Pictures

Hey guys. I've been so busy with my assignment that I'd forgotten to post a picture that I had drawn on Sunday. Sorry about that.



Week 6 Sketchbook Assignment:

Ugh...

Wow, I do not feel well at all. I spent literally all day on the arms of my character and they're still nowhere near how I want them to be. I don't know what's wrong with me lately. My character doesn't even seem that frustrated/angry in my shot. The arms are killing me, and I haven't even gotten to the second half of the first shot, let alone the second character and the second shot. I seriously wish I wasn't so slow. I don't have a lot of time left and have a ton of work to do.

I saw the AM student showcase reel, it's OUTSTANDING! None of my work was on there of course. I can't even animate angry arm swings (-_-) so there's no way my stuff would be on there. Maybe next time...

It Just Gets Better and Better

Man! First the two Victor Navone lectures, now a lecture on polishing with Andrew Gordon, a special frame grabbers session with Michelle Meeker and now this! I just found out that one of my friends from AM got an interview with ILM! Oh man, AnimationMentor is so awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All of this has happened already and it's only Monday! This just keeps getting better and better! I am SO glad I signed up for this program! I feel like I'm overflowing with inspiration! I want to animate for hours now! Sadly it's after midnight and whenever I work late at night I tend to have to redo stuff in the morning. I'll just review the recoding of tonight's Frame Grabbers session tomorrow to rekindle my flame. ^-^

Incredible

I just finished watching The Incredibles and Jack Jack Attack and I discovered something astounding...I can now analyze Pixar animation! I was able to see their subtle use of squash and stretch, overlapping action, follow-through, etc. Not only that, but I understood why they used what they did. I was able to analyze the acting choices that were made for the characters and how they responded to things. I noticed the animators use of eye darts and understood why/how they were used. I noticed jaw arcs, the timing/spacing on the eye brows, and the shaping of the character's eye lids in relation to the eyeballs. It was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!! Obviously I've been unable to actually analyze Pixar animation up until now. I would always be blown away by it (I still am) and left it at that. I never really noticed things like that before in their work, let alone understand how much and why they were used when they were. That Victor Navone lecture really opened my eyes to how things are done and why they're done that way. If he and everyone else at AnimationMentor were here I would kneel before them and thanks them profusely for the knowledge that they have imparted upon me!

Sadly, it's almost 10:30 at night and thus too late to start refining my shot. I'll try to bundle up all this energy and use it when I wake up tomorrow! :D Hopefully this new found knowledge will be applied to my shot, LOL.

Redwall

I'm reading a book from the Redwall series and have become inspired to draw animals. The characters in the story are so adorable. It would be really cool if one of the feature studios made a film about one of the Redwall stories. It would be even cooler if I am working there when they do it! I would love to help bring Brian Jacques' character to life on the big screen!

Anyway, I drew one of the otter characters from the story. You can probably expect more/better character drawings in the future.

Blocking Pass

Here's the blocking for my new assignment. I would have posted this on Sunday, but I spent yesterday and up till now today tweaking and revising things. I really like it, I think this will turn out to be a nice scene.

Blocking

Also, here are my sketchbook assignments from the past few weeks. Sorry about forgetting to upload them.

Week 5


Week 4


Week 3

Best Lecture Ever cont'd.

I just finished watching part two of Victor Navone's lecture...It was mind blowingly good! I feel like I've literally watched him bring Bishop to life rather than simply animating him. My deep respect for Victor and his peers has increased a hundred fold. After taking pages upon pages of notes, I will now try to implement what I've seen into my shot. :D

Best Lecture Ever!

The Victor Navone lecture is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Busy Week

Hey everyone. Sorry for the lack of posts. I've been very busy this week. Sadly, that business wasn't because of my work. It's been a rough week emotion-wise and as a result, I didn't get as much done as I would have liked. I've got to learn o deal with it though...I know it'll happen again. On a happier note, I now have access to the entire Victor Navone shot walkthrough and will spend the next four hours absorbing information. :D

Today's sketch

Revision

I spent a few hours revising my Playing with Matches shot. It looks much better now...

