Looking For A Job Dressed Like That?!

I feel like someone's going to say that to me when I try to get my next job... hehe... ANYWAY...

I'm having far too much fun with this shot.  So many ideas, so few frames.  HA!  Here's a quick movie of the breakdowns I did for my assignment this week.  I have a few things to adjust, tweak, add, subtract, but in general, I'm really enjoying it... and so is Mark, so that's good!

Facial Poses.... FTW!

Not to brag, but the facial poses are really working for this shot.  I hope I can bring the magic all the way to the finish line with this one.  Something tells me Mark won't have it any other way.  HAHA!  (P.S. - He's an amazing mentor, in case you wanted to know.  Something about those Canadian animators!)

I'll be posting the updated movie this week with the few tweaks, some of which will make me laugh (and hopefully anyone who watches it!).  Either way, I'm having fun, and that's half the battle.  GO JOE!

No Rioting, Please...

It's the start of another session at AM, and this time my class is in Advanced Body Mechanics. My mentor is Marlon Nowe, who has worked at Blur studios, Rhythm and Hues, and is currently animating at Disney Animation Studios (animator on Rapunzel/Tangled). He's a really cool guy and I can tell already, he expects a lot out of his class. This is a really good thing! It's going to be a tough semester, but I think I can hang!

The first spin of the semester! We weren't given a pick list this time (list of 10 or so animations to choose from), but rather expected to come up with our own ideas. We also had to decide if we wanted to do an "Anim Exercise" (3 totally different animations/themes) or an "Anim Jam" (3 animations with the same theme, but not a short). I went with Anim Jam, and more specifically 3 soccer related animations. I thought I could get some subtle stuff in there as well as some really big actions so I could practice (or learn!) the whole gamut of a realistic style. So, here's the blocking for my first shot - a traditional soccer throw in.

"Only Americans would call a game you play with your hands football..."

So far I think it's working well. Marlon had a few things to comment about my silhouettes (i.e. - the ball and head were visually "touching" in one pose and it needed some negative space) but overall, he was pretty positive. I felt good about it especially since I didn't feel like I spent enough time on it before I had to rush and turn it in. I need to be a bit more stringent with my time, but if you know me, you know I'm a procrastinator! Hehe. Anyway, I'm off to Blocking Plus this week so it will have a lot more breakdowns and probably hit spline mode before I turn it in. Here's hoping for no red cards....