Quadruped Study

We get to animate dogs!!!!! I'm so excited to move onto something that's not human! (Mostly because I've only animated 2 humans ever, and the second one was last week) So for this week, we had to start out planning our walk cycle. We had to take video reference of a dog, so I took tons of footage on my boyfriends boxer. She's a little weird and her proportions aren't normal, so we'll see if this actually turns out right. But below is the video I took of her. I tried to get a side and front view. And in the last shot, is where her personality comes out a lot, so I am thinking that I want to incorporate that into the end of my walk.

And below is the planning I created using the Animators Survival Kit. That doesn't include the end head look, so I'll have to revise it a little.

We also had to sketch out quadruped animals this week, and take 2 of our drawings into maya and then pose them out. I tried to look at wild animals to avoid the regular dog cliche. I searched foxes when they hunt, because they do this crazy pounce and leap thing, and they're very animated creatures. I also looked at wolf puppies playing, coyotes, etc. So I definitely got a lot more variety in my poses compared to the average dog. I stuck with dogs for this week, but for our study next week, I'm going to add in a variety of animals.

And now here are how the poses turned out that I submitted. I already got some great feedback, and will be fixing and rendering them soon!

And now after completing all of my changes, this is the final render!

Peter Pan Art

I made quote art! I always see such cool art paired with quotes on pinterest, and there was nothing appealing associated with this quote. It's by far one of my favorites, and I've always felt like I could relate to Peter Pan...growing up wise. Especially in my industry, making animated cartoons for a living. Dreaming is also my escape. I can remember at least 3 dreams a night, and they're so imaginative and out of this world, there's no possible way I could explain them to people without drawing them out for them to understand. Even then, they're so detailed and not normal, it would look like Dali if I could actually do it correctly. Plus sometimes I lucid dream, which is a topic that I could write an entire novel off of. So for now, I'll stick with Peter Pan art!

Stella Walk

This week, we had to spline out our walks, which is basically smoothing it out. Mine still needs a lot of work, but this is what I ended up turning in for it.

We also had to do some more poses with Stella showing movement. I'm not really sure if there's a difference between movement, and last weeks motion poses, but I have a lot less sports reference in this one. These are my sketches for the poses. I was trying to get a lot more dynamic ideas in there that clearly show the line of action.

And now this is what I animated. There's a very big difference in the pose on the left. I originally had her just beginning to touch the ground mid run, and leaning back trying to avoid the other one coming at her, like how it is in the drawing. But everyone thought she should be keeled over instead coming into more of a protective pose. 

And now here is my final render with all of the fixes I made.

Full Body Walk

For this second week, we had to make a full body walk using Stella, a new character. We had to shoot reference video of ourselves walking, and the block it out. It's pretty rough in terms of blocking, and I got a lot of great feedback for it. It was supposed to be vanilla, as in no personality is being shown in the walk, but clearly there's a lot showing still, so I need to tone it down a lot. But this is my planning for my shot.

And here is my blocking!

First Second Class!

Had my first class for AN02 the other day! My mentor is pretty awesome, and all the people seem like they're really nice! Our assignment was to make an action pose involving 2 of the same character, Stella. I had to leave to fly out to Colorado Tuesday night, so I didn't get much time to do anything crazy. But these were some of my sketches. You can definitely see here who has influenced me over the years in terms of sports....

and this is the render that I submitted for the assignment!

This is my final render with all of my fixes.

New Mini's for Etsy!

I finally got around to updating my Etsy shop! It only took a few months, but I got a bunch up there. There's still a ton more minis sitting in a cardboard box that I still need to photograph. If you want to check them all out, head over to https://www.etsy.com/shop/DesignByLJ Here's a sneak peek of what's to come!

Class 01 Animation Basics Final Reel!

It was a rough semester but it's over! Now I can finally have a weekend off to update all of my new mini Etsy paintings to sell!  Between working two jobs, getting used to only working on this class in all my spare time, going out of town so much, and my laptop completely breaking and having to buy a new computer...but it's done! This is basically how I feel right now...haha

My demo reel is officially turned in and completed! This is how it turned out! If you want to see a better version, you can view it on my portfolio site at http://www.lindseymjones.com/animation-mentor/

My next class starts on Sunday, which is basic body mechanics. My mentor for that class is a senior animator from Blue Sky Studios. I'm trying to hit a different studio for every class to guarantee different styles of animation. My mentor for class 1 was very cartoony and exaggerated. You can tell because he worked at Sony. This is a link to Joe's IMDB to see what he has worked on. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3309484/ I guess this means it's time to apply for jobs again...oh joy.

Personality Walk Splined

This is my final submission for the personality walk. For this assignment, we had to spline it out, and create all the in-betweens. I ended up going pretty far from my original blocking, and ended up with this crazy walk.

And for our poses, we had to show balance. I wanted to get a bit of ungracefulness in there, because everything I saw was either ballet or gymnastics or yoga. Characters perfectly aligned, doing great things. So I wanted to go with more of a person standing on a rolling chair, and it starts to spin around type feel. So these are the sketches I came up with.

Then I thought about how I was little, and would always try and stand on the fire hydrant, waiting for my school bus. I could never balance myself on it, because there was only room for one foot.

and now this is my final render

Personality Walk Blocking

For this assignment, we had to block out our personality walk. It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to go with. I shot a lot of reference video, and ended up doing one walk in particular. It was almost a double bounce walk, with the feet leading toe first. This is my planning for it.

And then this is my walk. I got a lot of feedback about how the mood was confusing. It looked like a sneak, and it looked like a stomp. I needed to go with a certain idea, which I didn't really do. I kind of just combined a bunch of different aspects of the walk, and there's no clear emotion here.

