a project that that I'm working on with Chan Poling. It's currently in development as a book (and potentially an animated film) using Chan's music and based on his original story about a lonely chimney sweep who falls in love with a toy maker's assistant and gets trapped in a toy world!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T19:36:00.000-08:00

Flowers!

Check it out at American Greetings: Always Here for You

Or preview it here: Always Here for You 2

Spec Art 'Hunter'

2010-12-31T12:41:00.000-08:00

Soyeon worked with her students, Jisoo Kim (above) and Steve Eat (below), to come up with these illustrations.

Miss You e-card

2010-11-10T20:14:00.000-08:00

Animals seeing delicious things in clouds... makes me hungry.

Cheers,

Todd

To view or send the card: www.americangreetings.com

Or preview it here: Smiling Thoughts

Valentines Day e-card

2010-11-10T19:44:00.000-08:00

Here's a card that I got to co-direct and animate with the super talented Heather Dunn at American Greetings. Heather designed all the characters and background elements (as well as doing the main character animation in Flash). I did all the layout and compositing in After Effects. Oh, what fun we had making the little love boats! Plus, Mike Murray hits another home run with audio...

Thanks everyone at AG!

Todd

To view or send the card: www.americangreetings.com

Or preview it here: Happy Hearts

More Spec Work

2010-10-07T17:56:00.001-07:00

Art Direction by Soyeon Kim

Illustration by Soyeon Kim & Steve Eat

Here are a few more spec pieces we submitted for the same commercial project.

Spec Work

2010-10-06T19:31:00.000-07:00

Designs by Todd Hemker

Here are a couple pieces we submitted for a commercial project recently.

We didn't get the job, but we had fun making these images...

Birthday e-card

2010-09-30T21:55:00.000-07:00

More exciting e-card news... On this round, I teamed up with an old friend and colleague (Aaron Brudvig) at American Greetings to make this fun little birthday short. The above image was something I doodled in Photoshop to get the ball rolling. From there, it was a collaborative effort. We worked out the details and went to town! Special thanks to Mike Murray (once again) for his audio magic.... and to Julia Finley (our office manager) who gave us her hands (for the live action opening/ending)! She had to hold that card up in the air for over an hour, and she never broke a sweat!

Cheers, and happy birthday to everyone at some point!

Todd

To view or send the card: www.americangreetings.com
Or preview it here: Delicious Wishes

Seasons Greetings e-card

2010-09-14T00:23:00.000-07:00

Here's a style sample from my very first e-card - done (in a week and a half) for American Greetings! This sample is pretty close to how the final looks and yes, that is an ice-skating brown bear in the background. However, I cannot speak to what the bear is really thinking about.

Thanks to everyone at American Greetings - who were all super supportive in the making of this card. A special thanks to Mike Murray and the audio guys, too, for working their magic... They even brought in an upright bass, to record live (which happens to be my favorite instrument EVER!).
Holiday Cheers,
Todd

To view or send the actual card: www.americangreetings.com
Or preview it here: Seasons Greetings

Monkey Business

2010-09-12T22:20:00.000-07:00

We have always wanted to do an alphabet book... with various animals - and maybe little stories to go along with each letter. Here's a photoshop sketch that Todd did recently...

Disney's World of Color!!!

2010-07-28T23:01:00.000-07:00

This past year, I had the amazing opportunity to work on Disney's magical "World of Color" show (which opened this summer) through my friend Megan Brain. She was the designer / artist, whose talents were sought after to design the paper sculpture puppets used in the show! Under the guidance of Steven Davison (creative director), Sayre Wiseman (producer), and Megan, I acted as lead animator / animation director for these segments of the production.

The image above is the Cheshire Cat designed by Megan Brain! It served as the initial design that I was asked to animate as a test to get the job... The direction I got was to "make it wacky!" (so you can be the judge). Be sure to check out more of Megan's work at her website and blog (www.meganbrain.com) for more information about her and the "World of Color" experience.

Cheers!

Todd

Also: visit the Disney Site for more info about the show...

MCL Restaurant & Bakery 'Family'

2010-06-01T14:07:00.000-07:00

Spot 2 of 2, "Family" for MCL Restaurant & Bakery

for the Indiana based restaurant, MCL Restaurant & Bakery.

Description of spot from the MCL facebook page: What is family? It's more than brothers and sisters. It's your coworkers, your teammates, your Moose lodge brethren.

No matter how you define family, MCL can feed them with Family-Style Catering.

View the spot at yellowshed under Animation

Credits:
Directors/Designers/Animators: YELLOWSHED
Producer: Ross Woods
Production Company: Scofield Editorial
Agency / Creative Direction: Foundry Advertising

Film Festival Screenings:
2010
Nov. 3-7 Holland Animation Festival (Utrecht, Netherlands)
Nov. 9-13 Bradford Animation Festival (Bradford, UK)
Nov. 9-14 Cinanima (Esphinho, Portugal)
2011
Apr. 7-10 Cartoons on the Bay (Roma, Italy)
-Nominated for 'Pulcinella Awards'
Apr. 8-10 Citrus Cel Animation Festival (Jacksonville, FL, US)
Apr. 26- May 1 AniFest (Teplice, Czech Republic)
Jul. 20-26 Seoul Int'l Cartoon & Animation Festival (Seoul, Korea)
Jul. 15-24, 27-31 Anima Mundi (Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Brazil)

MCL Restaurant & Bakery 'Noodle'

2010-05-10T21:34:00.000-07:00

Our new 30 second spot, "Noodle" (#1 of 2)

for the Indiana based restaurant, MCL Restaurant & Bakery. A home-made noodle tells the story of a restaurant that's been making customers happy for 60 years!

Thanks to our producer Ross Woods and the agency team at Foundry for making this a super fun project to work on!

