Class 5!!! Story time =)

Wew! A year into AM already! Despite all the hard work, this year has flown by fast! I guess I'm having fun =)

Here is My class 4 assignment as it stands now.Hmmm. I think I need to find a new video file time. Photbucket seems to play back a bit chunky.
I got a chance to work on it after taking a few days off, and that helped me to see it again fresh (or at least fresher =).
Class 4 was tough!!!!! Having Nick Bruno as a mentor was great because he kept me motivated throughout the whole project, and his critiques and advice were important to finishing this. I really learned alot from this assignment. It was much harder than I thought it would be, and a big part of that was a time issue for me. I don't know how I could've squeezed anymore hours of the day into this project. If I wasn't sleeping or at work, I was animating! I realized early on that time was going to be a tight squeeze for this. Going back, I wish I spent another week on blocking. I was trying so hard to do the schedule that AM set up, but getting the blocking down is so vital. I ended up having to block alot of it over as the project went on, and I think that was my biggest goof up and time suck on this project. If you're reading this, save your vacation days for this assignment! That is the only reason I was able to finish. I found out the hard way that pulling a week long allnighter is not a good idea =). You do need to take care of yourself.
Class 5!!!!!!
We had our first Q&A of class 5 last night. My new mentor is Jed Diffenderfer. He is currently at Dreamworks, and worked on the upcoming Kungfu Panda movie. Too bad the movie isn't out yet. I would love to see his work on it, but it obviously can't be shown before the movie is released.
Jed seems as fun as his name is to say, and I am looking forward to this class. I have a couple story ideas already. My two ideas that I had coming into the class were kind of shot out of the water. THe first idea I found a new commercial with a similar theme, and the second idea would cost me thousands of dollars because of a particular song used. Ahh well. I have a few more which I will tell next week. We have some cool new characters to use in our short films to choose from. I really wish there was a set of cartoony animal characters (you know, human acting but animal esque looking) for us to choose from. It would be cool if there was another woman in the group, to.
It's weird how you look at a character and already have an opinion about their personalities. The woman just seems a little to babe-alicious to me, so unless my short calls for a really pretty girl, I think I'll opt for the class 3 & 4 rig with a wig again. It's an exciting time, and I am eager to get started!

Other stuff- I travelled out to western Massachusetts with my sister and brother in law to visit my old roommates (2 out of 3 anyway) and go apple picking, THat was really fun (and delicious!). I had a good week break and got to see alot of people that I don't usually see while busy with my AM work.
Saw a new podiatrist today. She happens to be right across the main street from me, so I hobbled over this morning. I fractured my foot months ago, and my current doctor was not helping. He told me to wear crocs (those ugly plastic shoes) to help my foot. Wrong!! Crocs?!!! are you kidding me?? I didn't know what they were at the time, or I surely would've protested. It's a couple months later, and I have since got rid of the crocs (the doctor as well as the shoes) but my foot is worse off then ever. My new doctor said it should've been immobilized from the beginning, but now it's too late for that. I can't tell you how frustrated I feel. It's been years since my feet have been right, and this latest problem happened because of orthotics given to me for a previous problem with my other foot.Gahh!
I start physical therapy for my foot in a couple weeks. I sure hope it helps! I miss doing stuff.
goodnight! =)

