October 11 Second Club Competition Final

The past couple of weeks, has been quite a draining experience. I was really pleased with what I was then able to achieve, from brainstorming and annotating the audio file given, to the final end product, an animation. Below you'll find the final piece.

I was able to complete a first draft for my animation a few days early and get some initial feedback. However, the problem I then had with this was, I had University lessons conflicting, with what I could potentially have free time, to improve my animation. So a-lot of the points raised when I had asked my classmates and peers, about how to improve my animation, I couldn't add. I then instead tried to re-fine and polish areas with the limited time, as best as possible.

For my next project it'll be for my final animation for my university module, as I only have a month left.  , till my deadline. But, I will still be doing another 11second club competition for November alongside with the upcoming project I have planned, as I believe that this will continue to push my skill as an animator plus, it's a good way to learn and get into practice to working towards deadlines. So I'll see you next time and Happy Halloween.

AndyCodex Animation

October 11 Second Competition Part 3

Hey guys, it's been a while. I've just finished my first draft for this month's October competition, where unlike last time, I didn't have enough time to get feedback from people, so I can improve it. Though, there's not really much time to improve, however, I'm in a better position than I was, last month.

What I'm really hoping is that the people which I'll ask for improvements, can give me a fresh perspective on my animation. Therefore say for example, the facial lip sync is a-bit off, or how the character body performance isn't really smooth enough. These comments will really help me improve my final animation, when I'll render in a couple of days time.

It's been a long week but, I loved every second of it. Animating for this competition really felt like I have progressed a-bit more in terms with my, animation skills. I've learnt from my previous animation what to do and don't, and it's really rewarding how this month animation has turned out. Though it's not to say that I haven't nailed it. So, I'll have the final one uploaded soon. Bye.

AndyCodex Animation

October 11 Second Competition Part 2

Right, this is just going to be  a quick update, as I don't have the energy to work at the moment. I've been ill throughout this whole week and, it's been really difficult for me to focus on my work. On the bright side, I was able to make a quick test for this current competition. I wanted to try and focus on lip synching the words as i knew this was where I really struggled from the last animation.

So, when you play the video above, you will see my workflow and how I approached the animation. From blocking out the first few key poses and slowly polishing up the animation.

Now, if you compare my previous animation video (below), you can see the dramatic difference from the video posted above. You can see the flexibility of the mouth , and the squash and stretch being applied, whereas the one below, it feels floaty and lifeless.

I really wanted to get the lip sync to match with the animation, as closely as possible. So I really took my time with my planning stage, and when I started animating. One really important thing which I always had in my mind, when I was animating this, was to "not allow the computer to do everything" for me. This really stuck with me, as I didn't want to repeat my mistakes from my last animation. Another similar saying was, "not allow more than 4 frames" for the computer to do.

No more than 4 frames

I'm really pleased with this mini test, as it reassured me that, the things that I was learning was getting through to me. However, that's not to say that my test so far, was perfect. I could definitely see a-lot improvement needed to made. But, I'll get to that when I begin animating for the competition.

AndyCodex Animation

October 11 Second Competiton Part 1

Hey guys, I just did some work on the current competition for the 11 second club and so far, it's progressing well. I quickly, made two different characters, using the morpheus rig, though I think I need to think about my character designs, as the two characters I'm using are quite generic.

Confused/ Lost guy

Old Guy

So these are the two characters that I'll be animating until the end of the month. I was really pleased to get back into Maya and start setting up my scene. The only problem which I had was modelling the table and chairs as, it's something I haven't done for a while. Though they were simple designs, I hate the look of them and found them to be quite distracting. the reason for this is because I know I can do better, but, I'm not focusing on the scene objects, instead more on the animation side. So I try to let it go.

Building the sets for the scene

I have a rough idea of the storyboard and the starting positions of my characters, but I'll need to go over this with someone to see if it's alright. Therefore I know I'm getting the right camera angles and so on, for people to watch. I have however, already shot my live reference as well, thanks to a friend who has acted/ mimed with the audio. The videos which I've recorded was perfect, as, if I had acted it out, I knew that i would over exaggerate the scene and make it look unnatural and stiff. So thanks Mike. I'll load some of these up later on.

Scene 1?

I then began, posing out the first pose for each character. This time, I took my time as I knew that this is a crucial stage for any animation, and I had to get the right silhouette so that the audience can get the idea what the character is doing from just a glance.

Work in progress

Is this the right pose?

I stopped my work around here as I have to go somewhere, but before I continue posing out my characters, I'll need to make an animatic and watch some more live references i.e elderly people walking and so on, just to make sure that my animation, feels believable and that I get the timing right. These are still very early stages, so I'll see you guys next time.

