Class 1: Week 2
April 8th, 2005Class this week was on the "Principles of Animation," which were conceived by the original Disney animators during the Golden Age of animation. It was mainly an overview so that as we progress in the following weeks everyone will be on the same page as far as terminology.
The 12 Principles of Animation:
1) Squash and Stretch
2) Anticipation
3) Staging
4) Straight Ahead and Pose to Pose
5) Follow Through and Overlapping Action
6) Slow In and Slow Out (ease in/ease out)
7) Arcs
8) Secondary Action
9) Timing
10) Exaggeration
11) Solid Drawing
12) Appeal
These are all elaborated on in chapter 3 of the "Illusion of Life," which was part of our assignment for this week. We were also to create a single pose with Stu, based off of one of our weekly sketchbook drawings. Here is my first attempt.
Here is a revision after receiving some feedback.
As you can see, I fixed his spine, adjusted his arm placement to create a better silhouette, and arched his body and turned his head more to create a sense of curiosity. This was our first week to receive video critiques from our mentors and Bobby gave me my critique this week due to Jason's critiquing tool not working. Bobby said that he liked how even though this is a still image, it felt like it had real movement to it. I agreed, but had others say that they didn't like the pose for that very reason; it's supposed to be and "feel" like a single pose. Oh well, either way it's still not perfect.
Class 1: Week 1
April 1st, 2005This first week was like any other first "day" of class. It was mainly a time to get comfortable with the site, acquainted with one another as students, and also to learn more about the staff of Animation Mentor; specifically Bobby, Carlos, and Shawn, (the three Great White Animation Ninjas). It's totally inspiring to see how passionate these guys are when it comes to talking about animation. They exude a constant aura of bubbly goo that's both funny and amazing to watch. Rest assured, these guys do have lives outside of animation, Carlos even has his own skate video, (you know, fingerboarding, that fad that died about three years ago). Got to give credit to him though, my fingers are way too uncoordinated to go from an ollie into a cabbalerial...
The assignment this week was to read chapters 1-3 in the "Illusion of Life," a truly great read that is definitely worth picking up if you are even the least bit interested in animation. Along with the video intro and chapters to read, we also had the chance to download and play with our first rig, Stu, not to be confused with NinjiStu as see at the top of this page. Get it? Ninjitsu + ninja Stu = NinjiStu... I am funny, I swear. Say hi to Stu...
Check these out when you have time to kill.
http://www.bobbyboombeck.com/
http://www.carlosbaena.com/
Peace!
Let's get ready to rumble...
March 28th, 2005Finally, after saying a million prayers and crossing all nine fingers in hopes of being accepted into AM, and months spent panhandling in Zimbabwae to pay for the class, and then spending all that money to rent animated flicks as inspiration and preparation, the first day of Animation Mentor is upon us!
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