Soon after my last post, I began work on the animation of a 2D character for a short film that a co-worker of mine, Patrick, is producing and directing (and animating, and compositing...). I have 27 shots to complete, the longest of which is 250 frames, the shortest 16 frames, with most under 100 frames. I'm trying to have all my shots finished by Oct. 1. (that's 2007 not 2008). I'm working in Toon Boom and am fully animating the character. For some shots, I'll be able to use cycles of various lengths. The film is a live-action/animation mix. All live-action photography is complete so I'm able to use the actual film as reference.
Joining this project has proven to be the kick in the pants I needed to get animating again. Funny thing is, the project found me. While discussing the film class I had just completed, Patrick and I got around to talking about animation. Before long he told me about this project of his and was asking me to animate one of the characters. I said yes and the next day I was looking at concept art that had been done on the character.
I admit I'm really out of my comfort zone doing this because of the aggressive deadline (we're trying to have it ready for a puppet festival in late October - one of the characters is a puppet that was filmed live with the actors). I'm very skeptical and worry constantly about the quality of the animation I'm turning out. But I love doing it! In the end, it's Patrick's film and as long as he keeps accepting the shots I'm giving him, I'm going to keep moving forward. I've been working practically every night on it and words fail me to convey what a great learning experience it is.
I was going to start bearing down on completing the FAS course but that's taken a back-seat to this project. I still plan on completing the course but you know what they say about plans... In any event, my burgeoning library now includes Loomis' Figure Drawing For What It's Worth and Graham's Composing Pictures, two books I'm chomping at the bit to start studying.
I'm signed up to start Animation Mentor this January. It's a big commitment in many ways, but it's a worthwhile solution to what I feel I need to do to keep my animation education moving forward. I've got a lot of work to do since now it's crept into my mind that I'd like to be paid to do this someday. But such work has never been so much fun!
