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.