Since my last post there was a period of time when i had a lot of work going through my computer, small animations for personal use and animations for clients but then the work stopped and my motivation went, it was as if i would look at the computer and just think "WHY", why was i doing this when it didn't feel like it was taking me anywhere.
i know that everyone must feel like that from time to time, it a way of life that and human nature to question things, even things that have been a part of there lives since a young age but it was strange for me that i was questioning this, the thing i had wanted to do for as long as i can remember.
i tried to find motivation everywhere, i would watch movies that inspired me as a child, showreels from other students who have made something of themselves, tutorials on animation.....but nothing seemed to help.
It wasn't until i took a step back from animation and all focuses on the art that i finally could see things clearly, i could finally see what i was missing and what i needed to do to get that passion and motivation back that i had had for so long.
What i needed was a challenge, a competition, something that i was fighting for.....so i found out through a friend of mine that E4 where doing an ESting contest, each entry had to be a maximum of 10 seconds long and could be in any medium you wanted, so i decided as well as taking part in the completion to challenge others i would also challenge my own stills by doing the animation in 2D, something i hadn't done in 3 years.
I worked day and night on the animation as i only had 2 weeks from hearing about it to the deadline, with the help and advice of my mate on the side of software (as he was much more experienced in it) i managed to work my way to a completed animation that was a possible contender for the winning spot of the contest (or if not winner, at least the Top 10 ^^).
Sadly the deadline was also the same day that i had to move house, so i had to take a few days off animating to pack and clean ready to move, because of this i ended up sadly missing the deadline and although i emailed them to ask that my animation be considered as a possible late submission it wasn't to be, they had to many entries and couldn't take any more entries.
so my motivation took a little bit of a knock back again but due to the competition and the fact i had learn a new animation package it was still a lot higher then before i started it all.
the animation still needs a little more work with some splats but the overall character animation is complete, and considering how long i had to complete it and how little i knew about 2D animation i have to say that its not that bad really.
I will be adding the extras such as shading, intro animation (which is just rough at the moment), lighting and the splats very soon, just need to work on some other stuff first.
So, after i had completed that and had the little knock back i thought i would return to 3D, so i tracked down some decent rigs to use and found that the Norman rig was by far one of the best out there, along with the rig i also found some great sound bites to use for dialogue scenes and started work on some showreel pieces.
but soon after starting i was told that a friend of mines (granted not a close friend) that i had known for a year had a boyfriend in the Games Industry and was the lead character animator, she hadn't realized she had never told me this before but as soon as i found out i was right back to the computer and started putting a showreel together with the work i had, there wasn't much but it was anything i could find that i felt was good enough....since my last showreel was from 2009 i felt like it had to be all new work so show that i had improved my skills since then, and since i only had 3 days to put it together i didn't have time to work on anything big and new (plus personal/emotional difficulties crippled my creativity quite a bit).
So i got my new showreel with what i had into the company and hoped that it was either good enough for a place or it not, still good enough to get some feedback and to be kept on there records.
Yesterday i received an email from Alex (the lead animator) who gave me some REALLY great feedback that i know will help me so much, my plan is to take what he has said and improve my work, then send a new and more animation packed showreel to him.....this will hopefully show that im willing to learn and that i take on all advice and push myself to be better, and eventually maybe, one-day, hopefully, land me a job, but thats all hopes and dreams :)
Right now my main focus (until its complete) is the Cerebus work, yes its back on my work load and its new and exciting.
I was talking with the director of the movie about maybe using the dragon rig from the movie in my showreel as i was wanting to learn some mythical beast animation, but this soon turned into me possibly doing another scene for the movie. Since i had worked on the movie before and knew what was needed of me i knew that it was something i could both do and would love so i said yes, the thing i didn't plan on was that he would be giving me the OPENING SCENE ! ! !
yes, he has asked me to work on the dragon animation for the opening scene of the movie, this is quite daunting as you can imagine as it will need to be perfect and flawless in ever way, and since i've NEVER worked with anything with wings before it going to be a massive challenge for me. but i am fully committed to the project and i know that i can do it, i just need to keep focused and plan out everything accordingly, at the moment my main focus has been on research and reference, as well as understanding the rig as its rather complex in its amount of controls but im getting the hang of it, next will come the scene blocking....hopefully by the start of November i will be nearing the polishing state and finalizing anything that needs changing.
so that is what i am doing at the moment, my motivation is back and my life is back on track.....now all i need is a body that doesn't need sleep and i would be unstoppable ^^
anyway, thats it for this post.....hopefully i wont take so long for my next post so till next time....
Keep Creative ^__^
What I'm Saying
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