416.276.6241    taranimator@gmail.com


Welcome to my online portfolio and blog.


I'm a classically-trained CG character animator with proven supervisory and organizational strengths. I've spent 2 decades building my character animation skills and have recently branched into illustration, directing and development.
My specialties include: 2D/3D Character Animation, Maya, 3ds Max, Softimage|XSI, Flash, Premiere, and Photoshop.
Please check out my character animation demo reel, my resume, and a few samples of my traditional artwork under "Sketchbook Pages".

Latest highlights: digital painting, freelance animation, teaching at George Brown College.



Current Exploits

Digital Painting on my Ipad2: Bunny and tree

October 27, 2011
Another Ipad2 sketch - this is a nervous bunny from Riverdale Farm.  

Below is a tree right across from the awesome Rooster Coffee House. I'm a fan of sipping lattes while I work.. maybe chomping a few cookies as well.

Still crazy about ArtStudio for Ipad and my Logiix Stylus Pro stylus.  I'm game to try other programs but these tools are really working for me right now.

iPad sketches


October 22, 2011
I'm growing more comfortable these days with doodling on my iPad.  It's a bit different than the cushy Cintiq + Photoshop tools I'm used to, though many of the skills are transferable. The lack of actual pressure-sensitivity means that line width variation is entirely fake -- you can choose a line width along with taper variation in advance, but on the fly the only way to achieve a thick-and-thin line is by trickery -- either draw fat and peel it back with an eraser or build up the line gradually. Alternatively to using the eraser, you can eye-drop a BG tone to feather into the line, but that means losing all the lovely layers you might want to change later.  It's much nicer having the BG separate from the drawing layer(s) so you can move them around later as I've done here, or change the BG tone.

One key to making field sketches easier, digital or traditional, is to learn to draw faster.. I find it hard not to overwork my drawings when there are so many tools available.  I'm hoping to do many, many more pages of doodles and get looser with my digital drawings.

Rooster for the Rooster


October 6, 2011
Hey, the  Rooster Coffee House posted my rooster!!

Posable Skeleton of Awesomeness!


October 20, 2011
Searching for good skeleton teaching reference for one of my George Brown Classes, I stumbled upon a great idea!  Illustrator Chris Beatrice made a desktop-sized, pose-able skeleton using an economical 20" model and a bit of something called 'sculptor's wax'. Check out how-to's on his blog, Illustration Fixation.

I ordered the same skeleton from Amazon and got it within two days. For the wax I had to hunt around a bit -- finally, on my 4th try, I found it!  Above Ground Art Supplies has this stuff called Tacky Wax that costs under $5 and works like a charm!! The wax is sticky and pliable when warmed in your hands, but hardens when cool. You can pose and repose this guy 'til the cows come home. I wish there were some way to make the spine flexible but that would take a lot of work and probably wire. I couldn't get my dude to stand up as Chris did, but it comes with a handy stand. Can't wait to do some anatomy studies!

Here he is, just in time for Hallowe'en!

Improv Class, Part 2: Level up!


September 12, 2011


What good luck! I just found out about improv classes at the nearby Black Swan Tavern. I got up some gumption, got my sister-in-law to come along, and showed up.

This class was a huge success, largely due to the talented host, Ralph MacLeod. It's one thing to lead people with assorted levels of experience through improv exercises. It's quite another to help us understand the deeper purpose of what we were doing. I've never had that explained to me, and it made so much sense.

I have so much to learn -- for my animation performances, and also for just general enlightenment. Improv is great for learning so many real world skills: to think on your feet, to not worry about making mistakes, to believe you are part of a supportive and encouraging group that all wants to learn together. I will definitely try this class again.

Open improv classes Saturdays, 6:00pm - 7:30pm, $5
2nd floor, 154 Danforth, Toronto, M4K 1N1, 416-903-5388,
Black Swan Improv Comedy Classes
blackswancomedy.com 


Fight Direction Class at Rapier Wit


August 29, 2011

This Fall I'll be returning to the part-time faculty in the Game Design department at George Brown College. My Character Acting course covers 'Combat Direction' including everything from hand-to-hand combat, close-range weapons like knives, to 'ranged weapons' which can only mean - *gulp* - firearms!  It makes sense, given that fighting and armed combat figures heavily in video games.