I might just survive class 4... maybe

Ever wonder why so many AM blogs go silent during class 4? I don't anymore. We are all deep into our two person dialog right now, and it is a killer of an assignment. This is the first time I am worried about finishing a project.
My biggest enemy is time. Before for AM, I always worked every night and weekend on my assignment. Sometimes it was tight, but I always had enough time. For this assignment, I've got to squeeze in time that doesn't exist. I've been using my vacation days from work to get extra time on it. I've also tried staying up even later to squeeze an extra hour or two in. THat plan kind of backfired when I almost passed out at work. I found out the hard way in class 1 that I, in fact, do need to sleep. I know I can do this assignment, but it's frustrating not to have the time i want on it. At my lowest point this week (when i discovered I somehow broke a rig) I was even considering quitting my job, which I like ( and kind of need=) just to get the time I want on the project. Probably not a good idea. I've tried asking for time off with no pay, but that's a no go. =(
Anyway, here is my project as it stands with two weeks to go. Two shots are still in blocking, and most of the facial stuff that is in there is in blocking mode. Lots of work to do! I'm just going to do the best I can because in the end, that's all you can do =).
THe rest of the class (besides the stress of the deadline) has been great. THe lectures this class are awesome, and Nick ( my mentor) has given some cool classes. He also hangs out after class to look at our work if we have some changes up. I try my best to get something to show by Tuesday.
Hopefully in 2 weeks I'll have a finished project to show. If I survive that long... :)

Two person dialog!

WOw, the last month has flew by!
I thought class 3 was busy, but class 4 stepped it up a notch.
We started on our two person dialog a couple weeks ago. We picked out our lines, did our reference, and here is the blocking that I've done so far. I usually work nights and weekends on my assignments, but I actually took Friday off of work because I was really worried about not getting my blocking done.
Setting up the cameras and shots for this has been a challenge, but Nick's critique really helped me on that. I am happy with how it's coming along, though I know I have some timing issues to iron out. After two 12 + hour days in a row, I'll get to it tomorrow.
I did get a mini vacation, though. I took Tuesday off of work and went to New Hampshire where my parents rented a cabin for a week. My grandparents and little cousins were there, so it was a nice break.. brief as it was. An added bonus was I got to go swimming. For the past two years my feet have been not so good (I just learned two weeks ago I fractured my supposed good foot) and swimming is one thing I can do without bothering them. I had a great day and got nice and sunburned. Some day I'll have vacations longer than a day.



Here is the final from my single dialog shot. I was able to get hair from the AM library thanks to Matthew Garward, but I tried and failed to color her so it looks like she's not naked. When I have time, I want to take a Maya class =)

Class 4!!!!!!

Class 4 started last week. My new mentor is Nick Bruno from Blue Sky!! He is my second mentor from there =)
I can already tell he's a cool mentor! He is straightforward and gives good detailed critiques. He does his critiques an interesting way. He looks at the work for the 1st time during the critique, so you can see his reaction to your work. It's kind of neat, and nerve wracking all at once =). I had a good first critique, which is nice! We are continuing our asignments from class 3, though now we have a full facial rig.
THe face is fun, though it is weird to be in brand new territory again. Just when you're getting used to animating the body, the face is added!
I saw Ratatouille a cople weeks ago, and I loved it! What a beautiful movie. I emailed my class 3 mentor who worked on the film, and he was nice enough to give me a list of shots that he worked on. Michal did alot with the character Ego, which is awesome! THe audience really responded to him. I am going to see the movie again tomorrow. It'll be cool seeing it again knowing waht shots he worked on.
Other than that, I moved to my new apartment during the week break from AM. I didn't expect to be moving, but the landlord wanted to move in our apartment. I have two new roommates, and an office! I love having office space! I'm no longer crammed in my bedroom with my computer. I bought a new desk and chair too =)
Comments on my assignment, or anything, is always welcome! We have 1 more week to work on the face for this shot!

Half way there!

Class 3 just ended this week, and I am officially half way done with AM. THat's crazy to think about. It's been going by soo fast.
Here is my progress reel for the first three classes. THe dialog shot will be finished in class 4, where we'll be given a full facial rig to really be able to give our characters expression.
But for now, we have a week off before class 4. As much as I love AM, my brain could use the time to recharge. I have to move this week, too =(. It's only 3 miles, but it's a pain. I will, however , have my own office for the very first time! It will be nice not to have to have all my computer stuff crammed in my bedroom. I will actually have an entire 3rd floor to myself! woohoo!
Ratatouille comes out next friday! Everytime I see the commercials on tv, I get really excited. SO much so that my roommates make fun of me. Unfortunately, that's the day I'm moving, but I will be there! I can't wait!!!!
On a sad note, my mentor Michal Macarewicz is not going to tech with AM any longer. I feel incredibly lucky to have had him as my mentor. I learned sooo much from him, and he really took the time to give thorough critiques. I mean thorough! THey were often 20-30 minutes long! I'll always be thankful for that!
Comments are always welcome!

