Keep them doggies rollin’

Dogtown is the best hot dog place in Rochester, and I’m not just saying that because my friend Chris Nakis is co-owner!

Chris is also a producer, and he’s currently doing a documentary about his two main interests: photography and bow-hunting. They have more in common than you’d think!

For the doc, which also touches on his role at Dogtown, he needed some animation of the company’s mascot. Here’s what I came up with. (No sound.)

How did I get there? Pencil drawings! I started with the legs.

Then came a rough of the body. Just trying to get the walk cycle right.

This last test shows the biting of the hot dog.

You’ll notice the camera shake around a bit. I was shooting these tests in my living room on my phone, without a traditional camera stand. Jumpy, but gave me an idea of how the animation would work once I cleaned it up. (I’m actually working on a down-shooter rig for my iphone so I can shoot steadier tests that way.)

Next, I scanned the pencil drawings, imported to Adobe Flash, and did my clean-up inks digitally.