Jenga!

Long time no post...

Currently in Class 3 at AM.
"Intro to Acting"
First assignment here is a pantomime. We need to show two distinct and hopefully contrasting emotions here. I'm going for confident/cocky and angry/frustrated. Hopefully thats coming across.

This is the 'Blocking Plus' pass.

Run Stewie!, RUN!

Stewie was terrified. Running at breakneck speed he narrowly avoided being crushed by the hand of God at least a dozen times. Just as he was able to increase the distance between him and his immediate death, a chasm rapidly approached....



Blocking Plus® for our first assignment with a little spine. Major things to focus with this assignment being weight/balance, and force.

Kicking ASSignment

Here's a kick for class 2. This is the 2nd to last step, or what I was informed as being "Blocking-Plus". It's like Pert Plus but not shampoo and not conditioner.

Been plugging away at class 2. It is ROUGH! Much harder than class one. ( you like that, class "2" and spelling class "one" ). I have a lot of work to do on my kicking animation, but we took quite a bit of time today to do a cover for a chicago motion graphics rag. When I heard they offered us the opportunity, I was kind of " meh, so fucking what" but then we kind of got a cool seed of an idea going and this is the result:

Ok, fucking blogger formats shit in its own way so its to the LEFT instead of below my previous paragraph, but what-fucking-ever. OH, also, I've had a few beers before writing this post, so if you're thinking "wow this is total stream of consiousness" you guess correctly. Unfortunately, you do NOT win a prize, unless that price is you contacting me sometime in the nest 5-8 weeks and requesting your earned and well deserved "High Five". Anyways, I really like the way this turned out. It was a team effort through and through. We all kind of developed the idea in the office. I did the initial skethch and layout. Rob did the line work, color and painting, and Nick did the blood graphics work.

Pretty stoked on it overall. Please provide talk-O's to tell me your take on it.

-Blake

Animation Rostrum!

I had mentioned I'd be working on some traditional animation earlier. I'm right in the middle of it now, and I was looking for a setup where my frame acquisition could 'live' and not be disturbed or lighting changed. I looked at some of the offerings from animation suppliers online and WOW, they can be upwards of 2500 bucks! ( including camera of course ).

Now wait, I got a camera here... I can snap photos of these pages for pencil tests right? But I need to lock this sucker down! We found some DIY plans online and kablamo! Here she is!

Class 2 Begins

Already in the last few days of Week 01, Class 01. This post is all about "Video Reference". I had shot some video reference for projects in Class 01, but neglected to mention or post them here.
You might say to yourself; "Hey, thats cheating. You're just going to roto that shot. That's wack." Well my friends... I hate to break it to you, but this is the way its done. The way its always been done. Now... Good animators don't just copy this action. They study it for timing. They pick up subtle nuances that they didn't think of. Its a clear representation of where the weight is at any time. No... This is not cheating. I'll take this and study the above, and then exaggerate the timing and poses and action to make a unique and appealing shot. ( Well, I hope so anyways. )



For this assignment we had to pick from 1 of 3 options. A kick, a side step, or a 180 turn.
This semester I am going to try and push myself a little more. I have been inspired by a few students to do so. If I'm really going to get a lot out of this school, I think its something I must do. So I am attempting to work all 3 into this sequence you see above.

I hope I don't shoot myself in the foot.

Culmination of Class One

Walks, poses, bounces. Here's the lot of them. All from my first class at Animation Mentor.



I've honestly come quite a ways. I initially considered myself a competent animator, but I've come to realize I do have a lot to learn. I hear class 2 is pretty challenging and I have a lot of long nights ahead of me. I'm going to have to learn to manage my time better and be more efficient with the time I do spend on assignments. I'll be doing some 2D animation at work the same time as Class 2 so I'm considering attempting some of the assignments in the paper and pencil medium as well.

I need that power from 時をかける少女, so I can stop time and learn Maya as well as I know max. Sure, The Matrix route may be quicker, but I didn't want to post a link to The Matrix.

Ah well, back to work. To my extensive readership network ( a.k.a. maybe Rob if I send him a link here to remind him this blog even exists ), so long for now.

Creamy Vanilla

Ok, I know you saw that last post and thought: "What the hell is this crap. It's studderin' all over place. Hey choppy town called, they want all their choppiness back....a-hole."

Fine fine fine, just for those of you that share this same sentiment. I have added much more cream to my Vanilla Walk. Enjoy.

8 weeks in...

Ok, so I'm like 8 weeks into Animation Mentor now. Perhaps I should post something here and get this blaaahhhhg going. I had a little hiccup and had to do weeks 5-7 in 1 week ( 5 didn't actually even make it through in time ) but I'm finally caught up and this is my assignment for week 8.

The Vanilla Walk

They call it the vanilla walk because its plain. Ordinary. Nothing special. It's the walk you do every day to get from point A to point B. I've decided to come up with some other possible alternative names. Maybe one will get popular and become the standard animators nomenclature for the above mentioned walk.
Or not.

The walk walk.
The I'm here and need to be over there walk.
The going to get the mail when your not sure whats in there, but its probably nothing special walk.
The 'meh' walk.

So without further adieu ..... The Forward Bipedal Motion Walk.

And there you have it. I'll be back with other ramblings as time moves forward. Vanilla Time that is. As Vanilla Time moves forward.