View the spot at yellowshed under Animation

Credits:

Directors/Designers/Animators: YELLOWSHED
Producer: Ross Woods
Production Company: Scofield Editorial
Agency / Creative Direction: Foundry Advertising

Film Festival Screenings:
2010
Nov. 3-7 Holland Animation Festival (Utrecht, Netherlands)
Nov. 9-14 Cinanima (Esphinho, Portugal)
2011

Apr. 7-10 Cartoons on the Bay: International Panorama (Roma, Italy)
Apr. 26- May 1 AniFest (Teplice, Czech Republic)
Jul. 20-26 Seoul Int'l Cartoon & Animation Festival (Seoul, Korea)
Jul. 15-24, 27-31 Anima Mundi (Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Brazil)

MCL Restaurant & Bakery 'Noodle' online

2010-05-05T21:33:00.000-07:00

First spot for MCL Restaurant & Bakery, 'Noodle'

is now on the main page of MCL Restaurant & Bakery's website.

a short animated film, 'Father and Sister'

2010-02-25T12:35:00.002-08:00

An animated short by Soyeon Kim

More information can be found HERE

Production stills from 'Father and Sister'

A series of coincidental happenings at the church results in an unspeakable act of sin… Or not!

Director/Writer/Designer: Soyeon Kim
Animator: Soyeon Kim, Todd Hemker, Amanda Nelson, Aaron Dabelow
Editor: Todd Hemker
Music composer: Spencer Dorn
Producer: Soyeon Kim
Production studio: YELLOWSHED

Father and Sister: list of screenings

2010-02-25T12:35:00.001-08:00

Award
Best Animation: Jersey Shore Film Festival
Honorable mention: The 58th Columbus Int'l Film + Video Festival
Golden Reel Award: Nevada Film Festival

2010

Big Muddy Film Festival (Carbondale, MI, US) Feb. 19-28

Beverly Hills Short Film Festival (Beverly Hills, US) Mar. 18-21

Tiburon Int’l Film Festival (Tiburon, CA, US) Mar. 18-26

Edgemar Short Film Festival (Santa Monica, CA, US) Mar. 26-28

FirstGlance Film Fest Hollywood Online Contest (LA, CA, US) Apr. 7-May 19

Tallahassee Film Festival (Tallahassee, FL, US) Apr. 8-11

- Finalist in 'Best Animation' Award

Citrus Cel Animation Festival (Jacksonville, FL, US) Apr. 9-11

Humboldt Film Festival (Arcata, CA, US) Apr. 18-24

Memphis Int'l Film Fest (Memphis, TN, US) Apr. 22-25

Palm Beach Int'l Film Festival (Palm Beach, FL, US) Apr. 22-26

East Carolina Film Festival (Greenville, NC, US) Apr. 24-30

LA Asian Pacific Film Festival (LA, CA, US) Apr. 29-May 8

South Bend Film Festival (South Bend, IN, US) Apr. 30-May 1

The Connecticut Film Festival (Danbury, CT, US) May 4-9

Talking Pictures Festival (Evanston, IL, US) May 7-9

Tupelo Film Festival (Tupelo, MS, US) May 13-15

Twin Rivers Media Festival (Asheville, NC, US) May 28-30

Artfest Film Festival (Harrisburg, PA, US) May 28-31

Ohio Independent Film Festival (Cleveland, OH, US) Jun. 1-4

New Hope Film Festival (New Hope, PA, US) Jun. 21-27

Nickel Independent Film Festival (St. John's, Canada) Jun. 22-26

Jersey Shore Film Festival (Deal, NJ, US) Jun. 27-Jul. 18

Long Island Int'l Film Expo (Long Island, NY, US) Jul. 9-18

Gallery of Animation (Long Beach, CA, US) Jul. 15

Asian American Int'l Film Festival (NY, NY, US) Jul 15-24

Okanagan Int'l Film Festival (Kelowna, BC, Canada) Jul. 21-25

Woods Hole Film Festival (Woods Hole, MA, US) Jul. 31-Aug 7

Sacramento Film and Music Festival (Sacramento, CA, US) Aug. 6-15

Washougal Int'l Film Festival (Washougal, WA, US) Aug. 11-15

Landlocked Film Festival (Iowa City, IA, US) Aug. 26-29

Central Florida Film Festival (Orlando, FL, US) Sep. 3-6
The Rome Int'l Film Festival (Rome, GA, US) Sep. 10-11
Twini Mini Film Festival (Twinsburg, OH, US) Sep. 14
Maelstrom Int'l Fantastic Film Festival (Seattle, WA, US) Sep. 17-19
Commffest Community Film Festival (Toronto, Canada) Sep. 22-27
Great Lakes Int'l Film Festival (Erie, PA, US) Sep. 22-29
SoCal Independent Film Festival (Huntington Beach, CA, US) Sep. 26-Oct. 3
FirstGlance Film Fest Philadelphia Online Contest (Philadelphia, PA, US) Sep.-Oct.
San Diego Film Festival (San Diego, CA, US) Sep. 29- Oct. 3
Indie Ani-Fest (Seoul, Korea) Sep. 30-Oct. 5
GIAA Festival of Short Films & Videos (Manhattan, NY, US) Oct. 1-3
Kansas Int'l Film Festival (Overland Park, KS, US) Oct. 1-7
Eugene Int'l Film Festival (Eugene, OR, US) Oct. 7-10
Tacoma Film Festival (Tacoma, WA, US) Oct. 7-14
DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival (Washington D.C, US) Oct. 7-16
New Orleans Film Festival (New Orleans, LA, US) Oct. 14-21
Santa Fe Independent Film Festival (Santa Fe, NM, US) Oct. 19-24
Hollywood Film Festival (Beverly Hills, CA, US) Oct. 22-25
Tindirindis International Animation Festival (Vilnius, Lithuania) Oct. 25-31
Directors Circle Festival of Shorts (Erie, PA, US) Nov. 8-12
-Nominated for the 'Best Animation' Award
Poppy Jasper Film Festival (Morgan Hill, CA, US) Nov. 12-14
Columbus Int'l Film + Video Festival (Columbus, OH, US) Nov. 16-21
Istanbul Animation Festival (Istanbul, Turkey) Dec. 16-19
2011
Animacall (Thessaloniki, Greece) Mar. 30-May 1
Animabasauri 7 Animabasque (Bilbao, Spain) Apr. 1-7
San Francisco International Women's Film Festival Online (San Francisco, CA, US) Apr. 6-10
Herning Int'l Short Film Festival (Herning, Denmark) May 13
Seoul Int'l Cartoon and Animation Festival (Seoul, Korea) Jul. 20-24
Hyart Film Festival (Lovell, WY, US) Aug. 11-13
Mumia-Underground World Animation Festival (Belo Horizonte, Brazil) Sep. 7-30

Art of the Title: Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs

2009-10-29T07:44:00.000-07:00

End credit sequence for the Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs, is featured in Art of the Title website.

