Saturday, December 19, 2015

A Short Cat Animation

Although I've animated some 4-legged animals in the past as a traditional animator, however, I don't think I did them that well back then.  Achieving subtle acting and performance in hand-drawn animation was, and still is very difficult. Not that it's any easier to do in CG,  but it is achievable and believable.

It's been a much-delayed interest of mine to at least try to animate quadrupeds in CG.  And so, I decided to take a realistic creature course at Animation A Team with Rob Hemmings, to learn some new approach and techniques of how to do this.

This is the thumbnail sketch for the story idea of "Gotcha!", ( originally called Cat Chase), which I consider my first successful attempt in animating a realistic quadruped animal as a 3d animator.

click to enlarge


So below are the final  results. Enjoy!

                 

And here's the same animation with  fur render.
   
                 


                 



Monday, March 30, 2015

Animal Drawing - Final Week

To see previous weeks, click Week 1. Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5. Week 6, Week 7.

For week 8, the lectures were about prehistoric animals and some rendering.  Finally, I'll have my weekends back. It's been really challenging 8 weeks, because I didn't have much time to do more research and sketches to understand the process, with only the weekends to do it.  And yet, I still enjoyed doing these assignments.  The subject of drawing animals is really very broad, and for 8 weeks, it's just scratching the surface. There's just so many different kinds, types, species of animals one can learn about, that it's a lifetime's worth of study.

I also got sick this week, so I only managed to these.  Artrage 4 had been the program I've been using in doing all of my assignments.  Here's what I've done.

   

Monday, March 23, 2015

Animal Drawing - Week 7

To see previous weeks, click Week1, Week2, Week3, Week4, Week 5, Week 6.

Week 7 is all about birds. Understanding a bit of their anatomy, how their wings look, folded and in flight; and how to draw them using simple shapes.   But because I've been busy at work this week, including Saturday, I only get to finish 3 birds.

Here's what I've done. ( click to enlarge)



Monday, March 16, 2015

Animal Drawing - Week 6

 To see previous weeks, click week1, week 2, week 3, week4 . week 5

For week 6, the lectures and assignments are about  drawing  unusual shaped- animals.  These are the fishes, and reptiles. It's also about how much or less details, textures are indicated so as not to kill the drawings.   This is something I plan to practice on even after this workshop is done.

Here's what I've done. ( click to enlarge)









Friday, March 13, 2015

Hotel Transylvania 2 Teaser Trailer

Here's the teaser trailer of Hotel Transylvania 2, the movie I'm currently working on.

          
       

Monday, March 9, 2015

Animal Drawing - Week 5

 To see previous weeks, click week 1, week 2, week 3, week 4

For week 5, the topic and assignment was about drawing the individual and not the generic.  This means learning the different family genus and species. Or their different ages.  I focused on 2 species, dogs and tigers, specifically the Labrador Retrievers and Siberian Tigers. I decided to draw them in their different ages and observe how their appearances change.

After learning how to draw animals through the process of  gesture, construction, and anatomy it's now time to complete the drawing with some rendering. There are many ways to go about it. but since I don't have the time to explore different techniques, like crosshatching, I decided to just simply do a wash technique for the shadow shapes and a few whites in some areas. 

Here's what I've done... (click to enlarge)



Monday, March 2, 2015

Animal Drawing - Week 4

To see previous weeks, click Week 1, Week 2, Week 3.

For week 4's topic, it's about active and passive muscles, and animals in action, and being able to draw animals from gesture, construction, and with muscles overlay.  For my assignment, I concentrated mostly on dogs and a cat. I chose photos where there's interaction between animals.

Here's what I've done. ( click to enlarge)

        


Monday, February 23, 2015

Animal Drawing - Week 3

 To see previous weeks, click Week 1, and Week 2
 .
Week 3's assignment had been very challenging. It's about determining the muscles of predatory and prey animals.  Even though all we need to learn as artists are the superficial and simplified muscle groups, I found it really hard. There's just not enough time to study them, and I only have the weekends to do it.  It took me hours to figure out the muscles of just one animal in one pose.  Not even sure it's all correct. This is one of those times a good teacher's feedback is necessary.

Here's what I've done. (click to enlarge)






Monday, February 16, 2015

Animal Drawing - Week 2

 To see Animal Drawing Week 1, click here.

This week's lesson was about animal skeleton and basic construction.  This was one of those times when I really struggled drawing.  I have not drawn animal skeletons before so this week's assignment had been difficult.  If I don't understand what I'm drawing, I won't be able to draw it well. So, I took out all of my animal drawing and anatomy books as references. I think after this course is over, I will revisit all the lessons again and do a lot of practice.

Here's what I've done. (click to enlarge)






Monday, February 9, 2015

Animal Drawing -Week 1

I'm at it again! I'm presently enrolled in another online drawing workshop. Art education has always been something I wanted to continue and thanks to all these online schools, I'm now able to do it at my own convenience.

This time, it's Animal Drawing at CGMA 2d Academy.  Being a 3d animator, it's easy to neglect sketching or drawing after a long day's work. So, this is my way of forcing myself out of laziness to start sketching and drawing again.

For week 1, here's what I've done.... (click to enlarge)