2D Character Animation- 3 Escalating

Assignment this week (or was it last week?) was to draw this character our teacher, James Lopez gave us, with three states of being, escalating in intensity. (Example: Prosperous, Rich, Loaded) I had to draw him so many times just to be able to draw him "on model". This is something I really struggle with and would like to get better at. So here are my three.

Can you guess all three?

By the way... there is a Star Wars reference in here somewhere, I can feel it!

MPAA Interview for The Credits blog

An interview on the Motion Picture Association of America's blog The Credits
The Credits Presents: Back to Film School - On Location At Cal Arts

featuring ME... okay, and SEVERAL other CalArts students! Pshaw!
Who knew?! XD No, seriously, I knew. But still- that's cool!

Light Animation in BLACKOUT!

On September 28th or 29th (I seriously don't remember which), the Chouinard dorms- indeed the entire city BLOCK that CalArts is on, perhaps the majority of Valencia- lost power. I crawled into bed, just thinking I would ride out the blackout (& loss of A/C) by sleeping through it. Within minutes it seemed, two of my residents and friends, Isabela and Jamie were knocking on my door. They invited me to join them in animating in the dark! So, while still in my jammies, I ran down to their room where the camera was already set up and the LEDs were glowin'! We made dozens of little animations and photos of random stuff. It was SOOOOO MUCH FUN! Reminds me so much of the New Years' sparkler-drawings I do with my buds back in Texas. Miss those guys! So enjoy some short animations! <3

Cinematography is AWESOME!

Okay, so my mentor, Dan told me to sign up for this class called Cinematography and Composition for Animation with Bill Perkins. I was a little unsure since I heard it was theory- or as someone so eloquently coined, "Like Dan Hansen's Layout class on crack." I'm not so good at theory, but I signed up for it. OMG! I am sooooo glad I did! This is turning out to be one of my favorite classes! We do lots of cool work and I feel like I might be getting better! I don't exactly see the immediate results yet, but I FEEL smarter! XD So here's some stuff we did for class homework. He asked us to do 8 compositions a week from real life. I didn't fully understand the assignment (he wanted it in stark B&W, I did full renders), so I failed and did it again after I saw everyone else's awesome homework. (Once again CalArts, you humble me by the amazing talent I go to class with and you have forced me to strive to improve myself again.)

Also- worked on some story thumbnails. Almost NONE of this is going to actually be used.

Reminisce much? ...

Inspired by a blog post from my friend Trevor, I went back to the very first entry here on my blog.

I am kind of blown away at how different I am now. I don't yet know if I feel okay with who I am now, or if I am disappointed that I am not further along in my goals. On one hand, I am still at freaking CALARTS! Now that is never something to pooh-pooh. But on the other hand, I am not the success I had hoped for. I know that sounds so absolutely foolish and stupid, but everyone sets goals for themselves- and I had several. I've not fulfilled many of them. I know I work hard- though not always on the things I SHOULD be working on- THAT is going to be a big problem for me for the remainder of my time here, and possibly after I leave CalArts... But there are certain realities of my time here that I have had to accept. Certain sacrifices I have made in order to be here and be in this wonderful place. And yet, if I had not made these sacrifices, I don't think CalArts would be the journey it has proven to be.

This year has brought new challenges and obstacles and GIFTS that I would have never seen coming a little over 2 years ago. I am now an RA. I wouldn't exactly say that I didn't see it coming at all- I mean, I've applied every year I've been here and I had planned to continue applying until I couldn't do so any longer. But the manner that it happened and the WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL experience that it is already proving to be is something I never foresaw! I am simply with some of the nicest people ever! Last night while on duty, we laughed until we ached.

I have been honored with several opportunities this school year as well. I was interviewed by NPR on Tim Burton, along with three of my classmates. I was interviewed by the MPAA (Motion Picture Associate of America). I was invited to the Chuck Jones Centennial at REDCAT (my first time there), with the chance to meet John Lasseter. I didn't get introduced to him, but I did get to talk to Alice Davis (wife of Marc Davis- one of the Disney Nine Old Men) and she is a SPUNKY, saucy lady! I also got to speak with Chuck Jones' grandsons. These are things that were COMPLETELY unavailable to me when I lived in Texas. CalArts gave me this, and I am unbelievably grateful.

Now here I am trying to get my third year film off the ground. I am interested to look at this entry two years from now. I wonder how much I will have changed by then. Okay- off to work.

Makin' Short Films!

So, I am in my third? week of my third year at CalArts?  Wow...  Time is flyin'!  I have officially signed up for my Mid-Res on November 2nd- EEK!  But- more interesting than that to me: I have made THREE "short films" in three weeks.

OH YEAH!  I am having so much fun!

So I thought I would link to my three films for you, my chosen few blog-followers!

The first: The Perseid Meteor Shower at Vasquez Rocks (August 12th, 2012)

I took 30 second exposures constantly for about 2 or 3 hours.  I am really happy with it, since it is my first ever time-lapse video.  I know what mistakes I made and I have ideas how to fix them next time.

Speaking of next time!
My second film: My Cube Painting 2012- time-lapse

So, I made changes to my process.  I mounted the camera to a fixed tripod, which fixed the shaky, aspect- EXCEPT, over the 17 hours I shot this, the battery died about seven times and the only way to fix it was to unscrew the camera from the tripod, replace battery, then re-mount the camera, which, although it was fixed, it wasn't so tight on the mount that I got no camera movement at all...  I am sad.  But I am still figuring out ways to make it better next time!

The third: Scene 189 of Star Wars- UNCUT!

This video is a collaboration between my friend, Harlan (Harley) Scroggins and myself.  Star Wars- UNCUT is a fan-made project, where the entire film is cut into 15 second sections and fans all over the world can film the sections any way they want.  Since Harley and I are such Star Wars fans, we just decided to bite the bullet and go for it!  We divided the work in half and pumped this baby out!  This was so much fun!  I'd like to try another scene perhaps for the next film.

So, I hope you enjoy!

Laptop is back in action!

Okay, granted, it's been back in action for a while now, but I have had to replace all the programs- which, as you can imagine, is taking some time.  That has also hindered me from working on stuff.  Never realized how much I utilized Photoshop in a day-to-day capacity...

So!  Now I am back!  I no longer have FOUR part-time jobs (yeah- don't ask...) and I am a HAPPY GIRL!  I have no idea what is making me so happy, but I won't question!  I just want to revel in BEING happy!

So film work is continuing, as is my storyboard exercises this summer.  Not a whole lot of time before school starts again- EEE!!!  SO EXCITED!  So, here's hoping that lots of doodles and stuff will being heading this way shortly.  Hope you guys enjoy it!

My laptop is a paperweight...

No real updates until I get the new hard drive for my laptop.  Lost files.  Don't want to talk about it.

Storyboard Cardio

Had an assignment to board in 90 panels or less, in THREE HOURS, our choice of two characters in a location- and one character wanted something from the other.  I picked Dracula, old man, and the DMV.  I feel like I utterly failed on this somehow...  Waiting on notes.

Storyboard Studies- Star Wars

So, I had an assignment to do storyboard studies of the Luke/Vader fight scene from SW: ESB as practice this summer.  Been working on it as much as I can, but not finished yet.  I don't know if I want to at this point...  I am actually...  *takes a deep breath* ...a little sick of Star Wars....  >.<  PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!!!

It's just that, on top of the Han in Carbonite scene, I have been boarding Star Wars off and on for a year....  I need to work on something else.  But for now- here it is- the work I have done so far.