On Friday, I Have an Interview With...

I'm super excited and can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wish me luck!!!!!!!!!!! =D

The End is Near

Hey guys,

Here's another Cat Flap update. My goal is to have the animation done before the end of the weekend, hopefully Saturday at the latest. I'm unsure of myself since I've never animated a 2d character moving with a camera (that's how the door goes up).

I'm also unsure about the length of my credits. They feel too long, but my prof. said the cards should be held with one second per word. At the same time, he also said the credits should be 10% of the length of the film. I'm not sure how I can achieve both of those standards. I'm going to show it in class today and get his feedback on them.

In Mythology Class

I drew this....



Moonkin are very fun to draw.

Drawing for Fun

Hey guys,

I realized I had not drawn anything for fun in ages. Before going to bed last night, I decided to try my hand at drawing a night elf moonkin from World of Warcraft. I think it came out pretty nice, I wish I had drawn it in the corner of the page though. I think I did that because I wasn't expecting it to look very good. I'd love to paint it, but I dont have time right now.



Anyway, I love the design of ally moonkin. I'm not a druid myself though, nor am I an ally. I'm actually an orc warlock. I'm thinking of starting a night elf druid though because their moonkin are awesome!

Cat Flap Update

It's almost there!

Excitement

Hey guys,

Pixar's coming to SCAD next week to look at reels! I'm turning in my materials for them today. Hopefully I'll hear something back. I spoke with one of my animation profs. and told him the input I got from R&H about the shot order of my reel. We sat down and reordered everything and cut out a couple of shots. The version can be found on my website. For some reason it kept playing in slow motion and suddenly went from 45 seconds to 1:12 when I uploaded it here.

Jocelyn Cofer 2008 Demo Reel

Cat Flap Update

Scene 03 is having some masking issues, but overall it's coming along. I changed the ending based off of comments I received in my last post. Thanks a bunch for the feedback guys! I hope it's reading clearly now. =D

I cut the ending short since I ran out of ideas on how Priscilla can struggle. I asked my prof. in class today and he suggested simply cutting the time. I was thinking of adding a voice at the end saying "Mmmmoooooooommm, the stupid cat's stuck in the garage door again -_-". Do you guys think I need that? It was in my original plan for the film but I never got a chance to record someone saying it.

Prep Work

Hey guys,

I did some prep work for the painting I'll be creating for my world mythology project. It will be illustrating the Celtic goddess Cerridwen as a "white sow that eats the dead". That was part of her description in our textbook and I figured that would be interesting to try to depict, especially with my limited painting knowledge/skill/experience.

To prepare, I did a few sketches of some pigs and a painting test. For the latter I used tried the technique covered in this tutorial: Color Dynamics Tutorial. Granted, my sphere doesn't look anything like the final product of her tutorial. I did a blending pass over her technique and am pretty happy with the results (except for the reflected light). I've never blended "properly" before, as previously my blending was done with the smudge tool. This was a fun little test and I feel like I learned a bit from it.

Cat Flap Update

Hey guys,

Here's another Cat Flap update. I'm working on fixing a few issues with scene 05 and then it'll be ready for clean up and color. I'm aiming to have that done by the end of the day tomorrow, because I really need to start working on the last scene. It's imperative that I get my part of this project done by this time next week at the latest. I have a painting to do for my Mythology class and I wont be able to spend a lot of time on it if this animation isn't done.

A concern has been raised about clarity in scene 05. My friend saw an ealier version of the scene and said it was unclear that the cat was listening to the car approaching and why she was suddenly happy. She signed off before I got a chance to show her this version, so I'm not sure if those issues are still present. Does anyone feel like scene 05 (or any part for that matter) is unclear?

Interview Time

It's interview time! Today I have an interview with recruiters from Rhythm & Hues for their apprenticeship program. Wish me luck! =D

Conclusion

Hey guys,

I think I've decided what the hardest thing about 2d animation is: keeping your character on model. As I toil away at my senior project, I've found that keeping my own character on model is a constant struggle. I really enjoy 2d but I wish I knew how to over come this problem. I'm not sure if it's a lack of proper draftsmanship or not understanding the character's construction. I don't really have any problems drawing her body, but Priscilla's face is always difficult. I feel like she looks like a different character in every drawing.

I really miss 3d right now, lol. I think I'm going to shuffle my independent study assignments around so I'll have a 3d assignment before my 2d scene. In the meantime, I'm still really bummed about the Blue Sky thing. I keep thinking about how I'm missing out on a chance to animate one of the things I've always wanted to animate: dinosaurs. I tell myself that there's sure to be another film with dinosaurs in the future and that I might end up working on it, but it doesn't really help. I think I'd feel better if I weren't sitting here working on my senior project. I can't wait to work on something different.

Fresh From the Theater

Hey everyone,

If you haven't done so already, go see Coraline!!!!!!!!!!!!!! =D

Cat Flap Update

Hey guys,

Here's an update on Cat Flap. My midterm review went well, but I feel like I need to work faster. We essentially have four more weeks left for production....

More Interest

Awesome, I just got a call from Tippet Studios a few minutes ago! They received my work via AM career services and wanted to check my availability. They saw my resume stating I'd be finished at SCAD in the spring and said to contact them in early May. I told my father the good news and he made a great suggestion. He said to find out if it would be possible for me to take Senior Portfolio online so I can take the class while working in the industry. He agreed that it's ridiculous to keep having to turn down offers, when the whole point of going to school is to prepare you for a job.

I emailed the department chair a few moments ago to plead my case. If it wouldn't be possible to take portfolio online I also asked if I could present my reel and possibly get credit for the class. The purpose of the class is to create a portfolio that will appeal to studios, so wouldn't it be a waste of time if I'm already getting offers with my reel? I figured getting industry experience beats recreating a reel with the same work any day. I also told him I hoped it doesn't sound like I'm a slacker or like I dont want to do the work because that's not the case at all. I just don't want to have to keep turning down great opportunities.

