studying-out-loud

Blur Studios + Star Wars = Awesome.

Tue, 07 Jun 2011 06:34:34 +0100

If you haven't heard of Blur Studios yet, you probably should have. These guys do phenomenal work doing full CG trailers for video games. They're probably most well known for their trailers promoting the upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic. They've done three so far, with the most recent being released at E3 today. I haven't seen Star Wars look this cool in a long time. Enjoy!

Here's the trailer they did last year for E3.

And this is the first trailer they did for E3 back in 2009.

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Rhythm and Hues Apprenticeship

Thu, 05 May 2011 00:14:27 +0100

I am very proud to announce that I've just been accepted into the Animation Apprenticeship program at Rhythm and Hues in El Segundo, California! Words can't express just how pumped I am right now :)

Wait a minute....I've gotta pack! AHHHHHHH!!!!!!

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Pub Dog - Bird Box Studio

Tue, 03 May 2011 18:04:45 +0100

Another fun little short from Bird Box Studio in London. I love how the simple idea of a dog wagging its tail can still make me laugh.

Found at Lineboil

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Your Friend the Deadline

Tue, 03 May 2011 18:00:19 +0100

Something I struggled with a lot in school was getting my animation done on time (or even at all). It seemed like no matter how hard I worked, none of my shots were ever “finished.” I started to dread those looming deadlines and in the process caused myself a lot of unnecessary stress and anxiety. Which led to more procrastination. Which led to more unfinished work. It got so bad during school that when I finally did graduate, I didn't have a whole lot of animation that showed off how much I'd really grown in such a short time.

Since then I've gotten a lot better about consistently hitting that target date. I'm still no grand master of the deadline, but I'd like to think I've at least improved. Whether it's a self-imposed deadline or something from a supervisor, it's something we all have to master sooner or later. So to that end, I wanted to share a few things that I do to help me and my animation get over the hump and across the finish line in one piece.

1) Make lists. Bear with me, because this one's going to take a bit of an explanation. After getting my blocking approved, it can be a little daunting to finish when I realize just how much more work has to get done to finish the shot. It can be really tempting to just start adding in detail and fixing trouble spots as you see them. The real problem with that you can waste a lot of time and energy fixing the wrong areas of your shot.

Here's an example of a list I made a few weeks ago while animating for the Animals and Creatures Commercial Contest a AM.

Now I realize it looks a little like gibberish to anyone but me, but I'll do my best to explain the system I use.

To start out, I'll just list every change that I can think to make at the time. Even if I'm not sure how to fix things at the moment, I still just list everything I can think of. It's important to be as specific as you can, so all the notes will make sense later.

Once that's done, I'll start to put arrows on the items that I think are most important for the shot. I don't bother numbering them yet, because the priority changes a lot as I'm going down the list. So for now, important vs. not-so-important is okay.

This part of the process helps you organize changes into what can be done and what should be done. The trick is to realize which changes are important for the shot and which ones aren't. Where is the viewer supposed to be looking? Is it important to polish the overlap on a character's fingers in a medium dialogue shot where the audience is mainly focused on the character's face?

Another thing I like to make note of is whether the changes I make add new animation to the shot or not. This is something I like to keep track of just because it helps make sure that I'm adding enough polish to the shot. It also keeps me from reworking the same problems over and over again. For some reason layering in new animation is usually easier for me than fixing stuff that's already there.

Next I'll make note of the stuff that I know is going to be really tough to fix. Usually the things that are the hardest for me are the stuff that I don't have any idea how I'm going to fix. I know something's wrong, but it's going to take some experimenting to figure out exactly how to fix it. The more stars I put next to an item, the harder I think it's going to be. Keeping note of how hard changes are will come in handy later.

Next, I'll prioritize them. I'll sit down and try to figure out what things are most important for the shot, and number them according to which things I think I should do first. A good question I like to ask myself while deciding what to do next is, “If the shot went final tomorrow, would I be embarrassed if this change didn't get finished?” This is just something I ask myself to ensure that I'm not ignoring important things like leaving animation in stepped mode or animation that goes to a complete standstill for no reason. If I'm spending time finessing arcs on frame 250 when the character is still in stepped blocking from frame 50 to 70, then I'm mismanaging my time. It's not that tracking your arcs isn't important, but it can probably wait if there are more important things to do.

