My Career Break into 3D Animation

This blog is complete...

2016-04-21T13:21:00.000+01:00

It's been over a year now since I became a professional animator, so it seems little redundant to continue using this blog, as it was initially set up as a diary about training to become an animator.

However, I've created a new blog, which will feature news and updates of projects I'm working on and what I'm up to in my career as an Animator. If you'd like to follow me there (and I'd love it if you did), here's the info you need:

Here you'll find: Marc Godfrey, Animator's Blog!

(...it feels so amazing to make the switch from trainee to professional!)

Thanks for being a part of this incredible journey...which has only just begun.

Cheers
Marc :)

I'm an Animator

2015-03-25T22:10:00.000+00:00

I have news: I made it. I'm an animator.

Looking back through this blog is quite a humbly experience; being able to look back at my journey and how I got here. But I know really that my journey has only just begun...but my leap of faith to do it in the first place, has paid off.

I'm aware that there's quite a bit of missing information in the lead up to my first job. Let me fill you in.

Me and my fabulous course mate, after our graduation.

What happened:
My course at Aardman finished just before Christmas 2014. Our graduation was such a gorgeous, yet bittersweet day. I was proud of the work I had done. I was chomping at the bit to get out into real world again, and starting working. I was sad to say goodbye to all the lovely people I'd met, and I was gutted to be leaving Aardman. But I was excited to see what's next.

By some twist of fate, in my final weeks at Aardman, I was offered a job as a junior animator with a boutique studio up in Glasgow. I had to learn how to use and animate in Cinema4D (which was actually pretty easy, truth be told) and all went well. I was there short term, but three weeks in I got a call from the course co-ordinator at Aardman, telling me I had been invited to join an Internship with Blue Zoo, with potential to stay on for a year contract. How the blinky blonky I ended up with two animator jobs in less than a month after finishing the course, I'll never know!

I spoke to the studio director in Glasgow about the situation, and he gave me his blessing to accept with Blue Zoo. I felt pretty bad about it, as I didn't want to let anyone down. I found somewhere to stay in London and sorted out all my travel (trains are so damn expensive, right?) from York (where I live currently) and I was off. Then three weeks into the Internship, they told me they liked the work I was doing, they thought I fit in, and offered me a contract to stay on...I'm still pinching myself.

When I was at Aardman, I didn't think any studio would come close to the pedestal of greatness that I put it on. Aardman was the ultimate workplace, as far as I was concerned. But, I gotta say, Blue Zoo is up there too. It's a dream. The project I'm working on is called Tree Fu Tom, for CBeebies. It's gorgeous. The episodes are cute and the characters are challenging to work on, which I love...I mean how do you approach animating a character who has four arms, two are enough for the junior to contend with, surely? ;)

So, that's it.

All I can say really, is if I can do it, you can do it. It's funny working with people who are in much higher positions than me, who are younger than me. It makes me think "I wonder where I would be now, if I had gone straight into animation... but hey, let's not get toooo philosophical on that one.

Cheers
Marc :)

What Have I Learnt So Far From Aardman?

2014-11-10T21:51:00.001+00:00

I was wondering what I should write about for my next blog post, and whilst browsing through my Learning Diary of what I've learnt on my Character Animation course at Aardman (yes, I do keep a diary of all the things I'm learning each week...is that tragic?), so thought I'd share with you some of my biggest learning triumphs (or Eureka Moments, as we've affectionately started calling them) from the first couple of weeks. So, here they are:

1) Lines of Actions and Posing.
If you have good poses, you will be on the way to making good animations. Life Drawing has really helped developed my eye for posing a character, and ultimately creating the right feel for weight and balance. Finding the lines of action in the body, and putting them into my characters have really improved the way that I'm working, and ultimately animating!

Some of my simple Lines of Actions Drawings

2) Check the Silhouette.
It's all very well posing a character, but does that pose tell your story? If you're not sure, check the silhouette. Is the body shape that has been created readable to the viewer? Is the attitude of the character clear? A simple way to check, is to look at the silhouette and simple ask friends or colleagues what they think is going on. As long as you haven't set up any lights, a super simple way to check your silhouette in Maya is to press 7! Easy!