Am I doing the right thing by inquiring about this?

If At First You Dont Succeed

Hey everyone,

Rhythm&Hues is coming to SCAD soon to look for animators and lighters for their apprenticeship program. I'm going to submit my reel again and this time I'll actually be eligible for the program since I'm graduating in the spring, lol. It seemed like they responded pretty quickly last time, so hopefully I'll get similar results. Wish me luck!

Good News and Bad News

Hey guys,

I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is, I got a phone call from...



I was really excited as HR told me about their temp animator position and couldn't wait to go. Then HR said the position was from now until March. I asked them about their website saying the studio needed people in July and they said that must have been an old post. To make a disappointing story short, I had to turn down the temp animator position since once again I'm still in school.

Luckily, HR said not to worry about it and to give them a call closer to June. They were really nice about it and said they'll see if there's anything open for me when I call.

Cat Flap Update

Hey guys,
Scene 03 is now ready for color! To make things even better, I actually like the animation this time, lol. I also changed the rough colors for the outside scene so they work better with Priscilla's pink. My senior II prof said there was a jump cut between scene four and five, so I added a short close up between the two to break things up. I like how it flows into the rest of scene five, but the transition between scene four and the close up needs some work.

Pickin' em Up!

Wow, it looks like Blue Sky's going to be full of AM students/alumni again for Ice Age 3. During Horton there were at least 15 AM animators working at Blue Sky, we'll see how many they'll have this time. So far Blue Sky's picked up 6 alumni in one week! AnimationMentor is taking over! =D

Cat Flap Update

Hey guys,

Here's an update on Cat Flap. I don't like how dark the lines became once leveled in Photoshop in scene 01. I'll have to go over my tie downs with a black pencil before I scan the final frames to help reduce that. I also really need to come up with a nice title card and a background for my credits. I'd like to paint a picture for both but right now all I have time for is working on finishing the animation so it can be sent off to color.

I'm currently working on tie downs and inbetweens for scene 03, so please excuse the sudden jump to blocking towards the end. I've already made a nice list of things to fix in the animation before approving it as final.

So It Begins

My reel arrived at Blue Sky today and will arrive at Disney and Sony tomorrow. Now the wait for a possible response begins. I'm hoping to hear from Blue Sky since their time of need works brilliantly with when I'll be finished with school. Being a temp animator there will be a fantastic way to start my journey into the professional world of animation.

It's funny though, I've been sending reels out for four years now but the wait is still the hardest part. It'll probably take a few months for any of the studios to get back to me (if at all), yet it's really hard not to count the days gone by and eagerly wonder if today will be the day.

This Afternoon...

I'll be sending reels to Disney, Pixar, Blue Sky and Sony. I sent my reel to Dreamworks for their Outreach program last month so there's no need to send them another one until the spring. I added a note on my resume stating when I'll be available for work. I also emailed one of my friends/contacts at Disney to find out when they'll be looking for animators for Rapunzel. Pixar and Sony's websites say they're both looking for animators but there isnt any starting information. I'm guessing they're looking for people now, and am not really expecting to hear back from them as the result. Blue Sky however, is looking for temp animators to start in July. So far they look the most promissing since I know I'll be available when they'll need people. I'm prefer California over New York (it's too cold) but Blue Sky is still high on my list of dream studios. =D

Out Into the World

Hey guys,

Here's an update on scene 01 of Cat Flap. Once I adjust the timing on the leg at the end, that'll be the end of changes to the animation and I'll focus on tiedowns for all of the inbetweens. I'm hoping to have all of that done by the end of Wed at the very latest.




I've also been chatting with my classmates on the AM forums about when I should start sending out reels for a job. I was worried about not being available immediately, but multiple people have suggested starting now. I think I'll add a side note on my resume that says I'll be available starting in June just to be sure.

Since this is my first batch of reels to be sent for an actual job position (rather than an internship), I'm only going to send it to a few studios. My current reel is in no way the final and I know I'll have a much better one in the spring. That's when I'll send it out all over the place, but for now I just want to test the waters and apply to the dream studios who've been sending me rejection letters, lol. I'm not expecting to hear back from them, but I'll give it a try. In the spring I would hope to get a response though from my true job hunting reel.

Cat Flap Update

Hey guys,

Here's another Cat Flap update. I'm a bit behind schedule thanks to a number of things (getting a new id sticker, running around trying to find my Mythology textbook and some drafting tape, inbetweens not working, not knowing how to use the batch scanner, etc.) but I've learned a good number of things from working on scene 01.

I learned not to try to make large changes to what's already there, nailing your timing charts before trying to inbetween (lol), keeping rough inbetweens rough despite the tiedown keys around them. I've also noticed that my characters tend to have small noses, which makes tracking them and maintaining their volumes quite difficult. Unfortunately, I think it's too late to try to adjust Priscilla's design. The main thing I've learned (though I still have trouble with it) is letting some things go. I dont have time to tweak the heck out of everything so I need to accept some things the way they are. As the result, I dont think any of the scenes in my film will end up being demo reel worthy since I wont have time to polish them. Once the film's finished, I might actually like it though, and may tack it onto the end of my reel just because.

Disney Fur Study

Hey guys,

I was dissatisfied with the blocking for Priscilla's fur in scene one of Cat Flap so I decided to try to teach myself how to animate fur convincingly. I think I had the overall concept but drawing the fur with proper variation was eluding me. I looked at the soccer scene from Bed Knobs and Broom Sticks and paid special attention to the lion's hair. This is essentially what I got out of it.

Just How Many...

Animators are needed in a feature studio? It seems like 95% of my friends and people I know at AM now work in a feature animation studio. I'm sure they're also hiring from other schools as well. I'm somewhat worried that there wont be free spot left when it's my turn in the spring. Most of me thinks that's absurd and that there will always be a need for more animators, but a small part wonders sometimes. I just hope there's a workstation at one of my dream studios waiting with my name on it, lol.

