Boo hoo

Well, I have been trying to upload some pics all evening but there seems to be some glitch and it just ain't working. 


So, just know, that I did try and there are some very random pictures coming your way soon.
Hopefully tomorrow. 


Night.
: )

My introduction to mascara

A true story.

My favourite item of make-up is mascara; and I was reminiscing the other day about an experience that I had when I was little that might explain why...

Once upon a time, when I was just a wee young thing, I snuck into the bathroom at my parent's house - the goal was the bathroom cabinet, which I knew had lots of interesting things in it, because I would often see Mum or Dad open it and use stuff out of it. 

It must have been full of really exciting stuff, because it was up high, and difficult for small people to reach - so I thought it warranted exploration. Despite the fact that I knew I wasn't allowed to explore said cabinet on instruction of my parents...

So I climbed up...

First thing I find is Mum's make-up. Score! think I.

I had a rough idea of what you were supposed to do with it because I had seen Mum apply it... actually who am I kidding, I knew exactly what I was supposed to do with it! Muahaha!

Found the lipstick...

Meh.

But on rummaging around I discovered something more amazing...

The mascara!

So black! So spiky looking! 

I knew this was the one I had been searching for...

I knew I could create a masterpiece with this.

So I got to work!

I applied that mascara like it had never been applied before!

The results looked incredible.

And then, despite the aforementioned fact that I knew I had been told by my parents that I was not allowed in the cabinet, I marched myself out to the living room to present my work; nay, my masterpiece to them.

They would be so proud! 

I looked fantastic.

I had gone and just used up that whole mascara on the whole of my face.

Why stop at the eyes when you can just go nuts everywhere. 

In fact, the above picture does not even do justice to the blackness that was my face on that day.

My parents were overwhelmed to say the least, and I don't think that they really knew how to react. So they did what any forward thinking, just parent would do... 

Dad took a photo.

And then I got a (small, mind you) reminder that what I had done was naughty.

As a disclaimer: I am in no way trying to portray my parents in a bad way - I actually really appreciate the way they handled this - I knew that I was being naughty, so I deserved a telling off. And they were (and are) both really great parents. And yet the fact that Dad took a photo means that now we have a record of what I consider to be a kinda funny story. hehe. 

The End.

Had another exciting day in the world of animation! 

Don't have much to put up today, so I thought that I would just add this very short clip, which was another of our assignments. As you can probably tell I was not incredibly happy with the laugh at the end, and ended up redoing it on the last day - which is part of the reason why it is so unfinished and pretty much just keys. Laughs are tricky things to animate as it turns out!

Happy Monday everyone.

Baby walk

This was the first key animation that we did of a walk cycle at school - and what do they do, they give us a baby walk. Eep.

And then I load it up to Youtube, and what does it do - but pick for the thumbnail one of the weirdest frames out of the lot of them - zombie arising.

But it was a fun one to work on! These are just the keys, some breakdowns, and a coupla inbetweens - so maybe at some stage later in the year I'll add in the rest of the inbetweens and make it all nice and smoooooove.

Today was a good day

He didn't have as good a day as I did unfortunately.

He misses his family.

And it's Christmas, just to add insult to injury.

However, I promise it turns out alright in the end don't worry. 

P.S. That is supposed to be half of a walnut (or something along those lines) being used as a lampshade. On looking at it again I thought it needed a little explanation. : )

The fear of paper...

Over the past number of weeks I have I think been looking a bit like this behind my desk:

Although in addition there is a whole pile of discarded paper and empty coffee cups behind the desk.

I have decided that I think it is a fear of paper. 

Behold! Upon the desk an innocent plain white piece of paper! 

Seemingly so simple.

Seemingly so sweet.

And yet what I have been seeing is something more like this...

Mate. 

No wonder I have been finding animating so tough!

However I have decided that this has to end! 

Never fear people! I will conquer the paper!

Just in case you were worried.

And might as well put this up too...

Should not have put the drop of the shoulders in at the end - but ah well, live and learn.

It has been a little while...

...but I'm still here. 

Here's a coupla sketches I have been working on, in the development of a little birdy character. These were some of the ones that I was relatively happy with, although I think that I will still have to tweak a few things. The most challenging part is trying to get as much character and personality into the expressions as possible - but it has been a really fun challenge. 

