Thursday, May 31, 2012

My Booth

Haven't gotten to post in a while due to job searching and getting all of my graduation ducks in a row. Here's what I'm working on right now.


It's going to be my presentation booth at my school's graduate show. When it's finished it's going to hopefully resemble something like this...

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Five Cent Circus

I'm adding some 3D work to my portfolio and this is one of the pieces. This is an intro I did awhile back for a project that has yet to be fully produced.


Sunday, May 13, 2012

Practice Sketches

I took a small amount of time off to recoup from a stressful week. These are just some practice sketches I managed to squeeze in before the end of my weekend.


Thursday, May 10, 2012

2012 Demo Reel

So, here is my current demo reel. I wish I could keep working on it and perfecting it, but it's due tomorrow morning for class so it is what it is. Also, I think I'm switching to Vimeo since YouTube can't seem to play my videos properly.


Monday, May 7, 2012

Mr. Potato Goes to the City

Just a quick assignment for school. As usual, After Effects and Flash are responsible.


The assignment was to motion track something I made with panning footage.

Saturday, May 5, 2012

On Top of the World

A digital painting I started one night and forgot about 'til I needed it for a class assignment. I sketched the drawing on paper then used Photoshop to paint over it.

 

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Test Animation

Here's a test animation for the pilot I mentioned previously. Still in the experimental stage, but I think it's close to being a finished product. 


UPDATE: So, I decided to upload a video showing the multiple stages of production this scene went through for those who are interested. After all, this is a "process" blog, is it not? Below is a breakdown video with text to accompany each iteration. Enjoy!





ANIMATIC:  Pretty self-explanatory. This is from a rough animatic I made. Keep in mind that I've been working on this project off and on for about a year now, so Binky's model has evolved somewhat.

PENCIL TEST:  Usually, I'll draw the basic keyframes on paper or in Sketchbook Pro before importing them into Flash. When working on my own projects, I like to keep the animation as basic as possible upfront and do most of the animation in Flash reusing shapes and drawings. There are several reasons for this. 

1. It saves time and effort. 

2. As long as the aesthetic of the project has been clearly established beforehand, it's easier to hand off to another animator and keep the style intact. 

3. It keeps the movement and character looking consistent, at least throughout that particular scene.

4. It allows the maximum amount of alteration during each stage of production. As you can see in the video, part of my method was deciding what's working and what's not and adjusting it as I went.

DRAFT 1:  This was the basic layout with the finished Flash animation and .psd background. I thought it would be cool to experiment with using multiple layers on a seemingly stationary painting. The intent was to  add some subtle depth. I like it, but I'll let the audience decide if it works or not.

DRAFT 2:  I added the dust clouds and altered the timing on Binky. I'm still not satisfied at this point. Binky should be looking down at us from on high, but instead he's looking straight at the camera. Very boring. Next time I will use the finished background design to help guide my animation. I was working from the animatic at that point. It was also rendered at 24 fps for some reason. The majority of my work is 29.97.

DRAFT 3:  Binky has been altered to put him in better perspective in relation to the background and the gag. Added more dust, and a smoke effect layer to thicken it. Added burn marks around the opening since it did just explode after all.

DRAFT 4:  Added the flickering fluorescent light and a sprinkler going off to emphasize the amount of damage done. Also, fixed the perspective on the wall.

DRAFT 5:  And finally, the video seemed a little too static to me, so I added the little plaster chunks falling off. I plan to add a sound effect in the finished piece.