David J. Signing Off

Today is my last day as an Intern at Smiley Guy Studios! It's hard to believe just 13 short weeks ago I started my time here. When I first started I was pretty nervous about how my first experience in the industry would turn out. Would I be able to cultivate the skills necessary to become successful in this field? Would I fit into the studio?

I feel very lucky to have been able to work on three different shows during my time here because I think that doing so stretched my skillset and understanding of the different styles and subtleties that making each show look distinct and unique. Getting to do special effects was a lot of fun too!

Furry Force was my first experience in the industry and let me tell you, there’s nothing I won’t animate now. It was a lot of fun working on the shot where Leon timetravels to the past to warn Vivisector because I got to do hand drawn special effects for the lightning, plus it was SO hilarious making Leon shiny. Later I moved on to Chirp.

Doing Scene Setup on Chirp was an interesting experience because it's one of the jobs that I didn't realize existed. I had expected that it would have been the responsibility of the animator to bring all of the characters, backgrounds and audio into the scene. Now I realize that it actually makes it so much easier to get the animations done quickly because the elements are already sitting there waiting for you to make the characters think and act.

Animating on Chirp was really fun! My favourite character on the show is Squawk. I love bluebirds first of all, and Squawk is so fun to animate because he’s so boastful even though he’s always the first to run away. I like that mix of wanting to the great but also having alot of panic and fear. I think Character Animation is by far the most challenging facet of animation. Getting an appealing performance from the characters is always a new challenge every day but I feel like I’ve gotten a lot better at it since working at Smiley Guy.

I have been working on Wussywat for the last couple days. I really like the characters. They have really cute individual personalities and it makes the acting choices a little more obvious because there is more variety between how they think and behave. On Wussy Wat the characters have more complicated rigs and they do a lot more moving around than on Chirp. Yesterday I had my first Skype meeting for Wussy Wat. It went well but I will ask more questions for the next time.

I am incredibly grateful to have been given the opportunity to work with such a great group of people who have mentored me throughout my time here as in intern, and look forward to moving into my new role as an employee at Smiley Guy Studios when I return from a week long trip in Montreal.

Audio Book Reviews by Meghan

The last couple weeks at Smiley Guy I have been doing more prop building. I enjoy the challenge and like that I'm able to listen to audiobooks while I work. Last week Mary and I decided to listen to a book called "I've got your number" by Sophie Kinsella and we absolutely loved it!! I would recommend it to anyone who likes romantic comedies. She's also the author of the book "Confessions of a shopaholic" which is a movie. Another good book of hers that I read a while back is "remember me?". So if anyone who's reading this needs a light-hearted entertaining book to read, choose one of these or another of Sophie Kinsella's books. 

 

I'll be moving back onto Scene set-up this week and will be moving to Wussywat next week! Looking froward to the challenge!

Smileys, Dracula and Biiirds!

I had just finished my last prop/FX today for Smiley Guy Studios' tv show Chirp! It involved snow and icebergs and what I'd call...snowbergs! I'll miss doing props. It was so fun and relaxing! I've learned so much, from masking to animation techniques. I've made a collection of bananas, flowerpots, toilet papers, dog dishes, pickaxes, sandcastles, megaphones, nuts, leaves, playsets, snowballs and now snowbergs! 

There were times when I was just frustrated with my slow pace, but there were also times when I get so caught up making a prop that it actually turns out "Good!" according to Joel. I'm surprised by how much I know a lot more about Flash at this point. Thank you so much Joel! 

Aside from my Flashy adventures, I also acquainted with more Smiley faces like Tom, who had apparently worked at Elliot Animation (I've heard that studio did the show 6teen and Stoked, which are shows that I was a big fan of) and Cherry, Ashley and Kosta among others who talk about comics and superhero movies. It's really cool to get to know people in the studio with similar likes. We even have awesome lunch adventures, like last week, Julie took us to Kensington Market, and ugh oh...I think I found a new knick-knack store to lose all my money to...

There's so much more to talk about, like how I'm starting scene-planning and animating in Chirp this week, but because my ice-cappuccino beside me is crying out to be emptied...that's all folks! :)

P.S.

The Dracula part in this week's title was because of two things. 1) I had just finished Bram Stoker's novel Dracula and it was awesome, and 2) I had just got a part of a Romanian character - with fangs of course, because Transylvanian vampires, yoo - for an upcoming Q&A panel in a comic convention in Hamilton! (I can't believe I still have time for these things. pfffft oh well it's my summer) Anyway that means, it's time to practice being a vampire while animating.

  Here's a sneaky birdie for ya! Inspired by WussyWat's bird design.  Birds, birds, birds!