Class 5: 90% done!

Finally, a new update!
I'm sorry tokeep you in the dark for so long, but I thought it was a bit pointless to post weekly updates on this assignments. If I did that every week this term, there would be 12 weeks of 'invisible' changes to the untrained human eye. So, this is how far I got with this shot on this class, will have to finish it during the break and during next, sadly. Work got in the way! I can't show you any of the work I've been doing there just yet, i will as soon as I can, but I'll leave you with a "Making Of" of one of their most successful commercials, which was a hit here in Portugal. Ciao!

Class 5: 40% done and first animation job!

Hey folks!

First of all, sorry to take so long since the last post - 2/3 weeks without uploading I think it was.

Good news! I've started working on an Animation Studio! I'm contracted as a freelancer to help them with all the work they have now - which is a really good sign, despite the national crisis here in Portugal and all the firing and downsizing everywhere, these guys need to hire extra people so they can handle all the work! The studio is called Illusive (link on the bottom left menu, on the tab "studios I like") and as i believe I'm not supposed to reveal anything, I'll just tell you we're working in a commercial for a country from another continent :) I'll be happy to share it all when I am allowed! Another side note, they work with XSI Softimage instead of Maya, but I've adapted already, although I'd say my animation speed & quality in that software is just still about 75% compared to my "full power" on Maya.

And, back to my Animation Mentor work. Here's what I've been working on: Sequence 1 ("RED") is fully splined, almost final. Green and Yellow (2&4) sequences are still in rough blocking, and the BLUE sequence (3) is currently on Blocking+ (although it's splinned, it isn't refined and there's no lipsync at all).

Hope you enjoy it! Ciaoo

(if you can't watch the video it's vimeo's fault, please come back later)

Class 5: Basic Blocking

So this week I fixed some parts of the camera (lenses included! what a pro!) and started the blocking. The action starts to be clearer now, but I really hope I can take things to the next level in the next few weeks, I think it's not quite there yet. Over and out!

Class 5 - Camera Layout & Story

My first dialogue is starting! (last assignment counts as a monologue). Couldn't be happier with how the idea evolved, with the great help of Arslan's ideas. I'm very pleased with my new mentor and excited about this shot. It's cool how every mentor is different and cool in his own way. Arslan, Erik, Mike, they all have their own ways to give the Q&A's, critiques, very different from each other, and it's cool the amount of things we can take from them. Anyway, I chose #1 from last week's options, here is the first camera test (don't mind the poses! animations is at stage ZERO!) Oh and before, the "story" behind the shot:

And also see how lame I can look! Go ahead and laugh at my sad acting:

Class 5 - Choosing the Dialogue

Class 5, here we go! These are the 3 possible dialogues I presented my mentor. He chose my favorite one - #1 "Bad News"! This will be funny :)

Class 4's demoreel. You can read my mentor's opinions of my work below!

Areas of strength: Fonzo has good ideas and a solid grasp of animation fundamentals allowing him to execute his ideas well. He has an excellent attitude and work-ethic. He communicates well and participates in the Q&A sessions in a thoughtful way. I'm impressed with how quickly he picked up the process of animating a character with lip-sync. Overall very good work.

Areas of improvement: Fonzo can benefit from keeping his work as simple as possible and focusing on the animation rather than spending energy on cameras and editing. Fonzo's work will look stronger and more finished if he pays close attention to the relationships of the hips/chest/head (and arcs of all the joints of the body) and the overlapping action required to give sharp motion a realistic edge. He's very close, but can get another level of refinement in his work. I'd like to see him push this as he moves forward.

Class 4: The King

And finally it's completed! Here is the rendered version of the King:



Class 5 starts next week, hopefully I'll have my new Progress Reel up by then. Spoiler - my next mentor is Arslan Elver, from Framestore UK! It's nice to have a mentor from the Old Continent for a change, let's see if he's as good as the yankees Chad, David, Mike and Erik. Also a few friends will be starting their AM journey, very excited for them!

Class 4: The King is 90% done

Hey dudes & dudines!

That's that time of the week! For the less trained eyes for animation - about 99.9% of the mortals - this will look a lot like last week. But believe it or not, there's loads of work and time invested on those tiny almost invisible changes. Next week though, there will be an addition that will make all the difference - scenario, light, render. Look forward for it! Here it is, my last week's work:

Class 4: The King is talking! Hail the talking King!

Good morning/day/afternoon mortals!
This week was the hardest so far in Animation degree. due to the crazy amount of work. Without getting in technical details, I had to work on every part of the body, refining the movements, made lipsync (for the first time! It's not quite there tho) and eye movement, facial expressions... Anyway, it kept me busy for the whole week and I didn't do much apart from animating.

Here's the result! It's not final tho, I still have 2 weeks to take it to final. It will look much better then I'm sure!

