Animation makes me feel like God lol

I was browsing 11 second club and saw one guys sig. It said that animation makes you more powerful than God. And after thinking about it, it was somewhat true.

You can choose your character, you can choose its personality, what he/she does etc. So it makes you more powerful than God in a certain way!

Also I plus(ish) thing about it is that you get to break your creation. You can destroy the rig, squish it, stretch it, break the back etc... (Don't want to sound to gruesome) But you have to do this to make them live ironically

You can also break gravity with your character! Make them snappy, scramble there legs, there arms anything!

I just thought that was pretty funny and pretty cool

Practice Practice Practe makes perfect!

Before I really started animating, I wanted to get alll the info I could get before because i wanted to be "ahead." Sure I got the ideas down and stuff, squash stretch, it is easy to remember. But putting them to use is another thing.

So what I learned the only way you could really get better is practice and practice. I knew the concept of squash and stretch before. And I animated some character but didn't use it. This is another thing.

DON'T BE AFRAID TO BREAK THE RIG! DESTROY IT WITH THE BROKEN JOINTS, STRETCH, SQUASH!

I am just getting that concept now with my new animation.

Also it is very good to have some critiques because it really helps.

But practice makes perfect, and makes it fun!

Coming up with ideas to animate

One of the most hardest part for me animating is coming up with an idea.

The sad thing is that I don't have to like follow any directions or anything. So yea, I can basically can animate anything I want. (Well in body mechanics because I still need practice)

So today while at home I was trying to think of an idea for a while. I am pretty picky of what I animate. I thought a vball serve will be good practice but then I realized I want to try to add some personality to it, not just a movement and stuff. Well everything has a personality but I wanted to make it more interesting. Not just follow a film reference. I want to show more anticipation and stuff.

So the idea I got is pretty good but maybe to long for me...We'll see...

It's like a guy hitting the thing at a fair and it hit the bell thing. But I think I have a pretty original idea going on...Not sure..We'll see like I said.

But lets go on about the reason I am writing this post. And how I get pass my mental block and what my mind is thinking in those situations...

When I finish an animation I go right away to find something else to animate. But the thing is I have all these videos stuck in my head about AM students and I just keep on replaying them in my head and don't get any ideas. So what I do is get out of my room and do something else. Half the time I usually walk around thinking about things, picking things up, going outside, jump on the trampoline. Then when a good idea pops up, I think about the character and stuff.

So Carlos Baena's blog really helped me. It really got to me about getting off the computer. I'm glued to the computer to much. Animation doesn't come from it, it is just a tool to animate. I can't get inspiration from facebook or engagdet. I have to get it from myself and experience life.

So what I am saying, get out of your seat and have fun! Then when you have some experiences and find something out, animate it!

Heading out for a few days

The next three weeks I am going to be busy!

But hopefully I can still animate.

Anyways today I am going to leave to northern michigan for family vacation till sunday.

Then on tuesday dentist to check my wisdom teeth, then friday wisdom teeth is gonna get removed.. But hopefully I will feel ok to watch wall-e! I am so pumped for that!

Then after that church camp.

The animation I am working on is going good!


I think I am almost done.. Still waiting for critique's on 11 second club.

So long!

My way of animating

It seems different than other people. Not sure if that is a good thing or not.

Anyways the way I am doing it, is of course I first block it out. But most people block out the major poses. But for me...I do that too but not for the whole animation. I block out a certain action, then I try to put more inbetweens depending on the spacing and timing. So I go through different passes of blocking in one.. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or not.

And I am happy to get back into animating! Because I spent a lot of time out of the house because being in the house, and I have no inspiration from doing that.

But I am planning to spend this week animating because all my friends are going to help at a church camp, and I can't because family vacation, but yea I will have a lot of time to catch up.

So what I am basically telling myself is that I will always have time to animate, I just need the right time, I can't force anything, especially when its summer and I have a lot of free time!

AM not getting accepted

On facebook I found a post about a guy getting rejected from AM. Man that is getting me scare D:

But on the other hand I am enjoying life and getting a ton of experiences!

Video References

Before when making video reference I kind of dreaded it. Which is not a good thing. This is because I wasn't into what I was making, I wanted to go straight to the animating part! But not doing good on my video reference made my animation worse.

But now I enjoy making them! Before I go I talk to the camera telling it what I am going to do, then I think about it. Then when I record the action, I have fun with it! I put myself in the setting that the character is in, then act it out!

