1rst Official Dog Shot In the CAN!!

All right!!!

Its official....this is my first Dog shot in the can. It feels really good!!I was a little intimidated by the puppet and sequences to come. The shot turned out nicely and Gerald is alive and full of Magic.

I animated the {Rich Prance and Point}the shot consists of the Rich couple walking over to the cage to seeing Gerald prancing and bouncing about...looking unconcerned and a bit snooty untill he breaks his mood by stepping on his rubber ducky! This breaks him out of character ofcourse.....but he quickly recovers and assumes his posturing.


I created 3 tests in getting to this final version of the shot...1rst was just designing the prance and timing-feeling the space....

2nd was actually trying to do a real shot.....I failed though....which made me question everything. This is where my brain started asking questions.....what am I trying to get across to the audiance? is it coming across? and what is it gona take to get it across......ouuuch! It is hard enough just getting a clean animation!!!


well ....after getting my head ready ....talking the shot over with shel...I was ready....and it shows.I will be using this questioning throughout my film however painfull it is to do.

Its an exhausting marathon with a coach driving the jeep next to you with a Megaphone telling you to keep your nees UP....Its not just finishing the race{INCREDIBLY Hard on its own} Its doing it WELL.

So......On to my next shot - much shorter and just as challenging...Ha!

jriggity

Family Studio!

This weekend , Nicky my eldest son....created his 3rd stop motion animation using some stikfa guys.

Im proud Of Him and what he created.....He is a nutural and I hope he does more in the future.

Shamus {next son down the chain} has also created a bunch of cool stop mo shorts which I will also be posting as soon as he finishes his project....his have been part of a year project for school hes been working on. Hes got quite a bit of funny clips which suit his personality well. He would fit right in over on the Robot chicken writing team....he could animate too if he sticks to it.

Im very proud of his work as well...

for now here are all on nickys animations. first to Most Recent - top to bottom

Weathering and Lighting!

hey guys,

well the Pound Interior set is lit, dressed , weathered and Ready for action.
Shel did a great job with the set interior...she got exactly the right look I WANTED.

I had the pleasure of meeting a professional Lighting artist through a recomendation by Tenessee Ried Norton. {Alia Houser}....she is a lighter over at SHADOW MACHINE and she know her stuff. She came over with a big box of cool Ligting stuff and cool professional in the BIZ slang....I learned quite a few new terms.





Me and shel watched and learned......not just about lighting but stopmotion .

She lit my set to the specs I requested and I now am ready to shoot a real shot for my finished film.The exciting part of the next few shots being created is that I will be able to edit some real sequences together...Ill get a real look at where my film is going.



Wednesday night I will animate the Dog suduction of the Rich Couple....I cant wait.

jriggity

Back on the Animation Horse!

Hey there,

so......deep last night was my first step into the cage. I have been busy with dog heads all last week and am nearing the start of a New shot. I had 4 goals for the evening....

1.Design a prance Animation.
2.Feel the cagespace for animation....reachability
3.Test the Fake cage technology.
4.Feel out the hanging Rig Situation for wire support

It took me three tries but I got a prance I like {Although I'll shoot it on 1's in the real shot}..I got some experiance in the cagespace ....and the FAKE CAGE technology is gona work awesomely{THANKS to HERSELF!!!!!}Shelly Noble.I figured i need a thinner support rig for less shadow creation and removal.

I am meeting a professional lighting designer to help me in my weakest ability...I am very excited and hopeing to learn and get a great looking set.

Ill tell you guys about it as soon as I can.



jriggity

PUPPET SCULPTED

shel here: i finished the sculpt for my girl puppet....super stoked to start molding her tonight (love the messy stuff!).




i don't have a specific story in mind for her (but i'm sure some will come!). mostly i wanted to make a puppet of my own to push around while i learn to animate.....