The beginning of a journey!

 I took a short drive from Killeen, TX where I was serving in the Army at Fort Hood and arrived in Austin, TX to visit a friend of a friend to see if I might have the talent to help Wienot Films make the whiteboard explanatory videos that tell wonderful stories. 

The task was to have a few characters and some vehicles to draw and make a little demo video to have Wienot Films be able to show to potential clients. As time passed the style that I offered was picked up by different clients and since then I have been an active part of the company since then.

In this video we included some big trucks and I had the pleasure of working on several videos for clients that were truck companies in one way or another. It has been an amazing adventure to work at Wienot Films and being able to use my artistic skills to help others bring their dreams to life. I have been really grateful for all the opportunities that have received as being a part of the Wienot team!

My spirit animal, the American Buffalo.

I have to admit that I am more of a fan of the term Buffalo but it is because of the symbol of the creature and not so much the actual factual about the creature. I love that historically they had their own territory as they roamed the vast North American continent. These amazing creatures roamed from Alaska to the Gulf of Mexico. Although these most powerful creatures once numbered in the excess of 10’s of millions they were once hunted to near extinction and only with massive intervention have they recovered to roughly 31,000, even if these numbers are restricted to only a select number of national parks and a few reserves. 

The sacred white buffalo “Big Medicine” represented all the sacred power of the mystic and real world around us. The buffalo symbol represents the sacredness of live and the abundance of resources around us. The buffalo is a symbol of self sacrifice and it will continue to give until nothing is left to offer. 

I love the idea of living up to the symbol of this great creature and one small way for me was to create this fun little drawing. 

Back to School Whiteboard Animation

It is an exciting time of year as kids are preparing with new clothes and ‘educational’ electronics. The elementary kids get to fill their new book bags with lots of shiny school supplies and everyone waits with anticipation to see who the new teacher will be for home room and find out how much school work they might be able to get out of in chemistry class.

For parents, it is a bit of a break for school to start, don’t get me wrong. We parents will be busy bussing kids back and forth to school, the science project due at the end of the first semester has to start this week planting seeds, and sack lunches don’t make themselves. But after a summer of keeping the next generation of leaders entertained and busy during the past summer, the school year is a welcomed break. Even if the school year brings work and worry, there is a moment of reprieve to which parents look forward.

The team at Wienot Films wanted to make this fun whiteboard animation to honor you. We recognize the hard work parents do both during the school year getting their middle school band students to that odd timed performance and all the hours of entertaining, carpooling, and care-taking during the summer months with swimming lessons, play days at the water park or skate park. We hope that after the kids get into class you can take a moment to yourself or maybe enjoy a cool beverage with a friend. But don’t take too long, you have the early pick up duty in the carpool this week. Good Luck and enjoy the show!

DirectDep's Mascot

One of the recent whiteboard explainer videos we produced at Wienot Films provided me a unique challenge. In addition to the regular storyboarding and final drawing of the whiteboard footage, I also had the challenging assignment of creating a cartoon mascot of sorts to represent the company. The company, DirectDep, provides a services connecting court reports doing depositions with attorneys who need them. I was thus charged with creating a fun mascot in the look of a stenograph machine. We affectionately called her Deppy.

We went through a few different versions of Deppy, getting feedback from the client throughout the design process. After narrowing the design to a specific look, I had to create two main versions: one with wings and one without them. We always want clients to be happy, so I even ended up producing different wing options to make sure we got everything just right. 

Another unique challenge of this video was creating a very stylized, more realistic look for the characters instead of something more cartoony. Our whiteboard characters are usually a bit more loose and less realistic in their style, making this video a fun challenge. At Wienot Films, we like to produce all kinds of whiteboard videos--from cartoony people to animals to toys to robots--so when I got the challenge to make the characters more realistic, it was a fun challenge. Plus at the end of the day, we always want the client to be happy. 

So with that introduction, here’s the final video:

For your next hand drawn whiteboard animation from Wienot Films, contact Marc and tell him Jim sent you. He’ll get you started on your next explainer video in style!

Canon Whiteboard Animation

One of our recent whiteboard video projects with Canon was a wonderful adventure. I always enjoy listening in to the early conference calls as the various representatives from Canon talk about what the new explainer video will depict and show. 

Wienot Films is dedicated to creating great stories and really crafting the perfect script for each clients' explanatory video. I personally don't deal a lot with the wording of the script but I do all I can to ensure that I put as much effort and perfection as I can into the drawings on the storyboard. This amazing attention to each word compels me to hone my own craft as I begin to work on the character development for each whiteboard animation. After I complete the initial round of character work I will start to draw out he general layout for each scene and the work of the sketch video is well underway. 

Usually when I receive a script and begin the early work, I begin with the characters. There is typically one main character, but in this particular Canon video, we used a whole family and depicted them on a safari vacation. ti is always fun to design a whole family, especially when I can use my own children as models for all the hand drawn characters. This video reminded me of similar situations on vacations with my own family. 

My favorite scene in the Canon series of videos has to be the family photo in which I had the chance to show how much fun we can . have when we want silly faces to remember the fun we have on our adventures and wild vacations. I took a little extra effort to have the dad do something I personally like to do that may or may not embarrass my children in the family photo. 

Here's the whiteboard animation we created. It talks about interchangeable lenses and different considerations to keep in mind when using them. I hope you enjoy the show!

If you want a similar whiteboard animation, get in touch with Marc over at Wienot Films. Tell him Jim sent you and we'll be sure to take good care of you!

An awesome experience!

Alien Animation

     I have been working really hard trying to keep up with regular work along with learning the software here at Wienot Films. This project has not only been a great learning experience but so exciting to be able to take a simple idea and turn it into this sweet video. I am excited to get working on my next little project!

     Working at Wienot Films has been an amazing journey making some neat explainer videos for all sorts of clients. This video was a chance to learn some new skills and push the software in different ways that aren't always needed on client work. We try to take the needs of each client and combine it with a great story and interesting visuals. This whiteboard projects has not only been informative in learning the software but I always get such a kick out of seeing the final project being played. 

My physical therapy team!

I don't remember how the opportunity presented itself but I was asked to draw on the whiteboard at the place where I do physical therapy for my shoulder. I tried to use my style of character while depicting a little about each of the individuals that work there. My therapist is the tall captain on right and the technician is on the left. The major in the middle is always there but I have not had the pleasure of working with him for therapy but we always exchange pleasantries and he was the one that asked for the drawing. I included a couple of sound bites from each, just a few things that are commonly said.