Corinne's AM spot...

2008-07-16T15:50:00.000-07:00

Well... Im late for another post - typical. :P

We are now currently in our 3rd week of Class 3, and Im loving it so far! I got Jay Jackson as a mentor and im PSYCHED! He worked on Tarzan, Little Mermaid, Cats Dont Dance and Many more!! To top it off, he's a cool mentor! :D

Our assignment this week... and up until week 305 will be to create a 5-10 second animation that has 2 contrasting beats

I chose to do Excitement - Devastated where a Gamer is playing his PS3 or something when suddenly the electricity goes out and he looses his game. Poor dude! :P

Well, here is my 1st stage of blocking... no blinks, finger movements or anything are done yet... and I havent added in any lighting stuff either ... yet.

Well thats it for now... Now on to blocking + <--- the second stage.

~~~~

I finally compiled all of my work from Class 1 and 2, and here is my final reel:

Almost Finished...

2008-06-15T02:59:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to post this before bed... Im almost finished with the last assignment of Class 2 at AnimationMentor! Woot!

There are a few poppy spots I want to fix, but I thought I would upload the render ... enjoy. :P

Neglected? No...

2008-06-08T11:43:00.000-07:00

Sorry... I've been slacking on this poor blog.. :P
Here's what I've been up to since...

210 - Advanced Arcs and Path of Action

Well, Im not too happy with the way this turned out... the timing needs to be worked on a LOT! I was running out of frames tho... so Im probably going to have to omit something... the stretching, most likely, for my final assignment next Sunday. The assignment's specs called for an anim between 120-250 frames... but since my anim stopped at 245, I tacked on 10 extra frames just to give ur eye a chance to see what happens at the end.

And here it is... *drumroll*... Stewie's Swan Dive!!

208 - Advanced Timing

For our last assignment of Class 2, we had a choice of five scenarios to animate:

- Balance on a beam
- Dive off of a diving board
- Baseball Pitch
- Push/Pull heavy object
- Open a Sticky Door

Im still working on my splining abilities, so I decided to go with the Dive... labeled a 3 star assignment. For reference I chose the dive in PotC 1 - where Jack Sparrow Swan dives off of the ship in the beginning of the movie.

This is probably my favorite assignment of the term... :)

207 - Intro to Staging and Composition

This is my final Post Jump assignment. Although this is what I turned in, It isnt exactly finished... I have a few more tweaking to do before I put it in my reel...

This was a fun assignment tho. :)

Catching up! :P

2008-05-10T10:07:00.000-07:00

I told you guys I sucked at Blogging.. haha.
Im finally getting around to updating... :P
(Read post from bottom ..up :P)

Our next assignment after the Kick was a choice between a run, a jump over a gap, leaping over top of a box or jumping from post to post- difficulty ranging in that order. I chose the post jump, obviously.... I have death wish. -_-

This is the first stage of blocking I did for week 205:

Ive changed the composition a bit and smoothed it out a bit more, so by tomorrow I should have the new cleaner version done by tomorrow, so Ill try to post it as soon as I can. lol.

~*~

Week 4 marked the end of our first assignment.
Here is my first assignment of Term 2 completely finished.

One day, when I have the chance, I'll render these out so that it looks better, but till then... this is all I've got!

Ball-E Kick!

2008-04-13T21:36:00.001-07:00

Hey Hey,

Well, today starts the first day of Class 2 - Body mechanics, week 3. This term is flying by so fast!

Our assignment, for the next 2 weeks, will be to animate Ballie (our Ball on legs creature) to either Kick, take a step to the side, or turn in a 180 degree turn. The first two were labeled as a one star, meaning less difficult, the turn being a two star. I, opting this time to choose an easier assignment since I have yet to master Splining, decided to incorporate both the kick and the step, to give my animation a slightly higher level of difficulty, without having to add in any type of walk or run. Lol.

