Practical Process: WIP - Editing

Hi all,

Thought I would add some more progress shots of my PMF project.. This time of the other character, she's a director, but I need more props to show that... Anyone got any recommendations?

A new part of my process is to take my latest playblast (When I can't think of anything else to do to it, but it doesn't feel right), and draw over it in photoshop... This helps me produce more exaggerated shapes, follow lines of action easier... and just generally have more fun!

Ta for listening,

Claire

Deer animation

Hi all,
I don't believe I posted that deer sting I was on about... So here you go (please view in HQ!):

I was in charge of (in Pipeline order): Research, story idea, pose ideas, storyboarding, being a camera woman, deleting rolling shutter, working as a team to matchmove, Rigging, Animating, Rendering and post production - including colour correction, roto and shadow correction!

Thanks for visiting,

Claire 

Find me at FMX

Hi all,

I'm going to FMX next week with some new business cards, my portfolio and a sketchbook. If any of you are going... I'll probably search you out! However I'm hosting the university of South Wales stand at 12 on Wednesday, and would love any company I could get - I promise to be a good conversationalist, especially about animation!

I'm very excited by all the companies that are attending the conference, and am looking forward to all the talks!

Ta for now,

Claire

Thoughtful thumbs: waiting for people

Thought I'd make use of the time... Sorry cardiff bay people!

Ta for now,

Claire

Industry indents: Bobby Pontillas

Hi all,
I have done them before, now I am making it a semi-regular thing! Every now and again I'll write an entry on what inspires my work, from artists to companies this section will explore different aspects of creativity. If I am granted permission I shall post knowledge I have gained from animation conferences that I have visited... Hopefully along with some new quotes!

For the first artist entry however I shall look at Bobby Pontillas' work, and show you all why I'm inspired by him.


Animation:

 

Pontillas currently works for Disney Animation, having previously worked on Rio for Blue sky after graduating from Animation Mentor. From here on out this is purely my opinion of his work, as it is not backed up by other sources.
Pontillas has a talent for excitable movements, knowing how to overlap and follow through his work to portray the characters settling; this can be seen in his animation of Blue primarily, however also through Anna. Making his work an inspiration to me, mainly because although I can hit key frames, I struggle with believable 'moving holds'. Due to my struggle I went looking for other animator's work to see their techniques, and stumbled upon Pontillas.

In his scene with Anna, you can see his comedic use of timing when matching the music to Anna's arm movements, does not end with the note itself... His cushioning of her arms are minimal but can be seen.

The pattern I have noticed with his work is incredible speed to a key, which, once hit, slows down for cushion.

I am currently studying his work while animating my current PMF project...

However after stumbling across his animation, it struck me that I had heard his name before... Well... Not heard, read... So I found his blog.

Character Design

Not only is Pontillas a talented animator, he is also a talented character designer; his ability to pick out traits to caricature can be seen on his blog.

(I am hoping these link back to him)

I personally admire the texture and lines he achieves with his digital work, there's such a human quality to all aspects of his art and animation. If you are unfamiliar with his artwork then let me point you to the Art of Wreck it Ralph where his art is gorgeous!!

(I went to go and hunt y'all some of his beautiful wreck it Ralph pictures... But couldn't help but gaze at all his character arts on his blog)

On that note, I shall just leave you all to stare at his beautiful art on his blog and stunning animation on his vimeo!

Claire - OUT -

Animation thumbs

Some of my animation thumbnail notes...

Industry Indent: Double negative

Established in 1998 Double Negative, or Dneg for short, have worked on several exciting projects both for
major studios, Harry Potter, Skyfall, Man of Steel, etc. and independant film makers for films like Shaun of the Dead, Paul, Attack The Block, etc. 
They have won an academy award for Inception, as well as four VES awards (three for Inception) and two BAFTA awards, one for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, and the other for Inception.



Their pieces range from Character animation (Paul) to vehicle animation (Rush) and crowd animation (John Carter), again another diverse range of work that thrills me when I see it. Double Negative was another studio that visited USW in 2013, and gave a fantastic talk on their involvement with the animation of the Tharks in John Carter. Specifically they talked about the crowd scenes featuring the Tharks, such as the gladiator ring scene with the White Apes... Who are petrifying! For all those who paint John Carter with the 'flop' brush, I urge you to watch the film again with fresh eyes, the VFX are glorious, the realistic character animation on the Tharks is fantastic, and how they solved the whole four arm idles is brilliant. The film itself is well worth the watch just for all the Thark scenes, as you can see the heart and soul poured into the characters, each bringing a believable human aspect to the film. If you believe the story has influences from other Sci-fi hits like Star wars, then read the origins for the script, as the book 'John Carter of Mars' was produced early 20th century, and is in fact the stem of the other Sci-fis! Anyway, I'm detracting!
In fact this talk was the one to get me into rigging, due to the sequences they showed of all the facial animation, and how the deform shapes, and underneath muscles, were triggered by controls. However the main appeal of this talk to me how they interpreted the motion capture data for four armed characters, describing how the arms were arranged for dominate and recessive actions. This blend between motion capture and realistic key-framed animation is what drew me towards the studio. I approached the team after the talk and I was very fortunate... and very cheeky as I asked... to arrange a visit to Dneg late last near when they were in full production of a film I cannot mention because of reasons... However I am very excited to see it in the Cinema!!
If you cannot tell from my typing, I have been very inspired by the realistic animation Dneg has produced over the years, and cannot wait to see more! See you later, Claire