3D catch up

This is me trying ton catch up with my 3D work

First, I finally finished my seahorse

I never want to do modeling again.

And second, my 3d environment


badda bing badda boom!

HRAnimation: stop mo, slow mo, youtube and ponies!

No video blog this week. Instead I'm going to write up about the interesting things that I have been meaning to write about.

First up is MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON. A very cute stop motion short that I stumbled across.

Next is an interesting channel I've been watching over on youTube called The Slow Mo Guys. As their name suggests they film stuff in slow motion. I find it all quite fascinating to watch and a great resource to study.

Now for some Disney.
Claire Keane, one the artists that worked on Tangled (and Glen Keane's daughter), got to paint a mural in the Disney art department.
What's even more interesting? She's also the artist that developed Rapunzel's mural paintings on the inside of her tower ;)

Now for my last thing I ask that you read on with an open mind and not just roll your eyes.

So what is this next thing?

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
(don't cringe, just read)

Developed for television by Lauren Faust (who is famed for her work on The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends) MLP:FiM is a refreshing take on an existing franchise.

Not only is is enjoyable animation to watch, but I was quite pleased to see that it hasn't been dumbed down for a younger audience; so us big kids can still enjoy the story without getting bored. MLP:FiM has even generated a large internet fanbase.

Oh and here's what their animation studio looks like too. Source.



Anyway watch it for yourself. Here are my favorite clips and the first episode.
My favorite pony would have to be Fluttershy ;)

Art Contests - I win at arts

So I entered an art contest back in early January, simply because I could.
Well it turns out I won.

"Scheree had a beautiful portrayal of the last scene of the season that was really mind-blowing." - brandon

Wow. I did not think I had any chances at winning.

The first years might remember the drawing, I showed it in my photoshop talk :)


I think as artists and animators, participating in competitions is a worthwhile venture; and I don't mean simply for the sake of winning. They're great practice for deadlines, give you something to strive towards and if the right people see it, it can even open doors. Not to mention be a great addition to your portfolio.

And you never know, you might be surprised and find you win.

He Mele No Lilo

So my favorite Disney song of all time would have to be He Mele No Lilo from Lilo & Stitch. Besides the movie being one of my very favorites of all time, I very much love that it's sung in hawaiian and the authenticity in the hula. If I remember right the animators had to keep it as close to their referance footage as possible with the dance because straying away from it was disrespectful (I think. I can't remember exactly. Note to self: rewatch L&S special features)

Let us make a trend and post what your favorite Disney song is in your blog. Don't forget to tell us why.

BTW Nick started it.

And because I can, my second favorite.

Snappy animation and tons of visual jokes. Not to mention it being a great song.
Sadly I can't see them trying to pull any of the visual gags they did here anymore. Like when Abu yanks the sword out of that guys throat or when an axe gets thrown at Aladdin with fruit.

Actually now that I think of it, Aladdin was chuck full of things like that. I must rewatch that movie.

Storyboard improvements

So I just presented the storyboard for my major narative project and I got a few ideas to improve upon it.

- Change the greens/colours of the jungle to help show emotion. Maybe even insert more shadows vs light.
- make first entrance to the jungle more menacing

News Stuff: 2011 Proto Ninja Award and the PaperWings podcast

Hey guys, just a few things to report that have popped up over the past few days that people might find of interest.

FIRSTLY
The Sixty40 Proto-Ninja Award is back. They have revealed yesterday on their Facebook page this years theme "the secret". Full details are to be released soon. Keep an eye on their website or better yet their facbook.

If you have no idea what the Proto-Ninja award is go check out their Website. It's still showing all the details (and winners) from last years competition. I don't think too much will change.

SECONDLY
Back in February I wrote about an upcoming podcast called Paper Wings.
Well they released their first episode on monday. I highly recomend that everyone checks it out. It's rich full of information that anyone wanting to work in the creative industries will find useful.

The first episode is the first part of 2 episodes that go over making a winning portfolio. Presently it can be found at their website. They're still waiting for it to connect through iTunes but that should be up soon enough.

They also have a twitter if you use that social network.

AND LAST
Is an interview with John Lasseter discussing PIXAR's upcoming film Cars 2.
I want to know where this man gets all his awesome shirts.

