Jumping Things!

Hello friends! First up, we have the infamous clown head thing.




Next, my own animal. I named him "Bru"




I should probably explain. Bru was a failed government experiment to cross-breed different strands of cow and steer DNA to make Bovine Super Soldiers. Obviously there were some defects. No matter! Bru's a smart fellow, and thus made his limbs out of forks, rulers, and duct tape. Just look at that hang time! How's that for genetically superior?

Character Designs Near Completion

I'm also very close to finishing up my set in Maya. The set is supposed to be an alien ship; imagine the people at Apple are actually aliens. It's that sort of design with smooth, rounded corners with cut edges.

Also, there were some issues with getting the jump animation going, but that will be up very soon as well.

Tutorial 1: The Bouncing Ball

I wish Flash had a more advanced graph editor like Maya, but I wish for a lot of things. I wished for the Nile once... almost got it.

My Film Script, "Lofax"

This is only a section of the seven-part piece, but I wanted to see how the art style would hold up in flash by doing a small, coherent section of the film.

TITLE SCREEN - "LOFAX"
INT. GAP ROOM
The camera pans across as the giant gap between corridors as another title screen appears, reading...

"Angus Glass awakens from a comatose state to find himself on an alien vessel. With very little memory of his past, he manages to escape the hold of his captors. His only companion on this ship has just died, and he, too, loses hope of finding any answers."

GLASS approaches the edge of the walkway and looks down. Cut
from his drop, to his face.
Cut back to GLASS’s feet as he tempts falling over the edge.
He bends down on one knee and looks over the edge again.
Pounding his fist in agony, he is on the verge of tears. He
looks to the other side. The walkway seems completely
unreachable from this distance. Glass takes a deep breath
and stands up. Without taking his sight off the other side,
he retreats back to the door. Immediately he cuts back and
sprints towards the edge. He jumps with all his strength to
the other side.
LS from below of GLASS jumping across gap.
ECU GLASS’s feet as they hit the edge of the walkway on the
other side.
GLASS rolls and slides across the floor on the other side.
He’s taken aback that he made the jump. Music builds as
GLASS slowly gets back onto his feet, takes a long, teary look at the gap from which he crossed, and continues into the next door.
INT. GAP ROOM - DOOR
The CREATURE stands behind the door as GLASS opens it.
The creature flings GLASS against the wall.
CUT TO TITLE SCREEN: "LOFAX"

My Flash Film Premise

This film will very closely follow the story of one man who has been abducted onto an alien ship and, after failing the physically strenuous probes, has been left for dead. He awakens with no real memory, only that the environment he is in is not his own. He must journey through the depths of the ship to discover the truth about how he survived, and what these new found creatures are looking for.

While many films have covered the premise of space travel, and, more specifically, the space opera, there seems to be little questioning of the extravagance of these worlds. The audience is left to either pay attention to the dialog or be distracted by the often vast and alien world. This film seeks to compromise that in two ways. First, the main character will act as the audience's guide in the story, knowing no more about the alien craft he has been transported to than we do. The world will be vast and unexplained, with no consoles on any doors, no identification anywhere. Everything seems to work without any actual interface. Secondly, the film will follow the traditions of the old silent film. Our hero will only be able to express himself through his face and body. This piece intends to mix the dark, mysterious world of the space opera with the subtle pathos of the silent film, as our hero, Angus Glass, journeys through the depths of the large alien craft in order to find answers to why he's there.

This film will be producing only a portion of the script, so we pick up in the 5th episode of the film, entitled "LOFAX". Our hero has just lost his only companion on the ship, and now begins to lose hope...

My Best Work (so far)

While I'm proud of my different stop motion and Flash animations, I feel like too much time has passed for me to really use them as an example of where I am now. That's one of the main reasons I'm taking this class, to give myself a real challenge in 2D animation and have a solid piece for my demo reel. For now, I'd have to say the work I'm most proud of has been from my Animation Layout and Character Design class. Troy Gustafson pushed me to the edge and I came out of it on top with two character designs that secured my internship at Animation Collective this summer. Take a look.

My Favorite Animation

I'm continually inspired by Mark Osborne's "MORE", the first stop-motion short to be shot in IMAX format. Often I'll turn on the "making of" featurette on the DVD and let it run while I'm working in stop motion.

How I spent my Summer vacation.

I was in New York City for most of my Summer interning at Animation Collective. They're currently working on shows for Nicktoons TV such as Three Delivery and Speed Racer: The Next Generation*. I also got to design characters for different shows, including a bad guy for an episode of an as-yet-unreleased show. I'm not sure how much I'm actually allowed to say, so I'm afraid I just have to be vague. It was pretty awesome, though.

Here's a sample of their work.





*Because that just had to be made...