Objectimation

This was the second animation we did for Nancy Beiman's "Acting for Animators" workshop.  This time around we were assigned to animate objects and give them a personality in precisely 112 frames.  The story for this one changed a lot through the course of working on it.  I started of with a candle, a wineglass and an inanimate stick.  The final version is a little different.  It was a challenge to convey emotion without facial features (although they were allowed), but it was fun to see the objects come to life.  I had to work with four levels and a background, so I'm sorry that the video is a bit dark.  Hope you like it!

Magical Zoos and Speedy Drives, 4

I should really start taking out the "Speedy Drives" section from the titles of these posts, since we took a couple of wrong turns again on our way back home yesterday.  Nonetheless, I think we have it figured out for next time, which will be two weeks from now (so no zoo update next week) :P

I started using colour and tones yesterday!  It's fun to do, but I'm not quite confident with it yet.

The zoo is getting busier, and really, really hot!  Oh well, it's still a lot of fun getting familiar with the zoo grounds, and the animals are doing interesting things every now and then: giraffes can sit?  Guess so, haha!

Magical Zoos and Speedy Drives, 3

To be precise, the ride wasn't exactly speedy, but it came close: we missed our exit, but everything turned out fine in the end.  So yeah, went to the zoo again to draw more animals.  I'm starting to fall more and more in love with the Africa section, because it seems to have most of my favourite animals to draw in it.  It's easier to see their structure, since they're not so fluffy.  I spent a lot of time walking around in the zoo last Saturday, so I didn't get as many (acceptable) drawings.  I did try to draw some penguins, although it was super crowded and all the penguins were underwater.  Actually, the zoo was really packed with visitors last Saturday.  Probably because schools were out.  Anyway, I don't want to ramble too much, so here are the drawings for last week.

Painting With a Digi-Pen!

When you feel it's done, it's really done (usually).  No more details, haha!  I started this as a simple practice, but spent some time on thumbnails and colour choices.  It really helped out later on, so I'm glad I did the preliminary work.  Other than that, I challenged myself by painting on a single layer, so changing little things and blending got a little tougher in the end (hence I stopped).

I also went to the zoo again today, but since I currently have a short amount of computer availability, I'll probably upload those drawings tomorrow or Monday (although I don't have too many this week).

Jack Frost!

I was already anticipating Dreamworks' "Rise of the Guardians" movie after seeing the fantastic trailer, but my friend Haiwei recently pointed out a character that wasn't featured in said trailer: Jack Frost.  I ended up really liking his design and, well, I did some fan art :)  Hope you like it!  Took me roughly 3 hours.

By the way, if you haven't yet, you should definitely watch that fantastic trailer here!

Jack Frost's character belongs to Dreamworks Animation.

Magical Zoos and Speedy Drives, 2

Yay, week two of going to the Toronto Zoo!  The weather was much better, and the Zoomobile ride was even better in the sunshine!  Of course, I got a minor sunburn, but whatever.  The animals were being awesomely understanding of our leaving, anticipating our arrival next week.  The drive towards and from the zoo remained swift, so time on the road was a breeze.  Okay, I don't know where I'm going with this post.  Here be some animals:

Seti has an Awesome Nose!

This is the first animation we did for Nancy Beiman's "Acting for Animators" workshop.  We were supposed to make Seti (the character) emote a certain behaviour towards the ball, or make him behave like an animal.  It was a good learning experience, and it was great to get little hints and tips for the animation (and animating overall).  Anyway, we were supposed to keep the animation super rough (yay!), and within a certain time limit.  Hope you like it!

And flipping paper... IS SO AWESOME!

Magical Zoos and Speedy Drives

Okay, the real magic in the Toronto Zoo is the Zoomobile ride, which I hope to get on again the next time when I'm at the zoo.  Also strange is that we found the way back from the zoo instantly without driving down any wrong roads like last time. Bonus!  So yes, today I went to the zoo with my two friends Neo and Yu, and we basically spent the majority of our day there.  As mentioned, we went on the Zoomobile, we went to the giftshop and we had lunch.  Oh, and we also drew animals!