Craziness!!

Have you ever had one of those weeks where everything hits you in the face at once? THis month has been like that so far. Both good and bad things, but all crazy.
I just learned last week that I have to be out of my apartment by July 1st!! ahh!!! Two of our roomates are moving out ( one graduated, and one is starting school again) and our new roomie backed out on us. Long story short, me and my remaining roommie couldn't find anyone with such short notice, and we had to give our landlord an answer last week as to what we were doing. Sooo, we are moving out, and sadly going our own ways.
Finding an apartment while working full time and taking classes at night is not a pleasant task (although it is interesting seeing who you'll meet on Craigslist!). On top of that my weekends this month have been filled with graduation and retirement parties that I've been making cameo appearances at. Also, my sister is getting married in a week and there's still plenty of work to do on that.
Anyway, I haven't been sleeping much to get the extra time to work on my shot. I'm really into it and I don't want it to suffer because of all this crazy going on. I am wrestling with the details of it. THe hands and matching the elbows up to the legs are quite a challenge, but I'm enjoying it!! It's really exciting to see her come to life. I am taking some days of next week to help with the wedding and work on my shot. Some day I'll actually use my vacation days for a vacation.
On a good note, a very cool thing happened to me last week.I got a note from Keith Sintay telling me that he liked my work. That made my week! He has worked on Mulan and Tarzan, and I believe Surf's Up (which is a cool movie, by the way!). That meant alot to me coming from him and was really nice of him.
Gotta go! I am really tired and need to stock up on some sleep!

No more bathroom!

I started splining my shot this week. I just wanted to work out the rythym of the body and legs and make sure everything is working pretty good before I get into refining details.
I have to say, I'm loving doing this assignment. It's really fun and it's so exciting getting into new territory with the eyes and face, even with the limited rig. It sounds really corny, but I get more excited about animation every week. I can't wait to learn more!

Acting shot!

This was a busy week for me. My first pass of blocking for my acting shot! I was really nervous going into this project. I mean, we're into acting! It's so exciting and scary new all at once.
THe blocking came out better than I thought it would .I was nervous picking this line because it's more subtle than the pantomime and body mechanics shots we have done before. I was wondering what I would be animating. THere's no broad actions, and our face rig is limited to eye movements right now.WHile working on it , though, I realized there was ALOT of stuff going on. It didn't hit me in the face, but it's there. This took a long time to do, but I'm happy with the start I have on it. I took friday off off work to have more time to put into it. I was away aalll day Saturday taking my sister too NY city for her bacherlorette party. It raind the wwhole day, but it was fun. We saw a new show on broadway called the Pirate Queen. It was awesome and I totally recommend seeing it. The lead actresses were great!
Anyway, I'm really glad I took friday off to work on it because there's no way I would've finished with my saturday gone. I am going to change the setting to something less... bathroomish =) I believe the toilet's too distracting.
Animation Mentor has a tutoring program taught by fellow AM grads, and I went to this weeks and last week's session with Mike Stern. If you don't know who Mike is, check out his work at http://www.sternio.com/. His stuff is top notch. He kept a blog throughout AM and was a big inspiration to me to join. It's really cool that he's a tutor for us now, and it's really helpful to hear his comments on your work. He's a really cool guy to give his time to us like that.
Gotta go to bed!
Comments are always welcome and encouraged!