Revised Shot

Practice Makes Perfect

Earlier this week I received a commission which requires me to draw in the Boondocks anime/graffiti/sequential art style. I'm very excited about this since I've been practicing with that style for a while now. The fact that I have a commission will force me to get a move on with mastering that style and will speed up the advancement of my drawing skills. In fact, I want to spend the rest of the day drawing, LOL. Hopefully I'll be able to finish setting up the layout for my new AM project before the day's over. If so then I'll draw until I start to fall asleep, LOL.

Anyway, I did some studying last night. I looked at some Boondocks pictures and noted how the character's eyes, brows, noses, and faces were shaped. I also went to one of my favorite sequential artist's portfolio site and studied how he drew the same things as well. I'm making progress...

Here's my attempt to draw my alter-ego character in the graffiti style. I like all of her except her chin. That part didn't come out the way I wanted it to. Other than that I think she looks cool. With practice she'll look even better though. Oh, the lines below her are studies that I did of graffiti fire and part of a hand, LOL.

Sea Lion

While I was waiting for my video reference for my new AM assignment to export, I noticed a post card with a picture of a sea lion on my desk. I had drawn a cartoony version of his face yesterday and decided to finish the picture. My lack of knowledge on sea lion anatomy is painfully apparent, but the picture's cute anyway. I can't draw water at all...

Duck

I drew something today!

Rendered Version

Ok guys, after spending waaaaayyyyyyyy too long messing around with a global illumination script, I've finally gotten my shot rendered. I've been told that it would be a good idea to post two versions, since people running on Linux can't view QT files with the H.264 compressor. As a result, I'll post a H.264 and a Sorenson file so everyone will be able to see my work.

Playing with Matches H.264

Playing with Matches Sorenson

This Week at a Glance

Hey guys, sorry for the lack of posts as I've been quite busy this week.

First off, my stepfather's dog was saved. They got him to the hospital in time and he was able to make it through the night. It turns out his intestines were infected for some reason.

Monday's and Tuesday's have become busier for me. I have to go to this high school in the morning and help the kids there with their summer projects. I didn't want to go, but it's turning out to be better than I thought it would be. Although, when it's time to get up at 7am my body begs to differ, LOL. Thankfully I don't have to stay there all day. I get to leave at noon since that's when the kids that I'm helping leave. After that I spend the rest of the day doing my usual AnimationMentor assignments.

Friday was my birthday and I had a wonderful time with my best friend and my significant other. I'm 20 and officially no longer a teenager, yay!

Last, here's what I turned in earlier today for my assignment. I plan on rendering this tomorrow when I get back from the high school. The file's kinda hefty since I had to include a face camera shot as well as some audio choices for my next project.

Class 4 Week 3

A Death in the Family

My stepfather's dog will die very soon. He's very weak and is quite dehydrated. The vet says there's something wrong with his intestines...Either they're blocked, turning in upon themselves, or are infected. They don't expect him to make it through the night. Though I referred to him as "stupid dog" many times during his life, I really feel sad for him. He doesn't deserve this...

Class 4 Week 2

Alright guys, here's what I turned in on Sunday.

Week 2 Refining

The lipsync gave me some trouble at first. It turns out I had tweaked it too much and made the ease in/out too extreme for the amount of frames between each shape. After I toned that down it worked out well. I like my bouncy brows too, but my mentor says to get rid of the brow's antic in the beginning. I really liked that part, but if he says it's gotta go, then it's gotta go. Speaking of which, Ethan gave me another excellent critique. This week's crit was 13 minutes long and pointed out stuff that I hadn't noticed. I love how he takes the time to nitpick and find the slightest thing wrong with your shot! He's seriously a fantastic mentor!

Crunch Time Fun

Hey everyone, I just had my first 15 hour workday! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I started working at 9am and was able to come to a nice stopping point around 12:30pm. What caused me to work so long? I'm expecting to spend tomorrow with one of my friends who I don't see very often. As a result, I had to get as close to completing two days worth of work today. Surprisingly it wasn't bad at all. Sure, I had a few obstacles to overcome animation wise, but I made it and learned something in the process. The only strange thing is that I don't feel tired. I got up this morning at 6:40am since I had to be at the dentist's office at 8am. It is now 12:45am and I don't feel tired at all. I fell like I could keep working but I'd like to get up early tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be able to get some work done before I leave. ^-^

Sketchbook Assignment

This week's AM sketchbook assignment was to find two photographs from a magazine and recreate the person's expression with Bishop. Here are my versions:



Getting Bishop's mouth to point downward in the first picture was extremely time consuming. The rig refused to make that shape, but after spending hours making the smallest tweaks I was able to get what I wanted, LOL.

