Long Time, No Post!

Wow! Long time, no post it seems. Part of the absence was due to the nature of the work I was involved in, primarily being two currently-in-progress group films. Also, I recently got a job (woo-hoo!) creating character animation at a video game studio, Wayforward Technologies. So one could argue I've been distracted with work more-or-less (though not without lazy periods spent playing sporcle.com quizzes or Super Mario Galaxy 2).

Anyways, I do have some work to post soon. Below is a teaser shot (with fancy letterbox) of a new animation I'm working on, hopefully to be ready for this month's 11 second club competition (check it out here). More to come -- enjoy in the meantime!

(Bishop & Murdock rigs courtesy of AnimationMentor.com; backpack prop courtesy of TurboSquid.com)

The Monitor -- Concept

Hey all!

Below is the cutout concept art for a new superzero: "The Monitor"! The name is tentative for now (other possibilities include "Goanna" and "Komodo"). The character is based off of yet another friend of mine. When asked what makes her unique, she mentioned quite a wide variety: her seemingly allergic reactions to cold weather; incredibly tall height; willingness to eat almost anything; and a former skill at climbing (as a child). Turns out that these traits are roughly similar to those of the Komodo Dragon, the largest monitor lizard in the world. Interestingly as well, my friend really likes lizards. It all tied together so well that I ran with it. Enjoy!

Another Attempt at the Ruby

Back in the late summer of '09, I created several physical acting shots involving a Viking for Animation Mentor (check out the 3rd shot here). Now that I'm in the Polishing and Portfolio class, the time has come to revisit and amp up these shots. Here's the latest version of the 3rd shot in the sequence, with parts 1 and 2 coming later:

"Driver's Test" - Final

And now, ladies and gentlemen, the final (at least for now) pass of my dialogue scene for Animation Mentor. Enjoy! I had a lot of fun making this : )

"Driver's Test" - Polishing Pass

It's that time again! Here's the latest update on my dialogue assignment for AM. I've tried to push the performance further from last time. It still requires cleaning, and I'm considering adding a head shake in the teen when he says "four" (to show off that youthful attitude). Hope you enjoy!

"Driver's Test" - Refining Pass

As the heading describes, this is the refining pass for my latest scene. I improved on some of the problems in the previous version, though there are still some more bugs to work through (i.e. Old Man popping in scene 3 and 4; kid could use some more work at the end). Enjoy!

"Driver's Test" - Blocking Plus Complete

Here's an update on my dialogue shot for AM! On the plus side: the young guy is pushed more in terms of personality; now rather than just bored (& then suddenly shocked at the end), he's got a bit of teen angst to him. And the rest of the shots are now in the splining pass. Still needs work: namely, cleaning up curves in general; getting the old man to be less jerky / zippy in shot #2; adding more character to the young guy in shot 3 and 4; and pushing the rough mouth poses on the old man further. More to come soon; enjoy!

"Driver's Test" - Shot 1 Blocking Plus

Here's an update for my dialogue scene for AM. Shot 1 is now in the blocking plus / splining pass, and I've revised the blocking for shots 2, 3, and 4. It's coming along! Enjoy.

I'm Beginning to See a Car Trend Going On...

...And by trend, I mean another animation shot involving a car as some sort of MacGuffin / prop. Well actually, I think it was either my girlfriend or one of my roommates that pointed it out (whichever one of you did, sorry for forgetting!).

This shot is an initial rough pass of my newest assignment for Animation Mentor: a two-character dialogue, roughly 288 - 360 frames in length. Mine features a young teen on his first driving test...oh the memories. Anyway, before I start reminiscing, press play and enjoy!

(P.S. - This is just a rough blocking pass. On shot #4, I think I'll have the Old Guy holding his fist up from the start).

Bad Drivers Have Arrived!!!

Here it is: the final shot for my AM monologue assignment! At last I polished up several areas -- popping in the left arm, jitters on the head, uneven arcs in the baton, etc.

There are still some areas that could use work. The left arm does a quick bob at one point (around "wrong side"). I should probably step through the animation and watch the cigarette's arc, as well as clean up some areas on the face. Also, I'm not too wild about the background, but it's waaaaay better than what I was using from before (a so-so modified version of a cool photo taken by my sister; it looked OK, yet readability = KEY and unfortunately the animation clashed with the image).

Enjoy!

Bad Drivers...Are We There Yet?

Here's the latest update of my shot! Needs some more finessing, and the left hand does some funny movements around when the characters says, "country...wrong side...", etc. Enjoy!