Shrek The Third Article on CG Society

Here!

That's my pose all big and rendered and stuff!

Whee!

Allen in Pirates 3

My friend Allen was an extra on the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie and he just found this image of himself online. How ace is this?!

I like iPod pirate too. Heh.

Pencilbox

We have been holding an informal drawing challenge at work. A topic is chosen for the week and then people post drawings which are voted on by the group, with the winner choosing the new topic. All submissions from 30 second doodles to time-absorbing masterpieces are welcome. The intent is to have a break from computer screens and keep people drawing, and seems to be going pretty well so far. We have been putting some of the entrants up on The Pencilbox blog for each week, and now that there's a body of work up, I'm sending out the link.

Enjoy!

Between Blocking and Polishing

First "proper" animation post in a while!

I wanted to relate my experiences when working on a big acting shot shot a couple of weeks ago. I spent a lot time planning, as many people do - drawing and acting my way to a very definite idea of what I wanted. Sitting down at my computer with my bits of paper, all that preparation worked out and the blocking looked not only like my imagined version, but pretty good to boot, if I do say so myself! Feeling all chuffed, (it was a big acting shot), I showed my work to the directors and was most encouraged to receive only minor notes and a "Keep going".

That was just about the best news I could have received at that point in the shot, and with the hard brain stuff done I could simply go in and polish things up, job done. At least that's what I thought was supposed to happen. After working on it for the rest of the day, I came in the next morning and looked at the clip. To my dismay, I had lost some of the spark that made the blocking work so well for me, (in the head and hands in this case). Luckily I was able to nip back in to my initial pass and retrieve the two parts I liked so I didn't lose too much in going back.

What had gone wrong? Well, apart from my usual idiocy, I think I may have worked curves a little too much making some of the acting mushy, drifting away from my original intent. I was very careful about polishing up those particular parts of the character on the new/old version, I can tell you!

Hmmm... Perhaps I shouldn't be setting the precedent of being one of the few "professionals" who blogs about messing everything up! OK, revised version - everything went super well and it was so easy and I animated it all whilst juggling flaming torches and eight feral cats at the same time.

Or something. : )

I guess this is also another example of why spending time away from a shot is important. I mean, I could have tinkered away all night and not had the perspective to spot the subtle shift away from what I wanted. It's seems counter-productive but it really does help!

Stylin'

Just so you know, the following part of this article was CLEARLY written about me:

Okay, this is completely off topic, but Bay Area singles, if you are wondering where all the stylish and adorable lads and ladies are—they’re at DreamWorks! I couldn’t believe how many cute, geeky, quirker bees I saw floating down the halls and around every corner. Seriously, I was in pain. By the end of the day, I couldn’t bear to see one more tousled-haired, black-framed, well-shoed geekatron. You’re welcome. Invite me to the wedding.

This reporter must have liked the press day we had here! It's cool that they came to PDI, too, for I certainly enjoyed the left over food...
: D

The 4th Floor

Myself and my worker chums had some crunch-time fun with the 4th floor people in the building next door. They work for Zazzle, and blogged about it here! Ha ha!

That is my drawing in the window, and you can see me at the back of the pack of walkers.

: D