Week 12

So this is the last week of the first quarter at Animation Mentor. We had to compile all of our class 1 work into a reel. The topic of discussion this week delved more into personaily and weight of a character. So far AM has been a really fun and motivating experince and I look forward to the quarters to come!
Class 1 Progress Reel

Week 11

Week 11 marked the last real week an assignment was due for AM. We had to finish our personality walks and do the sketches/Stu pose showing balance. The topic this week was on hips and all that the entail. The hips are such a vital part when it comes to creating believable animation. In my own animation I find myself spending a lot of time really thinking about and trying to focus on where the weight is on the hips. If the hips are off then all that you build upon them will look off as well, so needless to say, good hip movement is very crucial to creating believable character animation.
Week 11 Personality Walk

Week 10

Hello to all my faithful blog-goers out there, every "one" of you! This is my 10Th week post, a little late, I know. So this week we started learning about personality walks! There are endless possibilities that could be done for this assignment. I wish I had a few weeks just to experiment with some different walks, but I choose a rugged cowboy type of character for my walk. So for week 10 we had to block out our walk and also do the sketches and pose to convey exhaustion. So check it out and look for the final when I post for week 11.
Week 11 Personality Walk Blocking

Week 9

Wow, It's week 9 already! This weeks lecture was on exaggeration and weight. The assignment was to finish animating our walk cycle that we had blocked out the previous week. Along with that we had to do sketches that showed concern and pick one to pose Stu in. The first 9 weeks have gone by fast for me. I have been really busy with AM and other things lately that time seems to fly by. So far I can say my experience with animation mentor is really positive. I didn't know what to expect at first juggling work and little Logan, but it is easily doable for someone working full time with kids etc. I would recommend it to animators out there whom have experience already as well. I think every animator could benefit from going back to the basics once in a while. I am already wishing I could do the first 8 weeks over again when I look back at my animations. I will reiterate again once I finish this Quarter and give some further incite into my experience with the program. See you all next week!
Week 9 Finished Walk Cycle

Week 8

The topic this week was on basic walks. Sure we all walk the same on a very broad level, but on a deeper level each one of us has a completely different walk. Have you ever noticed someone walking far away and knew who it was even if their back was turned, based on just how they moved. Maybe you've heard someone walking in the room and knew who it was just by the sound of their walk. These are things that differentiate each of us from one another. So our assignment this week was to block out a basic vanilla walk, as they call it on AM. The coolest thing about this assignment was seeing all the subtle variations students did. We also had to do sketches that communicate a sense of strength and choose one to pose Stu out with.
Week 8 Basic Walk Block

Week 7

Hello out there to anyone that is reading this. Week 7 dealt with arcs and path of action. Our assignment was to animate tailor in a shot. This little ball with a tail was a lot harder to animate than I thought. It was fun to see all the different ideas students had with tailor.
Week 7 Tailor