I came across an interesting school downtown -- Rapier Wit --Canada's oldest stage combat school.  After a great chat with the school's founder, Daniel Levinson, I decided to visit one of their open classes. I soon found myself not only observing but actually trying out some rolls -- both unarmed and 'armed' (with just a wooden dowel, not a machete or anything!). It was a great class! There was even a local comic book artist there sketching -- which I may do myself sometime.

I would highly recommend getting some fight choreography training for anyone planning to animate fight sequences.  Learning combat skills is one thing, but learning how to stage them for an audience is exactly what we need for animation.  Highly recommended!

Rapier Wit’s Open Technique Nights: Monday 7:00-10:00. $15 for non-members per evening
575 Wellington Street West (416) 534-1947 danielATrapierwitDOTcom

Digital Painting on my Ipad2: Rooster


July 24, 2011
I've been noodling around with portable digital sketching tools on my Iphone and Ipad2.  This is a sketch of a very curious (and very noisy!) rooster at Riverdale Farm.  


I've tried other Ipad drawing apps (Sketchbook, ArtRage, Brushes). They all seemed to have something clunky about their design, and I never got used to finger-painting. Finally I found a great combo of tools:  ArtStudio for Ipad and a Logiix Stylus Pro stylus.

ArtStudio costs just $3 and I can't say enough great things about it.  It's fast, easy to learn, comes with a 45-page manual of tips, and is jam-packed with more features than you can shake a stick at. Its logical layout allows you to draw with one hand and use the simple sidebar menu with the other to swap tools, pick colours, and undo commands. The online artwork being generated with this app doesn't do it justice. ArtStudio is a high-performance program at a bargain price.

Riverdale Farm is an oasis of country in the heart of Toronto, a model working farm with countless beautiful nooks and crannies and colourful creatures just perfect for outdoor sketching.

Animating: Rob the Robot


March 3, 2011

It's a wrap!
  Phil and I successfully managed one seriously fast turnaround on "Rob the Robot". This kind of efficiency was thanks in large part to our affable director, Phillip Stamp at  One Animation in Singapore, and our expertly organized producer, Craig Young at Amberwood Entertainment who had these kind words:

"...Tara her husband Phil were the ONLY members of our Canadian animation team for Rob The Robot; completing 5 x 11 minute episodes not only in record time but with phenomenal quality!"

Rob the Robot is a peppy little kids' TV series animated in Autodesk Softimage. It's a high-volume show with a very organized pipeline and an extensive library. 


I wish you could see their slick style pack with 
illustrated tips and video examples for keeping the approach consistent.

We also did some animation cycles for the website. It's a great spot for little kids to visit. Check it out: http://www.robtherobot.com/


Rob the Robot is currently airing on TVO.

Teaching in the Game Development Department at George Brown College


Jan 30, 2011

I recently started teaching two courses in the Game Development Department at George Brown College. It's an incredibly well-equipped and dynamic facility with a densely-packed 3-year program. I'm thoroughly enjoying teaching animation principles to 1st and 2nd year students.
See what we're up to: click here to check out my teaching blog.

Directing: Chuck Gammage Animation "Beast Legends" shorts

August 16th, 2010



Finally! Here are some screen shots from the series of shorts I directed at Chuck Gammage Animation for Yap Films. Click the image to see them in higher resolution.


Our small but mighty team, spanning the country from BC to PEI, delivered 6 artistically-diverse, 40-second films in just 3 months.

Each short introduced a live-action/CG adventure-documentary about a different legendary monster. The styles were wildly contrasted from Fijian tattoo art to Greek vases, each requiring the creation of almost entirely new assets. With just 2 weeks from storyboard to delivery and a very small crew, we used every trick in our arsenal to to amp up the richness of each piece without relying solely on labour-intensive animation. This meant combining 2D & 3D elements and digitally painted backgrounds along with some clever AfterEffects filters, particles and live action fx footage.

I can't say enough about the talents of our versatile and unflappable designer, Bryan Huff, who not only created nearly all the beautiful Flash assets, but also drew half the storyboards and even contributed to backgrounds and animation. Thanks to Bryan, I appreciate even more the cost-saving benefits of a well-placed overlay and the mood-darkening power of "angry eyebrows".


Huge thanks to our incredibly positive and knowledgeable producer Tammy Semen, CG wizards Dave Marler and Seamus O'Keeffe, indispensable intern Alex Stepanov , background painter extraordinaire Cli
ve Powsey , animation magicians Pasquale LaMontagna and Jason Condon , layout arteests Andrea Fernandez and Natasha Dichpan, inspirational designer Marceline Tanguay, and talented designer Bruno Amezcua for psychically knowing just when we'd need him. Speci

al thanks to my multi-talented husband, Phil Bonner , for all your advice, good humour and encouragement. I admit you do seem to always be right.


Finally, my sincerest appreciation to Chuck Gammage for trusting me to pull this off and for being so fun to work for. You and your multi-talented crew made this ambitious project so enjoyable. I look forward to working with everyone again.



"Beast Legends" aired on History TV and SyFy. 

Sketchbook Pages


Digital animation quotas leave less time for sketching than I'd like these days, but I'm an avid doodler, especially outdoors. People, animals and unsuspecting sleeping family members are all fair game for drawing in parks, zoos, libraries, train stations and waiting rooms. Landscapes are relaxing because they sit still. Any musical subject inspires me to channel the energy from sound to page, and I've attended lots of rehearsals in order to sketch without disturbing paying customers. There's a story in every drawing. The watercolour sketches from Caribana were done while being pursued by mounted police who considered our traffic median vantage point "trespassing". The view was just too good to pass up, so we alternated between painting and running away, waving our wet paintings in the air with the cops hot on our heels.

Click images for a larger view

People & Musicians



Life Drawings & Animals


Landscapes & Dancers




Other Adventures

Improv Class Survival: Achievement Unlocked!

June 30, 2010

I do a lot of acting - through animated characters, I mean. But I've always wanted to do more acting in 'real life'. Like life drawing, it's supposed help us with everything connected with animation: for pitching scene ideas, shooting reference (even if it might end up being lambasted on YouTube), or even just for teaching.

Animators are supposed to love doing improv, right? And I'm kind of a loudmouth so you'd think...hehe... Well, in reality I'm really pretty shy. But I'm aware that it's cramping my style. I agree with Mark Twain: “There are two types of speakers. Those who get nervous and those who are liars.”

This year, I decided - nervous or not, I'm going to try improv.


Turns out, I live literally 500 meters from a FREE weekly improv class at the Bad Dog Theatre.
So one Saturday night, I went. Alone.

There were tons of people there, teens, people even older than I am, and pretty much an equal number of men and women, even some very brave ESL speakers! Some people go every week, some were newbies like me. A few people were clearly very gifted and hilarious. I wasn't one of them. But the supportive environment made it a lot less nerve-wracking.

They put us through our paces with a bunch of acting games to get us thinking quickly on our feet -- or more specifically, not thinking, but just working instinctively. When the rules are constantly changing and you're just blurting things out, people sure say some weird stuff. But apparently, that's what we were there to do.

Verdict:
(a) Improv is way harder than I thought
(b) I will try it again!



Pixar Masterclass in Toronto

June 18-19, 2010


I had a great time at the Pixar Masterclass here in Toronto. It was jammed with inspiring ideas and anecdotes to recharge my animation batteries and get me excited about handling 3D characters again this fall after a foray into directing 2D.

Story Artist Matthew Luhn and Animator Andrew Gordon each taught a full day session to a captivated audience of animation fans and seasoned industry pros. I can never get enough 'behind the scenes' action, and we were treated to plenty of clips from the making of many of Pixar's amazing features and shorts.

Even though the animation session was mostly review for many of us, I always learn from hearing a fresh interpretation of the animation principals. The story session was extremely valuable as well, with a huge dose of solid theory plus practical information about the day-to-day life of a storyboard artist at Pixar.

A totally inspirational weekend, worth every penny.


PAX East 2010 Gaming Conference - er, "Festival" in Boston

March 29, 2010

I had an amazing time attending PAX East 2010 in Boston with my fellow animation-vet husband, Phil, who's an avid gamer and Penny Arcade fan. Not known as a huge gamer or Penny Arcade follower myself, I decided it was high time I went looking for a community of gamers who were more my speed -- i.e. nerds. The PAX event has a reputation as a smaller, more indie event than, say, E3 which is the size of a small city. Still, at last count, somewhere in the range of 60,000 nerds like us showed up to play and watch people playing, all sorts of different games on every kind of platform, even board games.

