Mandy and the 12 Principles of Animation

The last few weeks we focused more on working on the Cancan Dance project, such as animating the characters and building up the props, which is a nice experience.

I’ve learned a saying after finishing the project, which is The more you’ve worked, the more you learn.

This project, helped me improve on the 12 principles of animation, specially squash and stretch, and anticipation, especially when I was working on the leg up and down pose.

The first time I worked on this project, I felt I was unfamiliar on working animation, but after all I felt it was easy and fun, and I was proficient in it.

Juhi Understands the Pipeline

After finishing up tasks for the Beethoven's Wig Can Can finale short, I went straight back into my projects on Todd. Now that I've gotten experience animating with rigs, it was easier to understand the procedure of designing and flashifying assets cleaned up and ready for animation. I'm enjoying seeing the returns on everything I take on. Every learning experience relates back to how the pipeline works in the studio and gaining a grasp on that I find is important not just during the job but for personal and school projects as well. 

Efficiency is key!

~Juhi Out~

Vincent Is Headed to the Movies

Last week was a really busy week. It was the final week to finish the scenes for Beethoven's wig. I was assigned a scene where the characters bow before the curtains close and a scene where characters drive their cars into the frame and then dance. For each scene I got to try out animating each of the different characters. They all had something unique to their design so that it didn't feel like they were variations of the same character.

Right now, I'm re-doing a scene from a while back with the Jock character. There are some changes that I'm making to the naming in the library and to the football that he's holding. It won't take too long to get done. Also, gonna see Finding Dory next week. Should be fun. :D

-Vincent

Juhi Animates

This week had been non-stop animate, animate, animate! and I loved each scene that I was put on. Working with different rigs of varying difficulties kept me focused, and it was a joy to practice character performance and convey emotions through the rigs. To bring life to the characters and seeing the short come along was definitely rewarding. At the end of the week, the whole studio went out for food and to celebrate Rich's birthday. I had a lot of fun and it was a great way to cap off the busy week!

~Juhi out~

Mandy Animates the Opening!

Obviously, this week we were focusing on the cancan dance animation, and my job was animating the shot in the first scene, which is the opening shot.

When I got this mission, I was a little bit embarrassed and under pressure, since I known a good opening is very important for the film to attract audiences. However, during the process, I can feel the feeling I had before was gone, and my skills have being improved day by day.

Elise Makes Ostriches Dance

I did a lot of animating this week. I was assigned to pose out a bunch of different characters for a dance sequence. It was very challenging! I handled 3 pirates that wouldn't dance in sync before being brought to my knees by an ostrich rig. Ostriches aren't really built for dance. I tried so hard to make it look not-weird. I hope it worked.

Someone (Joel possibly?) brought in a really neat character design book yesterday. Looking at
it was super inspiring! I should really do more character stuff in my spare time.

My child Earl is growing a 13th leaf, and I personally feel it's his best work yet. Erin put a
tiny plastic elephant in his pot a few hours ago. The two of them are getting along well so far.

Mandy Learns Flash

Time flies so fast. It is halfway of the internship. This week I was focusing on the Can Can Dance project, which is the same stuff as last week.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, I got to start animating the Can Can Dance. I think it is a great opportunity to improve my animation skills, especially like how to make the sound match the movement of the characters, and how to use Flash to create the Motion Tween.  It is important for me to learn Flash and acquire more knowledge of Flash, not only drawing animation on Flash, but also learning how to animate quickly and professionally. I remember the first time I got an animation test for a Co-op opportunity, and I failed. The reason is I don't know how to animate using Flash. Therefore, I realized I need to learn more about it to be a professional animator, so thanks Smiley Guys Studio for giving me this chance to learn and work.

Juhi Can!

After posing out more CAN CAN characters, I moved on to animating scenes this week. Working through the different stages of the pipeline is a definitely helpful learning experience for my own workflow. I hope to gain more practice and insight into the pre and post production of projects as well.  