Cloudy With A Chance of Meatball: end title sequence

2009-09-18T17:59:00.000-07:00

YELLOWSHED (Todd Hemker & Soyeon Kim) directed the end credit sequence for the Sony's new feature animation 'Cloudy With A Chance of Meatball'.

We had the most fun working with such talented artists, and truly grateful for the wonderful opportunity that we had...

Credits for the end title sequence:

Clients: Sony Pictures
Production Studio: DUCK Studios
Executive Producer: Mark Medernach
Producer: Daniel Ridgers

Directors: YELLOWSHED (Todd Hemker & Soyeon Kim)

Designers: Justin K.Thompson, Paul Rudish, Chris Mitchell, Soyeon Kim, Michael Kurinsky
Lead Animators: Morgan Williams, Soyeon Kim, Todd Hemker
Animators: Hsin-Ping Pan, Hsin-I Tseng
Effect Artist: Jesse Gregg
Image Prep Artist: Jinna Kim
Compositors: Todd Hemker, Erik Tillmans, Richard Ramazinski, Jesse Gregg
Technical Directors: Blake Robertson, Erik Tillmans, Richard Ramazinski

View Duck Studios Press Release:

Duck Makes Ending Credits Happy for Sony Pictures Animation

View the posting from Cartoonbrew.com

'Planetarium'

2009-09-13T20:41:00.001-07:00

A shooting star leads into the sky...

The clip is now posted on yellowshed website under Animation

Credits:

Directors/Designers/Animators: YELLOWSHED

Painter: Soyeon Kim

Compositor: Todd Hemker

Production Assistants/Painters: Alex Rico, Steve Eat

Music Composer: Walter Santucci

Producer: Mark Medernach

Production Company: Duck Studios

Film Festival Screenings:

2009 Oct 2-11 Anim'est (Bucharest, Romania)

2011 Apr. 7-10 Cartoons on the Bay: International Panorama (Roma, Italy)

Frito Lays Ad campaign won an AWARD!

2009-09-13T20:40:00.004-07:00

Frito Lays Ad campaign that Soyeon worked on as an illustrator, was recognized among 8,000+ entries as one of winners in this year's American Graphic Design Awards, promoted by Graphic Design USA Magazine.

Soyeon illustrated all individual elements: 4 chips, 7 dips. The Marketing Arm put the final layouts together with their witty words, based on the concept of 'Cart Talkers', which were displayed inside the shopping carts in grocery markets nationwide.

I couldn't find a grocery market nearby that carried the illustrations, but art director, Leonard Santos kindly sent me some pics from a store in Texas!

More illustration samples can be viewed here:

'Cart Talkers'

'Shlef Talkers'

Credits:

Client: Frito Lays Dips

Agency: The Marketing Arm (Dallas, Texas)

Creative Director: Chris Bohlin

Copywriter: Matt Christensen

Art Director: Leonard Santos

Illustrator: Soyeon Kim

Animation for Keith Urban ACM Award

2009-09-13T20:40:00.003-07:00

A country singer, Keith Urban played a performance for his new song 'Kiss A Girl' in 2009 ACM Awards.

YELLOWSHED made an animated clip for the show (only the part with 'V' shape birds flying over the cityscapes, not 3d flying camera or any other live action footage). This animation was also used as an intro for the music video, which is followed by the main sequence directed by Richard Borge. Richard created unique look by using combination of photographic characters and illustrated background elements.

View 'Kiss A Girl' music video at youtube.

Keith Urban 2009 ACM Awards 'Kiss A Girl' Performance Video

Credits:

Directors/Designers: YELLOWSHED (Soyeon Kim & Todd Hemker)

Animator: Soyeon Kim

Assistant Animators/Production Artists: Kristen Allen, Alex Martinez, Steve Eat, Alex Rico

Compositors: Todd Hemker, Jesse Gregg

Executive Producer: Mark Medernach

Producer: Daniel Ridgers

Production: Duck Studios

Todd's film, "Murphy's Short's"

2009-04-17T15:26:00.000-07:00

Todd recently completed his short film, Murphy's Short's -

Originally set up to be the first in a series of shorts about "Murphy's Laws of the Universe," this film pokes fun at a boy who is very impressed with himself. In a sense, it was structured like an Aesop’s Fable, where there is a simple story with a clearly stated message. Perhaps in this case it might be that he who laughs first, cries hardest at the last?

This animated short was intended for an audience of all ages.

Credits:

Directed by Todd Hemker

Artwork by Todd Hemker & Soyeon Kim

Music composed by Tim Samoff

Sound by Tommy Lindquist and Lucas Pedersen

Produced by YELLOWSHED & Reelworks

Visit YELLOWSHED for the movie clip!

www.yellowshed.com > Animation > Murphy's Shorts

Award:

Best Animation: Wildwood Film Festival
Audience Choice Award for Best Film in the Family Animation: Reno Film Festival

Film Festival Screenings:

2009 Oct. 26-Nov. 1 Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film (Leipzig, Germany)

2009 Oct. 22 Square Lake Solstice Film Festival (Stillwater, MN, US)

2009 Dec. 4 Minnesota Electronic Theatre (Minneapolis, MN, US)
2010 Feb. 22-28 Mar 1-7 Animac (Lleida, San Sebastian, Spain)
2010 Feb. 26 The Epiphany Children's Film Festival (NY, NY, US)
2010 Apr. 1-4 Dawson City Int'l Short Film Festival (Dawson City, Canada)
2010 Apr. 2-4 San Francisco Int'l Children's Film Festival (SF, CA, US)
2010 Apr. 9-11 Citrus Cel Animation Festival (Jacksonville, FL, US)
2010 Apr. 29-May 6 Los Angeles United Film Festival (LA, CA, US)
2010 Apr. 30-May 1 Wildwood Film Festival (Menasha, WI, US)
2010 May 5-10 360/365 George Eastman House Film Festival (Rochester, NY)

