A toboggan slides better on snow then grass.

Yes...its a weird title for this post. But you will see why if you keep reading. =)

Hello Good People! Alright its been a whole month since I have posted any work. So I am going to try and get you caught up on everything I have done. I will try to have less reading and more visuals for you. I will start with my oldest work and bring you up date to where I am at currently.

Here we go!!

Here is my final for my 180 degree turn around.



Yes I know...its not exciting, so I had to try and spice it up a little with some 80's sunglasses and drop in a smile. The final settle at the end could still use a little more attention, but I am pretty happy with the way it turned out, and feel I learned a lot about the hips and the way they move.
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So onto the next assignment. We were given another version of Stewie, but he has no arms. At Animation Mentor they gradually build us up to using full bodied characters. First we started with Ballie (hips and legs). Now, we get Stewie (hips, legs, spine, neck, and head), and then for the next assignment we get Stewie with arms...which is what I mean by a "full bodied" character. I think its a great way to teach us the mechanics of the way our bodies move.

So my next assignment said take Stewie and "Jump from one post to another and regain balance." So getting back to my creative ways for this one I came up with a little idea.

Heres my planning. You can click on the images to make it larger if you like.



After I had an idea of what I wanted to do, I went outside and filmed over 30 minutes of reference video over 2 days. After sifting through the video, I narrowed it down to this plan.



Yes...I agree the video ends at a weird spot, but in my other planning you will see why.





So there you go. Basically I wanted Stewie's arms to taunt him to come and get them. But, when Stewie is about to land on them at the end....the one arm would lift the lid and Stewie would fall down the pipe. Then the other arm will flick the lid closed with its wrist. I had only 8 seconds for this assignment, but it seemed feasible.

So I then blocked out my plan.



Next I went ahead and started smoothing it out to become a polished piece of animation. But...I will have to show you that at a later time. It still needs work and I am not really happy with it quite yet. Maybe I will show you at the end of the term if I can squeeze in extra time here and there to get it looking good. =) Sorry.

But to cheer you back up...I have some fun video for you! So...after 30 minutes of jumping around in 30 degree Celsius heat....86 for you Farenheiter friends of mine, don't think for a second I didn't have a few spills and falls. So I give to you my bloopers video. =)


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What else, what else...oh yeah!...on July 30th we had a Q & A webcam session with two animators that worked on Pixars most recent film "Ratatouille". There were probably well over a hundred students involved in this, but I was still able to get my question in there to ask. It was real cool.

Tomorrow I have another Q & A webcam session with an animator that worked on the recent action and adventure film "Transformers". Should be real cool as well.
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Alright...so last week I went to San Diego to attend an annual animation convention called Siggraph. Last year it was in Boston Massachusetts. The convention was cool...yeah...but my lovely best friend Claire and I got to see David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox hit a home run in the bottom of the 9th inning to win the game. Fenway Park went crazy!!! Such a great memory.

But anyways...back to San Diego. Siggraph is a convention that all the major studios attend like Pixar, Disney, Dreamworks, Blue Sky, Sony Imageworks, Laika...all places in which I hope one will be a near future place of employment for me. Also attending Siggraph were several software and hardware companies showing off their latest programs and technology. It was a great event for just networking with people which is why I felt it was important I went. Thanks to a fellow animation mentor classmate I was able to meet several recruiting people from many of the studios. This year for the first time Animation Mentor also had a booth there. Students came from all around the world for this convention. So I met a lot of other online classmates which was real cool.

Heres a picture of Animation Mentors mascot "Spike" and myself in front of the booth.



To the Shaffer family (including Ollie & Polly)...you are ALL so special too me and I am so incredibly lucky and thankful for everything you have done for me and continue to do. Thank you. =)
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So now...my current assignment in which we now get Stewie with arms!! So exciting I know. We get 10 seconds for this one and I have to have him pushing or pulling a heavy object.

So in a nutshell this is my plan:

-It will start seeing Stewie as a paperboy really struggling to pull his overloaded newspaper filled red wagon uphill on the sidewalk. Then he hears something, look up hill and watches another paperboy across the street happily riding downhill on his newspaper filled wagon. Then stewie looks back uphill, takes a big breath, and then slumps and hangs his head over even more.

Heres my planning.







I also filmed some oh so fun reference video...which you will see why I called this post "A toboggan slides better on snow then grass."

I will not torture you with anymore reading this time. Plus I animated all last night and went to bed at 11:00am this morning so I am pretty tired. It is now 3:45am, but I promised you I would update my blog today because I really appreciate everyones support. So, I will leave you with my reference video for the next assignment.

Thank you!!!!....as always. =)