Class 5 Week 3: Final LipSync Pass

Some final polishing touches on this shot.  At this point its getting into the little details and having hands/fingers settling into place, punching the shoulders up a bit more (a common note I hear at work), some adjustments to the mouth shapes.  One suggestion from the mentor that really helped was to take out/down the eyedarts in the first bit of the shot - leaving his focus steady on the other person.  Only when he realizes it's getting awkward does the eye start to nervously dart around.

And more expression one-offs as well.

Class 5 Week 2: Refining LipSync

The second pass at the lipsync shot.  Changed some of the mouth movements that were a bit "swimmy" and finally got the tongue animation in there - which made all the difference hitting the second half of the the "murder" shapes.  A few other little changes here and there, and added a new frown close to the end.   From feedback I also have the character looking offscreen the whole time (rather than practically right at camera), so now it feels like he's talking to someone else rather than talking to us.

Our other assignment was to find some photos of expressions and then recreate those poses with our character.  Had a lot of fun with these!

Class 5 Week 1: I'm Back Baby!

Yup, I'm back!  After a nice 3 month "sabbatical" (ie: broke my ankle) - I'm back at Animation Mentor.  Jumping right into lip-sync animation the first week.  We're taking our previous assignment as a starting point.  Lots of fun and lots to learn.  Below you'll find my video reference of myself (with a cameo in the background of my dear pet Roxie) and my planning thumbnails thinking about the mouth shapes. 

New "Turbo" Concept Art Released

"Turbo" Cycle Animator!

The big news is that today I started on a new show -  I'll be a Cycle Animator on the upcoming film Turbo, coming out June 7th, 2013

Leave of Absence

Well, an eventful weekend.  I fractured my ankle trying to lure our dog away from a possum, and in a feat of great agility and grace - tripped over myself.  So, this helped sway me to take a 3 month leave of absence from Animation Mentor (my animation computer is upstairs in our loft...yeah...)

Another factor is that crunch time is beginning at work now on Mad3, so I have a feeling it's going to be a busy winter...