2010 Jun. 10-12 Foursite Film Festival (Ogden, UT, US)
2010 Jun. 10-13 Int'l Short Film Festival Detmold (Detmold, Germany)
2010 Jun. 13-20 Reno Film Festival (Reno, NV, US)
2010 Jun. 16-27 Edinburgh Int'l Film Festival (Scotland, UK)
2010 Jun. 22-26 Nickel Independent Film Festival (St. John’s, NL, Canada)
2010 Jun. 24-27 Detroit Windsor Int'l Film Festival (Detroit, MI, US)
2010 Jun. 27-Jul. 18 Jersey Shore Film Festival (Deal, NJ, US)
2010 Jul. 9-18 Long Island Int'l Film Expo (Long Island, NY, US)
2010 Jul. 15-Oct. 15 Kids First! Film Festival (Santa Fe, NM, US)
2010 Jul. 25-Aug. 15 San Diego Children's Film Festival (San Diego, CA, US)
2010 Aug. 11-15 Washougal Int'l Film Festival (Washougal, WA, US)
2010 Sep. 26- Oct. 3 SoCal Independent Film Festival (Huntington Beach, CA, US)
2010 Oct. 12-16 Biennail of Animation Bratislava (Bratislava, Slovakia)
2010 Oct. 13-17 Forum for Int'l Animation Stockholm (Stockholm, Sweden)
2010 Oct. 22-27 Banjaluka Int'l Animated Film Festival (Banjaluka, Bosna/Hercegovina)
2010 Oct. 25-31 Tindirindis Int'l Animation Festival (Vilnius, Lithuania)
2010 Nov. 10-13 Red Stick Int'l Animation Festival (Baton Rouge, LA, US)
2010 Nov. 11-14 Cucalorus Film Festival (Wilmington, NC, US)
2010 Nov. 20-28 El Meu Primer Festival (Barcelona, Spain)
2010 Dec. 3-12 Int'l Festival of Animation Arts Multivision (St. Petersburg, Russia)
2010 Dec. 6-15 Animateka Int'l Animation Film Festival (Ljubljana, Slovenia)
2010 Dec. 16-19 Istanbul Animation Festival (Istanbul, Turkey)
2011 Jan. 28-Feb. 6 Seattle Int'l Children's Film Festival (Seattle, WA, US)
2011 Feb. 18-22 Providence Int'l Children's Film Festival (Providence, RI, US)
2011 Mar 2-6 Durango Independent Film Festival (Durango, CO, US)

2011 Mar.26 -Apr. 17 Redcat Int'l Children's Film Festival (LA, CA, US)
2011 Apr. 1-3 Wonder Con (SF, CA, US)
2011 Apr. 1-7 Animabasauri 7 Animabasque (Bilbao, Spain)
2011 Apr. 7-17 Sarasota Film Festival (Sarasota, FL, US)
2011 My 17-21 Barcelona Int'l FICTS Festival (Barcelona, Spain)
2011 June~ Little Big Shots (Sydney & traveling cities, Australia)
2011 Jul. 1-3 Fest Anca (Bratislava, Slovak Republic)
2011 Jul. 30-Aug. 6 Woods Hole Film Festival (Woods Hole, MA, US)
2011 Jul. 31-Aug. 6 Supertoon Festival (Zagreb, Croatia)
2011 Aug. 10 Martha's Vineyard Film Festival (Chilmark, MA, US)
2011 Aug. 11-13 Hyart Film Festival (Lovell, WY, US)
2011 Sep. 7-30 Mumia-Underground World Animation Festival (Belo Horizonte, Brazil)
2011 Nov. 4-13 Asheville Int'l Children's Film Festival (Asheville, NC, US)

Soyeon's film, 'Transparent Movement'

2009-04-17T15:18:00.000-07:00

The film was made using various film & animation techniques, including cut-out, paint-on-cel, rotoscope, photo montage & live action. Music was composed by Tim Samoff.

Synopsis: A series of moving images created from various composites of human silhouettes.

Award:

Best Experimental Film: Connecticut Film Festival

2nd Place in Experimental Film: Twin Rivers Media Festival

Film Festival Screenings:

2009

AniFest (Trebon/ Teplice, Czech Republic) May 1-4

Kalamazoo Animation Festival Int'l (Kalamazoo, MI, US) May 14-17

Twin Rivers Media Festivals (Asheville, NC, US) May 29-31

In The Palace Short Film Festival (Balchik, Bulgaria) Jun. 20-27

Anima Mundi (Sao Paulo/Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) Jul. 10-26

Square Lake Solstice Film Festival (Stillwater, MN, US) Aug. 15

The Rome International Film Festival (Rome, GA, US) Sep. 11-12

Indie-AniFest (Seoul, Korea) Sep. 17-22

California Int'l Animation Festival (Riverbank, CA, US) Sep. 27

Moving Image Film Festival (Toronto, ON, Canada) Oct. 16-18

High Desert Shorts Int'l Film Festival (Pahrump, NV, US) Nov. 6-7

Olympia Film Festival (Olympia, WA, US) Nov. 6-14

Anchorage Int'l Film Festival (Anchorage, AL, US) Dec. 4-17

2010

Dam Short Film Festival (Boulder City, NV, US) Feb. 10-13
Big Muddy Film Festival (Carbondale, MI, US) Feb. 19-28
Lake County Film Festival (Grayslake, IL, US) Mar. 3-8
Davis Film Festival (Davis, CA, US) Mar. 11-13
Citrus Cel Animation Festival (Jacksonville, FL, US) Apr. 9-11
The Kansas City FilmFest (Kansas City, MO, US) Apr. 14-18
Griffon Int'l Film Festival (St. Joseph, MO, US) Apr. 19-23
Delta int'l Film and Video Festival (Cleveland, MS, US) Apr. 21-23
On Location: Memphis Int'l Film Fest (Memphis, TN, US) Apr. 22-25
Kansas City Art Institutes (Kansas City, MO, US) Apr. 29
The Connecticut Film Festival (Danbury, CT, US) May 4-9
Talking Pictures Festival (Evanston, IL, US) May 7-9
Artfest Film Festival (Harrisburg, PA, US) May 28-31
Gallery of Animation (Long Beach, CA, US) Jul. 15
Asian American Int'l Film Festival (NY, NY, US) Jul. 15-24
Asian Film Festival of Dallas (Dallas, TX, US) Jul. 23-29
Washougal Int'l Film Festival (Washougal, WA, US) Aug. 11-15
Landlocked Film Festival (Iowa City, IA, US) Aug. 26-29
Rappahannock Inde Film Festival (Fredericksburg, VA, US) Aug. 26-29
Sydney Underground Film Festival (Sydney, Australia) Sep. 9-11
Commffest Community Film Festival (Toronto, Canada) Sep. 22-27
Great Lakes Int'l Film Festival (Erie, PA, US) Sep. 22-29
SoCal Independent Film Festival (Hungtington Beach, CA, US) Sep. 26-Oct. 3
GIAA Festival of Short Films & Videos (Manhattan, NY, US) Oct. 1-3
The Flint Film Festival (Flint, MI, US) Oct. 15-16
Banjaluka Int'l Animated Film Festival (Banjaluka, Bosna/Hercegovina) Oct. 22-27
Directors Circle Festival of Shorts (Erie, PA, US) Nov. 8-12
-Nominated for the 'Best Experimental Film'
Red Rock Film Festival (St. George, UT, US) Nov. 11-14
Poppy Jasper Film Festival (Morgan Hill, CA, US) Nov. 12-14

Museum spots won AWARDS!

