Spongtastic!

Where The Wild Things Are

2009-10-09T16:13:00.001-07:00

October 16th! I haven't been this excited about a movie in months, maybe years!! Actually, I have a feeling that my expectations are becoming preposterous. So I'm going to try forgetting about the film until the 16th hits. Wish me luck!

p.s. Let me know if you want to see a showing of it!

511-layouts

2009-09-15T15:04:00.000-07:00

Hello!
Class 5 is done at AM, and my short film's story has been tied down for the most part. Above are the layouts for it (it isn't animated, just rough poses to define placement during the shots). Also, I think the audio sync may be off. Let me know how you think it's coming and, as always, anything that could be more clear or entertaining!

short film animatic, 4

2009-08-16T12:21:00.000-07:00

Here's the latest animatic of my story. I hope you enjoy! (If you see anything that can be improved, don't hesitate to let me know!!).

short film animatic, 2

2009-08-12T12:58:00.000-07:00

Dear World and all that inhabit it,
Here's a revision of the animatic, based on the feedback I received. Any thoughts?

I recently received notes telling me that the injured character in the beginning gives away the ending, and that the ending is anti-climatic. I agree with both comments and plan to make adjustments as soon as I think of something better!

Your wisdom is always appreciated!

short film animatic, 1

2009-08-07T17:05:00.000-07:00

So this is the current animatic for my short film. I would really appreciate any and all feedback! 'Looking good' comments are appreciated, but I would really like to hear ways of cutting out the garbage.
I have a couple of concerns. One is the jester is not introduced in a way that we can feel for him immediately. The other huge issue is that not everyone gets the payoff.
Soooo, hopefully somebody is reading this! =)

Gummy Bear Song

2009-07-23T19:43:00.000-07:00

I can't help myself! This song is too entertaining. The song gets old quick, but I like the animation, it's very appealing to me.

HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY!!

2009-07-23T19:25:00.000-07:00

John Kricfalusi, he exudes creativity from his very pores!

who likes stories?

2009-07-14T14:26:00.000-07:00

Boy, I didn't realize how much this blog has been neglected. Class4 of AnimationMentor consumed more time than I expected. It was great because I learned a ton, especially about acting. Actually, I would like to pick up some books on acting. Does anyone have a recommendation? I was initially planning on buying Ed Hook's Acting for Animators and Desemond Morris' Manwatching.
The two character dialogue test still has one more shot to clean up. I took a break from it, but now I am refreshed and plan to wrap it up!! Will definitely post it up for feedback soon!

Class5 of AnimationMentor has already begun and it's a lot of fun. We are currently pitching story ideas. Please feel free to give me your opinions, I want them to be entertaining to as many people as possible. Only thing I want to mention beforehand is that I am trying to keep this story under a 60 seconds (ideally 30 seconds).

It Reeks
We open with the Empire State Building on a hot and restless summer day. Down below we see a line out the door. This is where we meet our good friends, Aye and Bee. They are excited and ready to see the cityscape from atop this historic building. Suddenly Bee smells what reminds him of rotten milk. Aye notices this and doesn't smell a thing. He motions at a filthy sewer drain as the cause. Bee reacts by pulling his shirt to his nose. Then, while in line for the elevator, Bee almost yacks again! 'What is this revolting smell?!,' Bee thinks. Aye is shocked by Bee's response and sniffs the person in front. Aye nods and motions to Bee that it must be the guy in front. And then, FINALLY, they get to the elevator. Bee walks in, slightly queezy but relieved that is just the two of them in the elevator. As the doors close, Aye passes gas again with a sigh of relief and satisfaction. Bee's face goes from gagging to sudden realization about the smell's source.
moral: Occam's razor. All things considered, the simplest answer is often the right one.

Caring
We open with an exhausted boy mowing the front lawn and keeping an eye on his dog. The dog is full of energy and eager to play with his boy. He feels ignored and wants to play. As the boy is mowing away, the dog uses his nose to nudge him. The boy wearily smiles and signals the dog to move out of the way. The dog jumps away and into a playful stance. Without so much as a glance, the boy gets back to mowing the lawn. It takes a moment for this to click in the dog's head. Once it does, he jumps in front of the lawn mower and wags his tail earnestly. This time the boy is a little irritated and yells at the dog. The dog scurries off.
As he is emptying the grass out of the lawn mower, he hears a car come to a screeching halt and someone screaming the background. He looks around for the dog and panics when he sees the dog gone! He becomes worried and runs to the house to get his phone. In route, he trips over his sleeping dog. He has a huge welt on his head as he looks back to see his dog. The dog looks up with tired eyes and licks his boy. The boy responds by giving a big hug.
moral: cherish your friends.