Maybe?

Hey guys,

Here's a rough sketch of Priscilla from Cat Flap that I threw together for color guide purposes. Originally I imagined her as a sparkly whiteish blue, but it felt inconsistent with her character. So far pink has been her best color, even though pink is one of my least favorite colors. I told my friend to feel free to change her colors if she feels like she has a combo that fits better. Plus she'll be coloring my film, so I wanted to make it as fun and free for her as possible.

In Need of Help

I could really use some help right about now. I spent the day trying to figure out how to animate my cat going up with the garage door. I have the door on a separate layer and simply translated it up in flipbook. That was easy enough, but the problem is animating the cat with the door. I have her performance all thumbed out, but I have no idea what the timing is. Because of that, I don't know what height she will be with the door during the different parts of her performance.

I know when a character has to move with a panning background he/she is usually animated in place. My problem is I need the cat to physically move up with the door. I'm not sure if animating her in place and then translating her up (like I did with the door) will work. I imagine it would work for the part where she frantically tries to pull herself through the flap, and when her body overlaps from being pulled off the ground at the end. But I'm not sure if it'll work for the part where she antics and launches herself out at the floor in an attempt to anchor herself, since she'll have to stretch a little as well as get dragged back in space as she goes up.

Does anyone have any ideas on what would be the best way to get this shot worked out? I spent the day trying to guess where she would be on different frames and the result is quite bad. =(

I Miss 3d...

I really can't wait for my senior project to be over. I still don't think it's very good and I can't wait to get back to animating fun, short acting clips. I also miss working in 3d, lol. This happens every time I work in one medium for a long time. This is also another reason why Disney would be such an awesome place for me to end up. I'd be able to bounce back and forth from 2d to 3d productions upon their completion. =D

Almost There!

Hey guys,

Here's a Cat Flap update. I only have one more "scene" to do and the rough animation will be done for the most part. Once I animate the garage going up and the cat with it, I'll have Sunday to make any changes and tweaks that are needed for each scene. I'll also work on getting some movement into the second scene. So far so good though. I still cant believe I've done all of this in two weeks.




If my winter break hadn't been filled with so may problems (>_<) I might have been able to tie everything down before the winter quarters starts. That's a large might though, since I still feel like I can't draw beyond scribbles with a tablet.

Reworking My Website

Hey guys,

I'm going to adjust my portfolio website. I'm going to get rid of the list of updates and just replace is with my demo reel. That way my reel will be the first thing visitors see. I'd also like to make my website more compact and appealing but I don't have time to do all of that at this point. In the spring I'll be taking Animation Portfolio and a website is one of the projects in the class. I'll work on redesigning my website then.

Halfway There!

I can't believe I have rough animation for half of my film already. I really hope this pace continues!
Truly knowing who your character is really allows you to work fast! Lol, it took me the entire winter break to get to know my character and now I'm finally able to animate quickly and (hopefully) with character. =D

Another Quick Layout

Rough layout for today's scene. I've decided to go with my new idea for the orange bits in my previous post. I think adding the element of character will be worth the time spent redoing that middle section.



Now that I've used tires and a pipe with wires as framing devices, I'll have to go back and add them to the scene one layout for continuity.

Progression Reel Update

I've added some new scenes to my senior project progression reel to see how everything looks together. I'm really uncertain about the tvp scenes (the orange ones). A couple of weeks ago I rethumbnailed most of my project and the orange scenes were done before that. They dont have any character to them and just look like a cat trying to pull itself out of the door. The bit I thumbnailed to replace this has more character to it. I'm not sure how long it will be though. I do know the new idea condenses those three shots into one, which is good. I'm just not sure if I should try to animate the new idea or if I should just leave what I have for now and move on. It sucks though because I dont like the orange scenes anymore.

Plus, SCAD doesn't have tvp so I'd have to lug my computer back and forth to Monty to work on those scenes, whereas the black scenes were done in my new version of Flipbook. I know they were talking about replacing Flipbook with ToonBoom last quarter but hopefully that hasn't happened yet.

Wow

Could it be? Animation that I actually like that I produced with a tablet?!?!?!?!? What's this, an entire scene roughed out in one day?!?!?!?? This is unheard of!!!!!!! Lol, after an entire winter "vacation" of struggle and strife, I've finally got a scene for my senior project that I actually like. I don't know what happened but I hope it continues so I can get the rest of the film done! =D

Big Update

Hey guys,

I think Bolt's been out long enough for it to be ok for me to post this. Here's the walk cycle I did while I was at Disney.




I also have access to my scanner again! Here's part one of all the drawings I've done over the break. There will be much more to come in the near future.

Scene 04 Rough

Here's a really rough version of scene 04 from Cat Flap. I've found that one problem that I keep falling into with doing this digitally is adding more and more drawings before I time everything out. More often than not, this results in soft, squishy animation. I've tried to get rid of that here, but I still don't think the pull has as much force behind it as it could. At the same time, I don't want this to be her hardest pull since, she isn't expending all of her effort yet. That will happen once the garage door starts going up. Then she'll be trying as hard as physically possible to escape from the cat flap.

As usual, all comments and crits are greatly appreciated! I hate working on this alone at home since there's a huge lack of feedback. I miss my professor and mentors. =(

A Struggle...

That is what trying to animate my senior project digitally has been so far. I feel like I don't have nearly as much control drawing wise using a tablet. I've drawn thumbnails of exactly what I want in my sketchbook in a mater of minutes, while I spend hours trying to redraw the same thing in Mirage. It's really aggravating since I know what I want, I just cant seem to draw it unless I'm using the good old paper and pencil. I've asked for a cintiq for Christmas since I figured it would help me significantly, but it doesn't look like that will happen. I would really like to just animate traditionally, but I don't have a way to capture my work to see how things are going.

