This model sheet shows my cutout character design process and includes my initial character design hand drawn on paper with pencil, pen and ink, the cutout body bits colored and textured in Photoshop and the final character rig assembled in After Effects. I’ve also included screen shots of the cutout character in Photoshop (with the live action character reference) and the rigged character in After Effects.

‘Cooler’ is directed by Silas Howard and Ernesto Foronda.
‘Cooler’ on IMDB

CU = Close Up
Shoulder to head
Used to show facial emotion

MS = Medium Shot
Waist up
Used as a transition between LS and CU. Good for showing body language.

MLS = Medium Long Shot or ‘Cowboy Shot’
Frames the figure just above the knees. Also called a ‘Cowboy Shot’ because this shot type was commonly used in westerns to show the gunslingers and their holsters.

LS = Long Shot or Wide Shot (WS) or Establishing Shot
Frames the whole figure. Used to show where we are, who is there and where they are in relation to one another – the establishing shot.

ELS = Extreme Long Shot
The figure is an element within the environment. Used to show the figure’s relationship to the environment. Can be used as an establishing shot.

OTS = Over The Shoulder

Here are some basic shot types or framing methods that I put together with some of my animated cut-outs for teaching material. I’ve never been able to find images of shot types that I’ve really liked so I decided to make my own using my cut-out figures from previous projects.

The top series of images, of the 1960′s Mercury styled astronaut, is created from the animation that I made for a documentary, ‘Lucky.’ I worked as an illustrator/animator/compositor on ‘Lucky.’ ‘Lucky’ was directed by Jeffrey Blitz.

The last image of the OTS is put together from the animation that I made for Death Cab For Cutie’s, Grapevine Fires animated music video. I worked as an illustrator/animator/compositor on Grapevine Fires. The animated music video for Grapevine Fires was directed by Walter Robot.

I created several of the animated sequences for ‘Lucky,’ a documentary that aired on HBO last month.
The documentary, by Jeffrey Blitz, aired on July 19th as part of HBO’s summer of documentaries. ‘Lucky’ focuses on “chronicling the many, and often sobering, effects winning a big jackpot can have on a person” (Television review: ‘Lucky’ on HBO by the Los Angeles Times).

The above character design is Miss Lotto. She was one of the characters that never made it into the final cut. Miss Lotto is a very simple cut-out character composited and animated in After Effects. Miss Lotto was drawn in Photoshop with a Wacom, lightly textured in Photoshop, cut out and then all her girly bits were imported into After Effects.

Lucky premiered at Sundance 2010.

If you’d like a free iPhone/iPod Touch sized wallpaper, you can download a wallpaper of this illustration here: http://www.gilestimms.com/wallpapers.html

Thanks to Mark Givens, editor of MungBeing :)

‘Dead All Along’ is the title track from Ceri Frost’s debut album CUI.

The screening is at the James Bridges Theater on the UCLA campus, at 7:30pm, Saturday June 5th.

Big thank you to Jenny Sherman and the Animation Students Organization (ASO) for all their hard work and effort to organize Prom <3

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‘Dead All Along’ is the title track from Ceri Frost’s debut album CUI.

The screening is at the James Bridges Theater on the UCLA campus, at 7:30pm, Friday June 4th.

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More artwork from a music video treatment I pitched for the band Shinedown from last year. I use these color comps and cut-out character designs in the treatments so that the client can get an idea of the overall look and feel for the finished piece. Again, this was through my agency, RW Media.

ROBOT Love – Here’s a robot design I made for a character concept as part of a music video treatment. Hand drawn, edited in photoshop, built in 3D (2.5D) and rendered in After Effects.

Below is the pen and ink, original drawing showing the character design of the robot bits.
Fairly simple :)

My animated short film, Manifestations got me selected as the Featured Filmmaker and Film of the Week on mtvU Bestfilmoncampus.com this week.

Thanks ever so much to Eleni Crush of mtvU Digital Media :)