Trick or Treat
We open with a boy sleeping in bed. It is the morning after Halloween. Mom barges in and yells at them to come to breakfast. We hear a rustling above and *THUMP*, his younger brother rolls of his bed (bunk beds) and falls to the ground. A pile of wrappers fall on top of him. As the younger brother gets up, both of them see a gobstopper bouncing and rolling on the ground to a stop. The brothers' eyes connect and they have a stare down. They both make a dive for it. There is a small brawl as they tumble, and the older overpowers his younger brother. As The older brother gets up and pretends to swallow it, we see the younger start to sniffle. The older brother laughs and goes to breakfast.
Just as Bee is about to let out his tears, he feel's Aye's hand nooging his head. He sees Aye smiling and offering the gobstopper back.
moral: better to give than receive, but why not have fun too.

Yardwork
We open with a beautifully well kept yard. The camera centers on a well groomed bush in the shape of a perfect sphere.
From behind the bush, a neighbor's head pops over the fence, a look of aggression on his face. As quickly as we see him pop up, his head pops down.
On his side of the fence is an overgrown yard, and we see him hunched over and bush as a bee. He is working on his own... bush like thing.
His face is inches from his plant and snippets of green fly out in all directions as he trims away. A twig here, leaf there, no detail is permitted. He even manages to sand down a branch stump.
Finally satisfied, he stands back and wipes away his sweat. Nothing has felt so good as today's yar-
His eyes suddenly fixate on what he's created.
Instead of a beautiful sphere of leaves, before him stands before a drooping, indescribably green blob.
He becomes outraged. One more look over the fence and steam blows from his ears!
As we focus on his face, the tension builds in his face. A series of small explosions seem to set off in the back of his mind. Suddenly, an explosive jolt runs through his body and he chops his plant in half!
His breathing slows down. He looks back at his plant, sad to have been so brutal. To his surprise, the pineapple shaped plant now looks like an apple. Feeling encouraged he makes a few more snips and wala! The camera zooms out to see a perfect sphere bush the size of a golf ball.
moral: don't get too close to your work.

Grand Canyon
We open with a sign saying 'Grand Canyon 100 miles.' We cut to a family driving through the desert in the blistering afternoon heat. The father is driving, sweating and clearly tired. His wife is absorbed in the map, and is using an extra fan to keep her cool. The son is in the backseat having a blast playing paddle ball with dad (hitting dad in the head with the ball). We cut to the wheels coming to a stop. We see the footsteps of mother and son running down the hill as father slowly gets out of the car. Next we see the father carrying all the food and camping supplies down the hill. As he is walking, his foot lands in a pothole and he loses his balance! He regains his footing, but half the supplies have already tumbled down the hill. Grumpy and tired, he keeps moving without a second thought. He starts walking again and he trips on a tree root. This time he has no chance of catching himself. He lands face first, tumbling down the hill. We see him in back breaking positions, rolling amongst the food and camping gear. He hits is suddenly close lined by an oncoming branch. He lands on his back near his campsite. He see's his wife has already setup the campsite and is with they are rushing toward him. They arrive to him with a smile.
moral: attitude changes how you view the world.

Princess and the Frog!

2009-05-13T19:42:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I'm sure everyone has seen this trailer already, but I can't help myself! Come December 11th, I'll be in the theater shrilling and screaming with all the little teenages. =)
Btw, did anyone else notice what I'm guessing is recycled animation at 1:49?

Vancouver, Pixarized!

2009-05-08T01:54:00.000-07:00

"This is breaking news: Pixar, it has just been announced, plans to open a 20,000-square-foot satellite studio this fall in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The studio is currently scouting locations in the city for the new facility."

More info about this here.

Donald O'Connor and Gene Kelly

2009-04-30T12:29:00.001-07:00

There are probably a bunch of cool things, animation-wise, that could be studied from this video. I just find it SUPER entertaining, their characters are so striking. It's interesting to note the similarities and differences in how they act out the same choreography.
Anywho, I hope someone out there enjoys watching this too!