I'm really having a hard time with this. I'm hoping it'll get better if I keep trying to push forward. It's really upsetting though. I feel like I would be much farther along by now if I were animating traditionally or in 3d, but neither of those are options now. =(

Outside Layout

Hey guys,

Here's a look at the outside the garage door layout for my senior project. I really like the version with noise since it gets rid of the preistine digital feel of the image. I want everything to be kept rough and loose since that's how I always draw and feel like it represents me as the result. Originally, I wanted to color everything with colored pencils but I think the image with noise maintains the rough look without the time consuming colored pencil process. What do you guys think?

Normal:

With Noise:

The version with noise also reminds me of 101 Dalmations for some reason...

Challenging

Hey guys,

Here's the rough animation that I did today. I was having a pretty frustrating time with this. I'm still reacquainting myself with drawing/animating via a tablet since I've been working traditionally for over a year now. I still greatly prefer it to digital 2d but right now I don't have a choice since I'm no longer at SCAD. Not having to capture my work before being able to watch it speeds things up significantly though.

Anyway, on to my main issue of the day. I have pages of sketches and thumbnails in my sketchbook but I'm still unsure of whether or not my scene is being done properly. I need the cat to step through the cat flap and take a few steps before being stopped by his fat. The problem is, I have no idea how many steps he can/should take before getting stopped. I also feel like the overshoot for that part can be pushed but each time I redraw it, it ends up being too much. I'll continue trying to work this issue out. In the meantime, any comments, crits, and or ideas on solving this problem are greatly appreciated!

Quick Update

Here's one of the rough layouts for my new senior project idea, Cat Flap. I think I'll clean it up during senior II (which is clean-up and color) and move forward into thumbnailing my scene, since I don't have much time.

In A Hurry

Here's a kuzco update. This is due on Monday, so I highly doubt it'll be nearly as finished as piglet. I think I'll try to polish up the Tibo scene the most since I like his acting. Right now Kuzco needs a lot of work. I think he rotates his torso too much when he says "yeah" but I'm not sure if I'll have time to change it.

It's Done!

There are still a few tweaks that I would like to make, but I really need to move on. I'm really happy with the scene regardless though. =D

98% There

It's almost done! I just have to fix his ears on "toilet", add a blink after "hey" and finish inbetweening "at the" and "store". I'm really happy that I continued to work on this even though it was due weeks ago. I'll be resubmitting Piglet on Monday with a 200% improvement over the original. Once I'm finished, I'll upload a small progression of the scene from start to finish. I looked at a couple of older versions of this and was surprised at how far the scene has come. Piglet will definitely be on my demo reel.

Yesterday's Life Drawings

Working Out the Kinks

I'd like to say I'll have this finished by the end of the day tomorrow, but I highly doubt that would be true. I have to go to the open model session as well as run a bunch of errands relating to graduation. I don't know if I'll have very much time to work on this, but I'll do my best to try as I'd like to be finished within the next day or so. It's turning out to be a nice scene and I'd like to put it on my demo reel. To do that I'll have to make sure it's as perfect as possible though.

Almost There

Hey guys,

Here's a piglet update. I'm working on his eyebrows now, trying to make the changes in his expression read better. I think the brows can come down faster before he starts to say "where". I also need to animate/fix his ears and decide what I'm going to do about "at the" and "store". It seem like "at the" works when the dialogue is played, but when the sound is off it looks like that section should be toned down. I'm still trying to work out my spacing on the transition from toilet to store. I'm not sure how I feel about it at the moment.




Here's a quick look at my next assignment. I dont have very much yet, but hopefully its enough to give people an idea of what I want. I'm trying to be really rough this time around. Last week, my prof. said you should be able to get a rough pass of a scene done in an afternoon. I'd like to have a really nice rough version of this scene by Monday. That way I'll be able to spend the rest of the time working on drawing the characters on model.




Right now I'm really leaning towards animating my senior project really rough digitally and then printing out the frames and drawing them on model traditionally. This should allow me to actually animate my film at home without having to worry about how I'm going to capture my scene every so often. My goal is to return to SCAD in the winter with at least some of my film on model. I've decided to go for a rough colored pencil look for the final film, so I wont need a bunch of clean lines. Once everything's on model, I'll go over each frame with colored pencil to finish it off. At least, that's the plan. Time constraints my force me to just paint bucket everything in Photoshop. Then again, that would require clean, smooth linework...

I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

Revamped Rough Animatic

Hey guys,

I've been thinking about my senior project and I've decided that I'm not sold on my Morning Stretch idea. I like the concept of a cat getting stuck on a garage door, but I don't think Morning Stretch was the best execution. In anthropology class I thought, what if a cat gets stuck going through the garage door? That way we can see his face rather than his back the entire time. I threw together a rough animatic and I like the new version 100% more than Morning Stretch.

My only problem is, I wanted the cat to respond to the fact that the garage door is about to open before it actually does. That way he'll already be struggling to escape as it starts to life him. My other problem is the fact that the garage door sound starts a bit before the cat actually starts to go up. Once I figure out what tips the cat off on what's about to happen, I imagine I'll be able to just move the garage door sound back to when he starts to lift from the ground.

Does anyone have any ideas of what the cat can respond to that will cause him to struggle desperately in preparation for the door to open?

On Monday I Have an Interview With:

Last week, I submitted my demo reel for Blizzards visit to SCAD. I'm applying for their internship since I'm still in school. I'm not sure if I'm actually eligible for it anymore since I wont be returning to SCAD next year. We'll see what happens.

This Little Pig...

It's getting there!

The Next Level

Hey guys,

Sorry for the lack of Piglet updates. I'm reworking the entire scene to incorporate what I've learned last Wed. It's taken me all weekend but I finally think I've got a solid handle on how to (hopefully) use squash and stretch on the face successfully. I understand the principle and the concept behind it and I can see how it's used . I'm just having trouble applying it to my scene. I think it's because I'm not used to doing so much at one time. In 3d, squash and stretch is something that I add towards the very end, but now I have to think of how I can use it (along with everything else that's going on) as I draw each frame.

