Ahh finals!

This week is the start of my finals so I wont be able to post much. I just want to quickly thank everyone for posting their comments. I have really enjoyed reading them! This blog has turned out to be a fun way to learn more about something I love, animation, and it was overall a neat experience. I'm not sure if I'm going to keep posting after this semester or not but thanks for reading!

Call Me Crazy...

So now I have only a week left to finish my entire animation for my class (if you remember, it's the room with the giant glass in the center that I posted images of earlier). There is still much work to be done, mainly adding sound effects and improving the camera movements. To add to the madness, I've placed another element into the scene that wasn't in the original painting: a doll. My narrative for the animation is seen from the perspective of the character as she walks around the room feeling confused by the oddly sized objects. Only at the end does she realize that she's a doll inside of a doll house when she looks into the mirror on the dresser. I've posted an image of my model next to the picture that she is based off of. It looks good for a start but the hair and the apron are giving me trouble. I hope I can get everything done before it's due next week!

Women Who Rock in Animation

A couple weeks ago I talked about Mary Blair, one of the first women to hold an influential position working for Disney. Now I want to talk about some of the women who work in the industry today.

As far as opportunities in the animation field, we've come a long way from the Ink and Paint department. As an article from Women in Animation (Education First, Travel Next: Tips From Some of the Pros) points out, "In an attempt to engage more viewers by capturing another point of view, women are even being sought out." A few examples of women who have recently worked in management positions include Jean McCurdy who ran Warner Bros. Animation during its golden age and the creative team of women behind Nick Jr.

For girls especially but also anyone interested in an animation career, I recommend reading the rest of the article for tips about getting into the industry. Also, see the Women in Animation blog where you can find a bunch of blogs created by professional female animators.

Getting a Head in Modeling

For the past few weeks, I've been working on my character's face in Maya. Her head started out as a simple block that became more complex as I extruded, shaped, and added edges. You can see the edges, or green lines, in the first image that looks like a blocky c-3po from star wars. The next image is a smoothed-out version without the edges. Being an anime character, she will need much bigger eyes and her nose needs a little work. Nevertheless, I'm happy to see the shape of her face start to emerge!

Mary Blair: Disney Animator

Going with my previous theme of women in animation, I want to write about the Disney Legend Mary Blair. Most women who worked for Disney animation in it's early years were confined to the Ink and Paint department where they had little influence on the overall look. Mary Blair, however, was one of the exceptions. She joined the Disney team in 1940 and was named art supervisor for the Three Cabelleros the next year. Her unique style came to influence several films, includng Song of the South, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, and Peter Pan. I recently learned that she also contributed to the design of the It's a Small World ride in Disneyland, which clearly showcases her art style. She is inspiring to me because of the impact she has had on animation despite the limitations that were present during her time. Here are some screenshots of her concept art.

Computer Animation

Here is the scene that I'm working on for my computer animation class. The picture on the top is my model and the one below it is the actual surrealist painting by Magritte that it is based off of. Like my character model, it was created using the program called Maya.

I really like how my scene looks so far, especially the glass that I was able to make transparent. If you look closely, you can see that there is an actual reflection on the cabinet mirrors, another feature that I'm pretty pleased with. The carpet and wood textures were fun to make. They were created in photoshop using photographs I took of objects around my house. As soon as I'm done modeling this scene, I will be able to begin animating it!

First Modelling Steps

Here are some of the snapshots of my character model I've been working on. I realize that the floating hand is probably a bit creepy, but hey, you've got to start somewhere. It's not much, but these snap shots show the beginning stages of the modeling process.

The hand was more difficult to create than you'd think, and verytime consuming. Basically, I started with

a 3d dimensional cube using the program called Maya. I extruded one finger from the block, modeled and shaped it, and

then duplicated it to create four fingers. Finally, I created the thumb and slowly worked it into the rest of the hand.