3) Favouring.
If you're transitioning a character from A to B, a much nicer way to pose the body is to make the lines of action in the body favour one side, over the other. So, if you're moving across a plane, lean back from where you came from, then as you cross the half way point, maybe lean towards where you're going, or still towards where you came from...but just don't create a straight line in the middle...ever (well, hardly ever, at least)...it's boring.

4) The Bouncing Ball is Everywhere!
If you've studied animation, undoubtedly, you've animated the bouncing ball. It is a vital part of the animation learning process. The bouncing ball is everywhere. One of my biggest eureka moments, was realising that the bouncing ball is all throughout the body. Especially in the pelvis, or the hips. Of course, it seems obvious, but it wasn't until my tutor pointed at the hips on my rig, and simply said "there is your bouncing ball", that I realised. Keep dem hips moving and a'bouncing!

5) Plant Your Feet.
This is another obvious one, put if you're going to be shifting your character's weight, to make it convincing, make sure the feet are firmly planted to the ground. They can't be floating or sliding. They need to be solid, and supporting the weight, before any weight is moved. Got it? Good!

I'll add more snippets of my learning in another post soon, but for now, that's all...hopefully you can take something away from this. If you do, drop my a line and let me know, and let's share the glory of learning!

Cheers
Marc :)

Personal Development, Continual Improvement...and Aardman!

2014-10-25T15:26:00.000+01:00

Back in May 2014, I applied to join a Character Animation course with the National Film & Television School, based at the Aardman studios in Bristol. I didn't really feel very confident in getting a place, but this summer, I was invited onto the course! Right now, we're half way through, with another six weeks to go.

I ummed and ahhed about whether I was doing the right thing in becoming a student again, but right now, today, I know it was one of the best decisions I've made in regards to developing my animation career. The skills I had already acquired were a great starting point, but now I really feel like they're being polished and honed even further.

The course content is fab - whilst working through weekly assignments, we take part in life drawing classes, acting classes, as well as numerous masterclasses from professionals in the industry, such as Aardman's Nick Park and Dreamwork's Shelley Page. In our first week, even the legend, Glen Keane came in and talked to us about his new project "Duet". Needless to say, we're being inspired left, right and centre! I had to pinch myself when I realised that at one point, I was in the same room as Peter Lord, Richard Williams and Glen Keane!

My fabulous Duet print, signed by animation legend, Glen Keane.

At some point, I'll add the work I've been doing to this blog - at the moment though, it's all a bit rough and in need of some more edits and refinement. For more updates, you can always subscribe to my blog, or look out for me on twitter.

Excitedly yours,
Marc

Final Shot: Like A Dream (Rachael O'Connor, auditioning for The Voice UK)

2014-05-27T12:17:00.000+01:00

I realised in the last post, I didn't include the final shot - so here it is, in all its glory:

I hope Rachael O'Connor gets to see it - I'd love to know what she thinks...or any of the fans from #TeamKylie...the more the merrier :)

Thanks

Character Animation from Real Life Reference Footage

2014-05-27T12:10:00.000+01:00

You may remember a few posts back, that I was working on a Character Animation shot, using real life footage? Well, it's now finished, and up and on my showreel. I'm pleased with it, although I'm sure in a few weeks time, I'll be wanting to edit and refine it some more.

I created a playlist on my youtube channel showing the progression of the work. I think it's really cool, especially when you go to the last video and see where the shot started.

Find my Character Animation Process Playlist here!

I've also created a pinterest page, where I store all the cool animation finds from the internet...including some of my favourite tutorials. I've been teaching myself how to animate using After Effects and Flash - I found that making playlists in youtube, not as fun as curating a "board" on pinterest. To see my links and pins visit and follow my page here: http://www.pinterest.com/animatormarc/

Find me on BlogLovin'!

2014-03-31T17:42:00.001+01:00

I know it's been a couple of weeks since I posted last. Hope everyone is keeping well?