I need to watch more tv

I need to watch more tv, or something. This week we had to find audio clips for us to animate a dialog piece to. Sounds easy, right? Sit around, watching movies to try and find some dialog.... It's harder than one might think. For this project we have the remaining six weeks of this class to work on it, as well as the beginning of next class. That's a long time. I not only want to find a good quote to challenge me, but one that I'll be enthusiastic about working on for a couple of months.
So, I spent the last couple of weeks making myself watch an enormous amount of movies. My dvd collection has grown considerably from me raiding the local blockbuster sale rack. I wanted to find a quote that people wouldn't recognize right away, and to try and stay away from the overused ones that are so convenient to get on the internet. After ALL that movie watching, I found two of my quote options from a most unlikely source... Miss Congeniality 2. Yeah. Well, I'll be damned if anyone recognizes the quotes!
Up above id me acting out my potential quotes. I'm really undecided at the moment, and I really want to get the feedback from my mentor.
Anyway, enjoy watching me make a fool of myself! Me..? I'm going to read a book. I've watched enough videos this week already.
Comments are always welcome!

Cookie thief final!!

Here's the final version of the 2 beats pantomime animation. Well, final until I get my critique =)
Michal gave an awesome critique this week .It was a half hour long and really nit picked about polishing my shot. It;s great to hear him go through my assignment in such detail. If he didn't take the time to do that, I feel that I would never know to look for some of the stuff he pointed out. Now I know to look out for those details in future work I do,
For this week's assignment we have to find three audio quotes that we like for possible lines to animate. yay!!! Our models will have real faces now! They will be limited facial rigs at first, but I'm really excited to try this out. I started watching a bunch of movies last week to try and find some lines I want to animate. It's tough! I have a few in mind, but I'm going to watch a whole lot of movies this week too.
As always, comments and questions are welcome!

Cookie Thief part 4

This week was tough. I think refining and polishing your animation can be the toughest part because in the earlier stages you can see alot of prgress from week to week, but in the later stages you can work for hours and hours on little things.
Overall I think it's coming along pretty good. It's to the point where I have to put it aside and not look at it for awhile so I can see it fresh. It amazes me how absorbed you can get in your own animation to the point where you can't really see it anymore.
This week for class my mentor (Michal Makarewicz) posted some awesome tutorials he made for us. It was about concentrating on getting the main part of the body (the hip or root area down) before even worrying about arms, legs, and all the rest. It was so great to see those videos and how he works through it. I still feel sometimes that I am wrestling with the graph editor more than workig with it, but watching him work really helps. Michal is an awesome mentor and really goes the extra mile to help everyone out.
---In non AM news, my sisters wedding shower went off fine. We were blessed with a warm sunny day surrounded by not so nice days, which solved the problem of stuffing 55 people into an average size house.
Me and one of my roommates have been putting ads on craigslsit trying to find 2 new roommates. Sadly, two of my current roommates are moving out. It's really interesting seeing who responds to the ad and shows up at your door. Though the ad specifically says 'no psychos', some have responded anyway. It's like playing some weird people lottery and hoping you win.

--I'm off to watch some movies. We have to animate a line of dialog from a movie for an assignment soon, and I am definitely not a movie buff =0
As always, comments are most welcome!! If you have a critique, comment, or question about my assignment, or Animation Mentor in general, I'd be happy to hear it.

Class3 2 beat splining

Woohoo! I got my best critique ever last week on my blocking. It was really good to get, but also scary in a way. I don't want to mess this shot up!
Since last week I figured out how to make Stewie (the model) look more like a kid. I feel kind of stupid that I didn't figure it out before. It's a pretty simple stretch control. At my mentor's suggestion, I also gave him a hat and changed the hand gesture right before he grabs a cookie to hopefully something a little less cliche.
Splining. Arghh. Splining is always a trying time for me. Everything can look real neat and tidy in the blocked stage, but turning it from blocked to spline can be a wrestling match. THe computer tends to make everything look floaty unless you really take control over it. I'm getting better, but man it's tough.
Here's my shot so far. I've still got two weeks to work on it, so I hope to have a nice polished piece by that time.
Gotta get some sleep! I'm hosting a bridal shower for my sister tomorrow and I don't want to look like a zombie =)

2 beats!