404. My 2 character dialogue scene

2009-04-23T18:57:00.000-07:00

Hi! So, I am making another revision on my the dialogue test. And I am looking for another audio clip for my next animation. Here are the choices that interest me. I'd love to hear anyone's two cents!
Thanks!

Randy Nelson talk

2009-04-17T18:37:00.000-07:00

Here's a video I saw recently and wanted to share.

"Randy Nelson, head of the in-house Pixar University, gives a 10 minute talk that offers insight into character traits the studio looks for when it hires employees. One of the primary factors is to hire people who are interested rather than interesting. Also, collaboration does not simply mean cooperation, but it means amplification—people who bring separate depth to the problem and bring breadth that gives them interest in the entire solution." - cartoon brew

Learning and Working in the Collaborative Age: A New Model for the Workplace

402 Facial Animation

2009-04-09T16:20:00.000-07:00

Hello world,
I started up term 4 at AnimationMentor. My mentor is Greg Kyle. He works at Laika.

This is where my animation is at right now. I still need to work in some body movement at the end, as it sort of dies off. I haven't touched the eyes and eyelids yet, and I'm not really feeling the eyebrows. As always, any and all feedback is welcome and appreciated!

By the way, I came across a couple awesome blogs, and I figure that I should start sharing all the great things I find. Enjoy!
http://invisibleinkblog.blogspot.com/
http://www.geocities.jp/inumaroboya/
This one is the website of my class 4 mentor, Greg Kyle. He is a wicked cool guy and I'm stoked to have an opportunity to learn from him. He enjoys his brews, which is great to hear (because now I know I can still enjoy that lifestyle =).
I am still learning the way he works, but as far as I understand his workflow is technically quite different than my previous mentors. He uses IK arms/spine and pole vectors. I am really excited to learn more about how he works and what new things I can implement into my own workflow.
http://www.greg-kyle.com/

312

2009-03-26T01:34:00.000-07:00

Term 3 at AnimationMentor has come to an end!
Here is the dialogue shot as it stands now. There is still some polish I want to do. Unfortunately I was hit with a pretty heavy fever. Still trying to get over it. I'll be back in town on Sunday (family reunion), and cleaning up a lot of spacing/arc issues. There are some areas that need tlc too. As always, your feedback is appreciated.

311, polishing

2009-03-18T19:07:00.000-07:00

Hello again world!!
This pass has all the corrections from my last crit. I know that it sort of cuts on 'trouble,' I need to add a couple more poses =P I still need to work out the hands.
There are tons of areas I need to hit, any and all feedback you can give me is well appreciated!
Any movements that could be offset? Spacing/arc issues? Anything!

308 second pass

2009-03-01T11:32:00.000-08:00

Here's what I've submitted this week. If you have any opinions, I would really like to hear them! Thanks!!

308 fresh start

2009-02-26T16:21:00.000-08:00

What's up World!

So here is another pass at the same dialogue. After talking to my mentor (Mike Stern), I changed the scenario. He told me it was a good blocking pass and the acting was nice, but character relationship (person talking vs. person talking to) did not fit. Basically he was saying, which is realistic: to be physically threatened by a person at work or customer at a convenient store?
That said, I'm redoing my blocking and this is what I have so far. I need a couple more poses to hit all the major accents, but hopefully it is reading! It's all still quite rough, so any comments you have would be great!
(I started modeling some of the set. The rest will have to get done at a later point)

2009-02-22T23:13:00.001-08:00

307 blocking

2009-02-22T05:02:00.000-08:00

So here's a blocking pass of my first dialogue test! It is really a lot of fun to work on this test, I hope it turns out decent!! The background is still rough. I'm open to any and all suggestions. There is a lot of action I need to add, but I'm trying to get it to read with as little keys, first. Enjoy!

one more idea

2009-02-15T00:48:00.000-08:00

John Pomeroy Scene

2009-02-13T12:47:00.000-08:00

Here's a really awesome shot from Atlantis by John Pomeroy!

John Pomeroy Scene from victor ens on Vimeo.

306 My first Dialogue

2009-02-11T18:01:00.000-08:00

This is going to be AWESOME!
I'm choosing an audio track for my first dialogue test.
Here are the picks I've narrowed down to. If anyone has favorites please let me know!! I'm trying to narrow it down to three of them by Friday.

