Category: Animation school Page 2 of 4

AnimSchool Student Spotlight: Laura Loossens

We’d like to present you Laura Loossens, student of the 3D Animation Program at AnimSchool. Hi Laura! Can you start by telling us a bit about yourself, like your background and experience before AnimSchool?

Before I even thought of being an animator, I studied economics and languages in high school. After that I started psychology at the University of Ghent but I didn’t felt passionate about it. I did however love to draw but I never thought to be doing something creative in the future. Until the moment one of my friends suggested a brand new educational program, Digital Arts and Entertainment (DAE), that only recently emerged in Belgium which was specialized in all the things I admired: 3D, 2D, animation and video games.
During my 3 years at Digital Arts and Entertainment I learned a bit of everything, even programming which I failed for in my first year. I had some trouble in the beginning with all the courses, simply because everything was new to me.
Nevertheless I never worked this hard for something, just because I loved to do it! All the hard work paid off and at the end of my studies I won the prize of best 3D artist and together with my awesome teammates, we won the prize of best game!
After my studies I started working in a small visual effects studio where I did various jobs but my main function was modeler and shader. I learned a lot and got better each day but there was no growing possibility as an animator in the studio, so I made a crucial decision to start the animation course at AnimSchool!

What made you want to be a character animator?

My first source of inspiration came from the many Disney movies I saw when I was a kid and later on movies like ‘Ratatouille’,’ Cloudy with a chance of meatballs’ and ‘Horton hears a who’ were a big inspirations for leading me in the direction of becoming a character animator.
My second source of inspiration came during my last year at DAE when we got the chance to create our own short and were completely free doing so. I came up with a little story named ‘Little Rico’ and made the clip in a short amount of time. During the development, I probably looked like a zombie but I also had the most fun bringing my story and characters to life. This was a decisive moment, I knew I was going to become an animator.

Laura’s student short animation “Little Rico”

Do you have any favorite artists that inspire you?

There are many different people that inspire me since the internet provides us a variety of animation clips, and I get inspired by many of them. I’ve seen some of them over and over, just to get a better understanding on their appeal.
Also, I will always have a passion for 2D animation. It is a medium that appealed to me ever since I was young. When I look at the work made by the artists at Bird Box Studio I get really inspired by the perfect timing and simplicity of their clips.

Your Facial Performance shot is a great piece. Can you tell a bit more about your process from start to finish?

Laura’s facial performance assignment

The sound I chose was one that had been stuck in my mind for quite some time. The audio had so much personality of a sassy woman demanding a new drink in her own way. With that image in mind I started shooting different kinds of reference videos and I seemed to like acting like a sassy lady.

Laura’s video reference for her facial
performance assignment

I imagined her sitting at her desk or at a bar, or not sitting down at all, just to get different angles that could look appealing. I learned this by watching a reference shot of Garrett Shikuma that showed us his variety of reference takes, just to come up with appealing poses and ideas.
After setting up my reference I start to block out my shot. I only look for the key poses that could really sell the shot. My reference served as a solid base and helped to find the key poses and timing for my animation.

After that very first pass of blocking I go over the same poses and look if the timing is working and if I can push some poses even further.
Spline is the next step where I spend time adjusting my curves. Normally I would take a long time for blocking however my mentor at the time, Melvin Tan, had a different approach. He would block out the scene fast and start with spline, but the method I used was the opposite.

I decided to follow Melvin’s suggestion, since it is always interesting to try out different ways of working and understand what the benefits are. In the beginning I struggled a bit but soon I discovered the benefits of working this way. I could spend more time on the details and characteristics traits of the character.

Laura’s Character Performance assignment

What was the most challenging assignment you had to deal with so far? How did you manage to overcome it’s obstacles?

I think each assignment has its challenges. Every time I overcome one challenge there is another waiting in line. But these challenges are what makes me move forward.

In my case there was the assignment for the Body Acting class. We had the possibility to create our own story without sound. I came up with a funny story of a scientist that was inventing an invisibility potion and was searching for the last clue. When he finally found it and tested it, he bumped over his potion on the chalkboard with his formula written on it.

While making this clip, I had difficulties getting the timing and poses correct. My instructor at the time, Tony Bonilla, was hard and honest. He kept pushing me in the good direction and I never gave up, even when I had to redo all my poses to really push them.

Even the latest version is not completely finished, but I had overcome so many challenges with that assignment that the following terms became a bit easier to complete, since I was better prepared for what was coming.

Laura’s Body Acting assingment

What do you think is the most important thing you learned at AnimSchool so far?

Laura’s Run and Jump assignment on Animating Characters class

Make the best of all the time you get with your instructors! Anthea Kerou taught me how to create a good base for animation, Tony Bonilla and Garrett Shikuma the importance of each stage of animation and Melvin Tan how to give your character more personality.

Listen to the feedback you get not only from your instructors but also from you fellow students. Always be critical of your work. Keep trying to get better and never think you are doing bad, since each step you take will bring you closer to your goal!