Another thing I'm working on improving is drawing really rough. My prof. told me when he was pressed for time, Glen Keane had a scene of the Beast approved which was little more than dotted eyes and a squiggly line for the mouth. I've also seen how rough some of the animators at Disney work from looking at their scenes from Princess and the Frog. The thing I'm struggling with is drawing that rough while still maintaining volume. I imagine that's something that will improve with time and practice.

I wanted to have my Piglet scene finished enough to put on my demo reel for Blizzard, but the deadline for those is Friday and I know I wont be able to have Piglet 100% finished, completely on model, and somewhat cleaned up by then. I'm wary of putting a rough scene on my reel since all of the 2d reels that I've seen have had the characters fully on model and cleaned up. I wish I could put my Bolt work on my reel, but I have to wait until the film comes out first.

Today I learned...

Man, animating a character doing nothing is very hard! Everything I did today messed up my piglet scene. I was so afraid of my scene looking "posey" that I kept trying to over complicate/add small things that weren't in my original performance. I told my prof. I felt like I had to add small recoils and more opposite action in an effort to keep him alive. I told him I didn't have this problem with my Moley soup scene since the character was always doing something, whereas in my current scene Piglet is just relaxing on some bleachers.

My prof. laughed and said "animating a character doing nothing is hard isn't it?". He told me I was on the right track and that it should just be a series of simple arcs rather than a bunch of elaborite action. After class I had a long chat with my prof. and after an awesome demonstration, I feel like I should be back on track. My prof. liked my version from the other day, so I'm going to return to it and continue from there.

I'm going to try to loosen up Piglet's face throughout the scene as I go along. During my prof.'s demo I realised he goes about animating a bit more straight ahead than I do. I think this is why I was having so much difficulty creating a nice organic feel to the face. I'm going to try out his working method tomorow and see how things go.

Update

Here's an update on my piglet scene. I still have quite a bit of work to do before I turn it in on Wed...

Piglet Scene

I just realized I posted my golden poses pass on my Piglet scene on the wrong blog. As the result the golden pose pass and yesterday's pass will be uploaded at the same time.


Golden Poses




Yesteday's Pass

"Final" Moley Scene

Alrighty, here's what I turned in to class last week. I finally finished redrawing everything with the (hopefully) correct volumes. I'm going to make sure the first frame of my piglet scene will be 100% on model so I wont have the same problem. I could have inbetweened a lot of this if I hadn't spent the final week redrawing everything to match the first frame. There a lot of things that need to be broken down more and I have pages of things to tweak/fix.

I'd like to finish this and resubmit it, but I dont know if that'll happen. I still need to work on my senior project in addition to this new piglet scene.

Starting A New Scene

Hey guys,

I've started preparing for our new assignment in 2d character II class. We'll be animating a dialogue scene with Piglet. Thankfully the clip is short and is about 125 frames long, which is much better than my 400+ frame soup scene. Anyway, here are the thumbnails that I've done for the piglet scene and a few drawings from the model sheet that my prof. gave out.



I'll save the most recent version of my Moley soup scene after class and will upload it once I get back.

Really Old Work From Last Year

Hey guys,

I was preparing to burn my work from each year at SCAD onto separate DVDs when I came across my folder of work from my 2d character class. I don't remember posting it before and I think it was because it's really unfinished and doesn't flow together very well. In my usual fashion, I over complicated all of my assignments from that class to the point of not being able to finish. I would say I've gotte better at that, but my Mole assignment is 28 feet long when the assignment said it should be at least 7 feet, lol.

Anyway, I've decided to post my old 2d character work anyway, since there are tiny bits of the piece that I like.

Break it Down

I've added a few more breakdowns to the scene to see how everything is working. I have a long list of things to adjust and I'm going to rework the timing on some of the arm movements to offset them from the main action a bit more. I wanted to make the swallow more subtle but I was having trouble drawing a convincing squash pose without reversing the spine. I'll talk to my prof. about that on Monday.

Much Better

Hey guys,

Here's an update on my soup test. It's over 100 frames longer than the previous version but the acting is much better. My prof. and I really like it and I was told to just get as far as I can by Wed. I wish I had known how rough I could have drawn everything though. On Monday my prof. showed us some Andreas Deja examples from Hercules and told us to draw loose like that. I knew the varying degrees of rough that the guys at Disney work, but my mentor wanted me to work on keeping the main volumes in my roughs. Since I was used to working that way that's what I had been doing throughout this project. Now that I know how rough my prof. wants us to work, things will go much faster.

I'm just worried about when it's time to start tyingdown my drawings. I know I have volume issues gallore and am expecting to have to spend quite a bit of time fixing them. My prof. wants me to tiedown my main keys and some breakdowns to make sure the acting is clear. He said the inbetweens can get rough as long as they maintain the proper volume.

I'm really enjoying this assignment and I'm learning a lot. Now I know a better workflow for me may be to blast through the scene working super rough and getting all of the action in there working and reading. Then I ca spend the rest of the time working on volume issues and tyingdown the character.

In Need of Feedback

Hey guys,

My soup scene is getting way too long. The full version is well over 400 frames now, so if I'm going to be able to finish this scene I'm going to have to start cutting. I've already cut out the part where the Mole looks around. My next question is does the scene still work/read if I cut out the shudder at the end? I've uploaded a version with and without the shudder for everyone to see. Which one do you guys thinks works better?

The point of the scene is for the Mole to not like the soup he's just tasted but not want to let the nearby chef know he doesn't like it.


Whole Version


Cut Version

Update

I had to redraw a lot of my previous poses because of volume issues. Unfortunately, the new version of the poses don't feel as good as the originals. I've still got a lot of work to do...