305 another pass

2009-02-11T17:43:00.000-08:00

Here's another pass at the pantomime. Boy oh boy is this test pushing me! Still a lot to adjust. Hopefully I can nail it!

304 splined

2009-02-01T09:11:00.000-08:00

Hi World,

Here's what the test is looking like right now. Still plenty of work to be done. I think I could use a few more breakdowns and I'm still not happy with the timing.
If anyone out there has an opinion, my ears are wide open!

My 303, blocking

2009-01-25T04:44:00.001-08:00

So here's what I ended up submitting this week!

From about 110-200, Stewie is doubling over and looking around. I plan to add in a full body tremble, once I take it out of stepped. My plan was to bring it to clamped, get the poa I want first, then add some keys and overlap, then jitter the handles in the graph editor. Does that make any sense? I did it on accident in my last test and I think I figured out how it works...
I adjusted the overall pacing, is it working for you? Any areas that are too slow or too fast for you? It actually worked out where I had to cut on the action. So I left it on a sort of stretch drawing.
I know there are a lot of ugly poses in there. I have been having a SERIOUS time trying to get the shapes I want. Do you have any tips? Sometimes I am fighting between getting the shapes/silhouette and physical mechanics/rig proportions.

My Revision

2009-01-23T04:30:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,

Here's what my test is looking like right now. Starting to breakdown some areas, and the end still hasn't been fixed! Between frames 110-200, I plan to do an escalating body tremble.
I feel like I made some big changes to the test, hopefully they are improvements =P

My 302, blocking

2009-01-18T18:23:00.000-08:00

Here is another pass at my blocking. There is still some actions that I haven't added (more pee dancing to come!!). I have been given some great advice on texturing up the timing, so I plan to add that in soon. If anyone sees something else I should address, I would be in your debt!

My Second Pass

2009-01-16T16:28:00.000-08:00

Hello world!
This is a blocking pass of the public restroom test! Still working with just the storytelling poses. I plan to go into the rest of the extremes soon! Let me know if you notice something that could use attention!!
Bye world!!

My Intro to Acting

2009-01-14T01:17:00.000-08:00

This is an exciting time to me. I have a lot to grow in the acting department, and I'm eager to learn. My mentor is Mike Stern, an AnimationMentor alumni. He's worked on Bee Movie, Kung Fu Panda, and Monsters vs. Aliens. It is so AWESOME that I have the chance to learn from him. His blog was one of the reasons I decided to study at AM. He has a fantastic acting ability.
So here is the first assignment, planning for a pantomime with two emotional beats.
I have been getting a lot of people resonating with the public restroom idea. However my reference has to be cut down by half the time (250 frames)! If you have any advice or any comments at all, I'm all ears!

My Omission

2009-01-14T00:33:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since I have posted. So much has happened! Hopefully my animator's eye has been steadily improving.

So Class 2 (Body Mechanics with Dimos Vrysellas) at AnimationMentor ended in December. I realize now that I didn't post ANYTHING during my last test in that term. The last one was super fun. It was basically a physicality test on showing weight with the whole body, specifically with the arms. There is what the test looked like when the term ended!

So I didn't get a chance to take the second character out of blocking. =/
I am really tempted to go back to that and finish the other character. I'm not sure if it is a smart decision, or if I should just focus all my attention to the test I am doing in Class 3 now.
Here is my progress reel of all my Class 2 work (revised the previous tests a bit):

A.S.K. boxset

2008-11-16T04:52:00.000-08:00

I'm getting a copy of Richard William's Animator's Survival Kit Animated!!!!
Recently, I had the opportunity to attend a lecture he had in San Francisco. He was incredibly entertaining and SUPER knowledgeable. I was really impressed by how blunt and honest he was, regardless of how sensitive the subject matter was (i.e., The Thief and the Cobbler). I have no doubt that this will be $800 well spent!