I got my first critique from my mentor Michal this week. It basically came down to my planned shot wasn't showing enough contrast between the two beats that the character is supposed to show. I really liked my origianl idea, but I knew he was right. I re-taped my reference to hopefuly show two distinct beats, and I'm really glad I did. Michal was nice enough to take the time to help me through it. I'm really liking him as a mentor. It is a much simpler concept (really happy to really angry) but I think this animation is going to be challenging. It already has been! It took a long time to block this out, but I am happy with it so far. I went through so many contrasting emotions myself this week, so it's good to end on an upbeat =)

Tomorrow I'll be volunteering at the Boston Marathon. I'll be setting up cups of water and handing them out. It's supposed to rain pretty bad tomorrow, but it should still be a blast!

Class 3!!!!!

Class 3!! Intro to acting!!
THis is the class I've been most looking forward to. I am kind of nervous about it, but more excited.
We had our first Q&A with our new mentor this week. My new mentor is Michal Makarewicz! I am very thrilled to have him for a mentor. He is a Pixar animator, and seems like a truly nice guy. He really wants to help us, and is very open to answering questions. I know it's gonna be a good class!

This week's assignment is to plan out an animation that shows a character going through to distinct beats. For example, go from happy to sad, relaxed to frustrated, etc. It was harder than I thought coming up with a scenarrio for this. THe character has no facial features except for two black dots as eyes, so you have to get the expressions across through body language. Also, the animation can be no longer than 10 seconds.
I decided to go with a guy raiding a cookie jar, then getting his hand whapped by a wooden spoon as he's reaches in. He recoils in pain, thinks a bit, then swoops in fast to steal a cookie.
Here are my sketches. I will post the blocking next week.

Animation Mentor, class 1 and 2

I wanted to start a blog at the beginning of class 1, but here I am at the end of class 2 already =).
Animation Mentor is a wonderful program. THe entire experience has been awesome so far, so if you are sitting on the fence about joining AM, I highly recommend you take the plunge.
I started Animaton Mentor in September 2006. My mentor was Pete Paquette of Blue Sky, and I feel lucky to have had him for my first mentor. He was very tough with his critiques, but fair as well. You really felt you earned your grade! THe first class was an amazing amount of information, and although alot of work, it was really fun and went by fast. My fellow class 1 class mates are a very dynamic group, and we really pushed eachother to work harder. A wonderful thing at AM is that everyone shares. We get to critique our fellow student's work, and you learn so much from doing so. I want my AM friends to succeed. It's such a great learning environment.
Going into AM, I was very intimidated by the fact that I didn't know Maya. It's a struggle at first because not only do you have assignments with new animation principles that you are learning, but trying to learn Maya (which is a MONSTER of program) on top of that. and the graph editor... what's That about??? AM does provide lessons, but it is still an adjustment. After weeks of bumping my way through the program and accidentally making menus dissappear, learning the quick keys, and trying not to destroy my simple models, I feel I have finally killed most of my Maya demons. I was amazed at how many people already knew Maya going in, which is great, so you know you can get help with that.
Class 2 (which I am in my last week of now) my mentor is Mark Behm. I love having Mark as a mentor. He doesn't overwhelm you, but feeds you new stuff to try when you are ready. He is very patient, gives great critiques, and often stays longer than the one hour class time alotted. In class 2, we studied body mechanics. I really enjoyed this class, and alot of the stuff I learned in class one started clicking.
So, ya. Enough with the talking.
Here is my progress reel so far with my most recent shots first. The first three are from class two, and the rest are from class 1.
Comments are encouraged and welcome, though I am sure I am talking to myself =)