Asher's AniBlog

Hey, so the Capo shot is going well, and moving out of the blocking plus stage and into the rough stage. Just shot some reference for a shot I am working on with my Tech Artist friend Nick. We are going to create a few shots to show off a rig he’s creating. This first shot is meant to show off the muscle system, so we are going for a body builder showing himself off. The following shots will probably be more high action. The next personal shot I have planned is a jump into a 90 degree running turn. From there I am planning an Ogre shot using chimp and gorilla reference. It will really push my understanding of mechanics. Very close on the horizon is the iAnimate class that should be starting in May. We will see if there is room for the personal shots while I take the class. I am very excited to see everything iAnimate has to offer. Work is going well, can’t talk about much since the game has not been announced yet, but it is really cool getting to work on a game from the earliest stages and building the movement sets from the ground up. So far the animations at work are all key frame, and it is looking like the majority of work I will do on the game will be key frame. Keep checking back for work in progress and these personal updates. Thanks for reading. 

Hey, so I have been at Armature since September working on concept and previs shots for the game. Recently I shifted over to animation sets for character movement. All work has been key frame so far, but we will be getting in a ton of mocap soon. It will be great getting to build my motion capture editing skills. We are looking for two more animators to join the team. There are only two of us as it is, so it will be great having more around and learning from them. I really like working in games right now, the quick turnover of shots allows me to work on a wide variety of actions and poses. My understanding of mechanics is progressing well, but I know it could be better, so I applied to take the advanced body mechanics course at iAnimate. It should start in May, I cant wait to get back to the online classroom setting and discover their rigs. To continue to educate myself, I have been reviewing the video lectures that I have, and doing short animation tests. I found my animation to be lacking good force and energy, so I am studying 2d fighting game animations to help learn. I will be posting my reference and the animations here. I am giving myself 2 days per shot, about 6- 8 hours. Then I put it down and move on to the next. This should also help with one of the biggest weaknesses I feel I have, speed. I hope to be able to take this year to greatly improve my skill in these areas. I am excited to see what I create over the course of this year, and to be able to tell everyone about the project I am working on at Armature.       

Sorry I’m not posting work, It has really been too long, but you will just have to wait. My contract with R&H ended earlier than expected, due to the project making good time. Most of us are now looking for work or will be within a month. I started working on my reel and applying to studios as soon as I knew when my end date was. In my last weeks at R&H I was contacted by Armature Studios in Austin Texas, a games studio I applied to. I talked with HR and later the lead animator. This past Friday was my last day at R&H and it was a sad one, but I had hope because Sunday I was flying out to visit Armature. On Monday I went out to the studio, and had a great time talking with everyone there. I have accepted an animator position there and will be starting on Monday. Wish I could talk about the exciting projects but you will have to wait. I am making plans to fly out Saturday and find a room to rent till my lady can make it out from LA. For a little while I was not sure how long I would have to be unemployed before finding my second animation job, but through luck and timing I was able to make it without a gap. Wish me luck in transition to Texas and into games animation.

Stopped blogging for a while because I lost direction. The end of my contract is coming up so I have a pretty good fire under my ass to get working on creating a reel that shows off my current animation skill level. All previous shot ideas have been tossed out, and now two shots are planned, a one character dialogue and a two character pantomime. Reference has been shot for both and blocking has started on the pantomime. I am using Morphy for all characters in the shots, and modified them to be much more realistic. It is very interesting coming back to Maya with the new workflow I use at work. Working on Alvin 3 is a real learning experience, and I know I can put something together that will show studios that I have grown since AM. 

Dialogue for new shot