The Two Halves of Phone

So here we are, another exciting week. The current assigned shot continues to evolve into something that borders on watchable. Needless to say, this still has a LONG way to go, but here's some of the changes. The beginning and ending have both been tossed out in favor of new stuff that works much better and makes the overall emotions clearer. I've also got the backpack in there, thanks to a fellow AM student who actually took time out of his own busy schedule to make it for me. My GOD I love this community! There's no selfishness, idiocy, back-stabbing or petty complaining in animation. Everybody helps everybody, and does so happily. It's a truly amazing group of artists who care enough about the medium and each other to advance everyone involved to the next level.

As I've said before, I am SO glad I decided to take this plunge!



I also have some sad news to report. My phone has died. The victim of a horribly disfiguring broken neck.
I'm actually not in the least bit upset about it. I hated that phone. I'm just glad I was eligible for an upgrade. Interestingly enough, this picture was taken with my NEW phone. After two miserable experiences with the crap products made by LG Electronics, I've gone back to Nokia. This new phone has a still/video camera in it (quality is crap, but hey, it's a phone), plus the ability for customized ringtones and graphics and such (the phone ring is back to the classic Rotary Phone ringing, but my alarm clock sound is the screeching Donald Sutherland from the remake of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers.") I even got a 2GB Micro-SD card for it, so it can double as a portable flash drive.

Is it sad when your telephone has a bigger hard drive than your first computer?

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!

Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss

Again, just a quick post, since it's getting late and I have a whole lot of sleeping to do today. I managed to finally finalize the Jumping On Posts and Box Push assignments from Class 2, and cut them into my new progress reel. Thar she blows:



Also, just before I went back to Detroit for Christmas, I posted a bunch of my old live-action stuff to YouTube. I figured, y'know, it's been sitting in a drawer for seven years, so I night as well do something with it all before the tape dries out and it's lost forever. It's just the legal stuff for now. All the crap I did in high school uses copyrighted music, so I can't post that stuff anymore.

http://www.youtube.com/birdlingbrains

And by the way - Meet the Robinsons is amazing. So is Bee Movie. See them now.