AndyCodex Animation

October's 11 Second Competition

Right, a quick update to keep you guys in the loop. I'll be entering this month competition again, where hopefully I'll be able to take in all the constructive criticism I had received, from my previous entry. For this particular audio they had provided this time, it'll consist two people talking, rather than the one. This will be a good challenge for me and it'll, really push my skills up.

I don't want to put anything up quite yet so instead, enjoy the video above, which is a really good insight about the history of animation. I will be putting some of my work really soon, it's just with work and being ill, which is really affecting me at the moment. So see you guys soon!
AndyCodex Animation

The Truth Hurts

Right this is just a quick review of my 11 second Club animation from September's competition. I have to face it sooner or later. I have looked at my results and seen where my animation has come, and i'ts very bad. I guess I can't really excuse myself saying I didn't have enough time and so on, but to sum it up, my animation was poor.

Constructive Criticism 

My animation was rater 2.6 stars out of 10, which means that it's basically poor. That I need to review my animation principles and study a-bit more about life. 

Was really Happy when Will gave feedback to me

Now, I guess this is kind of a good thing, as I can look and compare how much I got to learn, before I can really become a better animator. It's good to look at myself and see where I stand and, it's going to be a long road ahead. The fact that I also seen the comments is a great thing, so now I know where to work at, and what my next action plan is rather than, worrying if I'm doing this right or not. Obviously I'm not.

The truth hurts- never give up

So, I'm really going to push myself and aim high as it's not the end of the world. I mean, meeting Cassidy and Ronan at Canterbury over the weekend, really inspired me. I want that dream job, to maybe one day work in a major company like Dreamworks or Pixar and to be part of a team working  what they love doing, with passion. But the most important thing right now, is to improve my character performance and lip sync.

Just really want to thank everyone who commented on my animation, whether positive or negative, this will help me be more determined to get better and improve bit by bit.

AndyCodex Animation

Canterbury Anifest 2012

This was an amazing experience, as well as a good trip down to Canterbury. This was a festival which consisted of a range of different animation talks, short films and opportunities for people to get involved in and learn more about the industry.

I found this festival to be the best one which I had attended so far because, a-lot of the previous one I had gone to, didn't have a-lot of 3D animation talks, which is where I want to focus on, particularly character animation. So, it was really good to meet and talk to some of these people.

Volunteers for Anifest

One of them was "Cassidy Curtis" who has been an animator with Dreamworks. He has been involved with blockbuster films like, "Shrek, How to train Your dragon and Madagascar". His talk was really interesting, as he mentions about certain techniques, like the smearing effect from the 2D animation "Bugs Bunny", which really help capture the character action and reaction.

Dreamworks

Cassidy then goes on to talk about his favourite character which he had animated, which was "Toothless" which was also the most difficult to animate as well. Seeing how he approached problems and resolved them was really inspiring. I really loved the sequence which he animated, as the scene didn't involve any talking, but instead was conveyed through the two characters; "Toothless and Hiccup" actions, which we as the audience, understood and emphasised with.

How to train your Dragon: Shot done by Cassidy

I never knew that How to train your Dragon, was based on a book until Cassidy asked the audience, "how many people had read this?". It turns out that, the book was a different story to the feature film. I may have a look into this, as this was one of my favourite CG animated films.

As a volunteer for the festival, I was very lucky enough to have a chat with Cassidy, where I talked about, what he was working on at Dreamworks, the techniques used in films, how I myself could become a better animator and etc. He was really a good guy and I really hope to see him again in my career.

Cassidy Curtis on left and Myself on the right. 

I also met "Ronan" (didn't get his last name unfortunately) who did a-lot of the technical side for Pixar, who did the lighting. Though this isn't the route I'm learning for 3D, it was interesting to hear from his experience at Pixar and quite a privilege to meet a person who has worked for Pixar for almost two decades.

Left to right: Jess, Ronan, Myself, Alex and Bottom:Brian

There were other events like Aardman talk, and Double negative, both of which had some fantastic work made from them. Not exactly the route I want to go, though I was really tempted to talk to "Eamonn Butler"- Head of animation for Double negative. The reason why was, I was quite interested in pursuing into VFX animation a few months ago. So I was hoping to at least try to network with him, in case I changed my mind, in the near future. However,  my mind is set to becoming an animator and I really want to give life to characters and for audience to enjoy.

So, I really enjoyed this weekend trip to Canterbury and had met some great people, hopefully i'll be attending many more festivals like this in the near future. On a side note, I'll be posting some preparation work for the October 11 Second competition, in the upcoming week.

AndyCodex Animation

Specialist Study 1

Hey, just wanted to share this video, where I make a brief video pitch about my Specialist study.

Hoped you enjoyed it. Will start animating again very soon!

AndyCodex Animation