Monday, December 6, 2010

December 2010 Demo Reel

WooHoooo!,, Got another one chalked up on the board. So much skits lined up, The next reel is already on the way, and exercises as well. Enjoy..

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

The Hiest " Breakdowns

Chopp'in it up the "life" of the animation. Or where the animator live's Richard Williams says. Got a good feel of the sequence, time to plus more and jump into spline.

Monday, August 16, 2010

"Time Travel "- Final Contest Entry

Tadahhh! This was as far that I went with this shot. Cleaned the crap out of it. See what you think.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Time Travel - w/ Breakdowns

Break it down, Hammer time! On to Spline, Polish and Plus! Tommorow Im going to make a muppet style puppet at Puppet school, its all day. So I gotta burn the midnight oil for this due on Monday. Not really that far, and I'm really feelin it. Had to edit time to make it close to full animation, and make the realization poses( am i buck ?,I am buck..oh shit !) readable. 100 frame limits, dig it. The wrap is next.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Time Travel - Keys Timed

Spungella has this cool 100 frame contest. A topic is given and you have 1 week to wrap it up. This is my second wack at it. It is very tough to keep it simple and readable for this short time frame which makes a very intriguing challenge. Having a blast cause it can be polished quickly.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Rap Skit " Breakdowns

Okay, Trying to keep the feeling, essence, and vitality. Roughed out the Breakdowns as well as Lipsync. A bit stuck, but I need to sit down and just plow through and get the core to snap with great shapes and arms overlapping and leading well. On to 2nd Pass..in sections of movement.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Whip Action* Master copy #16 - 100's Challenge

Moving along, this is a cycle copied from Jason Ryan's Ramp-up Tutorials. Just polished and cleaned in 3d. The whip was keyed out on every frame. Have to jump on the Demoreel now, but next week a 100 frame contest with Spungella begins.. Oh! what fun. I'm not letting the shot go and call it done till it hits a nerve of quality, other wise I drill hours on it, or take a break and get struck on how to solve an issue.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Saw Cycle* Master copy # 15 - 100's Challenge

The page in the book " Timing for Animation" just describes what to do and the picture you kinda decipher, I copied that and the time. And did the body pushing the arm, then added the nice slow into and snap to ease in of the elbow looping arc. The all around feel of the piece I was happy with. I love this book, really pushed poses and time that is what entertains and is totally see-able, and over powers mo-cap, what animation is all about, a pushed reality.


and on to the next

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

The Hiest " Blocking

Here is a cool sequence I'm trying to hook up, very clean. This is how far I got, still awaiting crit to add and move forward. The rap one has been broken down, needs some rough Lip-Sync to get critiqued and push on..

Sunday, July 18, 2010

No Excuses

Wow.. I ran into this today, really cool clip. There is no excuse to not making it big, its all on you and on what you do. These guys have no background in business and little art knowledge, but worked hard on what they liked to do, and makes a point on learning from failure along the way.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Door Test *Master copy #14 -100's Challenge



This was copied from Tom and Jerry's " Millionaire Cat". It was alot fun to study from, I was so surprised on how wacky and outlandish creative the poses they came up with in these shows, I will be collecting some more. This was like 50 frames and to comic precision, this was a real honor and a treat. More to come, also checking in with the goal strivers out there half a year already, hope you have made a dent and have done plenty to get you further in life, Let's end this year with a bang on the second half. Yippee!

Monday, July 5, 2010

Rap Skit " Blocking

Okay, 450 frames the marathon of shots. Thought I'd test my stamina on this, gonna break it up in sections and jump around to have fluid transitions. Really, just dove in and let this evolve, made my reference vid and really got in the moment. This is the checkpoint for crits, then onto more Breakdowns, Extremes, Plussing and Revisions called out on.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

What it takes, to reach your dreams?




This is one of the best interviews I've seen. That clearly points out how to get from point A to point Z of hardwork, determination, dedication on what it takes how to reach your dreams. Breaking it down from levels, His working 9am - 5pm and to 5pm - 2am( self mastery). I have to give it a shot. Mine is a bit different 8am - 5pm regular job and self mastery 6pm to 10pm plus early 4 am to 6 am ( still not steady but now it will be) and weekends are tentative for socializing to add to my animation( the lived life).

But It's total actual animation hands on practice time is what counts. We shall see where this can lead us. Make the time to practice, it could be an hour a day but if you look back in a later time it does accumulate. Keep Smashin.. And Happy FREEDOM DAY!

