This is (probably) my last blog entry, i may decide to keep the blog going afterwards or i can just make a new one. I writing this to evaluate the last 2 years of the FDAnimation course, to share what i have learnt and my likes and dislikes about the whole experience.

Firstly i am more confident of an area of animation i may want to get into, when i first can to this course i thought i wanted to be animator of traditional animation but i have learnt that the animation industry is broke up into several separate area's and this is when i thought about what i wanted to do the most and what i liked doing. but i would like to do other things as well as animation as a hobby or maybe side projects such as illustrations or even making short movies with VFX involved.

Secondly i have learnt a great deal of new skills and been introduced to new software as well as improving old ones. Some of the software that i have learnt and enjoyed using includes C4d, this 3D software has been interesting to use but after many attempts it shows that this would be one of my weaknesses, although if i had more practice i am sure i could become acquaint with it and get better at it. other software that i improved and learnt new areas that are even more amazing than what i knew before and these are the illustrator, flash and my most skilled software Photoshop.

A side note to know for this project is that it can take a lot of time out of your social life and it is even harder when you have to work as well and it almost leaves you no time to work. Don't get me wrong you can still have time to go out and do other things but you have less than you normally would and sometimes have to arrange around your work or even projects that you may have to improve the experience. All that aside as you progress through the years you learn some tricks of the trade as its know and not everything becomes such a task.

These 2 years have made me more industry ready and more professional, with business cards and everything, it has been great these last few years and i will miss the people i have come to know, but i am sure some may stay in contact or even update there blogs to see whats going on. it has been a great 2 years and who knows what i am going to do next.

Business card (unfin)

Over the last two year's i have learnt a lot about what i should and should not do when creating and animation or even working on a project and also what are my strengths and weaknesses. here is a list of some of the things i have learnt to do when ever working on something or just as a reminder for myself,

The first things i have learnt to do is make a list. plane and simple is to make a list of whatever needs to be done or what you need, it's one less you thing you have to think about or several as when a list as has been created it can be referred to at any time and it can make as a great checklist just tick off anything you have done or got.

The second thing is don't over complicate things right away, as an example for my last project i set the bar very high it terms of quality and quantity, and when it came down to making these parts that i had set myself it seemed an impossible task. i learnt that when designing something it does not have to be a master piece or even a complete thing as you can always add to it another time.

And something that i am learning today is patience and there is no need to rush things, unless for a deadline then you should be running to finish. patience is something you need when creating an animation especially if you are perusing 2d traditionally hand drawn as that can take a toll on you when you have drawing what seems like an eternity and realise that you have only done 2 seconds of animation of 30. but if you wait and be patient the outcome is mostly always amazing.  

Pre- work really hard in hopes you get everything in on time -Work Day -1;

so can say both Scenes 1 and 2 of my animation are complete all that needs to be done is composting and adding the sound. the rest of my scenes i have planned throughout the week leaving no room for a social life and very little time to eat, i have left time to sleep but it has been known as overrated.

here is a sneak peek at what i have planned for the coming week, p.s don't be intimidated by the level of professionalism involved.

Found this great site for after effects tutorials, http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/

S.W.O.T plain and simple,

Strengths;

Enthusiastic while working,
Always ready to learn more,
Great communication and listening skill,
Work well individually or as a group,
Large knowledge of Photoshop.


Weaknesses;

Proper time management,
Tends to rush things,
Impatient,
3D and Music design.


Opportunities;

Freelance,
Work directly with a company,
Continue highe education.


Threats;

Money,
Unable to find job in correct area of industry,
Social life.

I found this artist Patrick brown who does some illustrations of video games.

 I really like his style as it seems very unique, he adds his own personal touch to his work that also gives some a comical effect both funny and comic style.

                                       Here are some examples of his work that i find the best.

My main priority the week is getting all characters for the stop-motion part of my animation, what needs to be done is the clothing of my main character as well also assembling him together. next is the painting of some background characters that were drawn on cardboard, then making my sheep model will be good as it help improve my model making ability.

i am also currently doing a brief for 11 second club that ends at the end of the month also  i am looking at a few illustration briefs that i think i may be interested in, also recently i have been looking in VFX animation as i think this may be an area i am interested in.

Here is the basis of what the second scene looks like, the video can not be uploaded as it has not been fully edited. Each character is segmented and it is done in a stop motion fashion except the three background characters as they are all one.

Ok so far... i have finished recording some sound for my animation, which was more fun than i thought, also nearing completion on my animation for 11secondclub.com most of the movement is roughed out and some complete but should be posted before the 24 deadline. AS well as that most of my assets are complete only 2 to go. I still have a few things to do before handing but i shall get them done.

My Chracter design in the style of castle crashers, close to what originally wanted but still not bad.

Here are some of the supplies needed to make my model for the stop motion part of the animation, i have never done stop motion before but i have tried using modeling and i this could be classed as a weakness.