I know I know...it's been awhile...I've been working on a tough shot lately that's driving me crazy.
12 characters...12.5 feet...that's about 8 seconds. And the worst part is that most of the characters are just watching a raccoon! That's the hardest thing to do in animation I think...trying to breathe life into characters that are just standing and looking around in awe. You start off thinking...oh this is easy enough....and you throw a few key frames here or there...make them breathe a little...(chest expansion) and wallah! All done! Right? DEAD WRONG! My stupid computer hates organic looking things...it wants to animate everything like robots and make every arm swing and head movement ugly! So you grit your teeth and get in there working out all the details till you have a nice piece of polished goodness. But boy oh boy is it a fight! I'm constantly thinking...oh I have to spend more time on the main character in this shot, where is the audience looking, what's the point of this shot, how do I stage everybody so they are all clear? I'm amazed my brain isn't like." Uh Jeremy, perhaps another career would be best for you. Because I'm about to explode. Perhaps milking cows would be more suitable for you, you'll work outdoors, have some fresh air, and eat healthy. But then Logic comes by and tells me ."Yo, Bernstein...that means you have to wake up at 4 a.m...."(because that's when farmer's wake up.) and then I say "Forget it!" and then Mr. Artistic responsibility, comes in and says "Yo J, use your skills to your fullest potential." and I say " Hmmmmm" and then Spiderman comes in and says, "With great power comes great responsibility." or did Uncle Ben say that first? Anyway, I say, "Yeah spidey...you da man!" and then we go sling some webs on some bad guys....but not before I finish my shot.
I tried posting some drawings up today but they failed to load...so instead I give you
some 2d animation goodness...well, kind of. There's this program called flip book and it uses flash to animate from the web...you've probably already heard of this site. Check out my Nostril squid and tell me if you want some more. click below puh-lease.
NOSTRIL SQUID ANIMATION
3 comments:
Oh man. Just "keeping 'em alive" may be the most annoying part of this job ever. You gotta make it look good, but not too good, or someone might notice, and noticing would be bad! I had to do a bunch of "standing looking sad" cycles not too long ago. I feel your pain.
great animation, I love the eyeball part =]
As far as work, I'm a modeler, but we all go through it, I know many days I sit pushing and pulling verts, and still feel like a monkey could do a better job =] I guess we wouldn't be where we are doing what we love for a living if we weren't so hard on ourselves...
I bet the shot looks awesome =]
Can't wait to see it!!!!!!
We should go be park rangers and go spelunking for a living. Wudduya say?
(spelunking |spiˈlə ng ki ng | noun the exploration of caves, esp. as a hobby.)
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