Animation Jam welcomes Ricky The Rocket Panda!

I am very happy to announce the latest addition to the team collaborating on this month's Rebel Alliance Animation Jam is also our very first international participant! Welcome to the Rebel Alliance Rocket Panda!

Rocket Panda, know to the authorities as Riccardo Albertini, is a motion designer from Bergamo, Italy. His wonderfully cute name and logo, love of Star Wars and passion for creating beautiful animation was a clear sign he was a perfect fit for our motley crew of rebel scum. Plus he's got mad skills - just check out his reel!

With Rocket Panda on board the total number of animators participating in this project is now 22 (and counting)! A lovely collection of human beings with a very diverse variety of backgrounds they are:

1) Ben Rausch (Cool Your Jets)
2) Cameron Lowry (Turn Your Lights Up High)
3) Daneel Malgas (Awewolves)
4) Derrek Pitts
5) J Matthew Nix
6) Jarred Pereira (Jestr)
7) Jason Sutherland
8) Jim Nicholson
9) Gordon Bakkes
10) Lodewyk Barkhuizen (Planet Future)
11) M.J. du Preez (Doktrine)
12) Matt McFarlane (Cool Your Jets)
13) Neo Majafe
14) Philip Davies (Sheer Shurikahn)
15) PJ Kotze (Planet Future)
16) Riccardo Albertini (Rocket Panda)
17) Richard van Beek
18) Silas Lekgothi (Pencils & Crayons)
19) Stuart Ziegler
20) Sylvia McKeowen (Muis)
21) Terry Adams (Pixel Ninja)
22) Werner Redelinghuis (Cool Your Jets)

To say I'm excited about seeing how this is gonna turn out would be quite an understatement!

Jo Fo Euro: PS not soon enough

While I'm dragging my feet posting the final chapter of our Jo Fo Euro tour adventures, here's a little video I made to celebrate the release of the band's third album, Johnny Foreigner vs Everything.

In part it's made up of clips that were used as visuals on the tour itself. Landscapes, shot from our van which I animated Lewes ghosts flying across and play live across the rest of the tour. Then there's footage of our failed attempts at floating little "boats" down some water feature in the lovely park we stumbled across in Kiel, Germany. Finally there's live stuff, us in Wimbledon, captured in slow motion radness by my dear old friend Phil Davies.

Jo Fo Euro. Day 3

Our Saturday starts in Jun's bedroom, listening to records.

Then drive drive drive to London...

...to the Grove in Wimbeldon.

Eat Pie.

Work on visuals.

Watch Scottish upstarts The Marvels.

Get reunited with my dear friend Phil Davies.

And Dom, who would be doing the sound for our show...

... and happens to have played in a band I love.

And then ghost time!