Class 4: Sneak-peak at my first Dialogue

Hey yaw! So, after so many months of learning and sitting by the computer while the other kids played outside, I'm working on my first dialogue! It's still weeks far away from completion, but it's on the way. After the last 2 assignments, where I felt like I was loosing the spark a bit, this one is being totally fun to work on. If you're a Python fan like myself, I'm sure you know this sound clip on the references. I built a little set and dressed the Bishop Rig, here's a render:

Here are my refs:




And lastly but not the least (quite the contrary old chap) here's how it's looking at the moment:

Class 4: Pantomine shot - Done!

Hey'all! So I didn't keep my promise to keep this updated weekly again... This time I'll be wiser and NOT promise it! Class 4 is a lot harder than the previous ones and when I finished a shot the last thing I want to do is be in front of my laptop some minutes more for the blog. Not that I don't like it. Well, blame Canada! So, I'm not proud of this shot. I had a lot of issues with staging and camera, had to redo some parts of the shot over and over, and have to admit that I lost the motivation to work on it 100% as I realized I didn't like my idea as i thought and I made everything over complicated. I doubt this is showreel material, maybe someday I'll go back on it and make it better. Here it is:

Class 4 Starts!

I'm sorry for not updating this for a LONG time! I'm not sure for the reason for this, laziness maybe, but hey it's back!

So, I have a lot to show you today. The Class 3 Reel - which is incomplete, I'm still working in a render of one of the shots - and Class 4's first assignment, as it is now (2nd week), with the planning too.

So, I'll start with the Class 3 Reel:

Class 3, Week 8-11: Devil's shot

As you noticed, or not, I haven't been so active lately on my blog. That's because I now consider that a weekly update is not needed, as I think the visitor's interest lays on the finished works and not on the works in progress. So from no on, rarely will I show WIP's here, it will be mostly ready o show stuff! So here's the shot everyone has been waiting for, the last assignment of class 3! Next week I'll come up with the Progress Reel, with a combination of all my Animation Mentor work so far, with some bonus renders! So here it is, the devil's shot:

Class 3, Week 6 & 7 - Finished dancing, let's troll now

Uoff finally this shot is all done. I had a ton of fun doing it, but, as expected, it was HARD. My next shot isn't simple either, let's hope it goes well!
So, I'll shush and share with you the finished shot, and the planning for the next.

Class 3, Week 5 - Poker Saloon, Phantom Dance Blocking

Here I am, this is me, there's nowhere else on Earth I'd rather be,
..and I'm not Bryan Adams, I'm Fonz!
Any who, here we are with another week. This time I finished quite early, although I'll probably work a bit more on some small details through out the weekend. I'm rushing out because I have an animation project I must attend to, and it's in 3Ds Max (gasp!), so I have to learn the software and all. Later on, I'll reveal the animation if possible, but for now, I'll just ask you to focus your attention on my AM assignment!
I decided to make a poker scenario, it kinda fits to the music (Parov Stelar - The Phantom "1930's version") and the Italian mobster in NY I was going for. Plus, I LOVE poker. And I'm not a bad player either, I kinda miss being in England for the casinos. ANYHOW, here's the scenario I've done:

And here's my blocking thus far:




AND here's a little bonus for you: Revised football animation, with a better resolution and motion blur:

Class 3, Week 4 - Football is done, let the dance begin!

Boys and Girls, Ladies and Gentlemen, behold as one more assignment comes to and end!

And watch a new one being born!

This was a stressful week. I need rest, for tomorrow starts a new (busier) one!

That is all. Please go out of my blog as soon as possible please, I need to sleep, it's not cool that you're clicking around all the time.

Class 3, Week 3 - Can he do it with a goalkeeper?

This is being a really amusing shot to animate! I'm having a lot of fun with it, also learning a lot. It's still a long way from finished and it could be better in some parts, but the real joy is in the ride. I added a goalkeeper... but Oh, the irony! He has no arms. Added a bit of humor to my non-cartoony shot! (About that, my next one will be cartoony).

Well keep tuned to see the final result next week, hopefully I'll be proud of it!

Class 3, Week 2 - Blocking Football

Hey folks! So, i started blocking the football shot. In the Q&A, Mike Gasaway told us to keep it as simple as we possible could, giving us a maximum of 12 key poses. Too bad that by that time I had 27 poses done, and I hadn't even finished the shot! So, i finished the shot my way, and then deleted the poses that I didn't consider essential to tell the story. Here's the result:

Class 3, Week 1 - Football!

