loopdeloop

Yeah, yeah.  So I've been bad about keeping up this blog and just bypassing it with tumblr - but I have been doing things!  Most of it has been a series of small explorations and other things in between jobs.

One of the things I've gotten really into is Loopdeloop!  It's a really awesome bi-montly internet & real life event where people from all over the world make looping animation based on a topic.  They can range from a few frames to almost a minute, can be gifs or movies, and run the gamut in style and media.  They all get put up on the site for everyone to see and then get screened at regular loopdeloop events in Melboure and Los Angeles.

It's a awesome place to sandbox out ideas or new techniques or just get motivated to animate something without being overwhelmed by the magnitude of a short film or other project.  It's a great way to discover new animators/artists and keep tabs on what the regulars are up to.  I actually got a freelance gig from a creative director seeing one of my loops, liking the timing, and reaching out based on that.  It's kinda crazy.  But the best part of it all is that making loops is fun!

I'll admit most of mine get done in the few hours before it's due because I'm busy with work and/or the deadline always surprises me when I convert it from Melbourne to California time and it turns out to be way sooner than I realized.  As such, most of the ones I've done have been pretty quick and show it, but I'd rather make that push to get something new made than do nothing at all - and besides, it's all in fun!  Some people go all out and make small films out of their loops.  I try to keep mine small, as on the scale of a walk cycle.  This is partly so I keep the project small and manageable so I can worry about other aspects of it other than sheer production volume, but I also enjoy the challenger of thinking about things on that small of a time scale and exploring what works for it.  Since January I've made 5 loops.

#1 - Hollywood

This was my first go at it and the most involved.  I used this one as a first foray back into 2d animation, which I've neglected since sophomore year.  The rough was done in flash, final frames in photoshop, and then everything was taken back into after effects for the flicker and editing.  Since making this I've found Alex Grigg's super helpful photoshop animation tutorial which everyone should check out.  Animating is photoshop is pretty straightforward but Alex shows some super workflow actions that he's put together that really streamline the process.

#2 - Sports

I had just learned how to do basic rigging in After Effects before I did this loop so I put my new found knowledge to work to make this whole thing in an hour during one busy work night.  It's super simple but I really enjoyed working with the graphic quality of it.  I'd like to do some more stuff in this vein in the future.

#3 - Frantic

What if a robot was frantic?  Another quickie made from non-motion blurred and randomized sections of this project (which is also to get a blogger write up eventually).

#4 - Food

Getting the downshooter I made back in use.  Cut up a strawberry, did some stop-mo with it, and edited it to music by Craig Smith.  Full song and original video collab with Sishir Bommakanti over here in tumblr land.  I shot some other material that night as well but didn't have time to developed a layered edit with everything, so it stayed just strawberries.  I've been revisiting the footage though, so expect to see that.

#5 - Frustration

I had recently ordered an LED light pad to get back into doing some traditional animation and had discovered tailor's chalk while wandering around the garment district of down town earlier that week.  (Tailor's chalk is awesome!  It comes in both clay (chalky) and wax (crayony) compositions, features very limited colors, and is shaped in chunky rectangles or triangles that let you really leverage it and get some neat marks!)  Anyways, I put all those things to good use in a five hour chunk of night after work.  It's all straight ahead, which was really really fun.

24 hour film

I finally made one.



This actually happened to my friend Eddie on his first day in LA. It was so completely absurd we ended up quoting it all summer long and I eventually made this too. This was done in photoshop then timed and jittered up in After Effects. I had never done anything like this before and it was a lot of fun. I'm a touch ashamed that this is on the internet, but it seems that's pretty common for 24 hour films...

Done for the Ashlyn's first Manimate.

take2 + reel

Take two! The last assignment of the year! Special thanks to Alberto Beguerie for his super model/rig.


*edit: Just cleaning up my vimeo a bit, I switched this video to private so it wouldn't show and clutter things, but it's still viewable if you want to see it. Password: take2

Oh, and a demo reel:

ta2

Our last project for traditional was a collaborative dance (so play this while you're listening to some music and pretend it works), this was my section. Medium was fairly open, though pretty much everyone stuck to hand drawn. I used cut out paper that was watercolored. The pieces were also covered in contact paper, which cause a reflection issue at the beginning but really protected the small paper pieces from all that abusive handling. Since my animation required a camera move and I couldn't get a hold of one of the HD cameras to crop the image down I had to rig up a moving set with foamboard, tape, and a couple of pegbars. When finished I had a great big piece of plotter paper that I attached punched paper to for registration and could roll up on the far edges. The super pegbar (made up of three) could slide up and down and side to side in the foamboard. Probably took around 8-10 hours to animate, with a lot more time in planning things out. I don't ever want to work with a puppet consisting of parts that small.

dialogue!

This was fun.

quadruped walk cycles

yep.

fishing for complementary angles

Our latest assignment in traditional animation was to create a short pantomime to work on body language and emotional change. On this assignment I started to understand things at another level (levels, which I'm sure are infinite, but learning is learning!) especially with overlapping action. I've started paying so much more attention to that lately and really try to work with it. I also wanted to work on animating a more interesting and graphic character. Looking back I feel I should have pushed the designs further and paid more attention to keeping them there in the animation. I know the story and motivation really doesn't make sense anymore, since so many things were cut and reworked, but he is barefoot for a reason! As far as the motion goes, it could definitely be tightened up and plused more as well as made less swimy (haha!...). What really made things for me though was during the critique so many people let out a sincere sympathetic "Awww" when he became sad. It's so satisfying when you create work that people connect with, and really, that's at the heart of all art. As with every assignment it was a great learning experience and I look forward to taking everything from this into future projects.

we are so happy together

One day I got a fortune cookie that said that.

On another day I made this:

Gladys!

This was the other walk cycle I did, the walk with character. While I love Gladys' design, I can't say as much for the cycle.... It's amazing the perspective a month can give you. Looking back I would make the body bob greater than the head bob, better choreograph the two, better the role of the neck, force perspective some, smooth the feathers, switch up the legs more so they read better, and probably do some more stuff too. Well, it was certainly a good challenge and learning experience at any rate.

Vinnie's First Steps

<3<3<3
I'm such a proud mommy.

Levin Mowing Grass

I was too nice on my last assignment, had to step it up.

Take that!

Assignment for class where we had to have our character do a take. The beginning isn't inbetweened and there's a bit that's just on keys. I realized after starting that starting at the beginning wasn't the best idea and that I should animate the part that constituted the actual assignment first and do the rest if I had time. I'm going to have to remember to stick to that from now on and keep the story setup bits on keys.

No Mushrooms Here...

The next project in traditional involves animal based characters and I drew badger. He's got quite a thing for books and literature and is inspired by the greatest bibliophile I know and shares his namesake.



And here are the development silhouettes we had to do. Fun stuff.

Flour Sack

Drawing that zoom was annoying as could be, and there's still some stuff to fix, but thankfully it's time to move on to bigger and badger things.

Having a Ball

It's the second semester, and you know what that means, ANIMATION! We got started with ball bounces and this is my final one.