~Juhi out~

Vincent and the Dancing Robot

I started on two new characters this week. Both from a new series, Beethoven's wig. One is a dancing robot and the other character's a bald guy, not Beethoven though. The Todd style 's better in my opinion. It's less 'plastic'. If you can't attach a character design to a real life person there's no point to it. Even really cartoony characters. There's something that's just scary about character designs that don't come from reality. Well, it's okay if they're really simple shapes I guess.

Pippa left the studio this week. It was her last week here. Didn't get to talk talk to her much but I wish her luck wherever she may go. Maybe our paths will cross one day. It's been a month here already. I worked on a lot of cool character's and concepts so far.

-Vincent

Elise Goes From Creepy to Cute!

Another busy week!

The interns got assigned to a new project this week. It's an animation for young kids, really cute and full of music! Switching between this adorable stuff and the Todd project has been crazy. I'm sure more seasoned animators are used to switching gears like this, but I'm pretty new at this and jumping from dick demons to big-eyed animals playing violins kind of gives me whiplash. The cutesy animals are pretty fun to animate though!

The studio people went out to lunch two days in a row! Yesterday we went to a pub and I ate a poutine as big as my head. We also played Dig Dug there, which I was not great at. I got to chat  a bit with Aaron, the new employee. He's a cool guy!

Earl got his first haircut this week. By which I mean I pulled the dead parts of his leaves off. Also some of his alive parts by mistake, because I am a bad hairdresser. All in all, he's looking pretty spiffy.

Juhi Celebrates Her Day of Birth!

This week seemed to zip by, but I retained a lot of good memories from it! We started on an exciting new project, and I've been having a lot of fun posing and drawing out the appropriate characters for an intense CAN CAN finale.

Along with the ice cream and lunch outings, puppy visits, and a birthday surprise I've grown even more attached to the studio and everyone's kindness here. Everyone emphasizes a good "work hard play hard" attitude so naturally I feel compelled to do the same!

~Juhi out~

Mandy Loves to Lunch!

We got a new project this week, which is about the Can Can song. I think this project is pretty easy, because all models have already been built in Flash, so we just need to set up character's poses and figure out the perspective of their legs and feet.

This week, we had two group lunches, one at a sushi bar, and the other one at a sports bar.  Both had delicious food, and a nice environment. I really like having lunch with others, because it helps people get to know each other, and makes me feel like we're in a family.

Pippa Wraps Up Her Internship!

My last week on internship with Smiley Guy Studios is just flying by. I’ve had the chance to help Karen with an expenses tracking document for one of the previous productions, The Nations, which I worked on throughout the week. I also got to lead the Vampire Steve / Beethoven’s Wig meeting this week - it was my first time actually getting to use the meeting notes I’ve prepared.

Vampire Steve is on hold until the end of June, because we’ve got a short deadline to meet for Beethoven’s Wig. I also got to work on some invoice approvals for a few projects.

I also spent a lot of time this week organizing hard drives with Joel G, and filing them in a google spreadsheet. I love google drive. It’s the best organizational tool I’ve ever tried. I’ve made so many spreadsheet checklists. They’re amazing.

I spent a portion of my day on the phone to hotel companies to chase up receipts that weren’t in the file for the expenses report, as well as the city of Toronto regarding parking permits for moving trucks and trailers. I also started going over the DOOD to confirm the dates on the DOOD match those on actors’ contracts.

Yesterday, I got a Toronto Public Library card. Today was my last day as a Smiley Guy intern. Tomorrow is Graduation. And next week, I’ll be back at Smiley Guy as an actual production coordinator and staying until at least the end of June.

I’ve learned so much in my time here; I’m pretty sure Smiley Guy Studios is the best possible place to intern.

And as the college chapter of my life draws to a close (accidental pun, I assure you) - I can’t wait to find out what’s next for me!

                                                             *Real Pippa is on the left, cartoon Pippa is on the right ;)