Since I last blogged, I joined BlogLovin. If it's not something you've heard about, I recommend checking it out. It's a neat little way of putting all the blogs you love in one place - a bit like Google Reader. You can find me here:

Not only is it the simple way of putting my blogs together in one funky social media platform, but you can also have a look through the blogs that I read. Cool huh?

To find me on Bloglovin', just click here!

Some Animation Shot Updates...

2014-02-28T11:30:00.000+00:00

I've been working on a quite a number of shots lately, the thing is, I'm in that awful stupor of thinking that my work isn't good enough. Well, the time has come to just post them and collect feedback regardless! I'm the type of person who is proud of my work, so don't really like showing things off unless I think they're really, really good. And now that my training is finished (...although you're never finished learning, yadda yadda blah de blah) the work I produce should be top notch - I don't have the safety blanket of it-doesn't-matter-if-my-shots-aren't-THE-best-because-I'm-still-learning anymore...so I just have to swallow my pride, put on my thick-skin rhino hide and just do it...post whatever I'm working on, and get some sort of feedback.

This is the latest piece I've been working on. I'm actually editing it right now, but taking a quick break to show you what I've done so far.

Here it is:

It's taken from a clip of BBC1's The Voice. The girl (Rachael O'Connor) just got through first round of auditions, and this is her backstage reaction. The rig I used is the Bonnie rig, by Josh Sobel - it's so nice to work with, and it looks really cute too.

I wanted to show you the original clip here too, but it looks like it's been taken down by youtube (boooo!), but I have some screen caps, that I used as a starting point for my thumbnails:

From the clip, I put together my thumbnails, which hopefully you'll be able to make out here:

Right now, my biggest problem/feedback is that I'm not hitting the accents. Which in this case, are the words dream, real and in. So, that's what I'm working on right now...also I need to sort out the right hand and fingers.

When I get another edit put together, I'll post it so you will hopefully be able to see a vast improvement.

I'm also working on a Willy Wonka clip, as well as a Ball Throw idea which has taken a bit of a back burner...hmmmm...so I'm kinda juggling shots as the moment. It's keeping my mind fresh, at least.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Ooops...

2014-02-12T19:17:00.001+00:00

I seem to have deleted this important bit of news...

So far this year, I've learnt to animate in 2 additional software programmes: XSI Softimage and Flash (2D).

Ta-daaaah!

I hear you scream at me; "Marc, that's a crap post". Well, yes, I guess it is in terms of bloggy bits for your visual stimulation, but there are things going on in the background...I'm working on a few shots that I'm hoping will be good enough to add to my show reel. I'm focusing on lip sync and human characters. Hopefully my work will be good enough to show you in the not too distant future :)

FROZEN wins the Golden Globe!

2014-01-13T14:02:00.000+00:00

The Golden Globes 2014 were last night, and I'm super pleased to see that Frozen won the Best Animated Feature award. Not surprising really, it's a great film (although I did love The Croods too). Not only is the animation superb, but the story and the music is fantastic. Critics say it's the best Disney feature since Beauty and the Beast. I can see why, interestingly, it doesn't contain your typical love story...it's a beautiful tale of friendship, family and sisterhood, with two strong female leads. If you haven't seen it, go and see it now!

It's also no surprise, that there's news of Frozen being turned into a Broadway musical too - according to Rotoscopers.com!

For a full list of Golden Globe winners, check out the Telegraph's run down here.

To buy FROZEN from Amazon.co.uk, go here now or if you're reading this blog from the United States, you can buy the film from Amazon.com here too.

Brushing Up On My Core Skills

2014-01-11T13:04:00.000+00:00

Last weekend, I began a google hunt for Life Drawing classes in Edinburgh. I mean, this is Edinburgh, there MUST be some classes somewhere! And yup, there were plenty. I was nearly going to sign up to a 10 week course, costing £170 (!!!) and then read a BBC article about this little group in Glasgow and Edinburgh who hold weekly, drop in Life Drawing classes...for a bargainacious £4.50 per session.

