Coraline

So just like every other animation website and blog, I must give my review of Laika's latest masterpiece. Personally "I LOVED IT!" I was not thrilled about watching it in the stereoscopic 3D, but I guess I must not judge an animation alone by it's technical traits. In general I don't like the new 3D experience, especially when the movements are so fast. It does just become a lot of material to give on a headache. However; I think they have started to tame it so that it enhances the important aspects of a film and push the scene. I especially noticed this when she walk into the theatre with a flashlight. The old throw things in your face doesn't impress me but the push further back into a scene really does. As far as story goes, I can't wait to get my hand on Neil Gaiman's book and devour it. The story was rich and enticing... I particularly loved Coraline.


They did such a great job in the early scenes of portraying a 7-8 year old girl full of youthful spirit. Her character is absolutely adorable. I say Coraline is a must see even if it's in "true 3D."

Another good article on this new 3D is the review of Pixar's new film Up and I feel they have the right take on the whole situation. Plus from what I've read I believe Up will be another film with a very rich story and wonderful characters. Definitely a film that will blow Wall-E right out of the water. Check out the full article here.

Also for any who read this blog... I've been trying to formulate ideas for my graduate thesis in animation, and I know this true 3D topic is quite big right now. I have a couple other ideas as well, but if anyone has any thoughts please comment or feel free to email me. Thanks!

I Love Running and Animation

I was checking out a previous SCAD student's work and I stumbled on this posting. Here is what you get when you breed two of my passions.


Origami In the Pursuit of Perfection from MABONA ORIGAMI on Vimeo.

The Pull

So the hop exercise turned out to be total bollix, but we've been working on a weight exercise for character animation and I think I've been able to make it 'decent'. It is no where near being really good, but I've learned a lot and hopefully I'm working towards some good 3D character animation.

Yawn

Here's a rendered facial animation that I worked on this past week.

Hop

So I'm also in a character animation class this quarter and I must say I absolutely love it and the teacher is amazing. The first assignment is a hop from one foot. Here's my 'tweened' version. Feedback is more than welcome!!!

Muybridge Study

So here is one of the projects assigned within the first week back at SCAD. A hand drawn study of Muybridge's photographs. Unfortunately I got the horse, which was quite difficult to draw, but I ended up with a funny little animation to laugh at among friends. So here it is, but the sounds are a little harsh so turn the sound up or down depending on how you feel.

Christmas 2008

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile, but I meant to get this one in particular up sooner. Personally I love when animators literally describe our capabilities as animators. My friends did this in their demo reel to Fjorg I think 2 years ago and it was a hilarious (that and the fact that they're all excellent animators!). If you haven't seen it check it out Fjorg Demoreel. I also wanted to comment on this seeing as Apple did a similar gag in their latest holiday commercial.



I found it to be quite funny, but then again I've always been a 'Mac Guy'. These types of animations are clever and remind us of the capabilities we have as animators. Anyways, don't stop animating and have fun with it.