Ahco Development 3: Early Character Development-Charts

1997 version of early character development: turn arounds & comparison charts
The entire snake sequence had to be cut out, although they are my favorites!

Ahco Development 3: Early Character Development-sketches

1997 Early sketches of characters

Ahco Development 2: Concept of 'Elephant'

Even though I had strong interest & desire to study animation, there wasn't any school that offered animation classes in Korea in the early 90s. So I went to the Art College and studied Painting, while I found every possible way to learn how to create 'moving images'. Gathering all information from all sources, I was able to make a few films, one of which is my undergraduate thesis project, 'Circus', 1996.

There was one sequence that I didn't get to complete due to the deadline of the thesis review. (I was shooting thousands of cels and papers under 35mm back then, so I could't simply 'add' afterwards.), which was the 'Elephant' sequence.

After graduating the school with Painting degree, I decided to pursue further study in Animation and prepared the applications for the graduate schools in US.

One of applications materials was the development of a new film.
As I mentioned in the previous posting... I found the note about the Cheetah brothers, while I was searching for a new idea for the next film. I watched a lot of documentaries for the research and found out that elephants (well, all animals in the wild life...) have the similar stories as the Cheetahs.
Predators, territories, love of the herds, and circle of life... etc.

Therefore, there was my concept of 'Life of an elephant'

Ahco's Birthday: March 5, 1997

I just found a note that shows the inception of the 'Ahco' project, which marked as March 5, 1997! 15 years have passed by.... ha.

I had to work on 3~4 part-time jobs after graduating the college (to pay bills, and also had to save money to go to the grad school...), so it wasn't easy finding the time to make progresses on the film..., but I remember really looking forward to going home all day, to work on it.

Korean title that I started with in 97'

Ahco Development 1 : Inspiration

Sometime in the mid- 80's (I believe that I was in the junior-high school in Korea), I watched a documentary about the cheetah brothers... I started watching it expecting it to be a happy cuddly animal story, but it turned out to be very sad & tragic. Set on the African wild life, Cinematography was very beautiful and story was so powerful and unforgettable. I decided to write it down on my notebook after the show. This was around the time that I started developing my interest in moving images & animation art... although I don't think that I meant to make it as a film later.

However, over 10 years later in 1997, I was flipping through my old notebook and found this summary of the documentary. Who knew... this was just a beginning of my 15 year film production...

'AHCO ON THE ROAD' Production notes

As the release of my new film, 'AHCO ON THE ROAD' is only a few weeks away..., I plan on sharing the development and process of... this over decade-long production here...

Concept development, Idea notes, sketches, boards, and design and motion tests...

Coming soon!

Group Exhibition in Michigan

I had this amazing opportunity to be a part of the group exhibition, " Into the Woods and Through the Veil", curated by Jesse Gregg, at the C.O.D.A Gallery in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

\

A pic from the CODA Gallery Opening

Into the Woods and Through the Veil

One out of three pieces that I made for the group exhibition, 'Into the Woods and Through the Veil.

Title: Whisper
Year: 2013
Mixed Media: Watercolor & Acrylic on paper, Printmaking and Digital compositing

Where There Here screening

'Where There Here' will be screened at the BAICFF: Bay Area International Children's Film Festival on Jan. 26th,  in Oakland, California.

Dream sequence

I decided to keep the dream sequence very simple with a focus on lines, different from other sequences with heavy usage of colors and textures.

Ahco dream sequence

Color test for the dream sequence

Whisper campaign for P & G

We worked on an online campaign for P & G's Whisper (feminine product).
The production time was very tight: but thanks to our crew, we were able to finish about 3 min. animation within 3 weeks. We will make an edit of the portfolio version and share here soon.

Here are some images of visual development and final film.