Just a quick line test...

Right.

Well I know that they say that you are not supposed to let 'artist's block', as they call it, get you down. And some even say that 'artist's block' doesn't even exist. But whatever you call it, I've had it for the past 3 weeks, and I can't help it - it's getting to me. 

I love animating, but I am beginning to think that I'm just not cut out for it. I'm just not getting it! This is especially emphasised when I have a brother-in-law who is also studying CG animation and seems to 'get it' right off the cuff. 

Well. I guess I just have to make it through till the end of the year. 

This is a bad photo of a character I designed last year for a competition thing that they had at school. I think that he understands how I feel. 

Thank you!

One other thing... : )

I got an email in my inbox today that was so lovely and encouraging and just... wow.

I would love to write back to the person but they wrote to me through Youtube anonymously and I can't find a way to write back. So I just wanted to say that hopefully that person knows who they are, and thank you so much for your cool as message! 

If you ever read this, I would love it if you would pop me through an email so that I can reply and thank you personally!

In the meantime - here is a picture that I did for you out of appreciation. 

And I hope that you do pursue a career in animation! It is amazingly hard work - but so rewarding. And I haven't even started in a job yet! Every day I go to class and I am so thankful that I have the opportunity to learn more (and from my limited experience, there is ALWAYS more to learn). Plus, you get to meet and work with some of the coolest, most interesting, and talented people in the world. : )

So go for it and all the best! 

La la lala la la...

That is supposed to be sung to the tune of the Smurfs!!! Anyone here remember them? Very cool.

Anyway, we have started another week - and this week at school we are continuing with dialogue. This is the dude that we are animating this week. 

He is an evil genius scientist. 

He has created something. 

Guess what his line is. hehe

"It's ALIIIIIVE!!!!!

All in all, he is very fun to animate! Today flew by sooo fast, and I am anticipating that the rest of the week will be the same. I managed to put together a rough bunch of keys for this scene this afternoon and then received some really valuable feedback and advice from my tutor, so I will try and remember to bring some of the stuff home tomorrow and post a bit about it - coz it was good advice. 

Well, till next time

la la lala la la...

Grrrrrr

After a week of drawing cute pictures of sweet girls I rebelled this afternoon and decided that I had to prove to myself that I could draw ugly monsters. So here is my ugly monster.

He is contemplating a little butterfly. 

Is he appreciating nature? 

Or is he plotting something sinister? 

I leave it up to you to decide.

Line test time!

Here's my unfinished line test for you all to witness and critique! 

This was our first major key animation assignment for the year. This is keys and most of the breakdowns and a few inbetweens - but there is definitely going to need to be more in the future. : ) 

The parts that I know need work are the sneak/run - the arcs of my jumps are not accurate (they are kinda curving in on themselves) and in the stand up and grab the egg bit it's quite awkward - not to mention a billion other things! 

AND... hehe I haven't put in the holder for the egg yet so it kinda disappears - like magic! 

If anyone has any constructive feedback or advice it is welcome! 

Not the last 'woohoo!' for the week

Hopefully.

Well - the great news is that we have been given a new assignment for the next couple of weeks which is an awesome assignment! It's doing face studies - looking at the structure of the skull and the muscles and then fleshing it out. 

The other cool part to this assignment is that we have to develop a character and draw it doing a whole pile of facial expressions and then a dialogue model sheet - and the rules are that we have to use ourselves as reference. Bahaha. 

I am not very strong at all at drawing caricatures - but what better place to start then trying to draw yourself, coz then you only offend yourself! : ) So that is going to be fun and if I'm feeling all brave and such I'll put up some of my WIP as I go. In the meantime, please allow me to share with you some random sketches that I drew today.

Here's where things get mildly interesting huh. Coz, like I think I have mentioned before - it seems that once I have taken a picture of my drawings the mistakes stand out even more clearly. 

However, one of my wise tutors said to me that being able to see your mistakes is a step in the right direction, so I will live in the hope that if I can keep on seeing them - then maybe one day I will get to the point where I'll stop making them (as often)! : )

Ciao good people!