Double Time

Hey guys,

Here's an update on the two projects I'm working on right now. The cat scene is for my senior project and the soup scene is for 2d character animation II. I must say that I'm enjoying the soup scene much more than my senior project. Both are very long and will require a ton of work to finish but the soup scene seems way more fun to do. I'm concerned about my senior project, so that might be why I'm not enjoying it as much. So far, what I have is 28 seconds long and it's just the first third of the film. The entire project was supposed to be 30 seconds total. I see I'm going to have to stop breaking things down and finish roughing in the rest of the film so I can get an idea of how long it will actually be.

First Third Blocking

Hey guys,

Here's what I have so far for the first third of my senior project. This was supposed to be the first 10 seconds but it's already grown to over 17 seconds (not including the sleep cycle). I'm not entirely sure what to do since there's supposed to be another bit to the scratching after the cat pulls down on the door. I was going to have him claw at it for a moment before he finally turns to leave. I feel like I should add that part since it's what cats actually do, even though it'll make this segment even longer. I'm not entirely sure though. I really need to keep this as simple as possible, but I still want to maintain proper feline behavior. What do you guys think?

Sorry about the weird jump after the sleep cycle. I captured the part separately from the rest and just realized the camera fielding is different. I'll correct this when I recapture the scene.

Thumbnails

Alrighty, here are the thumbnails I have so far. The ones in blue are for 2d character animation II and the ones in gray scale are for my senior project.

Senior Project Adjustment

Hey guys,

My senior project II professor likes my cat idea. He suggested having him scratch on something other than a chair to add more humor to the film. After much thought, I've decided to have the poor cat get stuck on a garage door. My professor started laughing as soon as I said that, so I guess that's a good idea. I have some thumbnails and will upload them when I get home after class. I also have some thumbnails for my first 2d character animation II project that I will upload as well. =D

New Rough Animatic

Hey guys,

I've changed my idea completely for my senior project after talking to some of the amazing guys at Disney. My new film will be about a kitten who gets his claw stuck in the chair that he's scratching on. It's about 30 seconds and is one shot, with one character. I'm not sure how much 2d animation I can do a week, but I know I can finish a 10 second 3d shot in two to three weeks so I'm pretty confidant that I can finish my new film, animation-wise. The thing I'm worried about is clean-up. It seems like the most efficient thing would be to hand over each bit of animation to clean-up as soon as it's finished, just like they do at Disney. I'm just not sure how much time my friend will have to dedicate to my project each week.

I'll work all of that out within the next few days. Anyway, here's my really rough animatic for my film.

Bernini Sketches

Hey guys,

Here are the sketches that I did at the Bernini exhibit in Burbank...

Update

Hey guys,

Here's an update on my Jake pose test. I am learning a ton from doing this scene! This is my first time doing dialogue in 2d, so that alone is a huge lesson in itself. I just went through my Rescuers Down Under clips and drew a bunch of Jakes mouth shapes to use as reference. Right away I saw that I'm not pushing my shapes nearly enough. His fat cheeks hardly have any squash and stretch on them at all, which needs to change. I also noticed that both corners of Jakes mouth are usually indicated to some degree in the film.


Overall I think my scene feels really stiff. I need to go through and loosen him up. I'll make a few areas broader and I'll add more anticipations. I also need to do another arc pass on everything. His hips need work as well. They loose volume in a few places and they could use some more bounce. Jake's ears and hat need much more drag and overlap.


I tried to keep things subtle but all I've ended up doing is making Jake feel very rigid. The Jake in the film has quite a few flamboyant, showman moments and I don't feel like that's being captured in my scene. Needless to say, this wont be finished by our Thursday review but I'm going to keep working on it regardless. I'll continue to work on it once I get home up until it's finished. I'd like to make this a nice scene with an on model character. I've got quite a ways to go.

The Most Beautiful Place I've Ever Been To

Today my friends and fellow interns went to the Getty Museum to see the Bernini exhibit. I've been to every museum in Washington DC and none of them come anywhere close to the sheer beauty of the Getty Museum. For those who dont know, it's a white marble open air building with contemporary architecture that sits on top of a mountain in LA. You can see the city, the ocean and obviously the surrounding mountains from the balconies. I was in awe by how beautiful the place was. Everything was spotless and the greenery was trimmed immaculately. I felt like I was in a palace. When you visit LA, the Getty should definitely be on your list of places to see, it's amazing!

The Bernini exhibit was pretty cool. We all wished there had been more full figure sculptures, but we had fun anyway. I filled quite a few pages in my sketchbook with gesture drawings and drawings of some of the sculptures. I don't have my scanner here, so I'll have to post them when I get home. I can show you the pictures that I took of the area though.

At Disney I have learned...

that I know next to nothing about animation. My education from AM has been marvelous and I wouldn't be here without it, but yesterday I saw how little I know about real feature animation. Yesterday evening I was privileged enough to have Ruben Aquino (the supervising animator for Jake from Rescuers Down Under) look at my scene. He liked it and said the acting feels like Jake, which was great news for me since I was convinced that it was all wrong.

I asked him to take a look at my timing charts and thats when he pulled out his awesome knowledge. Ruben spoke about the extreme importance of breakdowns and spoke about how he treats them like keys. Originally, I thought breakdowns were the drawings that indicate how something will arc. Sure I knew about using them to create overlap and drag, but Ruben just took the breakdown to a whole new level. They really are just as important as your key drawings. He also pointed out how useful they are when determining the timing of an action. Ruben warned me not to get too set on the numbers I had given my drawings because they might change based on how much ease in/out each pose will need.

I figured that much, but I didn't know how important the breakdown was to determining this. I thought I had added a good amount of breakdowns but apparently not. Now I am able to go through the amazing Princess and the Frog pencil tests and pick out which drawings are keys and which are breakdowns, to try to get a feeling for just how many breakdown drawings an animator might use in a certain circumstance. Ruben also told me the faster the action, the more fluid the breakdown needs to be. He warned that a breakdown thats too fluid in a slower action will make the action feel "noodley".

