Weekly Comments

    This week I learned more on making action scenes, I got to work more with some of the class to continue with my action scene, directing the ! It is really fun to come up with ideas and use the ideas of others to have a lot of fun and work together, so big thankyou to Brady, Geoff, Elaine, Connor, and Gage for helping me! What made me happy this week is that I had time to work on my music video animation, I just really wanna be done! What frustrated me this week is that the school year is starting to come to an end. I really enjoy the class and its blowing by so fast, it is kind of depressing. What I want to learn in the future is some business stuff, like working with others, keeping contacts, staying in touch, I think it would be helpful learning to conduct business as a freelancer...
     This week's link of interest is to a video made by two of my friends titled "Peck!", its got a little vulgar language, but other than that its pretty entertaining, the animation is superb as always from these two.

Also you can buy the source file and a little extra video for 2$, I did and you should too! Check the description of thier video here: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/673103

Shot Reverse Shot

     First off what is shot reverse shot? A shot reverse shot is when one character is shown looking through the character at another character, and the camera switches to the other person. Joel and Ethan Coen are definitely understood to be the masters of this shot. They are very good at doing this because they film between the characters making you feel like they are actually included inside the conversation. The Coens use wide angle lenses to help focus on a certain facial feature of a character, or to exaggerate a forward camera movement. Also the wide angle lens shows the environment that the characters are in, which gives continuity to a shot. Another important part of their conversation scenes is that they keep a rhythm to the speaking, keeping the viewer interested in what is happening.
     I didn't know so much went into making a conversation between two characters. I always thought it would just consist of over the shoulder shots only to record the dialogue. But this video is really interesting because it shows you how many different factors you can use when making your conversations to spice them up and add interest to them. My favorite tip is definitely the rhythm, because a scene without rhythm is really boring, but having the rhythm gives a beat and pleasing aspect to a conversation! I am definitely going to apply this next time I make a conversation!

7 Tips For Drawing Realistic Humans

     The first tip is to follow the action. Gesture is super important when drawing your characters, a simple line can convey many emotion. For example a drooped line can seem depressing whilst a straight one can show strength.Tip number two is is proportioning your character's height. The head to hips is the same length as your hips to your feet. Proportion is a fundamental part of drawing characters, it shows that you have a understanding of relative size. Number three is to not underestimate size of the shoulders, your body is approximately 3 heads wide, so keep that in mind so your characters don't end up too thin or thick. Tip four is to remember facial proportions, eyes are at one half the head, and the mouth is one quarter of the head. Tip five is to add a little flexibility to the neck, your neck isn't a stiff tube, loosen up! Tip six is to smile from outward not upward, your muscles on your face pull out not up. Tip seven is to block out shapes as an easier reference for angles and proportion. Its easier to imagine in simpler objects before going into something more complex.
      So, the article is pretty self explanatory, not to be egotistical but I know all of this already. If you are just starting out in animation or just want to get better at drawing in general, your fundamentals are the best place to start. Moreover it would be easier to explain why drawing fundamentals are important. It doesn't help as an animator to be over ambitious with a character trying to animate something really complex when you don't have the basics down, or in general trying to stretch the proportions when you don't know the proportions to begin with. Surprisingly just learning how to draw will benefit your animation more than just straight animating. I see this in my own work because when I used to animate I would spend more time figuring out how my drawings looked rather than the flow of my animation. So, in general this is a really good article for improving animation by improving your drawing!

Weekly Comments

     AGH NO TIME NO TIME!!! This week in class I learned how to do color correction on my videos with curves thanks to Joe! All of my shots are really red in my fictional short so fixng that is a big priority for me. What made me happy this week is that I finally got to start working on a fictional project, I like to work for myself and make things I enjoy to watch so the fictional short project has been alot of fun so far and is coming out good! Also it was my birthday this week my parents got me a couple shirts, and I had cake! ALSO I passed my road test, so if anyone wants to get together and film with me or just hangout I am avaliable! What made me frustrated and is frustrating me right now is the lack of time I have to finish my portfolio for sheridan! I can't get motivated to finish my drawings and every single one I am making is coming out really terrible!! I am going to toronto tommorow, and there is no time left for me to do my best work! I'm mad that we had blogs this week cause I really just wanted to focus and finalize my portfolio! GRRRR!!! What I want to learn in the future is how to color correct for different moods in a film project.
    My link of interest this week is to a clip of from one of my most favorite movies "The Triplets of Belleville" . The movie is animated in the style of French Charachature, and is beautiful to look at. I really like how the capture the essence of the characters in thier stature, faces, shape, and movement. I really recommend you watch the whole movie!

What To Know In Art School

     Art school seems like somthing any amazing artist has been to. Jon Williams gives us some tips on Art school. First is that art school is not nessisary but won't hurt. Attending a school alone won't make you better, everyone with a simple grasp on education can understand this. You have to work to improve whether it be practice or taking your time to focus and learn somthing. Many jobs in the arts do not care about your past schooling, and some do. BUT even that thier main decision is based upon the work you have already done in a portfolio or demoreel.
     Next is to think less about your 3d software and more about your art fundamentals. Technology is always changing you can never keep up. But when software is always updating you want to know every new feature, this is extremely distracting towards you as an artist wanting to experiment with every new feature pulls you away from the bigger picture and what really matters when working in your software.
     Another statement of Jon is that you are not the best do not have to be. Having an ego is an awful thing, and can really destroy you as an artist. Being this way makes others not wish to work with you and only makes others wish to tear apart your work more. Additionally aspiring to be the best is not a bad thing but you will never reach that level. What really defines someone as "the best"? If you think about it, that is a totally subjective question and everyone will awnser differently.
     Lastly Jon states that your development as an artist never ends.  That is 100% true there is always room for improvement whether it be speeding up your work flow or refining your art.
     Seeing as I want to goto art school this was a good read. I agree with alot of his points on what decisions to make, how to go about your work and collaborating with others. I wish to do my best in the field and starting well in art school would be great.

Why Lateral Motion Matters

     Humans interpret things with instinct and logic. The slightest change in somthing can completely change thier feelings on a subject.
     When watching a film we don't really pay attention to what direction people and objects are moving, but our brains are paying attention. Why do we enjoy watching things moving left to right, and are dissatisfied with things moving right to left? Studies say that is because we read from left to right and view almost everything in that manner. We associate left to right with progress and moving towards a goal. Moving from right to left we see opposition and just an unnapealling feeling. This is similar to how we see characters portrayed in film through different angles. Whereas low angles establish dominance and high angles establish fear.
     When I work I noticed how when making a safe feeling scene all the characters move to the left, but when I want to show anger or fear I make things move right to left. It allways felt very natural doing it that way, and this article definitely shed some light onto why I plan my shots like that.

Weekly Comments!

     This week I learned how to put batteries in a shotgun mic and do a test shot before my final shots. What made me happy this week is that I won best new media piece at Daemen's All High Art show! I submitted my final animation piece from last year. What made me angry this week is that my competition piece didn't come out as good as I wanted it to. What I want to learn in the future is how to track motion in after effects and then transfer that information into maya.
     This week's link of interest is to the Oscar Animated Shorts nominees. I watch these every year. They are all worth a watch to study and gather information from!