Our pose for this week was to pose out exhaustion. I could definitely relate to this one. Especially having to work 2 jobs, take these classes, and still end up with no money by the end of the week. These are all of my ideas for the pose.

I really wanted to go with the stair one, but his head was just way too big, and his body looked funny on stairs, unless they were massive. And now this is the pose I submitted for it. I ended up using a lot of pictures of homeless people as reference. I was thinking about exercising, and if you were running around the park, and needed a break. Which led to homeless people sleeping on park benches. 

and based on my mentors critiques, this is my final render!

Vanilla Walk

For our assignment this past week, we had to complete our vanilla walk. I splined him out, and added all of the in-betweens. This is my final result.

And our pose for this week, was to show concern. It was kind of tough being original with this one. My sketches came out either depressed, or excited. I was originally going to go with more of a stressed out, pacing back and forth idea, but that came out kind of hard to read. 

So the next best thing? Kids! Kids always bring out the concern in parents. So I figured adding Ballie in, would be the only way to convey that properly. So here is how my pose ended up.

And here is how my final render turned out based on my mentors notes!

Vanilla Walk Blocking

It's finally time for a walk cycle! This past week at Animation Mentor, we are doing vanilla walks. I chose to use the character Ballie. We are only blocking out the shot, and then next week we are splining it together. This is what i did for the blocking.

And then our pose for this week was to show physical strength. I originally wanted to do something along the lines of an egyptian building the pyramids, or a firefighter holding the heavy hoses. I even found a to of suitcase reference images, which I can relate to myself for always overpacking.

 I ended up using Stu lifting up the couch to try and get Tailor out from underneath. There have been so many times I was trying to find my rabbit when she was still a tiny bunny. She almost always ended up underneath the couch or bed. 

And now this is my final render.

Tailor Assignment

For this weeks assignment in Animation Mentor, I had to animate a ball with a tail. I decided to use the Tailor rig, which looks like he has a squirrel tail. All we had to do was make him bounce a few times, so we could learn how to use the wave principle for the tail. A lot of people have him jumping to different platforms, off cliffs, through obstacle courses, etc. so it was hard to get an innovative story with him. Eventually I decided to have him jump from one cliff, onto a rock. That rock starts to shake from his weight, falls over, but then lands onto the other cliff, as he jumps onto the other cliff. This is my planning for the story.

I did my assignment, and the concept of the tail was so hard for me to grasp. Just working the wave principle and the shapes into the tail was rough. It kept coming out too choppy and slow. So eventually I talked to someone else, whose animation came out gorgeous, and he said he used the grease pencil, and it helped out a lot. So I decided to start over doing the sketches only.

And then this is my final animation that I have turned in for this week.

Pendulum Assignment

For this week in Animation Mentor, the study was overlap. We had to animate a pendulum moving around the screen to create overlap. This was what I turned in for it. We had to make a figure 8 motion with the pendulums movement. I think the movie turned out pretty boring, and I would like to create another one, experimenting with object interacting with something else. I saw a really cool one, where rocks were falling off a cliff, and it was catching them, and transporting them across. When I have time, I'm going to make a much more creative storyline for it.

Our pose for the week was devastation. I figured this one would be easier, and all I had to do was look at numerous Disney princesses throwing themselves onto things and crying hysterically...

However, with such a big head for Stu, that idea was not going to work at all. These are some of my ideas for him. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs was a big inspiration in this idea, because their poses for Flint are so exaggerated. It's so obvious that he's depressed, and it reads so well.

I ended up going with more of a modern approach. My laptop screen completely broke apart the other day, and so this is the pose that came out of that despair. I got some great feedback, and I am pumped to start my revision for him.

And now this guy is my final render.

Ball Bounce with Different Weights

So for this past weeks assignment in Animation Mentor, we had to animate another ball bounce. This time however, we needed to have two different balls, both with varying weights. I chose a bowling ball verses a beach ball. There were numerous reference videos online I used for the bowling ball, but I also went out and bought a beach ball to film my own reference. I dropped it form many different angles, across screen, and studied it for more than the amount of time you should allot to staring at a ball. So, this is what I came up with! It's pretty rough since I had to leave town, and couldn't work on it much. But I did already get my critique back, and am working on some fixes now. It was pretty tough to get the beach ball to feel right, since it's so floaty. And no matter what I tried, I couldn't get it to feel right in the amount of frames we had to work with. This one might take quite a few passes
to perfect.

I'm not sure if I'm quite happy with it yet, the timing feels too slow and the same throughout with the beach ball. I might try this assignment again, but with a more dynamic set up. Maybe the two balls falling between a tight space, and the beach ball being forced to bounce on top of the bowling ball?

Mini Palooza!

So I just took avoiding homework to a whole new level last night. I made a whole stack of mini canvas paintings for my etsy shop. You can view them all at http://www.etsy.com/shop/DesignByLJ I will be posting them up there to sell as soon as I have some free time. They were all done with acrylic, and I started to branch off a little more from my detailed animals, and twitter birds as you can tell. I think my favorites are definitely the monsters.

While you're at it, you can check out my fathers shop. He does watercolors, and has a studio in downtown Sanford Florida. His shop is, http://www.etsy.com/shop/StewartJonesArt He also has a blog that you can follow as well, which is, http://stewartjonesart.blogspot.com And then if you're really up to checking out more on etsy, my best friend Adrienne Nicole has a shop too! Hers is http://www.etsy.com/shop/AdrienneNicoleDesign