I loved the vibe at PAX, even if it involved about 2 hours of waiting for every hour of actual entertainment. We made the most of our waiting and did what everybody else was doing... played video games. Ok, I mainly got stuck playing Tap Tap Revolution on my phone and reading my book, but it's a start! Tell you the truth, a lot of stuff was completely sold out. Looks like they've outgrown the Hyde Convention Center...

My original mission was to discover independent game products targeted at my demographic. Total strike out! Oh well. My quest will continue!

My secondary mission: to hang out with a gaming community in their natural habitat, was a smashing success. Fun people. I had a great time. People who like beanbags are cool.

I also had a wonderful visit to Boston -- we found a great B&B close by, squeezed in a quick visit to the New England Aquarium, ate tons of seafood, and did a swift walking tour of the old part of town before the weekend was over. We also had a blast at the oldest jazz club in Boston, Wally's Cafe. This weekend getaway in the middle of an intense project really helped restore my spirits.

Oh, and at $50 for a weekend pass, the PAX conference has to be the best deal in game town.

Animating Igloo VFX commercials for "HHGreg"


January 14, 2010

I did a second HHGreg commercial for Igloo -- an ad for Serta Mattresses -- this time he's bouncing about in a not-too-complicated tracking shot. Please note the sheep were added later by someone else.


December 23, 2009

Just before the holidays, Toronto's Igloo VFX sent us a commercial a for American department store "HHGreg". Lively, upbeat acting was the mandate for a character who's quite literally a flyer. We were able to turn this around really quickly thanks to the friendly crew at Igloo, the artistic and technically-savvy Phil Bonner and our fellow animator-friend Jesse Barnett.

Happy Holidays!

Animation: Rune/Mikoishi "Dark Grounds" RPG

December 15th, 2009

This fall I completed dozens of game cycles for the hardworking folks at Toronto's Rune Entertainment along with uber-talented local animator Rob Gennings. Dark Grounds is an upcoming multiplayer action RPG from Mikoishi, a Singapore-based mobile and online gaming and marketing company. The game is set to launch early in 2010.





Digital Painting & Texturing: "Taparrabo" Art Installation by Robert Waters


December 4th, 2009

My foray into 3D texturing started on an unusual project -- a realistic, naked Jesus for Robert Waters: a Canadian artist who uses unconventional media to explore controversial religious themes. Taparrabo is on view in Mexico through January 2010. Phil Bonner modified the model while I painted out tan lines and added bloody wounds. The artist also requested that his Jesus be extremely hairy. I put some custom brushes and photo textures to good use managing the long flowing locks on his head, the shorter hair covering most of his body, and even shorter hair in some *ahem* delicate parts. The final product was projected in a church, spinning in three dimensions.

Source: http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/reviews/robert-waters/

Digital Painting: "Starthrower in Haiti" Web Comic

November 19th, 2009

Recently I was invited to paint a web comic for Daniel Lafrance's blog, "Starthrower in Haiti", a fundraiser for The Starthrower Foundation which supports education in Haiti. It was a wonderful opportunity to put my digital painting skills to good use for a worthy cause.

Animation: Meld Media "Lotto Max: Start Dreaming"

August 30th, 2009

I animated some miniature game cycles for Meld Media's "Start Dreaming" campaign -- an online mini-game to encourage Lotto Max players to imagine how they'd spend their millions. A pedal-to-the-metal deadline working with eye-straining-ly tiny characters was still great fun working with Phil Bonner and Jesse Barnett.





Bobby Chiu's Digital Painting Course Completed!

I finally finished my Digital Painting Course -- thanks for the A+ Bobby!

Bobby's course was incredibly challenging and thorough. Each lesson built upon a solid foundation of fundamentals: bringing light out of darkness, utilizing colour theory and contrast, applying textures both hand-made and photographed. I can't recommend this course enough to anyone interested in applying traditional painting skills to digital media.

Click the banner to find out more about Schoolism:



My next step is to start developing my own illustration style -- stay tuned!

I've already been able to apply my new techniques to 3D texturing/UV'ing for an art installation by Robert Waters.

Here are some examples of my assignments from Bobby's "Digital Painting" course. This is a purely technique-focused course. All the assignments were based on Bobby's artwork.

Click images for a larger view

Digital Painting Course Samples