Do you have questions about the "Attack" clip? - Survey!

Attack - Character Animation Test (2021)

More clips coming! So much fun to do personal animation tests again!

 

Hospital - Personal Animation Test (2003)

This was a "Lipsync" exercise I did at home right after graduating and I still like it, not because it's well done but because it's super weird in its setting HAHAHA! Although this was an AHA moment for me where body mechanics clicked. It's on a small level but it still pushed me forward in a meaningful way. (the audio clip is from Jurassic Park)

His heeeaaad... - Personal Animation Test (2003)

Nowadays I would say "Don't use a famous audio clip!" but what did I know in 2003! Another old clip from school! I remember having a lot of fun tweaking the finger poses!

Ze Chair - Personal Animation Test (2002)

As my files get older and codecs are barely supported anymore I wanted to upload my old clips from my school time for posterity.

 This was a "Get out of the chair" assignment for my Maya 3 class in Fall 2002! Time flies!!

Budget Cuts VR (HTC Vive Gameplay) - part 1

I waited for this game for so long! I played for barely an hour, but I can't wait to continue because it's already awesome!

Spungella Playblast - Podcast Announcement!

The Spungella Playblast animation podcast is officially live!

The intro episode is out now, check out the announcement clip!


Episode 1 is out on Ancher now:
anchor.fm/spungellaplayblast

and as the episodes are being distributed over the next few days you will find them as well on:

iTunes (Apple Podcasts)
Spotify
Google Play Music
Overcast
Pocket Casts


Thanks for listening! :)
JD

Well... that is not going to work...

A Quiet Place

My thoughts on the movie. :)

Channel update and future plans

Alright! I'm diving into the Youtube world and will start to transition my critiques over there, so you'll see a mix or archive critiques and new ones that I'm doing now.

I'll also add new Spungella content, as well as Animation Buffet, and some personal things here and there.

The plan is to do this on a regular basis, so as mentioned in the clip below, if you want to get notifications feel free to subscribe to my channel for original content. The blog continues with regular updates and things that I find online or things that people ask me to post.

Cheers
JD

What makes a great animation demo reel?

Head over to Artella for a write up on how to make a (hopefully) great animation demo reel, written by yours truly!

LuMAA Welcome

This is going to be exciting!! Plus in my home town!

LuMAA_WELCOME from Animation HSLU on Vimeo.

The Art of Kung Fu Panda 3 - Book Review

 Kung Fu Panda 3 © 2016 DreamWorks Animation L.L.C. All Rights Reserved.

I have generously received a review copy of the Art of Kung Fu Panda (thanks Lauren!) and you'll find my thoughts on it below.

The Art of Kung Fu Panda 3 is by Tracey Miller-Zarneke, published by Insight Editions and is available for $45. If you're buying it online you'll find a lower price tag on Amazon.

It's 168 pages, so on par with the usual art-of release sizes that I have (except for the massive 366 pages behemoth that is the Art of Fallout 4). And for those who store/display all their art-of books, you'll notice that the size is a bit bigger than the Chronicle Book art-ofs, yet smaller than the recent Force Awakens.

I'm a huge fan of the first two movies and if you haven't seen the third one (which I haven't yet, it comes out January 29th here in the US), this book will obviously spoil a few things for you.

All in all The Art of Kung Fu Panda 3 does not disappoint. The concept art, storyboards, character backgrounds, design explorations and inspirations are beautiful. I also love the inclusion of brainstorming pages, which talk about the use of 2-D in the movie, setpiece ideas, character evolutions, both in written and drawn form.

In more detail, the book is divided into multiple parts.

Part 1 is about Characters, highlighting Po, Mr. Ping, Li, Master Shifu, the Furious Five, Mei Mei, Bao, Lei Lei, Grandma Panda, Panda Villagers, Master Oogway, Kai and Masters Turned Jombies.

Part 2 is about Locations, like the Valley of Peace, Dragon Warrior Noodles and Tofu, Jade Palace, Hall of Heroes, Training Hall, Scroll Room, Scroll Vision, Master Garden, Forbidden Suite of Untold Luxury, Panda Village, Li's Hut (love Max Boas' art), Mei Mei's Hut, Apothecary Hut, Hot Springs, Panda Village Training Ground, Peach Grove, Frozen Waterfall (great piece by Jason Brubaker), Tavern River Bed and Spirit Realm.

Towards the end of the book you'll find a deeper exploration of the Sequence 2000: "Valley of War" as well. A lot of artists are featured and the talent is really impressive.

The book is a worthy addition to your collection, even if you don't have the art-of books of the first two movies. I can't wait to see the third movie. This is going to be a really cool trilogy movie box set!



