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.