Thanks AnimSchool!

We thank Laura for her time and be sure to check out her Blog and her LinkedIn profile!

AnimSchool Student Spotlight: Eyad Hussein

We’d like to introduce Eyad Hussein. Eyad, can you tell us a little about yourself and what 3D experience you’ve had before entering AnimSchool?

I’m twenty eight years old and I grew up in Amman, Jordan. Since my early childhood, I’ve had a passion for character drawing, and like most artists I started by drawing with pencils, because it was the cheapest and the most available medium. I was obsessed with writing short stories, and while in primary school I developed my first short story by the name of Narcissus and most of the characters for it. After graduating from high school, I obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts at Yarmouk University. During my university years I started learning Maya and used it as a tool to continue developing the Narcissus characters.

Career wise, I worked as a graphic artist in small studios until I got a job offer to work as a Photo Editor at Front Row, the pioneer publishing house in Jordan, where I was responsible in developing, creating and editing photos for six international and local magazines. Shortly after, I decided to focus more on animation, so I applied for a 3D Rigging Artist position at Rubicon Group Holding, the lead animation studio in the Middle East, and got accepted.

Sabine Heller, one of AnimSchool best instructors and a Character Technical Director at Blue Sky Studios, motivated me to join the school. Back in January 2012, when I was struggling with some advanced rigging issues, I got in touch with her and she encouraged me to join AnimSchool. In summer 2012 I got accepted in the 3D Character Program.

Which artists inspire you?

Most of the time, I get my inspiration from movies, video games and people who work in the industry. I love all of Disney and Pixar creations, Tangled (2010) and Brave (2012) are my favorite movies. Three months ago I was very lucky to visit Blue Sky Studios in Connecticut, US, where I met four of AnimSchool instructors who inspired me – Sabine Heller, Chris Pagoria, Ignacio Barrios and Dave Gallagher. I also met the talented people who are responsible for creating the amazing 3D movie Epic (2013).

I always buy books from “The Art of…” series and use them as reference. The last book I bought was The Art of Epic. I would like to say that it’s really amazing, very different from many other books. I like how it presents the character development stages from 2D concept to final 3D rendered character.

I like all of Tim Burton movies and how he develops the characters inside his works. I also like Capcom style, and especially Mega Man. Because I studied Fine Arts, I like to look back into the history of art. I get a lot of inspiration from Roman and Greek sculptures and paintings.

AnimSchool Introduction to Rigging assignments, by Eyad Hussein

How did you become interested in 3D Modeling and Rigging? What do you enjoy the most? Why?

I was fascinated by Final Fantasy VIII (1999) from Squaresoft and how amazing their 3D characters looked. One day I saw a “making of” for the game on the TV, where they mentioned that they used Maya to model and rig the characters, so I started learning Maya and translating my 2D characters into 3D space.

The thing I enjoy the most when I do modeling is making the character’s face, because the face is the most prominent part of a character’s body, it is where all the emotions show, the first thing people look at. The thing I enjoy the most in rigging is posing the character and making it look alive, which gives it a personality.

What did you find the most challenging about modeling the character, Jane from your Intermediate Modeling Class?

For me, the main challenge in 3D character modeling making the character look as appealing as its prototype in the 2D design sheet, so that for people it’s love at first sight! 2D artists often cheat in the proportions when they do the posed concept for the character, so another big challenge is to match the 3D model to the 2D concept, or at least give it the same look and feel of the concept. The mission is to put a soul inside the character, so you can feel the personality and the weight of a character when you pose it. You have to make people believe that it’s really alive, and not just a bunch of polygons.

To know more about my process of modeling 3D characters please visit “Winter 2013 Review” at my blog: http://www.eyad.tv/blog/?p=575

As a modeler, how much do you model in ZBrush vs Maya? Can you talk a little about your process using both programs?

Chel- El Dorado ZBrush sculpt, by Eyad Hussein

Before I start modeling, I like to gather some information about how the character would be used. What would be the purpose of developing this 3D model? Is it a demonstration of a character in 3D space for the movie director? Or is it for paint-over? Or is it going to be used in animation?

If it’s for the director, I mainly use ZBrush, it’s the fastest way to get a result. The director want to see shapes, volumes and the character personality in a pose, so you don’t have to worry about the technical details at all. I used to sketch the character in three days: a day for the head, a day for the body and a day for polishing.

If it’s for animation, it’s almost fifty-fifty. Most of the time I switch between Maya and ZBrush – I sketch up a quick volume in ZBrush, do retopology in 3D Coat, take the model to Maya and start cleaning the mesh, and then I send the model back to ZBrush to give it the final touches.

What have you found the most challenging in the Rigging process? How did you work through the challenges? Did you discover any tips/tricks?