New Blog

Hey everyone, I was checking the various forums that I frequent and came across a link to a fantastic blog.

The Art of Glen Keane

Glen Keane is an amazing animator as well as an amazing draftsman. It's great to see so many of his drawings, especially one's that weren't even in the films that he worked on. He has and will continue to be a source of inspiration for me.

An Old Friend

Alright, here's my AM assignment from last week.

Facial Blocking

I had uploaded this picture to my deviantart gallery last week, and hadn't gotten a chance to upload it here. It's an aold colored pencil drawing that I did for my 12th grade honors art class. The picture is full of errors but I like it anyway. I'm thinking of getting it framed and giving it to my grandmother. She always enjoyed recieving my art work.

E-critiques

I just watched my e-critique for last week's AM assignment...It was fantastic! I had heard of mentors giving students really long crits, but I hadn't had the opportunity to have one of those mentors yet. To my surprise it seems like my current mentor is one of the "long critique givers", LOL. My first crit from him was 20:03 min long and every second of it was golden! He answered my question about jaw arcs and then went through my shot and drew pictures letting me know where and how I could include them. He also went over how I could push my facial animation by adding more asymmetry and upping the intensity of some of the poses. After that, he gave me a critique on the body animation, even though the assignment just called for a facial critique! I am so glad to have Ethan as my mentor and feel privileged to have one of the famous "long critique" mentors!

By the way, I will be uploading my facial blocking so you guys can see what I turned in yesterday. You can expect to see that shortly.

Pirates!

I saw Pirates of the Carribean 2 last night...it was great! Johnny Depp is the most versatile actor in my opinion. I still can't believe that Jack Sparrow and Willy Wonka were played by the same person. Johnny Depp is an excellent source to study when it comes to getting into character and bringing a particular character to life. Since I'm in advanced acting class now, I was sure to pay attention to the characters acting choices. While I haven't had enough AM lectures to fully grasp and understand what I saw, I was able to pick up on a few things here and there. Though I am by no means one of the simple Johnny Depp fangirls, I have serious respect for his acting skills.

Alright, I'm back and ready to type some more. The next character that made Pirates great was Davie Jones. He looked stunning! Everytime I saw him I was blown away by his facial animation. Later, I found out the ILM was behind the cg stuff in the film. That explains why Jones was so well done, lol. Excellent job ILM!

The Start of Class 4

I am officially in AnimationMentor's Class 4: Advanced Acting! They've started the new quarter with a bang for us. We have to thumbnail the facial expressions for our shot, block them in, shoot video ref, watch a bunch of training videos for the new rig, get to know our mentor, and upload a new progression reel. Looks like its going to be a busy week. I had planned on drawing a 4th of July picture today, but it looks like I wont be able to.

Alright, its time to shake off the laziness that accumulated over the break and get to work!

Hey I just found out who my mentor for this quarter is...Dreamworks animator Ethan Hurd! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

Today's Drawing

I'm trying to get into the habit of drawing something everyday. Here's today's entry.

My second completely digital sketch...I think I'm coming along nicely. It would be even nicer if the hand was finished though, LOL. Oh well, it's my hand and that's pretty much all there is to it.
In other news today is supposed to be the first day of class 4 at AnimationMentor. The website isn't accessible yet, but I imagine it will be up soon. I can't wait to get started again. It's been nice being able to play video games all day, but alas I'm almost done with Elder Scrolls. I've beaten all the guild quests and the arena. All that's left now is the main quests and some random free-form adventures. AM seems to be starting up again at a good time.

Dragon

I drew something today! I got lazy when it came time to color, but it's better than nothing, LOL.