Need to get my acting better tho..But practice makes perfect!

Kungfu Panda!

Awesome. Just loved it!

I took a break from animation for about two days to live life like I said and it was fun! Got a whole bunch of experiences and stuff that I can always pull back too!

I shouldn't have animation pull back my life should I?

But I got some neat ideas for my cannonball jump into a pull. (There is gonna be no water in the pool so no splashing)

Anyways I am trying to stay away from the computer because I don't have that many experiences on the computer. I'm on it way to much. It doesn't help with my animation because its just a tool for it, I can't get inspiration just looking at a screen! I have to do stuff.

So thats what I learned this passed two days.

Just need to find the right time to animate because before I just animated, no life, just on the computer so it was hard on myself and I didn't get that far!

Man still learning... from everything...Thats awesome!

Alrighty new idea! And living life!

Anyways the other animation i was working on was to long and complicated for me.. For now!

I need to try more simple things. Still need to work on body mechanics.

So last night while laying in bed, I was thinking...Hmm what will be a good idea to animate? I was thinking about it for like 40 minutes just laying there. Then I thought, well lets see what I do in my life.

Doing that it made me realize. Wow I don't have a lot of situations and a lot of experience in life. Because a lot of the times I just worry about animating at home and practice. So I'm usually in my room all the time just, animating. Don't get me wrong its fun! But I don't have a lot of ideas because I'm not living life that much!

But I got an idea because it is something I am going to do today. I am gonna go to the pool and record people jumping into the water. So yea that's what I'll be animating.

I think it'll be a good practice!

But now I am gonna enjoy my summer outside, get inspiration, keep animation always in mind! (it's a lifestyle for me lol) but not stay in my room that much! And I am gonna observe people and stuff!

Why I love animation

Today I realized why I loved animation. I never really thought about it. It just kind of grew into me.

But the reason I love animation is because before, I was a type of person that only saw one thing in one point of view/stubborn. I wasn't very open, I thought there was like one way for things. I judged the book by the cover. (for people) I thought everyone fits into a stereotype. I always wasted time watching tv and doing nothing. Haha I was basically emo.

But when I got into animation, it made me open my eyes. There are so many types of personalities. I know like no one that fits into a stereotype. It made me think. It made me realize there is a whole new world. I see into other peoples point of view. So I can get there feeling, know how they feel. And that will help in animation.

Even though I am not good at animation for now but I know it will help me later on.

Animation changed my life, it made my life more interesting. I broke out of my personal bubble to realize things, so I can observe. I am always studying

I'm just kind of sick when people say I am young, and stats say that my generation is going to change their career 7-8 times. It may be true, but I don't think for me.

I doubt any other job will have such an impact on my life like animation.
Before too, I thought that I would like to get into special effects because it looked cool and stuff. But it never got to me.

For me, animation really changed my life.

I have sympathy for people who are in college and are switching majors. Because they spent a lot of money on college and halfway thru they change it so they can't get all the info they needed.

So I am lucky I had this experience when I am in high school.
And my teacher told me about AM. Where I will try to attend.

Look out world, here comes a new animator!

Carlos Baena

Your blog is down! Aaaaahhh!

New story block...

Man this really sucks.

I want to animate a character that has a personality!

And changing emotions will be a plus.

But anyways...I can't think of any situations.

One that I had was a guy was hurrying to take a seat, and trying to find his pencil to write some notes. He is looking around because he can't find it and then gives up. Then he puts his hand on his head and found out that it was on his ear the whole time.

It might work, but I don't know how to finish it. You can tell he is in a hurry, you can tell he is struggling. He is giving up when putting his hand on his head.. But what after that? Going to write some more notes?

Gah! I'm not sure if I should think of a new scenario, or just figure out what he is thinking

If anyone reads my blog (doubt anyone does) but can anyone have input?

Done!

Any ways yea i'm finally done!

Now need to think/work on a new animation!

Can't finish...Aaa!

I think I am gonna have this problem a lot... But I can't let go of an animation! I keep on having tweaks and stuff gah!

I never been a "real" perfectionist until I came to this situation!



Its just imitating life can be sooo...fun!..and so...perfect!
I don't want one tiny thing throw off my animation!

But sometimes I need to just let go and learn new stuff instead of nick picking on small things in other animation!

I learned a lot on this animation! I'll let go of it 2morrow :P