AnimSchool Introduction to Rigging assignment, by Eyad Hussein

The rigging itself is very enjoyable if you understand the concept, the challenge is always “Efficiency vs. Time”. I think rigging is the art of finding an efficient solution for a specific problem in a period of time.

I get through challenges by following a few important steps. First of all, you have to understand the problem – a problem well stated is a problem half solved, as they say. Second, you have to do a research, which is collecting information to solve this problem. After that, you should try different solutions and pick the most efficient solution for this particular problem. Finally test it! Let other people test it too, so you get feedback.
My advice is “Understand, research, try and test!”

To know more about my process of rigging 3D characters please visit “Fall 2012 Review” at my blog: http://www.eyad.tv/blog/?p=458

How has your experience been at AnimSchool? What is your favorite thing you’ve learned?

The AnimSchool experience is amazing, especially because the most talented people in the industry are teaching you all of the secrets for creating successful animated movies. I’ve been self-learning Maya for long time, but the amount of knowledge that I got from one year at AnimSchool is almost equal to what I have learned in many years of self-study, so it’s without any doubt a shortcut.

Self-learning is great, but the problem is that there’s nobody to evaluate and criticize your work, so you don’t improve much and eventually bump into a dead end. But as a student in AnimSchool, you receive a lot of constructive criticism from the instructors, which inevitably moves your work to the next level. This is my favorite thing at AnimSchool.

What advice would you give to other artists that want to get into a 3D Character Program?

My advice is to focus on the two sides, modeling and rigging, at the same time because they are so related to each other. To do good appealing rigs, you should be a good modeler. Never give up, keep trying and always share your work with others.

To view more of Eyad Hussein’s work visit:
Website: http://www.eyad.tv/

 Blog: http://www.eyad.tv/blog/
Photography Gallery: http://www.eyadness.deviantart.com/gallery/

Come join all the students learning online at AnimSchool!
http://www.animschool.com/Members/NewStudent.aspx
Summer Term begins July 1st

AnimSchool Student Spotlight: Camilo Guaman

AnimSchool would like to introduce Animation Program student, Camilo Guaman. Camilo, can you tell us a little about yourself and how much animation experience you’ve had before AnimSchool?

Well, I studied Graphic design and after I graduated, I started a small web design company with some friends. For 4 years we were doing great. We became a great influence in the country. But, at the same time, I was always a fan of the big websites that use 3D content in their work. So, I decided I would like to learn 3D to apply it in my web designs. In June 2008 I had the opportunity to go to the VFS School in Canada. I took their 6 month program where I learn how to model, rig and animate, that was a real challenge for me because I hadn’t done any animation, used Maya or any other 3D software before. As a result of the program, I did a short film called ” Heaven” and I had my first honor, I won the Renderman Teapot prize for best short film rendered with Renderman in the class 21.

After the program, I really wanted to stay in Canada and find a job but my visa didn’t allow me to do that, so I went back to my country to find a job. By that time, I had decided that I didn’t want to go back to web design. After searching for few month I got a job in Mexico, in a digital agency called Grupo W as a 3D artist. I worked there for almost a year and a half, but I wasn’t happy enough because I spent all that time modeling, rigging and animating hard surface stuff (cars, props, etc) nothing with character animation. At the same time the company was having financial problems too, so I decide to come back to my country where I found a job as a 3D animation instructor at a Graphic design Institute. I realized that in order to be competitive in the field, I needed to learn more animation. I started learning by myself, reading articles, and doing online tutorials, but soon I realized the necessity of a mentor, so I started searching for schools and I was really impressed with the AnimSchool characters and how the animation style was so appealing!!!

What inspired you to get into animation? What do you enjoy about animating the most?

Camilo’s Thumbnails for “Space Tourist”

I’ve always loved animated films, video games and cartoons, but I never realized that I could work on them someday. I remember being at the cinema watching Shrek 2 and saying to myself: “it would be nice to work on a 3D film.” It wasn’t about the Shrek movie, it was more about doing something that many people can enjoy.

At VFS I had to do everything by myself, so that was a great opportunity for me to test the flavor of each discipline and I found out that I really enjoyed the whole process, but animation was the most fun and challenging for me. I was stunned when I put animation on my “dead character” and got to see the result! Is like Dr Frankenstein said “its alive”….

To be honest, I’ve been asking myself this question over and over and I think here at AnimSchool I finally realize, the beauty of animation. I think what inspires me and what I enjoy the most about animation is the endless possibility you have to play with so many ideas, transition between key poses and personalities that you can try and experiment with.

Looking back at past 3D films, what character would you have loved to animate, why?

I’ve never thought about this before. I have many favorite movies but I always like the characters from Toy Story and Monster Inc, so if I had the chance I would love to animate Mike Wazowski. He has lots of energy, one eye, and is small in size, so it would be nice to play with that.

Student- Camilo Guaman – Class 4 Body Acting from AnimSchool on Vimeo.

You not only attend your scheduled classes, but we also
consistently see you in AnimSchool’s General Review critique sessions,
some have even been featured on the blog. Can you tell us a little about
your experience with this optional class and what motivates you to go
every week?

