Cat stalking

It's week 11 now, so I'm due to upload my final assignment tomorrow. I realized how far behind I'd got in posting to the blog though, so thought I'd better try to catch up!
This is the refining stage of the cat stalking. A few little bits and pieces that I would like to tidy up, but this is finished for the most part.

Cat stalking from Sarah Knight on Vimeo.

Cat walk cycle

Here's my first walk cycle.
There are some things that need working on, but overall I'm pretty happy with this as my first attempt at a quadruped walk cycle.

Cat walk cycle from Sarah Knight on Vimeo.

Animals and Creatures

Hello!

I'm enjoying the start of the new Animals and Creatures course. I've already learnt all kinds of interesting things, but animating quadrupeds in a realistic manner is going to be a big challenge.

I'm sure people are interested to see what the new course consists of, so I'll do my best to post on semi-regular basis so you can watch my progress.

Week 1, we had to do a couple of still poses that were dynamic with nice lines of action, showing weight etc.

Week 2, we had to do vanilla walk cycle.

We're just starting Week 3 now, where we do an advanced walk.

I'm finding it a challenge getting to grips with the rig (for example in the pouncing pose, I couldn't get those front arms bent to match the photo), but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it.

Here are my poses - I'll post the walk cycle in the next couple of days.

Thanks for reading!

Final Animation Mentor Reel

Hello!

Unbelievably, I've reached the end of the Animation Mentor course!

So here's my final reel. Still a few things that I want to sort out (especially on the final shot), but this is what I've uploaded as my final assignment.

Hope you like it!

Spring 2011 Demo Reel from Sarah Knight on Vimeo.

Life at the business end of AM

Hi everyone,

Thank you for continuing to read this blog, despite the lack of posts. I see my number of followers has gone up - thanks for adding me!

Life is busy at the moment, with the day job taking up a lot of time and energy and it's a struggle keeping up with the animation in the evenings and weekends. However, I've stuck with it, and plodded through, and nearly have a demo reel!
Just 2 weeks to go before I've finished at Animation Mentor!

Well ... sort of.

They've just added a couple of new modules to their offering, and as I'm slightly addicted to Animation Mentor I've signed up for another 3 months of animation goodness - Animals and Creatures!
Quadrupeds - oh yeah!
(And even if I turn out to be not very good at animating them, at least I've finally learnt to spell the word "quadruped" - I could've sworn there was an o in there...)

So once I finish THAT course, I'll be done.
... Until I decide to do the 2nd 3 months of Animals and Creatures ... but no! I mustn't! I'm going to start applying for jobs first, and see how that goes before I do any more studying. I owe it to my bank account. And my friends and family. And my sanity.

The demo reel's looking ok - sometimes I think it's pretty good, considering how far I've come since those spinning cellos ... and then other times I think it's terrible and that I need to keep studying for at least another 2 years before I'll be approaching anything remotely close to a decent professional standard!
I'm assured that this is a natural feeling and that everyone hates their own work and doesn't think it's good enough. But still.

The shots that have made it onto my reel are:
- Monologue "gone forever"
- Monkey bars
- Weightlifting
- Pantomime with Tailor
- Monologue "would you like to resign?"

Short and hopefully sweet.

It was with great sadness that I decided to drop chicken lady, but in the end I decided the amount of work required to get that polished up wasn't worth the effort as it would have taken up most of the term. Focussing on the shorter shots meant that I was able to get through more, and I think ultimately benefit more from the wisdom of my mentor - Jason Taylor.
It's been a great term, and I've learned loads from him.
Definitely feeling like this whole animation thing is starting to click - finally!
2 years of studying, and I'm beginning to feel like maybe I'm starting to get it!

So I'll save the finished reel until it's all completely polished up - still a few more tweaks - and then I'll post it up for you to enjoy/judge/rip to pieces.

Stay posted!

Final Class at Animation Mentor

Hello!

Things are starting to get going at Animation Mentor again, so I thought I'd update you on what's happening! My Leave of Absence was definitely needed, as my day job got very busy and tiring, but in terms of doing new shots and revising all my learnings, I was only partially successful I'm afraid.

Successful because I got going on 2 new shots, but only partially so because I would have liked to do a bit more. And I almost entirely failed on the revision front.
However, I think I needed a break, and am feeling a lot fresher coming back in. It's great to be properly a part of AM again, as I really did miss being on campus and utilizing all the amazing energy and passion that place exudes!

So, Class 6 - Polishing and Portfolio. This is where we take all of the shots that we've done at AM, pick out the ones with the most potential, and spend some time polishing them up nice so as to dazzle anyone that looks at them.

So I thought I'd upload my shots here as well and get your opinions on your favourites. I've just thrown them together in a roughly chronological order - this is in no way what I would consider to be a "Demo Reel" of any kind. Just all my shots in one place.

Let me know which ones you think work best or have the most potential!

Animation Reel Classes 1-5 from Sarah Knight on Vimeo.

2 person shot progress

Class 5 is now over - just had my last Q&A. I say this every term, but where is the time going?! As my AM experience draws nearer to the end, it becomes even more unbelievable.

It's been a fantastic term - I have learnt so much from my mentor Michelle Meeker. She has worked on some fantastic projects, both in big studios (Pixar, Dreamworks, Weta) and independently, so has a good variety of experiences to draw on and lots of brilliant advice to share.
While I've learnt loads, it's also been a really tough term, and am a little disappointed with how my shot finished up. I try to take comfort from the fact that it was quite a tricky shot to do, with lots of physicality and cuts, as well as the acting, but the perfectionist in me is quite frustrated that this is what I handed in as "final".
However, I will keep working on it and hopefully turn it into something a little better.

I've decided to take a Leave of Absence before doing the final Polishing class. It was a difficult decision, but working full time and doing AM was starting to take its toll, and I really want to get the most I possibly can out of the final class. So I'm taking some time out to try to consolidate all my learning and work on a few new shots to practise my techniques and then return to AM in January for the final class.

So watch this space - I'll be posting up work in progress on my new shots here and would be even more grateful of feedback and comments!

For now, here's where I got up to on my 2 person shot:

2 person dialogue in progress from Sarah Knight on Vimeo.