WIP

Another WIP shot. I quite like how this shot's going. Especially seeing as it was one that I was a little worried about. But I like the overall movement. Next is hair (my nemesis) and details like stripes, more accurate clothing, faces, etc. I need to fix up the face kick shot as well...maybe later. :P

One Frame at a Time

Well I'm back and I'm animating. Mostly I've been going through shots and fixing hair. Bloody hair. Next time I do one of these things the main character is having short hair. Or maybe she'll be BALD. But, like all animation, it's a good feeling when I get it right...or right enough.

Anyway, I'm not going to be updating the animatic for a while, maybe when I have stuff coloured I'll start updating it again. Most of the shots that are in there at the moment are cleaned up, huzzah!

So in the mean time here is a shot that I'm working on/failing at. I think it looks okay so far, except for the end. There is something very wrong there.

At the End

Well, the year is ending and so is my time in Adelaide. Unless they get busy and ask me back in January. Shannon says he'll go slow so that there's lots of work and they need me. Cheers mate!

Seriously though, this has been great, my first job in the industry and a great trip all round. I met awesome new people, learnt new things and refreshed my motivation for Viola. I'm itching to really work on it again. I brought stuff back with me, but it was mostly clean up and to be honest I wasn't very disciplined with it. But when I return, by thunder! Work shall be done. I'm really keen to wrap it up so that I can send it into festivals and so that I can go out and get more work in the industry. I have until the end of May now to finish up my honours stuff, but I'd like to get it done well before then.

There are many things I'd like to get done actually; I need a website, perhaps a general art blog, new cards (you know, ones that look decent) and an updated demo reel. Gotta get it sorted! I feel as though all my recent posts I spend babbling about what I want to do...I guess because I can't really work on anything solidly just yet. So once I can this blog will stop being all talk and you can actually see things that are done, or on their way to being done.

But having worked a nine to five job for the first time in my life (my previous jobs have been casual jobs with ever changing hours) I feel pretty confident that I can sit myself down and work on my own stuff from nine 'til five. I feel so full of motivation and energy so it bloody well will be done!

I've also enjoyed getting to know everyone at the studio and some people not at the studio. It's been really fantastic and I can't wait to see each and every person again further down the track. The atmosphere that the studio has is really great and the fuller it is the greater the atmosphere. It's been so much fun working with such rad and talented people.

So anyway, this could well be the last post for 2009. Talk to you all again (hah, I love how I write as though this blog has a huge following of legions of fans) in 2010.

Expect great things.

Or, well, you know, completed things.

Lex.

Staying longer, hurray!

I'm staying in Adelaide a while longer. Going back to Brisbane for a few days, seeing as I had a flight booked already anyway and then it's back to Adelaide. This time I'll be back as an employee rather than an intern. I'll be here from the 7th of December until the 23rd, then it's home to Brisbane. If the PRA get more work I can go back after Christmas. So I hope they get more, I really like it there. Although, you know, it'll be good to finish my uni stuf, haha. I'm bringing my lightbox back to Adelaide with me so that I can get a bit done during the rest of December. And when I get home I'll be going at it hardcore!

I really should get a little plastic lightbox though, something really portable. And the next time I upgrade my computer I'm switching to a laptop so that I can be ultra mobile.

Radelaide

Another post from Radelaide!

I've had some people giving me advice on my animation careerpath. One idea is to get funding to make a short animation, I think it's a cool idea. I've been formulating an idea for an animation I'd like to do after Viola. So if I developed that, got a script and designs together and ready, talked to some people here who've got funding, etc, I might have a go at getting funding myself. Although, I think that I would prefer to work in a studio, I love the studio atmosphere and I feel like I get more done in this sort of environment.

The bit I'm cleaning up is coming along but it takes so long. I'm trying so hard to get it done quickly, I think I might need to stay late on Monday. Hopefully I can get it all done then.

I'll be sad to leave Adelaide, I've had such a great time here and made new friends and all that. But I will also be happy going home, 'cos I am so pumped to work on Viola again. I should really get a website up as well and maybe a general blog, just for artwork and stuff. So that's on my to-do list when I return to Brisbane. I'm also getting excited about graduating (again, lol) and getting a job (hopefully). After this taste of working in an animation studio I am excited about the future. I look forward to whatever it holds and embrace any challenge to come my way!

Internship Update

I keep forgetting to update this thing while I'm here. Mostly it's because I don't know what to write. I can't talk about the specifics of the project and I'm doing clean-up everyday, so there isn't much new to write about. My clean-up is getting much faster, huzzah.

I am having an excellent time though, I'll be really sad to go home. And I feel so inspired about my own film again, which is awesome, 'cos I'd really hit a wall with it. If I can continue this 9-5 routine when I get home I'll get so much done. I've been spending less time on the internet since I got here and I feel better for it, so that's something else that's good.

So yeah, on one hand I'd love to stay here longer but on the other hand I can't wait to race home and work on Viola again. I couldn't bring anything with me 'cos my lightbox is too big, so I am itching to get back into it. Although, I saw an artists' lightbox in Spotlight the other day, a small, plastic thing big enough to fit A4 paper on. If you got a pegbar off the internet and stuck it on, it would make such a good portable lightbox.

I'm also learning things here, just by listening to conversations, talking to people and observing everything and how it's all run and put together. Preparing myself for the day when I start up my own studio. *Insert evil laugh.* Well, that'd be a while into the future, but it is something that I'd like to do one day. Especially because my ultimate goal in animation is to improve the representation of female characters. Which, lets face it, would be so much easier if I had my own studio and could have so much control over the animations being made in it.

So that's my update for now, I'll try and remember to update a bit more often while I'm still here.

Internship

At last I am updating about my internship. I'm at the People's Republic of Animation in Adelaide and loving it so far.

What I want to learn here is;

• How animation studios run
• How projects are organised in a studio
• How well my work stands up in a proffesional setting
• Views held by people in the industry about animation

I'm working on a 2D project and so far I'm doing clean-up and colouring along with another intern. We're cleaning up and colouring in Photoshop, which is something that I haven't done before. I like it, it's helping me to think of more possibilities when it comes to my own work.

Apparently it was hard for them to find 2D animators for this project. I've been told that there are a lot of 3D animators out there at the moment, but not as many 2D animators. As a 2D animator I found this pretty interesting.

Not too much to say so far other than I'm enjoying the work and learning a lot. I can also stay for another week, which is great. It must mean that I'm not totally awful. Huzzah!