Yooohoooo! Things has been a lot better this week. Michelle liked my blocking and i've taken it into refining/blocking plus. It's awesome how great the good days feels after a couple of really bad weeks. In fact, I think that having a bad day or two actually is very useful and maybe also necessary to be able to appreciate when the real fun kicks in :)
Fantastic lecture this week about Secondary Action by Jason Schleifer. Stuff that helps enhancing who the character is and what emotional state he is in. Great stuff. Jason also has a great blog. Check it out!
Here's my assignment this week, the blocking plus of the letter-shot:
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Monday, July 24, 2006
Session 303
Week of despair. Nothing has worked out for me this week. Three re-blocks and none of them is as solid as I would like it to be. Feels like I hit a brick wall or something...ahhh well, that happens once in a while. Just has to get over it and move on :)
Anyway, the assignment has to be turned in, no excuses, so I kept going and tried to find some inspiration. It's been a while since I read the transcript of the Stanford 2005 Commencment Speech by Steve Jobs, but this week, while I was searching for something to keep me going, I stumbled over the video of the speech at YouTube. I also went back to the Animation Podcast, awesome stuff. Especially the Glen Keane casts.
Sooooo...bottom line, my week of despair is over!! Lots of stuff out there to pull me back up and continue towards becoming a character animator. Still happy, still looove animation :)
Here's my new blocking of the Letter-shot. Back to my old workflow this time, copied pairs didn't seem to work that well. At least not for now:
Anyway, the assignment has to be turned in, no excuses, so I kept going and tried to find some inspiration. It's been a while since I read the transcript of the Stanford 2005 Commencment Speech by Steve Jobs, but this week, while I was searching for something to keep me going, I stumbled over the video of the speech at YouTube. I also went back to the Animation Podcast, awesome stuff. Especially the Glen Keane casts.
Sooooo...bottom line, my week of despair is over!! Lots of stuff out there to pull me back up and continue towards becoming a character animator. Still happy, still looove animation :)
Here's my new blocking of the Letter-shot. Back to my old workflow this time, copied pairs didn't seem to work that well. At least not for now:
Monday, July 17, 2006
Session 302
Alright...off to a tough start this term. The thief-idea I submitted last week went out the window in exchange for another idea with better potential for showing emotional change. So I came up with an idea of a guy opening a letter, read it and then reacts to it. Basically I started over with new videoreference and new thumbnails.
I'm testing out a new workflow this time - blocking in copied pairs. I was pretty happy with my current workflow, but it's a good habit to stay open to new and better ways of working...and no regrets so far. In an acting shot with few key poses, I think copied pairs is a great way to block out the shot, 'cause you can get a better sense of the timing a lot sooner and it's easier for the director/mentor to get a feeling of the shot at an earlier stage. So that's cool :)
Here's my new idea thumbnailed and the first pass of blocking in copied pairs with only the key poses and one breakdown inbetween each pose.
I'm testing out a new workflow this time - blocking in copied pairs. I was pretty happy with my current workflow, but it's a good habit to stay open to new and better ways of working...and no regrets so far. In an acting shot with few key poses, I think copied pairs is a great way to block out the shot, 'cause you can get a better sense of the timing a lot sooner and it's easier for the director/mentor to get a feeling of the shot at an earlier stage. So that's cool :)
Here's my new idea thumbnailed and the first pass of blocking in copied pairs with only the key poses and one breakdown inbetween each pose.
Monday, July 10, 2006
Session 301
Whhoooohooo!! This term is going to rock big time! My new class is awesome. I know most of them from previous classes and the new guys are great people. The whole class is foreigners which means q&a at 8pm instead of 6am, which is kind of nice :)
My new mentor, Michelle Meeker is supercool and she has done a lot of great stuff. Here's Michelles official AM bio: After graduating from CalArts in 1993 and 1996, Michelle has worked on both U.S. coasts and abroad in New Zealand and China. Her animation credits include "Shrek", "Antz", "Lord of the Rings" and "Geri's Game." She started off working for Sesame Street Interactive amd then moved into studios such as Pixar, PDI, and Weta Digital. Mixed in with the bigger projects have been stints with E-greetings, Maxis (Sims), Stormfront, Vidlit, and Little Airplane. For the past 4 years, she has also enjoyed teaching animation at the Art Institute of California, San Francisco.
Did you read that? She animated Shrek....that's beyond cool! Shrek rocks!!
Anyway, no fooling around the first week this time. Straight to business. Acting! Oh man that's hard. We had to come up with an idea, shoot videoreference and thumbnail, preferable several versions. Here's my planning and a quick animatic of the story that I submitted. (The videoref is for AM eyes only hehe):
My new mentor, Michelle Meeker is supercool and she has done a lot of great stuff. Here's Michelles official AM bio: After graduating from CalArts in 1993 and 1996, Michelle has worked on both U.S. coasts and abroad in New Zealand and China. Her animation credits include "Shrek", "Antz", "Lord of the Rings" and "Geri's Game." She started off working for Sesame Street Interactive amd then moved into studios such as Pixar, PDI, and Weta Digital. Mixed in with the bigger projects have been stints with E-greetings, Maxis (Sims), Stormfront, Vidlit, and Little Airplane. For the past 4 years, she has also enjoyed teaching animation at the Art Institute of California, San Francisco.
Did you read that? She animated Shrek....that's beyond cool! Shrek rocks!!
Anyway, no fooling around the first week this time. Straight to business. Acting! Oh man that's hard. We had to come up with an idea, shoot videoreference and thumbnail, preferable several versions. Here's my planning and a quick animatic of the story that I submitted. (The videoref is for AM eyes only hehe):
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Between terms
During the week off we've been moving to a new house in a new town. Now everything is in place, the internet connection is finally up and I'm ready for Class 3 - Introduction to acting!
More info on my new class and mentor next week :)
More info on my new class and mentor next week :)
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