The cool thing is I drew all of this digitally. I normally despise drawing directly into the computer, but I seem to be getting better at it. Yay!

I wanted to give him a light brownish background, but I couldn't remember how to do that quickly. Normally I would select the image, invert the selection and color the background that way, but my sketchy lines kept me from easily getting a clean selection. I didn't feel like hand painting the background in around the dragon so I gave up. I really need to draw and color more...

What's Up?

Hey everyone. Sorry about the lack of posts. I've been enjoying my break from AM by playing Elder Scrolls IV all day, LOL. It's a great game and a must have for all RPG fans! :D

Anyway, I saw Superman on Wed. It was alright. I'm not a big Superman fan so I wasn't excited about it. I prefer X3, but the X-Men are my favorite comic book characters. Although I don't know a lot about them since I don't have any of their comics, LOL. Superman had a trailer for Spiderman 3 and let me tell you, it looks awesome! I can't wait to see it! It also had a trailer for the Ant Bully for some reason. I've been contemplating on this film and have decided to see it. The character designs are appealing and I like the overall look of the movie. I'll probably post about it afterwards.

One of my classmates from AM created a class picture that I'd like to share. It was really nice of him to do this and is a fun way to remember my peers.

Thanks Jay!

New Website

Phwew! I started and finished my new website today. I began construction around 10pm and checked the last picture at 2:19am. I am so tired! >_< I haven't stayed up this late since I left SCAD. I just had to post about it though. I'm finally free of banner and pop-up ads. I miss my pretty purple template, but at least now I can say the site is 100% mine. ^-^

www.jocelyncofer.com is now open for buisness! :D

...I suck at web design by the way...

Almost Officially Finished

Sorry about yesterday's lack of up-date. I lost power during a storm yesterday evening and was unable to get anything done. Thankfully, my power's back on and I was able to polish my shot. I think I'm going to go ahead and call the shot finished for now (though I'll probably change a few things after I get my mentor's critique). It's probably best for me to take a break and re-charge before class 4 starts, rather than working on through.

Almost Final

Thanks for your help Anthea, who knows where the shot would be without your acting advice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Technically Finished

Hey everyone. I had to turn in my assignment early yesterday. I'm unhappy with what I have and wasn't able to work on it that much since it was Father's Day. Here's a copy of what I turned in:

"Final"

I'm going to continue working on the shot, since I'm a week behind (thanks to packing and driving home from SCAD). I finally feel like I can enter the polishing stage now and will spend this week doing that. My goal is to be 100% happy with my shot before I start adding facial animation next quarter. Speaking of which, I was told that our facial animation is lost when we transfer to the full facial Bishop. I'd like to make my shot as nice as possible, but at the same time I don't want to waste time on something I'll loose. I've decided to polish the eyes and mouth after I'm happy with everything else. That way if I don't get to it, it'll be ok since I'd have lost it anyway.

WIP Threads

I realized I probably should have made this post sooner. I have w.i.p threads for my current AM assignment going on at various forums. If you'd like to leave me a crit or follow my progress you can visit:

www.cgtalk.com
www.cgchar-animation.com
www.strutyourreel.com
www.awn.com

Wip

Here's another up-date:

http://studentpages.scad.edu/~jcofer20/C3week11.mov

I still need to adjust the match hand in the beginning so Bishop doesn't come so close to stabbing himself in the face. I also need to work on the end as well. The only thing I did towards the end was change the throw. That in itself still needs work too.

It's Coming Along

Here's a small update on my shot. It's abut to storm so I figured I should post something in case the power goes off.

Refining

The timing needs to be readjusted for the end. So far it looks like I'll need to get rid of the last pose and keep him close to the bear. The remnants of the head shake from the blocking phase are still there, but they aren't looking too good. I might end up having to remove them.