Once I've got everything numbered, I'm finally ready to sit down and do some animating. Now I know that it might seem like a waste of time to go through all the trouble of listing and prioritizing things, but for me the small time investment now saves me loads of time later on. Keep in mind that this list isn't set in stone. It's just a general road map for where you should go next.

As I'm working my way down the list, I'll check things off as I go. More often than not, the more important fixes are the most difficult to do. So when I find myself banging my head against a wall, I'll try to go do something on the list that's quick and easy. That way at least something is always getting done, even when I'm stuck. Stepping away from a problem is usually the best thing for me when I'm stuck. It gives me time to think while still being productive.

I can't tell you how much faster being organized has made me! Most important of all, it's helped me learn how to let certain changes go. It can be really easy when you don't pay attention to what's important for the shot to waste time on things that, even though they might be really neat, keep you from getting a shot done. Having a shot that's done is much more important than having a shot that's perfect. There will always be little details you want to add and little hitches you want to rework and fix, but part of hitting a deadline is learning to let the unimportant stuff go.

2) Don't get tweak happy. We've all been there before. Something in your shot just isn't working and instead of sitting back and figuring out a game plan, we just jump right in and start tweaking splines and then playblast it to see how it looks. The problem with this is that going back and forth between tiny curve tweaks and then playblasting after each change can add hours of work without very good results. So don't go into the spline editor until you know exactly what you're going to do. What you have planned may not pan out. That's okay. If that happens, take a playblast, sit back and ask yourself what to do next. Chances are, if you don't know what you want, you're not going to get what you want. Knowing what you want to do is 90% of the battle when you're facing a deadline, because there's likely not much time to experiment without any real goal. Every piece of lousy animation I've ever done is probably due to the fact that I didn't know what the hell I wanted at the time.

3) Keep track of the time you spend working. This is doubly important if you work from home. I like to use a free app on my iPhone to keep track of how long I spend animating each week. If you want to give it a shot, you can find it here. But no matter how you do it, it's important to know just how long you've been working. If I took a break every time I got sick of what I was working on, I'd be done in twenty minutes. Keeping a timer helps me say to myself, “Come on now. You've only been working for an hour. You can do better than that.”

If I'm stuck I also like to keep track of how long I've spent on a particular problem. If I've spent more than an hour on the same problem, and I still haven't fixed it, it's time to move on and come back to it later. Maybe it's just me, but it's really easy for me to sink two or three hours into the same problem without realizing it.

It's also good for keeping track of how many hours a week you're putting into your work. I may feel completely drained, but if I know I've only put in fifteen hours this week, I'm more likely to push myself just a little further than I usually would.

Now I don't consider this by any means to be a comprehensive list of all the things that will for-sure make you faster as an animator. But they've all helped me immensely, so here's hoping they'll help you too.

Oh, and while I'm thinking about it...

4) Going to the gym once in a while never hurt anyone either.

Happy Animating!

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Uta Hagen's Acting Class

Sat, 08 Jan 2011 22:17:04 +0100

I really can't overstate just how influential this set of lectures from Uta Hagen has been for me over the last few months. She has such a great way of analyzing a scene and giving it a way to move forward. I've learned more about the psychology of physical acting than I ever really thought I could. I really didn't know what I didn't know.

One of my favorite lines about observation from the lecture I think applies specifically to animation:

"The first thing I learned was how little we are trained to observe ourselves--our behavior. We can always tell somebody how we feel about something, but what we did when we felt a certain way we are unable to describe."

"Inner work can get you in glue. You don't know what foot to put down. If the body isn't there, nothing else is. We talk, we feel, we think; but it comes out of our body. All the thinking and talking and feeling--if the body isn't there, it's useless."

The real gold here is watching the students improve from rehearsal to rehearsal. They get so much better from her suggestions! And the great thing is that she explains why! She adds so much specificity and texture to their scenes.

