Almost There

I hope this will be done by the end of the day tomorrow. My friend won't have much time to color the last scene before Wednesday (when the film's due). I really wish I was faster. =(

Pixar Presentation

Pixar's presentation tonight was fantastic!!!!!! Becki Tower is a great speaker and she was really inspiring to listen to. She told us all about her time in Pixar's internship program and showed some examples of the work she did. Lol, it sucks because now I want to animate but I have to go to bed now. One thing that really stood out to me was the simplicity of all of her scenes. Each one was very simple a very clear. I think simplicity is definitely something that I struggle with.

Becki also uses an emotional chart/graph for each of her scenes. I'd never heard of this before and am eager to try it out. All you do is create a simple line graph to show the highs and lows of your character's feelings throughout the scene. She brought up a great point when she mentioned loosing the initial essence of the scene after you've been polishing for days. I imagine having that chart will be very helpful. I'm going to make sure I try that for my next scene. Now I really cant wait to finish my senior project. I can't wait to get back to 3d again.

Ok, I really need to go to bed. I'll talk to you guys later. Wish me luck! =D

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