BOLT- The Super Dog!

Proud to say I saw Bolt the Super Dog this weekend. I think this movie marks a real distinction in production for Disney's CG features. I was pretty impressed!

One might expect to see a pretty standard take on a story about a dog who does anything for "their person," in the traditional "fish out of water," character arc. The archtypal story was definitely still classic and sweet.

In terms of animation and acting choices, there were some really brilliant moments, as well! And for all you folks with hearts of coal- you might tear up. I said it. Additionally, there is some nice spicy comedy and a lightheartedness. Also, there is a neat montage with some cool art direction and varying styles.

Go enjoy it!

The Last Three Weeks in Figures

Old Postcards

Breaking news: My computer was felled last night in a hostile takeover by my Windows Installer software. I will be bombing it today and reloading all my software from the ground-up. The good news? In this process, I'm finding old files which maybe never have been posted up. Here's an old postcard I made...

Mark Barrett

My friend Mark drew in a figure drawing sesh a couple weeks ago. I've been meaning to post it. Thanks, Mark!

Peter Pan Card

Just sharing this beautiful card I received recently.

Another Funny

I cannot say how I keep finding these random nuggets of hilarity. Well, except I was at IKEA yesterday and I work at Nintendo. So these two examples happen to make a lot of sense... Nevertheless- both have given me lots of laughs! Hope you enjoy!

The Funniest

This picture is the funniest thing, I have seen, in a long long while. If you don't see it immediately, allow me to point it out...
















HAHAHAHAHA! Oh does it GET any funnier?!

The Last Two Weeks

It's been busy over here in the great land of Karpathia. I hope to post some pictures of my new digs soon. In the meantime, it's all I can do to get some scans from the last drawing sessions.

The Phantom Tollbooth

Super adorable! You will want to read this to your little neighbor or kid sister. It reminds me of Maywood Hills Elementary... I would like to try to read a young reader book like this every Fall. It seems to be just the spirit!

The Phantom Tollbooth is a younger and sweeter Alice and Wonderland- but in an educational light (as opposed to a "cracked out" light).

A disengaged youth named Milo, travels to the land of Wisedom via Phantom Tollbooth, where he is teamed with the watchdog, Tock, and the Humbug to rescue the princesses Rhyme and Reason. Milo acquires sights, sounds, words, numbers, and a magic staff (aka pencil), with which to navigate his adventure through Dictionopolis, The Doldrums, Point of View, Conclusions, Digitopolis, etc...

The lessons of this book and the land of Wisdom are more than relevant for readers of any age. Milo learns the value of being attentive and curious... "...so many things are possible just as long as you don't know they're impossible."

Norton Juster is also the author of, The Dot and The Line, which became an Academy Award winning animation by Chuck Jones: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmSbdvzbOzY

Today's Drawings

For Now

Here is the, "Final," of the exercise I had mentioned last week. Subject to change, although I want to dive into a few more practice projects before school gets going again.

Sept 11, 2008 - Figures

Principles

You may have seen these before. It is pretty interesting to think about the persistence of vision, and which rules can be broken under what circumstances...

Here is a test I am working on with some friends. The trick to this test is: You may not use the Graph Editor. It is step-framed and keyed on every frame. This is a tremendous exercise and I highly recommend it!

Destructing Message

Ever want to destroy all the evidence? Here's a way to send a self-destructing e-mail! Check out my NOA buddy's DestructingMessage.com, and his critical acclaim in PC World! Way to go, Edwards!

September Light

There is something about September and the light at about 7pm (and 7am- though in a different way), which just mesmerizes me. It is almost as though time stands still for about an hour. Certain songs have this affect on me, as well. Namely, "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You," by the Beatles, and "American Girl," by Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers. There are a few others, ("Dancing In The Moonlight," Van Morrison) which I come to mind the more I think about it.

Anyway, I made some more cards to enjoy the September light. I can practically smell the bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils!

The Color IQ Test

Yesterday, a friend sent me this Color IQ Test.

The idea here is to arrange the color gradients from one extreme to the other, as accurately as possible. Enjoy!

Warning: It may be straining on your eyes. If you are sensitive to computer screens or those "hidden-image-cross-your-eyes" puzzles, go easy.

Look at my awesome score! Yeaaa!

The Book Club Goes Legit

Big news- My nerdy book club is making a splash at the local indie book store, Third Place Books.

We will have a little shelf with some other book clubs. You will always be able to see what we are reading, and if you are in our club- you get 20% off the current book. Neato! We are currently completing the Chronicles of Narnia, and next up is Thomas Mann's, Death in Venice and Other Stories. After that, The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand.

