Dear Winterites,
Here we are. The final weeks of school. The final weeks of homework. The final weeks of not having the mental energy for personal projects.
We have entered the finals at last!
As you are aware, if you’ve been following along on this school journey, Mondays are not the most exciting class. They have fun moments, but in general, other than keeping us up to date on assignments, nothing much is taught. It is my belief that they should use the opportunity to re-focus that class. Maybe take a deep dive into the principles of animation within the first month so that they’re ingrained in these, the animators of the future. Maybe teach practical insights into what it’s like working in a studio or even what sorts of jobs are all available. It would be the perfect class for giving students a head-start in their animation career path.
Anyway. That’s my mini rant for the week.
It snowed. Typical Canadian spring weather. But somehow, even though winter hasn’t even left yet, people have already forgotten how to drive when it snows? I don’t know. Our prof didn’t show up until half an hour into the class. Too much traffic to bypass.
Meanwhile, those of us sitting in class are wondering how long to wait before instigating a mass exodus.
But then he did arrive, and we spent the class drawing gestures.
(Practicing drawing gestures to show force. The character is pushing something heavy. We watched a short clip of someone pushing a heavy object, freeze-framed it, and drew a couple short sequences. They're pretty close to being stick figures which is great.)
I used my afternoon to work on my spec script. So glad I finally have the rough draft for that done. Progress.
On Tuesday, we started our final animation assignment. We are making a given character push something heavy off screen (as seen in the gestures above). Should be cute.
(First attempt. Will need to get things fixed up a bit before getting an approval.)
In scriptwriting, I talked with my prof about my spec script. Got answers to my questions. Not too much editing is needed, so that’s a relief. Then I worked on the script for my TV series, since that’s the actual assignment for school. We only need to complete Act One, but I’ll likely finish the script for the whole pilot at some point.
Then was working on character expression homework.
(Artwork being reserved for a future project, so...no spoilers for you!)
By Wednesday’s class, my key poses for the animation assignment got approved. That means I can move onto the rig. And since I had the time, I started working on another animating assignment, which is a foot stomp. Also cute, but I got a bit bored as I was working on it.
(These are the approved keys. See? Just a few changes were necessary. She'll walk off screen when rigging happens.)
And spring in Canada continues to be amazing. We had an ice storm all day. There were power outages, though in the dorms we only suffered minor flickering. Everything got cancelled, except class since it was online anyway. I basically just watched icicles grow outside my window, as well as some low budget films that were both terrible and hilarious.
(To the left is what I could see out my window. To the right are the icicles I watched elongate over the course of the morning.)
By Thursday, the ice had melted.
In life drawing, our final weeks will be spent drawing full body long studies again. After doing heads, hands, and feet for so long, I’ve forgotten most of how to draw a body. Haha. I’m only half kidding. Hopefully I’ll get one drawing worthy enough to be submittable.
(Some of the gestures to warm up before getting into long studies. I think my stick figures actually turned out best this time around. They just look fun.)
**Warning, as it is a life drawing class, the models pose nude. If that triggers you, please ignore the photos or stop reading here.**
(Attempt one (left) did not turn out the greatest. Took a little bit to get back in the swing of things. Attempt two (right) is definitely better. We weren't supposed to add all the details this time around. That will be happening in the next two weeks.)
In character design, it was working on character expressions. Made some adjustments to those I'd already drawn up.
Easter weekend is here! That means no classes on Friday! Unfortunately, I still had some homework to do. Which was also a fortunate thing because it gave my day at least some purpose. It's gonna a be a good weekend. Busy, but good.