On break yo.

I finished class two, and my mentor recommended that I move onto class 3, Introduction to Acting.... so right on! I'm trying not to do any animation (other than work) on my time off. I know that I have soooo much that I need to learn and need to practice as much as I can to get better, but I also don't want to get burned out. I said when I started Animation Mentor that I wasn't going to compare myself to the other students, which is hard because there are so many great animators there. I guess that it's become my motivation to get better. I just have to keep working at it and getting better. It will take time and it's all about patience. I'm getting excited for the next class to start and like going to class 2 I'm a bit nervous. I've been animating at work for the past week or so, and it made me realize that this is it for me, it's what I want to do for money for the rest of my life! I guess I sort of knew that when I started the Art Institute back in 2001, but didn't realize how much fun it is. The case that I'm working involves a man being reckless and losing both feet, I'm animating what he did based on his injuries and what not. Working with a Bio Mechanical Engineer, two attorneys and an expert. So needless to say it's interesting.

I just ordered Eric Goldberg's new book Character Animation Crash Course, my buddy at work bought in and brought it in.... I looked at it for 2 minutes and went on Amazon and ordered one for myself. If you're thinking about getting into animation, or wanted to learn animation the 3 must haves are: the Animator's Survival Kit, The Illusion of Life and Crash Course.... there are a lot other out there that are great too, but those are the trifecta of learning books. So like I said, if you want to learn how to animate get those and read, read and reread them! I'm not saying that Animation Mentor isn't great because it, I've learned so much. But in getting started reading those books is a great first start.

Maddon's doing great, getting bigger. He's smiling now, it's such a cool feeling when I go into his room in the morning and as soon as he sees me he gets a giant smile on his face (unless he's hungry, then there massive screaming), but for the most part he's a happy little baby and I can pretty much always make him smile!

That's about it for now, I'm posting my progress reel, newest work to oldest work at Animation Mentor, so check it out, and please leave me any feedback that you want!

Later.

Inspiring Animations...

Here is some work that keeps me inspired when I start running out of steam.

This animation called Oktipodi won best student work at Siggraph this year, so it now has the potential of winning an Academy Award for Best Animated Short.... When you see it you'll think to yourself 'Wow! There's no way this is student work'. But I assure you, it is....


This piece is called Sigg Jones, it reminds me why I love animation so much, there really are no rules or limitations with reality, just creative genius.....


Enjoy, I hope they will inspire you too.

Class 2 coming to an end!

Well, summer's officially over and my 2nd class at Animation Mentor is coming to an end (coincidence? I think not). I've learned a lot about body mechanics and realized how hard it is to convince your audience what you want to show with your animation. For my final assignment I chose the baseball pitch option, to tie into my first turn around assignment with the Yankee outfielder turning around to watch the ball go over the fence for a homerun. I have a new found appreciation for all animation now, I was pretty naive before not realizing how much work actually went into it. I feel like I'm grasping the concepts that I'm learning this quarter, the lectures are very intense and insightful and there's a lot to digest in each one. In the past I would watch the lecture twice in the week, one of the times taking notes on it and the 2nd time was just to pick up what I missed from watching it the first time. My new technique is to watch the lecture early in the week and take notes on it, then go back and watch the lecture from the prior week as well as review the notes. That seems to help not ingest soooo much in one week and make for a nice review after applying the lecture to the current assignment. I feel like as all I want to do is practice, practice practice animation. The lack of patience that I have makes it really hard to want to become a great animator right NOW! I know that it's going to take a lot of time, and it's something that I'm never going to master (back to my whole golf comparison). Every great animator till the day they die always talk about how they're always learning something new, or how they always struggle with their shots. It's kind of intimidating and exciting to know that I picked a career that will always challenge me and will always have new obstacles to overcome. Anyway, this post is all over the place, I'm not a very good writer, I'm just sort of writing as thoughts enter my mind. My pitch animation final is due on Sunday this week and then next week is a short one, basically making a progress reel of my body mechanics animations. So I'm going to have to go back in and adjust/revise my animations that I've already turned in, but with more of the knowledge that I've gained this class, hopefully it's not going to be too bad.... who knows though. Then light 'em and render 'em off..... sounds like a nice final week... Let's hope it is!!