Animation Critiques / Venting

I pride myself on receiving constructive criticism, but there is a fine line between that and saying that a person obviously needs to study something. I wanted constructive criticism on a lip sync animation and a person responded. Some of the points were valid while I also quite offended. I am unfortunately a passive aggressive person so I shy away from conflict and vent about it later as I'm doing now and not usually to the person who offended me to start with. (in most cases anyway) 

First off the person starts with how they can't do anything I can do in 3D. Then they go on to say that I obviously need to study anatomy of humans facial movement. They then say that because they can draw well that they believe they will be very good at animation. That sounds a little like someone trying to hard to pat themselves on the back and also somewhat self-absorbed.  So here is what I think of this critique I was given by this person.

1. If you can't do anything I can do in 3D animation, then you aren't the person to be offering constructive criticism. Unless you know animation, the 12 principles, and have actually done it, then you aren't in a position to critique.


2. Don't say I obviously need to study anatomy of facial movement. I read every book I can find on the matter, been through classes about it, and studied myself in the mirror for hours on end. Also, watching the scene over and over again for 4 hours straight to really see what was going on.  Also, it's worthy to note that different lines of dialogue require different kinds of movement. Stiff more stoic dialogue requires stiff and stoic movement. 

3.Just because you can draw well does not mean that you will be able to do animation. Drawing is a nice skill to have, but animation is a completely different animal. If this is a way of thinking, you are in for a rude awakening. Also, there is a flip side to that coin. Just because a person can do animation well does not mean they can draw. There are many talented animators out there who can't draw to save there life.

Now it could be argued that I should not be offended, but I do think I am right in my taking offense. It just seemed to me that this person didn't want to offer critique, but rather be insulting instead. If he really wanted to offer a critique he would not have said that I obviously need to study human facial anatomy, but rather would have said "that's good, you are on the right track." Maybe some closer examination of facial movement would help but what you've done looks good.

I mean really, Am I wrong to ask that much?

I wanna animate you!!!

So, I joined the 11 second club and they have lots of ready made character rigs for download ranging from stretchy to morphy rigs and I'm just having lots of fun with them. :-)

The Art of Chivalry

Okay, so I pretty much observe everything around me. I tend to watch the behavior and mannerisms of people quite a bit. A person's body language says more than words will ever say. One particular action that isn't really seen much anymore is chivalry. Granted, I'm sure there are women out there who would rather be independent and not have a guy open a door for them and that's cool. I also think women tend to be suspicious of this behavior because they may view it as a veiled way to get into their pants. And this would also be true in most cases. What I find interesting is that some women are surprised by an act of chivalry that they don't know what to do. As happened to me recently.

Yesterday at work I went on my break to a small room with only one chair. A room I jokingly call the "outcast's corner". I walk into the room and one of the girls I work with is sitting in the chair. We banter about nothing for a minute and she mentions how her feet are killing her. I say I know how you feel, my back is killing me. I work a job where I do a lot of heavy lifting for extended periods of time. So she then apologizes and gets out of the chair and says I can sit down. I tell her it's alright, you don't have to let me sit in the chair. She insists. I then tell her, "you just mentioned that your feet are killing you and you've also been sick recently so please sit in the chair, I'm fine where I"m at." She sits back down and then we have a conversation about chivalry. I said to her that I will defy anyone who says that chivalry is dead. I then mention how I held the door open for another girl at work and she just sort of stared at me in disbelief and it wasn't until I gestured with my hand for her to walk through that it hit her that I was holding the door open for her. I find it to be quite sad that chivalry is rarely seen anymore that a girl would stare at me in disbelief as though she wasn't sure what to do.

I am person who feels that chivalry is a very simple courtesy to be extended and it's quite disturbing that it has fallen so far out of practice that some women can't even recognize it anymore. No wonder they seem to view men as insensitive, self-absorbed jerks.  But this just my opinion.

Squirrel Animation

So I've really been wanting to do an animation involving animals for a long time and finally had the idea hit me about doing a little amusing love story between two squirrels. I'm really going for a cartoon type look and feel and think I may be on the right track. This is what I have so far and I'm hoping it looks cartoony even though I know it does, but I've never done anything this cartoon like before so just want to get it right. This of course is just the first render with simple textures. The final animation will look cartoony but more 3d dimensional than it does right now. *crosses fingers*

Regaining the magic

I have been having a major creative meltdown and I'm glad to say it's over. I discovered why I was having it. I've spent so much time on my animations thinking to myself what would Pixar or DreamWorks want to see when I apply to get a job with either company. This trapped me in a box because rather doing my own thing I was trying to emulate the work of those companies. I realized I can't do that. I have to make the animations I want to make and how I want to make them and the jobs will come. I can't say this animation has to look like UP or has to look like How to Train Your Dragon. Neither company is going to be impressed by emulating what they have done. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery but in the animation world, it simply means that a potential employer will look at it and say "that's great, but how much of you is put into this animation?" I have been struggling so much with what I will do for my next animation and I woke up in the middle of the night when this idea came from nowhere and hit me. For the first time in a while, my brain started racing with the magic and whimsy of it all. It hit me all at once. My next animation is not going to be for anyone or anything other than what makes me happy, and that alone will bring the success. It will be a laugh, romantic, cute, and sweet. This is the beginning of me carving my niche!!

More Art

Yeah, so I've been in hyper artistic mode lately and I love Beauty and the Beast so I wanted to draw this. Granted the line quality suffers cause I got lazy about sharpening my graphite. lol

Artsy Fartsy

A little drawing I did for class during the fall semester. I'm actually rather proud of it considering I can't draw fine art as the instructor called it worth a damn and it actually turned out okay.