The Ministry of Vanilla Walks

This last week we delved into the wondrous world of walks, and all the heartaches that go along with it. It's become more than evident time and time again that walk cycles are one, if not the, trickiest things to do in animation, as every part of the body moves in conjunction with everything else, stemming from the hips. So that's why I'm glad that this assignment has become a two parter, the first for timing and posing, and the second for splining and finessing. It really helps a lot to be given the time to study a walk in thorough detail and understand the mechanics of it all, or at least begin to lol. This was my blocking stage for last week of a standard walk cycle, the crit went well.

As well there was the pose assignment to show physical strength. I took many interpretations on this at first and that more than anything frustrated me, as I was ideally trying to show this without the aid of a prop. Other than flex poses nothing was really working well for me, so I sucked it up and began using props, although minimally. Many different variations, but I was happy with my final product. I also got a bit confused with strength as opposed to effort, and there should be a balance of both. Some minor tweaks to come.

Siggraphitti Vidi Vici

Returning from Siggraph, I can't begin to say enough great and amazing things about it. Not only did I learn an ample amount about the current industry and the future of where it will go but also it was great for career networking, as I got to meet many people in the flesh. Animation Mentor in particular, it was fantastic to be able to shake someone's hand and vocalize that was otherwise done through text. I also got an opportunity to meet the infamous Bobby Beck, Carlos Baena and Shawn Kelly; the founders of the school and essential and inspiring celebrities as far as I'm concerned. There is so much to say about last week, the experience was incredibly profound and useful.

Last week's assignment was relatively light in comparison, which worked well with my gallivant down south. I wasn't able to complete it while in LA but managed to get it done yesterday. My only regret is that it is the sole assignment using the "Tailor" rig which was an extraordinarily fun rig to work with. Needless to say I didn't have much of an opportunity to be creative with this assignment, but I think I faired well on it, crit is yet to come.

Overlapping Fantasipaction

This week's in depth struggle revolves around overlapping action and the different ways to approach it. I had a lot of fun with this assignment, and tried to put in a little liveliness as well. I spose the most important lesson I learned, or had reiterated and drilled solidly into my head is the entire importance and necessity to "offset the keys as the LAST step." I was able to try different methods to prepare for overlap, some I liked more than others, but all ended with a very similar and likeable result. I finally think I am not so overwhelmed with how to apply overlap, use it effectively and be able to do it far more expediently than I have in the past. Truly amazing the things I'm learning, feel free to check it out.

Also, I head down to LA for the almighty Siggraph tomorrow, and I can't begin to explain how thoroughly excited I am. A small part of me wishes I was further along in Animation Mentor so I could show even stronger work, but I realized that at next year's Siggraph, the timing will be poetically perfect. Plus, it's also entirely possible an incredible job offer or internship with one of the many prestigious studios may arise with the countless character animation reels I have comprised for distribution. Wish me luck; and stop asking me for swag! :D

Ball-Worthy

More balls! And this time a ball through an obstacle course. Trying to think of something different and creative, I managed to be fairly successful. The pain of this assignment, or my creativity, was putting a fast spin on the ball such that it would land a certain way and continue to roll in that fasion. Coupled with the ideals of squash and stretch it became quite challenging, but ended up working out in my favour. It was a fun challenge, and they do seem to be getting more fun, which is thoroughly exciting. It's astonishing what I'm learning this time around, the things I never picked up on before, being able to feel the weight and appropriateness of a movement or action for example... simply stunning.
The other part of my assignment was to portray devastation in a pose; to show how a body itself can give the impression of this emotion. Also a challenge, particularly to avoid anything that might be overdone or cliche. This is the other real power of this school; it does a good job of forcing originality; well not so much force but strongly enourage. This also makes it that much more difficult hehe, but it works. All these of course start with sketching real life examples and then working towards replicating and exagerating that with a 3D rig as seen below.









Also next week is the beginning of Siggraph, which I do have the good grace and fortune to attend. Also very exciting, I'm busy throwing together reels for handout, so it shall progress to be a busy week in preparation. I can't wait to attend, my nerves are shot already hehe. A most exciting event indeed! The things I shall learn are unfathomable as of yet; well I have sort of an idea.