The New Look

As you can see, my blog has undergone a much needed makeover. It now has a new title and banner along with a few other changes. Personally, I think it looks much better! Thanks to Komet Tails Designs for the awesome banner!

Sidenote: I was planning to post some character sketches but unfortunately I lost my sketchbook! (for those of you in my class, let me know if you see a yellow sketchbook laying around on campus somewhere). Despite the setback, I will publish some new updates on my character soon.

Strong Females Leads in Miyazaki's Anime

My last post was about the lack of leading female characters in Pixar films, but I'd like to point out that there actually are quite a few strong female leads in the animated world. Looking at studio Gibli in Japan, many all of the films created by Hayao Miyazaki feature strong women as the leads.

One of my favorite Miyazaki characters is Sophie from Howl's Moving castle. She perseveres, despite having a spell cast on her that turns her into an old woman, and fearlessly sets out into the unkown to confront the Wicked Witch of the Waste. The girl from Nausicaa: Valley of the Wind is another good example. At the end of the film she saves the world not through fighting but compassion, showing that strength in character can be shown without even picking up a sword.

When will Pixar focus on the girls?

I recently came across a letter online titled "Dear Pixar, From All The Girls With Band-Aids On Their Knees" that inspired me to write today's blog post. You can read the full letter here.
The author writes that although there have been several strong female characters depicted in Pixar films lately, we still have yet to see a film that revolves around a female as the main character. In particular, she says that we have enough princesses already and we need more tough girls who aren't afraid to scrape their knees and perform "Death Defying Stunts."

Of course, it's important to recognize that Pixar has been doing its job as far as creating awesome female characters who play vital roles. As the author mentions, the adventurous Ellie from UP is an exceptionally brave and lovable character who provides the driving force for the story. Also, the The Incredibles wouldn't be the same without the spunky Elastigirl/Mrs. Parr who keeps the family superhero team in harmony (while fighting the bad guys, of course) and her daughter Violet who is able to overcome her lack of confidence in order to come to her family's aid. In Wall-e, the female robot named Eve plays a role almost as big Walle-'s. She helps him save the day and their romance adds to the film’s charm. I've got to agree with the author though - we've seen that Pixar can create interesting female characters and I'd like to see one cast into the leading role.

Fortunately, we don't have to wait too long because Pixar is coming out with a new film in 2011 titled the Bear and the Bow that will feature their first ever female lead, a princess named Miranda. Although I'm not opposed to the main character being a princess, I understand the author's complaints. There is already a plethora of Disney princess movies, including their newest film, the Princess and the Frog. Pixar is known for creating unique characters and it's almost dissapointing to hear that they've chosen the well used role for their first leading lady. The film's synopsis does, however, describe Miranda as a royal who would rather practice archery than do her royal duties, she might turn out to be a unique character after all and be precisely the "tough girl" the author is looking for.

In need of inspiration

For my 3d modeling class, I need to come up with a character to model. I haven't made too much progress yet but I've been looking at various video game characters, like this fighter girl from Fire Emblem, for inspiration. I've been thinking of doing something piratey...we'll see.

Computer Animation

I have been learning the art of modeling in my computer animation class. We are using Maya and it is a difficult program to get used to. After much stress, I have completed the first couple of assignments, a watch and a glass. For anyone else having trouble with the program, these are my words of advice: take it slow and don't rush yourself. In fact, take time to go through the tutorials under the Maya help menu. It's amazing how much they help.

Animation Books

For those of you who are interested in traditional animation, I've does some research to find good books about animation technique. These three are often recommended as must haves on Amazon.com :

• Cartoon Animation
• the Animator's Survival Kit
• the Illusion of Life

The first book on my list, Cartoon Animation, was especially recommended for beginners so I've decided to pick that one up first. After I've finished reading it, I'll post my review on here.

Starting Out

Hello there! I am a beginning student in animation (both computer and traditional) and I've decided to create a blog to document my journey and to help other aspiring animators like myself. Here I will post advice, links to useful websites, and some of my projects. Enjoy my blog and come back soon!