2009-02-20T23:03:00.000-08:00

The first museum spot, 'Eden' by YELLOWSHED in 2007, won two Gold Addy Awards.

We were also informed that both 'Eden', and 'Dinosaurs' won 2008 Telly Awards!

Both commercials have been selected for official competitions in various Int'l Animation Film Festivals and shown around the world.

YELLOWSHED is very honored by the recognition and to have been part of this campaign!

Opening Title Sequence for 'Sloppy Joe'

2009-02-08T21:15:00.004-08:00

Soyeon created an opening title sequence for 'Sloppy Joe', PSA campaign about 'responsible drinking' for California State University Long Beach, where Soyeon teaches animation.

The campaign was created by Aubry Mintz, fellow teacher at CSULB, who directed the main animation sequence. For more information, visit its official website.

Birds & a girl

2008-11-30T21:00:00.001-08:00

Illustration by Soyeon & Todd

Goldfish crackers pitch

2008-11-28T12:44:00.001-08:00

Pepperidge Farm brand, Goldfish crackers made characters: Finn, Brooke, Gilbert & X-treme, for their animated commercial campaign.

This illustration was Soyeon's spec design for the animated commercial pitch. It didn't make it to the production, but I had so much fun, thinking about how I would like to animate them!

Madagascar2 -end credit animation

2008-11-28T03:04:00.000-08:00

Todd recently worked on the end credit animation for Dreamworks' feature film, Madagascar 2, as an Animation Director/ Lead Animator.

Credits:

Client: Dreamworks Animation

Production Studio: Duck Studios

Executive Producer: Mark Medernach

Line Producer: Dan Ridgers

Director: Jamie Caliri

Animation Director / Lead Animator: Todd Hemker

Puppet Designer: Megan Brain

Prop & Background Artist: Pablo Grande

Storyboard & Background Artist: Alex Juhasz

Animators: Blake Robertson, Hsin-I Tseng, Scott Kravitz, Evan James, Jinna Kim, Jan Chen, Hsinping Pan, Yorico Murakami

Movie clip

Movie clip & Article (via submarinechannel.com Forget the film, watch the titles)

Articles:

Lineboil.com

meganbrain blog (You can see some of her puppets made for Madagascar2)

Museum spot 2: 'Dinosaurs'

2008-11-28T03:03:00.003-08:00

Dinosaurs inhabiting a world at a time unknown to man.

Credits:

Directors: YELLOWSHED (Soyeon Kim & Todd Hemker)

Creative Director: Bryan Martin

Designers/Animators: Soyeon Kim & Todd Hemker

Music Composer: Walter Santucci

Producer: Mark Medernach

Production Studio: Duck Studios

Festivals:

2008 Animanima (Cadek, Serbia)

2008 Anim'est (Bucharest, Romania)

2008 Cinanima (Esphino, Portugal)

2008 Holland Animation Festival (Utrecht, The Netherlands)

2009 AniFest (Trebon/Teplice, Czech Republic)

2009 Anima Mundi (Rio de Janeiro/Sao Paulo, Brazil)

2009 Klik! Amsterdam Animation Festival (Ansterdam, Netherlands)

2010 Citrus Cel Animation Film Festival (Jacksonville, FL, US)

2010 AnimaFest (Zagreb, Croatia)

Movie clip

YELLOWSHED website under Commercials

Museum spot 1

2008-11-28T03:03:00.001-08:00

Traveling back in time, we witness the wonders of a young earth.

Credits:

Directors: YELLOWSHED (Todd Hemker & Soyeon Kim)

Creative Director: Bryan Martin

Designers/Animators: Todd Hemker & Soyeon Kim

Music Composer: Walter Santucci

Producer: Mark Medernach

Production Studio: Duck Studios

Festivals:

2008 AnimaFest: World Festival of Animated Films (Zagreb, Croatia)

2008 Anim'est (Bucharest, Romania)

2008 AnimaMundi (Rio de Janeiro & Sao Paulo, Brazil)

2008 Holland Animation Festival (Utrecht, The Netherlands)

2008 Bradford Animation Festival (Bradford, UK)

2009 Tehran International Animation Festival (Tehran, Iran)

2009 Krok International Animation Festival (Kyiv, Ukraine)

2009 Anima-Cordoba Int'l Animation Festival (Cordoba, Argentina)

2010 Citrus Cel Animation Film Festival (Jacksonville, FL, US)

Articles:

No fat clips!

Movie clip

VIMEO

New York Times, 'Bus' (spec work)

2008-11-28T02:56:00.000-08:00

This is a spec piece that was written, designed, animated and directed by Todd, which lead him to design a commercial for LA Times.

Articles:

no fat clips!

Movie clip

YELLOWSHED website under animation

no fat clips! (direct link to movie)

Bonus) Here are some sample designs for the LA Times spot, which was designed by Todd Hemker, and directed/animated by Stephen Kirklys.

Veggiesodes - 'Artist'

2008-11-28T02:54:00.002-08:00

This is 1 minute animated commercial for Morning Star Farms.

With one stroke of his asparagus brush, DaVinci gives Mona that famous enigmatic smile. This cartoon shows that veggies can make you a genius.

