Lead an Animated Life

Spike's VGA's

2011-12-11T16:33:00.000-08:00

Well not necessarily the VGA's but what was shown last night...WOOOOO man I'm totally jazzed for some coming games as well as the work shown! Here's a few videos that show why I get so excited about being an animator in the game industry!

First up, one of my most anticipated upcoming titles - Darksiders II - one of the best tag lines I've seen to tie in a pair of games - "What starts with War...ends with Death" SO AWESOME!!!

Now I will say I'm a bit disappointed in this video as it has zero in game anything and is just an actor in a sweet azz Death suit...it's still pretty killer.

Next up my most anticipated game EVA!!!! Diablo 3! As I lost like 4 years of my life to D2 I expect D3 to make my wife hate Blizzard! On top of the game itself this video has an amazing hand drawn style to it that I just love.

Amazing and OZSOME!!! I love it.

Last up the surprise announcement from Epic that just floored me!

A completely new art direction for the makers of Unreal and Gear of War 3, a game with an obvious zombie spin...I'm intrigued!

Deadliest Warrior Legends

2011-12-07T21:23:00.000-08:00

So a few weeks ago I was surfing the youtubez for some caps of the game Deadliest Warrior Legends, wanted to see if I could find any of the work I was responsible for, and low and behold I found a huge compilation of it.

It just so happens that I did all of the finishing moves and with the exception of one, all of the introductions (Vlad drinking from his cup) and all of the victories in the game.

This video is a comp of the intro's and finishing moves, minus Joan of Arc and the basic victories. I also did the grapple and it looks like this video was made prior to the bug fix (they are offset and not aligned correctly).

This was a great first project and a whirlwind of work and effort!

Holy Parody's Batman errrr Luxo Jr!!!!

2011-12-05T14:36:00.000-08:00

This one might be a bit disturbing, but it's a solid little piece of storytelling!!!

Brave Trailer - YouTube

2011-11-16T09:39:00.000-08:00

As announced few days ago, a new trailer just came out. That one is not a teaser but a proper trailer for Pixar forthcoming feature “Brave”. The movie is set to be releasedmid June in the US and around August in the UK. It is good to finally see those character designs in motion. The three Lords have so much character, it is great! We still haven’t seen the Wise woman though.

OOOO SO EXCITED!!!!

Sesame Street breaks it down on Vimeo

2011-07-22T22:47:00.000-07:00

Sesame Street breaks it down from Wonderful Creative on Vimeo.

The Sesame Street gang bust out and crack down the Beastie Boys 'Sure Shot'!!!

This is siiiiick...watch it. Now.

Sesame Street breaks it down on Vimeo

Demo Reel Tips from someone who knows!

2011-06-15T13:36:00.000-07:00

I've stumbled across some fantastic information and have pilfered the info and put it here without permission...please don't be mad Carlos!!! :P

DEMO REELS

(Tips by Carlos Baena)

Pixar is currently hiring animators and looking at Interns as well. I've looked at a bunch of student and industry demo reels this last month, and spoke with recruiters and supervisors regarding the subject as to what should be submitted/how/etc. So I thought it might be appropiate to pass something I wrote a while back along one more time. It's important to be mindful of company recruiters. To treat them with respect as they devote many long hours overseeing student work. So these are a few tips on things to think about when creating a demo reel.

1) Do NOT try to make a one-size fits all demo reel. This works in small companies, but for the main studios it may hurt your chances more than anything else. Make your demo reel specific to the position and studio for which you are applying. If you're applying as an animator to a big animation studio where departments are very specialized, then everything on the reel should say only "animation." It should not say "texturing" or "lighting" or "modeling."

2) You should NOT include everything you've worked on throughout the years. Keep it short. If you've been working in the industry for, let's say, 10 or 20 years, and you include every single shot you've animated, your demo reel will not be a reel anymore, it'll be a feature film that recruiters/supervisors will have to sit through. So keep the reel under a minute or two, even if that means not using all of it. Chances are that people, who are reviewing your reel, are looking at another hundred, as well. So, the easier you can make it for them, the better. You don't want to bore them. Instead, they should see your strongest work (even if it's only 30 seconds). Leave them wanting to see more.

3) Make the reel original on the inside, NOT on the outside. Human resources, along with actual animators, will be looking at your reel, and they don't care about how fancy the outside package looks or what you include along with the reel and resume. From key chains to toys, I've seen people include all kinds of things with their reels that do not relate to their animation skills. Put all of your originality into the actual animation content. Make it fun and original for people to watch, but don't overdo it.

4) Do NOT include stuff that is too distracting, whether it's music or fancy titles. If you have a reel with a dialogue animation test, and the music is too loud for people to hear the line the character is saying, or you have this mega-loud techno music going on throughout the whole thing, it will conflict with the purpose of the reel, which is to show your animation skills as clearly and simply as you can. Everything else should be secondary.

5) Do NOT include stuff that other people have animated. Be very clear and honest about what you have done. The industry is very small, people go from company to company and they are very familiar with other people's work. Always include a credit list of the shots on the reel and what you animated for them. In the event that a shot is actually shared by two or more animators, you should clarify the work that you did.

6) Bring your own personality to the reel. Ultimately many people can learn the techniques. What's interesting to see and what recruiters look for, is also the personality, the actor behind the reel. Don't include things/tests/shots that are basically based on what other people have animated. We don't want to see a "Pixar" reel. Instead, we are looking for the talented actor that can help Pixar (or any studio for that matter) make our movies more distinctive.

7) Find out what to submit and how. In the case of Pixar, go through the site and find out exactly what they need from you before you apply. This applies to any studio. Chances are, they may need you to submit a form before you send anything in some cases, or they may ask you to send your portfolio in a particular way or format.

8) Label your Disc/Case. In talking to one of our main recruiters, this seems to be an issue. If they like your work, but the contact information is only on the resume, and this gets lost in the pile of other reels, there is no way they'll be able to contact you. So label everything. Put at least name, phone number and email address on the case and disc. Even if it's with a sharpie.
You can also label it at the beginning/end of the actual content.

9) Be respectful with the people looking at your work. It doesn't help you and your case if as soon as the Studio gets your reel, you call/email the recruiters/animators a dozen times a day. Be considerate with their time, and most important, treat them with respect. They are here to help you and their job is not easy as they have hundreds of reels to go through. So keep it in mind if you send a reel, and you don't hear from them inmediately.

I hope this helps.

Carlos.

You can find the original HERE on CARLOS BAENA's blog!!! Please visit!!! He's a genius!!!

Mike Stern - Checklist

2011-01-20T13:00:00.000-08:00

The information below is what Mike Stern uses as his checklist for shots - such an amazingly detailed compilation, it NEEDS to be reposted! I'm sure you'll add some or all of it to your own checklists just like I did!!

What is on my animation checklist? I have a series of things that I need to consider at each point during the shot.

I don't always take all of these steps on every shot, but this will work as a nice master list to pull from depending on what is expected.

At the launch, my checklist is a series of questions. Most of the time, these questions are answered as we walk through the sequence with the directors.

If these questions aren't addressed, I ask about them when my shots are reviewed.

Checklist of Questions at the Launch:

1) What is the context? What happened directly before and what is going to happen directly after the shot?

2) What are the main story points that need to come through in the shot?

3) Is there a particular emotion that we should be feeling as audience members watching this shot?