Going to the Movies

od.comHey guys, I don't think I talked about Over the Hedge as much as I should have. That movie was FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'll be seeing it again in exactly two hours from now, LOL. The animation was the best I've seen so far. The characters were very appealing and the story was cute. Vincent the bear was amazing! I wish I had a clip from the film with him in it. I have one with every character but him! >_< Refining

I didn't include the end because I adjusted the main timing. The end is probably a mess because of that so I left it out for now. I think the main problem I was having was getting used to a new sense of timing. I normally use pretty much the same sense of timing(lots of hang time, ease out, fast change, lots of hang time and so on) to produce snappy stuff. I wanted to try to get out of that habit for this shot. I didn't want the shot to be snappy because that would make Bishop seem too happy and up-beat. I wanted to keep his movements small, deliberate and kinda minimal to show that he is in control. Towards the end that will change and will have a large snappy movement to get to his last two poses. I will have him move more then since he's excited and loosing some of that control. Anyway, I think I was having a hard time adjusting and getting used to not making snappy stuff. I believe I'm over it now since the shot seems to be coming along.

Of course, if any of you guys have a crit I'd be more than happy to hear it! I'm off for now, gotta get ready to see OTH again. :D Bye!

Struggling with the End

Arrrrrggggggghhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!! The end of my shot is bothering me so badly! I don't know what to do with it. >_<

1. New version If I use this version I plan on having Bishop ease towards the bear slightly as he shakes his head.

2. http://studentpages.scad.edu/~jcofer20/C3week9pt2.avi
The one I've had for a little while now with the hand gestures.

Behind

I am so behind!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mon-Wed were taken up doing SCAD crap and packing up my stuff. Thurs-Fri were spent driving home. Today is the only day I have left to work on my AM assignment! >_<

x3

X-men was amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I highly recommend seeing it!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I want to talk about it but I don't want to spoil any of it for anyone. The Phoenix was so tight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nightcrawler is now my second fav x-men character, lol.

Anyway, here's an up-date on my animation:

Blocking

I've repositioned the match towards the end so that it's between Bishop and the bear. I've also adjusting the matchbox toss so it doesn't happen so quickly.

It's Coming Along

Yay! My blocking is coming along!

Blocking

It still needs some work, but the animation's getting there. Everyone seems to find the shot very amusing too. That's always a plus, lol. :D I would continue working on it, but it's 3:26am. I've noticed that as I get tired, my animation abilities start a steady decline, lol. I might as well stop now instead of continuing and ending up making crap. ^-^

Oh! I saw a trailer for Ratatouille(sp?)!!!!!!!!!!! The animation is mind blowing as usual!! Fantastic job everyone at Pixar! I can't want for the film to come out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D I would post a link to it, but I dont think we're supposed to see it yet. The site I originally found the trailer on has removed the file. I know of another place to find it, but I dont want to get in trouble. :P

I can't wait to see x-men tomorrow! I only wish Nightcrawler(my fav x-man) was in it. :( My best friend went to a midnight showing and said it was tight. I can't wait! :D

My Critique

I've recieved my critique from my mentor. He said the only major changes I should make are:
1. Move the match away from the bear, he's supposed to threaten it, not catch it on fire
2. Move Bishop's hand to the bear's shoulder so he doesn't seem so aggressive.
3. Adjust the position of the head in the last pose
He says that what I have now is funny and that it'll be solid once I start animating. I hope he's right. :
I expect to have an up-date sometime today.

Oh no!

Uh-oh, it looks like my mentor likes my original blocking better...

http://studentpages.scad.edu/~jcofer20/C3week7Blocking.avi

That really sucks, cause I liked my new version more than this one. My mentor says it needs more work but the original is much more interesting than the new blocking. I'll do as he says, but I dont look forward to rigging that teddy bear. :(

Revised Blocking

Hey guys. My original blocking was raising too many problems so I decided to redo it. Many people said that the huge move that Bishop made in the original blocking would cause his match to go out. Others suggested lifting the bear and putting the match under it's rear. I liked that idea, but to do that Bishop's left arm would be crossing his face to hold the bear up. I really like this version, but I just found out that my mentor really liked the original. Hopefully he'll like the new one just as much or possibly even more. Some of my peers liked the fact that the bear would be lit on fire. I asked if I should include a pile of bears in the background and have Bishop's match fall on them. If any of you guys like that, please let me know!

New Blocking

Week 7's Blocking

Hey, it seems like I've uploaded my blocking everywhere but here. Sorry about that.

