1,5 years at Animation Mentor is Over

I have learned so incredible much while studying at AM. I have posted a blogpost every week except these last weeks of polishing. It has been busy days with working at Qvisten Animation AS and studying in the evening. My showreel is to find on the front page of my blog site now, and I have updated the info about myself. I think I got an average grade of B+ in the end from Animation Mentor, so I am very happy about that! My showreel still lacks a bit work on that last shot with the girl and granpa.

Showreel Coming Together

Polish, polish polish…

This is how far I’ve come in week 9:

Time for an Update!

I’ve been very good at posting my assignments here every week, but now the AM course is getting close to an end, and I’ve started to become sloppy. I’m sorry.

But here’s update on my polishing on assignments:

Monkeygirl is done if I don’t get more nitpicking comments from my mentor this week:

Working on the breakdancing Stewie. The last part after he’s on the floor isn’t touched yet:

Started working on one of the Growl shots. I made more pauses in the girls actions. Still alot of work to do on this, and few weeks left:

Week 6 – Polish polish polish and some posework

Polish work on my monkeygirl shot last week. I watched this weeks lecture and got some ideas for adding that little extra “omph” to it this week. I also starting to work on Stewie’s dance, but only consentrated on the first 50 frames.

Week 5 – Getting feedback on Breakdance Stewie

I’ve decided to polish up my old shot “Breakdance Stewie”, together with my almost finished “Monkeygirl” and “Growl” shot. I was thinking about doing a new shot as well, but don’t think I will have time before the AM course is done. I handed in “Breakdance Stewie” without any changes to get some detailed feedback on where to start. I will have to work alot on the body mechanics on this one!

I think there’s one more week to go on the monkey girl.

Week 4 – Monkeygirl is almost there!

I’ve animated her fingers, added more overlap to the spine, made her feet swing a bit offset before landing on the branch++. Feel like I need a bit more polishing for about two weeks now and it’s done.

Week 3 Hand In

Moving on with the “Monkeygirl” shot. Animated the beginning, but didn’t have time to do the hands and facial animation.

“Monkeygirl” Shot Change

I’ve started blocking in a new idea for the beginning of the “Monkeygirl” shot. Dana wanted me to change the first pose because of not so good silhuette, so I added more to get a more dynamic shot. Now she’s jumping down on the tree first!

So now I’m going to consentrate on finishing this shot before I start polishing up the “Growl” shot with two characters. After that I have to see if I have a new great idea for a body mechanics shot, or if I should dive into fixing up the “Stewie dance” shot.

Polishing & Portfolio…

…with Dana Boadway! She seems like a great mentor for this term. It’s week 2 now, so I’ve already got feedback from her about what animations I should have on my reel, and what I should improve. I’ve made a list of what to do with my shots, but this week I have to do alot of planning – sketching and video reference.

By the way, working as a character animator on “Knerten” is great!!! 🙂

Here’s my to-do-list for AM, with the animation shots underneath:

-“Growl” shot:

Find more physical traits for the characters to get them more unique. Girl moves too much…almost like a doll and she distracts granpa’s talk. Find more appealing poses.

-“Monkeygirl” shot:

Change the first pose to a stronger silhuette. Cam further away(cuts legs). Lipsync needs more “ompfh” with more exaggeration.

-“Breakdance Stewie” shot:

Need to do a big pass on the body mechanics. I will put this shot on wait and see if I have time to fix it later in the term.

-“Chef” shot:

Not as good as my newer animation, so I’m not taking this into my reel.

-A new shot!?

I should have some more body mechanics on my reel, and I’m thinking about doing a more cartoony styled shot.

Class 5 is Finished & I’ve got my first job!

I have finished the “Growl” shot, so now I’m waiting for my final feedback from mentor Jay Davis. I might wait with doing changes and more polish to the shot until next class.

I’ve got a 1 month job in Oslo starting next week, animating “Knerten”/”Twigson” ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1245775/ ) in the third movie about this character made out of wood. I’m so excited!!!