I went along to the City Cafe on Tuesday night, and joined in All The Young Nudes class. I had a great time, and it felt super good to get back into Life Drawing again! You can find all work from the evening on my Sketch Blog, but here's a sample of what I did.

"But Marc, why are you doing this?" I hear you cry... well, one of the things I've learnt whilst job hunting for junior Animation positions, is that studios and directors like to know that the people they have on their teams, do have the basic, core art skills too...and whilst it's easy for me to say "hey, well, I studied at the Cambridge School of Art, y'know", that's not enough. I need to keep practicing, and honing and developing my craft (for want of a less cliche phrase). Plus, it looks good on the CV if I can say, I regularly attend art classes and-for-that-to-be-true! Sooo I'll be a-sketchin as much as can...and animating, of course.

In other news, the studio in Edinburgh have got back to me, and I'm going in over the next days to learn their software (...horror of horrors, when I rock up for a meeting before Christmas, the bombshell that they don't use Maya, gave me a bit of a stumble).

So, my New Year is off to a pretty good start - in that I've started Art Classes and will be learning a new piece of Animation Software. Lovely.

Bloopers

2013-11-20T13:15:00.000+00:00

Well, I don't quite know what happened here, but Zeitraffer (which I use to compose all my rendered images) didn't quite like my rendered files, and gave me this piece of weirdness.

Instead of deleting it, I thought I would share. There's something quite beautiful in its strangeness.

The Escape VFX Festival 2013

2013-11-19T17:17:00.002+00:00

I just wanted to dedicate a little piece of my animation blog to the Escape Studios VFX Festival, that took place last week. I had such a great time!

Not only did I work it, but I attended a couple of the screenings too. I was at the Getting Into VFX talk, which was great - although to be honest, it didn't differ much from the same talk they did the previous year at Escape. A nice addition to the panel was Eamonn Butler from Cinesite, who was there to talk about Animation! So obviously, I was very tuned into him.

One of the most interesting things he mentioned, is that he likes a showreel to have a story - definitely something to think about...although I'm not sure how the material I have at the moment, will fit nicely into a coherent story...but will certainly be looking at ways to incorporate that into my reel.

I was also at The Future of Digital Creativity Panel Debate which was also interesting, although it was chaired by the disappointingly bland Danny Leigh, from Film2013. Following that, was a screening from Framestore showcasing the work they did on Gravity - which looked exquisite.

All screenings were hosted by Helen O'Hara from Empire magazine, who was charismatic, interesting and humourous, with her question handling via teh roaming microphone and the use of the VFX twitter hashtag. She lightened the evenings I attended and was a very welcome addition to the festival (she would have done a much better job than Danny Leigh - why was he there anyway???)

As that was the last night, I also went along to the Closing Party - which was lots of fun. It has to be said that the volume of the music wasn't incredibly conducive to coherent talking, but maybe that was just me. It was nice to catch up with familiar faces and congratulate everyone involved in a great festival.

The shift from last year's relatively small VFX festival, to this year's massive offering only makes me even more excited for next year's VFX Festival, from Escape. Congrats to everyone who made it happen!

I'm a Tutor!

2013-11-07T22:15:00.000+00:00

Yes, you read that right! I was a tutor for the evening. Well, at least that's the name badge said that I got to wear the other night at Escape Studios VFX Festival. I was helping my animation tutor, Alex, who was leading an Animation Masterclass.

It was really exciting, I actually helped people! This time last year, that's the last thing I thought I would have been able to do. I was able to go round, see how people were getting on, and offer any help that was needed. I was actually pretty nervous, I was worried that someone would ask me how to do something, and I wouldn't know what to do - luckily, that didn't happen - but even if it did, I'm sure they wouldn't have minded...would they?

The Festival is/was great, so much better than last year. Escape have really stepped up their game. The studios looked slicker than ever, and the format was incredibly professional, with a welcome desk for everyone to sign in before they actually got inside...last year's was a bit messy because this wasn't done as effectively. It was nice going back to the place I studied too, gave me those warm and fuzzy feelings.