This all has to do with a decision I made
almost a year ago, I realized that this was my chance, this was my last
opportunity to study with professionals animators from the industry, so
with the support of my wife, I had to almost quit my job and work
only part time, sometimes rejecting jobs offers, freelance work, etc.
As a result my financial situation has been really hard, but my goal was
to devote most of my time to school, with the hope that this can bring
me someday to my dream job.

Since General Reviews started, I’ve tried
to be there as much as possible. For me it was like a class time. I
remember for my class 4 assignment “Space Tourist,” Tony Bonilla was my
instructor, and he was at General Reviews too. So, I showed my work in
my critic time, then showed my fixes in General Reviews too. It was
almost like a was having extra classes.

One thing that
really motivates me is having fresh eyes on my work, pushing some ideas
and meeting new people from the industry, while having them take a look
at my work and give me some notes at same time. Isn’t that amazing to
have your shot constantly improving?

I can definitely say that
for me, the most successful assignments, are the ones I have been
bringing to General Reviews, giving me more notes to address.

Student Camilo Guaman – Class 5 Character Performance from AnimSchool on Vimeo.

With every AnimSchool tests comes new challenges. Out of all the tests you’ve completed, which one has been the most challenging and why?

You are completely right, with every new test comes new challenges. Definitely the most challenging and the one that I struggled the most with was my Character Performance shot “Drinking.” I think because it was the first real acting exercise that I did. Even at VFS we didn’t cover this in depth because of the short program, so this was an extremely challenging test. You can ask Tony how much I struggled with the assignment :S …. I think one of the most difficult things was animating the face. Lots of new concepts there, and the jump between a “low res rig” and a “feature quality one” gave me troubles. Later I realized that it’s better to start small.

Can you talk a little about your process of your dialogue test, “Night Club Singer?” From coming up with the background story, your video reference, to splining?

First, I wanted to thank my instructor Bobby Huth for his awesome class and critiques. From the first moment I wanted to do something completely different from last term, so I started looking for audio clips with a male and female voice on it. Since I’d never done any girl acting before, I decided to animate that type of character.

One thing I always had in mind was that “I wouldn’t make the same mistakes from last term.” So, from the beginning I started to plan it out, listening to the audio clips around a hundred times. I remembered Jeff Gabor saying to me in one of the General Review classes, that he recommend memorizing the dialogue before jumping in front of the camera. That was a key thing because I had little acting experience and memorizing the script was the first thing we would do before starting a performance or creating any character. So with that in mind, I started recording a lot of video reference, around 100 movie clips or more. After that, I wanted to give it a kind of vintage girl look.

In the blocking process I started posing and tried to lock down emotions and expressions, then tried to refine the poses. I used Dave Gallagher iteration advice and kept working with that in the blocking, plus I added more mouth shapes.

Once I had my blocking approved, I started splining. Trying to keep things tight, holding poses to avoid that “bad spliney look.” Really focusing on eyes, I watched Garrett and Tyler’s videos about eyes and blinking and just kept going with the polishing.

How has your experience been at AnimSchool? What’s your favorite thing you’ve learned?

My experience here has been fantastic. I don’t have enough words to say to thank the school’s staff and my wife, who have supported me from the beginning. I’ve learned thousands of things here, but one of the most important things was to realize that not every shot was a “reel one.” Many of them have a learning purpose. For example, I remember when I was in Anthea’s class 2 and I was pretty happy with my walking assignment, but she made me think that a shot needs more than animation to make it look good. You need to entertain the audience, so that was an epiphany for me. Since then, I always think about the type of story that can entertain the audience, and of course myself. Also, the Mike Mattesi’s drawing classes help me a lot at the moment with posing.

Student Camilo Guaman – Class 6 Facial Performance from AnimSchool on Vimeo.

What advice would you give other students that are just starting out at AnimSchool?

Never compare your work with other students! The only person you should be comparing to is yourself. In this type of environment full of people from different backgrounds and experience, it’s easy to get shocked by other people’s work. Try to learn from your mistakes and don’t make them again. Sounds pretty obvious, but I always have to remind myself of that. Also, try to find simple and interesting ideas for your assignments in order to always be motivated.

AnimSchool Interview: Story Artist Mike Daley

We would like to welcome Blue Sky Story Artist, Mike Daley. Mike, can you tell us a little about your background and how you became a Story Artist for Blue Sky Studios?

Well, I started out drawing on everything as a kid. I filled up every last inch of every paper place mat, with every crayon, at every local eating establishment in Southern California. I was the fastest drawer in the west. Then I was that kid in high school that was put in charge of drawing out the art posters for group projects. I was also asked to design a lot of really bad tattoos. I was thought of as someone who was artistically talented. I’m sure that most artists and animators start out this way, or at least have a similar story…

In high school, I was direction-less in my career choices. I worked in a warehouse and was (on occasion) attending community college. In the art department, I took a few life drawing classes that exposed me to a professional art community and I got the idea that I could actually make a living drawing! WOW! It sounded a bit better than getting your fingers crushed in the warehouse. After that I was a bit more focused, and I transferred to Cal State Fullerton to pursue animation.

