Woops! and a whole lot of updates!

So... apparently I'm dumb and have been clicking save instead of publish for the past couple weeks. That's what comes of stress, I suppose. Instead of posting them all as separate entries, I've consolidated and added new info to make one long super entry. So here we are! I just turned in my last assignment for Term 1 and it's been a hell of a ride. We have one more week of feedback, then two weeks off for Christmas. I'll be starting Term 2 in Santa Barbara, hopefully with an apartment (just made some calls cross fingers!).

On we go to the past month of updates!

For poses we've had to do...

Physical strength:

My main note on this was to give the hands more shape and to make the weight come straight down, rather than at an angle.

Next was concern:

Anthony liked my poses a lot this week. his only note was (again) more shape on the hands and to turn the kid's body a little towards the camera.

Up next was exhaustion:

He told me to straighten the leg, but that he really liked the shoulders. :)

And finally, balance:

Haven't gotten feedback on this on yet.

On to animations!

Last post, I went over my obstacle course revision and my pendulum.

So here's the pendulum revision (not required, but I had time so I did it anyway):

And the assignment for that week (with our fancy substitute mentor) was the ball and tail! I used reference of a sugar glider with stereotypy. Just kept doing backflips over and over.

Next was our first biped animation! We had to do a vanilla walk cycle. No bells or whistles, just good body mechanics. This was a two week assignment. The first week, we blocked it out (stepped), and the second week we refined it. I forgot to upload my blocking, but here's the final revision:

Much more difficult than anticipated. I managed though!

The same week I did my final revision for that, I blocked out my personality walk. That is, a walk that has character. I found some awesome reference from the Dean Martin show (will be included later).

We did the blocking in side view:

This one was probably the hardest I've done so far. It was not working and not working and I started over three or four times. I finally went back to incremental save 14 (out of 37) and started over one last time... and it worked! I don't know how, but it did.

So here is my final final personality walk, with reference and in side and 3/4 views:

I believe this sums up my experience the past two weeks...

This next week I get feedback on everything I've done so far. It's been a good term. Busybusybusy. But good. I have learned so much and I think I ended it on a really high note. :)

Week 6

Apparently I was a week behind in the titles of my posts! I don't know how I managed that.

Anyway, week 6 has been quite excellent so far. I still haven't gotten a good schedule down (in that I do most of my work Friday/Saturday/Sunday, because that's when I have time), but I'm definitely improving.

This week, I did the pendulum and a revision of my obstacle course.

Here they are:



The platform gave me so much trouble. It was insane. I spent 45 minutes on the pendulum bit, and two days on the platform. Does that seem right to you?



I realized too late that I followed the first set of instructions my mentor gave me instead of the revised set. It still looks leaps and bounds better, though, so I hope it'll be okay.

And, as a special treat to myself for making it halfway through Class 1 of Animation Mentor, I put together a compilation of the animations I've done so far!



I have been improving and it's amazing to see.

Week 4 & 5 - Obstacle Course & Pendulum

Week 4 was craaaaaazy. The last IGF crunch for CvZ and Halloween and a difficult assignment. I am ashamed to say I know I could have done better on this one. Thank goodness for revisions.

Here are my sketches and final pose for "devastation":

Anthony said to make it less profile/symmetrical, but overall that it was good. I keep on putting too much stock in silhouettes, apparently.

And my 'final' obstacle course ball:





It's not amazing. The bounces are a bit jumpy and the timing is off. The ending doesn't hold to proper physics either. I need to revise it for next week, so expect to see something prettier sometime soon.

Onto Week 5! A better week, a happier week!

This week... we're doing overlap! Woo! Not to toot my own horn all Mazeppa-style, but this is one of my strengths.

And here we are, my wonderful planning for this assignment! (I would show my reference video, but I didn't put on pants before filming it.)

And there we go. Next week is Tailor, the bouncing ball & tail!

End of Week 4

So after crunching on Friday and way too many things to do yesterday, I have my final assignment for week 4!






I ran into some issues where in the .mov, the roll on the light ball looks fine, but when I posted it to the AM website, the roll was choppy and made it look like it was sliding. I exaggerated it a bit, and it does look better overall, but it still makes me sad.

Apart from that, this week was great! I've discovered that I have the discipline to banish myself to a corner and work for 30 minutes at a time while my friends are off having fun in the rest of the room. It makes following the plot of things difficult, though. I still have no idea what's going on with Pete Campbell and Peggy.

I've also started getting the hang of planning. Before I always had a vague idea and tweaked things until they looked right, but now I'm learning what makes things work, so my planning is improving dramatically.

I will post again when I have my next assignment!

Weeks 3 and 4!

This has been a crazy past week and a half. Communists vs Zombies is entering crunch and we've started actually animating for AM!

For Week 3 we had to do excited poses and a simple bouncing ball. Without further ado...



I took Anthony's advice and gave my stick figures more fleshed out bodies, and didn't make them as up-and-down this time. He really liked them. :D

And here's the final pose:



Something got lost in the move to 3D on this one too, which I need to work on. I think I may revise it just for my own sake, even though none are necessary for my grade.

The bouncing ball made me nervous at first, mainly because of the rotation. That was the one assignment I skipped when taking 3D Animation in college. Pro-tip: The rX curve will mimic the shape of the tZ curve.