4) How much room is there to work the idea? Some shots need to stick pretty close to the boards, while others leave a lot of space for the animator to work with. It's our responsibility to know what type of situation we are dealing with.

If I know the answer to all of these questions, than I am ready to start planning my shot.

Checklist for Planning my Shot:

I use different methods for planning out an acting shot versus a physical shot. For a physical shot, I will try to find some good reference of the movement and then jump right into thumbnailing.

For acting shots, I like to spend some time analyzing the line. My checklist is as follows:

1) Go for my gut instinct. I like to get my initial instinct out on paper and possibly on the camera. I may come back to this, but I may not. Sometimes it helps to get my idea out there so that I can clear it out of the way to make room for better ideas.

2) Analyze the dialog. There are a few things that I look for in the dialog when I am planning my acting:

Dynamics: Find the places where the line has inflections. These are great places to hang acting ideas.

Phrasing: I try to assign specific verbs to go along with parts of the line. If I can assign a verb to describe what the character is doing or thinking, it is easier for me to create a pose that communicates properly.

Meaning/Subtext: Many times, characters say something that implies something more meaningful. Digging out the true meaning of the line can lead to some really fresh acting choices. 

3) Research:

Character Reference: I always try to think about the character. How would they react to this situation? If this character has been animated already, how did other animators handle this type of acting?

Film reference: See if this type of situation has been handled in other films. Sometimes this will help to inspire acting ideas in a different direction.

4) Video Reference. Now that I have analyzed the scene some more, I shoot some reference. I leave the camera running until I feel comfortable. I switch it up between acting and doing. When I am "acting" I am trying to feel the line out and see what comes naturally. When I am "doing" I have a specific idea in mind that I try to imitate with my body.

Get other animators involved in the reference. I find that if can get direct feedback as I am acting, it can help the ideas develop faster. I take turns acting and directing.

Analyze the reference, find the truths. Sometimes it helps to cut together a super take with what you feel are the best choices for each part of the shot.

Make your choices. At this point I usually pick one or two ideas that I like best for each beat and start to prep those ideas for blocking .

5) Apply the Principles. I look for places to add physicality, reversals, lead and follow. I make sure to exaggerate the ideas in my reference and push the things that the reference is hinting at.

6) Thumbnail. Depending on the shot, I thumbnail instead of shooting reference. On certain shots, I thumbnail after doing the reference to make sure that I am pushing the poses and the physicality.

Blocking

 At this point, I have a pretty good idea of what I am going to work into the shot. It's time to start blocking. For most shots, I work in stepped mode for my blocking. This enables me to do detailed poses that communicate clearly without having to worry about the in-betweens. 

1) Block in my keys.
These will be the main storytelling poses in my shot. I don't have any limit to how many keys I set on my first pass of blocking, but they tend to be pretty sparse. Sometimes I will leave as many as 10-12 frames between poses. I will block in a full pose including rough ideas for the hands and face.

2) Test it and time it.
I playback my pass of keys and move them around on the timeline until the beats feel like they are in the right places.

3) Break it down.
I add my breakdowns as a part of my blocking pass. I tend to break a shot down until I have a key on about every 3-4 frames. When I add my breakdowns, I think about which key that breakdown should favor. At times I even favor different body parts to different keys. I am also thinking about my paths of action. 

Once I have a pass of blocking, I will ask some questions again:

1) Is it clear? Will someone get the idea of what I am going for without any explanation?

2) Did I push the posing and timing enough?

3) Do I like the idea? I try to be the first judge of my work before I get the supervisor and directors involved. Chances are, if I don't feel good about it, then they won't either.

Get Feedback

After I am happy with my blocking, I usually take one or more of these steps before moving into a first pass.

1) Show my peers. I will send out my work to other animators working on the film to get their opinions and check to see if the idea is reading clearly.

2) Show the animation supervisor. I always show my blocking to the animation supervisor to get feedback before showing the directors.

3) Show the director(s). Once I incorporate any blocking notes from the animation supervisor, I put my work up in front of the directors.

I present my idea through my blocking and see if it is in line with their objectives for the shot.

First Pass

If I get a buy-off on my blocking, or even if I receive some minor adjustments, I take my animation into a first pass.

During the first pass my checklist is as follows:

1) Switch my curves over to a version of spline and preview the animation.

2) Push full poses around to work out the timing.

3) Adjust full poses to work in some more overlap and try to solidify the mechanics as much as possible.

4) Tie down the curves. At this point I take a look under the hood and see how the curves are looking. I clean up the flow of the curves and any obvious hitches to ease the process of cleaning up the animation.

5) Keep my keys organized. At this point, I am still trying to keep my keys clean and aligned on full frames. Since the directors have only seen the shot once there is still a chance that I may get some feedback that will require me to rework parts of the animation. If I keep the shot clean, I can easily make those adjustments.

4) Face pass. I take a pass on the face at this point. I add the phonemes for my lip sync and start thinking about how the expressions will translate from one to the next.

 
Get More Feedback

Once again, when I have taken a first pass across my shot, I show it to the animation supervisor. Once I get the go ahead, I move the shot into polishing.
 
Checklist for polishing my shot:

 So now that I have buy-off on the idea, I can feel comfortable taking my shot past the point of no return. I will use a series of different animation techniques, including layering and some straight ahead, to get the physicality working in my shot.  

During the polishing phase I start to work heavily with curves. To make things more focused I crop my animation timeline and focus on 50-100 frames of work.

I use tons of checklists when polishing a shot. The all-encompassing checklist is as follows:

1) Find the driving force in the shot. In most cases, it is the center of gravity at the root of the character. I make sure to get the root movement working well because everything else depends on it.

2) Work from the root up and the head down. Once the root is working properly, I work my way up the torso into the chest, shoulders, neck, and then the head. I make sure that any movement on the root follows through these joints. If there are certain accents and inflections I want to hit with the head, I will animate those directly on the head, and make sure that movements are either led or followed by the rest of the torso.

3) The limbs. When I have the torso of the characters working correctly, I focus on the limbs. Sometimes the adjustments that I make to the torso can disrupt the original animation on the arms and legs. At this point, I feel comfortable blowing that old animation away and approaching the limbs straight ahead.

4) Additional Layering. At this point I should have the majority of the movement working properly. I go back through and do some additional layering to make the movement feel organic. I do this by comparing curves and offsetting. For human characters I like to take a layering pass on the shoulders and hips. For non-human characters this is where I consider overlapping on tails and wings etc.

5) Facial animation. I take a pass and really focus just on the face. I get into the eyes to make sure that the eyelines are correct. I like to get very specific about the eye movements by using linear curves and editing my darts down to the frame. Once the darts are working, I add lid movement to support them. I plus the shapes in the lip sync and make sure that the rest of the face is supporting the lip sync movement. I tend to treat the face as a unit. When the mouth opens and closes with the sync, I make sure that the cheeks, lids and brows are all affected. When I focus on the lip sync and facial movement, I also include the head in this equation. I add more texture to the movement of the head to fully support the beats in the sync.

6) Details. At this point, I should have the majority of my animation working, but I still make sure to take another pass for the things that take a little more love, such as areas of contact or IK switching. Sometimes I frame through my broad movements and see if I can add some scaling to enhance the way things transition. 

That was the big list. Now I start to use some smaller lists.

I play my animation back and list out the things that still need more attention. There are usually a couple of things that are screaming pretty loud, so I hit those first. I continue to watch the animation, make a list of things to fix, fix them, and then repeat the process.