This momentous occasion called for a creative outlet! So, I made a custom double-sided bookmark for club books :)

Have you all heard of aniboom.com? It's a free, online animation tool. Check it out here! It is quite an interesting tool, and only takes a few seconds to figure out. You can even upload and convert GIFs. Neato!

Happy Birthday, Rachelle!

Barrel Fever

I was skeptical, initially, that this book could be funnier than, "Me Talk Pretty One Day," which was my reigning Sedaris champion. My favorite shorts are by far, Jamboree (a tale about the formation of broken family), Barrel Fever (an alcoholic son, named Adolf), and the essay, Diary of a Smoker. Of course, also concluding this book, are the famed Santaland Diaries.

I had an interesting realization about character animation through reading this book. The way Sedaris writes and depicts his character is so vivid, and I think particularly effective, because each character TELLS you exactly who they are. Their dialogue conveys their personality and their intention at the same time. This leaves the secondary action in perfectly isolated additional sentences which flavor the characters. Moreover, most characters have little to no physical description.

Below is a short excerpt in which we meet the mother in the short, "Barrel Fever." There are plenty of stronger examples of my idea as it pertains to character acting/animation, but this was the first one I found at the time of writing... I apologize for my lack of commitment!

Anyway, here the mother is spending a week in the hospital with cancerous lymph nodes (btw Sedaris shorts are comedic- try not to get too concerned here), and her roommate is a lupus patient named Mrs. Gails. Mrs. Gails, "...never said a word but watched television constantly at top volume... Possessing no apparent standards she'd watch anything, expressing no more interest in a golf match than a nature program..."

Begin excerpt:
"You got any questions about the grazing habits of the adolescent North American bull moose?" my mother asked, fidgeting with the plastic bracelet on her wrist. "I complained to the nurses about the volume but all they do is point to their ears and whisper that she's got a hearing problem. If she's got such a hearing problem then why are they whispering about her? She can hear the food cart from down the hall. I've seen it with my own eyes. She perks up and rubs her hands together and over what? That foraging moose of hers will sit down to a better meal than anything she's likely to get in this place. I want that woman dead." (131-32)
End excerpt.

What I find so awesome about this style of writing characters, is the straight dialogue. You will notice there are no descriptions of the mother's age, appearance, or expressions. Nor are there reactions from the others in the room. The reader knows the all about the mother and that she is greatly irritated with just the dialogue. All of her character is given simply by what she is saying. There is only one piece of the section which is not spoken. Were this shot animated, this can be seen as a perfect peppering of secondary action, '...fidgeting with the plastic bracelet on her wrist.' The action enhances the characterization as irritated, an older lady, and probably really tacky. We can infer much more about the character just in the way she is getting her points across. The section is full of rhetorical questions and extremely pointed observations about the situation. She 'complains,' but we are also led to believe her complaints fall on deaf ears (in a humorous twist). The mother then also feels neglected, in addition to suspicious, spiteful and bitter.

All this with no physical description. Practically monologue. Awesome.

Blocking

Hi all- here is the current body mechanics shot I'm working on... please crit away on anything and everything! At this point, I'm starting to pepper in breakdowns, so if you see gapping holes- call 'em out! Thanks in advance!

Thurs the 3rd

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend for the 4th! Here are some drawings from the Thursday prior... I had a really tough time getting warmed-up... When that happens I switch colors and mediums like crazy. I also fallback on drawing superheros to try to loosen up. SUE ME.

Go Figure!

Here are the latest figure studies from last night's session. I'm less pleased with these... I'm trying a little more experimentation in terms of mediums and how I hold the pencil depending on what style I want to execute. I like super soft pencils and newsprint for 30 sec gestures, and generally a Prisma color or something smooth for a five minute pose. As for longer poses, maybe chalk? I'm not so sure about the charcoal these days...

Rough Night

I had a little trouble getting a good vibe going last night. Do you ever have those sessions when you are just in the flow and you can feel the drawing without thinking? Ok, well that was most definitely not last night. Nevertheless, here are some of scans... I'm pretty sure I like top left best because of the way the angles are working together. But at the same time it feels very stiff. As though the contour dynamism is a trade-off with lifelessness?

To Polish

Time to start polishing this shot. Do you have any polishing tips or tricks of the trade? What do you look for in a super refined finished piece of character animation? Feel free to post or chat me :)

Surprise! More Hand Pose Tests

Hey all. This week our hand pose test is for surprise. What might you change about the following pose, and why?

The 1st Dialogue Test- Moving to Spline

As promised, here is the IP of my first dialogue test with AM. At this point, I do not have the facial rig, so we are only refining the body acting while roughing in the eyes, blinks, and jaw positions. The primary thought behind restricting the facial expressions and lipsync is to nail down the body attitudes.

