Merry Christmas!

A Papercut History of Christmas

Did you ever wonder where all the traditions of Christmas come from?  Here's a few of those answers. :D 
Check out this Christmas animation I made for Upworthy! 

Merry Christmas From The Power Family!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all! 

December Update

I am hard at work on a Christmas video I was recently commissioned to do.  It's going to be pretty neat I think!  So expect that before X-Mas.  I also recently finished a new music video which may or may not premiere before the end of the year.  It's a super busy time right now.  I am also working on all the finishing touches for Path of Blood, which I am planning to release early next year. 
2015 is going to be very eventful I think.  I have several projects planned, ranging in style and ambition.  I really hope I can get to all of them.  Some are already ready to shoot, others are mostly planned out.  I think this is the most ideas I've had going at one time.  Stay on the lookout!

Here's a still from the upcoming music video!  It's one of my favorite videos now.  I'm super excited to share it with you all.

Emma Hill - Lioness

Moving in shadow, a mysterious woman pits herself against a nefarious band of villains in a globe trotting adventure. Stop motion shadow animated music video for Emma Hill's song "Lioness" off her new LP "Denali". 

Visit her site to hear more wonderful music and purchase her latest album if you enjoy it (spoiler: you will)!  emmahillmusic.com

Process shot

I just wrapped animation on a current music video project.  This is going to be a good one!  Very moody and atmospheric.  The editing process has begun, and it's looking really awesome so far. 

I took a photograph showing a little behind the scenes into my animation process.  Here I am positioning a spider into it's next pose.  :)

Robot Love!

Earlier this year I was commissioned to make these little guys for an ad.  I actually have no idea what they were used in, but I like them nonetheless.

Current Projects

I am currently finishing up animation on a new shadow animated music video! It's looking quite good! I have a bunch of projects I am looking to start up on soon, but the first order of business is Path of Blood.  A few finishing touches are needed before the film is ready for its release, which is coming soon!  It's been a long time in the making and I am thrilled to finally get the film out into the world.  Expect a release date in about a month.  Yay!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM ERICPOWERUP!

Hey everyone! 
Happy Halloween!  I hope you had a great time this year.  We sure did!  

Path of Blood in Thriller Chiller Film Festival

Path of Blood will be screening in Grand Rapids, MI as part of the Thriller Chiller Film Festival taking place October 22nd - 25th!  I am very excited about this fest.  I've been hoping my film would be selected since it sounds like such a fun event.  I will be attending for sure!  If you are in the area I would very much like to hang out with you.  I know it is kinda close to the Chicago area.  Let me know. 

Path of Blooooood!!!

Hey everyone!  Exciting news!  Path of Blood will be making it's debut at two festivals in the coming months!  Arizona Underground Film Festival on September 20th and the New Orleans International Film Festival in mid October. 
I'm thrilled to finally show the film to a live audience.  This is just the beginning!  More news coming soon.

New Projects

I have a slew of new projects in the works, as well as some very exciting news coming soon!  Keep an eye out!

Morning Ritual News!

My short film, Morning Ritual, has been roaming the world at a few film festivals.  The film played for a tent full of enthusiastic kids at Camp Bestival, as well as down in Sao Paulo as part of an animated shorts program.  It will be playing soon as part of Film Brothers Fest at an art museum in Delaware.  Pretty cool!

Path of Blood - The Videogame!!

What if Path of Blood had a tie in video game?  What sort of game would that be?  Well, I wanted to answer my own question, so I made a 'what if' video to showcase what (in my mind) it would look like.  Being a longtime fan of games such as Shinobi and Contra, I always imagined a game of my own design would follow suit and exist as a traditional side scrolling platformer.  Like many tie in games for films, I decided to throw in a ton of elements that are absolutely not in the movie... why... I have no idea.  Many Birthdays created an awesome version of the film's main theme, reworked to sound like a 90's era game! I love it so much!!!

So... what do you think?  Would you play something like this? 

Path of Blood the film is coming soon (no joke)! More info. on that relatively soon. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what to do with it. Stay tuned!

One Second Per Day 2014 (FIRST HALF)

Check out the first half of 2014 with us! This year we decided to focus on our daughter Lily. Grow Lily, Grow!

Ephemerid: a musical adventure game

Earlier this year I was approached to make a game trailer for Super Chop Games latest release: Ephemerid. The art in the game was created mostly from cut paper! Matt and Brent from Super Chop gave me full creative freedom to reinterpret their game in my own style of cut paper animation. Here are the results!
The game is super cool!  It is a musical adventure where you help a mayfly through a most atypical day (I think...although I am not a mayfly so can't be sure).  It's a heck of an experience and I think a ton of people are really going to dig it. The game is now available for iPad and you can find out more about it from Super Chop Games site.  If you have the means, definitely give this one a go.

Morning Ritual

A monster wakes to a familiar sound and begins his morning ritual. I was inspired to make this short film after spending several sleepless mornings with my daughter, Lily.

Dedicated to the dads!

UPDATE:  Thank you Vimeo for the Staff Pick!  Golly guys & gals, I just wanna run up there and give you all a big hug!

New short film coming soon

I've been working on a new mini short film for about two weeks in my spare time.  The animation is starting to come together now that characters have been designed and I've settled on a story.  The film is more of a slice of life, a small glimpse into the world of a new father as he takes care of his little monster in the wee hours of the morn'. It's inspired by real events!  As it is a very small production, I figure I should be finished pretty soon.  If people like it, perhaps I'll flesh out the concept more in the future.  Enjoy these screen grabs in the meantime!

Facebook 'Paper' ad

Earlier this year I was asked to create a small animation for Facebook's advertisement of 'Paper' - a new mobile app they developed.
I animated a crazy cat in space which I took to calling Cat Cadet.  It's featured in the advertisement a few times.  They cast a guy that plays the part of the animator, so you get to see him playing with the props I made on a lightbox, shooting a frame, and very interestingly getting an ultrasound picture from his partner at the end of the video.  I like to think since I told the client my daughter was on the way, they wrote that part into the ad.  I'm probably wrong, but it's super cool regardless.  It's like a bizarro version of me (with the ability to grow facial hair, and with a better studio setup).
Below is the ad followed by a few stills I grabbed showing my 'part' in the whole thing. :D
A huge thanks to everyone at Wieden + Kennedy for commissioning me!

Current work update

Greetings!

2014 is shaping up to be a very eventful year.  My animation output has been steady, although some of my work has yet to be released.  I'm currently about to start animating a really fun project I've been preparing for a local game developer.  The artwork I've designed for this animation is some of my most detailed yet.  I'm very interested in seeing how it turns out. 

In my spare time, I am working on some pre-production for a short animated film I would like to make.  It's an in-between projects thing, since I still very much want to take on some more animation jobs. 

On top of these small projects, I am planning something quite a bit more ambitious with a friend of mine.  It's all a bit top secret, suffice to say, we have been forming a plan for the past year and have been kicking this grand idea around for the past 5 years.  Hopefully it will come to fruition.

On the Path of Blood front.  Still waiting to hear back from festivals.  My fingers are permanently crossed at the moment.  I put a ton of work into the project, so I am very anxious to show off my efforts. 
Stay tuned!

Welcome Lily Claire Power!

On February 10th, my daughter Lily Claire was born! She is gorgeous, and Alicia and I are beyond thrilled to welcome her into our family. I can't wait to make her a ton of cartoons!

Storyboards and One Second a Day Update!

I am just about finished storyboarding a new short film I plan on creating.  It's a children's short animation that I hope to pair with a book eventually.  These things take either funding or slowly working on them in spare time (of which there is usually very little).  It's nice to get things organized though.  I think it would be a good one! 
Also, it has been a full year since Alicia and I began our One Second per Day video project.  We didn't miss a single day.  We are going to keep it up, since it has already formed into a habit (plus it's really nice to have all these videos to look back on).  Check out my storyboards and the video below:

House of Never - Fine Day

Check out my latest animated music video for House of Never's song "Fine Day".
I had a lot of fun making this one, especially the character designs of the various woodland creatures and aliens... yeah aliens!

THE OFFICIAL PATH OF BLOOD POSTER!!!!

The start of another year

I'm always very excited to begin a new year, and this one is no exception.  I've got a lot of exciting things on the horizon for 2014, not least of which is the upcoming premiere of my feature film: Path of Blood!!!!  YEAH!!  More on that soon.  I also have been finishing up animation on a soon to be released music video (still below), and have a few exciting projects of my own in the planning phase. On top of all this excellent work related fun, I am also awaiting the arrival of my daughter Lily (very very soon guys!). 
I have a feeling 2014 is going to be amazing.