 
Pushing for final

Now that I have taken all of my passes on the animation, it's time to show for final. Once again, I hit a checklist to make sure that I have covered all of the bases:

 1) Is there anything that stands out as unbelievable or possibly distracting from the point of the shot? 

2) Does it still have all of the ideas from the approved blocking?

3) Is the physicality pushed far enough?

4) Is there enough texture in the movement?

5) Am I happy with it?

Now it’s time to show for final. I run it by the animation supervisor and then put it in front of the directors. 

Ship it

Alright, I got the final call in dailies. Nice. There is just one more list I need to run through, and then this shot is headed down the pipeline.

1) Run and check all the simulations. If the character has hair or a tail or if I am using any type of simulation, I want to make sure that it has been run with the latest animation and is looking good.

2) Check the render. I run a full resolution render of my shot on the render farm to make sure that everything looks right. Sometimes environmental elements load differently in the animation software than they do on the render farm.

3) Save and check in all of the files. I check all of the files into the server so that they can move on down the pipeline.

4) Let 'em know. Once everything is in the right place, I let the production staff know that the shot is ready to be sent on so that the next artist can start their work as soon as possible.
 
There you have it. These are some of the lists that I follow when working on a shot. By keeping these things in mind, I am able to keep my workflow organized and make sure that I am delivering my best animation in each shot that I take.

YouTube - HOLLERADO - AMERICANARAMA (OFFICIAL VIDEO)

2011-01-12T20:22:00.000-08:00

This is one sweet video! It's about as much fun as I've had watching a music video - great work!

No Charge for Awesome!!!

2011-01-06T00:44:00.001-08:00

Cause I love the KFP!!!

Kung Fu Panda 2 Trailer of Awesome!!!

Cause the embedded video wasn't working...I have to post a stuupid link!!!

Inside the minds of Pixar

2010-12-22T16:29:00.000-08:00

The Holy Grail of animation and the Mother Ship for about 90% of all animators I know...PIXAR Animation Studios. This is a fantastic little feature by The South Bank Show tells the history of the studio and it's founders, along with what goes into a PIXAR film.

I found it amazing to watch and took a lot away from it, including one of my new favorite quotes.

'For every laugh there should be a tear.' - Walt Disney

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!!!

Red Fog: Nazi Zombies!!!!

2010-12-17T01:15:00.000-08:00

NEW Official Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides Trailer -- Offic...

2010-12-15T10:41:00.000-08:00

The return of Captain Jack - Penelope Cruz replaces Kiera Knightly as the hot chick in the movie and Blackbeard is roaming the high seas!!!

KENNY ROY!!!

2010-12-02T16:15:00.000-08:00

His new site is live and it's SIIICK!

www.kennyroy.com - sign up for some awesome content - use my username 'Oz' as a referral and hook a brotha up with some Kenny Roy animation luvin!!!

'Paths of Hate'

2010-12-02T16:13:00.001-08:00

This trailer was pilfered from www.kennyroy.com and man does it look sweet!!!

PATHS OF HATE long trailer from Platige Image on Vimeo.

Tanner and the Piratos : AnimationRigs Blog

2010-11-25T23:02:00.000-08:00

Come on!
This character rocks and we hope you are as excited to animate with Tanner as we are.

Tanner is the Co-Captain of our band of Piratos and the first of a few of the Piratos crew that we plan to make available to all Anim-Mates Members.

For those of you that are on vacation and celebrating the holidays we wish you a Happy Holiday!
©The Piratos and all associated media are co-developed by ARigs and Sean “Cheeks” Galloway.

You must have version 4.22 of the arXaos plug-in and Maya 2008 or later in order to use Tanner.

YEA BUDDY!!!

Tanner and the Piratos : AnimationRigs Blog

Sucker Punch Trailer 2 2011 HD

2010-11-14T19:38:00.000-08:00

This just looks like fun!!!

Coyote Falls

2010-10-28T12:14:00.000-07:00

It just doesn't get any better than this!!! I love the old Coyote toons from my childhood and ReelFX has done a fantastic job at updating them and keeping them alive!!!

YouTube - Megamind First 5 Minutes Recorded Oct 2, 2010, NIKHD

2010-10-14T20:47:00.000-07:00

Gotta love this!!!

Return of the VJ!!!

2010-10-12T20:47:00.001-07:00

The beauty that credits could be

2010-10-12T10:36:00.001-07:00

Tangled - Official Trailer 2

2010-10-02T00:17:00.000-07:00

SUPER EXCITED FOR THIS!!!!

YouTube - Tangled - Official Trailer 2

Kenny Roy's Homepage: Workflow Lecture Live!

2010-09-29T13:25:00.000-07:00

Kenny Roy has published a set of lectures, his newest on Advanced Workflow - CHECK THEM OUT!

Kenny Roy's Homepage: Workflow Lecture Live!: Thanks everyone for all the support so far. I have added the fourth lecture "Advanced Workflow" to the list. In the year that elapsed since I first gave this lecture, I've really seen a lot of great workflow practice in my students. Those who take their process seriously always learn and improve the fastest, no doubt. In this lecture I present some unique approaches to conceiving and beginning your work. The one thing I am really looking forward to is recording Workflow 2 - I just can't fit it all into one lecture anymore!

Thanks so much for the support, again. Your purchases are going towards a brand new site in which I'll be able to offer really helpful features and support for these videos.

Have a great one guys.

Rock

k

Kenny Roy's Homepage

2010-09-18T00:00:00.000-07:00

If you know anything about animation you KNOW Kenny has a handle on it!!! Check this out! He's got some great lectures available, get them while the gettings on sale!!!

Kenny Roy's Homepage

Register for the first Animation Rigs Touchbase!

2010-09-14T13:33:00.000-07:00

Dimdim Event Widget

Back once again

2010-08-04T16:45:00.000-07:00

So I've proven time and again that I fail completely at keeping up a blog, so why am I typing here now???

Well, like all Champions, one must continue to try and try again right? Sure thing, so here goes!

Alright, so some exciting things going on. In July I was elected as the 'Vice Chair' for the local ACM SIGGRAPH chapter - www.cascadesiggraph.org - what's that mean? Well it means that I'm in charge of putting together all the events that we'll be hosting for the coming year. Any ideas??? I was just hired on as a Maya Generalist/Animator for Animation Rigs - www.animationrigs.com - I managed to somehow get wrangled out of a volunteer offer into a paid contract position. It was something I wanted to do and was offering to do it in my spare time, but ended up being told I was going to have more responsibility and I was going to get paid. Thanks Kevin! You rock man. I'm proud to be a part of his work.

I've also managed to secure a spot as an Alumni Tutor at Animation Mentor - www.animationmentor.com - for the second term in a row. This is great fun and allows me to give back tot he school that really opened my eyes and skill set to the wonderful and amazing world of animation, one in which I've held great passion and lover for all my life.

The wife and I continue to grow her little business - www.thenextchampion.com - everyday as it allows us to spend time together and work on improving the lives of our children together, the bumps in the road and the hard knocks are well worth it. Who knew that saying yes to vitamins would change our lives and the lives of other so drastically in such a short period of time. Continued amazement in our successes through AdvoCare!

