Weird Timing...

I think the saying, "time flies when you're having fun" is a pretty accurate statement, that or when you're stressed and need to get things done. I feel like this quarter is flying by and as I'm fighting with myself to continue to do well in all my classes and make this 1-quarter animation something I can be proud of, timing has become a huge issue...literally.

As I have of course started the inbetweening process of my film and have half of my shots done, I've had to go back and re-inbetween some areas as they move too fast. Timing is probably one of the hardest things in animation, at least to master and be comfortable with..."how long should this shot be?" "should my character move faster in this instance and if he does will it be readable?" I totally understand that my understanding of timing will (hopefully) become better as I continue to make animations, but this is definitely one of the things that's bringing my confidence level down, particularly with this 1-quarter animation. I ask for advice constantly on how to fix things and where to add/take away frames, and it definitely seems to be helping.

I love this experience of making this animation about my sea turtle who wants to fly, but I definitely wish it were an experience that lasted a bit longer than 10 weeks. Things I would like to get done including full color may not happen due to me running out of time. However I had decided in the beginning that the execution of animation was more important to me than full color. The full color will probably be done in the summer, when I can devote even more time to this.

Something my friend James said to me at the beginning of this quarter during our storyboards class, has really stuck with me in the making of this production; "our stories always tend to tell a little bit about ourselves, even if not intentionally when creating an idea". This to me really is true. With my turtle, Sunny, who hatches on the beach, sees a bird and then tries his hardest to fly like that bird, but in the end figures out how to fly in his own way, it really expresses who I am...I see my friends who are about to graduate who are amazing animators, story artists, modelers, etc and I want to be just like them. But just like Sunny, I have to find my own way of "flying" and succeed in my own way.

I have learned so much from them and even though they are graduating, I expect I will continue to learn from them, but I truly have to thank them so much for not only being great mentors, but amazing friends.

So, enough of the sadness and life revelations...here are a few shots from the film:

This first one will have a few more holds, and one or two loops added to it to let the audience breathe with his reactions, but for now these are just my frames in sequential order:



This second one is Sunny's roll over from being on his back when he tips his egg over; this needs a few frames pulled:



If you would like, feel free to comment...I would love to hear some more feedback!
Also my friend James who I mentioned before also has a blog if you feel like checking it out:
http://jamespgibsonportfolio.blogspot.com/
he's an awesome story artist and his storyboards rock!

so i guess that is all for now... :)