Demo Reel Completed!

I completed my demo reel! CLICK HERE to view it.

It feels like a huge weight has been lifted off me! It was a lot of long hours and a lot of late nights/early mornings, but I feel really good in how it turned out! Maybe I'll post some of my older reels just for kicks, they are pretty painful to watch, but entertaining and it's great to see the progress that I've made over the years.

I'm planning on doing some subtle tweaking over the next month before the job fair in San Francisco in January, but the animation is pretty much done!

Enjoy. Till next time.

So close to the light at the end of the tunnel!

Well, another Saturday spent working on my demo reel and I feel as if I'm gaining significant progress! And, believe it or not, I'm feeling pretty good about my reel! There's a total of 6 shots and I just finished polishing the forth and fifth ones over the weekend! I spent a little over 10 hours on Saturday fine tuning 10 seconds of animation.

As all I have left to do know is print the artwork and cut it to size . Finish the final shot for my reel, get blank DVDs and render out the final product!! The Rhythm and Hues recruiter will be coming next Friday (December 4th) and I'll have a version (not fully rendered) to give to her! Exciting stuff! As soon as I have something I'll post it so you can see it too... I'm planning on having all the animation done by this weekend, then burning one copy for the Rhythm and Hues recruiter, then render all the shots over the next couple of weekends and it's time to start burning DVDs and and putting the entire package together and start sending them out....

Stay tuned! Till next time.

Feedback, feedback ,feedback....

Hey everyone! So since my completion of Animation Mentor I've been getting my short film complete and working on my demo reel. Also I have volunteered my time at Animation Mentor and became a Peer Buddy.... basically I get assigned 10 students and am responsible for going over the work that they post. It's really time consuming but it's a great thing to help out. One thing that is really tricky about being a Peer Buddy is the amount of feedback you have to leave for each student. What's so hard about that?? Well sometimes when I leave feedback I feel like I'm not really finding anything, or I'm being too critical, or I'm talking down to the student... all of these factors play a key role in feedback. If someone's shot is working and you notice something off, chances are they missed it and need the extra pair of eyes. One of the brilliant animators who graduated from AM, who recently got hired on at Disney, Malcon Peirce . He posted a really helpful blog on leaving feedback. I'm going refer to it often and is the reason I'm posting it....

How to give awesome Critiques!

So Giving feedback will not only help out the person you’re giving feedback to, It will help you learn also. This seems obvious, but when you break down somebody’s animation and really look at it on a micro-analytical level(yes i think i made that word up… and I like it) Your forcing yourself to think about every action and you end up rationalizing every move. for example, You learn why the weight is off, or how the animator got the weight just right. You can see clearly why the animator made certain decisions, maybe to make an idea read clearly, or even to confuse the audience. By doing these things your animation vocabulary will grow. Not talking about words and definitions, but methods, and or tricks that can take your animation to a higher level. So in my opinion, giving really solid feedback involves breaking down the animation and thinking about why the artist made decisions, and how did the artist accomplish ideas. This applies to all animation, Highly polished feature level, or somebody that is just starting out. You’re going to learn from both and I think it’s Vidal if you want to improve. So if somebody needs feedback on their shot I think it is important to consider a few things in order to give the best, and most beneficial advise to help the animator improve upon their shot.

1. How far along in the workflow is the animator.

- Obviously if something isn’t working. It isn’t working. BUT if somebody is in spline, you don’t want to give them feedback that would derail their shot if at all possible. Try and figure out possible solutions to the problem with the least about of backtracking possible. It may be easy to say “instead of having the character land on both feet.. maybe have him land on his hands, do a front flip, and then stand up on his feet” OBVIOUSLY I’m exaggerating. but you get the point. This comes into play big time in the studio. You will have tight deadlines, and no time (usually) to reanimate a shot. By finding a way to fix a problem without having to take 6 steps backwards is a good approach when giving feedback. Of course there will be times where the animator may have to reanimate a section, weather its because the animation just isn’t working and that’s the best solution, or if the director makes changes and needs you to take your shot in a different direction. Both will happen, but problem solving is a huge part of animation, and getting good at problem solving will make you a faster, better animator.

