Whats to Come for 2010...

Greetings and Happy New Year to you ;) How to go into the new year with a bang? Rendering and fighting maya I tell you! I’m sure there is a better way but if your like me, strange, weird and a sucker for the keyframes then this picture below may give you some idea of where ive been for most of the holiday. It’s a little silly I know, but heck – its just animation ;)


Still some development to come, animation fixes, sound design, water effects… all that madness.

Changes in the wind...

changes changes... much has happened since my last post (10billions years ago). Firstly, Animation Mentor Graduation. Thats right folks, i made it to the end - and what a ride. As anyone who does animation will tell you its never easy but the rewards can be great. To finally meet my fellow students face to face was a real treat. I was lucky enough to pick up the award for Best Silent Acting, it briefly crossed my mind to do a mime for my speech but nerves had taken hold and reduced me to a stiff lump of wood. But in all seriousness the experience was incredible, and the AM events were full of heart and enthusiasm as always. There is something very special about meeting so many optimistic artists and mentors, great memories indeed and certainly more to come. During my visit I was also fortunate to get a tour and lunch at Dreamworks - what can i say to that?!?! - incredible! quite literally amazing, and once again i thank all who made that tour possible.

The second piece of good news, i'll be starting over at Double Negative this September. These guys are one of London's biggest VFX studios having done work on Hell Boy2, Dark Knight, Harry Potter... and more. Starting with 30 people and grew to 500 employees its definitely going to be a change from the small teams im used to in games, but i nervously and eagerly await the challenge! That's does mean i have to say goodbye to my buddies at Rare, who i'll miss dearly. Rare gave me my first shot as a professional animator for which i'll always be thankful for, i really do wish them all the best in their future endeavours. Goodbye my friends, but im sure we will meet again.

Animatic Madness...

Hey chaps, just a quick post of my final animatic for my short. It was great fun doing this, so much so that i plan on doing a little 2d animation sometime after AM. Getting back into the swing of drawing is such a refreshing change in a world of 3d animation, for granted these are hardly amazing sketches but i hope it sells the vibe and feel of short. Enjoy! (hopefully...)

Linky Link

New Reel

Its been a while... partly because no one really reads my gibberish, which is probably down to my lack of posts – its a circle of madness. None-the less, here is my latest showreel....as Wall-E would say "ta-dar!"

Next on the list is my graduation short, and if im honest – i have never been nervous about doing an animation until now. Its got to be good or thats 6months of work wasted.

Ideals!

Its all about the idea guys... all about the ideas! Being able to animate at its most basic level is of course pretty essential, but once you have a grasp on these methods no amount of god like software (or drawing) skills will ever hide poor ideas or bad performance. Check out Matt Strangio's reel for an example of just how important ideas are - and the best part is, his first shot isn't even finished! A cracking character animation reel indeed.

Drawing voodoo!

Ah its that question again... “why draw? I do 3D animation”. Oh so many moons ago, when i studied animation before Animation Mentor the industry was still focused on 2d, and that was the path i thought my future was going to take. So i signed up for a classical animation course which had a strong focus on life drawing for animators. Eventually the whole industry changed over, 3d animation came along and now seems to be the norm... but is there still and need for the fundamental drawing skills....... absolutely! It is true that you can get by in 3D without drawing, and there are plenty of top animators out there who do, however drawing would be something i strongly encourage you all to do. The real benefit is in posing, taking thing time to sit down and draw a person in a given pose is basically making you study that pose, how the body holds weight and energy..etc. This ability to deliver a clear and readable pose is one of the fundamental building blocks of good animation, and drawing helps you develop just that. Whenever i hit a moment where i can’t quite achieve a particular pose, the chances are is because i haven’t spent enough time studying it. So out comes the sketch book, and off i go. Perhaps the best part about drawing to develop your 3d animation skills is that no one actually has to see your drawings – they are just for you and your own development. Which is great, because if you’re like me and struggle with drawing then it doesn’t matter. What matters is the learning experience and the way you train your eye to see poses, which in-turn will help you deliver clear and precise posing in your 3D animation. Another benefit is after a little practice it will relax your mind, your analytical left hemisphere of your brain will switch off and the creative right side will kick in. In time this will help you reach that point of ‘zen’ where you stop consciously thinking and let the your creative actions guide you. (am i sounding like obi-wan yet?). So yes, drawing isn’t essential, but if posing is something you struggle with or you like to take some time out and let your mind just wander creatively – then i recommend giving drawing a go!

break stuff.

I admit i have been pretty lazy at updating my blog of recent. None-the-less here i am... writing some gibberish or another. AM is moving on swiftly, and doing an 8 hour day in games then coming home to sit on the computer again is proving to be a little easier than I had imagined. I find the key is to make sure i’m animating shots which get me jazzed, this way after a working day of animation i still have enough energy to pull out some hours in the evenings. Every so often i still get hit by the ‘lazy bug’, but how do i get out of that? Watch some of my favourite films and it soon gets me buzzing. Or in some cases it’s just good to take a break and place myself in a situation where I’m unable to think of anything else, (this usually involves riding down a hill side avoiding rapidly approaching trees). I guess the truth is, we all need a break sometime or another – otherwise without it our little heads would probably pop.