Due in UK cinemas on Friday 22nd March, “The Croods” is the latest 3D computer animated movie from DreamWorks Studios.

The 3D, prehistoric, comedy adventure follows the worlds first modern family as they embark on a journey of discovery. When their cave, which has always protected them from danger, is destroyed, they are forced to leave everything they know behind. Travelling across an incredible landscape, the Croods discover a whole new world filled with fantastic creatures, and their outlook is changed forever.

The voice-over cast includes a wealth of well known talent including Nicholas Cage, Ryan Reynolds and Emma Stone. See the official trailer here

So far, we’ve reached February and we’ve already been out on the road! At the beginning of the month we braved the icy weather and visited the annual Subsea UK conference and exhibition in Aberdeen. It was great to catch up with some of our existing contacts and also to speak to some new people regarding potential new projects. We have many more conferences lined up for the year so be sure to say hello if you see us out and about!

We’re also looking forward to spending some time at Teeside University on Wednesday for their annual Animex festival. We’ll be taking a stand in the market place for the day, hopefully networking with other industry professionals and speaking to some of the students. Look out for our stand and come and say hello!

We’ve recently been working on the development of our Kuro-Bot character, and re-working the story of how they came to be. Kuro-Bot has featured on our blog and website many times in the past, and has formed a strong connection with our brand, however, our storyboard artist has been continuously developing further ideas and we will be introducing “Adventures of the Kuro-Bots” very soon.

We thought we’d share a few images of the development process here, so you can share the journey with us. The final design and finished product will be coming soon so look out for updates. We’d also be interested to hear which of our designs is your favourite!

It’s time to officially welcome in the new working year now we’ve settled back into routine following the Christmas break.

2013 looks set to be an exciting year ahead for Kuro Dragon. We’re already working on some great projects and have many more in line for the coming months. Keep up to date with our recent work by checking our showcase

We’re also always on the lookout for talented people to come and join the team. We’re currently looking for 3D Generalists (preferably 3DS Max based) however, we’d love to receive applications from 3D modellers, texturers, animators and motion graphics designers. Working for Kuro Dragon has some awesome perks including working with some amazing clients, flexible working hours, a fantastic view over Newcastle, and a relaxed studio environment (with added Friday beer fridge and a never ending supply of sweets )

If you’re interested in a role with Kuro Dragon, please submit a CV AND a link to your work to kelsey@kurodragon.com – we look forward to hearing from you!

This year has proven to be a fun, exciting and greatly successful time in the Kuro Dragon studio as we continue to grow. We’ve enjoyed working with all of our clients, and attending all of the conferences and networking events throughout the year.

2013 looks set to be another exciting year, with a number of new projects lined up allowing the opportunity to expand our international client portfolio. We also have a long list of conferences we’ll be attending nationally and internationally so look out for us and come and say hello!

So, to finish on a festive note, Merry Christmas to everyone and best wishes for 2013!

We thought we’d leave you a little advice regarding speculative applications as we often look through numerous emails and CV’s and want to scream with frustration. First and foremost, read, re read and read again before sending any letters or emails. Please ensure your spelling and grammar is correct. We want to be really impressed by you, and if the first impression you give us contains mistakes, you’re presenting yourself in a really negative manner.

Secondly, streamline your message to be really precise and informative. We’re not looking for an essay, just a quick introduction and description about what you do and the role you’re applying for. Always include a link to your work in your first message. That way we can get a really good idea of your skills and capabilities without sending numerous emails back and forth.

Finally, and most importantly, do not cram your show reel with basic work, its better having a shorter, more impressive show reel than a longer one padded out with simple work. We only want to see you working to the best of your ability. We want you to wow us, so that we can’t wait to meet you and hear what you can bring to the team, so please spend a small amount of time perfecting your application, as it will definitely be beneficial in the long run.

We hope you take these tips on board and look forward to reading/viewing your applications! Please send any emails to Kelsey@kurodragon.com.

Good luck!

So, we asked Kurobot to share his knowledge and teach us all about the origin of animation.

Motion in art can date back as far as Paleolithic cave paintings, a very very long time ago! Paintings of animals with many legs in various positions is noted as the first attempt at conveying motion. Other pieces include sequences and phases of movement in both animals and people painted onto bowls, plates and murals.

Animation before film dates back to the 1600s where numerous devices were used to display animated images. The magic lantern, invented 1650, used a translucent oil painting and a lamp to project images onto adjacent flat surfaces. It was often used to display monsters and demons to convince people they were witnessing supernatural events. (We have ours ready for Halloween)

The Thaumatrope, invented 1824, was one of the first devices to demonstrate the Phi phenomenon, the human (and Kurobot) brains ability to persistently perceive an image. The device used a small circular piece of card with different images on each side, strung onto a central cord. When the cord is spun between the fingers the images appear to merge into one creating a moving image.

Possibly the most well known origin of motion picture is the humble flip book. Invented 1868, a flip book features a sequence of animated images on the unbound edge of each page of the book. When bending the pages back and flicking through the book the images merge due to the rapid replacement of each image with the next, forming a short animation.

The silent era of animation began in the late 1800s with the production of short stop motion animations, the most famous of which, produced in 1920 was Felix the cat. Felix was the first merchandised cartoon character and became a household name.

1923 marked the beginning of the golden age of animation when a small studio “Laugh-o-grams” went bankrupt, and its owner, Walt Disney opened a new studio in Los Angeles. This was possibly one of the most significant events in the history of animation.

The first Disney productions include “The Alice Comedies” series, “Song Car Tunes” and “Dinner Time”, however the most notable breakthrough entitled “Steamboat Willie” featured an anthropomorphic mouse named “Mickey” neglecting his work on a steamboat to instead make music with the animals aboard the boat. This would mark the development of animation in our generation including TV, and CGI animation.

Image sources: Silent London, Education Eastman House, The Local, Good Comics, Animation Connection

We also noticed that they all seemed to be quite recent CGI movies and when we stopped to consider all of the older classics we opened a whole new can of worms! (we’ll save that for another post).

What do you think? How would you order our list?

In no particular order:

Toy Story 3

How to Train Your Dragon

Lion King

Finding Nemo

The Incredible’s

Happy Feet

Megamind

Cars

Despicable Me

Ratatouille 

(take a look at our showcase )

To justify our opinion, we think this demonstrates perfectly why animation should be left to the real professionals. Take a still frame from a popular animation, replicate it in Maya in 30 minutes and this is what you’ll get.

NOTE: This is what we could be watching, if Kurobot and the team weren’t here to save us all!

1. Shrek and Donkey

2. Toy Story 3

3. Finding Nemo

4. The Incredible’s

5. Spongebob Squarepants

6. Jimmy Neutron

Source: http://badlyrecreatedanimatedfilmframes.tumblr.com/