Animating comical figures as a hobby

Kjetil Johannes Ottesen

Occupation
Lawyer/Barrister

Location
Bergen, Norway


Biography

Kjetil Johannes Ottesen is 29 years old and lives in Bergen, the second largest city in Norway. He has been drawing since early childhood. He usually drew either scary monsters or comical figures. These are still his favored subjects. His style of drawing has, in his opinion, not changed much since his early teens, although he has become better at it over the years.

I love (Toon Boom Studio). All that hinders me is in moviemaking is my own imagination (and time - I guess)

What are your most important accomplishments?

I guess my most important accomplishment concerning drawing must be when I won “Norwegian Comic Forums” best comic award in 2005 (I got the prize for Novus III) Concerning animation, my most important accomplishment must be this feature on toonboom.com

History with Toon Boom Studio:

About a year ago (actually after watching the movie “Be kind rewind”) Kjetil found out that he wanted to start making animations. This was totally new to him, and he knew of no animators. He started searching the Internet, and came upon the program Toon Boom Studio. It seemed intuitive, professional and cheap, so he bought it, and hasn’t looked back since for other applications like it. “Novus VII” is his first animation project. Novus numbers I through VI are not movies, but comics.

Do you create your animations using Toon Boom Studio only?

No. I combine Toon Boom Studio with Painter X, Soundtrack Pro, Garageband and iMovie.

Why did you choose to combine these products?

Because they supplement each other well.

[ watch the clip Novus VII ]

Please describe your workflow

I try to do most of my work in Toon Boom Studio, because I prefer the simplistic route, and the program works very well. Still, I use Painter X on some textures, for instance the fog in “Novus VII”.

I prefer to add sound effects after the animation is done in Soundtrack Pro. I find this necessary because I want to do a lot of fading, tweaking and adjusting.

I combine the finished movie in iMovie, since its convenient and easy.

What kind of animation do you create?

“Novus VII” is a (mostly) vector-based animation. I find that this suits my sharp edged black & white style. I try to make simplistic, stylistic and entertaining movies, which combine suspense, horror, and humor

What are your favorite features in Toon Boom Studio?

• Brush tool
• Stroke tool
• Peg system
• Side and top view windows
• Motion tool

What Toon Boom Studio features allow you to distinguish your animation productions?

The brush tool is great for my style of animation.

Did you experience any productivity gains in using Toon Boom Studio?

I have not used other animation software. I feel no need to try other applications at the moment (other than Toon Boom Animate, when I can afford it)

How do you feel about Toon Boom Studio?

I love it. All that hinders me is in moviemaking is my own imagination (and time - I guess)

Equipment used

IMac G5 - Wacom Intuos 3 A5