2. Will my ideas Plus the shot or just change it.

- Being artists, we all have great ideas, and approach challenges differently. This a good thing, it keeps out animation unique and keeps animation entertaining. But when giving somebody feedback try an avoid challenging the animators choices purely for sake of change. Really think before you suggest a possible idea that may be different from the one in the shot. Think about what all would need to be adjusted in the shot for this to work. Would the animator need to reanimate only a few frames, or would this cause a train wreck through out the shot. Think “will this idea plus the animation, and make the idea more clear?”, “is this change going to help make this animation more appealing?” Make sure you have solid reasoning for suggesting ideas. Keep in mind that this also plays a great deal in how far along in the workflow the animator is in. Obviously you can suggest as many ideas as you want, when the animator is brainstorming. That’s a fantastic thing to do! I know its helped my animation. Most of my ideas come from other animators adding better ideas upon my original idea. BUT when the animator is splining his shot, you don’t want to change anything unless its vital, or will make a drastic change for the better.

3. Performance VS Preference

- I think this is a big one. When looking at somebody’s work, No matter where they are in the pipeline, be careful not to give feedback one something just because you personally would do it a different way. This sort of feedback is good for brainstorming, early blocking stages, where maybe suggesting ideas is easier because the animator can tackle changes faster and easier. But remember that animation is art, and it is personal. Telling somebody that the idea, or joke isn’t funny just because it isnt what you would do is not helping anybody. Try and see the animators “vision” for the shot. Sure we all have different personalities, but trying to relate your ideas to the ideas of the animator is the best way to ensure a positive and helpful critique. Otherwise it just causes frustration and can confuse the animator.

4. “Just because” feedback is a waste of time.

- Giving feedback just to get your name on a person’s workspace is a waste of time, for yourself and for the person who needed feedback. Alot of times I see feedback on a persons workspace that says “looks good.” when maybe the animation is not at a level that it needs to be. THIS IS NOT HELPING THE ANIMATOR LEARN. Pointing out flaws and mistakes in animation doesn’t make a you a bad person. You will not be unliked if you give somebody feedback that will make a difference in the quality of animation. (a higher quality) I think some people are shy and are afraid of offending people., Well If you check out #’s 1, 2, 3, I can almost guarantee that you will not offend anybody, and they will appreciate the time you put in to critiquing their shot. Try and be personable when giving feedback. For example if somebody you have never met or have never seen work from, just leaves comments like this ” F58-90 fix arm, 25-25 fix weight, f 50 needs better pose, F 70 hand not reading”, that person can come across as arrogant and rude. If it is your first time giving feedback to an animator, Introduce yourself. Point out things that ARE working as well as things that could be more clear. and Follow the ideas I mentioned above. This Way your not going to offend anybody. Imagine if your in a studio, and its your first day.. and somebody comes up that you don’t know and gives you all sorts of notes and just leaves. They don’t introduce themselves, or say anything positive about the work. That would make most people feel pretty bad about themselves. So remember to be personable when critiquing somebody’s animation for the first time. Also Its important to respect higher level animators such as senior animators etc etc ( applies more in a studio environment more than AM) Try to avoid giving notes to somebody that has been working or animating far longer than you, unless they have a shot up for crit, or ask you. You dont want to be that guy that comes in and things he owns the place. This can make you seem aragent , even if your just trying to help.

5. ANIMATION IS FUN

-This is for bother the person giving and receiving feedback. Remember that when its all said and done… your make a cartoon. This is a fun job and should always be enjoyed. Even though there will be times where you hate animating (most likely this will occur on your 75′th hour of your week, when your trying to get a shot INTO spline that is due the next day, or when your going for final notes for your shot, and get reblocking notes) BUT in the end most changes are for the better, and when you see your shot after is gos through lighting and is projected on a 50 foot screen you’ll forget all the late nights of agony and defeat. haha .

