My How To Train Your Dragon fan art, and my new view on CGI animation.

After seeing the very first giant cardboard movie promo thingies for How To Train Your Dragon on my way out of seeing Princess and The Frog, I can't say it sparked my interest. Here was me, an aspiring strictly traditional animator coming out of the first hand-drawn animated Disney film in years, satisfied and happy, and now seeing some little CG scene kid riding on a giant black winged salamander-looking thing. I was frustrated. Why can't they give CGI animation a goddamn rest I thought. But then, I got to see some actual coming attractions for it, and it changed my perspective on it a little, until I heard the character's names at least. The texture mapping on the dragons was STELLAR, and the character acting looked solid. I never brought myself to see it when it was in theaters, mostly due to lingering disinterest, until my History of Film Comedy teacher, Roy Frumkes, kindly treated my class to a private 3D showing of it in Times Square, Manhatten. Chris Sanders and Dean DuBlois also kindly took time out of their busy schedules to visit and do a Q & A, VERY EXITING! By the time the credits rolled, I, the stubborn, discerning, 2-D animator, was left in an overwhelming, dizzying state of AWE and wonder. From start to finish, 'Dragon' touched every soft spot in my heart. As an avid fan of all that is epic fantasy, and DRAGONS/fantasy creatures overall, the satisfaction that the film left me with was unforgettable. Hiccup was a very strong lead character, the layout was just SUPERB, and Toothless was the most charming, adorable creature character that I've experienced in years. It truly changed my perspective on 3D animation, mostly due to the charm infused into it by a staff of FORMER 2D animators. All who haven't seen it yet, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT. Its already in the top tier of my favorite films of all time.

Oh, and here's some fan art by me! Cheers!