Soccer starts up today for my oldest girl Taylore...and I'm the assistant coach, I'd hate to have me as a coach...cause it's really hot here this time of year, and we're going to run ALOT the first couple of weeks. :P

So as you (well I is more like it since this thing is really only read by me) can see...I have a lot on my plate and quite a bit to do...not to mention that I have not done a video journal in some time...SLACKER! I need to get ready for practice and lay out my calendar for next week!

Til next time,

Lead an animated life!!!

Oz

WOOOO BOOOY!!!

2010-02-26T14:24:00.000-08:00

Holy cow it's been a long time since I've updated. But since I think I'm the only one who reads this thing, I guess it's not a huge deal right? Right.

So what's happened in the last 8 months? Well I got buried under the overly huge project that is the Class 5 and 6 animated short film...essentially the 'Senior Project' for AM. Sadly or happily that is actually going away as they've changed the curriculum. The great folks at AM were finding that due to the depth of the project a great many students were not finishing it, including me!!! Oiy. But I did graduate and even managed to get myself a Peer award.

Yup that's right, Oz is the Student Choice Award Winner for.....get this,

'Biggest Personality in a Live Q&A'

Shocking huh??? Yea...didn't think so either...and for some reason nobody else was.

I will say though, that after taling a few months off (a much needed break, working 40-60 hours a week, wife and 3 kids on top of AM) I was pretty much exhausted, dead to the world, just plain shot. So now I'm back with renewed vigor and working away on completing my short and getting my reel up and rolling so I can step my feets into the industry we all love sooooo much! I'm excited!!!! WOOOO! If you're not, I'll post up a new VJ here soon and see if I can't change that for ya.

Here's a quick update of the fight scene...it's down to 1's and 2's now as I'm pluggin thru it, although I'm only about 60 frames in so beat that in mind pleeeeze.

With that, I'm gonna get back to it...enjoy your day, weekend and most of all your next MONDAY!!!

Till next time as always,

Lead an Animated Life!!!

Oz

Game Intro's and Cut Scenes

2009-04-27T22:36:00.000-07:00

OK, so most of you who read this sad excuse for a blog know that the direction I am going with my education is to ultimately end up working on animatics for video games. That means working on the intro's before the game starts, the cut scenes in a game, and the final video's that close the story, or anything in between.

So I figured that I'd go ahead and share a couple of those that I find entertaining for one reason or another. Whether it's the art, the art direction, the story or the animation, there's something in these videos that I find worth looking at over and over again.

The first one here is for a game called Dawn of War II. It's a Real Time Strategy game made by Relic. I played in the beta and it was good fun, but right now I don't have the time to invest into getting sucked into the entire thing...and you can ask my wife how obsessive I can get with a game that's good, so best bets right now are to just plain ovoid testing the waters. I like this video for a few reasons. First is the mythos it occupies. That of the Warhammer 40,000 universe. It's one of those that I've enjoyed for a major portion of my life having played the game since I was 13. You can google or wiki it if you want more info, but the universe is soooo damn solid and diverse. Second, I think the art work is stunning, and they do a great job at portraying the visual feel of the universe. I find some of the animation a bit lacking, but there are some very choice bits, like the Warp Spider and the Dreadnaught. So take a look and post some thoughts.

This next one comes to you from my favorite playformer/action/adventure game, and quite possibly my favorite console game franchise (nothing will ever touch Diablo from Blizzard for top game...EVAR). This is one of the videos from the third game in the God of War series, and will be the reason I go out and buy a PS3. I'm not sure but this video could be an ingame render as some of the models look like game mapped models, but Kratos looks absolutely brilliant and just plain marvelous up close. But it is a PS3 and that thing crunches numbers better than H&R Block. The things I dig about this are numerous. The video carries through it a lot of Kratos's signature moves from the game (yes this is all stuff you can do in game if you haven't played...it's AH MAY ZING) but you also see a ton of great animation, really swift and well placed camera action/movements as well as top notch visuals...especially if it is in game rendered.

Enjoy and shoot me some thoughts!!!

And as always...

Lead an animated Life!!!

Oz

Woah boy....

2009-03-11T21:40:00.000-07:00

...could I be any worse at keeping this thing up??? Last entry, November 20th??? Holy crap Oz! You suck! Kinda. I'm very diligent at keeping up my weekly video journal, that's gotta count for somthing right? You can catch the latest episode at www.youtube.com/absolutedman. So I think I have it stuck in my head that since I do that, this is not as important. Well I need to change that thought, and make a more concerted effort to at least post something here on a regular basis. Problem is I'd hate to rehash what I put in my weekly VJ. So, do I blog the news? Someone elses works? Oh hell, I don't know...blogs are for anything right?

I guess I can talk about school this week, mainly due to the fact that I was chosen as student of the month for the newsletter, how's that for some unadulterated self promotion? I'm a laugh riot! I got an email from the AM home office a few months back, marketing specifically, and not sure what they were wanting with little ole me, I opened the email and was a bit shocked when the said, 'You have come recommended as an excellent candidate to be featured in the AM Newsletter! If you are willing to participate, we’d love to have a creative piece from you that tells us all about yourself and your AM experience.' So I set about writting out an outline for a video. Since I'm known around the campus for my weekly videos, I figured it was only fitting. So I brainstormed, looked at all the previous featue students in the newsletter and what they had to say. Took the questions and set about it. After like 25 billion different takes, I had what I wanted and set about to crunching together a horribly edited piece of web cam film! :D

Being featured is a great honor for me, as it shows me that one of my peers or even one of the staff see something in me that they feel is worth sharing with others. And that to me is the biggest compliment anyone could ever give. So to the person who recommended me and to the person or people who selected me, all I can say is Thank You, your actions mean more to me than anything I could ever possibly repay. I wish you all the greatest successes in what life brings to you.

You can take a look at my feature here:

AM FEATURE STUDENT MARCH 2009
Feel free to drop me a line letting me know what ya think!!!

My your days this week be bright ones!

And don't forget to Lead an Animated Life!!!

Oz

Coraline

2008-11-20T21:59:00.000-08:00

First full trailer is up for Coraline.

Stolen from Laika.com

"Written and directed by Heney Selick, Coraline is the first major stop-motion animated feature to be shot in 3D.

Adapted from Neil Gaiman's Internation best-selling children's novel, it's a spine-ting, fantastically original adventure about a brave, curious and lonely child, Coraling (voiced by Dakota Fanning). The movie also features Teri Hatcher as the voice of Coraline's Mother and Other Mother, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders as Miss Forcible and Miss Spink, and Golden Globe Award winner Ian McShane as Mr. Bobinsky.

Coraline opens widely in theaters February 6, 2009."

Well firstshowing.net has the first full trailer up, check it out here:

Coraline

I'm excited to see this film, it's a piece coming out of Portland, OR based Laika Entertainment, formerly Will Vinton Studios. Their office is located just a few blocks from where I currently work and a place I soon plan on calling home. You can see more of what they do and info about them at www.laika.com

Check them out.

Until next time, lead an animated life!

Oz

The Happiest Place on Earth

2008-11-06T19:21:00.000-08:00

So the family and I jetted off to Disneyland last week for a little Halloween adventure. We left Thursday the 30th, arrived around 12:30 and dropped into the park shortly thereafter. But we did stop at the Rainforest cafe for lunch really quick.

We initially stopped at the big ass pumpkin...

..then we strolled through Main Street...

Have to stop and get a shot with Walt and Mickey of coarse.

