Magic Box Assignment

Hey guys,
I just finished the first part of the third Magic Box assignment. We were supposed to use the lasso tool to make random shapes, fill it in with black, make it a mask, and then turn the silhouette into a creature. He didn't want us to simply draw a creature since people tend to draw what they know, are familiar with, or some variation on something that can already draw well. Whereas this method would force us to come up with something new. It was really challenging to do this without drawing something first. Lol, I started over three times before settling on this shape. It was hard not to try to for the silhouette into something too early on. Part 2 will involve taking our exploration image and developing it into an actual character/creature. =D

I'm enjoying alternating between animating and painting. The question now is should I proceed to part 2 or pause to do some animation? Hmmmm...

Updated Reel

Now with Cloudy 2 shots! =D


Jocelyn Cofer Summer 2013 Demo Reel from Jocelyn Cofer on Vimeo.

Polishing

Hey guys,
I'm working on polishing this up and wanted to post a playblast to see if anyone has any critiques. If so, please feel free to point out whatever feels off! =D

This Evening's Update

Ok, the back is looking much better. I changed the arc on the screen left front leg (and adjusted the back in relation), so the legs on both sides are different. I'll update the screen right side tomorrow. It's definitely getting there though. I wanted to make sure this worked from various angles so I could use this cycle in the future with minimal adjustments for whatever camera angle the shot happens to be. That and making sure the cycle works from each side is teaching me a lot about dog mechanics. =D

Trot Update

Cleaning things up and working on the front/back view. There's still something about them that seems off. Hopefully I'll figure it out tomorrow.

Trot v2

I did some clean up on the legs, toned down the chest rot y, worked out the neck a bit and did some posing work from the front view. It still needs a lot of adjusting, so I didn't save any of the playblasts from that camera. If I'm able to work on this tomorrow, I'll have a front view ready to show. This exercise is really teaching me a lot about dog mechanics! =D

Trot Wip

During my unemployment I figured it would be nice to continue my animation education on my own. I love animals and thought it would be fun to do some quadruped tests. First up is a show trot of a well bred dog. According to dog show judged, the trot should appear effortless and indicates a dog that will be able to work efficiently for long periods of time. I used a basenji for reference. Here's a look at what I have so far. Everything's keyed on 1's since the trot is so fast and requires specific poses. I still have some clean up to do, but am happy with the direction this is going in. =D