Trailer Project Finished!

Well, its finally finished!  I'll upload my specific scenes later, but this is the entire trailer that we have worked on for quite some time.  Props to the CG students who managed to pump every frame full of awesomeness in postproduction!

Action Animation

Here's a weeks and a day's worth of work.  It was a difficult assigment involving many different things, including cinematography.  One thing I really enjoyed was to use a primitive shape to block out all the action and timing in the beginning.  That allowed for a good start.

Facial Expressions

Below are some expressions I did in Maya with a model named Morpheus.  We had to make six expressions detailed on a list, and one we come up with on our own.  See if you can make out the emotions I attempted to portray in each.

Lift Animation

This was a tough assignment.  Having to constantly keep track of the weight and such of the box as well as getting believable motion as the character picks it up was quite the challenge.

We had to create a backstory and personality for the character in order to create a unique performance for the character.  I chose to have a character who'se primary emotion was anger.  The idea would be that this man would have had a lot of misfortune placed upon him in a short span of time that he eventually snaps, letting his frustrations out on the closest thing he can find.

A note on the animation, since it takes place in such a simplified environment, is that the box is bolted to the ground, and that is why there is that moment where he tears it and is partially off the ground for a little bit before being completely torn off.

Run Cycle Compilation

This is a generic run cycle feautring Hogan.  This was tricky due to the shorter cycle a run has than a walk, so it's difficult to time the poses just right.

Character Walk Compilation

This was an exercise in mechanics as well as acting.  The model had to perform a unique walk cycle, so I made him have a stomach ache as he moved, writhing in pain.

Halloween Challenge #31

And that was that.  Wish I could have managed to have done it one per day as planned, but oh well.  I'm actually quite happy with alot of the pieces, mostly the ones with a nice sense of shape and design or the ones where I got a nice little chalk texture thing.

Not sure whether I will make one of these again, but we'll see.  For now I'm busy enough doing work at school, so stay tuned for that!

Halloween Challenge #30

Just one more!

Halloween Challenge #29

That's his nose by the way.

Halloween Challenge #28

Running out of time, so the last ones will be done in this kind of style in order to meet the challenge.

Halloween Challenge #27

Can't believe it took this long to make one featuring a ghost!

Halloween Challenge #26

I'm not quite sure what I was thinking of when I drew this.

Halloween Challenge #25

Must be very large pipes in this house.

Halloween Challenge #24

Some weird pig-human hybrid creature.

Halloween Challenge #23

I love soup.

Halloween Challenge #22

Must have been a chest filled with jam.

Halloween Challenge #21

I actually kind of like how this one turned out.

Halloween Challenge #20

I'm not quite sure what happened here.

Halloween Challenge #19

Probably just looking for the mouse.

Halloween Challenge #18

Jacking it all.

Halloween Challenge #17

When you're sleeping...

Halloween Challenge #16

Never quite got why some people are afraid of clowns.

Halloween Challenge #15

I wouldn't open that door.

Halloween Challenge #14

A more ominous one than scary.

Halloween Challenge #13

Another traditionally made one, all in ink.

Halloween Challenge #12

Long hiatus due to trip to Germany and then hanging out with a friend for a week, but will now catch up with some that I drew during the drought.

Satan sitting atop a chair made of people.

Halloween Challenge #11

A bit more of a conventional horror concept, as in it's nothing supernatural or particularly rare, but plenty of people are scared of them (including me, depending on what type it is and whether I have something to kill it with).

Halloween Challenge #10

Has probably been done, but thought it was an interesting idea.

Halloween Challenge #9

Bzzzzzz...

Halloween Challenge #8

And now I'm up to date.  Came to thinking about less super natural monsters are technically scarier since they actually exist, and that got me thinking about jaws, and that got me to this.

Halloween Challenge #7

A make up drawing, trying to catch up to the days of making these.

Today a fish man of sorts from the sewers, inspired by the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Generic Walk Cycle

This was a five day long assignment, being taught the mechanics of a walk in great detail.  One is surprised to learn how much happens in a generic and even lazy walk of sorts.  The motion of the arms. the distance a foot rises above the ground, the movement of hips and shoulders.  We move much more than I would ever think necessary.

Halloween Challenge #6

Missed yesterday and technically the day before as well at the time of posting this.  I'll get back on schedule as soon as possible, so there will be 31 pictures all in all at the end of the month.

This is a zombie prostitute.  I got the idea from this fantastic song:

Halloween Challenge #5

Today we have the invisible man!

Halloween Challenge #4

Werewolf today, though more wolf than were.  I personally like the red eyes, but overall it might be a little too dark.

Halloween Challenge #3

Frankenstein's monster today, in a variant of the classic Universal Studios' version, possibly the most well known rendition of the creature.

Halloween Challenge #2

Here is today's Halloween Challenge.  I figured I'd start of with the classic monsters, such as vampires and werewolves, or today's subject, mummies.

Halloween Challenge #1

Thought I'd do something similar to what I did last December and make one finished illustration per day throughout the month.  This being October I figured horror, terror and monsters made for great themes.

Day number one features a blue vampire of sorts.  Let's see what the rest of the month will provide!

Bow

This was a weeklong assignment, so I figured I would show the steps up to the final animation.

Part of the assignment was to create a backstory and personality for the character in order to give a more unique and specific performance.

In my case the character is a selfish king who it has come to his attention someone close to him will attempt to assassinate him. Worried for his life he sees a servant who is a dead ringer for himself, so he orders him to switch places with him temporarily. His plan is to catch the assassin in the act, not caring for the well being of the servant, thus not telling him of the murder plot. The scene in the animation takes place just after they have switched clothes, and the servant now king orders him to bow before him, his first taste of power. The real king immediately refuses, but notices some people walking into the throne room and forces himself to bow in order to not blow his cover.