Ruben also revolutionized the way I view timing charts. He likes to put his breakdowns in their own charts rather than having one chart from key A to key B. Instead he'll chart from key A to the breakdown and then from the breakdown to key B. This was great because I had been confused by the fact that some animators would chart from key A to key B and place the breakdown in the middle, even though the breakdown drawing isn't the middle drawing.

More on that later, class is starting up again.

Update

Hey guys,

Here's an update on my pose test. I'm going to start putting timing charts on the drawings and will begin inbetweening soon. I've adjusted the timing using the dialogue reading I received, so now I can also start adding the proper mouth shapes on each drawing. I also need to check the volume of Jakes legs and to track my arcs.

Jake Dialogue Test

Right now I'm very pleased to be working on a 2d scene at Disney, and this time I can show my work to people. Here's my wip scene of Jake from the Rescuers Down Under. I need to finish the pose test today since this is my second to last week at Disney. As the result, I'm going to start drawing looser than what I have been. My mentor asked me to draw Jake the way I have, but for the sake of time I'm going to make it rougher. Once things are working I'll add more volumes like what I have now and then I'll show it for feedback.

I really want this to feel sincere and I'm not sure if that's happening yet. I want Jake to feel cool and confidant. I know cool characters are in control, so I wanted to keep Jakes movements minimal. They should be reduced mainly to head and small hand gestures. I'm not sure if his performance is sincere though, so any and all comments are greatly appreciated!

New Idea

Hey guys,

After talking with calarts animator and fellow animation intern Jesus, I've decided to change my senior project. I really like my squirrel story, but there's no way I'd finish 30 shots in 10 weeks to my desired level of quality. With all of his short film experience, Jesus was able to read my shot list and strip the essence of the story down to a simple six shot idea.

The theme of the story is still letting go, and I think I'm going to keep the same title. This time, it's about a guy walking through the cemetery to visit his wife's grave and the obstacles that he passes along the way. We start with him walking and he sees a couple standing together comforting each other. He's assaulted with mixed feelings of sadness, longing, melancholy. He continues and is approached by an attractive young woman. He hastily hides his wedding ring as she gives him a flirtatious look. He returns the glance and watches her pass by. When he brings his ring back out he remembers his wife and is ashamed by his behavior. The guy turns and continues to the grave. When he arrives he places the ring on the grave and walks away.

I really like this new idea since every shot is a great opportunity for acting. There's no dialogue and all of the characters feelings will have to come through via acting choices and glances. It's going to be all about what the character does and more specifically how he does it. Jesus mentioned the Milt Khal scene from Lady and the Tramp where Tramp wakes up in the train yard and stretches before getting a drink of water. That scene is 100% pure character, and having something like that on a reel should make you desirable for studios.

Since my ultimate goal with this project is to provide new reel material to help me return to Disney, I don't need an epic 30 shot long film. All I need is great acting and that can actually be done in one shot.

Princess and the Frog

Hey guys,

The teaser for the Princess and the Frog is up. Check it out:

http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/princessandthefrog/

I watched a screening of the film a few weeks ago and it was really fun. I'm looking forward to it's release and hope it does well. It's also really amazing to be able to watch and study pencils tests for the film as it's being made. Mark Henn pencil tests are astoundingly simple yet filled with sincerity. I cant wait to get a chance to talk to him and learn as much as possible!

Earthquake!

Wow, a hour ago a 5.4 earthquake hit CA. I've never been in an earthquake before and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. In my mind an earthquake means buildings being torn apart, the ground splitting, fire, screaming, death. Thankfully there wasn't any of that today. I didn't know what was going on at first. It felt kind of like being in a boat as it rocks back and forth. It wasn't nearly as violent and jarring as I expected a quake to be. I guess the feature animation building has and awesome earthquake proof design or we were simply saved by all of the Disney magic. The only damage done was a light fell from the ceiling not too far from my office.

The sad thing is, while people huddled under desks and stood in doorways I rushed back to my computer and hit save. Lol, we all may fall into the ground and die but at least my animation would be saved. XD

Once it started to die down people started cheering and clapping, lol. I wonder how the people in the ABC building across the parking lot reacted. When I went over there for lunch all of the business people were walking around as if nothing had happened, whereas everyone in Disney building had stopped working and was wondering around laughing, talking, and cheering.

Coming Soon

Hey guys,

Everyone on the AM alumni site is working on an awesome collaborative short film project. I'm going to be working on my shot after work and on the weekends. Here's a rough scene that I threw together in an hour to start blocking in my staging. I'm not happy with the giant post that goes through the middle of Bishop and his wife. I'll see what I can do about getting rid of that later, cause now it's time for bed.




In my scene, Bishop will be struggling with not being able to fall asleep. A ball will come in and bonk him on the head, knocking him out cold. I'm going to have him look at his clock and see that it's an ungodly hour in the morning. He'll be upset and try to take more sleeping pills only to discover that he doesn't have anymore. Then the ball will come in, hit him, and then bounce off screen.

The Dark Knight

BEST BATMAN MOVIE EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker was phenomenal! I'm going to stop right there to prevent any spoilers. If you haven't seen The Dark Knight yet, drop what you're doing and run to the nearest movie theater to get tickets for the next available showing right now!

Letting Go shot list

Hey guys,

After some great advice from my mentor at Disney, I now have the shot list I should have had back in Concept Development class. My mentor made some changes to all three acts of the film to make things read clearly. He also gave me a wonderful ending, which is awesome since my ending was discombobulated and crappy. If I keep all of these shots I'll have to finish three shots a week. I'm not too sure about that since I'm at work all day.

If there are any shots that you feel can be cut or reduced in some way, please let me know!!!!!!!!

Letting Go Shot List

1. Establishing vertical pan down to Larry’s front door. POS: Establish where we are. No Anim. (done)

2. LS Horizontal pan through Larry’s disheveled house. POS: Show how Larry’s grief has caused him to stop caring about the upkeep of his home. No Anim.

