Animation Fall 2012

All of the assignments I did in Animation 1 this semester. I have some very horrendous memories of this work. Hopefully you don't share the same feelings.

I still plan on going back in that last clip and fixing the take and leg vibration after the first walk. I don't know why, but that bit just really puzzled me for the longest time. I almost got my brain around it when it was time to turn it in. Of course of the finals day my professor explained it in a way that made perfect sense. As soon as I get back around a lightbox and have a little free time (ha) I'll be going back to redo that. I'd like to have it as polished as possible, even if it's just for my own peace of mind.

Figure Drawing Fall 2012

This is the final portfolio I had to put together for my figure drawing for animators 2 class this fall. I guess it was another one of those instances where I had just a couple of days where all my drawings were good and then a lot of days of crappy drawings. Since almost all of these are from the same 2 or 3  days. Oh well, what are you gonna do?

Character Design, Fall 2012

Here are the fruits of my labor (cough) in Character Design class this semester. Not gonna lie--this class wasn't much of a priority, so these didn't get as much attention as I wanted them to have. Also---I am really not a huge fan of character design. 

Assignment was to redesign character from a story (I chose Little Women) in the style of another artist (In this case I *attempted* Claire Wendling)

 Beth

 Amy

All four sisters. From left to right: Jo, Beth, Meg, Amy

Character Design Rampage ARHGFHGDDK

This past week was midterms, and I realized I hadn't solidly gotten any of my 6 character designs down for my visual storytelling project (one long ass storyboard). So I spent 5 days furiously drawing (meanwhile running around the East Coast playing with new running shoes and my black lab puppy) and pooped out all of this. 

Title pending. But I love all the stupid names I gave the characters. There isn't any dialogue, so none of it matters. They're just for my enjoyment. And now yours too.*

I also finished my second character design project. This is Jo March of Little Women as an alternative punk rock burlesque dancer. With a giant snake. And a pole. Jo always was my favorite. Fuck yea.

My teacher said I captured my reference artist pretty well so I consider this a success. Even if there are slight anatomical problems. Whatever. JUST ENJOY THE SNAKE.

So the moral of the story is that if you suck at character design life is going to throw tons of character design projects in your face (I still have a couple more to do for my final animation projects that we are starting) and then you are going to fill half a sketchbook in 5 days and get lots of people at the airport looking over your shoulder and telling you to become a professional artist. Thanks, stranger! Your input validates me greatly.

The layouts were fun though, once I remembered what perspective was.

Oh, and I totally had a seriously intense character designer moment after working on designs for 4 hours straight on a plane and then getting off the plane in Atlanta and seeing nothing but shapes everywhere. IT WAS SO SHAPE-TASTIC OH MY GOD YOU HAVE NO IDEA. It was like being drunk on design. Freaking amazing.

*For the record, "Apedog" was the self-declared name of some guy I once met. I am sorry I stole his name for this project, but it was a really perfect fit so I just couldn't help myself. Apedog, if you ever see this, I hope you feel honored. If you don't well then I apologize. 

Meg of Little Women

I'm setting the bar nice and low for my first character design assignment...

The entire semester's assignment is to take a story, twist it, and redesign the characters based off another artist's style. I am taking Little Women and giving it a burlesque twist, as my amusement with the irony seems to know no bounds. I am *attempting* to emulate the style of Claire Wendling and Frank Stockton. They are both phenomenal artists, and as it turns out, I am not, so it is proving to be a rather difficult thing to do. This mostly just looks like anything else I would draw or paint. 

Hopefully the next ones will be better. 

This is Meg, by the way. The umbrella is a literary reference that makes me feel super smart. 

Family Cheese

I spent some solid bonding time with my cintiq this weekend and worked on some designs for my visual storytelling project. Things are still in the the early stages though, so stuff may change with these. Probably a lot.

The story I envision so far is a black and white homage to more physical comedy. Not straight up slapstick, but I don't want any dialogue, just a lot of passive aggressive communication and maybe some people slapping each other or falling over or something... You know, just a family trying to get their morning off the ground. Things will go awry, however, when a dirty magazine turns up. I think. I don't know yet. There might also be ants. See the little kid? He is holding an ant farm. I know you can't really tell, but he is.

I am very inspired by ants these days. They are everywhere in my apartment, crawling all over everything. Including me. And my retainers. Ew.

Quester Characters

Last week at work I had a half day group. However I was working at an alternate site, so there was only one other group, which was full day. They asked me almost every day if I could stay with them after my group was done. I finally caved in on Friday and hung out with them for a few hours. I drew them some pictures of their in-game characters. I would wait to edit these once I get my laptop back from the shop, but I promised I would post them for them in a few days. So here they are.

An eagle-man thingy!

Casik's giant squirrel character, alongside his squirrel pets

 An ice spider with a dream essence gladius

 A dragon mage

A warrior with what is supposed to be spider armor. Ha, I have no idea how to draw armor.