Anyway, my hard work and stress paid off and here is my no-revisions-necessary bouncing ball:




On to Week 4! This week we're doing just one animation, plus any revisions we were told to do. It's two bouncing balls, one heavy, one light. Here's my WIP:




I still have a ways to go. I think the heavy ball should be more heavy and the rotation and tZ aren't quite right on the light ball. Working within a frame limit is challenging, but I enjoy it.

In slightly different news, I also got assigned a peer buddy! She's been awesome so far, and it's really great to be meeting more people.

Now it's time for foods and possibly The Girl Who Played With Fire before my Q&A.

End of Week 2

Here we are at the end of week #2! In mundane news, I've started listening to a lot of opera and pop-country. It's kind of amazing.

I have 11.45 hours until my first real assignment is due and I think I'm solid. Here are the sketches I've done:

I originally chose pose #9 to do for my final rendered version, which came out like this:

I found I wasn't terribly fond of the silhouette, though. The nice curves and arcs of the sketch didn't really translate that well to Stu's rig. Here is attempt #2 with the third pose:

Because of Stu's big head, I couldn't get the right arm how I wanted, but the silhouette is much better that the first one.

I'll see if anyone has any comments before the deadline tomorrow!

Week 2! Moar Q&A's and Assignments!

Our assignment this week is to do quick sketches of poses we see, choose our favorite, and pose Stu as such.

I never anticipated that the hardest part for me would be finding people to draw. I really am a recluse! Home, work, chiropractor, class, home. Always doing something that precludes sketching when there are people around! I have an hour between work and class today, so I'm going to find somewhere to sit where it's not raining and somewhat populated and sketch people. If not, I'll have to rely on Korean music videos, and we all know how that ends.

Yesterday, there were two supplemental Q&A's that were really awesome. There was a Maya Over the Shoulder Q&A with Drew Adams on body mechanics and a generic AMA with Shawn Kelly. Both were really fun, and I got to see how the webcam + mic thing works. I didn't have headphones, so I muted the mic to prevent the feedback loop of ickiness and hatred. It wasn't ideal, but it was still fun.

I'll try to post some of my sketches tonight, and if not tonight, tomorrow. I need to start playing around with Stu! Still super excited. :)

First Q&A and more gesture drawings

I had my first Q&A today with mentor Anthony Wong! I've been watching the videos up til now, but haven't downloaded and familiarized myself with the rig yet. That will have to be for this weekend.

As luck would have it, I ran into some major technical problems as the Q&A started up. Video was working fine, but no audio! D: After 30 minutes of troubleshooting and taking up valuable time, I realized that all Flash audio on my laptop had died. Even Youtube. When I realized that, I managed to get a hold of another computer and finish the Q&A that way. It was extremely sad, though, and I'm just glad I didn't miss the entire thing, or (from what I could see in the video) anything that will be a game-changer.

The lesson, dear reader: Flash sucks. I need a new laptop. Stat.

Anyway, it was awesome and I'm going to make up for this shaky first impression! I got a new sketchbook today and some water-soluble pencils that'll add an extra dimension to my stuff. :)

Here's some more gesture drawings I did tonight. The other ones I was going to post got eaten by my computer when it refused to come out of hibernation and had to be rebooted.

This lesson, dear reader: Men are hard to draw. I spent 2-5 minutes on each one. By Inglip, I need more practice.

First day!

The Animation Mentor site just went live! I was getting a bit worried as it was just a blank page for a while, but I assume the huge influx of new students is always tough to handle.

My mentor is Anthony Wong, of Disney and Pixar fame. I am so excited! I'm watching through the intro videos now, and though it's a lot to take in, the prospect of getting familiar with the system and the forums is highly delicious. :3

In fact, I feel a bit foolish about how eager I was for Pottermore instead of this. Animation Mentor is so much more awesome! (That being said, I'm totally a Ravenclaw, with Hufflepuff leanings.)

I did more gesture drawing last night, trying my hand at dudes only, and I'll post those later tonight. I am so excited. :D

Gesture Drawing!

I used Pixelovely's gesture drawing tool today for a full hour and it was amazing! I did 15 minutes of 30 second humans, 15 minutes of 30 second animals (mammals only), and a 30 minute "class" that starts off quick but gives more time for the drawings towards the end.

My hand is sore and I realize just how out of practice I am. Also, I discovered I don't know how to draw dudes. What's up with that? I just need to study David Kawena's art more... Same goes for horses. I got those more than any other animal, and I was never the type to draw unicorns on everything as a kid. An hour later, I realize I need to make their bodies more bean-shaped. Something to think about for next time.

Less Than One Week!

One week until Animation Mentor starts and I am super pumped! I have gotten so busy with work and Chico State Game Studios, I have hardly had time to animate. This will be a welcome kick in the pants to get back to work. :D


The site is closed as they're between terms, and I am a little nervous. My laptop frame went kaput last night, and I don't have a webcam for my desktop. There are metal bits that should be moving and inside, but that are static and outside the plastic on the laptop right now. I have decided I will no longer move it around. That'll prolong its life until I can get a new one (ChristmasChristmasChristmas). 


I've started following other AM student blogs and it all looks amazing. I can't wait to get started! My life will be crazy, but it's going to be worth it.


Also, despite only being 20, I get a rental car today! I feel so fancy. Almost makes getting rear-ended worth it. My neck is sprained, but it's getting better, and I'll have to get a new Pokeball bumper sticker (I might be able to salvage my Flying Spaghetti Monster emblem, too). The repair guys are going to have fun when they get the trunk open. Flour, sugar, and oats everywhere!


Six days. :3