Weekly Comments

   I think this week was pretty productive. Monday I finished my 3D short. I'm definitely not happy with it and I messed up a few things near the end, but that's probably because I'm a naturally confused person. I chose the abstract animation for the independent study and I'm having a hard time planning ahead for it. 

   I wasn't exactly frustrated with returning to animate pro, but it took me a bit to get used to the controls again. After a bit of playing around it all came back to me. I'm pretty happy to return to 2D and saying goodbye to 3D for as long as I can. 

This is some blast from the past I stumbled upon! An early test of computer animation after the movie Tron. 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LvIDRoO8KnM

Weekly Comments

   I think this week was pretty productive. Monday I finished my 3D short. I'm definitely not happy with it and I messed up a few things near the end, but that's probably because I'm a naturally confused person. I chose the abstract animation for the independent study and I'm having a hard time planning ahead for it. 

   I wasn't exactly frustrated with returning to animate pro, but it took me a bit to get used to the controls again. After a bit of playing around it all came back to me. I'm pretty happy to return to 2D and saying goodbye to 3D for as long as I can. 

This is some blast from the past I stumbled upon! An early test of computer animation after the movie Tron. 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LvIDRoO8KnM

Weekly Comments

   This week was mostly trees, trees, and more trees. I did finish my campground, though. I definietly wasn't thinking when I put a campfire in my story. I might have to go back and change my storyboard. 

   I would like to learn how to make fire in the future, but I don't want to focus on it and run out of time. I might look up some tutorials at home though. Maybe I'll need to make a fire later on. 

I was definitely frustrated with finding a nice bark texture. I spent most of a day looking for textures and I'm just glad I found decent ones. 

Here's a list of some animated shorts. I don't think anyone needs them as inspiration but they're still nice to watch. 

http://www.creativebloq.com/3d/best-3d-shorts-2013-9134548

Having a Diverse Demo Reel

   Animator Shawn Kelly writes how to make your demo reel more appealing and why you should aim for multiple studios. He gives three reasons why to make your demo reel with more variety in animation styles. Kelly compares animators to bakers and how limiting yourself to learn how to 'bake' one thing will also limit your job oportunities. In order to get to your goal you will need to step out of your comfort zone and climb your way to it. 

   I agree that we should learn as many skills as we can and apply them to what we are most interested in. It was interesting to see that he doesn't put animators into categories. I think that that's a good way to keep your mind open to doing more styles and jobs in the future.   

Weekly Comments

   This week I learned a lot about 3D. I've been catching up on all of the demos and only had a chance to start the chicken at the end of Friday. Playing around with the model is fun, but I doubt I'll enjoy animating it. 

   Really all of 3D so far has been frustrating. And I hope I learn to be better familiar with Maya. It's hard to remember where everything is and what everything does so it's all pretty overwhelming right now. I definitely don't see 3D in my future. This just makes me better appreciate those who can do it. 

   What's made me happy is how ridiculous the chicken model is. I'm really looking forward to seeing what people will do with it. It'll be hard for it to not be hilarious. 

Here is a chicken doing chicken things. I think it's a good reference on how chickens behave and walk. 

http://vimeo.com/49052814

I also found this cool short that I think is just a good watch. 

http://vimeo.com/11544212

CGI vs. Practical

   This article discusses the differences in CGI and practice effect and how they are both necessary to make something look realistic. This reminds me a lot of the arguments between digital and traditional art. They both have their advantages. I'm not sure how well they could be used together but I'd imagine they could be. I agree that there are certain scenes that just look better in CGI or practical and there are also many that work well in both. Effects improve greatly every year and normally you see a good combination of both types of effects used to accomplish that. 

The Pendleton Ward Experience

   Adventure Time is one of my favorite shows and Pendleton Ward is one of the animators I've grown to admire. Reading how far he's come to share his creation is pretty inspiring and seeing how far it's come is more. I've always wanted to have my own cartoon and hope other's feel as much love as I put into it. It's sad to see how he's worked so hard for it to be too much and end up quitting being the showrunner. But I'd imagine it's still honorable to have created it and still be a writer and storyboard artist. And now that he has less pressure to perfect Adventure Time he finds more time to enjoy his work. As he says, "Whatever the next thing is, I just want my brain to be happy doing it". Trying to perfect something can sometimes cause you to forget why you enjoyed it.