Credits:

Director: YELLOWSHED

Designers/Animators: Todd Hemker & Soyeon Kim

Producer: Mark Medernach

Production Studio: Duck Studios

Award:

Best of Fest (Commercial category): Red Stick Int'l Animation Festival

Festivals:

2008 AnimaFest: World Festival of Animated Films (Zagreb, Croatia)

2008 Anim'est (Bucharest, Romania)

2008 Animanima (Cacak, Serbia)

2009 Tehran International Animation Festival (Tehran, Iran)

2009 SICAF: Seoul Int'l Cartoon & Animation Festival (Seoul, Korea)

2009 Anima-Cordoba Int'l Animation Festival (Cordoba, Argentina)

2010 Citrus Cel Animation Film Festival (Jacksonville, FL, US)
2010 Red Stick Int'l Animation Festival (Baton Rouge, LA, US)

Articles:

No fat clips!

Movie link

YELLOWSHED website under animation

no fat clips! (direct link to movie)

'i send you love...'

2008-11-28T02:54:00.001-08:00

Illustrations by Soyeon

Birdies and Bees

2008-11-28T02:53:00.001-08:00

Illustrations and short animation by Todd

Pictsweet 'Steamables' Pitch

2008-11-28T02:52:00.003-08:00

This is the pitch for the Pictsweet 'Steamables'

'Where' by Todd (above)

Style frames and storyboards for 'Pictsweet'

'Pictopia' by Soyeon (below)

Comcast, 'Doors' & 'House'

2008-11-28T02:52:00.001-08:00

Two guards designed by Todd, original characters (left) look too gangster(?)-like, and had to be 'groomed' to fit to modern times...

This guard dog was designed based on our dog, Darby. Soyeon animated this growling from her observation on Darby's. Don't get me wrong... He is a very sweet dog : )

'House' & 'Doors'

Credits:

Director/Designer/Animator: Todd Hemker

Lead Designer/Animator: Soyeon Kim

Producer: Mark Medernach

Production studio: Duck Studios

Movie link

YELLOWSHED website under animation

youtube link

Lava bar

2008-11-28T02:51:00.001-08:00

This is an animated commercial for Lava Bar, liquid chocolate.

Original design is from the Clio winning print ad by Bubi Au-Yeoung.

As some of you already know... both Todd & Soyeon are big dog lovers. We had hard time watching (?) a dog getting killed... We wanted to make sure that the pup is in the 'HAPPIER' place at the end!

Credits:

Writer/Director/Animator: Todd Hemker

Lead Animator: Soyeon Kim

Designer: Bubi Au-Yeoung

Creative Director: Ralph Watson

Producer: Mark Medernach

Production Studio: Duck Studios

Movie clip

YELLOWSHED website under animation

youtube link

Articles:

gigglesugar.com 'Who Doesn't Love a Happy Ending?'

Pitch for ABC TV show, 'Pushing Daisies'

2008-11-28T02:49:00.003-08:00

We were asked to make a pitch for the opening title/credit animation of ABC's TV show 'Pushing Daisies' prior to its first season premiere in 2007. Our pitch didn't make it to the production, for the network wanted to have more traditional opening, we were told. We wanted to keep the richness of the color palettes and dynamic cinematographic movements of the show.

We used 'hummingbird' and 'flower' as symbol of the main characters' love relationship.

Click here to preview the animatic: Pushing Daisies Opening Title Animatic

Chiquita Banana

2008-11-28T02:49:00.001-08:00

This is an animation test for Chiquita Banana, which was made by Todd as spec piece. It didn't win the official 'GO' from the ad agency, but it was fun trying out the 'disk' idea that Todd came up with.

Clorox Illustrations

2008-11-28T02:45:00.001-08:00

These are spec art for 'Clorox' by Todd.

MetLife animation spec piece

2008-11-28T02:44:00.001-08:00

This is another spec piece for MetLife.

Todd calendar illustrations

2008-11-28T02:43:00.000-08:00

This is 2004 calendar illustrations by Todd.

Poetry by Amy McNamara

Calendar Art Direction by Stephanie Colgan

'Carol of the Elves' bonus materials

2008-11-28T02:39:00.004-08:00

MOA billboard designs

MOA merchandise: T-shirts & totes design

Freddy & Franny designs by Todd

Elf designs by Soyeon

This is an animatic for the MOA holiday spot: 'Carol of the Elves'

The Park at MOA -'Carol of the Elves'

2008-11-28T02:39:00.003-08:00

This is the second commercial: Holidays spot for 'The Park at the Mall of America' that featured 'the biggest gingerbread house in the world' they built for the X-mas event of the mall.

Elf designs were also developed as billboards as well as merchandise products: T-shirts and totes. It was really cool to see Jackie (with a big mitten) smiling at us in a big billboard while we drove the freeways in Minnesota.

Movie clip

YELLOWSHED website under animation

no fat clips! (direct link to the movie)

Credits:

Director/Designer: Todd Hemker

Art Director/Lead Designer: Soyeon Kim

Lead Animators: Todd Hemker & Soyeon Kim

Assistant Animator: Jaejung Ahn

Music and Sound Designer: Echo Boys

Production Studio: Reelworks

Festivals:

2006 Minnesota Electronic Theatre

2008 Anim'est (Bucharest, Romania)

2008 Holland Animation Festival (Utrecht, The Netherlands)

2009 Tehran International Animation Festival (Tehran, Iran)

2010 Citrus Cel Animation Film Festival (Jacksonville, FL, US)

Articles:

Screen magazine: 'Santa's Little Helpers'

AWN: 'Building Character' -article about the character license

Halloween spot 'The Drive' production material

2008-11-28T02:39:00.001-08:00

This is an animatic for the 'The Park at the Mall of America' halloween spot.

The Park at the MOA: Halloween spot 'The Drive'

2008-11-28T02:10:00.000-08:00

There is a biggest indoor shopping mall in Minnesota, called 'Mall of America'.

Well... you must know that... about 6 months of the year in Minnesota are winter -30, -40 low sometimes... that leaves very few things to do! One of which... is 'shopping'

This spot was made for Halloween for 'The Park at the Mall of America'.

Production notes: (more to come soon!)

Characters and environment elements are designed on sketchbook. Shapes are traced in Illustrator, and textures are created traditionally by painting using acrylic and watercolor paint, which are applied to the designed elements in Photoshop.

All characters and environments are composited and animated in After Effects.

