I'm Still Alive - Pig Turnarounds + Backgrounds

June has been busy with CCAD Orientation-Leading, starting a new part-time job, and drawing.

I made it a goal to finish my HARDCOW short, and I'm sticking to it. Here's a turnaround of the pig that GOES HAM! in my short. The last scene I need to animate is one which involves this fella and our star cow dancing head-to-head: which I gathered some long-awaited reference for, thanks to my boyfriend and another one of our friends who is actually very talented at hardcore dancing!

Ah, why not. Here's a slight bit of proof of reference:

Happy Violence from Jon and Ben!

Here's a handful of the backgrounds I have been creating. When I animated for class, I had basic background layouts that I planned to follow until I finally got around to making backgrounds. I plan on approaching backgrounds very differently (sooner!!) next time around - it's funny that after doing it super-backwards, I have really learned from the challenge of "dealing with what you already have" - they are simple and angular (to contrast VS the organic characters), made in Illustrator.

Soon, I'll be updating with a stupid-big sketch post to catch up with sketches from the last semester (!) as well as the sketchbook I started at the beginning of this summer.

Hardcow Storyboard Update & Rooster Crow Pass 2

New storyboard pass I have been meaning to get off my chest! I feel like it is long overdue, and I definitely feel that I can finally, genuinely get the ball rolling. It's funny, once I break it down like this, I see how simple the story really is - dancing cow dances through a barn and finds a dance opponent - I feel immensely better about tackling it.

Here's an update on the first scene as well as the twisty background/behind the barn from the beginning. It's come a long way since last time (last thumbnails: http://sarahmaeschmidt.blogspot.com/2013/01/in-class-cow-gesturesrough-storyboard.html; first attempt: http://sarahmaeschmidt.blogspot.com/2012/09/media-arts-seminar.html).

"Hardcow" Character Development

Motion Graphics/Animation III slam

After a busy week, I finally have time to slap an update on the blog! First is my first project in Motion Graphics (a piece I will be finishing up before the end of the year), the second are in-class sketching exercises from Animation III, and lastly is a work-in-progress of my antagonist Pig for the 30 second short project. The goal is to show emotional acting: The pig is acting, "challenging".

Animation III In-Class Sketches and Project Keyframes

Our first project - which will go toward our final/30 second short - is to animate an emotion-based action. I chose a scene featuring a pissed pig who challenges the protagonist cow, throwing down the boom-box before their throw-down battle.

Below are drawings from in-class last week, where we watched a Charlie Chaplain short and proposed random feelings/objects for our character to interact with. The drawings in red were done by others during a quick critique.