Go Outside!

For quite some time, all of my colored background have only the indoors to show because I hadn't yet illustrated the outside. Well now there is one! This, surprisingly, took me a little longer to render than the average background. That's because this wasn't made as one image like the other backgrounds, but it's composed of separate layers that can be altered and moved around if I need to use them in other backgrounds.

It started off the same way as a normal background, with a line drawing that gets scanned into Photoshop.

However, the stand alone layers are saved out as PNG files so they behave more like cut-out clothes on a paper doll.

Winter Break. Winter, yes. Break, NO!!

The goal for winter break is to pound out the rest of the digital backgrounds in photoshop. So far 6 have been tackled.

And to help me work on my backgrounds is Miss Kitty the Filmmaking Productivity Calico. She keeps my lap warm and makes it difficult to leave my chair so I have no choice but to sit and work. I hope the rest of my classmates are staying warm and inspired. Whether you're relaxing or working, have a good break everyone!

End of the Fall Semester

Whoo boy, one semester of production down, one to go. I still plan on working over the 3 week winter break. In fact, I'll have to double my planned work load. I was just going to concentrate on coloring backgrounds but I'll also have to finish keying the remainder of the film too because I fell behind schedule. Looks like my Christmas vacation will be a working vacation.

Hopefully my current work reel for Dark Circus will be up here on the blog within a few days. I'm planning on asking my Sound Design professor if I can use a few tracks from his latest CD. So once I get his 'okay' I'll post the current work reel with the new audio.

I have an assistant! Homin Jang joins the Dark Circus Team

I'd like to thank my friend and fellow CCS animation student, Homin Jang, for lending me a hand on background production. I want the skies in my background to have just a little extra magic to them so I asked Homin if he would be interested in putting his pastel skills to work for me. His illustration work is beautiful and I know that he'll make a great asset to my film. Thanks a ton, Homin!

Look at those amazing colors!! I can't wait to see more!!

Shot 35 and 36 Keys

Completion of keys in the second scene is so close I can taste it. There is still many more shots to key frame so I shall leave you with a few of the most recent shots I've down. I have 2 weeks left in the semester to get as much done as possible. Oh the madness!

Shot 35 Keys

"Macey on the Delivery Dock"

Shot 36 Keys

"Leaping to work"

This is My Desk

In the senior production class, everyone gets their own desk. I sit here.

Keyin' Like a Crazy Person

Great googley moogely! It's been almost two weeks since my last post! I'm sorry everybody, I've been thinking so much about key frames and animation that I sort of forgot to tell you all about it!

Shot 20 key frame test

As far as how much is done with keyframing, the first two scenes are as stands:

Scene 1 (Macey's Bedroom at sunrise): Keys completed

Scene 2: (Family in the Bakery): Keys 80% done

I'll have some more tests up here on the blog soon once I get them all shot and rendered to video. Finals are creeping up on me but I'll do my best to keep the updates rolling. Speaking of updates, it's snowing! I'm surprised that we didn't really see any until the first day of December. I love snow, it puts me in a working mood and makes coffee taste even better. Also, the fall semester ends on December 18, which means that the school year is almost half over. In a rush to get as much done before winter break as possible, the goals for the next few weeks are:

1. Key Frames for Scenes 1-4
2. Updated Work Reel
3. Theater Promo Poster
4. Artist Statement
5. Artist Bio

Wish me luck!