Hail to the King, Baby

So, we're now into Class 3 at Animation Mentor - Intro to Acting. Sound weird, fun & exciting? Yup, it 'tis. My new mentor is Mark Behm, who worked on Robots at Blue Sky, The Ant Bully at DNA, and is now at PDI/Dreamworks doing Madagascar 2.

This is the class when things really open up. We can pretty much do whatever we want so long as it falls into the basic concept of the current assignment - right now, it's just a change in emotion. So, for the next four weeks, I'll be working on a guy hitchhiking. First he's excited, seeing a car approach. Then when the car passes, he gets let-down and a little upset.

Here's the blocking pass. Remember that blocking is just the "basic idea" of what I'm going for, and is not yet fully animated. He will eventually be picking up a backpack (which is what he's fidgeting with), which he later throws down in frustration (hence the big throwing move toward the end.



It's got a long way to go yet, but that's why they give us a full 5 weeks to work on this. In the workforce, I'd probably be given only 1-2 weeks for a shot this simple - at most.

I also am continuing to contribute to the Weekly Sketches at AM, because I really need to work on my drawing skills.

This week's topic: The King. As always, click for a larger view.



Yeah - I still need a lot of work in this area. (His upper arm is about half the size of his forearm. I really suck with proportions!) I also never realized just how hard it is to draw a toilet.

Well, kids - I'm off, back to the wild blue buddha. (There's only one person on earth who would get that joke. :-) For now, eat, drink and be merry. For tonight, we spline!