Web Logged !

Another classic from the Animation Mentor curriculum: the obstacle course!

I noticed how hard it is to respect a frame limit, and that's something I'll really be working on from now on as it is the way it works in the industry. Even worse, sometimes you have to find way to delete some keys inside your animation because the director wants your shot to be shorter...

What's also good about these exercises is you have to play a lot with your splines in the graph editor, and you know how much work it takes to get them nice and clean ;)

Here it is:

It's amazing how much you can learn from those simple exercises.
At first, I thought they would be boring, but now I've done them I really believe they are ESSENTIAL to understand animation.

I cannot recommend you enough to give them a try, even if you think you can animate... ;)


A simple basketball bounce


Weighted balls bouncing

Hey there, I thought it was time for an update !

So, if you've followed this blog, you know I'm now a student at Animation Mentor.

And here I want to introduce you to my mentor... Jon Collins !

This awesome animator has worked at ILM, Blue Sky... And he's now working at Pixar on the "up"coming "UP" !
We're half way through the term and I can tell you this guy has done a wonderful job to help me improve and get a deep understanding of the basic foundations of animation.

So... HUGE THANKS, JON !



Me chatting with Jon

That's it, my first term at Animation Mentor is now over...
I've learnt so much and met great people, can't wait for the real core programme to begin... In 5 days actually ;)
By the way, I've just come back to Belgium, my trip to Quebec was awesome and I cannot thank my brother and his wife enough for their welcome!
(you might sometimes see a pic of me popping at my bro's blog ;))

Anyway, here is my progress reel for the Maya Springboard:





And big thanks to all the Am'ers !

Hey my dear blog readers ;)

Here's a quick post to show you my AM assignment shaded and lit.
This week is a bit crazy for me as I'll be leaving for Montreal this Sunday... And we still have some packing to be done ;)



See you soon guys !

Hey guys !

As said before, I'm currently taking the Maya Springboard at AM. And man ! I'm having a total blast !

Not only do I learn a lot ( I learned more here in 2 months than what I had learned in the last 2 years), but I also have to tell the world that the AM community (including the staff!) is wonderful !
Everybody's always trying to raise the level, getting the best of ourselves.


My Maya trainer is Marcus Schmidt, a former photographer and AM alumni. He seems to know it all... You have a question? Marcus has the answer ! I owe him a lot ! Thanks Marcus!




Well, we had to model a basic character, play a bit with parenting, build a set... Then we'll have to texture it, light it, render it... And finally we'll be heading towards animation !

Here is a quick snap at what I have so far:




Stay tuned for more, and Greets to my new friends !

Hey all... Did you miss me? ;)

I've been a bit away from my website and blog lately, which doesn't mean I haven't been animating.

I've mostly tried to improve my workflow, using a combination of keyboard shorcut, mouse, wacom tablet and spacepilot mainly because I want to avoid suffering from RSI.
In addition to that, I've got a brand new large desk and I'm now ready to rock Animation Mentor ! (I'm currently in the Maya springboard workshop they offer ;))
Ok, so enough talking, you're here to watch animation, right?

Here is a quick and rough heavy lift and push exercise:






I'll soon travel to Quebec, so I may be away again for a little while...

Be sure I'll come back full force ! Stay tuned !

Hey folks !

It seems I did a good job in April for my entry reached the 9th position!
I really feel I've been learning a lot these past months... And at the same time, the more I learn about animation the more I feel I'm only at the beginning of a very long and challenging journey. That's why I love it !

Ok, so here is my entry in April:





It's still snappy and has stepped keys feeling in some parts, but I'm pretty happy with what I came up with. Animation Mentor will begin soon for me and will *hopefully* help me to get rid of my bad habits and weaknesses ;)

I won't have time to take part in the competition this month, mostly because I've had some paperworks to deal with. By the way I'm still looking for a job! I'm currently working on a new reel and will send another batch of applications soon... *crossing fingers*

Stay tuned !

JL

It's time for a website update.

I'll be adding my 2 new animations made with Maya for the 11 second club, of course, but I will also refine the layout and recompress those flash videos.
The home page will also contain more data so that you can keep track of the updates... Hope you'll like it !



I'm working on it, stay tuned ;) After that I will be updating my reel...

So, March is over.
I did not have a lot of time to work on this one, so I had to submit something that really felt unfinished. And the result speaks for itself : 59th out of 150 (or something around that ;))
I had time to refine it, work more on the lipsynch, and overall make the whole animation less snappy... And this is the version you can see here:




I have learnt a lot this month thanks to Jason Ryan, supervising animator at Dreamworks, who created wonderful video tutorials (and directly answered my questions through the 11 second club forum)...Go and sign up for his newsletter!

I've had a bunch of useful critiques on the 11 second club forum, I translated the 2d thumbnails to 3d and worked on the animation some more.

5 days left for lipsynch, facial expressions, and what I fear most: going from stepped keys to splines...
I hope to make it in time ;)

Wish me luck!





Oh, and by the way... Bobby Beck has personaly replied to me on his blog... GREAT !

Yeah, it happens that sometimes I do something else than animation ;)
I've been contacted by a team of resuscitation trainers to create a logo for their new T-shirts....

And here it is !


(this one is still a draft version)

The only thing they asked me was to integrate the existing logo of the hospital in my creation.

Great news, they liked it !

Again, it's already after the first half of the month that I get enough time to work on the March competition audio clip.
This month is really about subtle acting, a real challenge for me...
I decided to do the blocking of the poses in 2d, to get fast feedback of what's working and what's not.
Yeah, the drawings are rough, and that's what they're meant to be, as you do them to work faster, you don't want to lose time polishing them.

Here is what I have so far :



I'm now going to translate those poses in 3d... And do the rest of the job ;)

Again... Wish me luck!

After some "paperwork", and only five days of nervous waiting (they announced me it could take up to 3 weeks...)





This is the first step towards one of my wildest dreams!

Now I have the choice to start this Summer, or to take their workshop for Maya and start the animation courses this Fall. I will have more info soon, it will help me to make up my mind ;)

WooooHoooo !!!

This month I finally started to take part in this wonderful character animation competition... The 11 second club !
There is a lot of talented people there who analyze your work to help you take it to another level. Thanks to them! (I added those who have a website in the "Links" section)
That was my first animation in Maya...At first that was just meant to be a test, as I wanted to know if I knew Maya enough to start working on it. So I began by animating 50 frames of one character...
And as I was having a blast doing it, I went on with the whole 11 seconds!
Being that spontaneous has its drawbacks though...The animation clearly lacks planning.

Here it is :



Wish me luck ;)


------ EDIT ------

Here is the final submission to the contest !



I had great comments and my animation reached the 16th position out of 109!

I'll try to do at least as well next month !