Animator video blog - week 5

10 minutes to film, 45 mintues to edit.

Lessons learnt this week: Don't edit film while doing laundry. Laundry gets forgotten very quickly; A 3 minute video at 17mb takes about 12 minutes to upload on a good connection; remember to empty memory card before filming. It will always run out of space while you're on a roll; Mobile phone equals big distraction. Particularly when it's family.

I was going to try have my photoshop talk up tonight but I have to go back and cut it up again into smaller pieces to my computer/internet connection/youtube can handle it.

Animation environment

My animation environment. Havn't decided if I want a floor yet :/

Stop Motion Bounces & Max

BAMF!!

and Max

Narrative Storyboard

Portion of my colour script/story boards produced today in class.

HRA: upcoming animated features and more LoK news

As time passes we get closer and closer to release dates for the highly anticipated animated features. Anywho, a couple of trailers have been released this week. Now I'm excited for their movies.

ALSO
With the topic of Legend of Korra still abuzz creators Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko had and interview over at the Wall Street Journal.

There's some interesting tidbits in the interview. My favorite is that Nickelodeon has ordered another 14 episodes on top of the 12 already in production. Good times :D

News Stuff: This week in the world of cool things 02

So in the last 24 hours there have been alot of buzz around the 'The Last Airbender- Legend of Korra'. First the Wall Street Journal Released some exclusive artwork(above) and then during the night another article was released about the voice actors and which roles they'll play.

Janet Varney as KORRA
Kiernan Shipka as JINORA
Daniel Dae Kim as HIROSHI SATO
David Faustino as MAKO
Seychelle Gabriel as ASAMI
Lance Henriksen as LIEUTENANT
P.J. Byrne as BOLIN
JK Simmons as TENZIN

Exciting stuff, isn't it :D

SOURCE |SOURCE


This next bit isn't really news, more a cool entry about Spirited Away that I found on tumblr of all places. It's some interesting insight regardless.

I’ve noticed that several of my followers are Miyazaki fans, so I thought I share this little tidbit of information with you about Spirited Away.

I always wondered why the symbol “ゆ” (said “yu”) was on the door to the bath house. I asked my Japanese teacher, and he wasn’t too sure so I did a little research.

The symbol is used on the entrance to 温泉 (onsen) and 銭湯 (sento), or Japanese bath houses. The word “yu” is translated to “hot water”. So, makes sense to be on a bath house, yes?

Then I did more reading. During the Edo period, these public baths became popular for men because of women who started working at these communal baths, washing men and selling sex. These bath houses were called “yuna baro”. The woman were known as 湯女, or “yuna”. This directly translates to “hot water woman”. So basically, they were brothels. Guess what the woman who ran this bath house would be called?

ゆばば。

Yubaba.

(translates directly to “hot water old woman”)

Yubaba is the name of the woman who runs the bath house in Spirited Away. If you watch Spirited Away in Japanese, the female workers are referred to as yuna.

Chihiro was forced to change her name to Sen. Kinda like how strippers get names like “Candy”.

カオナシ/No-Face keeps offering Chihiro money. He “wants her”.

THEN I read interviews with Miyazaki. This was all put in intentionally. As we all know. Miyazaki’s stories are weaved with different themes and metaphors. He said he was tackling the issue of the sex industry rapidly growing in Japan, and that children being exposed to it at such early ages is a problem.

To me, this makes me respect Miyazaki even more as a film maker.

And also, frustrates me because so much gets lost in translation, and people see it as this cute childrens movie and this “master piece of animation” (which it definately is) instead of the real statement that it is.

Thought I’d share :).

SOURCE

Animator video blog - week 4

I've been so out of it this weekend, I nearly forgot to do this.

5 minutes to record, 40 minutes to edit.

Lessons learnt this week: I had wanted to take some footage to show the progress of my letter but according to my Maya the files are corrupt; we need screen capture programs on the class computers. Because that would be awesome; recording after a long nap my voice pitch go all over the place; according to youtube I have people viewing my stuff from Europe and the US (whaaat?!); Somehow I manage to bring home files for the video blog except for the one I want; Remeber to face the camera when talking

Jumpfail :D

This feels abit weird to me :/
I think I've done something wrong. Just can't put my finger on what.
I enjoy watching myself stack though :D

*sqeak*