This was a lot of fun to do! Thanks Hans and Lana for setting it up!
Sunday, December 8, 2013
11secondclub - November Winner
Last month's 11 Second Club winner is pretty cool! I like the simple setup where the focus is purely on her acting. The timing on the gesture for "stick around" and how she moves her hand over her leg I like as well. Overall really solid. Nice render too. Congratulations Nikolay Vanecyan!
James Baxter - Notes on Acting for Animation
Performance
Animators are the ones that throw the switch; the ones who make an audience forget that they are animated characters. The most important thing is to try and find the truth. But you can’t do this by “method” animating. You can’t be in the moment for the length of time it takes to complete a scene. Actors do, while animators describe. Best note of the day: You don’t have to do improv classes (Yeah!) When you act out a scene, it’s important to remember that it is your body you are acting with, not your character’s. Your character can do things your body can’t (and is probably better at them as well). Bill Tytla was the first animator to take acting in animation seriously.
There's a ton more, so head over to Flooby Nooby for all the details!
Friday, December 6, 2013
Monday, December 2, 2013
41st Annual Annie Awards
Check out all the nominations here!
Outstanding Achievement, Character Animation in a Feature Production
- Thom Roberts - Epic - Blue Sky Studios
- Jonathan Del Val – Despicable Me 2 - Universal Pictures
- Jakob Jensen - The Croods - DreamWorks Animation
- John Chun Chiu Lee - Monsters University - Pixar Animation Studios
- Kitaro Kosaka – The Wind Rises - The Walt Disney Studios
- Tony Smeed - Frozen - Walt Disney Animation Studios
- Patrick Imbert - Ernest & Celestine - GKIDS
- Jeff Capogreco, Jedrzej Wojtowicz, Kevin Estey, Alessandro Bonora, Gino Acevedo - The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Gollum - Weta Digital
- Dave Clayton, Simeon Duncombe, Jung Min Chan, Matthew Cioffi, Guillame Francois - The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Goblin King - Weta Digital
- Hal Hickel, Chris Lentz, Derrick Carlin, Steve Rawlins, Kyle Winkelman - Pacific Rim - Industrial Light & Magic
Outstanding Achievement, Animated Effects in a Live Action Production
- Jonathan Paquin, Brian Goodwin, Gray Horsfield, Mathieu Chardonnet, Adrien Toupet - Man Of Steel - Weta Digital
- Ben O’Brien, Karin Cooper, Lee Uren, Chris Root - Star Trek: Into Darkness - Industrial Light & Magic
- Dan Pearson, Jay Cooper, Jeff Grebe, Amelia Chenoweth - Star Trek: Into Darkness - Industrial Light & Magic
- Michael Balog, Ryan Hopkins, Patrick Conran, Florian Witzel - Pacific Rim - Industrial Light & Magic
Saturday, November 30, 2013
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
New How To Train Your Dragon 2 footage and mocap
Wait, they have a mocap stage? I thought Mocap is the devil??
Can't hide my fanboy hat though, I'm so looking forward to Dragons 2!!!
Watch the clip here which shows new footage (I think?) of Dragons 2.
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Boxtrolls - New Trailer
Head over to Apple Trailers and watch the new trailer. So crazy to see all the detail and work that goes into it!
Being insecure: Tomáš Jech at TEDxExpressionCollege
Edit:
Honest talk about his insecurities and how he rose above it. My initial comment was about the unfortunate competitive environment at studios. That's my own interpretation of the beginning of the talk talking about his internship.
Honest talk about his insecurities and how he rose above it. My initial comment was about the unfortunate competitive environment at studios. That's my own interpretation of the beginning of the talk talking about his internship.
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Stop worshipping animation companies.
Everybody has their own favorite company they want to work for. Each student is different. I see and hear it all the time through my teachings, from AM, to the AAU and in my workshops.
But there is one consistent problem.
As long as you worship your favorite company you won't question teachers who work for that company enough, if at all. You end up being a drone.
Fanboy-ism has always existed and that's fine. I'm guilty of this as well. But there comes a point where it's not helping you. For example. Last week in my class, a student showed me work from another class and I asked what the notes were for his shot. The student recited what he was told to change but when I asked why he had to make those changes, the student didn't know what the reasons were. And that's the problem I see over and over again. Students blindly following what teachers tell them, without asking why.
Is it fear of questioning the wisdom and authority of your teacher? Is it fear that by doing so you might ruin your chances of getting hired at your favorite company that teacher represents?
Teachers don't know everything. They can also be wrong.
Not everything you hear is holy scripture, especially when it comes to performance related advice, since a lot of it is based on a subjective preference. Technical notes you should really follow though. But either way, ask why if you don't understand the notes.
It's okay to question things. How else will you learn? If you don't understand the notes, then the teacher is just animating through you. And the next time you start a similar shot, you will either make the same mistake or ape the notes you were given without understanding the reasons and principles behind it.
As a student you are paying for classes and the teachers are there to help you. Don't just blindly accept every note. That's a waste of time and money.
JD
pic credit
My latest animation: "I'm walking here!"
I'm helping out with a short called "Curpigeon" at the Academy of Art and this clip is a rig test to see what works and what doesn't work with the current rig version. It was a lot of fun though to combine creature work with an audio performance (and it's good to have that on your reel for variety).
There's also a youtube and quicktime version as always. And for the technical questions people always ask, the first shot took 8 hours and the second one 9 hours, all in Maya, with real world reference to figure you flight mechanics (to a point). The audio in the 2nd shot is from "Midnight Cowboy".
Hope you guys like it!
JD
Top 5 Essentials of Animating Creatures
I wrote up a post for the Animation Mentor blog regarding my thoughts on creature animation. In short, the reasons why I think it's important and what you should look out for:
1. Most companies feature creatures in their movies.
2. Diversity in your reel.
3. Root the performance in reality.
4. Get the weight right.
5. Interaction between creatures.
Head over there to read up on all the details. I hope it's helpful!
JD
Monday, November 18, 2013
Sunday, November 17, 2013
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