Another One Person Dialogue for Intro to Acting, but to be fully animated with mouth lip sync

For the next assignment for Spring 2018 Intro to Acting class at Animation Collaborative, we did another one person dialogue - but this time, it was to be fully animated, mouth lip synced and all. For this exercise,. I chose a line from Innerspace - Martin Short freaking out. This is my rough blocking towards the beginning of the project.

In the second video, I started doing more draw overs and feeling out his emotions. The posing got stronger and more interesting.

The third video is after class critique revision notes. I was to hold longer on the character pausing for the "shut up" line, and move directly into staring at the top of the swaying Jenga tower - because the middle part was just too much motion and eye darting.I think it is a stronger piece now but I do have lots to learn! Starting got really consider the character and honesty and clarity in my work - trying to find ways to NOT over animate things. Seeking ways to do "less is more" in my work.

Mouth Lip Sync animations for Intro to Acting assignment. Spring 2018

This was the mouth focused lip sync assignment for Intro to Acting Animation Collaborative Spring 2018. This is a work in progress. I learned I needed to add more variety in the energy and the shapes, making the first line smaller mouths, and larger on the second half of the line. In the second video,  I adjusted the mouths - the first line has smaller mouths, focusing on the character speaking kinda more to himself, and going larger for the shout on the second half of line. Learning to focus on energy and size changes for interest in the animation.

First acting assignment for Intro to acting, NO Mouth Animation v01

This is the first acting assignment that I had for Intro to Acting in Animation Collaborative Spring 2018. The instructor supplied us with a bit of dialogue, and we were to animate the character in whatever situation we liked, focusing on the eyes and brows. We were not to animate the mouth or do lip sync, beyond a mood pose for the mouth. This was an unfinished blocking pass. Given the exercise nature of the class, we did not make revisions, but moved on to next assignment. I learned that my eyes were off a lot and some tips on how to better aim them, and work with the lids better.

2nd Pass Facial poses and transitions exercise. Intro to Acting 2018

2nd pass for the facial poses and transitions assignment for Animation Collaborative Intro to Acting 2018 class. I revised eyes and brows some, tweaked the mouth, worked to push some of the posing a little more, adjusted head tilts and some other micro adjustments. I am finding that perhaps one of the hardest things to pose is the mouth. So many controls, and the mouth shape can get really gunky and weird looking, really quick. So, I have my work cut out for me to get more skilled in that mouth shape sculpting. This was a tough assignment - lots of controls to manipulate, and then decide how they all relate to one another for a fleshy, organic feeling face. 

Facial emotional posing and transitions exercise. Intro to Acting 2018

This is my work in progress animation for the second assignment for Intro to Acting for the Spring Animation Collaborative 2018 session. The assignment is to animate 4-5 facial emotion poses, and transition between them. It is NOT an acting exercise, more of a technical exploration for the face and how all the parts move as an orchestra, with leading and following action, to create an organic, fleshy, elastic face. I added some head turns just to help with the facial pose, but did not super finesse the head turn and kept the transition timing between face poses kinda even to show the poses easier. Fun exercise, it is putting into action the lessons I learned so far about eyes and eyebrows! I chose happiness, anger, fear and sadness as my 4 emotions.

First and second passes for an eye darts and blink test - Intro to Acting 2018

Here is a first and second pass for an eye darts and blink test I had top do as the first assignment. The goal was to create nature eye darts and blinks, and make the eye feel fleshy, with muscles moving just under the surface. We were not to move the brows, and just focus on 1 eye. This is for Spring Animation Collaborative 2018

Final Assignment, last shown WIP for Winter Intermediate Animation 2018 for Anim Collab

Here is what I showed as my last WIP for the final class of the term. I feel really good about where this ended by the last class. learned a lot about not just weight and physics and constraints (which was hell, mind you), but also about trusting in my gut and my abilities to be able to get this done. I found that I worked faster than I thought I could, with a more clear mind, and more confidence. I learned that my background in 2D animation and drawing still have a very important place in my 3D workflow  I did a lot of the initial ideation and blocking in 2D! I also pushed my poses and lines of action, by doing a lot of drawovers in Maya with blue pencil) Yes, there are some things I might revise, but overall I feel proud of my growth in this class, as shown in my last shot. And maybe one of the best lessons of all - I learned to keep asking myself WHY and WHAT. WHAT is the character doing and WHY? Using that, I restrained myself from over animating unnecessary things, and kept the animation more clear, I feel. The class thought so too!