Blocking

That's the blocking that I turned in this morning. I'm still not happy with it. I'm feeling quite lost since my mentor said to make Bishop more arrogant than aggressive. The beginning is fine, but when the character starts shouting he seems kinda threatening/crazy to me. I'm going to trust my mentor's words though since he knows more than I do. ^-^

Sadly, I wont really be able to up-date the animation today. I need to go to Monty and work on my Digital Form, Space, and Lighting project. -_- Darned non-animation SCAD classes taking away from animation time.

2nd Pass Blocking

I saw Over the Hedge today! It was wonderful! One of my favorite talking animal films so far, excellent job Dreamworks/PDI! :D

Anyway, sorry about the previous post. I was upset but I'm alright now. I heard what I needed to hear. I know that your school doesn't really matter and its up to the animator to raise the bar, I guess I just needed to hear it from somewhere else.

Once I got back from the movie, I continued to work on my blocking. Here's pass 2: golden poses and some keys...

Pass 2 Blocking

Transfer

Hey guys. I'm very angry about SCAD's animation program right now. I seriously wish someone had told me how bad it was before I applied. The school focuses on creating generalists rather than character animators. None of the animation that SCAD proudly displays is anywhere near the quality of work that one would need to get into feature. Our best animation teacher is leaving when this quarter is over. We have a Disney animator as one of our teachers, but he's way too nice, even when asked for a tough critique.

I've looked at the CalArts website and saw that the only way to transfer into their character animation program is to pretty much start over as a freshman. In the fall I'll be a junior at SCAD and am wondering if I should start over at CalArts. I am insistent of getting into feature animation when I graduate from school. I know that's a rare occurrence and requires a ton of work, but I am prepared to spend all of my time working (I do it already anyway, lol). Anyway, if that's what it takes to get into feature animation, then that's fine. I know that SCAD will not help me reach that goal at all. I know AM will help me out a lot, but was wondering if I should even bother continuing at SCAD when AM's over.

Oh, I'll be done with AM in the 2006 winter quarter and plan to return to SCAD as a junior in their spring quarter. Because of my decision to take off from SCAD during AM's short film classes, I've pushed my SCAD graduation back by two quarters. Do you guys think it's worth it to start over completely at a FAR SUPERIOR school?

1st Pass

Hey everyone. Here's my first pass at blocking out my dialogue shot, it's just the golden poses for now.

Blocking: First Pass

I would continue, but it's 2:21am and I'm tired, plus I have to get up early tomorrow to go to the Vilppu session. I'll try to work on this and have an up-date tomorrow evening. Hopefully I'll have sufficient time to work. After dinner I'm going to see Over the Hedge and I can't wait. The animation is superb and the characters are adorable! I love talking animal movies! :D I also want to see the DaVinci code, as the book was quite cool. I don't have time to see two films though and since Over the Hedge is animated it has priority.

Preview

Here's a render of the first frame in my new AM assignment. My mentor said the Playing with Matches clip is better than the Crazy World one because its shorter and has a larger emotional change. Thats fine with me, because I had fun making video ref for that clip. I'm thinking of pulling the camera in closer to Bishop. I didn't really want to see his legs in this shot. What do you guys think?



It'll be cool if I somehow learn how to use dynamics well enough light the match on fire and keep it burning successfully throughout the animation. That would be tight! Sadly, I'm pretty sure I wont be able to do that, and the animation is more important anyway. I'll probably end up just making the head of the match glow to show that it's been lit, lol.

In case you're wondering why Bishop's expression is so bland, it's because we are allowed to use any facial controls. Next quarter we'll animate his face fully. I think thats cool since it forces us to think about body language.

Baseball Pitch

Ok, I have to keep this post short because I have to leave in 9 minutes to go to class. I've reworked my baseball pitch from Body Mechanics and have posted it in the AM gallery under class two. Here's a link to it as well:

Baseball Pitch

There's still quite a few things wrong with it and I wish I had more time to fix them. Sadly, I had to stop working on it last night to do the final preparations for my Disney reel so it could be sent off this morning. The reel itself is alright, I guess. I don't feel like its anywhere near good enough for Disney. My day was boosted though when I logged on to AM and found a post about it from Shawn Kelly. He said he liked it, so that's a HUGE plus. :D Alright, I've got to go, I'll talk to you guys later!