Surprisingly enough, this assignment was not as difficult for me as my personality walk was. Using Video Reference is such a great help... but I'm not uploading that. :P

Honestly, if anything more exciting had happened to me since my last blog, I would have updated. But... I have no life. :P
Oh, I did find out I'm not going overseas to visit family... again. Bummer. -_-

Anyhoo.... that's it for now. We will be working on this assignment for the next two weeks, so I'll update when there's more of a significant change.

Talk to you then! :D

On to Class 2!!

2008-03-30T11:03:00.000-07:00

Wow... Tomorrow I start my new term as a class 2 student at AM! I cant believe class 1 at Animation Mentor has finished!

This last month has been tough... splining is not easy, but it has bee great. I cannot believe all of the great friends I've made this past term.... and cant wait to make more! Haha. It has been an awesome experience so far!

This is my final demo reel for the class. Well actually, it is not they FINAL reel... Im still improving it.. but for now, it will do. haha....

Im wishing everyone an awesome Spring '08 Term!! See you Monday! :D

Last of the Cruise

2008-03-29T19:12:00.000-07:00

Sorry... Ive been MIA lately... but I finally have a weekend to myself! Lol... its been crazy, you would not believe. AM is awesome... but busy!

(More in-depth :P)

Happy Valentine's day... haha well, actually, the day after we stopped at Roatan, we had a Sea Day, which also happened to be Valentine's day. What could be more romantic then at Sea, stuck on a swaying ship, alone and with an assignment on the mind? Hahah.... no, it wasnt that bad. It was just another regular day at Sea... but it was nice. It was the first night I got to fully watch a sunset... if you believe that! :)

Really, it was pretty uneventful. I basically hung out around the ship and worked on my AM assignment at the time, which was the Overlap Assignment using a Pendulum. I will not even upload an example of that horrible piece of work... I didnt have a chance to watch the lecture, my critique or any of the other students' work, so I was sort of on my own... which resulted in a piece of crap, to be honest. haha. Oh well... I was able to revise it, so it was ok. ;)

That night ended up being formal night, and I was not intending on dining with my family that night, but decided on going down at the last minute. When I got down there, a large ice sculpture stood by the large entrance doors into the hall. It was lit red with a heart and two angels/cupids. It was cool.

<-- See :P

Dinner was nice... I think I tasted escargot that night, or perhaps it was the night before.. I forget. haha.

We werent able to pick our dessert from a menu that night, instead all of the desserts were the same - cheescake and chococlate something. lol.

It wasnt bad tho... but the chocolate was RICH. Wow. haha...

After that, when my sister and I went back to the cabin, there was a heart-shaped towel on the bed.. haha, before that was a monkey hanging from a towel, a manta ray, and then a dog. They were so cool. :)

The next day we went to Progresso, Mexico.

When we got off of the ship, my brother realized he had forgotten his sunglasses, so like the genius that he is, he asked my uncle to throw them down to him - we were on the port, and my uncle was still in the cabin, looking out from the balcony- who was a good 20 feet above us. Still to this day, I dont know why my uncle listened, but he did as my brother asked, and threw the glasses down. The glasses got caught on the wind, and when they dropped down, they landed on the cement about 10 feet away from us. Nice start to the day. haha....

<-- See how high? :P

We went into the duty free and then into the shops around there. We ended up going to this one shop called Progresso tours, and payed for a tour around Mayan ruins that were about a half hour away. We had originally wanted to go to the famous Chichen Itza ruins, but they were a good 2 hours away, and we didnt have enough time. :( But the tour we did take was awesome.

On the way there we saw a flock of flamingos (are they called a flock? I have no clue ... lol) and then we stopped at an area where the Mayans would make salt. Our tour guide, who's name escapes me at the moment, went out and got us some, and it smelled like rotten eggs. haha... nice. :P

When we got to the ruins, it was H.O.T. Wow... really hot.