Polish, first pass

2008-11-16T04:43:00.000-08:00

Here's the first pass at polishing the post jumping test. I'm not very satisfied with it, needs some more tlc. I see three HUGE areas that need to be hit. The head/neck is twitching from 30-65, and is also wobbling around a lot from 150-160. Also now that I look at it, there is no lead/follow in the 148-153. Also, Stewie feels like he hits a wall at 170.
This time around at polishing, I was trying to be more aware of what the splines are looking like, however I found it to be similar to juggling, there were sooooo many things to pay attention to at once!! This was the case for the head twitch at 30-65.
I really want to create a workflow for myself where I don't have to hammer keys on every frame. From what I recall, that can be harmful if motion blur is used (is that correct?), so I figure it would be a bad studio habit.
Right now, my plan is to use my dry erase to draw out what I want on the screen, and try to play with the curves until I get my drawings' effect. If anyone has a more effective or time efficient way of polishing this stuff, I would TOTALLY like to hear about it!! =)
So yeah, a second pass is on the way. Until then, enjoy!

207 new AM test!!!

2008-11-14T15:21:00.000-08:00

We are starting the next test this week. I am starting to notice that I'm having more fun shooting reference nowadays. I shot over half a gig worth in the last two days...
Anywho, here's some of my favorites! I really want to do a test that is a little more interesting, story wise than my last one.

I don't know if I mentioned earlier, but my mentor for class2 is Dimos Vrysellas. He has the reputation of being hard to please. I like that about him a lot because he won't hold back when he critiques our work. He was trained as a traditional animator, so he likes to work pose to pose. I find his workflow to be quite organized and everything he has suggested has been really speeding up my own process. He is also the creator of tradigiTOOLS, a maya plugin. It has a lot of really useful features for animation. One that I cannot live without is the ability to change key ticks from red to green. Now I can FINALLY tell the difference between my keys and breakdowns in the timeline!! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Yeah... my bad, I've been on a sugar high for the last few days because of the discount Halloween candy everywhere.
Anyways, I'm in the process of making some changes to my jump test and switching Stewie over to splines. Stay tuned for a polished pass!!!
Cheerio!

My Extra Day

2008-11-09T01:06:00.000-08:00

That's right! I get a extra day at AM!! Apparently the staff is doing some maintenance to the website that absolutely cannot wait. So all the students have an extra day to submit their work.
As a result, I am I'm trying to really get into my keys and make sure things are arc'ing the way I want them to. This leads me to the dilemma I'm having. =)

I am worried that I may be oversimplifying some of my arcs. Mostly in the head/shoulders. I tracked the arcs of the upper body, and gave them smoother arcs, so it was not so distracting to the eye. But now I feel like I have lost some of the believability. I guess I am unsure when it is okay to ruin a nice arc to keep believable overlap and when it isn't, if that makes sense.

I was talking to another AMer about this issue, and he said it was a matter of how stylized/real I want the test to look. In the end, I guess that means this is a personal choice, but I would really like to know what you think anyways.

head/shoulder arc A and B (between 77-96)
head/shoulder arc C and D (between 96-120)

AM progress report!

2008-11-08T19:04:00.000-08:00

I need to do a better job with my blog I think...

Anywho, at the moment I am working on the blockingPlus for my current test. It is a timid Stewie (no arms yet) jumping across some posts. There is plenty I am still working on, but this is what the last playblast looked like.

Here is the first test from class2.

Here is the work from class1.

Watch a short

2008-07-16T23:40:00.000-07:00

This is one of the most endearing shorts I have ever seen. I just don't get sick of it. Hopefully when I get to class 5 at AM, I can create a film half as memorable.

A quoi ça sert l’amour? by Cube

Your Friend The Rat

2008-07-02T02:02:00.000-07:00

Your Friend The Rat blog.
It always gets me pumped to see an amazing group of people working animation, or anything really. I found this blog while looking for more of Sarah Mercy's work. I saw a killer video of her workflow in 2D animation and now I want to see more.

Character Animation Crash Course

2008-07-01T23:29:00.000-07:00

Eric Goldberg has finished his animation book, Character Animation Crash Course!

There is already a large stack of books I am trying to read, but this book is going to go to the top of the pile once I get it.
If anyone plans to be at ComicCon, Eric will be signing copies!!
The Article was found at AnimationMeat.com

First Post! AM 101

2008-07-01T17:15:00.001-07:00

Wow. So many things are happening today! First session of AnimationMentor is today. I'm new to the video chatting world, so hopefully I won't bring down the whole website with my computer ignorance.
I have a feeling I will fit in well with AM. Don and I went to the AM Open House last Friday and enjoyed every second of it. I met the friendliest, most open and positive people, and they all had a passion for character animation!