Out of school, I struggled through a bad animation economy to intern at Cartoon Network and eventually to work in downtown LA at a small design studio. Life choices took me up to San Francisco, where I continued to freelance until I was hired at Leapfrog, a children’s educational company. I worked as an art director there until once again I decided to move into freelance.

I knew that I wanted to work in feature storyboards. I jumped on any and every story job that I could get! The pay was downright awful, but I needed to get the experience under my belt. This was on top of my animation work. I worked hard and was extremely lucky to eventually land an interview and a job with Blue Sky Studios as a story artist. Now I don’t have to work hard at all (kidding, kidding)!

Do you always board to a set script? What’s the process for boarding to a script and what’s the process to boarding without?

I have found that there is almost never a set script. But sometimes, there will be a very specific idea in mind for a scene. Other times, it may just be kind of a vague idea.

Since most of my work is in animation, there is a lot of leeway for the artist to add physical action and comedy. I find that it is easier to sell some ideas by showing in boards, rather than a description in the script. This is what makes the storyboard process for animation so fun, the amount of invention!

If there is no script, then the process that I use is to get an idea for the scene by having a discussion with the producer, writer and director. Once a direction has been set on, I will usually draw out basic beat boards to outline the structure of the scene before diving into full-on storyboarding. It really depends on the scope of your scene, and how well formed your director’s vision is for that scene.

If the scene is short and fairly self explanatory, then I feel confident in just jumping into the boards themselves.

How many Story Artists work on one film and how are the scenes broken up between you?

There are anywhere between 1-10 story artists working on any one film at any given time, based on where the production is. Story continues to touch a film from beginning to end. A story artist may be pulled in at the very beginning of a film’s production before there is a script to help block out the movie points. A story artist may be attached to the end of a project, boarding little bits here and there, adding jokes or little acting scenarios. I find that a lot of the other departments are surprised at how early and how late the story team is involved.

The scenes can be broken up in many ways, based on a story artist’s strengths, or lengths of scenes, or scope of assignments. Someone who is considered great at comedy may be put on a scene that needs to read as really funny. Or, if a story artist has exceptional draftsmanship skills, they may be placed on a scene with a lot of drama and or action. If it’s a few scenes or a story thread that needs to be tracked, a few artists might be placed on a small team to tackle that problem.

What are some key rules you have in mind when story boarding a scene/shot?

This is a good question, and I think that it’s always changing based on what kind of scene you’re working on. A rule that I keep in mind, is to tackle the larger problems first, and then work to the smaller problems. This seems like a basic idea, but its easy to forget, especially when you’re in the throws of production. I wold love to think that I always work in this way, but it’s not always true. Sometimes you’re forced to work outside of a set system that you’ve established.

Keeping open communication with your team is important. Having a good back and forth with the director is key, and leaning on your fellow story artists for brainstorming ideas can be incredibly beneficial.

You’re constantly posting new artwork online. How often do you draw outside of work, and where do you find your motivation to keep it up?

Hahaha, well, I have taken a bit of a hiatus from posting artwork online recently, my blog is full of cobwebs at the moment. But, as a freelancer this was my bread and butter. Employers and producers are always drawn to more self-motivated creative types. Updating a blog is a really a great way to keep in contact with the art community and to get jobs.

I still draw a ton outside of work. It’s not only my career but its also my passion. Nothing beats drawing an accurate caricature of a friend, or observing a moment on the subway and recording it with a simple sketch. I would say that the motivation comes from wanting to interact with the environment around me in a way that I know.

You mentioned that a lot of your inspiration comes from the environment around you. You’re able to take a situation, exaggerate it, and make a single image comic out of it. Did you always have this skill or is it something that came with a lot of work?

That is a skill that I will always be working on, probably for the rest of my life. There’s always room for improvement and growth, and that’s what makes it so fun. There is always a direction to grow and expand. Thats probably a better answer for the motivation question above, haha.

Of course, these skills do require work and dedication. It’s like a muscle group that needs to be exercised.

You’ve posted many images of a boy and a robot. Can you explain a little about this story and where it came from? Any future plans for it?

It’s artwork and exploration for a short piece that I was working on with a friend. It was a fun project because I had no idea where it was going and I was creating a few new pieces a week to push the story along. This was a very organic, and not necessarily a fruitful way of working, but it still was very fun and I wasn’t bogged down with deadlines or scope. I’m taking a bit of a hiatus from that project, but it very well may develop into another idea.

