Neck Muscles Study 2

Neck Muscles Study 1

Facial Muscles Study

Animatic complete for Alien abduction.

Alien abduction animatic.

How to approach drawing and Maya update

Drawing.
I've started to carry a sketch book with me and i'm trying to get over my fear of clean white sheets! I also need to remember that sketch books are a place to make mistakes.

I watched one of my sons drawing a few days ago and i was envious of his approach....
He took a stack of A4 sheets, placed them in front of him , removed the top sheet and started to draw. Simple....I asked him quickly 'what are you drawing' He said he didn't know and sometimes its better that way. I also asked why remove the top sheet and he replied "i just don't like the top sheet, the next page is always crisper".
I really love to see them drawing!



Maya.
Also over the last few days I've been learning about constraints in MAYA.
The next step is to create animatics for the Alien Abduction'

I've also been experimenting with stock character rigs. I'm thinking about trying some walk cycles using 'animators survival kit' and the Eric Goldberg book.

Feb 2010 progress.
Over the last 3-4 months I haven’t had much spare time to work on animation/drawing/3D and so my progress has slowed.
I’m getting back into it now and this year I hope to get a lot more productive.


Maya.


I am restarting work on the ‘Alien Abduction’ project in Maya.
I’m currently rigging the alien, using deformers,cluster etc. Its been a while since I made time for this so its great to get moving again.




Structure of Man


I’m up to video 57 of the course. Its been a while so I spent the last few days refreshing myself with previous lessons.



I eager to get the skeleton finished and the onto some muscle placement.
I really like how this course is taught, as an invention instead of a figure. Its very differnent to the Betty Edwards method of drawing which i'm also looking at.

progress report

I’ve not updated the blog for a long time but I’m still studying something every day.

The previous weekend I’ve finally watched a couple of documentaries I’ve been eager to see:

Disney’s Frank and Ollie.
http://animated-views.com/2003/frank-and-ollie-special-edition/

Ub Iwerks hand behind the mouse
http://www.amazon.com/Hand-Behind-Mouse-Intimate-Biography/dp/0786853204/


I’m also revisiting a lot of Disney animation as well as The animation podcast. This helps to keep me motivated. I am currently working through them again and I always seem to find more in them each time I listen.

Current Progress:

Structure of man: up to lesson 53 feet videos. I’ve slowed down on these videos as I’m now working through Maya fundamentals. I’m still liking the lesson as they are a great contrast to the Walt Stanchfield lessons I’m ready/practising.

Maya fundamentals: just started work on project 2 creating the space ship. So far I’m finding Maya pretty easy to learn and seem to be making faster progress than I did whilst doing the max videos. There are quite a lot of things I like about Maya (although I miss the right click undo you get with max)

Walt Stanchfield lectures and sketching: I am reading the first of the two volumes and finding the information to be mind-blowing, inspirational and thought provoking. I’m also trying to spend a little time everyday doing at least a few sketches. I’m mainly doing a few in the mornings as people are travelling to work. Hopefully I can start to see some improvement in my sketches soon.

Other studies:
Story by Robert McKee, lots of insights into story methods, film etc.
Eric Goldberg book. Excellent stuff , need to apply it to animation now!
also looking at alot of concept artwork. Glen keanes:pocahontas and tarzan stuff in particular. really liking this blog: http://theartofglenkeane.blogspot.com