You'll find the official press release below:

The Art of Kung Fu Panda 3 
December 15, 2015, $45.00, 978-1608874941
By Tracey Miller-Zarneke

Following the success of DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda 2, legendary warrior Po the giant panda returns to the big screen in Kung Fu Panda 3, the third installment of the film series that has charmed viewers and critics worldwide. When Po’s long-lost panda father suddenly reappears, the reunited duo travels to a secret panda paradise to meet scores of hilarious new panda characters. But when the supernatural villain Kai begins to sweep across China defeating all the kung fu masters, Po must do the impossible—learn to train a village full of his fun-loving, clumsy brethren to become the ultimate band of Kung Fu Pandas! Kung Fu Panda 3 is directed by Academy Award®–nominee Jennifer Yuh Nelson and Alessandro Carloni.

The Art of Kung Fu Panda 3 provides insights into the making of the third chapter in the beloved animated franchise. Included in this exclusive behind-the-scenes look is a rich selection of concept art, character backgrounds, design inspirations, and interviews with key members of the creative team. A testament to the hard work, talent, and imagination of the artists who created this hilarious yet poignant comedy-adventure, The Art of Kung Fu Panda 3 will take readers through Po’s most epic quest yet.

About the Author:

Tracey Miller-Zarneke has long been fascinated with the world of animation, way beyond her credited roles on the feature films Meet the Robinsons, Chicken Little, and The Emperor’s New Groove. She has previously authored eight books on the art of animation, including the first two books in the Art of Kung Fu Panda series, The Art and Making of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, The Art of Planes, and The Art of How to Train Your Dragon. Tracey worked as technical editor for the second edition of the textbook Producing Animation and as an editorial advisor for Directing for Animation. She also serves on the board of directors for the organization Women in Animation. In the non-animated realm, Tracey lives in Los Angeles and channels her creative energy into work as a writer and playtime with her two sons.

About Insight Editions:

Insight Editions is a publisher focused on creating superlative illustrated books on photography, music, and popular culture. Lavishly produced and visually stimulating, every volume from Insight is dedicated to the skillful interplay of word and image. The books produced are unique works that combine the highest quality print production values with time-honored traditions of publishing and rich subject matter. Elegant and informative, books from Insight showcase the best of art and photography in exquisite presentations of the bookmaker’s craft. For more information, visit www.insighteditions.com.

Add Character

As many of my students know, I'm always harping on about CHARACTER, to a point where it became a meme in my last AAU class. Thank you George...

To me it's just more interesting to see a character make choices that are influenced by their emotional state, by what's happening to them via outside forces (through another character or environmental forces, etc.) and so on as opposed to seeing just movement (like a dance or martial arts).

You can have underlying character traits inform the character's acting choices. Your character can be honest, loyal, determined, adventurous, pessimistic, mean, rude, greed, cruel, picky ,silly, fidget, deceptive, etc. etc.

You can also have gestures or body tics that are specific to one character. It can be tricky to put that into one shot as it might seem repetitive or just look like bad acting:

... but it's still something to think about. As mentioned above, the environment can also alter your acting. Take your current acting scene but place it somewhere where it's really cold. The character's posture is going to change, some gestures might be faster or reduced in their scale maybe because he/she wants to go back to putting his/her hands into the coat pockets or whatever. 

A simple gesture or someone grabbing a prop is going to look different depending on your character's emotional state of mind, character trait, environment, or even if the character is familiar or unfamiliar with the environment and/or prop(s).

All in all, every move should hopefully tell the audience something about your protagonist/antagonist/extra/etc., so don't forget: add character. :)

Animdesk Interview

Animdesk was kind enough to ask yours truly a few questions! Head over there for the full Q&A!

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).

I'm walking here! from Jean-Denis Haas on Vimeo.

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. 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

Dancing and Martial Arts on Demo Reels?

With my current AAU class almost over and Online Workshops always busy I do get to see a lot of shots and reels, and I answer a lot of the same questions. One of the topics involves dancing and martial arts shots.

Now, this is purely subjective, but here are my 2 cents:


I personally would not do a martial arts nor a dance shot, as those types of shots are not really useful on a reel, if the company you're applying to focuses more on performanes. A dance is just motion. At least dancing really forces you to pay attention to timing. But it's just not interesting to watch. Same with martial arts. It's okay if you just want to learn spacing, arcs, posing and timing. I know, that's a big chunk that you obviously shouldn't skip in your learning process, but when things are just moving around without any thought behind it, I'm bored.

The most interesting thing in a shot facing a character is conflict, or in other words, a problem. When someone is faced with a problem, they have to make a choice and that choice tells us something about her/his/its character.

And that's what this is about, character animation. We want to see thought process, thinking, decision making in a character. For me that's when characters are truly alive.
 
Again, as exercises those two type of shots are fine. Practice makes perfect and both will help you master body mechanics. But when a character is just moving around without any personality and thought process behind it, then I wouldn't have it on a reel.

You could introduce a problem to the character while she/he/it is dancing/martial artsing. :)

Conflict adds a lot of interest, to any kind of situation:

Cheers
JD