NHL Stadium Series Animation!

Happy New Year everyone! I couldn’t be more excited to share my latest commission with you…an animation for the inaugural games of the National Hockey League’s Stadium Series! It will air for the first time on New Year’s Day during the Winter Classic on NBC.

From the time I became interested in illustration as a career I have wanted to work in film and motion. I used to experiment with video and animation and I’ve worked as a storyboard artist and concept designer, but I had yet to put my stamp on a project until this opportunity came my way late last year.

When I received the call from NBC Sports naturally I was excited, but when I found out it was for ice hockey, I could not believe it. I have been a life long fan of hockey…I even play (street hockey) every Sunday.

I’d like to thank Lorin and Lindsay and the whole team at NBC Sports for having the creative vision to do something DIFFERENT on national television, and for allowing the creative vision to come to life. I would also like to thank the members of Studio 1482 for their support, and  fellow Studio 1482 member Despina Georgiadis for her brilliant work with the art direction and storyboards.

Last but not least, a special thanks to J.J. Sedelmaier, who worked as the animator on the project. His professionalism, experience, and sense of humor made the process seamless and enjoyable from the first frame to the last.

Below are some shots of the process and the animation. You can also view the animation on YouTube and Vimeo.

 

 

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Working on a Wacom Cintiq 22HD

 

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The “PERFECT” sequence

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Yankee Stadium key frame

 

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Dodger Stadium key frame

 

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Drop em’ in!

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Rangers vs. Devils key frame

 

Comments (14)

  1. Jim McCarron

    Congratulations Greg, big hockey fan, I enjoyed the presentation. Looking forward to seeing more ! Keep up the great work.

  2. Tom McCarron

    Greg: Congratulations on your NBC Hockey illustration. They are fantastic! Keep up the fabulous work……we are extremely proud of you.

  3. Greg

    Great to hear from you Uncle Jimmy. Thanks for writing. Hope all is well!

  4. Greg

    Uncle Tommy, thanks for writing. Happy you got to see the animation, look for it during the Olympics too! Hope you’re all doing well.

  5. Nicole M.

    This is so awesome Greg! You did such an amazing job. Congrats 🙂

  6. Moish

    Congrats on this big milestone! The animation is great, and NBC is definitely big.
    I’ve been following your blog for a few years and love the spontaneity and aliveness of your work. I always look forward to your new posts.

  7. Greg

    Thank you Moishe. Great to hear from you…look for more posts soon!

    Greg

  8. Greg

    Thank you Nicole. Very cool of you to write.

  9. Audrey Hawkins

    Congratulations, Greg! You did a beautiful job!

  10. Greg

    Thank you Audrey. Happy New Year!

  11. Pete

    Excellent animation Greg, what a great project !

  12. Greg

    Thank you Pete. It was a lot of fun to do.

  13. Guy Fieri Grillin’ For Greatness | greg betza i l l u s t r a t i o n

    […] For Greatness campaign. Again, I was asked to draw a stadium! First, NBC Sports calls for the Stadium Series and soon after, Guy. The theme behind the stadium imagery is that his recipes (and Miller Lite) can […]

  14. Marisa

    Please tell about which tool to create your antiomian. There are many kinds of animated program is available on net, which are depends upon creating images. And check your publish or export settings is loop or static!

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