Newest assignment from AM. Two character dialog shot.


This is the first thing I've animated since coming back from my leave of absence from Animation Mentor. Difficult, but I learned quite a lot, mostly about acting.

Haven't posted in awhile! I've been enjoying my leave of absence from AM. I'm glad they offer that option, because AM is really quite fast-paced, and the break was exactly what I needed to get back in order.

Spent a lot of time actually -reading- all the animation-related books I've gotten, doing study from them and also from other animators' works. I've been working on people watching too! That sounds odd, but I'm actually a bit shy in public about staring at total strangers. Eek!

Since AM is starting back up soon though, I've been diving back into Maya and editing some older shots., but before that, I didn't realize that I'd forgotten to upload my stuff from Class 4, so:



Pantomime shot. Noooot happy with this one. I'm afraid I was not at my best when I did this shot.

Over the break, I took some time to attempt to fix it up a bit, seen here:



Still not perfect. Unfortunately I've run up against the frame limit, and I think it'd be easier to scrap this shot and redo the entire thing from the ground up. The concept was flawed from the planning stage, sadly.



First time REALLY working with dialogue! I do like Jeremy Brett's Sherlock a lot, but in hindsight, it was quite the challenge to animate to his rapid speech. Overall I like it alright, still has some pops to smooth out. I will probably try to clean up this shot next.

Still thinking a lot about acting!

Lip synching and facial animation in general are both things I've dabbled in before, but I never realized that all the principles of animation apply. One expression will anticipate the next, arcs can be found in the corners of the mouth, the brows can lead the movement of an upward head tilt, all that kind of stuff!

It's a lot to internalize, and I've decided to take one leave of absence from Animation Mentor to go over the basics again, and also to practice more on acting before I throw myself into Advanced Acting and Polish after that.

Some interesting links:

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/incharacter-slideshow#slide=1 This one is great. This is a slideshow of various actors reacting to different acting prompts, and their faces go into some REALLY exaggerated fun expressions, yet Laurence Fishburne's most extreme expression is still recognizable as Laurence Fishburne. Interesting to think about when pushing a character's face.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddUbsWnEVXM Something amusing from a young Michael Caine about blinking. Similarly, Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs as Hannibal Lecter chose not to blink when in character because THAT MADE HIM CREEPY AS HELL. Such a tiny movement, but it can say so much and really make a character feel more alive.

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3d3dtAa6S1rtb284o1_1280.png A couple of examples of various common actions that we do when feeling certain emotions, like pointing when we're angry or hugging ourselves when afraid or nervous. Not to say that these are the ONLY things we will ever do, and it's always a good idea to find something different to have a character do, but it's interesting reference regardless.

http://brendanbody.blogspot.mx/2009/09/some-thoughts-on-acting-part-1-subtext.html When the body's performance doesn't match what the mouth is saying.

http://brendanbody.blogspot.mx/2009/09/some-thoughts-on-acting-part-2.html More on acting, with some tips on shooting reference.

http://sevencamels.blogspot.com/ Just found this blog! Great thoughts on character design, posing, etc.

http://www.cgchannel.com/2010/06/tutorial-posing-and-body-language-part-1/ A lecture from Samy Fecih from Double Negative.

http://animationscout.tv/ Some tips on various parts of facial animation.

Class 4 is the first time we really get into the acting part of animation. IT'S KINDA CHALLENGING but also really fun. The past couple of weeks have made me realize that I've never actually done any acting where animation is concerned.

I've been thinking a lot about Wayne Gilbert's lecture where he spoke about external force vs internal force. Internal is what I'm trying to wrap my head around right now, the idea that your little 3D mesh with its rig is an actual thinking creature and has its own motivations for jumping across that pit, or lifting up a box. It's not simple body mechanics anymore.

A couple of resources on this topic:

http://theartofglenkeane.blogspot.com/2006/07/glen-keanes-notes.html

http://floobynooby.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/james-baxter-notes-on-acting-for.html

The last two assignments from Class 3!



Oy, that one is a little embarrassing. If there's one thing I learned from doing this, it's that I DON'T LIKE straight aheading animation! I like having a solid, definite plan much better. Maybe as I get more experience under my belt, I'll be better at it.

I was also having some issue with the timing in this one, because I know it needs to be slower, but also within the original time constraints of the assignment. Timing and spacing in general are things I'm still struggling with, though reading through Timing for Animation http://www.amazon.com/Timing-Animation-Harold-Whitaker/dp/0240517148 has been helping. I understand the need for "beats" in a shot, but it wasn't until I was told that timing gives meaning to the movement that I started to really understand.



This is the last shot I did for class 3, and definitely the strongest so far. Spacing also started to click for me here, though I do still see some issues in the jump.

Right now I'm technically in Class 3, but Animation Mentor is currently on break for the holidays.

This is what I did since that last assignment:

Class 2, Week 4

Actually, it's week 5 now, but this is from Sunday, pre-mentorcrit: