My new mentor!

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis......

Dana Boadway *YAAAAAY*

Dana comes from a dancing/acting background and got into animation after seeing Toy Story. I remember seeing that movie with my cousins in French when I was 6. I didn't understand anything of it, besides seeing pretty pictures, which is cool too!

Check out her demoreel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHuL2lbx7hg&fmt=18

I've got classmates from around the globe and finally more Europeans. So the chance I see them one day is more realistic woohoo!

My Stu sketches & poses

From the  second week on, we were asked to sketch out some poses. Then we had to choose our favorite and pose it out in 3D.

Aaargh these look really horrible, but oh well at least you can see I made progress. In week 2, there was no subject yet.

 It turned out first in this:

And after my feedback from my mentor (Chris Chua), the pose turned into this. The rendering was done in the end. It's when I finally discovered Mental Ray. Good thing someone on the AM forums, posted a little tutorial.

Week 3: we had to sketch out "excitement" poses. Oh boy they look terrible haha.

And with Stu it turned out first like this: 

In both poses you can't see one arm or a hand clearly. In animation terms, you're looking for a clear silhouette. So after my critique by my awesome kick ass mentor, it turned in this:

We skip to week 8, seems we didn't have to do any sketches. I'm posting these sketches, because I really like to draw. I should draw more often, actually I draw everyday, especially after work. I'm in the waiting hall, sketching people who are sitting down or who are buying a train ticket. I'm looking forward to summer so my fingers don't freeze off outdoor.

Week 8 is all about strength. I remember watching as a kid "World Strongest Men". Pretty funny to see all those big guys. So I went to their website and sketched those guys.

5 weeks have passed and they look less crappy! Woohoo!!

The line of action from head to back of the foot could be stronger. So this is it (Remembers me I have to watch that movie still, MJ rocks!):

Week 9 was all about, concern. This was really hared, since it's more a subtle emotion. I remember getting a lesser grade for my stu pose.

I started doing quick sketches with a marker. For the geeks like me it's a "faber castell pitt artist pen". Cool thingie!

As you can tell a very stiff pose...

After feedback:

One of my friends told me he looks gay now. Does he? Naah. Look at my ref picture, what a rough guy :D

Week 10: EXHAUSTED

Nailed this down "okay". Although Chris told me to push it even further.

 

After feedback:

Animation is all about exaggeration!

Class 1 reel

Okay I'll just throw it out in public. I wish I could revise my last assignment which is shown first. But since I have been busy with animation for the last 3 months. All I wanted during this break is seeing my friends again and just do SOCIAL stuff in stead of being whole the time in front of my computer. So during this break I didn't do much of animating, though I'm reading all the animation books I bought recently. Which some people know I'm addicted to Amazon :/ For people who know me, I used to party every weekend. Well since AM that went to none. Yes, it was hard to say no every weekend, but I guess if you want to achieve something in life you have to make sacrifices. I could go on rambling about goals and dreams in life. In stead I suggest you read the book "War of Art" by Steven Pressfield. http://www.amazon.com/War-Art-Through-Creative-Battles/dp/0446691437

As with many things I don't really like to show my things to other people. There is this fear in me that says "Aaargh I suck, I don't want to show it!!". I'm doing my best to let it go. So with this new blog I'll try to post weekly the drawings I'm doing at my figure drawing classes, talk about my new school http://www.animationmentor.com/ , life, travelling and just animation goodies, I used to post anyway on Facebook. Now I finally I got this whole thing set up, there's no return!

Oh yes: HAPPY 2010!

So to all my readers, this is what I've been up to the last 3 months.

 AM Class 1 reel

finally!

I know I know I should have set this up before I started my new course which is called "AnimationMentor". The good news is I passed class 1*woohoo*!  I'll try to update this much as possible. Let's say one post a week. I'll try to commit to that. (hopefully)