Animation from the movie "Howl" (2010)

Howl is a 2010 American experimental film which explores both the Six Gallery debut and the 1957 obscenity trial of 20th-century American poet Allen Ginsberg's noted poem Howl. The film is written and directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman and stars James Franco as Ginsberg. (from wiki)

My role on Howl was as the animation art director, and animation production supervisor. I would take storyboards from animation director John Hays, and designs from art director Eric Drooker, and use them to direct the crew at "The Monk Studios" in Thailand. 

One of the biggest challenges we faced on Howl was figuring out how to bring John and Eric's vision to life on such a tiny animation budget. Working with CG supervisor Salvador Simo, we broke each scene down into 2D elements, 3D elements, cut-outs, matte paintings, and full 3D sets. The 2D sequences were animated and rendered by my students from "The Animation Workshop" in Viborg, Denmark who joined the crew in Thailand for 3-4 months.

For those that are interested, you can see the original proof of concept for the film  HERE.

From the final film... see some film stills HERE... and a few color scripts and designs HERE.

Howl Testing

A while back I was working in Beijing, and was asked to make a test for a feature film about Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl." This was a film to be directed by Oscar winners, Rob Epstein, and Jeffrey Friedman. The look was to be based on the art of illustrator Eric Drooker, who had known Ginsberg personally... illustrating his book "Illuminated Poems."

Above: An early test for "Howl."
A big thanks to Eric Drooker, and Jeffrey Friedman for allowing me to post this test.

The background art in the test is actually from one of Eric's paintings, which has been broken down into layers in photoshop. The character design was intended to give the feel of German expressionist sculpture. The animation, though a bit clunky in the test, was enough to prove to the directors that animation would work in illustrating the poem, and this test would be used to help raise finances for the film.

Above: My design for the character. Inspired by German expressionists such as Oswald Herzog.

After a few years, and a few false starts the animation for "Howl" was created at The Monk studio in Bangkok. I would go on to art direct the animation for the film with Eric, and supervise the production in Bangkok. With John Hays serving as the animation director. While the final film would have more bells and whistles than this test. There is something about the simplicity of this that I still like.

Howl Opens!

After opening the Sundance Film Festival in early 2010, "Howl" the film, is now finally getting a wider release!

The film is basically a drama centered on the obscenity trial Allen Ginsberg faced after the publication of his poem, Howl.

Starring James Franco as Ginsberg... The film was directed by Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman... with animated sequences directed by John Hays. The animation design was inspired by ILLUMINATED POEMS by Allen Ginsberg and Eric Drooker.

I served as the animation art director, and animation production supervisor on "Howl" at the Monk Studios in Bangkok. "Howl" was an artistically and technically challenging project. The film had a tiny budget, and a tight schedule. It was fun to work on something so experimental though, and I think we made the most of it. I was also able to work with one of my childhood heroes, illustrator / art director Eric Drooker who provided numerous designs and inspirational illustrations for the project.