So I finally finished cleaning up the animations I made during Keith’s APT 5 session. It’s been a while since I finished that session, I know, but I first had to deal with all the things I had pushed back during the APT, and get them out of the way. This is my attempt at ...
Here’s my Flipbook blocking for a flour sack exercise Keith assigned me for session 5 of the APT. The drawings (scribbles?) are really rough, but I’m hoping the action is clear enough. C+C welcome!
Woohoo! It’s been an intense but amazing four weeks of animating, in Keith’s APT program. I needed someone to push me and guide me, give me honest, expert feedback. And I got that and more. The man is an Animation Buddha! Here’s the “Spanky” scene, all cleaned up. Like any shot, it’s never really done, ...
Here’s the second scene I’ve been blocking for Keith’s A:PT. I surprised myself with this one, as I don’t normally come up with such poses. These just popped into my head while listening to the audio over and over again. Of course, they’ve been revised and tidied up thanks to Keith’s critiques, though this scene ...
Here’s one of two scenes I’ve been blocking as part of my A:PT class with Keith Lango. This one is my shot at some broad cartoony action. It’s come a long way since my first pass, and I’ve already learned quite a bit from this exercise. I still have to block in the lipsync, and ...
Here’s a neat little capture stand you can make at home using simple, cheap materials. I based it on the photography light box tutorial at this page. It uses a regular cardboard box, two lamps (one on each side) and some tracing paper to diffuse the light. The original tutorial uses halogen lamps, but desk ...
Just finished animating a walk test for the Jekyll puppet. Here’s how it went down: Planning: I started by blocking out the walk in 2D using Flipbook. For this character, I wanted a somewhat stiff, serious attitude in the body, combined with a heavy step. Here’s the result (animated on 2s at 24 fps): I ...
He’s done! After I put the head on the neck, I just smoothed out the neck area with my fingers. The hands are made of plasticene, just like the head. I also remade the pants entirely, as I decided his belt line needed to be higher. Finally, I added lines under the eyes so that ...
A: Very carefully. That pretty much sums up my thoughts after watching Wall-E yesterday. While it didn’t take my gut on as big a thrill ride as most Pixar movies do, it tickled my brain more than any of their movies to date. That’s because it has quite a few “firsts” for a Pixar movie. ...
He’s got a face! Plus a vintage 40s fedora hat (a must-have accessory for any respectable film noir cliché). I used Van Aken plasticine for the head and hair, painted beads for the eyes, and super sculpey (baked) for the eyelids. The hat is made from the same fabric as the pants, and the hatband ...
Did I say in my last post that making the puppet’s clothes took a long time? Scratch that! It was nothing compared to his shoes. I like how they turned out, though. But first: a little breakdown for those interested: Since the feet of the armature are continuous with the legs, I had to handle ...
He’s got clothes now! It took a while and a lot of care, but it was fun! Here’s a short breakdown for those interested: I bought some cheap scraps of different materials from the nearest fabric chain store. For the designs, I used the puppet clothing templates graciously shared by Nick Hilligoss on his gallery. ...