Thank you for interviewing with AnimSchool, Mike. To view more of Mike Daley’s work, visit his website: http://www.biocreep.com/

AnimSchool Classtime: Fast Start For Facial Blend Shapes

In AnimSchool’s Advanced Rigging class, Instructor and Blue Sky Character TD, Chris Pagoria, shows how to easily start a facial blend shape by using a lattice. Chris explains how this technique helps with work flow, and creates a realistic feel.

Come join all the students learning online at AnimSchool: http://www.animschool.com/Default.aspx

AnimSchool Student Spotlight: Lucas Ridley

We’d like to welcome AnimSchool student and 11 Second Club December winner, Lucas Ridley. Lucas, can you tell us a little about your background and what made you want to become an animator?

I began my career in animation a few years after I completed my undergraduate degree in forestry at The University of the South. Through high school and college I filmed sports that I was involved with, like rock climbing and after college I began making films about hang gliding. Some of these videos even won YouTube contests, like one from Hewlett-Packard. I did teach myself After Effects to help create these videos. At this same time, the job I had making ecological maps at a university ended as grant funding ran out. I moved into freelance film making full time and quickly realized I wanted some formal training in visual effects. I went to Vancouver Film School for that, but then fell in love with animation and switched to studying animation there. I’ve never considered it as a profession for me until then, which was only about two years ago. Now, I’ve been working in the industry for one year.

But, what made me want to become an animator, was the unlimited potential of the medium. It was when I was learning traditional animation, that I discovered, I enjoyed bringing something slowly to life that didn’t exist before I put my energy into it.

What is your favorite animated film from your childhood? What current animated film would you say is your favorite? What makes these films special to you?

When I think of animated films I watched in my childhood, I can always picture moments from The Sword and The Stone, Robin Hood, Pinocchio, Lady and the Tramp, Peter Pan and then later Toy Story and Jurassic Park. Currently, I really loved the animation in Tangled, I also enjoyed Toy Story 3, ParaNorman, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Rio (being a hang glider pilot it’s a must), and all of Miyazaki’s films are very imaginative too.

Those earlier Disney movies I mentioned, just had a very dreamy quality to them and I remember having a connection to the characters and feeling like I was being taken on a journey. The newer films all have a range of qualities that makes them appealing to me, now that I see them through the lens of an animator. For example, I really enjoyed the 8-bit character’s poppy animation in Wreck-It Ralph and before learning animation that might now have stood out to me.

What artists would you say inspire you the most?

Andy Goldsworthy, Giuseppe Penone, and Joe Downing (the painter) to name a few, there are also some great pencil tests that Andreas Deja posts on his blog that are very inspiring. I’m fortunate to work with many talented artists at Moonbot Studios right now too. We have weeklies where we can see all the work being done at the studio, even if we aren’t on those projects. It’s really inspiring to see what everyone is producing. We also have Sketch Tuesdays, that’s a weekly dose of awesome artwork. It doesn’t hurt that I can see Bill Joyce’s Cintiq from where I sit at work, so I just have to glance over to see what he’s working on to get inspired.

Congratulations on winning the 11 Second Club competition this month. What kind of planning did you do before animating your winning shot, “A Sour History”?

I took several days to let ideas simmer on how to interpret the audio. I didn’t sit down and brainstorm, but just thought about it on my drive to work and spare moments during the day. I didn’t actually do any thumbnails, although I know it would have helped clarify some ideas. I relied on shooting reference for my planning. I probably spent at least an hour with the audio on repeat, trying many different acting choices. I used the reference for my blocking pass and then once I moved into breakdowns and refining the animation, I left the reference behind.

11 Second Club Reference from Lucas Ridley on Vimeo.

You created some nice contrast between your characters, both in appearance and personality. Can you tell us how you came up with these choices?

Luckily, these two rigs already had some great contrast built into their designs, which made me excited when I heard the clip because I had been planning on using them anyway. The first rig is my friend’s, Dylan VanWormer, and the second is AnimSchool’s infamous Malcolm rig. I did add the Little Rascals-style hat to him to emphasize his childishness. I wanted to play off the existing contrast in the audio and have the acting performance reflect the juxtaposition of their personalities. These guys are two childhood friends and the first has grown up to be an adult, but the second guy is still desperately holding onto childhood. I wanted their animation to reflect that.

In shooting reference, I discovered it would be good for the first guy to be handling a lemon, to allude to the punchline moment of the wider shot, and to give him something to sit down and let go of as he made his final decision to ‘move on.’ This was a representative of his inner monologue that he was physically letting go of the lemonade stand in his hand and in his life. I would not have found that moment without shooting reference.

When I shot the reference for the second guy, I tried to act as childish as possible. There are takes where I went way over the top to get in that mind frame and used the kind of childish attitude of “but I don’t wanna!” as a subtext for motivating his performance.

When you completed your 11 Second Club entry, did you believe you had a winning animation?

Not at all, I’m surprised I won. There are still several things I know I could do to improve the shot. The last time I entered I placed 15th, so my only goal was to improve on that and have a learning experience. One of the most appealing aspects of animation to me is that it’s an endless pursuit. There will always be something to learn and improve upon and I approach animation not to reach some end goal, but enjoy the journey of constantly trying to better myself in this craft.