We spent 5 days in the two parks, watched a couple of parades and rode pretty much every ride there. But, It's a Small World was closed for repairs! YEA ME! We did get dressed up and went trick or treating on Thursday at Disney's California Adventure. It was pretty sweet, they had 13 large stations and a number of smaller ones along the path ways. Pretty kule, they load you up! We each had giant bags full when we got done. So full in fact that the two older kids said...no more candy dad, my bags too heavy. :P Comedy...what kid says no more candy???

I took over 500 pictures while we were gone and you can get a good glimpse of those here - DISNEYLAND 2008

Overall the trip was awesome as always with a few hick-ups and hitches here and there...but hey what do you expect when you go with 4 women? I'm pretty sure we all had a great time and we'll be returning the week of my graduation from AM, so I'm looking forward to that already.

One of the bonuses though was that the wife and I were chatting about some of the sweet things we were seeing and that I'd love to do my office up in a theme. She said go for it...but I don't think you can do it. You can't make that stuff.

Oh really???? So I started shooting some reference and have absolutely no idea in the world about what I want to do!!! Holy hell! I need a theme!! I saw Toy Story, Cars, Nightmare Before Christmas, and a host of other really killer things, including a sick ass desk made out of a giant wine barrel -

So the wife says, that's excellent, I really like that idea. You could put your toys up there, have your desk and get things tucked away and hidden so I don't have to see them all the time. Now that's a good compromise I think...cause as it stands now, all my damn toys are in boxes...and that sux!

So back to the matter at hand - I NEED A THEME!!! The insanity of it all! So looking at the roughly 13 x 16 room I'm sitting in what exactly do I want to do with it? What theme really hits home and how creative can I get with it? I was discussing a Tarzan theme with my buddy Clam last night (his name is Glen but my daughter called him Clam when she was younger) :D And I came up with a few ideas. In one corner I build a hallow tree desk for my PC, roughly 3 to 4 feet high that is open in front and round like a tree, but sits in the corner and is open topped. I continue the tree on the wall in paint and extend some branches and vines along the walls. In the other corner I have my fold down desk like the wine barrel above, but instead of a wine barrel, its the Swiss Family Robinson sytle tree house, and the window is what folds down to be the desk top. Obviously the window is oversized, and it doesn't extend to the floor, but it does continue the wall painted theme so it blends. Another hollow tree next to the door but this ones a book shelf. I'd have to get a flat panel to replace my giant TV for my consoles and figure out something for them to reside in that would fit thematically as well. But it was just a brainstorm of coarse.

So the possibilities of coarse are endless. Do I follow the Tarzan motif or go with a Toy Story? Pirates? Sword in the Stone? Straight Buzz Lightyear and Star Command? Disney Villians???? Now there's an idea...

I'd love to hear some thoughts and ideas from you all! Lemme know what you think, give me your favorite theme, what you'd do for a desk and a workstation, book shelf and a console cabinet. I'm going to start planning and once I decide on something, the magic shall begin. Here's a link to some of the photo's I took of the vignetts at the World of Disney store.

http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y98/absolute_d/Disneyland/office%20ref/

Until next time!!!

Lean an Animated Life!

Oz

Bloggin

2008-11-06T06:58:00.000-08:00

So...I continue to forget and forget and forget to update this damn thing. I just don't have that 'digital bug'. I don't feel the need to 'twitter' or 'twine' or this that or the other thing. I hit facebook and linkedin regular enough, but continue to forget to drop a note here there or anywhere. I'm obviously in a Dr Suess mood it seems.

I was going to drop on here last night and write up a big ole entry on my trip to Disneyland, but ended up watching a pair of movies looking for dialogue for this weeks homework assignment instead. I guess that's a bit better use of my time, but sheesh, it's been over a month since I've updated this thing. Besides, who the hell reads it anyways???? :P

I do do a great job at upkeeping a weekly video journal though, and you can find that at www.youtube.com/absolutedman - Disneyland update today after work!

Til then - Have an Animated Day!!!!

Oz

The Progress Reel

2008-09-23T18:53:00.000-07:00

Ok. So here it is, the almighty PR or Progress Reel. This is a compilation of all the work I've done so far in two terms at Animation Mentor. This is gonna be a short post as I gotta go pick up my kid from soccer practice here in a few minutes.

I will say that without a doubt the last 3 weeks of the last term, things started clicking for me. I started seeing things a bit differently, started understanding some of the more advanced concepts and saw a huge step forward in my work. So it really felt like my first reel step to becoming an industry level animator.

We have to put our latest work first, so you'll notice that my best stuff, is my first stuff. :P

that's all for now.

til next time, lead an animated life!!!

Kung Fu! Panda Style

2008-09-15T17:29:00.000-07:00

So last week we got the treat of having a Q and A with Mike Stern and Deter Brown, a pair of students from my skule who went to work for Dreamworks and both scored shots on my favorite movie of the year, and arguabley my favorite animated film of all time.

KUNG FU PANDA!!!!

If I have to tell you what it is and what it's about, close my blog, you don't deserve to be reading it. No seriously, not kidding, go ahead...close the page, I'll wait.

Now for those of you who were there, well this will be review, but for those of you who were not, this is kinda how it broke down...we got an intro to Mike and Deter, then they went through, described their shots (some in detail, some not). They showed parts of the film, high profile shots, shots they did, and the rough breakdown of the film process. Things like who developed the feel for Panda, and who did this and what was so significant about that, lots of killer info, but sadly I did not take notes, as well generally during a game or movie Q/A, I'm there to get all excited and extra geeky. This was hardly a time to take notes!

So I did manage to ask a questions, something along the lines of "What have you found to be your biggest disappointments overall upon entering the industry? What things have not met your expectations, and on the flip side, what were your greatest surprises and what has surpassed any of your expectations going in?'

Mike took the reply -

He expounded on how he was asked to do the title shot for Bee Movie (that's Seinfeld you monkey not second rate)!, a 30 second montage that intro'd all the toons (that's geekspeak for characters for those of you who are not animationly inclined) and was a good fly through with tons of this that and the other thing. TOP O DA WORLD MA!!!! He went out proclaimed himself a god...well maybe a lesser diety to his family and friends...ok fine, he just told them he was uber psyched cause he was doing the opening shot for the movie. (so this is his big surprise moment). But when it came down to it, his hopes and dreams were dashed upon the rocks of too effin bad shore and his shot was left on the cutting room floor (man is that dramatic or what???! I rock!). Seriously though they just decided to roll with something else, but man...talk about the WORST experience EVA!!! So I got his greatest and worst moment in the same damn story...what a cop out. Sheesh.

I will say though that Mike's one helluva guy and pretty damn funny. Gives good QandA! Yup I said it like it's dirty...that's what makes it so damn funny.

Deter peeled through a couple of his shots (I didn't screen Deter...well cause he wasn't on screen same time I was and being a Narcicist such as I am, if I can't be on screen, dammit neither can he)...so I'll just post this shot.

Yea that's right, me and the Panda...sharing screen space...who's the effin man now???!

But back to Deter, duud's sheer hilarity, messin around in the background, making faces at Mike, flyin toy aeroplanes across screen, just random nutty crap, bonus points for that, plus to top it off, his name is DETER...how damn kule is that name? Huh? Answer me dammit! Yea it's pretty effin sweet.