They were so tall, and so cool. When I rounded the corner into the main courtyard, there was a huge stone-gray lizard sunbathing on the stones about 5 feet away from me. It was so cool... when I got closer to it, he scurried up the side of the ruin into the shade. I was amazed I even noticed it... it blended in so perfectly! It was a fricken chameleon! haha.... Later on I was told that the tree next to me was LOADED with them... almost like how a tree is loaded with Squirrels... well there they were loaded with the 'Mexican Chicken' a.k.a the Lizard. Heh.

To the right was the entrence to the courtyard, if I am correct. Don't quote me... I might be wrong. haha.

The whole experience was really cool. I got to climb one of the stepped ruins, and we saw the Jail... and the blood-stained stone, a church-like building and more.

It was really cool. We were told that that area had just only been discovered 7 years prior, and that it had been hidden amongst the trees the entire time. Archeologists are still discovering new and untouched ruins still to this day.

Aha.. our tour guide was Yazmin! :D I remembered. ;)

But it was still HOT!

When we got back... we were exhausted! Lol... it was really fun. We stopped in the main market place, and wandered the different tables and stalls.... but nothing really... caught my attention there. Well... nothing except for this AWESOME hammock. It was the coolest thing. I bought it. haha.... but I have yet to install it. This Summer. :P

I did see my first Pelican though. Haha... he was a bit smaller than I had imagined... and a lot more gray. haha... At first I wasnt sure what it was, because it was far away, but then I watched as it scooped up a fish, and then I knew. I named him Nigel.

<---- Meet Nigel.

That night my sister and I found two swan towels on our beds, and packing tickets as it was our second to last night on the ship. It was sad, but to be honest, I was NOT looking forward to another day of swaying. It was like a constant rock-a-bye fest! I ALWAYS felt sleepy. No joke! :)

I swayed for the next 3 days. haha.... no joke!

Our last day on ship was another Sea day, as we sailed back to Galvaston, TX. It was a nice relaxing day, and I got to see my second sunset that night, and got to see my first Deep Ocean Oil Rig. It was so cool....

At dinner, the entire waiting staff performed their last and final dinner performance as they sang and entertained us before dinner. It was really funny... they guy next to our waitress Yuliya was singing Jingle Bells. haha.... he didnt know the words to the song, I guess. :P

Im going to miss Yuliya and Bogdan!

It was a great trip, and much needed after the harsh Michigan weather! It was a blast, and cant wait to go back to Mexico and Honduras! :D

Gaspard ... here I COME! :P

Still Cruisin!

2008-02-25T23:52:00.001-08:00

(Had to start a new post. haha)

On day 4 we got into Roatan, Honduras. Its Beautiful!
<-- :D When we pulled in, a group of dancers came onto the pier and started dancing and everything. It was so cool. haha...

The men are dressed in dresses (red and blue) because when the Spaniards came to the Island, they would take the men and make them slaves, so the men began dressing like woman to disquise themselves. haha... smart! They never knew!

We had booked an excursion through the ship to go to a park called Gumbalimba, a park named after a popular tree in Roatan. There we were told that we could go snorkeling, which is supposed to be AWESOME in Roatan, and above all, see their main attraction there at Gumbalimba... the monkeys! Oooh wii!!

We were prepped on the monkeys before hand tho.. haha... Neno, the naughty monkey was currently tethered up in the trees in his time out zone. Apparently he was being stubborn and refused to listen. haha... we were warned that the monkeys loved to come up behind you and jump on you unexpectedly. haha, but dont scream! or else they will too. haha...
Watch out for your pockets as well! The monkeys love to pick at ur pockets, hoping for treats. Haha....

Meet Gaspard! I simply fell in LOVE! (Just dont pay any mind to me.. haha it was insanely hot) :P.

Gaspard is only a year old or so, I believe, and is the sweetest monkey ever! For some reason, he insisted on staying with me and my sister, and whenever the trainer would move him, Gaspard would LITERALLY leap across them and back to us! :D cannot say I didnt enjoy it, but I did feel bad. Haha... I dont think they cared for us much after that. haha... ;)

I wanted to take him home... really I did! :( Anyone wanna buy me a monkey? :D haha.