You took Body Acting with us at AnimSchool. What would you say was the biggest challenge you faced while animating your shot, “The Suitcase”?

The biggest challenge was the actual pulling on the suitcase. I didn’t take great reference of myself for that section. I constrained the hands to the suitcase and then, animated the suitcase so I could make sure it would pivot correctly and then I wouldn’t have to counter-animate it, but it was kind of a puzzle to get those things to work together. I think that’s where I could improve that shot.

Tell us a little about your experience at AnimSchool.

I was taking the class while I had a full-time animation job and they really complimented one another. It was great to have a mentor continually look over my shot and give it one-on-one attention from broad animation choices to the little details, like Tony suggested to give him a hat to add some texture to the animation. It’s also a great community to be involved with, from the Facebook group, to the General Reviews, there’s always something going on. After finishing that class I really felt like I had taken a big step forward in my approach and my understanding of animation. That suitcase shot was scary to me and it was great to have the support and guidance of Tony to work through that, as well as seeing all my classmates work, was very encouraging.

There are many aspiring animators looking to improve their work. What advice would you have for them?

Well, I consider myself one of those aspiring animators too, but I think Carlos Baena said at Siggraph that we all have 200 bad shots in us and the sooner we get those out of us, the sooner we can start doing good animation (Malcolm Gladwell’s “Tipping Point” mentions the 10,000 hours threshold). I ascribe to this idea of putting in massive amounts of work and started on this path with the understanding that it’s going to take time, I have to be patient about it and in time, I will improve. I think some people may be hesitant to tackle certain shots because they’re afraid of failing, but those are going to be the shots you learn from the most. When I was first learning animation, I did every assignment twice because I failed on my first attempt. That sounds like a burden, but it’s what really helped me overcome obstacles and gain a greater understanding of mechanics. So animate something that scares you, and don’t be afraid to do things like the 11 Second Club, it forces you to a deadline and gets your work out there.

To view more of Lucas’s work, visit his website: http://lucasridley.com/

AnimSchool General Review: Diego Collell by JP Sans

JP Sans reviews AnimSchool student, Diego Collell’s dialogue test from his Character Performance class. While going frame by frame, JP discusses the appropriate time to break joints in animation.

This clip is from one of AnimSchool’s General Review sessions. AnimSchool offers General Reviews for 3D modeling, rigging and animation students several times a week, for those who would like an extra critique. This term we’re excited to add Supervising Animator, Hans Dastrup to our list of reviewers.

Come join all the students learning online at AnimSchool: http://www.animschool.com/Default.aspx

AnimSchool Student Spotlight: Dustin Han

AnimSchool would like to introduce Dustin Han, an AnimSchool student in our Character Program focusing on rigging. Dustin, can you tell us a little about yourself and what 3D experience you had before entering AnimSchool?

I
recently graduated from a 4 year college before coming to AnimSchool. I
studied Computer Engineering with a minor in Studio Art. I did some
Flash development work at a start-up social gaming company before
deciding to pursue my interest in 3D. I actually had very little
experience with anything 3D or CG related before entering AnimSchool.
The only experience I had coming into AnimSchool was a single class I
took at my university that covered the very basics of using Maya.
However, because I was a student studying computer engineering and
studio art, I did have a good foundation in both programming and fine
arts which has been a tremendous help during my time learning to rig and
model characters at AnimSchool.

Are there any artists that inspire you?

I
don’t necessarily have a list of artists in my mind that I can just
start talking about especially because there are so many inspirational
artists out there that it would make it difficult for me to pick a few.
In general, the artists who inspire me most are those who love doing
what they do and clearly show this through their work and dedication.
This pretty much goes for anyone I come across, artist or not. Also,
artists who started from a dream and made it into a reality through hard
work and perseverance are great inspirations to me as I hope to one day
have similar success.

What did you find the most challenging about modeling your character?

It
was definitely challenging to convert a 2D image into a 3D model
especially when you only have one reference picture to look at. A lot of
the character was left to my imagination such as what his back side
might look like, but this challenging aspect provided a great learning
experience and just made the modeling process more rewarding. Also,
being my first full character model, it was definitely challenging just
to get the model to look appealing and match the artwork. I found it
difficult to get the sharp corners found in the character design into my
3D model especially when trying to keep the topology reasonably low. I
went to one of the general reviews provided by AnimSchool near the end
of the term which definitely helped and looking back I wish I could have
attended more to improve my model. So future students, I definitely
suggest you guys attend these review sessions as you can never have too
many people critique your work.

You have your character posed out. Did you model him
in a T pose and then pose your character or pose your character out and
then transfer him into the neutral pose? Is there anything you would change about the process you did for the next character you model?

