The Eleven Second Club

Interview with BJ Crawford

2010-03-06T18:37:52+00:00

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking "Hey, how come there haven't been any interviews with 11 Second Club winners lately?"

Well, my friends, it is time for me to tell you that I am going to be taking a bit of a hiatus from my dear 11SC for a while. I had planned to take my official leave starting January 1st this year, but things got a bit jumbled over here (as things will do), and I've been focusing on other responsibilities.

There is still one interview I had planned, however, and even though this comes a bit late I wanted to be sure I brought it to you. It is with November's winner BJ Crawford, with his third 1st place entry-- that's right, a full 25% of last year's winning scenes were done by BJ!

Way to go!

BJ has always been very generous with sharing his sketches and rough passes, so I was excited to get to interview him again. This time around, we also veer into the territory of advice for newer animators and the kind of work ethic that BJ puts into any shot he approaches.

I hope you enjoy this, my final interview here. I am thrilled at the response the interviews have received and look forward to seeing more and more winners as 2010 marches on.

See you 'round the forums, folks! Happy animating!

- Eric

February Competition Winner!

2010-03-05T19:21:24+00:00

Congratulations to Nedy Acet, winner of the 11 Second Club February Competition! This was our closest month ever, with the top entries all within a few decimal points of each other. Voters loved the great dance moves and appealing character in Nedy's entry, and their scores pushed him to the top!

Voting for February!

2010-03-01T18:47:03+00:00

Voting for the February animation competition has begun! This month has 121 awesome entries for you to rate and enjoy, have fun going through them!

You must be registered to vote, and we strongly encourage all voters to use a modern, standards-compliant web browser (Firefox, Safari, etc). This site has known problems with Internet Explorer.

The voting system is set up to encourage people to rate each entry, so if you skip an entry without rating it, you'll see it come up over and over on the voting page until you do. Once you've rated all the entries, you'll have the chance to go back to any of the entries to view or re-rate them.

You don't have to do all your voting at once, the system will remember where you are if you leave and come back.

If you have time, you're welcome to leave a critique or comment on the entries, but please be constructive. Negative feedback is fine, but explain what you don't like about the animation. Commenting is only available during the voting round, and will be displayed on entries when voting ends.

Congratulations to everyone who entered the February competition, and remember that the winner of this month's competition will win an eCritique of their entry from one of AnimationMentor's professional animators! Good luck everyone!

March Competition

2010-03-01T05:00:00+00:00

The March Character Animation Competition has begun!

We've realized we tend to choose a lot of rather melancholy audio clips here at the club, so this month we're going with something a little more lighthearted. The unrestrained enthusiasm in this clip should be fun to animate. Enjoy!

In addition to the fabulous eCritique prize from AnimationMentor, this month's winner will also receive a free copy of Anime Studio Pro from our generous friends at SmithMicro!

In order to spend the majority of your time on the animation, please take advantage of the free character rigs we've linked to in the Resources section, and avoid spending a lot of time on lighting/rendering/etc.

Entries can be character animations in any medium, from CG animation (Maya, 3DS Max, Blender, Animation:Master, etc.) to traditional 2D animation to stop-motion. Consider posting your progress videos in the Work in Progress forum. Feedback and criticism will make your animation stronger!

January Competition eCritique Posted!

2010-02-18T17:13:39+00:00

In recognition of her efforts, Valerie has won a professional AnimationMentor eCritique of her entry, recorded this month by industry veteran and head of animation at March Entertainment, Dimos Vrysellas! Click here to watch his excellent critique of the winning entry!

January Competition Winner!

2010-02-05T19:44:53+00:00

Congratulations to Valerie Morrison, winner of the 11 Second Club January Competition! There were a lot of great entries this month, but Valerie's entry won over the voters with its subtle performance details and excellent body mechanics.

Voting for January!

2010-02-01T18:39:43+00:00

Voting for the January animation competition has begun! This month has 141 entries for you to rate and enjoy, have fun going through them!

You must be registered to vote, and we strongly encourage all voters to use a modern, standards-compliant web browser (Firefox, Safari, etc). This site has known problems with Internet Explorer.

The voting system is set up to encourage people to rate each entry, so if you skip an entry without rating it, you'll see it come up over and over on the voting page until you do. Once you've rated all the entries, you'll have the chance to go back to any of the entries to view or re-rate them.

You don't have to do all your voting at once, the system will remember where you are if you leave and come back.

If you have time, you're welcome to leave a critique or comment on the entries, but please be constructive. Negative feedback is fine, but explain what you don't like about the animation. Commenting is only available during the voting round, and will be displayed on entries when voting ends.

Congratulations to everyone who entered the January competition, and remember that the winner of this month's competition will win an eCritique of their entry from one of AnimationMentor's professional animators! Good luck everyone!

February Competition

2010-02-01T05:00:01+00:00

The February Character Animation Competition has begun!

We're using a music clip this month! This will be very different than our usual dialogue pieces, but after years of requests for a music-based month, we're going to give it a try. Please feel free to get creative with things this month!

In order to spend the majority of your time on the animation, please take advantage of the free character rigs we've linked to in the Resources section, and avoid spending a lot of time on lighting/rendering/etc.

Entries can be character animations in any medium, from CG animation (Maya, 3DS Max, Blender, Animation:Master, etc.) to traditional 2D animation to stop-motion. Consider posting your progress videos in the Work in Progress forum. Feedback and criticism will make your animation stronger!

December Competition eCritique Posted!

2010-01-20T02:30:30+00:00

In recognition of his efforts, Martin has won a professional AnimationMentor eCritique of his entry, recorded this month by veteran animator Keith Sintay! Click here to watch his excellent critique of the winning entry!

December Competition Winner!

2010-01-05T19:08:43+00:00

Congratulations to Martin Campos, winner of the 11 Second Club December Competition! There were a lot of great entries this month, but Martin's entry won over the voters with its solid acting and appealing style!