Class 3 Week 6

Hey guys, I've put together everything I need to begin blocking my new AM assignment next week. I've chosen three sound clips, shot video reference, and drawn out some thumbnails.


I've grown to like all three of my ideas and would like to animate all of them. For my assignment I will probably animate the crazy world sequence since I have the most info on it in my head right now. Over the break I plan on animating the other two shots. :D

Dreams

Wow, I just found out that Benjamin Willis got hired at Dreamworks. That's extremly inspirational for me since it wasn't that long ago that he graduated from SCAD. He's the first SCAD student that I know of who's been accepted into feature. Hopefully I'll be added to the list soon! That would seriously be a dream come true for me, I know Benjamin must be really excited. Huge congrats Benjamin!!!!!!!!!!!

Alright, I've done some thumbnails for my new AM assignment. They're really rough and I plan on redrawing them later.

I also tried to come up with a good camera angle for my shot. I imagine the main character went to her friends house for comfort after finding her mother with a jiggalo(sp?). The last pose has the character looking at her friend, so I thinking about making this an over the shoulder shot. I'll show it to my mentor tomorow and get some feedback.

Last week in 20th Century Art class I found myself drawing a new character. He's supposed to be a pirate but I'm not familiar enough with pirate clothes to be able to draw them without any reference. Sorry about the piece of eraser on his pants, lol.

Bishop

I can use Bishop now!

Spoiled Brat

Yay! I've finally finished my first assignment for AM's Intro to Acting Class! Here's a link to it:

Spoiled Brat

I also did some gesture drawings on Thursday that I liked.

20 Min Sketches

I had to go to the open model session today to get some ref for my Life Drawing II assignment. Since the models in the long pose room are normally reclining I decided to go to the 20 min room instead. I needed a drawing of one of the models from behind and thus the long pose room wouldn't have provided me with that. Anyway, I hadn't been in the 20 min room since my first quarter at SCAD and am happy to say that I've improved quite a bit. Previously, there was no way I could get a whole figure onto the page in 20 min, but now that's changing. With more practice, I think I'll be able to make some nice and hopefully accurate line drawings from that room.

Anyway, my drawing teacher always says to do a few quick gesture drawings to warm up and that your first picture is always bad. In this case I am inclined to agree with him. I didn't do any gesture drawings before I drew this and as a result it's rather sucky. Oh well, it's not going to be turned in so its ok I guess. The second drawing sucks too. I need more practice at drawing people from behind. :( I like my last drawing much better. I only wish I had more time to develop it. The pose was really appealing and was rather unique since most of the models just sit in the "generic sitting pose".

Oh yeah, I also re-photographed my old lady drawing from yesterday.

20 Min drawing #1:


20 Min drawing #2:


20 Min drawing #3:


Clear Old Lady drawing from yesterday!:

Refining

I've decided to post what I have of my refining so far for my AM assignment. It's coming along nicely I guess. There are still quite a few things that need to be fixed, but I am trying to ignore them for now. I need to concentrate on animating the entire shot by Sunday since this is the last week for refining. I'll go back and fix errors during the polishing week.

Refining

Pictures!

Sorry for not posting recently, I've been pretty busy with my AM assignment. I need to finish refining it by Sunday, so you guys can probably expect to see an up-date soon. In the mean time, I figured I might as well post my Life II homework from last week and a silver point drawing I did today.

Hands Assignment:


Old Lady silverpoint:



WIP Layout for AM assignment:

Disney College

Disney College is finally offering an internship in feature animation! I'm definitely going to apply, even though its highly unlikely that I'll get in. There are plenty of crappy animators who will apply and they'll be easy to beat. But in the mix there are quite a few good ones who are sure to beat my tiny reel to a pulp. That's an extremely depressing thought which is made worse because its true. After sulking for a while, I decided what had to be done. The animation that I'm working on now is the only acting piece I have to put on my reel. Since I'm applying to a feature studio it will have to be outstanding. Simple as that. This single pantomime shot must be good enough to allow me to compete with the seniors and grad students that will be applying for the program. In addition to that, it must be finished early so I can go back and tweak everything else that will be on my reel. I've been watching that Disney College website for too long (this is the first time since I was in the 10th grade that they've offered an internship in feature animation) to simply let this opportunity pass by. I will work and rework my pantomime shot until it becomes feature quality worthy of Disney's attention! >:O

Up-dated Blocking

I got a suggestion from a classmate to start my animation with the gift already on the table to shorten the sequence. I thought it was a great idea and it worked in theory. Sadly, the end made up for the previous stuff that I had in the beginning. I've sent a note to my mentor asking for help so I should be alright.