And here's Joshua! -->

I was dressed to match the bird. heh. The trainer there knows every bird and monkey by name... and trained them all, and Im telling you.... there were TONS! Wow, wish i had HIS job! So lucky! It was just very hot!!

After playing with the birds and monkeys, we went snorkeling in the reef, but due to time restraints, we werent able to go out into the deep area, where all of the really colorful fish are, but it was still a blast! Cant wait to do it again! Lol... you should try it! Roatan had to be one of the coolest places we visited.The Fun Bridge.

This is the bridge we had to cross to get to Joshua and Gaspard... and it was the COOLEST ever! Haha... it rocked a bit, but I blame that on the dude in front of me... he was trying to wig out his kids. hahaha.... so cool!

I recommend a trip to Roatan, and to Gumbalimba!! Say hello to Gaspard for me! Bring him back if ya can! :D

Valentines day!

The next day, Feb 14, was another Sea day, and a nice day to relax! I was so lazy in the morning, just ordered room service, watched Catch and Release, and lazied around. haha.. it was awesome.

Other than that... not much happened. It was the first day in 5 days that I saw a proper sunset! Lol can you believe that? Before I either missed it entirely, missed it by MINUTES or was in the shower. Haha....But i saw it. lol.. and it was so pretty.

Sunsets are so pretty... just wish this dude was turned around... could have contributed to the shot a bit more. haha...

That night when I went to the dining hall there was a huge, or semi-huge ice sculpture of a heart and... something else. it was pretty cool... and we had heart-shaped desserts! haha.... They totally went all out. lol. :P

Day 6 we went to Progresso, Mexico, and saw Mayan ruins and flamingos! But I'm tired... I'll tell you about that next time. :D

Night!

Cruisin the Caribbean!

2008-02-25T23:19:00.001-08:00

Well, a nice break from the strenuous work week, and hideous Michigan winter, was definately in store! I was in dire need of a vaca! So it came as AWESOME news when my mother and uncle decide they want to take a 7 day cruise through the Caribbean!

You see, my uncle is a returning Officer from Iraq, and just recently had ankle surgery, and apparently the only place he wanted to spend his recovery time was aboard a cruise ship. Wow. lol... so on Feb 10, my family and I boarded a plane to Chicago, then Texas for a cruise.

I gotta say, I was excited to get away from the cold, and a tan in February?! Who could ask for more, eh? haha... Well, when we got to the Chicago airport, we find out that our flight has been delayed an hour or so, so I decided that it was a perfect time to finish my obstacle course/squash and stretch animation, and turn it in early. A few hours pass, and my animation is just inches away from complete when our flight has arrived. Great. I save and shut my laptop down so that I dont get badgered by the stewardess, and off I go.

When we finally get to Austin, at 1 in the morning, we take an hour ride to Fort Hood, an Army base in Killeen, TX. Exhausted, I dont even touch my computer. I fell asleep within seconds when we got there. haha... It wasnt until late the next night when I finally went to open my last file to add the last finishing touches to my assignment, when I realize that the damn laptop DIDNT SAVE! oh i was... grr... so angry. Because of that... I was forced to turn in my second to last saved file. That did not start my trip of on the right foot at all. :(

The Cruise itself tho was awesome. Once we all got over the constant sway of the ship, it got really fun! Thank God I brought motionsickness meds with me. :D

That night we met Yuliya and Bogdan, our waitress and assist. waitor in the main dining room. They are by far the coolest people on ship! I miss them!

Dang super flash! Behold... Bogdan of Romania, Yuliya of Ukraine!!! :D

The First day was a sea day, nothign special, and we spent the day exploring the ship, hanging out on the balcony of our room, or chillin on the top deck, ordering Virgin Daiquiris and everything! Lol... unfortunately tho, I didnt get to see a single dolphin ... well not then at least. :)

The next day was a port day, Puerto Cozumel. Beautiful. The waters are seriously... BLUE! I was shocked.... I knew they were blue.. but not THAT blue. Wow!
