5 weeks later...and Stewie still couldn't get it right.

Hello Everyone,

Stewie tried picking up that sushi for 5 weeks (I animated), and he still couldn't quite get a handle on the whole chopsticks thing.

Overall I am pretty happy with the way it turned out, but I will definitely be cleaning it up more for a possible piece for my reel. The thing that I am most excited about is that skill level wise, I felt I really took a step throughout this assignment. I don't know how to explain it...but I just feel it. I learned so much.

Here it is!



So...on to bigger and better things! We are finally getting introduced to animating to dialogue. What that means is we get a new character to animate with that has face controls to make our character look like its actually talking. So over the last 2 days and I have been watching movies (tough homework I know) searching for an audio clip that I think would be fun to animate to. My mentor highly advised us to find an audio clip that we get excited about because we're going to be working with it for a long time. And by long time...I mean until January 28, 2008...when its due. Thats right...until that date I will be working on the same 10 seconds of animation. Good thing I love animating, eh!...ha ha.

You definitely need patience to animate, and I hope that you can join in on the patience with me as its going to be a while before I am done this piece. But I will definitely be showing you my progress. But if you want to come back to my blog sometime during the week after January 28th to see the completed animation...thats OK...I won't hold it against you. =) You probably think I am crazy too, but thats OK...because some days I think I am too for getting into this animation game. =)

Thanks for stopping by!

-Sheldon

Stewie versus the chopsticks and spicy tuna rolls.

Hellooooo Good People!!

I am here to update my progress on my Stewie vs. Chopsticks piece. This is my blocking stage. Its changed quite a bit since my earlier post on here. But thats just the creative process...sometimes you get new and better ideas the more you work on something. I am really happy with the direction this scene is heading. I am also trying a new method of blocking then what i usually do, and so far I am liking it a lot. I am hoping to make some of the transitions between poses in this piece more cartoony and super pushed. Its completely going out of my comfort zone to do that style of animation, but I have to keep pushing myself.



We had a great lecture this past week taught by Pixar animator Andrew Gordon on body poses and gestures. He animated a few movies...you may have heard of them...Ratatouille, Cars, The Incredibles, Find Nemo, Monsters Inc., Toy Story 2, and A Bugs Life....just to name a few. Thats an unreal list list of blockbusters and so impressive. The lecture he taught was loaded with awesome information. Back in summer of 2005 in Fresno, California I was lucky enough to be accepted to be on a team of 12 students to create a short film under the instruction of many great animators including Andrew. We created this short film "S-Car-Go!" in only 12 days. From only having a story idea...nothing modeled or rigged even...to a finished rendered project. My longest day was 22 hours straight...besides taking a breaks to eat. Anyways, I knew it was on the internet somewheres, so i decided to put it up here for you to see just for fun. It was a great experience. =)

AtomFilms.com: Funny Videos | Funny Cartoons | Comedy Central

Thank you for checking out my work!...and please feel to leave comments below there. I really enjoy and appreciate them. =)

Have a good week! =)

Sheldon

Animation Mentor Student Showcase Fall 2007

The new Animation Mentor Student Showcase for Fall 2007 was released just today. Its a feather in your cap to get your work in this reel because it represents the school. Congratulations to all of the students who were chosen. I am inspired when I watch this reel of such impressive work.

Eventually I will get in there. :)

Stewie vs. Chopsticks

Hey Good Peoples!

First off...Gobble gobble gobble!! Its thanksgiving this weekend in Canada...So Happy Thanksgiving! Its my first Canadian Thanksgiving in 7 years. Its great to be home. :)

I just finished my first week of class 3. The objective of our assignment is to show our character go through an emotional change. For example: happy to sad, excited to disappointed...you get the idea. They just need to be two contrasting emotions.

After sifting through my different ideas, I decided to go with the one where Stewie will struggle with using chopsticks. So, I got my video camera, chopsticks, ice cubes (the sushi), and my recording buddy Lady Jade that many of you are familiar with if you've seen my other videos.

So here's me being a goof ball yet again. :)




Anyone want to go eat sushi with me??? Probably not after seeing that...ha ha. What ended up being great, and that I did not plan was that picking up ice cubes with chopsticks is frustrating. Especially with the ice cubes melting and getting slippery. So to be honest...some of that reference is genuine frustration because I was really having trouble picking it up. The first attempt you saw in the beginning...I had planned to actually pick up the ice cube, but seriously couldn't. So I just went it and kept trying, then completely over reacted by intensely slamming the table with my hand. All in all, it worked out pretty well.

I recently got a Wacom tablet. It is basically a digital pencil that you hold...like a pencil. Therefore its great for drawing on the computer. It takes a little getting used to though because you look at the computer screen, instead of looking at the end of the pencil in your hand....like we normally do. Just thought I would explain that for those of you that might be unfamiliar with it.

So I decided to do a quick little pencil test of my animation. I'm obviously not trying to impress you with my drawings. :) A pencil test is useful way for an animator to quickly see their idea working in a rough form, and figure out the timing.

Here you go!



Well I hope you enjoyed my little videos. I feel half bad for making you read so much every time...but I can't help it. I just have so much to say! :) If you're actually still reading this...THANK YOU!! :)

-Sheldon

Oh man......I am fired up!

Hey Everyone!

This is a post to purely try and explain how excited I am about this next class. My new mentors name is Michelle Meeker. Just a few of the more well known films she has worked on are:

Shrek (Dreamworks)
Antz (Dreamworks)
Lord of the Rings : Return of the King (Weta Digital)
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Weta Digital),
A Bugs Life (Pixar)
Geris Game (Pixar)

So as you can see, she definitely has the experience and talent. One day....one day I tell you.....I will have a list of movies too. :)

We had our first Q and A today and I think with her enthusiasm to teach, combined with the sense of energy amongst my classmates...there is going to be some serious learning going on. Students in my class (16) this term come from 9 different countries...Australia, Greece, Israel, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Brazil, South Africa, Russian Federation, and....Canada...me :) We all speak English...so it works!

Well, I am going get some rest because I have a lot of work to do tomorrow....including filming reference. Don't worry, I will put it up here soon so you can see my goofy ways. :)

Plus I have a hockey game to watch tomorrow. Go Calgary! :)

Thank You!

-Sheldon

Class 2 Reel...Bring on class 3!!!

Hey Everyone!

I put together my class 2 reel for all of you to see. I could definitely keep trying to perfect these animations, but I feel its time to move on...learn from my mistakes and just keep on going. I am getting really excited about starting class 3 this Monday. Its called Introduction to Acting and is going to be full of invaluable information that will help raise my animation skills to a higher level.

Click here ----> Class 2 Reel @ Animation Mentor

-Sheldon