New Blocking

Open Model Sessions

I went to the open model session today and made a new chest study. It was kinda weird since the model was my age. It felt like I had asked one of my friends to sit for me. I guess I'm used to drawing older people. This one guy seemed to be quite distracted by her. He kept walking around staring at her and when he left his page hardly had any marks on it. During breaks he'd go up and try to talk to her. I thought that was amusing. Anyway, here's my picture:

2d Blocking

I've worked on some blocking for my new AM assignment. I've decided to do it in 2d because I need to get faster and wont be able to if I am sitting at a computer. I also wanted a chance to use a character other than Stewie. Here's my blocking so far. Sadly it's too long, the frame limit is 250 and this is over 300. I'm trying to find out how to shorten it...

Blocking

I did a chest study today in Life II. I was unable to finish and have to make a new one at tomorrows open model session. I'm pleased with my progress though. I took Life Drawing I in the fall quarter and never would have been able to get this far with a drawing during class. I think the drawing looks cool too.

Revision

I had a few things to revise on my life drawing project. Here's the up-dated version:

Life Drawing II

Here's what I have so far for my first life drawing II project...

First Thumbnails of Class Three

I'm back and have brought some thumbnails with me as promised. I have a few questions about some of the poses/transitions from one to the other and have e-mailed Dimos about it. Once I get a response I'll be sure to make the appropriate changes. Enjoy!

Rough Storyboard

I've created a rough storyboard for my first AM assignment in class 3. We have to do a pantomime exercise showing a character going from one emotion to another. My animation will be about a spoiled kid who doesn't get what he wants for his birthday. Here are the boards, I plan to have the thumbnails finished sometime today.

Cow

I drew this cow thing today! Yay for drawing! I'm finally starting to draw more. I really want to draw people, but it frustrates me that I suck at it. I'll keep practicing though. Anyway, I might use this species of creature for my next animation project. It wont be him though, I don't like his face.

Alive

I still exist! I haven't posted anything because I don't have anything to post. I've been working on my life drawing project and haven't don't anything for AM yet. Sadly my life drawing project is over 18"x24" and way too large for my scanner. When its done I'll look for a way to get it onto the computer. I expect to start on my new AM assignment after I finish this entry. I'm very excited about the new quarter. I've got a dreamworks mentor this time, which is cool. He's worked on Spirit, Prince of Egypt, Sinbad, and The Road to El Dorado as well as the studios 3d features. I'm even more excited since I can talk to him about 2d as well as 3d.

I really want to do my assignments for this quarter in 2d. Drawing all last quarter for my SCAD assignments reminded me that I actually enjoy drawing rather than sitting at a computer. I also want to use some made up characters instead of Stewie. My only concern is my lack of speed when it comes to drawing. I've gotten faster, but I don't know if I'm fast enough. I wont improve if I don't practice though. We don't start animating for a week or two so I have till then to decide. I just got my Lion King dvd in the mail today and that really pushed me towards 2d. We'll see how things turn out.

In SCAD news, I've decided to take Life Drawing II instead of Animation II this quarter. It was very hard to do SCAD animation and AM at the same time. I don't feel like I did as good as I could have if I hadn't done them at the same time. Not to worry though, I'll be in Animation II when I return to SCAD next spring. In the mean time, I have the sudden desire to draw people. Last quarter my animation teacher stressed the importance of life drawing, so I guess that's where this urge came from. I've purchased two of Glenn Vilppu's books already and eagerly await his workshops on Friday. Once I have some decent drawings (on paper that'll fit in my scanner) I'll post some here.