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Sneak *Master copy #13 -100's Challenge

Right steady moving forward, cleaner spacing and arcs. Was thrilled this was the speed Ken Harris intended to move, very zippy not what I expected. Holding the mirror and looking at the reflection like a painting to see it with new eyes. Called it done, for this one.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Soccer Bop # 12 - 100's Challenge

Back in Effect! This was really a struggle on the arms, had to really think of opposing actions, lead and follow. Because it looked so mechanical, and had to be loosened out, making everything whip out.

This a great one on Agility for Body-Mechanics mastery. You must constantly push to the next level through purposeful practice in order to get better, be challenged to grow and evolve. And try to be conscious and not in auto-pilot when doing the whole thing.

88 more to go, very excited to see how the animation will be after, learned tons as always.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Persistence

Do you have it? This is a crucial asset on your journey to Animation. Here my old school 1st Short movie " The Haunted House" a thesis you might say, this took 4 years to put together and animate. I was told it was ambitious, it just made me work harder to finishing it. I love all aspects of filmmaking from acting to set design, being your own studio, which was only a dream for animators a few years before me.

I knew my lucky break, and was not going to take it for granted. All can be done when you put your mind into it, take risks to fail, because at least you know you have a chance than, choosing not to do anything and for sure not having any. My mantra is I'd rather die trying to reach my goals, than die regretting that I never tried. Sincere effort. A quote from the documentary movie Dogtown and the Z-Boys, what's started it all.

" You only have one chance in this and thats it." - Stacy Peralta

Keep Rockin <----------



Its all about planning, this is the Animatic that foreshadowed the finished product

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Fancy Pre-Viz Animatic

This was an old Storyboarded out clip from a Narration of the Shogun Assassin movie. Luckily I did not see before this was conceived. Feels so good to finish something that was started on 2006 from a class. It's all Anime/ prince Achmed style marionette 2d puppets with limited key drawings. And the 4 value limited Technique of color for total readability. Two crazy 3d shorts in production, coming soon.


* The almighty "Story"

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Improvement and Plussing

Geez, there was a one week extension for the Spline Doctors Walk Cycle Challenge. And I heard somewhere to always keep your old work to compare and see progress( this is proof). I received some push crits to attack and hit back with this. Looking back on the old one was a big difference, it looked dead.
You have to push beyond and exaggerate to see it on the screen, because you get so micro-managed seeing it. You don't see it all as a whole, Fresh eyes( other animators) Is a true gift for animators.


The contest is now being Judged..@ SplineDoctors

Mindset

Great words to live by, working with others and achieving greatness. Strong information here enjoy.






Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Spline Doctors Contest Entry

Super Cool contest with Andrew Gordon, another fun challenge in their blog and I wanted to see if I got the chops.

Drilled this out in 3 weeks, went really far as I could on the animation. And then only then, I roughed out and set up the background and renders. Gave it 10% extra time cushion for maybe some crits or unforeseen issues that can occur. Wish me luck, The interview with 3d world magazine, if you win sounds so exciting.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Spungella 100 frame contest Entry!

Fun Contest I entered for any "Art of" Book if you win. What an incentive. This was cranked out in a week, a bunch of ideas, and this was what stuck out that amused me the most, and really wanted to do.



Here is JD's site: Spungella "lots of knowledge here"

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Stairs Up *Master copy #11 -100's Challenge

Had to put some acting into this exercise. The feet pushing off to land before the weight of the body hits. That's was what took longer and had to really go in frame by frame to shape the motion smoothly. Happy with the outcome " The Detective"


Friday, April 9, 2010

# 10 - Hurdle Jump

Ok, to close off the week. 9 Glorious days of Vacation from my regular job, and now I will crank out at least 10 pieces, is the goal.. No Mercy!

Saturday, April 3, 2010

# 9 - 180 Degree turn around - " About Face"

Slowly but surely, 1st type in a line of turn around's I will animating with this simple rig. So simple and fun to cleanup, really learned to go into detail with frame to frame easing and snaps. Check it..

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

2 Earlier peices *Hundreds trick challenge

This was in another site, blip tv. but their embedding sucks and it moves to the next clip automatically. So I loaded up on Youtube to post it here to show.. Enjoy




Do your thing.. "Persistence"




One of the biggest obstacles to overcome for me on my path to being an Animator was the "Hater's" and "Jealous" folk.
Sound familiar? " People can't make living or money from art" or " You will make money from your paintings, only when you have died". What kind of stuff is that to tell someone that found something they are good at and have fun doing.

Since they see you happy, focused, and dedicated pursuing your dreams in life and working to make it a reality..
They must sense that super energy (You get when finding what you love to do " Direction") and positive vibe. And they will try to crush it, because it challenges, and questions their life, future, and being a loser. Their existence basically, so they might see you consciously or un-consciously as a threat to their superiority, or what not..it's twisted. So I set out on proving these "Jerk's" were wrong. It's all about "Going above and beyond anything you set out to do" and " Sincere effort". Never worry, when practicing this.. it leaves them all behind..