<-- see!

I bought a sharktooth necklace there! We ended up taking a ride down to this small resort called Mr. Sancho's and went horseback riding on the beach and swam. I got to ride Madonna the horse. HAHA.... my sister got Polomo, the flower eating horse, mom got Pocahontas, the psycho adn my little brother got Hot Pepper. hahaha....

I wish we would have had time to para sail! Too bad we didnt. Cozumel was awesome!

Anticipation: Squash and Stretch

2008-02-24T18:19:00.000-08:00

Week 5 came a hell of a lot faster than I expected! Lol... I was quite a bit excited to begin the squash and stretch assignment, but was not looking forward to the loss of sleep! Haha....

Well for this assignment, we were to create an animation using an obstacle course, with the bouncing ball bouncing through it. Being the overachiever that I am, curse me for it, I chose the harder, more complicated course. Able to tweak the course anyway we chose, I modified it SLIGHTLY and began my animation.

After HOURS of slaving over this darn animation, the end of the week came by pretty quickly. To top of an already strenuous week, my mother and uncle had planned a Cruise trip together, and we were to leave Friday, February 10, 2008.

I was excited, Im not going to lie, but while I was boarding our flight to Austin, TX, I was told to shut down my computer before taking off, and after I saved my final file, I shut it down. Well... to my surprise, and utter shock, when we landed in Texas, that final file..... was gone. Seriously, i was on the verge of throwing that damn laptop out into the Gulf of Mexico!!

Also apart of our assignment, we were to pose out another emotion for Stu. Devastation. A lot easier said than done, but finally, after many various files, I found one that I was pleased with. At least one thing worked out. haha....

I eventually turned in my last to finished file of my assignment into AM, but was NOT pleased. Eventually, I revised it, and this is the final result:

Intro to Timing.

2008-02-24T18:03:00.000-08:00

Well for week 4 of AnimationMentor, we were supposed to create an animation of two balls, one Heavy (bowling ball) and one light (ping pong) and have them bounce in the same scene. It was a fun scene, but an annoying scene.

Initially I had the small ping pong bounce off of the bowling ball, but after repeated failed attempts, I gave up and opted for an easier route... having the ping pong pass behind the ball.

Behold. My timing assignment:

Hi Everybody!!

2008-02-08T04:18:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! Thank you for coming to my AnimationMentor blog. :D

I've finally succumbed to starting my own blog... but Im not quite sure how often I shall keep this up. I've never been very good at these things... I tend to forget about them, and God knows it isnt interesting at the moment. haha....

Well, I am a new student at the awesome animation school AnimationMentor.com and I am LOVING it! We are currently in our 5th week, and are learning so much. My Mentor at the moment is Paul Allen, a super cool animator-dude, who's credits include The Ant Bully and Jimmy Neutron, and others.

My class is really awesome also! This has been a great class so far...good luck to all of those who are soon to start!!

2008-02-08T02:30:00.000-08:00

These are just some old drawings I did while in my Drawing class...

Excitement pose!

2008-02-08T02:02:00.000-08:00

Excited anyone?!

2008-02-08T01:53:00.000-08:00

Week 3 and 4 at AnimationMentor... our first foray into the world of Bouncing Balls!!! Lol...

Some old maya stuff...

2008-02-08T01:33:00.001-08:00

This is a collection of some old stuff I'd done in Maya... back when I took a Maya class in college. Please dont mind the crappy watermarks... a friend of mine did them and I cannot find the original photo. lol.. gosh.

Just some AM work ...

2008-02-08T01:21:00.000-08:00

Just some of my AM work since week 1!

We had to pose out our STU character... pretty fun! :P

Which STU would YOU be?