12 Jan 2012

stuff. hundreds and hundreds of stuff.

This week we had our presentations of where we are on our major projects, as we are HALF WAY through. Daunting. But actually, so far everything seems to be on track, and over Christmas I managed to get the rigging finished and started a bit of animation. It still needs a bit of work here and there, but I thought I would show the progress so far.



It took a while to get used to how the characters would move. I had to go back through and tone down some of the poses, which looked good, but did not fit their personalities, and were just too quick and extreme for an elderly couple of merpeople refugees. It was also useful to get it rendered, despite the poor quality, as it is the first time I have seen it moving with the toon-shaders. It gives a much better idea of the look of the final piece than a still image. I feel I am now at a point where I can just get on with it, however there is still a lot to do! My priority now is blocking out the riot sequence, which is short but complicated, with multiple characters. I still need to model and rig the riot police, but they are quite simple, almost robotic designs so it shouldn't be too much of a pain.

In other news, this week at uni we have Dreamworks animator Kevan Shorey delivering a bunch of lectures and workshops which have been really useful and inspiring, especially as I have a lot of animating to do at the moment, both for the Major and Masterclass projects. Today he talked about his experiences working at Dreamworks, which have given a really good insight into the animation industry. He had quotes from tonnes of artists at the studios talking about what they wish they'd known when they were students and most of the advice was about not being afraid to ask questions or make mistakes, and not constantly comparing yourself to other people. My view of my own work seems to frequently fluctuate between pride and 'this is crap', so it is strangely comforting to hear that such awesomely talented professionals have also had times when doubted their abilities.

In other other news, on Monday, Mike Wyatt from Blue Zoo is coming in to give a tutorial, following the incredibly useful feedback received after the interim hand in for the Master Class animation project. This is a fantastic opportunity to have a one-on-one in depth discussion about my own work with a professional practitioner. This consists of three 10 second 3D animations, depicting a character reacting in various ways to a box being opened, and a 30 second 2D animation ident for the NCCA. I am currently working on improving the blocking out based on advice from Mike, and will post when they are completed. Busy, busy, busy.

In other other other news, Goat Man.