A great proof I've received was getting to work in an Art School with these Teachers that were Industry Pros. This was revealed to me by going up to Mike Butkus's studio, on the school premises. His work was a who's who in the business and movies. The man was an Art machine, seeing his family, gadgets and stuff. And he showed me Storyboard revision crits from Robert Zumeckis on his work.
So it "Clicked" you can make money, support a family, afford expensive things and have fun with art, it is all totally possible and real. I learned so much from him, a good one was preparation, he would set up his desk project for speed and efficiency. He would tape his pencil sharpener next to his drawing and in an angle in the best place to stab, and get back to drawing, to rock his deadlines.

Armed with this knowledge, now I was determined to be a great Animator. What to do? Simplify your focus, write down 1 or 2 small (too many will not be as effective) goals toward the big goals and make a strict deadline. Ignore those who don't approve on what your doing, a good one I heard was " It's gonna take that long?" well.. that time is going to pass anyway, after that time you will have that knowledge, and the other person is still in the same place just complaining, rotting, useless.

Fill your head with great ideas, projects, list them, and line them up to do. Never allow negative thoughts of naysayers in your mind or they will win. These mindset skills was shared in Bobby Beck's blog .
I thought this was just me, but it happens to a lot of goal achievers. I wanted to give back, to the community, and to help the true.. annoyed by this.

Keep that all or nothing mindset " If your gonna do it, do it right, or don't do it at all" No half-ass work, your just cheating yourself. Trust me it shows, when you don't push yourself, the time you put in especially. Stay strong, motivated and always encourage people to do their best and *keep doing your thing. See what happens when you don't give up.

Here are posts to keep you on point and effective.
-How to deal with Dream Zappers part 1 and part 2
-How to get past "where do I start" *this is really good for goal reaching

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Character Animation Demoreel 2010

Yahoo! Another wrap on this ticket to the industry. I learned to really polished this one out, and now I'm much relaxed to drop this off and send out to the studios. Wish me luck, the next reel is already shaping up its been roughly storyboarded out. It's gonna be a Smasher..

Hammer Blow #8 of the 100's Challenge

Woah.. Kinda under estimating these copies I would think I'd be quick but, it kinda took forever. I'm glad though cause, where others give up I persevere. I gave it more acting what I thought he would feel taking a whomp at it. Really tweaked out on it, polishing it nicely. On to more....

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Basic Walk # 7 of the 100's Challenge

From the words of Eric Goldberg " You gotta crack the walk". So in my little Bootcamp 100's Challenge I've set for myself. Ive prepared simple rigs like this and another with no face, to really condition my mechanics. This was really deceptively simple, took a bit to make it look right (I gave it a good push off, straight leg kickout, and an appealing weight with squash and stretch). So this was the end result I was happy with.



p.s It' may look like I'm slow but actually working on my DSI with 2d exercises as well since I have more time in my non art job at the moment. This will be speeding up now, just the preparation is key too.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Learn from the Masters

Take advantage of "Knowledge from Experience" and don't re-invent the wheel but add to it and use as a jumping off point.
Here is a Priceless clip from the late great Last of the " Nine Old Men" Ollie Johnston sharing his words of wisdom.. You can see and feel the passion he has for this craft it is so invigorating. This is what happens when you tap into that unlimited energy when you find what you love to do, and make a living out of it.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

100's Trick Challenge for Talent #6

This Idea is from Richard Williams as he spoke of the "100's Trick for Talent". So for Fun, Mastery and Greater Understanding. I've set out to copy from books, tutorials, self- exercises.
Not for reel purposes, but when I do start on new reel pieces " watch out".

And as added feature from my Teacher Chris Kirshbaum add story to give it life as well as " Super Polish". Trying to keep the frames to a minimum of 200 or less for effectiveness. I will post as soon as I finish one and on. This is #6 " Faint" From Eric Goldbergs book, this is the gap for punch, overlapping action, with no antic. Have a blast.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Happy 2010

Wow a great year in the making I have to say. Today a great advise to never forget is " Know when to take breaks" Constant focus on heavy fun on Projects and Ideas require a time to reboot the brain to perform better.

And what would be a cool thing do? , I was so lucky to be invited to a good friends 1st solo show opening. His name is Andrew Hem and I've been following his blog, he has very inspiring posts http://www.idrewhim.blogspot.com/ This is the footage I took for fun to document his moment of glory. And yes That is me congratulating him/ interview.. Enjoy.

Just being out and social really helps with the art/ animation work to " Live " and have these to use to give connection, I think and not living as a social outcast, Makes us stronger mentally and physically.