I just love new stories that I see people working on. Everyday folks trying to tell a story they've had in mind for as long as they can remember. Michael Foster is one of those people. He is currently working full time as a designer to "put food on the table" but by night he is achieving his dream of telling his story through animation with Strata. With great character design and a mastery of strata Michael has begun something, I think will become a big success.

I asked Michael some questions and the answers may inspire all of us late night animators to keep at it. Take a look at what he has to say about his storytelling and how he got to this point so far.

S.S. - Can you tell us a little bit about yourself, and what your days consist of involving design and strata?

M.F. - Well, it all started on a dark stormy night....only kidding. Like most designers I grew up drawing and still do. I originally was a potter and had a small studio for a few years that pretty much failed before it began. At the time I was also engaged to be married and my Father-in-law to be told me in a very blunt way, that is was time to get a "real" job. So I worked during the day and took computer classes whenever I could and the rest is history. Even though I don't spend my days behind my potter's wheel anymore, I do see how it's helped me make a transition to 3D. It's very similar, because you have to be aware of every side of the form you're working on. The major difference is that 3D modeling is less messy than working with clay.

As far as how design and Strata affect my day to day routine is concerned, half my day at work is spent behind my drafting table doing concept drawings and the other half is spent taking those drawings and modeling them in Strata. It's proven to be a great tool to show our manufacturing vendors exactly how a product's to be made. They get to see what they're making from every possible angle so there's little chance of error

S.S. - How long have you been in the design industry and what made you decide to try 3D?

M.F. - I've been working as an illustrator and designer for about 13 years. About 7 years ago, the company I work for wanted to implement 3D art into its work flow. I was asked to investigate a number of 3D applications and found that Strata was the best program that suited our needs.

S.S. - What is your favorite aspect to designing/illustrating with 3D?

M.F. - There's a number of aspects I like about working in 3D, but I guess one specific thing is how it takes the guess-work out of proper perspective. I've been drawing for years, but gaining proper perspective in a scene is still a challenge at times. I use Strata when I get stuck. I can set up a bunch of primitives place my camera where I want, render it, and I have a great piece of reference to work from.

S.S. - I have seen some of your images from a project you are calling The Beans a Silent but Deadly Fight. Can you tell us a little about the project?

M.F. - The first time I sketched a Bean© character was around 1992. It was a silly single panel cartoon that had a bunch of beans dressed as Indians riding bareback on their pinto bean horses into a colonial style town. The caption under it read, "The lesser known Boston Bean Party" like I said it was silly. When I started using Strata I decided to re-visit the Beans© and began sketching and modeling the characters while coming up with their story.

"The Beans©" is about a group of misfits that aren't truly accepted by their community simply because they look and act different. When an evil force threatens the existence of the last free bean village which is forced to live as nomads in fear of being found, the misfits ban together to prove their usefulness by trying to put a stop to this evil threat. Along the way, each character deals with their inner demons and ultimately realize that being different is simply okay and that their individual differences, when joined together is a tremendous force to be reckoned with. Pretty deep subjects for Beans, huh? Oh yeah, and their "Silent But Deadly Fight" takes place in a large grocery store, mostly after hours. I'm unwilling to give too much more away, but the story unveils a deeper reason why this evil threat has emerged.

I'm currently setting up a website dedicated to "The Beans©". It's not designed to show a completed animation right up front, but rather it's development. It will have things such as character designs, character bios, storyboards and animation tests, plus some neat downloads.

S.S. - How do you find Strata fitting in your workflow for both The Beans project and other projects you use it with?

M.F. - Strata's been a life saver for some of the deadlines at the company I work for. For example, most of the products we make have to be photographed for our catalogs. But a lot of time the products don't get to us in time to be shot. I've used Strata to create a 3D model of the product, render it and use it in our catalogs.

As far as the Beans© are concerned, I don't think I would have even thought of developing the story if I wasn't using a 3D program like Strata. It simply helped to create the look I was after.

S.S. - Mac or Windows?

M.F. - Mac

S.S. - Who or what is your biggest influence in your 3D art?

M.F. - I'm not sure I have one big influence. I think I get inspired by what other 3D artists I see online and in the magazines are doing. Of course one major influence is Stratacafe and all the great 3D artists there. I'm not sure what other online 3D forums are like, but the artists on Stratacafe are some of the most helpful and encouraging people I've met.

S.S. - What future projects will you be working on with Strata that we can be looking forward too?

M.F. - Well for now, my current project, "The Beans©", will also be my future project. Although I do have a few other ideas that I hope to get to some day. One in particular is called "Bad Food" I've posted a few test images of it on my Stratacafe site. !

S.S. - What advice would you give a new or potential user to Strata?

M.F. - Don't give up on the program so easily and don't underestimate it simply because it doesn't have a huge name recognition like some of the higher end 3D programs. Strata gets more powerful with each upgrade.

S.S. - It seems that you have a love of story telling. How does 3D animation play into that for you?

M.F. - I love story telling and creating new worlds. I enjoy just letting my imagination go wild, coming up with new characters, their personalities, how they interact with other characters. It reminds me of when I was a kid, playing make believe. 3D animation is simply another tool to tell a story. If a story's not good to begin with all the 3D modeling and animation is not going to make it a better story. It might look pretty and cool, but people know a bad plot when they see it.

You can check out Michael's web site www.thebeansonline.com here or send him an email at info@thebeansonline.com if you have more questions for him. Or his Strata Cafe profile.