It's always an amazing feeling to change class. And I couldn't be more excited about this one! As i had several time problems last term, making it hard to give 100% to animation, I decied to quit my job at A Bola TV. So now I'm doing AM full-time!
My class is pretty cool - For the 3rd time in a row, Tom Pinon and Sue Alves are my classmates. Also a re-encounter with Irina Wolf & Gergely Tatar, and I'm glad to be in the same class with the french troll, Timothée Billiet. My mentor is Mike Gasaway - I liked him, in the Q&A he was extremely energetic and fun
For this term, we were allowed to choose between AnimJam (work the entire 3 months in 2 or 3 shots that have continuity, that belong to the main story) or AnimExercise (3 completely different shots). I chose AnimExercise, as I think I'd get bored of my own story after so much time working on the same. My first shot is going to be about the big passion of my life - football. Here is the planning and reference:

I have a really good feeling about this shot! See you next week ;)

Class 2, Week 12 - New Progress Reel, last Q&A with David Tart

Oh the last week of the term, always a sad sad week for every AM student. It always means that it's going to be the last time you're going to be face-to-face with your mentor, it means that everything that was taught should be perfectly learnt by now, it means that they're going to separate you from your class mates and peer buddies... for some, it even means the end of AM, as they're on class 6!
But the positive side of it is that you get to see compilations of everyone's work - that's a mandatory thing at AM, to make a progress reel with all your class assignments. Here are mine, I tried to make it nicer this time with some last minute renders and a soundtrack. Have fun!

Class 2, Week 10 & 11 - Zombie shot assignment finished, winning the RTS award and interview

Hey folks!
Sorry for not posting last week, busy busy times. I'll be quick, tho. So I've struggled to get everyone's feedback in, but i will surely do soon. This is the final rsult, which I consider acceptable to hand in. I would say that it's far fro finished...



And now for some news about the Royal Television Society prize in animation... An interview was published, you can see it here - (University of Salford website)

And a video of the ceremony... I wish I had been there! Kate Corbin, the head of the Animation Degree at Salford Uni, received the prize in my place.



That's all for now!
Keep it up and thanks for checking out ;)

Class 2, Week 9 - Push the dead, before it pulls you!

One more week is over! My shot had some changes, the more relevant being the ending: You'll see for yourself, who am I to ruin your surprise! Hopefully you will like it:




And for this week I have some extra bonus stuff! First, there's my mentor David tart's new short - it will show you what happens in the construction of an animation. Then, two animation related movies that I can't wait to see. Despicable Me was one of my favorite animation movies, mostly because that's my type of humor, plain and stupid, and who can resist those little yellow minions? The other one is Iron Man, hulk, Captain America, Thor, etc, all together. Seems interesting!

Class 2, Week 8 - Blocking in the Graveyard

So last week I handed my planning late and I ended up not uploading it to the blog. I tried to make it funny, but with much more physicality than the previous assignment. Here it is, at last!:

So, it's a dead person coming back to life. I guess I've been watched too much "Supernatural" last week! And here's the blocking:

Crossing roads and Brittish Award

Hey boys and girls! So this is my last assignment. Not 100% happy with it, will do some changes to it later on, if I find the time. Here it is:




And, great news everyone! Do you remember Alien vs Robot, my work for The University of Salford? It won an award: Royal Television's Society - Student Television Award for best animation.

"Hi Afonso,
You won the Royal TV Society student award (North West region) last night for your film Alien vs Robot.
Well done! There was a lot of competition from all the Universities and Colleges in the North West.
The National competition takes place in London later in the year so we will forward any info for you to attend."

So this way I'm nominated to win the National Competition, which will take place later in the year. During the last few years there were always 3 final contestants, so I'm guessing I'm on these 3! Here is the award-winning animation! I hope that in a few months I'll be confident enough of my animation skills I'm learning at Animation Mentor to go in, improve the project and continue it, making a few more episodes. Anyway, here it is:

Class 2, Week 6 - Paint it Black

Hey folks! So I'll make this one really short - I'm about to leave to work. Since last week, the main changes are the camera angle, the overall colors of the shot, and changing the beginning and ending. I had it repeated so Vimeo allowed me to upload it, it was too small! Here it is:

Class 2 Week 5 - Zebras and Traffic Lights

And it started! First Blocking phase is done and hopefully I will start splining this bad boy soon enough. I also changed the planning. this week I barely had any time during the week to work on animation, only had Saturday and Sunday really. Here's how it's looking so far (by the way, Camera 2 was just a test, don't pay too much attention to that part, it's bad!):


And the new backstory:

And for the weekly news, I'd like to announce I'm working full time in a Sports TV Channel, as Assistant Director :) My job consists mainly of controlling what happens during live shows, such as news, live press conferences, etc. I started last week and I love it so far. The Channel is not on air yet but it will go online soon, I'll share when it is. The TV Channel belongs to a Sports Newspaper, here's their website: A BOLA
See you next week!

