Long-Hai Artist/Animator Blog

Nick gave me a great critique to work from. Most of this re-block is planned from majorly two key poses. I spent a lotta time listening and re-vid referencing for this re block. Turned the camera a bit and just tried to capture the subtle nuances in the body. Will take some time Sunday to add a few more things.

So I’ve made choice for my dialogue line. Some may think its just a matter of falling into a clever line in one of your fav movies. It is TOUGH. At the end of my search I had so many to choose from. But in the end, thats a big part of being an animator. Making the best fit choices for your work. So here are the thumbnails I drafted up after choosing my line and the first stage of blocking. Enjoy!

So after several bumbling blockings/ ideas/ and  just overall mental slips here is my final version! I m still not quite pleased with it. But I am happy with the huge amount of animation tidbits from my classmates, lectures and my mentor Nick that I’ve been able to take away from this assignment. I think the big three for me would be clarity, spacing and phrasing. A clear idea is simpler than it sounds, especially when your brain is spitting out a hundred ideas a day and u have a hard time sticking. But i’ve DEFINITELY learned to stick from this. Spacing overall I just need to keep a better plan for. Probably back in the blocking and thumbs stage. Rather than trying to waiting till much later and let the spacing get all mushed. And phrasing MAINLY deals with the thinking aspect of animation. Changing your creature or character to more than just a marionette.  But something tangible and alive. Much like anything in school and life, I ‘d definitely like another stab at this pantomime knowing what i know, however its good to know for the next stage.

Little overdue, but since this is a progress blog. Here are my last two passes for this assignment. Hammering out the kinks would be an understatement. But I’ve learned tons and tons from this.

The following is my third pass. Blocking plus of sorts. Trying to remedy the idea as a whole. My biggest hangups were my lack of beats/ phrasing and not being able to ” kill my babies”. I.e. the ideas of the the happy to frustrated contrast and silly things like the foam finger prop.

This is my 4th pass.  Refined yet a few idea snags to get over still.  Filled with a bunch of great suggestions by Nick. Namely, keep it simple.