Computer Animation Arts

"Drawing Hands Detached from the Body" by Aaron Blaise Sometimes coming up with a clear character pose is difficult. Here is a trick to help you find your poses more quickly. Leave the arms off! Taken from his Youtube profile ( The Art of Aaron Blaise ) - "Aaron Blaise is an animation feature film director and wildlife artist. For 21 years Aaron worked with Disney helping to create some of the greatest animated films ever made. During that time he worked as an animator or supervising animator on "The Rescuers Down Under", "Beauty and the Beast", "Aladdin", "The Lion King", "Pocahontas", "Mulan" and more. In 2003 he was co-director of "Brother Bear" for which he earned an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature Film. After "Brother Bear" he helped to develop several projects but ultimately left Disney to pursue an opportunity back home in Florida. Aaron recently served as 2D Anim...

First of all 'Greetings from California'. The San Diego Convention Center: The home of Comic-Con Yes that's where I'm writing this post in the sunny town of San Diego. Why am I taking the time out to post on the group blog? Simply because I want to give you as much time as possible to get ready for the Narrative Project (one half of the Narrative & Character Brief). As you're no doubt aware this project is a group project in which we divide you up into groups of three and four. These groups are listed below alongside some things we'd like you to consider before the official 'kick off' in September. So (drum roll please!) the groups are... Group 1 Joe Crouch Thomas Smith Dee Crisbacher Group 2 Danielle Gibbs Eleanor Spence Welch Beccy Stapely Group 3 Mark Bridgland Louis Punton Manisha Dusila Group 4 Krissy Botinova Pip Harris Katie Lima Group 5 Almu Diaz Rebecca Ryan To...

I can see the Year 2s are busy with their character project which got me thinking about my struggles during the project with posing my characters. When posing characters the best reference to use is yourself. It was only at the end of my second year I actually took my tutors advice and took photographs of myself posing as my character, as no one knows your character better than you do. But of course there comes a time when you can't use yourself  as a reference as your character has more limbs than you or is a much greater/younger age this is when you need the right pose... As animators we know all the different types of curves (S.C and reverse) that an 'effective pose' possesses so search for the right stock and dynamic pose and don't settle for a standing pose. Below are some stocks I use when I can't use myself for posing (yes they're from DeviantArt *gasps*) - Senshi Stock : Mostly female with male poses, good for action and weapons wie...

Pixologic's annual ZBrush SUMMIT has been taking place this year; and as always they have had a stunning lineup of industry professionals to talk about how ZBrush integrates into their workflow. However, often they go on extremely insightful tangents about their work philosophy and how their thought processes work. Willem van der Schyf from Riot Games was there to talk about how they go about creating a character from scratch for use in League of Legends.  I thought it'd be very useful for the second years with our character project; but the advice is so great everyone should hear it! It's an hour long, so if you need some background noise this is one to listen to. - They have numerous videos from the ZBrush SUMMIT so please check them out!

DRUM ROLL PLEASE! Welcome back everyone (well almost), your second year awa i ts you. In readiness for the Narrative (& Character) group project we've decided reveal 'the details' you've all been waiting for ear ly this year. So hold your breath, cross your fingers, and cu e the drum roll.... The groups are... Group 1 Julien Emma Charlie Ryan Group 2 Jack Mark Vlad Eva Group 3 Kayliegh Max Chelsea Ridge Group 4 Sankavy Anderson Mailin Cat Group 5 Dan Harrington Joshua Jamie Group 6 Tumo Becky Adam Sachin Group 7 Julia Lewis Dan R   Ok, the secret is officially out of the bag - Exciting!  Now you know whi ch group the obvious next step is to make contact with the other members as soon as possible. There are also some group activities that you will need to consider/do before starting the project. These are... Things to do in readiness for your Narrative Project...