Deter did work on my favorite shot in the film, which also happens to be the most expensive shot that Dreamworks has ever done in a CG film...or so Deter says, and since I don't work in accounting or accounts payable or well in any damn department at Dreamworks, I'm just gonna have to take his word for it. The bridge scene. TALK ABOUT AN EPIC FIGHT SCENE!!! Holy good gawd golly gee damn!!! That's what I have to say about that shot. EPIC...that's EEEE PEEE EYE SEE...EPIC!!!

All in all it was a fantastic Q/A, one that ran an hour over time, longest one I've been in, and they coulda gone another hour and still had one solid ass audience, the room was packed.

I must say, my hats off to the boys, great QandA and they both landed sweet digs at on a sweet project. Jealous? Me? A bit, but it does show the success of our skule and the program, and that is justification enough for me to know that I made the right choice when I enrolled...

til next time...lead an animated life!

Oz

What makes a man?

2008-09-08T16:40:00.000-07:00

So, it's been darn near two months since I've updated this thing. I'm not quite sure why I've been ignoring it, or forgetting about it, but well I have. And that's sad. I do a video journal pretty much once a week, but I can't type out a few words? Or post something that I find inspirational?

What the efff, over? Oz you suck.

Ok...now that that is out of the way, lets get on to a subject that honestly gets more questions that I would ever possibly think could. 'Oz, I don't get you, how do you do it?' Do what? 'Be so full of life and energetic and so positive all the time?' Oh that...well I hide my negativity from everyone buy my wife and my buddy Seth. :P

I understand the question, and I get where it comes from. I do act like a 12 year old alot, but honestly I'm not always in a good mood, and I'm not positive 1000% of the time, and I can get pretty mean (mostly because people don't understand that I'm just being crass or funny in my own mind, it's never really intentional or spiteful, I just don't seem to have a filter). But I do try my best to put the world on my shoulders and impact everyone that I can in one way or another. But what really makes me tick? Well for a little over the last 12 years of my life, I've been trying my hardest to live by 10 simple rules.

For 11 of those 12 years, they've pretty much been in my back pocket, kept all to myself and not really shared with anyone. Well about a year ago, I met some new people, made some new friends and through a number of conversations, felt that it was right to share them with these people. Some of these people have shared the with other people (and I know the list actually went up in front of a conference of police officers in another state a couple of months back), so I figure it's time to put my 'Offical Stamp' on them and share them with the world before they make it back to me in a junk email chain that's been around the world a bazillion times with a 'pass this on for luck/wish/lottery' paragraph at the end.

Now I will say, that not all of these are original to me, sure I've made up some of them, but others I've heard or read somewhere and molded them into shape with my own words to make them sound right in my own mind, so as much as I hate to say it, I don't have a list of credits to give to those people who had at one point in time inspired me enough to add something of them to something of me. So I apologize in advance to anyone out there who should get credit but is not (honestly I think they're all dead anyways). So with that, here's my list:

D’s 10 rulez to live by:

Rule #1: If I cannot change something that is bothering me through my own direct action, don't worry about it.
Rule #2 Love your friends and family, but don’t let them run your life.
Rule #3: There are no bad days, only bad moments. Let them go.
Rule #4: It’s ok if people don't like you. They haven’t taken the time to see who you are. Let them figure it out.
Rule #5: Your attitude affects all others, make sure they're amazed by it.
Rule #6: Take time for yourself. You are the most important person in your life.
Rule #7: If you don’t like what someone does to you, tell them. If they don’t change, they do not deserve to be part of your life.
Rule #8: You cannot possibly control life, stop trying and enjoy it.
Rule #9: Live up to your own expectations...no one else’s.
Rule #10: You will not like everyone you meet, but you can make an impact on everyone’s life.

So if you see it on another site, send me a link, and feel free to forward them to me if they show up randomly in your email box, and by all means if they help you or you find use or wisdom here, please use it. And without a doubt, you are more than welcome to share them.

May your days be as bright as mine (I've got 3 daughters ya know) :)

Til next time, lead an animated life!

Oz

It's the reference that counts...

2008-07-10T22:33:00.001-07:00

...so for the first assignment for Class 2 we had to make a choice.

1. Animate a ball kick
2. Animate a side step
3. Animate a 180 turn

This is also the first time we're required to film video reference of ourselves doing said action and post it up. So I looked over the list, and decided that ball kick was what I wanted to do. Now, being a big Peanuts fan, when I think of 'ball kick' I actually think of Lucy holding the football and yanking it up and out of the way just as Chuck sweeps the leg for the kick, spiraling out of control and landing on his ass. Shit's always cracked me up, like everytime, without a doubt. So with that in mind...my ball kick is well gonna be a not ball kick or a missed ball kick or a miffed ball kick.

So I grab my trusty little handheld video camera (I've got this little palm sized Polaroid Simplicity that's damn near perfect for this type of thing....and it only cost me $50 which makes it WAAAY perfect for this kinda thing), and I roll out to the back yard with my newly proclaimed Arch Nemesis Nik E. Ball.

Things start out well enough...I put Nik on the ground, set up the camera on the tripod, decided on the three things I thought were going to be most pertinent for my shot and rolled film! Here's what I came up with.

Oh the things we do and suffer for our love!

Until next time...lead an animated life!

Oz

This is just funny

2008-07-05T13:11:00.000-07:00

Get on the Bus...

2008-07-05T12:17:00.000-07:00

...just don't throw me under it. :P

So, this is the end of week 1 Session 2 at Animation Mentor, and it's a great pleasure to be in Mike Belzers class this go 'round. But after our first Q and A last Tuesday, lets just say I'm in a bit of a panic.

Ya see, I'm not a guy who stresses out about well anything. I've got a pretty even kiel when it comes to life. So after the first week of Class 2, I'm sitting squarely on the 'do I stress out now?...or later?' fence. Seriously though, what's to get all worked up about? It's just homework right? Well yea, kinda. By the end of Class 2 (which is just a short 11 weeks away) I must be able to show visually that I understand the basics of body mechanics as it applies to animation. Sound simple right? OH HELL NO! I have to not only be aware of the 12 basic principles of animation, which we learned last term, but I also have to present that in the assignments we have to do. That's the hard part...bringing those to life in the characters we are given. Again, the premise sounds pretty easy, but when it all comes down to it, the stress comes from having to wrap these assignments in with my regular day to day life. These assignments are time consuming and semi-diffucult in execution...so I'll take a deep breath, again, and move forward one small step at a time. But on the bright side, I'm under the expert tutalige of Mike Belzer! And I'm sure as sure can get that I'm going to learn a bucketload from this guy...and if for some strange reason you do not know who he is, here's a great link to an interview.

http://www.animationmentor.com/newsletter/0407/feature_mentor.html

No matter how this Class finishes out though, I'm happy to be on the bus....even if for some reason or another, by the end I may end up under it. :P

Til next time, lead an animated life!

The Lord of Terror

2008-06-29T20:16:00.000-07:00

It has come to pass over the weekend that Blizzard has announced the 3rd iteration of easily the biggest time sink in Oz history.

Sure there are games out there that I love and adore, but without a doubt this is the one franchise that can pull me away from all others, the one giant smores treat to make me leave the desert table, the hawt silver Porche to draw me away from the car show, you know that one thing that shuts down the existance of anything else in your life. I'm excited beyond belief, and for god's sake thankful that this thing won't show up til well after I'm up and graduated from Animation Mentor...cause that would suck.