Escape also have some big screenings and industry talks happening at the Vue cinema in Leicester Square. Nice. They're really bringing on the big guns. I have a couple more events to go to next week, which I'm looking forward to. I'm going to be meeting up with one of my friends from Bluebolt Studios, so it's going to be fun having a catch up in the context of the VFX Industry, instead of down the pub!

I'm hoping to be adding my updated Creature Reel soon too - so watch this space!

Oh! Mighty renderer, how I hate thee!

2013-10-31T16:49:00.000+00:00

I'm currently rendering out some shots. I'm using an IBL, and a 90 frame shot has taken 5 hours to get half way! Ouch! Why, oh why, did I decide to use an IBL?

I've been to a couple of meetings with animation studios, and things are looking promising. I've been given some great feedback from the directors, and am currently in the process of adjusting my reel, according to their critique. Hence, my reignited relationship with the mighty renderer.

Hopefully over the next couple of days, I'll have my reworked reel ready to send back to them. It was really nice to hear positive things from professionals in the industry, who aren't my tutors or classmates. Happy face!

Oh, Happy Halloween by the way. Here's the article with my screen shot of my animation from the musical Wicked (bottom right, in the article).

And so, here's a reminder of the work in progress shot I did (in its rough form)...y'know, as it's Halloween and everything :)

Animation Updates

2013-10-07T21:18:00.000+01:00

Hi there, remember me? I know, I know, it's been a while since I last blogged but don't worry I'm still here.

In between applying for entry level positions in studios across the land, I've moved house and relocated, been on Jury service, been working, been animating, lost 2 stone...and amongst all the excitement of getting my latest Showreel onto my website and sorting through boxes that I haven't gone through since I was at school...I came across this book!

This was my very first animation book I got when I was about 10. I'm not sure of the exact age, but I was at Primary school - I remember having it at my desk in year4, so I may have been younger than 10. Aaaanyway...it reminded me about why I'm doing what I'm doing, and why I'm applying for animation roles. It's strange how my career choices have gone full circle. From wanting to animate, to wanting to work in theatre, to wanting to be an artist, to wanting to work in the corporate rat race...to wanting to fuse together theatre and art to return to my career choice: Animation.

Whilst you breathe a sigh of sweet nostalgia with me, take a peek at my latest showreel, it's pretty cool, even if I do say so myself: www.marcgodfrey.com/

Showreel #1 - Done!

2013-06-30T17:28:00.002+01:00

I've done it! I've finally finished my first showreel. I'm really pleased, and relieved. It's taken a year to get to this stage...

To see it, check out my website: www.marcgodfrey.com

I would really love to know what you think.

I'm in the process of getting my 2 other showreels completed too. I've done my Animal and Creatures, I still need to complete a Games and Character reel...I'll keep you updated :)

The Art of the Title!

2013-06-05T19:54:00.000+01:00

I've recently been working on a titles for my showreel. At first glance, it seems like not a big deal, but when you get down to it, you're creating something that makes a first impression - yikes! This means it's got to be good.

Here are my first attempts:

I then simplified to get this:

The feedback about this was about keeping it simple, and drawing inspiration from a title sequence that I like. After trawling the internet and various title websites, I found this intro, and the actual title part of the intro was appealing. It looked simple, classy and bold. What do you think?:

...and so from that, I created this...which so far, is what I'm sticking with.

Let me know what you think - it would be good to get as much feedback as I can :)

Thanks

Marc

How to Animate a Car...

2013-05-27T20:32:00.000+01:00

Well, I'm not expert to assume that I can teach someone how to animate a vehicle...but I did a car this week...it's not bad.

The toughest part for me, was to work out where to put the squash the stretch. Although it's a solid object, you still need to add performance elements to give the overall piece some flow.

The car rig is a nice little piece of kit - it came with a good squash functionality, as well as being able to lift up the bonnet and boot...very nice touches!