Character design by Cory Loftis

We first blocked out our characters in pose with
basic low poly primitive shapes such as cylinders, cubes, and spheres in
order to have a reference later when putting it back into pose. From
there, we moved the model into T-pose and began modeling it from there.
This made it easier to get proportions right and to mirror over left and
right sides. After finishing the model we used our blocked pose as
reference to get it back into pose and apply final touches such as
wrinkles on clothes and accessories such as my character’s hammer and
bags.

I really enjoyed the process we took into creating
our models so I’m not sure I would change too much. Although, because we
modeled with the intention of basically just creating a statue, for my
next model I will probably pay more attention to modeling with the needs
of rigging in mind beyond what was covered in class. This includes
things such as providing enough topology for deformations and making
sure the model is easily skinned since the model I made in the
intermediate class is made up of several meshes in order to make it
easier to pose the character. My model actually has no torso or legs
under his clothing. As I continue to study rigging and creating more
rigs, I believe I will start to understand more of what the needs are
for future models I make.

How did you become interested in becoming a Rigger?

Initially,
I did not realize rigging even existed when I first became interested
in 3D and animated films. All I knew was I wanted to be a part of making
the amazing films I was seeing in the theater. It was only natural for
me to want to become an animator at first since the animations were
what I was seeing at the top layer of the films I was watching. I did
not realize there was so much more happening underneath. Because of this
mindset, I often pushed aside my dreams of becoming an animator due to
my technical degree in computer engineering and not wanting to put it to
waste. I figured I could maybe land a job as a software engineer at a
video game or film company.

However, as time went on, I began to realize I could not simply
ignore my interest in the creative and artistic aspects of things
because it was just a big part of who I was. With that, I began to
research and found that there were positions in game and film companies
called Technical Directors/Aritsts where both (although varying between
positions) technical and artistic skills are used. It kind of just
opened my eyes to the industry and helped me to continue pursuing my
dream. I decided to focus on learning to rig because I really enjoy
characters in films and would love to work directly with them.
Eventually though, I would love to delve into other aspects of the
pipeline.

Now that you’ve had a couple of rigging classes at AnimSchool, do
you view 3D films differently? What do you notice now, that you didn’t
before?

Character provided by AnimSchool

The classes have definitely opened my eyes to the amount
of work it takes to create a feature level rig. There are just a ton of
things to take into consideration when designing a rig for animation.
Now when I watch animated films I’m even more amazed by what I see as I
now have a better appreciation of how much effort goes into developing
these rigs. Coming into a rigging class with no prior knowledge, I
naively thought it was just placing bones into a character to allow them
to move and be animated, but there are just several more layers of
complexity on top of that including creating clean deformations,
understanding relationships between the different parts of the rig, and
taking advantage of these relationships to provide a flexible and
intuitive rig for animators to use with ease.

Looking back at past films, what character would you have loved to model or rig? Why does this character interest you?

I
am a big fan of the Toy Story films so I would have loved to rig Woody
or Buzz. It’s amazing how much emotion and character can be brought out
from a toy through animation. I can only imagine how challenging it was
to rig a toy in order for it to come to life yet retain its toy-like
qualities during the animation process.

How has your experience been at AnimSchool? Do you have a favorite process or tip that you’ve learned?

My
experience at AnimSchool has been great. I have learned so much in the 4
terms I have been here. Just being taught by industry professionals who
have worked on some of my favorite films is an amazing experience as
you can be confident in knowing that what you are being taught is
relevant to what companies want to see. The AnimSchool community is
great and everyone is so supportive of one another. It’s just a great
feeling to learn with people sharing similar goals. I’ve become much
more confident in general after producing work I never could have
imagined before entering the program.

I have learned so many great things from AnimSchool that it’s
difficult to pick a favorite, but just because it’s fresh off my mind
from this past term of intermediate rigging, I really enjoyed my
instructor’s (Ignacio Barrios) approach to creating IK FK Switches (or
any kind of space switch) with the use of Maya’s blend color nodes where
you simply blend the transformation values of the IK and FK joints
together to provide the values for the driver joints as opposed to using
constraints. It was just a great example of how there isn’t just one
way to solve a rigging problem.

AnimSchool General Review: Ernesto Velasco by Dave Gallagher

AnimSchool’s founder, Dave Gallagher, reviews Ernesto Ruiz Velasco’s 3D model. Dave goes into detail on how to increase appeal, focusing on making a character look more youthful.

AnimSchool has these General Reviews for animation, modeling and rigging
students every week for those who would like an extra critique outside
of class.

Come join the over 150 students learning online at AnimSchool http://www.animschool.com/

AnimSchool Classtime: Mechanics of the Forearm

AnimSchool Instructor, Mike Mattesi, explains the mechanics of the Radius and Ulna, and shows how understanding anatomy helps you in drawing the figure.

Come join all the students learning online at AnimSchool. Visit http://www.animschool.com/Catalog/Catalog.aspx?Mode=1&LangID=1, for classes starting January 2, 2013.