Credits:

Director/Designer: Todd Hemker

Lead Animator/Designer/Painter: Soyeon Kim

Costume Designer: Jessica Grimshaw

Assistant Animator: Jaejung Ahn

Music and Sound Designer: Echo Boys

Production studio: Reelworks

Awards:

2006 Anicomm Award (10 best animated commercials selected by Animation Magazine)

2006 'Best Professional' Award, Minnesota Electronic Theatre

2009 'Best Commissioned Film', KAFI: Kalamazoo Animation Festival International

Festivals:

2006 Minnesota Elctronic Theatre (Minneapolis, US)

2008 Anim'est (Bucharest, Romania)

2009 Tehran International Animation Festival (Tehran, Iran)

2009 KAFI: Kalamazoo Animation Festival International (Kalamazoo, US)

2009 SICAF: Seoul Int'l Cartoon & Animation Festival (Seoul, Korea)

2010 Citrus Cel Animation Film Festival (Jacksonville, FL, US)

Articles:

AWN

Screen magazine

No fat clips!

dexiger (music & sound design)

Movie clip

YELLOWSHED website under animation

no fat clips! (direct link to movie)

Goldilocks for 'Hanover Floors'

2008-11-28T01:57:00.000-08:00

Todd directed a commercial for 'Hanover Floors' with adaptation of Goldilocks story.

Credits:

Director/Designer/Animator: Todd Hemker

Clean-up/Colorist: Jaejung Ahn

Production studio: Reelworks

Articles:

Screen magazine: 'A Golden Opportunity'

Tang illustrations

2008-11-28T01:55:00.001-08:00

Illustrations for Tang by Soyeon

Tang illustration2- 'Magic Soccer'

2008-11-28T01:53:00.003-08:00

Spec art for the Tang 'Mulberry' product

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events-end credits

2008-11-28T01:08:00.000-08:00

In 2004, Todd worked on the end credit animation for the Lemony Snicket's movie as a lead layout artist and lead animator.

An interview with japanese illustration magazine, 'Pooka' about Lemony Snicket end credit animation & Todd's short film, 'Fool Throttle'.

Credits:

Layout Artists/Lead Animators: Todd Hemker & Benjamin Goldman

Title director: Jamie Caliri

Creative director: Brent Watts

Design company: Axiom

Production studio: MWP

Movie clip via submarinechannel.com, Forget the film, watch the titles

'Metro Tails' for CouponCode.com

2008-11-18T00:36:00.000-08:00

This is a short flash animation for CouponCode.com, directed by Todd Hemker & Morgan Williams.

Movie clip

Coupon code.com

youtube link

Credits:

Writer/Designer: Todd Hemker

Director/Animator: Todd Hemker & Morgan Williams

Sound/Music Composer: Echo Boys

Production studio: Reelworks

Award:

2005 Minnesota Electronic Theatre: Special Jury Prize

Article:

coldhardflash

shootonline.com available for paid subscribers only (so we don't even know what's being said!)

Will Rogers Institutes 'Traditions'

2008-11-08T11:58:00.001-08:00

The theatrical PSA for Will Rogers Institute, that Todd designed and c0-directed, won Davey Award. The spot features strong graphic look with continuous camera movement throughout the space.

Credits:

Designer: Todd Hemker

Director/Animator: Todd hemker & Morgan Williams

Production studio: Reelworks

Award:

2007 Davey Award

2007 Bronze Telly Award

Shadow puppet show for Coleman

2008-11-08T11:57:00.000-08:00

This is a commercial made for Coleman to feature their 'flashlights'.

Enjoy the shadow puppet show!

Designer: Todd Hemker

Co-Directors/Animators: Todd Hemker & Morgan Williams

Production studio: Reelworks

Spring...

2008-11-08T11:56:00.000-08:00

Illustration by Soyeon

'Ritz' crackers

2008-11-08T11:54:00.002-08:00

These are spec art for 'Ritz' crackers.

Soyeon made sketches for the girl characters on top, then Todd built color and style frames with them.

Credits:

(This is spec work, which is made for the pitch/bid, but it wasn't chosen to be the official spot for the Ritz.)

Designer/Animator: Todd Hemker, Soyeon Kim, Morgan Williams

Director: Bruce McFarlan

Digital Inker & Painter: Thom Waters

Production studio: Reelworks

"Know the Difference"

2008-11-08T11:54:00.001-08:00

Illustration by Todd.

Moveon.org illustrations

2008-11-08T11:53:00.000-08:00

These are spec art for Moveon.org by Todd.

Chicago Safe Start project, PSA 2 (spec work)

2008-11-08T11:51:00.002-08:00

These are spec work for the 2nd Chicago Safe Start project, 'Clingy'.

A girl, who is afraid of outside world and so attached to parents, became a bug, 'Clingy'.

Chicago Safe Start project, PSA 1, 2006

2008-11-08T11:51:00.001-08:00

Idea sketches for balloon sequence, which didn't get used for the spot...

These are Soyeon's concept development designs for Chicago Safe Start project, PSA campaign made for youth in Chicago.

Calendar illustrations

2008-11-08T11:49:00.000-08:00

These are Soyeon's illustrations for calendar, year of 199...7?

Lands End (spec work)

2008-11-08T11:48:00.001-08:00

Todd's spec design work for Lands' End commercial.

Minnesota State Fair Art Exhibition

2008-11-08T11:47:00.001-08:00

Todd's drawing/illustration 'County B' for the 91st Annual Fine Arts Exhibition at the Minnesota State Fair . August 22 - September 2, 2002

Todd Architecture drawings

2008-11-08T11:46:00.001-08:00

A few of Todd's drawings from architecture school back in the mid 1990's. These are some studies of the Lowertown district of St. Paul, Minnesota.

Plato's Closet campaign, 2004

2008-11-08T11:36:00.000-08:00

These are designs for the campaign of 3 commercial ad for 'Plato's Closet'- second hand store mostly for teens and early 20's.

First two designs are final art direction, 3 designs below are from development.

Credits:

Director: Bruce McFarlan

Art Director/Designer: Soyeon Kim

Animator: Soyeon Kim, Todd Hemker, Morgan Williams, Aaron Brudvig

Digital Ink and Paint: Thom Waters

Production studio: Reelworks animation

Articles:

pluginz.com

Covering a short film 'Fool throttle' and commercial campaign, 'Plato's Closet'

digitalcontentproducer.com

Oct 1, 2004 article: 'Hot Spots' features 'Couch' spot from 'Plato's Closet' campaign

Shootonline.com

'Limo' spot from 'Plato's Closet' campaign: article available only for registered subscribers

Fool Throttle, 2004

2008-11-08T11:21:00.000-08:00

This is a short film by Todd Hemker & Morgan Williams.