I used reference from the gazillion clips that are on youtube, of cars screeching doing stunts and 180 slide turns.

There are still a few tweeks here and there that I want to do to it...but for now, it's not that bad. What do you think?

Animating a Flap Cycle

2013-05-08T10:19:00.000+01:00

My last assignment with Animation Apprentice is to animate a flying bird. The flap cycle is surprisingly straight forward, the only complication comes when studying the actual motion of a bird's wing and making sure it's doing what a bird, does!

The rig isn't the best to use for close ups. It's quite geometric and low-poly, but the overall effect is very pleasing if the camera angle isn't too close.

Since the bird looks like a crow, I figured it was appropriate to go gothic with my shot. My murder of crows swoop in, and swoop out towards the moon. What do you think?

More Scorpions!

2013-04-29T20:43:00.000+01:00

Hello! Here are the final videos for my Scorpion animation.

I really enjoy creature animation. I'm wondering if that's "my thing". I always saw myself as a character animator, given my theatre background. But it would appear that my art background is helping my observations of creature movement?

I've also started a new blog. I've decided to publish all the art from my sketchbooks! I've really enjoyed doing it, I feel like I'm archiving! So please have a look, and don't forget to sign up to receive updates to your email address: Marc Godfrey Sketch Blog

Oh yeah, and always, don't forget to leave me comments :)

I've Been Animating For a Pregnancy!

2013-04-25T11:05:00.000+01:00

Don't worry, no one's pregnant. I just logged into my Animation Apprentice account, and I've been a member for just over 9 months - that's a pregnancy! ...and it does feel like I've been reborn, in some sort of cheesy, cliche way.

I've learnt so much. I feel that I'm using my creativity, and I feel very satisfied for it. Before, it was like I was stuck, somehow. I knew where I wanted to be, vaguely, but didn't know how to get there - and because no sails were in motion, I just spent a lot of my time just treading water.

Now, I'm training in a field that sparks my interests, working with like minded people, learning from my peers - I certainly feel more fulfilled than I have done in a very long time. It feels good.

Here's one of my latest animations. I've still got work to do it, but it's getting there. What do you think?

Spider!

2013-04-17T11:06:00.000+01:00

One of my latest animations has been a spider. I wasn't too keen when I first got the rig, this beast brought out an irrational arachnophobic feeling in me. So, immediately I turned him bright pink, and that was fine!

The assignment was to animate the spider on a walk cycle and add some sort of performance. I did two. Weirdly, and most interestingly, the two animations are very similar. One appears more playful, one more vicious. It's amazing what colours and additional set items can do to tell a story - or rather change a story.

Here's the first one, Playful Spider:

...and here's the second, Vengeful Spider:

See what I mean about them both being very similar? The only real differences are colour, lighting and "prey".

You should also be able to see how much more professional the second animation is? This is because it was the first animation I did as a proper render! From trawling various animation forums, I found a link to this really smart app called "Zeitraffer". Basically, it takes images and puts them together a your desired frame rate, and makes a movie clip. It's so simple. Best thing is, it's FREE!

Righty...off to do more animation now. I love receiving comments, so please let me know what you think...or just say hi!

Thanks :)

Run Horsey, Run!

2013-04-08T16:47:00.000+01:00

We had the Grand National at the weekend (thank you very much TeaforThree and Oscar Time), so thought it was a good time to post my latest animation, of a running horse!

I've really enjoyed doing the creature cycles. I find them quite straight forward, surprisingly, I mean they look really complicated right? As long as you have good thumbnails, they're really not that bad!

What do you think...?

I'm getting to the stage where I need to start putting together my show reel, which I'm really excited about. If anything, I'm excited to have a professional looking, quality reel. Playblasts (which this is, a kind of moving screen shot) are good and all that, but the final render is going to look super cool!

My Trotting Horse

2013-04-02T12:01:00.001+01:00

Here's the latest installment in my Animation learning. My 22nd assignment with Animation Apprentice was to take the horse rig, and make him trot. We've done the walk cycle, so now it's time to make him move a bit faster.

What do you think?