Now keep in mind that the whole thing is a little over 3 hours long, and there's some swearing, so maybe sit down and watch this in the evening when you're not at work :)

Update: It seems that the original poster of the video has taken the videos down, and probably rightly so. That doesn't mean that you can't still get your hands on these awesome lectures. I tracked down the website that sells it here. You get to learn from a great teacher as well as support the school her husband founded and she taught at. $39.95 is well worth the price of admission if you ask me.

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Getting Over "The Fear"

Fri, 01 Oct 2010 07:28:42 +0100

We all know that feeling, right? It’s late at night, you’ve got a deadline coming up a lot sooner than you’d like, and all you can keep thinking to yourself is, “This just isn’t good enough.”

Or maybe you just saw another student or co-workers knock-out work for the week and the first thing that pops into your head is, “My stuff’s never going to look that good.”

It’s the kind of stuff that makes it impossible to put hand to mouse or pencil to paper unless you find some way to deal with it. My mentor this term at AM, Nick Bruno, said something in class the other day that really stuck with me: Animation is 100% about having confidence in your work. And he’s absolutely right. It’s amazing how much of this job is about self-confidence rather than the actual doing of it. Come to think of it, it’s a lot like baseball in that respect. As the great Yogi Berra put it: “Baseball is 90% mental and the other half is physical.”

If you can’t take an idea you have and completely commit to it, then you’re already dead in the water. Animation is a unique medium in that it requires you to have large amounts of enthusiasm for a single idea—and hold it there—for days, weeks, or (more likely) even months at a time. That’s a long time for anyone to be excited about anything. It also leaves a lot of opportunity for doubt to rear its ugly little head.

It’s not like rehearsals in film or theatre where there are other people on set or in the audience who laugh when you do something funny. And even if something isn’t funny, there’s no downtime before you can show someone else a new idea. You can just give it another shot then and there. There really isn’t an equivalent to that kind of immediate feedback in animation. Animation really takes a lot of time and if you aren’t totally excited to work on your shot, it’s really going to show because you won’t be able to give it the attention it deserves.

So here are a few things that I try to think about to help keep my mind right while working:

1) Don’t let other people’s work intimidate you. It can be really easy to let the quality of someone else’s work bring you down. If you let it, it can take the wind out of your sails. Just remember, there will always be someone better than you. Remember that you love this art form! Treat it like looking at a great painting and enjoy it! Don’t be so self-conscious that you can’t let something great inspire you. There are lots of folks out there that make it look easy. Trust me, even to them, this is the hardest thing they’ve ever done. The truth is talent only takes you so far. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the secret’s not in the talent, it’s in the trying.

2) Sitting on your butt does nothing for you. No one in the history of the world ever got anywhere by sitting on their hands. The only way to get better is to try. Find some way to keep learning. Find some way to approach a problem in a totally new way that breaks down that mountain of knowledge into smaller humps that don’t scare you as much. There’s going to be so much out there that you never knew you never knew, and the only way to find it is to look.

3) Hold onto your good moments. It may not happen as often as you’d like it to, but you know when you get something “right”. We all know that feeling when we sit back and say, “You know what? That’s not half bad.” It can be really easy to gloss over those moments. Maybe the rest of your shot still looks like crap or maybe your deadline is tomorrow and there’s still a ton of work to get done. It’s really important to sit back once and a while and say, “Hey! I did something right today!” Those are your moments of progression! Hold on to them!

4) Frustration is a good thing…but you still need to get over it. I keep trying to remind myself when I get in a rut that frustration is a good thing. It means that you care enough about your work to be angry when it's not right. That's passion! That said, however, it’s hard to animate angry.

5) If you’re starting to lose enthusiasm for an idea in your shot, GET FEEDBACK. It’s impossible to laugh at the same joke for a month. And once a joke stops becoming funny, it’s really tempting to start picking it apart and say, “Does this really work?” That’s when you need to bring in the cavalry. Find people whose opinions you trust and see if you can get a laugh out of them on the first watch.