Whisper

Client: P & G
Ad Agency: Creativia
Producer: Shinhee Kim

Production: YELLOWSHED
Director: Soyeon Kim & Todd Hemker
Designers: Soyeon Kim, Todd Hemker, Jisoo Kim, & Steve Eat
Animators: Todd Hemker, Soyeon Kim, Ethan Clark, & Jisoo Kim
Music: Maxwell Vann, & Handmade
Sound: Handmade

Spec illustration

'Transparent Movement' screening in Chicago

My experimental film, 'Transparent Movement' will be screened at the Landmark's Century Centre Cinema, in Chicago (Chicago's first all stadium-seating cinema dedicated to independent and foreign language film), for the Indie Boots Film Festival.

It will be Chicago premiere.

Illustrations

'Where There Here' screening in Toronto

Sand animation 'Where There Here' will be screened at Toronto Kids Film Festival in April.
It's a Canadian premiere. How exciting...

"Trick or Treat"

Todd made this wonderful Halloween e-card for the American Greetings.
I helped him with some plants design for the opening shot.
Click to watch the e-card, 'Trick or Treat?'

'Dexter' web episodes pitch spec work

Back in 2010, we were asked to pitch for the animated web series of a big hit Showtime drama 'Dexter'.
We didn't get the project, but it was a nice change to work on something more dark and serious, compare to our usual light-hearted designs.
I worked with two talented artists, Steve Eat & Alex Rico, who did such amazing jobs!
It was disappointing that we didn't get to showcase these wonderful artwork to the public...
So here they are!

Art director: Soyeon Kim
Designer/Layout Artist/Illustrator: Steve Eat & Alex Rico

Design/Layout/Illustration by Steve Eat

Design/Layout/Illustration by Alex Rico

Soyeon's films at the Poppy Jasper Film Festival

'Father and Sister' and 'Transparent Movement' have been selected for the Poppy Jasper Film Festival (Nov. 12-14, Morgan Hill, California)

I am very honored to announce that 'Father and Sister' was chosen as the Top 10 films of the Festival, by Morgan Hill Times.  Here is the excerpt from the article:

"Father and Sister: Soyeon Kim's creative media film tells an O'Henry story using very basic but beautifully drawn animation. This 5-minute stained-glass window gem considers how a series of coincidences inside a church leads two religious people to find romance. "

To read the full article, click Morgan Hill Times.

Soyeon Kim interview with psd tuts+

Here is the part 2 of the Yellowshed interview with Michelle Krasniak for psd tuts+
with a title, 'Soyeon Kim: Organic Designs, Handcrafted Motion'
Part 1 is with 'Todd Hemker: Art in Motion'

It was such an honor to have this wonderful opportunity.

American Greetings Interactive

Here is a design sample I made for the American Greetings: I-pad App.

YELLOWSHED's commercials 'Noodle' & 'Family' selected for the Animation Festivals in Europe

Two commercials for MCL Restaurant & Bakery have been selected at the Animation Festivals in Europe.  More news to come!

Screenings:

Holland Animation Festival (Utrecht, The Netherlands)

Bradford Animation Festival (Bradford, United Kingdom)

Cinanima (Esphino, Portugal)

AniFest (Teplice, Czech Republic)

Seoul Int’l Animation Festival (Seoul, Korea)

Citrus Cel Animation Festival (Jacksonville, FL, US)

Krok Animation Festival (Moscow, Russia / Kiev, Ukraine)

Anima Mundi (Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

Anim’est (Bucharest, Romania)

Cartoons on the Bay (Roma, Italy) -Nominated for the ‘Pulcinella Awards’

For more production information, visit YELLOWSHED blog

'Family'

'Noodle'

Additional spec design for the commercial pitch

Art Direction by Soyeon Kim

Illustration by Soyeon Kim & Steve Eat

Style frames for the commercial pitch (Spec Work)

Art Direction by Soyeon Kim

Illustration by Soyeon Kim & Steve Eat

Father and Sister Won Another Award!

Father and Sister won another award: Golden Reel Award at the Nevada Film Festival!

Soyeon's films are available for sale at IndieFlix!

Soyeon's 4 independent films are available for sale at IndieFlix!

Here is the link: http://www.indieflix.com/search/?q=soyeon+kim

'Father and Sister' Won an Award!

Father and Sister won 'Best Animation Award' from Jersey Shore Film Festival that was held in New Jersey from July 8th to 18th