For those that don't know, feature animation is my goal so companies like Blue Sky, Dreamworks, Laika, and the almight Pixar are a few examples of the direction I see myself heading, but Blizzard is one of 3 or 4 game studios that I would gladly pickup and relocate for. They are in my opinion the epitome of gaming quality, they hold their games to a standard that few others can seem to match. I have to say...exciting times are ahead for me!

Oz

A week off

2008-06-24T22:12:00.000-07:00

So, first quarters over...well technically it's a sixth I guess, but that sounds funny, and I have this week off. So what's one to do? Go back to life as usual? Well not really...I've been spending my time watching more video tutorials and surfing blogs, I totally dig Mark Behm's and the few that he posts on, as well as doing a bit of sketching and some figure painting. I'm still tired as hell though, even though I've been going to bed at a decent time, this getting up at 4:40 a.m. thing just sux.

I've been contemplating doing a full body walk with STU, the character we use for posing as Class 1 students...he is perfectly capable after all, but I'm torn between doing that and watching video tuts getting more acquainted with Maya as well as the aformentioned sketching and painting.

I did start ridding my bike again, the weather has finally settled into something decent and its looking to be 100ish degrees this weekend...which will totally suk but oh well, means I won't actually go out to do yard work, even though my lawn looks atrocious and really needs a cut. Might do that tomorrow or Thursday if it's not too terribly hawt out.

Boy what a ramble, so what are you my classmates who might read this doing on your week off?

Til next time, lead an animated life!

Oz

Balance

2008-06-15T20:09:00.001-07:00

All right...so we had a second part to this last weeks assignment and that was to pose STU (our practice dummy) to show Balance.

Now Balance is a special word in my life, as it has such a huge impact on how I lead my life. Not only do I need Balance in the literal sense for things like walking and mowing the grass and driving and Wushu (I'll post on that some other time), but also for well EVERYTHING ELSE in my life.

Ya see I walk a fine line of Balance, I work full time from 6am to 3pm, then I come home, possibly pick up 1 or 2 of my 3 daughters...yes I have 3 girls, yes I know, it's penance...trust me I know, but I also have skule beyond full time...cause anyone who thinks they can just spend 5 or 6 hours working on an animation is either a super pro or massively deluted, plus I'm married to a lovely gal who needs attention (but she goes to skule full time as well), have a couple of dawgs, a St Bernard and a Black Lab, and a handful of people who put up with me that I try to call friends. They'll never admit it, but hey, the call me too sometimes. :P Oh did I also mention I have to maintain a workout 3 days a week? How bout hobbies??? Some gaming? Gotta get in some Halo now and again right????? HELL TO THE YEA!

So with all that on my plate, juggling life for me is quite the Balancing act, so with that, here's some of my sketches and the pose I did. It's a classic Wushu stance and one that I just love.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

As always feel free to crit/comment.

Til next time, lead an animated life!

Oz

Zomballie part two

2008-06-15T20:05:00.000-07:00

Alright, here's a refinement of the shot, in 3/4. I added a bit of sound just for my own entertainment. This walk cycle thing is a pain in the ass...stepped to spline, refine and polish...holy hell! Change one little thing and the whole damn piece goes outta wack and you gotta adjust it ALL!

Well here it is...enjoy. Feel free to crit/comment all ya like!

Oz

Night of the Living Ballie

2008-06-12T22:14:00.000-07:00

So...it's time for my final assignment which is the character walk cycle, or walk cycle with character or a character walk or...well you get the idea. So I've opted to do a little zombification of our given model for this assignment. I was thinking about doing a little drunken boxing action with the little guy, but the wife suggested Zombie walk and it just stuck. I'm a sucker for a good zombie flik. So here's my initial blocking:

My mentor dug it, gave me some timing suggestions, gave me some great compliments, told me I hit some good poses and made some suggestions to start with. Now since this assignment is a two week assignment, part one is side view only in stepped mode, so it obviously looks stepped. :P

Here's the current reblock:

Now, to finish this assignment I have to take it into splines (which I have not done yet, most likely get that going tomorrow) and shift it to 3/4 view, which is a first for us in Class 1...up til now EVERYTHING has been side view. So as I move forward and get into splining and set the 3/4 view, I'll post up a revision.

Until then, feel free to shoot me some comments or thoughts on what you see here.

Oz

My poor Mentor

2008-06-11T21:38:00.000-07:00

So as we come crashing into the final two weeks of Session 1 of my blazing whirlwind of Animation education know as Animation Mentor, we get a glimpse of what it does to the poor men and woman behind the scenes...out Mentors. They give of themselves selflessly to help us power our way into the industry we all know and love and ask for nothing in return (but based on my tuition costs, I'm sure they get paid!) :P Going through animation after animation after animation...hell there's 13 students in my class, and preping for the weekly Q and A as well as being there to answer questions offline and during the week on top of having a full time job as an animator doing studio work...this is what they end up looking like at the end of the week.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

As you can see, Martin, my mentor looks like a damn zombie, but I'm sure that's in part to the little sketch he left me of his 'reason' for being tired...it's the one done in black. If you can't figure it out, my man Martin is a fairly new papa and is just starting to understand the pains we all go through with newborns. My best advice Martman...drink at least one more Guiness before bed!

Til next time, lead an animated life!

Oz

It's not animation, it's family history.

2008-06-03T22:02:00.001-07:00

This picture was just sent over by my mom. It's one hell of an action shot and a killer pose. Best part is that it's my uncle Eddie. He was one incredible man, someone who was easy to look up to and admire. Unfortunately he passed away back when I was in highschool and his darn funeral was on the same night as my homecoming dance. My mom made me go, it was sad, I cried. I will say I do miss him though, I wasn't done learning from him. But such is the coarse of life. So with that...check him out in all his glory!

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Ed Herrmann - #27q, 57, 101q (his first amature number) and finally 99 on the national circuit.

He was a great man.

Oz

Can it get here soon enough?

2008-05-29T22:28:00.000-07:00

Just some more little tidbits about everyone's favorite lil guy.

wall-e

Oz

The Humphulumps

2008-05-24T13:39:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while you meet someone who just makes you smile. Today I'm gonna yak about one of the kulest guys I've never met. But I know him and I consider him a friend and I can't wait to actually meet him next year when he flys cross the world for our graduation.

My friend David Humphreys is an Englishman, yes he's from England, but don't hold that against him. Outside of the goofy hair and weird accent he's a great guy. He's got a great sense of humor (and I'm sure I'll be testing that once he see's this), a sly wit, a good eye for posing and is always willing to step up and jump in to help me when I'm in need of some feedback. He is however a soccer fan...and we all know soccer fans are an unruly buncha gits who can't seem to do anything but drink and fight. But I'll forgive him for that, because well he just doesn't know any better. When he gets here next year, we should be fully entrenched in the 'Real Football' and I'll drag his Euro ass to an NFL game!

So I'd like to introduce you all to my pal Dave...otherwise known as Humphulums or Humphs.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Holy Cow!