3. LS Larry sits at his bedroom table looking frail. POS: Introduce Larry and his state of being. Very little to no anim.

4. MS Larry’s looking down at his wife’s wedding ring and sadly looks up to the picture of them on their wedding day. POS: Establish that it’s his wife’s ring.

5. CU Larry puts the ring in the box and lowers the lid. POS: Clearly show the ring’s new position.

6. MS: Larry gets up and leaves the room. POS: Establish that he’s no longer in the room.

7. LS Larry trudges out into the living room and dozes off. (wip)

8. ECU Larry’s eyes POS: begin dream sequence. (done)

9. MS Larry and his wife are having fun at a carnival. Fade to white. No Anim

10. MS Larry’s at his wife’s hospital bed. It turns out she has pneumonia. Fade to white. No Anim. (done but want to redo)

11. LS Larry visits his wife’s grave. It’s under a small weeping willow sapling. Fade to white and end animation-less montage. (done but want to redo)

12. ECU A crashing sound startles Larry from his memories. (done)

13. MS Larry’s disoriented and confused from the jolt back into the real world. Another crash helps him remember where he is. Larry gets up and goes to investigate the sound.

14. LS The thief hulks in the foreground. He hears Larry coming and takes off. Larry enters the doorway a moment later. (wip)

15. LS(Over the shoulder) Larry sees the thief’s tail disappear out the broken window. He looks over to the jewelry box. Very little anim.

16. CU The jewelry box is broken and empty. No Anim. (done)

17. MS Larry is horrified and runs to the window.

18. MS Larry squints as he looks out into the woods sadly. He realizes he’s in the light and steps back into the shadows.

19. LS Larry sulks for a bit within his gloom before deciding to go after the ring. He runs for the window and jumps out.

20. CU The thief’s feet tear through the grass with Larry a bit behind him POS: Establish how close Larry is to catching the thief. (done)

21. LS The thief comes to a dead end. In a ditch effort to save himself, he throws the ring into the nearby lake.

22. LS Larry spots the ring as it falls into the water and changes course immediately. He dives into the lake. (done)

23. LS He drags himself out of the water. Larry lifts his hand to look at the ring. (wip)

24. ECU Larry’s hand opens to reveal his wife’s dirty ring. Very little anim.

25. MS Relieved, Larry proceeds to wipe the ring off. The sound of happily twittering birds interrupts him. He looks up and realizes for the first time that he’s actually outside.

26. LS Pan of the wonderful outside world. Stop at the weeping willow. No Anim.

27. MS There’s something familiar about that tree, but Larry can’t place it. He goes closer to get a better look.

28. ECU Larry pulls back the leaves to reveal his wife’s grave beneath the branches. Very little anim.

29. LS Larry approaches the grave, in awe at the size of the surrounding tree. Has it really been that long?

30. MS Zoom in on grave as Larry approaches it. Allow time for its inscription to be read, as if Larry is reading it. No Anim.

31. MS Larry smiles fondly at what he’s read. He looks down at his wife’s ring and tenderly places it on top of the grave. Larry notices his own ring as he brings his hand back. He considers it for a moment, before sliding it off. He reaches forward to place it on the grave.

32. CU Larry gently places his ring beside his wife’s. He waits a moment before slowly turning to leave. The camera zooms in on the rings slightly as his shadow moves away from the grave, indicating that he’s leaving.

33. LS Larry emerges from the willow tree. He takes a deep breath, smiles and walks down the sunny path before him.

The End

Letting Go Update

Hey guys,

I was able to animate a shot for my senior project today. I think I would have gotten further along if I had used a different program. I spent at least three hours changing and adjusting things to get my frames from flipbook to work properly in Pencil. Once I was somewhat happy with the animation I tried to export it out as an image sequence since the movie function doesn't work on the Windows version of the program. It looks like that doesn't work very well either. All of the frames came out negative and at random sizes. I wasted more time fixing them in PS so they were visible, only to find out that the save function doesn't work on the windows version of pencil either.


To my horror, the shot I spent all day working on wouldn't open. I had to import each frame individually and then register them properly despite the resizing. I tried again to save the project without any luck. So I finally went over to the mac side and redid all of that. Thankfully the save function on the mac version works, lol. I don't think I'm going to use Pencil anymore, but if anyone else is thinking of trying it avoid using it on Windows!

I think I'll try out Plastic Animation Paper next. Anyway, here's the rough animation. I'll do a polish pass on it later.



I really like this version of the shot MUCH better than the original. While working on my Disney assignment, my mentor kept telling me to push my poses further. I kept that in mind while I animated this shot. I think it's a 200% improvement from the original.

For some reason blogger has cut out the last few frames of the shot. I'm going to have to add more time at the start and end anyway, so hopefully that will be resolved after I do that.

First Day at Disney

Yesterday was my first day at Disney, and man was it amazing! We got a tour of the studio lot and got to see the original animation building. We also went through the ink and paint department and learned about the cell creation process from blank to fully painted. At the end of the day we went to the famous wizard hat topped building...

I was blown away by the gorgeous artwork that was all over the place. You literally couldn't look somewhere and not see beautiful drawings. I know I'm going to love working there. During lunch a clean up artist spoke to me about his experience at Disney. He had been there for 20 years and loved every minute of it. He said its such a great environment that 10 years will go by without you even noticing. Lol, I really wish was here for a job rather than an internship. I'll have to make sure I get a call from Disney when I finish school in May!

I wont go into more detail due to NDAs but believe me when I say Disney's feature animation studio is an outstanding place. Being here is really a dream come true, and that was just my first day! =D

Kung Fu Panda

Hey guys,

I just got back from seeing kung fu panda...it was amazing!!!!!! I think it's Dreamwork's best 3d film so far. Everything about the movie is gorgeous. I especially loved the art direction, the color and lighting choices reminded me of golden age disney films. Everyone should see this awesome movie! Huge congrats to everyone at Dreamworks for a job very well done.