Revised Blocking, change of story focus, for my final assignment for Intermediate Animation at Winter Animation Collab Class 2018

This is a rough blocking for the final assignment for the Intermediate Animation Class I took with Animation Collaborative. The exercise was to have 2 characters exchange forces and show weight shifts. I chose to do a father son reunion at an airport. Originally, I started the shot on the boy, center screen looking around for his father. Then the boy sees his father walk in from offscreen, turns and runs into his arms. After a bit I decided that I did not like my staging- mainly because I did not want to confuse my audience, having them think that the boy was lost, and looking around for his missing parent - something that might have been the case had I kept with the staging. The boy looking around did feel lost.....So I change the story's point of view, from the boy to the father instead. I think I worked better, for clarity, while keeping the heart and intention alive.

Last WIP until Summer for Dance Animation. Winter 2018 Anim Collaborative exercise

I went back and re-blocked the beginning section of this to give the maid a more clear reaction transition from cleaning to recognizing this song, pulling her into her dance and her joy. Based on notes from my class. I really liked animating this and learned a lot battling constraints, staging, camera and absolutely physicality and mechanics of motion. I may finish this over this summer.

Deadline version of Dance animation assignment. Winter 2018 Anim Collaborative

Well, I was a week delayed in starting this, and I am surprised at how much I got done. This is not finished, but time ran out and this is what I could get done, so I focused on the dance portion. I really loved working on this bc it challenged the hell out of me and made me learn. Proud of where this piece got to in the end!

Dance Animation full blocking + some splined animation. Winter 2018 Animation Collaborative

Here is my WIP blocking + some splined animation for my dance animation. I really wanted to challenge myself with spins and runs and the feeling of lightness with ballet for this exercise. Plus, this is a song from Jonsi that I always get the nicest visuals when I listen to it. It felt right for this dance.

Lost WIP for Throw exercise for Winter Animation Collaborative 2018

Here is the last WIP for the current winter term for Animation Collaborative. I'll come back to this to polish in the summer, and finish splining the last 10 percent. Had a ton of fun with this one and learned like crazy!

Even more Throw Exercise animation for Winter 2018 Anim Collaborative class.

More WIP animation going from blocking to splining. I revised the dampening of the weight and forward momentum after throw. Also Spent some time making arms stiffer after the throw, adn releasing some energy when character sees what he has done, shoulders sag. Additionally. I reowrked some of the anger boilup.

Throw exercise, parcial playblast work in progress splined animation. Winter 2018 Animation Collborative. Intermediate Animation class

Here is my partial splining work in progress. I focused on the pick up and throw, taking it to full splined animation. Had some issues with IK/FK switching, but hell, I am learning still, haha! Please leave a comment!

Throw Exercise, revised blocking. Winter 2018 Animation Collaborative

I went back to this blocking and revised a bit of the acting at the beginning of the shot. Also went and made the throw more forceful, and replotted his momentum direction and dampening after the throw

Throw exercise blocking 01. Winter Animation Collaborative 2018

Here is a blocking animation for my throw exercise, incorporating instructor notes! Angry throw! The idea is that the guy gets so frustrated with his computer screwing up that he goes into a fit of rage and throws his laptop, without having time to even consider such a dumb move. Still making some edits to some timing and posing, but here is the latest!

Jump Excercise, finished. Animation Collaborative 2018

Here is a jump exercise I did for Winter Animation Collaborative 2018. I haven't aniamted any heavyweight characters before so I decided to give myself a challenge. Man, I learned a LOT on this exercise! I did a good bit of drawing in Maya with Blue Pencil to help me reign in arcs, revise spacing and timing, and general ideation. Let me know what you think! 

New After Effects project. The trials and tribulations of baking Gluten Free!

I've decided to work on a few short animated clips for the funny successes and flat out failures of gluten free baking. I may make just 1 big video, or split these into shorter sections and find more areas for jokes. I want to animate this in After Effects, using a flat, modern color palette, simple designs and particles, and play with transitions. As a Celiac baker, the scenarios here are my triumphs and my losses, hehe! This is version 1 animatic

Subtle Sadness exploration Work In Progress

I like this song, and when I hear it I've been seeing this moment in my head, so I wanted to explore it in animation, explore how subtle I can get, and what I can say with less. Still a work in progress!

Finished one exciting freelance gig in August!

I recently finished 2D Flash animation work on a commercial project for a pretty well known event with an extremely well know animator as director! I'll be posting my work and an explantation of what it was for soon. This began at the end of June, and just closed in mid August 2015. I learned a good bit from working on this project, and it really boosted my self esteem with regards to my 2D skills. Cannot wait to share! Stay tuned, hopefully, only another 3-4 weeks out.