2008-05-20T19:18:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been a whole month since I've posted something. I don't have blog updating on my schedule so I guess that makes it one of those damn 'out of sight, out of mind' things. Specially since I've never really done one before. So today, I'm looking at a couple of things to add here, I'll post up last weeks assignment as I have it hosted outside of my skule workspace (which I can't share publicly) and I'm sure I can figure out how to do it. ;P

So what's been happening the last month? Well we've had a few great assignments, and a few not so great assignments. Last week was a bit of extended 'overlap' and 'successive breaking of joints' with a little character named Tailor. Basically a ball with a fluffy tail. Entertaining and fun I'd say. I had a great time coming up with something and then racing like a madman to get it done. Last week was a bit rough for me, not only did I have to move a yard and a half of dirt solo (that's roughly 4 pickup truck loads and a LOT of shoveling) but there were a number of small family emergencies with my 2 yr old daughter getting her thumb slammed in front door and breaking it on Saturday to make for one helluva week. So having little time during the week to work on my assignment due to life dropping a whole lot of life on me, I spent the entirety of Saturday refining my shot. This is what I posted up.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Overall I was pretty happy with it, but knew it needed somethings done to it. My mentor Martin 'Martman' Hopkins threw down a seriously killer critique and gave me some great direction to take the revision in which I'll post up when it's done. Here's a shot of Martman though doing some video Q and A action.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

I'm super impressed with this guy and could not have gotten a better guy to introduce me to the horrors of animation.

Through the coarse of the last month though, I've continued to meet some great people, and find and use new tools and techniques. I'm still struggling with Maya but have a few Digital Tutors disks to go through, and a pal from AM who's a stellar resource to help me through it. One of the things I totally dig though is called Jing. It's a video capture protocol that allows us to critique other students work to help them (and us) see and learn faster and better. You can find more info on it at www.jingproject.com I highly recommend jumping there and playing around with it, it's killer. Below is the first 'video crit' I did for a classmate of mine Fouad 'FU' Jeniani. It's pretty sweet, check it out!

All in all I'm digging the AM action soooo damn much it's killing me. But I've got to look at how I approach my week and make some adjustments I think. I'm not taking quite enough time to get in some personal time for myself and I think my work will end up suffering in the long run. So I'll revisit my weekly plan I think this weekend and see where I can make some adjustments and changes.

Til next time...live an animated life!!!

Oz

The all Great and Powerful Oz!!!

2008-04-15T18:55:00.000-07:00

Well...

...week 3 is under way and I must say, to quote a killer Depeche Mode tune, I JUST CAN'T GET ENOUGH!!!

There's sooo much to it in fact, that I'm seriously lacking in the sleep department. I'm lucky if I'm getting 4 hours a night. Had to rearrange my workout schedule too. I have my Live Q&A (lecture) on Tuesdays which is when I used to work out...I try to get to the gym 4 days a week, was Tues, Thurs, Sat and Sun...Tues is now Wed, so 2 days on, 1 off, 2 on, 2 off....we'll see how well I can keep that up.

So last night there was a Q&A with Shawn Kelly - one of the founders of Animation Mentor, that dood is high energy all the time! I was having a hard time keeping up! I did get a chance to chat with him for a few minutes, and had a freeking incredible time. It was OUTSTANDING!!! I was sooooo amped up afterwards that I was up again until midnight, and when you get up at 4:30 in the a.m. that makes for one tired Oz at the end of the work day. OIY!

This week we're set to do some more posing, last week we did our first pose with STU, I'll rerender my pose and post it up...got some great feedback/critiques from my Mentor. This week we've got another pose assignment - EXCITEMENT! - no no no, that's what the pose should show, but yea it's pretty exciting as well. We also have our first animation...the almighty 'Ball Bounce'. This thing is to obviously teach the basics of timing and spacing...we'll see just how badly I can eff that one up. :p

So that means this week, I've got some post sketching to do (already rolling through that), a ball bounce timing sheet to do, and the actual ball bouce, plus an EXCITEMENT pose for ole STU. I've also got a few video's I wanna watch too...refreshers and stuff, plus I need to watch a few of the Maya software tuts...so I know which buttons to push. ;)

All in all though, it's been one helluva week! Gotta meet and talk to Shawn Kelly (that in and of itself made the week!), I met some new guys and gals in the Q&A and am rolling smoothly forward into this beast known as Animation Mentor.

I've also been handed a new moniker/nickname that I'm diggin. For once in my life, someone called me something other than 'D'. My classmate Long-Hai Pham (check his blog, it's over there ---->) dubbed me 'Oz'. So I'll stick with that for at least another 18 months...and possibly beyond!

Oh and for the record, Chuck Norris...can't handle AM!

Til next time - live an animated life!

Oz

Class 1 Session 1

2008-04-06T20:52:00.000-07:00

Well...

My first week as a student at AM is over, and the new assignements are up, time to start doing some sketching. Looks like I'll be draggin the ole tablet PC to work with me tomorrow to throw down some quick lines of people in the lobby or on the lunch floor, working in a 9 story building means I should have plenty of unsuspecting subjects.

So what did I get outta week 1? About eleventybillion hours of video watching done. I watched tutorials, introductions, tests, reels, this that and the other thing...and I'm gonna sit down and watch Tarzan here in about 5 minutes. Outside of that, I've met some new people, have added a few to my buddies list and am looking forward to meeting some more and checking out some work. I also made the realization that there is a whole lot more to this animation thing than I first really considered. Sure I've done some work in the past, but this...this is serious stuff. Well as serious as a buncha clowns making cartoons and movies can get. :P No really though, the science behind animation is incredible, as well as the art. My eyes have been opened a bit more this week to what true animation really is, and I'm sure I've just scratched the surface.

I will say I've finally decided on Maya Unlimited and am now waiting for it to show up...until then, it's the PLE for me!!!!

I'll be posting my work soon enough, but until then...sit down and watch some cartoons!

D

Life's little changes.....

2008-04-02T22:25:00.000-07:00

Sure can be OVERWHELMING!!!

So I enrolled in and started the long journey to certification as an Animator through the program at AnimationMentor.com, and to be honest, I feel excited and elated and a bit scared and intimidated all at once. Lemme ask you, have you ever felt like you've been hit by a meteorite the size of Kansas? That's kinda what I've been feeling like since Monday when they opened the floodgates.

The website itself is incredible...it's like an endless encyclopedia of people and knowledge, one hardly knows where to start. So I just started on the page titled 'Home' and moved down the list. It took me all day, and I've only scratched the surface of the community...oh wait, the community! Before I had even logged in, my workspace page had been inundated with welcomes and offers of help from current students. Peoples I've never met yet are throwing themselves at me in droves wanting to make sure that I have fun and an understanding that if I ever need something, all I have to do is ask. Holy crap! Where the hell does that happen on the net??? No seriously?

So far I'm soooo damn impressed with the whole thing, I can't really seem to concentrate at work, AM is constantly on my mind. I'm totally geeked! But I do feel tremendously overwhelmed. Do I have a ton of homework? Not yet, I've got my assignments done for the week...a video intro to my Mentor - Martin Hopkins - IMDB LINK, and an upload of my avatar, basically a photo of myself. Not too tough. I should also do a video journal intro, but it's not mandatory. I'm sure I'll get to it by the weekend.

So why do I feel like I've been slammed in the melon with a 9000 ton rock? Easy, I'm so effin excited, I'm lost. I wanna watch every video, read every profile of my fellows, create a blog (obviously I started that, but we'll see how well I can figure it out), set up a schedule for doing my work, ALL HAIL ONENOTE!, figure out if I should upgrade to 64bit XP, do some research on handheld video cams, sketch daily, talk to my classmates as often as possible...and install some software, but I haven't bought Maya yet cause I can't decide if I want Complete or Ultimate. I'm such a chump.

Follow along if you like, hell add some comments and join in. I'm looking to keep this thing for quite a long time, and I'm happy to have you.

D