Class 2, Week 4 - Bye Backflip, Hello Wind Run!

Greetings! That's right, I finished early this week.
I'm proud to say that I'm happy with the final result of my backflip! I made a little nice render, and everything is looking better. Everyday I would change pretty small things - polishing - taking the advice of very helpful friends! A particular moment made my week: Bobby "BOOM" Beck, the head and founder of Animation Mentor, a true animation legend, complimented my shot! I quote him

"Overall ROCK SOLID AWESOME. GREAT job breaking things up. WOW, excellent execution!"

I had an instant Nerdasm! Regardless to say what these words meant to me. I feel really motivated to keep giving my best and pushing myself. Here is the very final version of the shot:


And, for this week, we have a new challenge! We have to plan a mew shot, chosen from a picklist made by AM. I picked "Wind Run" (fast run and quickly change directions). And I will be FUN this time! Hope the drawings speak for themselves, because I'm not feeling particularly poetic right now! Here they are:

And, to finalize, I remind you that the Oscars for best Animation Film is coming! Which one is your favorite? Rango all the way for me!

Class 2, Week 3 - Splinning the backflip

Hey everyone! I'm back for this week's blog post :)
This week we were supposed to take our blocking shot and continue working on it, as far as we could. I managed to get out of the blocking phase and took it too splined mode - meaning that every frame is different now. I changed a lot of areas as you'll notice, and it's looking much more dynamic! Here's the result:



As for the weekly bonus for this week, I'd like to announce and congratulate the awesome success of one of my upper class mates, Alyssa Lee, who just got a job at Dreamworks! Although it's an entry level for now, I'm pretty sure she will rock the house and make her way up in the company! Go girl! ;) I hope to fly as high someday! She has a blog too: http://www.doublealee.com/blog/

Class 2, Week 2 - Blocking to Final

Olá amigos! After the long break between term 1 and 2, I was really scared of opening Maya! Mostly because I was afraid of my computer exploding or imploding, as I had some really annoying problems with it during the break. But it seems that his bad days are gone, everything went smooth!
So. This week I had to make all my key-poses and important in-betweens from my planning. So it's normal that parts of the animation you're about to see (who am I fooling, everyone just watches the video first, I'm even lucky if you're reading this!) will feel a bit... not well animated. That's because of the 24 pictures that make a second of film, maybe less than half are done! The most important are, and with them you're supposed to understand the action. Here it is:


Hopefully next week everything will be looking better! For this week's weekly bonus, I give you an animated success of the internet, the asdf movies! Really simple animation, stupid ideas, great humor! Why have a story, right? here they go! Enjoy!

Class 2, Week 1 - Walk-Through: Clarity in Blocking

It's sooo good to be back on AM! Loads of new people, I see myself in some of them, the old me, a long time ago... Actually it's just 3 months, but just being in AM it's such a big deal for me that it's an important change on my life. This week I'm going to write on everyone's workspace a text with some tips, from my own experience. Hope they like it!
Anyway, back to the blog owner's work. This week we had to choose a main action for our shot from a picklist. My choice was "backflip". My mentor David Tart told us in the Q&A to keep the shot really simple, so we can concentrate in the animation. So here's my "simple planning":

And here's my video reference:


Now let's see how it goes, hope that in 3 weeks time I'll have a cool animation!
Ciao!

Oh, I almost forgot, here's the weekly bonus. Did you know that Pixar uses the same yellow van in every single movie? Check it out! Pixar's Yellow Van

Class 2 has started!!!

Finally, Animation Mentor is back! This roughly two week stop was insane, I would wake up everyday without knowing what to do. Christmas, New Year's Eve and my lovely girlfriend's visit helped to pass the time tho, and now here we are! There were a couple of reasons that led me to look forward for this to start: meeting my new mentor, my new class, and see some people that I know starting on Class 1. I wish them luck - Edgar and Sergio Martins, the Portuguese twins of awesomeness, and Dan Raigorodsky, the awesome Spanish friend! None of them are in Chad Stewart's class, shame on that, hope I'll be the peer buddy of one of them :)
So, let's get it on with the news. My mentor is David Tart. You probably don't recognize him but you've seen it several times in the big screen - on the credits of Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc, Bug's Life, For the Birds, Robots and others. Pretty impressive right?? Here's his showreel:



And I chuckled when I saw my class - 7 out of the 15 (including me) are in my class again! They are: Gurleen, Miren, Siggi, Sue, Tom and Vikram (and me). And we have some yankees now too! The rest of the class is: Irina Wolf (GER), Jocelyn Dombroski (USA), Joelle Saveliev (USA), Justin Hwang (USA), Michelle Green (USA), Nathan Lovato (FRA), Samantha Watha (USA), Timothy Griffith (USA). And no map this week, aww :(

See you next week with some work done!