Epiphany! ...maybe!

Last week was blocking plus on our dialogue shots.  This is also the week we transitioned to spline in the graph editor (which, quite frankly, I ALWAYS hate because that's the moment where everything I worked for usually gets blown to smithereens :[ )After hitting mentor Ray's notes, the action become more understandable and simple.  But there was still lots to work on! Things I had missed in the blocking plus turn in: overlap! follow through! anticipation! So, you know ...only some of the most basic and important of the animation principles :/ But its okay... the whole point of this journey is to make mistakes and learn from them!  And I've had PLENTY of learning so far :D Here's last weeks blocking plus shot:

This week I had a mini epiphany that I hope I will remember in the next classes coming up.  On Q and A night, one of the other people in my class asked mentor Ray about how to get better control on your animation.  And what did Ray say? More breakdowns! And it then occurred to me: holy crap! THATS part of all the trouble I have when I move to spline! friggin not enough breakdowns! Instead of fighting the graph editor to find just the right curves, I needed to physically put all those little nuances and slow-ins/slow-outs in my actual blocking! It was so simple and yet has sadly eluded me since I started! Well after that, I went to town on my shot trying to refine the movements by adding actions where I sought fit.  It definitely helped :D There's still plenty to do (there always is!) but I'm actually feeling good about where I am with this shot.  Usually by now I feel tired and kind of defeated... no more I say! More breakdowns, that's the ticket!

And lastly on this Sunday morning: there was a special Q and A held for us at Animation Mentor.  It was a Q and A about The Avengers movie and some of the difficulties that came about when animating earth's mightiest heroes! It was hosted by none other than my old mentor Travis Tohill!  He gave a lot of great information on his workflow and tips on demo reels (when the time comes!).  It was great seeing him again and seeing all he has accomplished! And, lets be real here, it was great nerding out with the other fanboys and girls :P