Todd came up with a concept and design for this fun road-rage episode.

Credits:

Writer/Designer: Todd Hemker

Directors/Animators: Todd Hemker & Morgan Williams

Music and Sound designer: Echo boys

Production company: Reelworks

imdb listing

Awards:

2004 Minnesota Electronic Theatre 'Best in Show' award

2005 Bronze Remi Award, Houston Int'l Film Festival

2005 Seoul Int'l Cartoon and Animation Festival 'Best of SICAF' national tour

Festivals:

2004 MPR: Minnesota Public Radio inverview with directors (Minneapolis, MN, US)

2004 Minnesota Public Broadcasting Service short film screenings (MN, US)

2004 Rooftop films (New York, NY, US)

2004 The One Show (New York, NY, US)

2004 Worldwide Short Film Festival (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)

2004 In flight entertainment (Canadian Airlines)

2004 Square Lake Solstice Festival (Stillwater, MN, US)

2005 Annecy International Animation Festival (Annecy, France)

2005 Nicktoons Film Festival: The "Friends & Enemies" Show (Nicktoons Cable network)

2005 Seoul International Cartoon and Animation Festival (Seoul, Korea)

2005 Houston Int'l Film Festival (Houston, TX, US)

Articles:

Animation Magazine.net review:

Talk about stylish and retro, filmmakers Todd Hemker and Morgan Williams really come off the line fast with Fool Throttle. Admittedly macabre, Fool Throttle is a cautionary tale that, according to these filmmakers from Minneapolis-based ReelWorks, offers a message of peace. The project started as simply 'quirky eye candy' bumpers for the commercial house’s demo reel. In the storyboard phase, exec producer Audrey Robinson Favorito challenged Hemker and Williams to take their scooter character to the next level and make it a real story. The filmmakers explain, "We drew inspiration from Dr. Seuss’s The Butter Battle Book. We liked how there is no clear innocent or guilty party in The Butter Battle, and how the entire conflict escalates over nothing but a matter of taste. Fool Throttle’s story of road rage is a bit like The Butter Battle, an innocent misunderstanding that leads to pointless aggression." As we all know, pointless aggression makes for really good cartoons!

'Apple' Wellmark Blue Cross Blue shield, 2004

2008-11-06T12:44:00.000-08:00

Concept development for the spot 'Apple' above, final art direction below

Still frames for the spot 'Apple' & 'Clock'

Todd created stunning designs and layouts for Telly Awards winning commercials for Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield spots. Pluginz.com described the spots as: " The award-winning spots feature a deceptively simple 2D, hand-drawn look. However, 3D elements were used extensively as part of the 2D animation composition to achieve the dynamic camera work."

Credits:

Directors: Bruce McFarlan & Morgan Williams

Designer/Layout artist: Todd Hemker

Animators: Todd Hemker & Morgan Williams

Music/Sound designers: Echo Boys

Production company: Reelworks

Awards:

Telly Award

'Sweetie' for Ocean Spray, 2001

2008-11-05T16:52:00.000-08:00

The first project that Todd & Soyeon worked together was Ocean Spray's 'Sweetie' juice. Grapefruit juice made for kids. The product didn't actually make to the final sale, for, I was told, there weren't much consumer responses to the product. But working on the spot itself was surly a lot of fun.

Art direction was based on the style of children's doodles drawn on notepads using crayons. Both of us brought out big sketchpads and scribbled around... feeling like going back in time when we were 5~6 year old, playing around with crayons...

Here are some initial sketches and designs for the spot.

Credits:

Director: Bruce McFarlan

Lead designer/Painter: Soyeon Kim

Designer/Animator: Todd Hemker

Production studio: Reelworks

Todd's animation 'Seven Corners'

2008-11-05T16:19:00.000-08:00

Todd made Seven Corners in 2001 as his thesis film from California Institute of the Arts.

Seven Corners is a place where the smaller moments of city life illustrate the rhythm of a day. Featuring an old couple searching for lunch, commuters waiting for a train, a chain-smoking musician, and some pigeons....

Awards:

Best Animation, 2009 Arizona Underground Film Festival

Screenings:

2001 May 10 CalArts Experimental Animation Showcase (LA, US)

2001 Oct 18-21 Ottawa Student International Animation Festival (Ottawa, Canada)

2001 Mar. 22-27 Stuttgart Animation Festival (Stuttgart, Germany)

2002 Apr. 4-18 Philadelphia Film Festival (Philadelphia, PA, US)

2002 Jun. 18-21 A+A Architecturanimation (Lleida, Spain)

2003 MNTV broadcast on Twin Cities Public Television (Minnesota, US)

2009 Sep. 20-25 Arizona Underground Film Festival (Tucson, AZ, US)
2010 Apr. 29 Kansas City Art Institutes (Kansas City, MO, US)
2010 Jul. 15 Gallery of Animation (Long Beach, CA, US)

Movie clip link via nofatclips.com

youtube link

Soyeon's animation 'Circus'

2008-11-05T16:05:00.000-08:00

While Soyeon majored Painting at college, she developed her interest in moving images, which naturally lead her to the animation field. Her work is visually strong and somewhat experimental since she loves to create various art styles using different painting techniques and textures, which she brings into animations.

Soyeon made a film 'Circus' in 1996, as her undergraduate thesis film, which won an award and has been screened in many international film festivals.

Circus movie clip and film information link

Zippy and Darby...

2008-11-05T13:50:00.000-08:00

Zippy and Darby are two stray sheep dogs who lost their way in the middle of Wisconsin. Through the efforts of Border Collie Rescue, they found their way to us - and have been a constant source of inspiration and amusement.

Todd and Soyeon...

2008-11-04T11:40:00.001-08:00

Todd... is a Wisconsin native who loves cheese and beer. He has a background in architecture and animation and uses each in various ways to generate animated films and other graphic works.

Soyeon... is from Seoul, South Korea where she has been drawing and painting since the beginning of time. Her desire to animate led her to the California Institute of the Arts, where she met Todd in 1999. The two teamed up after leaving school to form Yellowshed, where they continue pursuing their mutual love of making things.