At this point, parts of the shot are moving to spline, while other things are still firmly rooted in linear. This week, I'll be finessing some hand poses and little things while adding keep alive and moving everything into spline.

The Thursday Go Figure

The deal is this figure drawing group meets each Thursday night. Even when my drawings are junk, I will post them up and label the post under Thurs Go Figure. It's great practice and hopefully I'll be able to chart some progress!


Of note this week:

The PITT pure graphite made by Faber-Castell is really smooth on newsprint for gestures. I am trying new things and this is noteworthly.

In addition to the obligatory Prisma colored pencils, it turns out Prangs are pretty decent as well. They are not nearly as soft, but they are pretty quick for 5 minute poses, I find.

Hands

Hand poses are super expressive. But also really tricky, as there is a lot to manage and finesse.

Below are two very similar hands. Which one do you prefer for the pose, and why?

Figure Drawing Practice

In unrelated news, I've finally found a fantastic figure drawing group to help me get back in shape. Spending way too much time at the computer... We did one minute gestures and then 25 minute poses, as well.

Blocking Test

The clip has been selected and now we are onto the challenge of how to best stage it. Staging seems to be an issue which plagues me, so I thought I would do two rough passes and get some feedback before I commit to the shot.

Here's the deal:
A wide shot which establishes more context and setting

OR

A closer shot which is more conversational and allowing for more subtlety of facial acting

Now, personally, it strikes me as odd to have dialogue in an establishing or wider shot. It seems like you would have the character enter and hit the elevator button, then cut in a little closer for the dialogue. Particularly, since this is not a monologue. With dialogue which is directed at another character a closer camera seems more conversational. In this case however, we have specific references to the setting in the dialogue. Does that merit or necessitate the inclusion of setting in the shot? Might I include a bell or passport on the desk to help stage the closer shot? Another interesting question- would that be too similar to the shot as it stands in the film I borrowed the clip from, and when/how/why/is that wrong? This is a tricky dilemma- sound off!

...And the Nominees are...

I am about to start my first dialogue test- can you believe it? (Me neither. Seriously.) Please let me know what you think of these three lines. I was looking for a few specific things while sorting through options and these are the finalists because:

1. They have an emotional/attitude change, and pauses for thought
2. The tonality of the voice inherently displays character
3. The voices are clean, there's not too much background noise or other voices
4. No profanity or anything offensive
5. They inspire me instantly

What do you look for in choosing dialogue tests? What else might I consider? How do you sort out the front runners, and which of these three is your favorite?

Tomb Raider

Thumbnailing Tomb Raider moves. Thanks for the practice TBS!

Lotto_BlockingPlus

Hey friends

Here is the plussed blocking pass of my lottery shot. Plenty to work on here! (For instance, try using some IK arms next time.. hahaha good times!)

The assignment is to communicate an attitude and emotional change in 200-250 frames. Please share your ideas on clarity, timing and all the things you like or would change about this shot.

OOOdles of Doodles

I have this notebook I started in college. It's a funny thing, but it's for collecting the doodles you literally don't want to lose. Maybe you did the drawing on the back of schedule at work, or on a napkin... You always mean to keep those doodles. So I started this notebook where when I can, I sit down and tape in these little scraps of drawings. For one reason or another there was something about the doodle I wanted to remember or archive. That's how this blog got started, too! Although, I tend to take the tape residue out in Photoshop... I'll be back with my new test for AM soon!

Too Much!

Hi friends-

Please rip into this like there's no tomorrow.

I've learned a ton- primarily not to have TOO MUCH constant movement and action in a shot. You really have to think about pacing so you avoid the CONSTANT flailing. Hahaha... And the floaty-computer feeling...

Rendering Wireframes

I'm having a little trouble setting-up for high quality Maya wireframe renders. As of now, I'm using the Vector Render, with the operative, "Include edges." For some reason, I'm only getting bits and pieces of my model? Can anyone explain what is happening here?

Dumped ON

Here is the reblock of my last body mechanics shot of the term at AM. The assignment requirements are to push/pull a heavy object in 200-250 frames.

I'm really looking for a better camera angle- if I go to the other side so the viewer can see the truck approach, I lose the action and eyes of the character. If I stay here, the action and body mechanics are clear (which is the priority), but there is little set-up for the viewer. Where do you come down on this heated debate?

Also, where can I pick-up some time? I need to add a lot of breakdowns, clearly, but where can I maybe make some cuts to cushion the gag a little more?

I'm losing my eyes here, so I think I'll let it be for a day or so. Please let me know what you think!

WU WU! (Carolyn!)

Here are some of the later tests. Due to fabulous tips from some friends, I am using Mental Ray- which hugely over-simplifies the lighting process for me. What do you think and what would you improve/change?

