At long last...

Whoooo boy! Have I got a pile of poor quality amateur animation for you! Projects at school have been getting bigger, better, longer and uncut. They are taking more time and energy and making me feel tired all the time. It's a pleasant exhaustion however. One mixed with the satisfaction brought through completion of assignments. I really haven't been getting out much so my only real news is my completed assignments. Here are four for your viewing pleasure:

The flame with real smoking action! -
This was the first experiment in our new effects animation class. We were supposed to create a flame and then blow it out and have it continue to smoke for a bit. I tried to be clever when I shot it by mixing drawings up but it just turned out looking glitchy. Next time it will be better. I promise. Mother Nature deserves more.



Water drop with super-bonus ripple action! -
This was the second experiment in effects. Water is not easy to animate well. However, it only takes a week and a half to squeeze in enough time to animate it poorly. Observe:



Head rotation with spinning action! -

This was an attempt to rotate a head 360 degrees in order to illustrate the challenges of maintaining correct positioning, sizes and volumes of the facial elements. I had one of the simplest head designs in the class and I still managed to get lost. I'm actually quite proud of these 16 drawings despite the amount of help I received from the instructors.




The take with super crazy bug-out-eye, tongue-wiggle, body-jolt action! -
This was our try at the classic cartoon take. Cartoon sees something, freaks out in a big way and takes off. Sounds simple, but as in all things animated, it isn't. I received a fair amount of help on this after my vain attempts yeilded nothing but a freaky hippy cartoon floating in space. It has a few pops in it where I should have smoothed out the transitions but it's still fun. Enjoy!

Can I get a what, what, er uh, what? Huh?

"Sometimes, you just gotta turn on the hose and let the lawn get watered" - Anonymous
Potentially wise words, too bad nobody smart said 'em. They do however have something to do with the feeling of high water pressure building behind me as I continue to complete assignments without posting them to the blogorino. It shouldn't be more than a couple of days before I have for you a small handful of delicious atrocities. Yes, through the skillful mangling of pencil lines on paper, I have rotated heads, started, then snuffed fire and even conjured the element of water. Just wait for the glory!

Snow Job!

Hey! I made my own short! This wasn't an assignment but I needed to create something other than a line test or I was going to start feeling terrible. It's super short but I had a lot of fun making it. It's a new take on an old gag, kind of like TV is to fire. I put up a nicer quality video on Vimeo if you want to see it in all it's glory:

http://www.vimeo.com/7589515

Anyway! Enjoy!

Holy Moly this things getting moldy!

Wow! It's been a while since I last put something up, but with good reason. I've been super busy working on assignments at school, and well, I can't really remember anything else. I've sneaked back and forth to Seattle a couple of times, got stopped at the border on the way back this time (big surprise!). I think I'm on a list. If the CIA or NSA or the Department of Homeland Security or FBI (why do we have all these?) or whatever the Canadian security agency is called are keeping tabs on me, know this:

I don't smuggle drugs or weapons or want to overthrow the government. I just want free cheeseburgers on Sundays.

Love, Peter

This weekend I came down to visit some good friends visiting from Japan. They gave me some awesome Makoto-chan t-shirts. It was also the auspicious occasion of my Dad's birthday. We put on dumb hats and ate pumpkin pie. It was great. We proceeded to watch Burn After Reading, which I though was great but I think it just confused our guests. I know I'm leaving things out but I've been really frazzled lately and I can't remember any real stories. I do however have some animations!!! Since the last time I posted anything I completed three assignments that required a line, or pencil test. They are:

Stumpy Santa: A Santa with no arms or legs (for the sake of simplicity, not morbid humor). It is supposed to be played as a loop, so figure that out if you want. I'm not really happy with the hang time at the top of his bounce, but I like the way the hat reacts and I think the bounce is fine.



Repeat Pan (Mountain Scene): This was our first layout assignment. We had to create a background for a camera pan that looped. They use these in cartoons all the time. Next time you watch any keep an eye out for rocks or trees that keep popping up again during a walking or running scene. I got this one to repeat really smoothly. Ignore the Wite-Out towards the end of the cycle. Once again, this one is meant to be looped.



Jumping frog: A frog that jumps down a dock, sees a bug and eats it. I think the emphasis was on the frog's jump for this assignment but I was more excited about the bug being eaten so I spent all my time on that. I call this one Frog and Bug: A Love Story. It's about a Frog that jumps down a dock, sees a bug and eats it. The frog, despite it's natural ability to grab the bug with it's tongue, decides to use it's wit instead. The frog, knowing the bug's weakness for donuts, lures the bug inside his mouth with a flashing donut sign. Stupid bug. I wish I had spent more time on the jump and slowed down the bug eating part. Oh well. I'm not in school to do well the first time. I'm here to fail! Constantly! That's how you get your money's worth! Failure! Woohoo!

Enjoy!

Skunks like recycling too!

I finally made time for myself this week to come home and cook a proper meal. It felt so good as I've been getting home after 11 pm lately. I really like getting work done, but relaxing with the Pipester is one of my favorite activities. I made some type of curry. It's allright. I can eat it for two more meals. Any more and I'll crack. On the other hand Piper has been getting new wet food from those little made-for-prissy-cat packages. She's nuts for that stuff! She's constantly hounding me (yes, like a dog) for more food. I'm excited because it means she's happy and I've felt bad for leaving her alone so much during the week. Though, we do have a house full of people now. The woman who rents the up-upstairs has returned from her work in the North and is currently filling the house with good fire-creating vibes. After I finished dinner I stepped outside and then immediately back inside. The reason for my doorway hokey-pokey was a skunk hanging out in the recycling bin outside the front door. I don't know why he was in the recycling bin, but he was there when I checked on him about an hour later. He must have been reading the newspaper. The Dalai Lama is visiting Vancouver and has been on the front page. I'm glad I live with Earth-conscious peacenik skunks. Better than the Hells Angels skunks nextdoor. In animation news: We had our weekly History of Animation class today and we saw some of the most AMAZING animation I have ever scene. It actually expanded me as a person. I forgot what it felt like for my eyes to feast on visuals as though they were a Thanksgiving meal (which, by the way is coming up for Canucks). A short list of the artists and films which made an impression on me: Alexander Petrov The Old Man and The Sea (1999), Ryan Larkin Walking (1970), Chris Landreth Ryan (2005), Lotte Reiniger The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1908!), Suzie Templeton Peter and the Wolf (2006) and Erica Russell Feet of Song (1988). They would all be better seen on a nice big screen so try and find these on DVD and watch them at your-friend-who-has-a-huge-flat-screen-tv's house. Oh yeah! The photo is of my desk at school! Hopefully it will become more cluttered with time!

Home sweet home!

Here are some photos of my pad. You can see that there is quite a lot of "stuff" around the house. My landlord has a small collection of cars, most of them in need of some "love". If you look carefully at the picture of my room, you'll see Piper in the background, my nifty VFS backpack in the foreground and a copy of The Illusion of Life on my bed.

P.S. I just noticed that Piper is somewhere in the photo of the whole house. Can you find her?

Under where? Under Sea!

Whoooo! I finally finished my latest animation. Once again it's just a pencil test but it took alot of work. Most of it unnecessary but all of the mistakes were valuable lessons. Simplified and distilled, here's what I learned from making the latest piece of animation: Time management is key. Concentration is key. I am terrible at both.

Time use and concentration are all I can effect. I'm going to wear earplugs at school and assign a set amount of hours to each project. That's right. I'm taking my biosuit, made of recycled animation paper, Dr.Pepper cans and eraser bits and taking a space walk in the Nerd-o-sphere! Enjoy!