6) Be honest with where your skills are at. I know I can get a little hesitant about getting feedback when I know something’s not very good. But part of putting your work out there is being able to say, “My work’s not good enough right now, and I need your help.” It really is a hard thing to do. But I always try to remind myself that it’s okay if I’m not the best animator in the world right now. I’m learning! Own up to where you’re at skill-wise even if you think you’re terrible! You busted your butt to get to where you are now, be proud!

7) If you’re looking for work like I am, don’t give up. I’ve been out of school for almost a year now without so much as a single email or phone call. And that’s okay. It just means I’m not ready yet. Hence the going back to school :) It makes perfect sense that with all the people out there looking for work that no one would want to hire a mediocre animator. And I'm okay with that. I actually think I'm blessed to have chosen a profession that won't accept half-assed work. And when I'm ready, I'll get hired (and so will you!), but not before.

The bottom line is you’ve got to get out of your own head. Everyone deals with this stuff. You’re not alone. Not even close. There are so many other obstacles to becoming a great animator and you can’t let yourself become one of them. Animation is hard enough without having to beat yourself up about it. Never forget how awesome great animation can be. Animation is about the relentless pursuit of perfection. But it’s the pursuit that’s the important part, not the perfection.

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Back to School...

Tue, 28 Sep 2010 01:43:09 +0100

Well, it's official now: I'm headed back to Animation Mentor. I get to take a "refresher" course for 12 weeks while getting to learn about an area of animation that I could really use some work in: polishing. I'm really looking forward to being an active part of the community again after working in a bit of a bubble for close to a year now. It's really contagious to see so many people so excited about animation in one place. You really can't do any of this work without that kind of passion. You get out what you put in. Here's to putting in a LOT over the next 12 weeks. Cheers :)

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Ice Creams - Bird Box Studio

Tue, 03 May 2011 17:59:23 +0100

And now from the super-serious to the absolutely not-so-serious. Here's a short short film by Bird Box Studio done for BBC Comedy. Great anticipations and timing and best of all, it's funny as hell. Enjoy!

Thanks to the folks over at Lineboil for the link! (And to Justin for pointing it out to me)

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The Man Who Planted Trees - Frederic Back

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 17:18:08 +0100

Here’s a video I discovered over at Daniel Caylor’s blog On Animation. The video is a bit long, but I promise you, it’s worth it.

Such a wonderful message. I think you can compare the process of making art to the man’s planting trees. Each day you go out and you plant seeds. Never once did that man stop to think about the long-lasting impacts of what he was doing. Each and every day he did something simple and fundamental. And, over time, the work grew on its own into something magnificent, life changing, and life giving. Art may not be something as grand and as tangible as a forest, but can certainly change people’s lives. Each day, do something simple and fundamental. When the man plants a seed, he doesn’t think about whether or not it will succeed; or even if any of the seeds that day, that week, or that month will grow—he just keeps planting. Each and every seed is nurtured and cared for, whether it grows into something great or not. Through sheer persistence and quiet dedication, he builds his life’s work. Just as one tree doesn’t make up the entire forest, one piece of art doesn’t sum up an artist’s masterpiece. It’s built one seed at a time—failure after failure after failure.

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Facial Reference: John Pinette

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 05:09:34 +0100

Here's a YouTube link to a tv special from one of my favorite comedians--John Pinette. (You can watch the whole thing if you follow the related videos at the end.) I could watch this special over and over again and still laugh every time (and I have). He's got such a unique and entertaining way of telling stories. I think if someone else was telling the same stories they wouldn't have the same impact that they do for me. They don't make many comedians like this any more. There's no gags, no jokes, no swearing, no sex, no Seinfeld observations about airline food. Just a guy on stage, being himself and talking about his life. That's an entertainer.

Part of what makes him unique is his great sense of timing, but also he's got fantastic facial expressions. His face is so flexible, especially when he's mad. Even when he's angry it's still funny and appealing. There are so many expressions and gestures that are completely unique to him. It's the coolest thing as an animator to be able to study someone who has such a specific and entertaining personality.

Here's a handful of screens that I grabbed of facial expressions that made me laugh.

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