I'm working on a little project for my University of old, Willamette U. Willamette is the tightest, so let's get that out there right now.

Anyway, I'm doing a few things with their logo (turntable animation for website, wireframe stills... etc). One thing I would like to do, is have a nice, well-lit still image, which they could use in an upcoming alumni publication. Here is a test of some lighting experimentation thus far...


I'm no pro with lighting in Maya, so if any of ya'll feel comfortable with that, help me out! I have highlighted two primary areas of concern-
1. The contrast/rendering of a glass effect, and how that is lit with ray tracing.
2. The abrupt edge on my shadow.

Other things to think about:
Best set-ups for 3-pt lighting?
Using fog with a light yellow tint (for warmth) from a spotlight?
Padding with point lights?

Solved!

Oh snap you guys... Problem solving and troubleshooting are my favorite things to do! I'm so awesome. Hahahaha... Aw man...

Here is my solution to the blocking problem:

Block with the body translate curve (yellow triangle deal). THEN write down all the rotations of that curve- delete them. Leave all the poses as they are (even though, rotationally they will be off when you delete those main curve rotations). And then go back and paste in the corresponding rotations to the hips and lower spine ONLY.

To do this enables you to have an element of pose to pose, but then at some point, you delete part of that for straight ahead.

Hope this makes sense to anyone who is hurdling this challenge!

Blocking a Cross-Screen 180?

Dear friends in animation-
If you were attempting to block a shot, in which on F1 you are facing screen right, and F100 you are facing screen left (a complete 180 over the course of traveling the screen), how would you block the rotations? Would you use the Master Node? Plan to counter-animate? Because if you block those poses, how do you set the inbetween rotational poses?

What Happened to the Sock Hop/ Ice-Cream Social?

I'm approaching polishing on this hop shot- holler at your girl with your thoughts! It's time to put this one to bed!

LAN Adapter- seriously?

It's surprisingly still in use and it can make you late. Error code 51420? Text your running buddy immediately and let her know you will be stuck at work.

I want wires completely obsolete in the next two years and no I do not think that is too much to ask.

...I would also like to see some hover cars.

T....T-R-U....T-R-U-C-K, keep on truckin' all the way!

Heyo- fast times, we are in the refining process for the next body mechanics shot! So with this one, a couple of things are going on:
1. We have one more week to refine. I'm really hoping this will be polished, believable, and actually feel finished before it's ripped away from me.
2. My mentor challenged me to block in linear. It was awful. I learned a lot, but it really altered my workflow and transition from Blocking Plus to spline... in that, I feel I never really got to be in JUST Blocking Plus.
3. Keeping the body "alive" in subtle movements is much harder than I had anticipated, so now I see why my mentor recommends doing these exercises "dry," and without frills of acting or quick movements.

So there are spacing issues on the left leg on the way into the hop and out of the hop. Also I think the head still feels loose (IT'S SO BIG!). Any ideas?

Resume UPDATE

So I'm going through the process of updating my resume. This is always a worthwhile process, because I never seem to keep it up to date or looking halfway decet. Here's where it's at now:

Relaxing...

I love to make postcards...




I just finished reading Eat, Pray, Love. Makes me want to go swimming in Bali... This is me bringing that sentiment to Bothell, WA.

Revision Work 180

Hey all-
Fast times these days... Here is how the shot is revising. I'm starting my new mechanics test and will have that block up this week :)

Moving to Spline

This next week we'll start planning our new shots and finishing this one up. Here is my submission for critique. There are lot more tweaks for this, so lemme know what you see with those fresh and beautiful eyes of yours!

180 Block Plus

Here we have a set of revisions from the last block. Some tweaks in foot placement and even the weight shifts. Also, I've begun adding in the Squash'n'Stretch and taken the Y-Trans to spline (as per Mentor recommendation at this point).

I think this will end up coming closer to spline as the week goes on and transition threw Block Plus over the weekend. Anyhow, time to step away and let it simmer... Holler your thoughts!

180 Block

Here is the blocking of my 180 shot for the week. At this point, it could completely change direction (heh- 180) once I get the feedback from my mentor. So it's time to "let it lie."

"Wanna get a motel room tonight? See what I did?
I didn't let it lie- I said I would, and I didn't..."

The Blocking IP

So here is the IP of my turnaround. Basically, I'm going for that standoffish/stubborn storm off. Lemme know what you see... There's still time to add a bunch more breakdowns... :)

Weight Shifts

This week marks the beginning of some more advanced hip studies and weight shifting. Here are some thumbnails of a 180 animation I'll be working on in the next few weeks...



To try out a few other things, I messed around with some traditional animation leg lifting...

UPDATE: Term 1

Today marks day one of Term 2. I continue to work on the assignments from the 1st Term... Here's the current status of that progress...