Hogan

Hogan is our most advanced model yet, mimicking the human body the closest, not being particularly limited in the traditional sense.  He has a fully adjustable face and human limbs that can move, so human acting is perfectly possible, though one notices difficulties at times with certain poses and mannerisms.

Our first assignment involved learning how to pose the character, so we were told to set him up in seven different poses.

The second assignment involved an understanding of weight, so we had to have him subtly shift his weight from one leg to the other.

And thirdly we had to animate him performing a more extreme motion, in this case I chose a kick.

Floursack

This week we have been working with a new rig, one resembling a floursack.  It has been the most complicated thing to animate yet, with alot more points of control and joints, meaning alot more to keep track of.

The first scene involves a simple drop from a height.

The second scene consists of a jump cycle.

The third scene is my favorite, as it features the floursack invoking a personality and mood, in this case an old man.

3 Balls to Music

Our last assignment this week involved us animating to music, something that I always felt was enjoyable.  It had to be an 8 second track and feature 3 spheres dancing/moving to the music.  After some consideration I chose the fan made re imagining of Banjo Kazooie's Rusty Bucket Bay level's theme from youtube as my track, mostly due to the very different sounds being played at the same time and thus being able to cast each ball to one of them.  The whole song can be heard here.

Luxo Lamp Jr

This week we were given a more complex character than a simple sphere.  Luxo Lamp Jr seems to be the the equivalent of the flour sack exercise in 2D animation, where you have a simplified character that can do basic pantomime and give you a chance to experiment with the tools given.


The first exercise required a simple hop cycle featuring the lamp, but the second one involved it reacting to something and having a 'take'.



And below is the original Luxo Lamp Jr short, the one that inspired every CG animator since to practice with a similar model.

Bouncing Balls

This is my proper introduction to the world of computer animation.  I have to say, I'm really seeing the possibilities and the appeal of such software.

The first ball in the video is a redundant bouncy ball that bounces indefinitely.  The second segment features three balls, each composed of a different material which are in the order from left to right: rubber ball, bowling ball, beach ball.  In the third and final sequence it invokes acting by the ball, thus living, and has him be rudely awakened by his alarm clock.  The sound effects were not present in the proper dailies.

Looking forward to delve into the software more in the coming months.

Summer Sketches #2

Some more summer sketches.  This one featured some non equine drawings, but not a lot.  I noticed there were three ponies in the field next door and just had to sketch them.  They were remarkably still, and one even lied down for me, which prompted some nice drawings!

Summer Sketches #1

I decided to upload some of the sketches I have made so far during the summer, for those interested.

I am fortunate to be living right next to a field where people keep their horses and ponies, so I have regular subjects to draw at any time.  I will upload sometime later some other sketches I've made.

Final Exam

This is my final exam of the first year of Character Animation.  This will be the last piece of animation I do with TV Paint as an assignment until the Bachelor project, though that's not guaranteed either.

Either way, looking back at all the posts and such, I have to say I'm genuinely satisfied with my results, and can't wait for the summer to be over so I can take a crack at 3D animation!

First Maya Animation

This was my first attempt at animating in Maya.  We animated a bit unorthodox like, by moving separate shapes around instead of manipulating a character model with a rig.  All in all these little assignments have made me appreciate the software and removed any fears or preconceptions I mimght have had.

Introduction to Maya Day 2

Decided on an ostrich type character today, manipulating the basic shapes so they don't remain as their default forms.  If all goes well with it I'll be attempting animation with it.  Hopefully it will be possible.

Introduction to Maya Day 1

This was what I managed to do with my first attempt using Maya.  All we were taught was how to create primitive shapes and forms in order to create a character.  It was real fun to play around with it like this using very basic tools.  Reminded me alot of playing with LEGO.

Colour Time

This week we havebeen working traditionally with colour, painting and mixing with acrylics.  It was quite enjoyable, though frustrating at times with amount of work involved in even a little piece.  but none the less the week proved ver useful, as it has allowed me to think much more carefully about my colour choices.

Above we have a value study.  The grays to the left were made first, and were intended to showcase different grays ranging from white to black.  Then we had t apply the same value of each gray to a colour right next to it.  To see colour as value was taxing.

Above we did the same thing, painting in just grays to get the values, and then applying colour to match them.  The theme for that day and the next was monkey.

Here we had two assignments.  The idea was to make an analogous color scheme and a split complimentary one.  Analogous means about 3 colors in a row on the color wheel, like all the greens and little blue on the one to the left.  Split complimentary means to choose a colour and then take the colours next to its complimentary, in this case I chose a certain red, who'se complimentary is green, and thus took the light blue and light green.

Next theme was coffee.  We had to tell a story about a person through coffee, starting in the morning at breakfast and continuing through lunch and dinner.  I decided to try a rectangular colour scheme this time around for the morning.  That means choosing colours that match in the shape of a rectangle on the colour wheel.  In this case it was Yellow and Orange paired up with Blue and Purple.  On the table is a passport and plane ticket.

In the next one I decided on another analogous scheme, choosing reds and pinks.  Now the person is on the plane and has placed their coffee on their tray.

The last one featuring the evening when our protagonist has landed and is waiting for his or her last bag usedd a split complimentary scheme.  Yellow with pink and blue as its complimentaries.

And the final one had the theme of The Three Bears.  Each bear had to have a different color scheme of sorts and we could choose to either have a piece per bear or compose them alltogether.  I chose to do them altogether due to time concerns.  This was just a simple scheme of red and blue, with a lot of value changes.  The one thing I wanted was to have the small bear be a combination of it's parents, but the color for that made it hard to see, so I made it more of low pink.