Just when you think....

you're getting the hang of animating... Blammo-whammo! I received a very in depth, detailed eCritique this week for my dialogue assignment (that is posted below). Very insightful, and some what discouraging (okay, not really, just being dramatic) on how my acting choices were too similar, even though I thought that I was breaking it up and avoiding symmetry... looking at it now, he's totally right on. I'm going to regroup and redeploy my animation troops all over that assignment this week, so check back for an update.

I think the hardest part about learning animation is the back and forth. You're trying to learn something, that is ridiculously hard to begin with, then you have to be original and creative based on your limitations and animation abilities that are holding you back. It's frustrating and can be down right discouraging at times. But I guess that's all part of the learning process of the coolest art forms around. I do feel that with every assignment I'm gaining some sort of knowledge and becoming a better animator. I definitely feel more confident when coming up with ideas, so that's a plus.

That's it for now.....

Week 8 already... Only 4 more to go in class 3.

I can't believe how fast my time is going at Animation Mentor, it's week 8 today, that means I'm done with first acting class. Overall I'm learning so much this class it's insane. The entire 12 week class consists of 2 assignments, the Pantomime assignment and then a dialogue assignment. The character they give you for the dialogue assignment is the Bishop rig, which is super rad. However, it's a limited rig, with now facial controllers, so you're not able to do facial expressions, that comes next class.

I feel like I'm getting the hang of this whole animation world, now I want to go back and redo all of my assignments, I guess that means that I'm learning something. More and more with each assignment. For some extra practice I'm entering in the 11 Second Club monthly animation competition. Lately it seems like I want to do more and more animations for practice, because I learn so much from each animation that I do, and they get easier and easier. So it's true what they say 'practice makes perfect'.

Maddon's doing good, he's six months now, and has gained over 10 pounds. I can't believe how small he was when he was born, looking back at pictures is creepy. He's getting big and has a really big melon. I started call him 'Bobblehead'.... He laughs when I call him that. Other than, it's fall now and it was 70 degrees today. The basement's coming along slowly, I hung the cabinet bases today so we have tons of storage down here, it's so nice to start getting organized again!

Wall-E comes out on DVD and I'm super excited to buy the special edition. That movie was amazing, and I loved the sound effects all the robots make... Super cool, if you haven't seen it I highly recommend it.

Here's my first pass for my dialogue shot: