Animation Update...More Coming Soon

Smoker's Corner Animatic from Andre Barnwell on Vimeo.

SMOKE THIS EPISODE 1 - Animated Skit from Andre Barnwell on Vimeo.

Demo Reel - March 2009 from Andre Barnwell on Vimeo.

Pencil Test From Page Short

2008 Demo Reel

Rough "Pencil" Test

W.I.P.

A scene from my film

p.s. missing the paper coming out of mouth

MOCK REEL

Part 2 -- LipSync

This is the second part of the whole scene. Its really just a way to combine a lipsync and an another action analysis in one. Nothing better than boucning characters off of eachother. However the challenge that Im finding is the staging. Hopefully I wont need to do too much camera movement and such so that way the entire scene is read properly.

The next step for the rope action is to roto. the rope to the animation.

PART 1 -- Action Analysis

*Well heres another piece of WIP until Ive learned form this piece Ill be taking it home to also finish. By then I should have finished (with out facial expressions)the baseball swing. Ive had a lo of fun with this one. Still needs some work in the timing. Maybe fiding keys I can make "breathe" a little more. The big picture is that there is a lip sync tied into this and Im pretty excited about that. Theres an even bigger picture but ill save that when its all done. Thanks for those who have stopped by randomly to take the time to check out my works.*

AND JUST LIKE A DREAM

This is my inspiration and thats all I have to say


Marcell Jankovics - Sisyphus (1974)

Marcell Jankovics - Sisyphus (1974)
Uploaded by jeremyfox

I've been told if you want to enjoy this piece more turn off the sound.

CHARACTER DESIGN BY CHEN YI CHANG

CHARACTER DESIGN BY CHEN YI CHANG

SLOWLY BUT SURELY

Havent been to the studio for a while but heres one out of 2 updates for animation Id like to see comppletely finished. Im bringing this to the guys to see what they have to say. Because I took this home and Ive moved on from it, that means I can deviate from the original. I can add more to the scene. With this "power" Ive tried to learn form my previous mistakes and not go to far with it even if my aim is to create a performance.

One of the things I learned fomr the Art of Ratatouille book is that they had to create and program character designs as to save time but also for their animation design to look good from virtually all angles. To me this is better than the last one but I still feel the contact with the "tee" could be "better". this would be the first pass for the ball and tee gag but a second pass at the animation itself. The body mechanics are gettin. there. I just want everything (in silhouette) to read then its off to have some real fun with the characters face.


Im getting used to acting to the point where I can do it in my boxers. Dont worry I wont be acting nude.LOL.

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT...

Character for my 5th year film...lol...Seriously though..Dont eat form this guy.

I HATE COMPUTERS...WHEN THEY DONT DO WHAT I WANT

SO I spent a few hours on revising and cleaning my graph editor and the &*&*(*^*^*^)*)&*&^^#^$$#%#*&) computer doesnt tell me that theres no space for saving...WHILE I WAS SAVING! LOL. anyway my journal entry...

dear diary... I hate computers..except when they do waht i want...

no seriously. Today I presented some ideas for some reel work. Yes I thin I'm ready...or am I. Theres nothing that makes me feel more at peace is knowing from a senior that Im not ready and why. First off its not the more is better its jus that I thought too simplistic in terms of staging. Animationisnt only about ...animation it involves entertainment, technically speaking staging, layout, focus, angles, cuts....FILM...no matter how short it is.

Cause the computer had space issue I couldnt scan my stuff...Im lieing I was lazy cuz i wanted to show what I didi wrong. Since this is a post Im posting more WIP stuff Ill show those drawings in the development stage of my pull/lipsync project.

Ill admit thisis a big one but like ive been taught Im takling a bit at a time and the lovely thing about 3D (computers) is that i can adjust the camera anyway which way relative to my drawn boards...just to up the notch on dynamics.

Also at the studio Im learnin to be a better speaker...slowly but surely. Im a big guy but at the same time being in a studio with these guys can be kinda intimidating and I want their knowledge and don't want to sound arogant but sometimes I just need to speak up to clarify what I mean. I feel passionate about my next assignmetn and i feel that it will be a piece that i will beable to use as a demo piece. the other test are just that and some may get reworked and revised but wont be the highlight.

To be honest i have 2 solid pieces that ive been analyzing and performing in live action in the mean time so this is why I feel so amped and ready.

My lesson learned so far(in no particular order)....

KEEP IT SIMPLE

Draw it out(board staging)

Reference it out ..but dont over analyze

Act it out ( not matter how shy you are)

Block it out/Time it out

Clean up you timing (graph)

Rough pass (clean up graph)

Clean up final pass (graph)

Add Squash and stretch where effective

MORE W.I.P. : Method To My Madness

....well hers me and friend Randeep making fools outta ourselves for the love of animation. Enjoy at our expense.Still need to fix some timing and add stretch and squash and a better arc for the bat swing.

W.I.P: THERES A LESSON TO BE LEARNED HERE...

Very Much so still works in progress but I just thought Id share. For the past 7-14 days Ive been working with this character and Im trying to do some character animation. Both will end differntly. Due to my sense of humour Im in love with the idea of him slammin into the door. I jus know now that I have to make the imp[act read a little clearer.

For the Seond one thats where a lesson is learnt. The good guys at Red Rover have insisted I stick to my idea from beginning to end. This is a lesson in discipline. I think its rare that someone looking over your shoulder will remind you that giving up for something "easier" will make you a weaker artist/animator. To communicate what YOU WANT form the gecko is the challenge. Well in the second one I think Id lose my audince completely with its current ending. Oh well..it was the end of the day and I realized ...WHAT THE FUCK! This isnt in character and as always I show my mentor before I leave and behold..."Hes not in character". From animation teachers to the pioneers they all say the same thing "WHATS YOUR CHARACTER THINKING".

I believe that this is the golden rule of animation....

For Jokes




Silouhette Testing




W.I.P





...that sometimes goes in one ear and out the other.

Concept....

Sam Chou inspired me to aniate some of my design. Nothing overly ambitious. Some stuff I saw of his really inspired me and also a 10 sec animation that Alina Chau did on her animation blog really helped me to visualize it. Thanks you too for being inspirations. Now the tough part....Finding the Time.

JUMP JUMP..

what happend to Kriss Kross

1 AND 2 AND 3 AND 4...BALL BOUNCE

First Attempt



Almost Got What I want



Final



loses a little too much energy at the end but it was my REAL first crack at maya animation. No offense Doug, I respet your classes very much there was just too much during the year but your one of the best teachers Ive had.

1 AND 2 AND 1 AND 2...

Im at Red Rover Studios this summer trying to learn the tool called "3d". As a student of animation Ive been waiting for this for a long time. Ive This summer Ill be able to get feedback from industry pros not jus on if my animation will "cool" or not but also keepin in mind the traditional princicples of animation which is exactl what Ive been wanting. To get better a animation and also learn 3d..my 4th year won't be in 3d however. The fact that the guys at Red Rover keep inmind the tradional principles regardless of the change over to 3D for some of their character animation jobs is inspiring and says alot about the studio and its dedication to animation entirely. So far Ive gotten two assignmetns that have taken me a week to complete. A BOX Tumble and Ball Bounce all key framed. Its work and its interesting to develop a habit to read the graph editor and not so much what the object is doing. The learning environment is great there. Ben Pilgrim, Steve ( I gotta edit this for his last name), Bruno (gotta do the same) have been guiding me and giving me honest and classical feedback. As much as these arent the most eye captivating animations there are once again excercises into the basics..Gotta crawl before you can walk and walk before you can run.

I hope all my friends are having and learin just as much as I am. An important lesson I am learing however is.."Make sure what you animate is what you want." And being kinda green to 3D it is a lot of problem solving to get what you want it (your character) to do.

First Test Before Relating to Live Reference



Second Attempt Using Live Refernce





Final Attempt Using Live Refernce

WHAT COULD I BE UP TO?

Once again..this is an animation related blog so anything I post will eventually be animated and or to be catered towards designing for animation. Well here are some thumbs for a few walk cycles. Excited. Please believe it. Ill post finals when their done.

ps. I havent abandonned my friend Mr. Cookie Monster. I got plans for him, but for now Im jus focussing on other character animation for my 4th year film. Cookie Monster failed his screening test. Its ok thats what series work is for. *OUCH*

ROTTEN HABIT

MY SHARE...

A bit of what I did for a funny little film about a candy craving kid who doesnt take care of his teeth and bumps heaad with the cavitiy monster . I will post the entire film once we upload it to either youtube of vimeo. Steve Daymond did a great job with making use of the character design. I will also be posting up more year end animation.

Ive also learned an incredible amount when it comes to creating a film such as organization, patience and time to name a few. Even now my scenes and the entire film need a few tweaks here and there. Don't know when I'll find time or patience for that, regardless

I want to thank ...

STUDIO 10 CREW - Steve Daymond, Rob Bursey, Robert Kim, Daivd Tran, Lara Salam, Arzu Fallahi, Rye Routly, Ewen (forgot your last name sorry), Tony Tarintini (Line Producer) and the other teachers that who had patience enough to help us through the end. Thanks for an experience I can't forget.

Exploration Continues...

...and so witht the inspiration from ned's next ive been able to motivate myself into continuing this during my spare time. With the time I can make Id rather make this strong in animation and design. Its all in creaing a discipline for next year.

Monster Mash

I got a very interesting soundtrack from ANALYZE THIS. Its a Robert Deniro line and Im excited to get into a pose test. This is all I have to show at the moment but I have been doing some exploring on the time when Im not too too too too busy with the film stuff.

The Learning Process:The Mistakes

A slew of thumbnails to start

2nd attempt at staging with expressions

first rough staging and DQ telling us not to animate a pose test for the simple reason being...ITS A POSE TEST.

This has been another great experience in learning for myself with respects to animating. Im not the greatest to start with but I intend on getting there. But heres some rough animation or a lip sync excercise with one of the character from our group film. To me this is more of a chance to make and learn from my lipsync mistakes so I can make another lipsync Im trying to do better than the previou one. Because it ironic that in an animation school I feel like I either A: dont get enough time to animate and B: not get enough animation assignments so Im just taking my future into my own hands and trying to gear myself up for when I leave school and enter the industry. But till then here are a list of mistakes I made that Im hoping to not make on the rough for my new one.

C&C always appreciated and guidance to books or notes are also appreciated.

-Could be smoother

-Hand on chest needs to get affected by breathing

-Mouth shapes should conform around the mouth much more convincingly
to be very critical with myself and looking at other top notch animation 2d/3d i realise that MY bigges mistake was the fact that i took the exploration of mouth shapes for granted and thought that i could just fake it. Realising this I have to go back to it and clean it slightly for a 2nd rough animation pass.

-Holds vs. moving holds when to do it and when not to.

-Eyebrows

-Eye shifting (thinking)

-More arcs / better arcs / broader arcs

-Better stretch and squash ie make better exaggerated poses.

*And if anybody knows of any better sites to post video please let me know due to the fact that audio is slightly off set on this excercise*

MY NEW ANIMATION REEL

CHARACTER DESIGN PORTFOLIO 2006

MISTER BARNWELL

...But you can call me Mr.Barnwell
*a special thanks to Arzu Fallahi for the great caricature*