So these are a few pointers I find helpful when giving feedback. I think if you think about these ideas, your critiques will be far more helpful to the animator and will be appreciated alot more. Also you will think more about why and how to solve problems, bring it full circle, and learning from the animation your critiquing. Of course animation is a hard thing to give feedback because so much is relative and most things can be done in many many different ways. Most questions i hear asked about animation is usually followed by “Well, It depends on the shot”… and this is very true. So think of this is a guide and not a rule book. thanks for checking this out!

I hope it helps!

-Malcon

Thanks for such a great post Malcon and best wishes at Disney!!

Making progress...

Well, I finished up the animation for my short film and began re-working the shots for my demo reel. I had set a final deadline for my short or I'd be polishing it for another 10 years. I'm trying to do the same with my reel, setting deadlines, and (trying to) stick to them. My plan is to finish all the animation render out playblasts, so at least I have something to upload and show. Then go back and set up the lighting and render them out over a weekend or two. I rendered a few test renders for my short and using Mental Ray each frame took between 45 minutes to an hour. So I still have some settings to tweak as well as the lights themselves. I'm getting closer with each week and more excited to get it all done!

Other than that we endured a 2 day blizzard and got 2 feet of snow. It's awesome if you don't have to leave the house... the roads are icy and dangerous. I'm curious what it's going to do for our Hallowe'en trick-or-treaters....

Stay tuned.

Student Showcase.

Here is the latest and greatest student showcase from Animation Mentor. Absolutely amazing work!

They've done it again....

Now that I've completed Animation Mentor, I'm even more overwhelmed with ALL of the 3D animation surrounding me, on the Internet, TV, commercials, movies and video games. One studio in particular, if you happen to mention 3D Animation, will be the top of everyones' list... The studio, of course, I am referring to is the one and only Pixar Animation Studios. That's right, they have, hands down, produced my favorite movies (not just animations) and short films since their conception. I can watch any Pixar movie at any time and be completely entertained for the duration of the film, then watch the shorts, and all the special features on each DVD... I'm completely blown away from not only their animation, but the style in each of their films, the originality they possess, the overall feel of each film, and how they have hidden Easter Eggs throughout each of their films (like putting in the Pizza Planet truck in every movie).

If you look at Pixar's later films: Wall-E, Up and even Ratatouille, they take on a more serious feel (still fun, don't get me wrong), where if you look at Monster's Inc., Finding Nemo and Cars, they have a more comical/fun tone. Now in said comical movies there is still a serious message in the undertones of the movie, but they aren't as apparent. One thing that Pixar strives for is the story, that's their number one focus no matter what. Originally Toy Story 2 was going to be a 'straight to DVD' movie, and John Lasseter took a step back and said that its not Pixar's style. So they put some more money and time into the story and made it 'theater-worthy'. And look at what a great movie it turned out to be! I'm usually not as concerned when hearing that Pixar is making sequels to their amazing movies, there's Cars 2 and Toy Story 3 on the way(although, parts of me loves when they have an original movie coming out) as I am when say there's another Shrek movie in the making (although, I'm pretty stoked about Shrek 4). Shrek 1 was great, Shrek 2 was sub par, and I still have yet to see the Third, from all the bad reviews I've heard... Without further ado, here is the trailer for the upcoming Toy Story 3, June 18th, 2010.... It looks like such a fun movie and you know the story is going to be great!! I'm planning on seeing Toy Story 1 and 2 in 3D this week, and can't wait to see TS3 in June. Enjoy it.

Toy Story 3 Trailer from d C on Vimeo.

Two New Blogs Added....

Alright, well since graduation I've been doing a little bit of work on my short film and demo reel. Mainly just artwork and putsy type work, in that process I did create two new blogs: one, my online portfolio site where my reel will reside CLICK HERE to see it. Second, I posted a new blog with my short film 'Fresh Out the Box' the entire process, from pitching the story to my mentor, the animatic, layout, blocking and animation. CLICK HERE to see it, it goes chronological from the latest stage to earliest.

Short film update, I have completed seven shots, only nine more to go!! Then the lighting, rendering, and put it all together and clean up/add some more sound effects.

Stay tuned!