Princess and the Frog Time

Hey guys!

It's Marie, your soon-to-be leader (for next quarter at least). I'm standing in for Chad to announce the show time for Princess and the Frog!

Day: Saturday, Dec. 12th
Time: 1pm
Location: Pacific Place Top Floor (in front of the theater)
Price: TBA (you will be reimbursed!)

Be there or be SQUARE~!

My second animation

My first walk cycle

Scanned and colored, then brought into After Effects

Book-Blog-Short WK2

Book:
The Simpsons Handbook by: Matt Groening
This How-To book is over 130 pages of nothing but how to draw characters from the Classic show 'The Simpsons'. It does a break down into each character and how they are designed. The Simpsons Handbook is much more than a how to draw them. It's a cornucopia of excellent character design, with sections on backgrounds and props as well. There are atleast 10-40 drawings per page, along with color illunstrations and a step by step cell at the end. This is an excellent book to get even in your not a Simpsons fan but are very intrested in Character Design.
Rating: 10/10
Used Price: 4.49$ (I found my copy at a Borders in the Bargen Books Section for 5.99$)

Blog:
Kekai Kotaki Cake Mix
Kekai graduated from AiS in 2002 and works at Arena Net on Guild Wars 2 as one of the lead Concept Artists. Not only is his blog full of beautiful concept art, but it also has many links to other great artists. He's often a guest at PAX and other conventions, this year giving away and signing copies of the Art of Guild Wars 2 books at PAX. He is a fanominal digital painter and master of concept work.

Short:
Ghost of Stephen Foster
Winner of the 1999 Vancover Animation Festival and directed by Raymond Persi and Matthew Nastuk, The Ghost of Stephen Foster is a throw back to old school animation. Completely in black and white, everything about this is amazing. It's also the subtle animation thats in everything that just really sells it. It's worth watching more than once, because you'll see new things each time.

Let me know if you guys are liking this and any suggestions you guys might have.

Intrests of the week:01

I'm hoping to do a brief segment about books and blogs I find intresting and helpful to people in the club. We'll see how it goes but here's WK1!

BOOK:
ANATOMY A complete Guide for Artists By: Joseph Sheppard

This book goes indepth into the different parts of the human body, starting with the skeleton all the way up to facial structure. There are over 300 detailed drawings of anatomy made for artists. This is a great book to do studies from and for reference. This book is used in several drawing classes and is just a great tool to have.
Used Price: 5.98$
Rating: 9/10

BLOG:
Inspector Cleuzo
Sandro Cleuzo is a freelance Animator living in Brazil currently and is currently working on 'The Princess and the Frog'. He regularly posts alot of his personal Character Designs and samples of the work that he does. His designs are so interesting to look at and very inspiring. Do check him out.

SHORT:
The Cat Piano
An 8 minute short film directed by Eddie White and Ari Gibson. The short is based on a poem written by Eddie White and narrated by Nick Cave. It tells the story of a Cat Inhabited City were felines are being picked of by a shadowy figure looking to make a sinister musical instrement. The animation is superb and highly detailed and stylized. I love the use of the drasticallly different color palletes used through out the film.
Run Time: 8:33 MIN
Rating: 9.5/10

REMINDER

I just want to remind everyone that went to '9' with us last month that we need to get your Reviews. I know finals and break messed with everyone, so for anyone who hasn't turned them in you need to get a copy to either Chad or me!

If you've already turned them in either in person or on the blog, just make sure I have you're name on the list at Tomorrow's Meeting. Shoot me an email if you can't make it: prielloart@gmail.com

ANYONE THAT DID NOT DO A REVIEW AND IS PART OF CLUB WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO THE NEXT EVENT!

I'll see everyone tomorrow and we'll also do a brief planning session about the Animation Expo at the Center, mostly just picking a day that will work and stuff. See you all tomorrow.

Fall Qrtr 2009

Welcome back to school! And welcome to all you new-comers! Today we had our first meeting and I was excited to see all of you there. This quarter will be a different format than last quarter. Instead of having each meeting be different, it's going to go back to what it use to be where Tuesday and Thursday are the same thing. We have a few people who cannot go to both meetings, so that's why we're going that way again.

Beginning Level:
You're starting out like everyone else, the bouncing ball. It's main purpose is to have you evaluate timing and demonstrate Squash-and-Stretch.

Mid-Level:
'Tis the beginning of effects animation. You're working on a fire cycle. This cycle starts and ends with a drawing I gave you so we can put everyone's together and have a fire cycle that varies enough that it will continually go without someone knowing it's a cycle.

I'm really excited for all of you. There's a good community starting to develop at the club and I think it can only grow from here.

So, for those of you who were here last quarter, you know that both I and Lisa,VP, are graduating soon. I'll be graduating this quarter and Lisa the next. We need to find replacements for us before we leave so that this club will keep running. To do this, there are going to be some Saturday sessions that will be longer and more intense than the weekday meetings. You will gain a deeper knowledge and a more rooted understanding of animation. Also, you'll learn how to pass on your knowledge to others, a good skill to have. Since the sessions on Saturdays are going to be so long, there will be pizza for lunch at every meeting. These meetings will be from 10am to 2 or 2:30ish and will start next Saturday, Oct. 17, not this Saturday. If you choose to come, be prepared to get to work right away. We're hoping to find a good replacement from this group, but I encourage all of you to come even if you're not interested in the leadership aspect of it. I hope to see you there.

~Chadio

X-Sheet

I made this x-sheet for club use. We will be using them much more often.

New Club Poster!

-9- Reviews!!!!

Alright everyone, here's where you can post your review of -9-. What did you like & why, what did you not like & why. How did they do with their animation principles? How was the story?
LET IT ALL OUT!

-9-

K, everyone. Tomorrow/Thursday is the date to see -9-!!! The movie starts at 7:10 at Pacific Place, just like the last movie. We will again, be meeting at club and go from there, leaving about 6. This trip, Club will not be buying you any snacks, so you're on your own.
ALSO! I know it's a movie and it's supposed to be exciting and engrossing, but think about the level of quality in the animation. Camera shots you think were good, bad, mediocre. What did you like about the story, what do you think wasn't good? What about the basics of animation in there? How do they utilize follow-through/overlapping action, ease-in/ease-out, etc. Next week is Finals week, so I don't expect people to show up, but I'd like a mini rant/rave letter from you guys.

OOOO! AND NEXT QUARTER THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG IS COMING OUT!!!!!!

Also, I would like to ask all of your permission to use some of your animations to put together a demo reel for the club. It will be shown on the plasma screens in the North and South campus to advertise club.

Peace!
~Chadio

Here we go!

We have a go on funding for the 9 trip. The school will not be paying for snacks this time around. Also, we will need to write up a review of the movie after we watch it. This is going to be the evidence that we're not going to movies just to see movies...because we're not. SO! Everybody needs to be thinking of the movie at least somewhat analytically. I want you to enjoy it, but remember a few things you liked, disliked, what did you notice that could be applied to your own animations? The final date for sign ups is next week Tuesday the 7th.

Alrighty, see you in the next meeting.
~Chadio

UPDATE!

Alright, Cody, you're right, I should update the blog. So here goes.

There are a few things that need to be addressed.
#1
The date is set for when we will be going to see 9. Thursday Sept. 17. We don't know the time yet, but that's the date. If you have signed the sheet at club you don't have to tell me you're coming again, but if you haven't been to club and you want to come, and you KNOW you can come, send me an email. There will be no extra tickets.
#2
Your leaders are graduating in the next few quarters, me in December and Lisa in March. So, we need some people to step up to the position. You will be getting intense animation training and some leadership training. Then eventually, we will choose our successors. Tell me if you're interested.
#3
The question, "do the club meeting days stay the same each quarter?" was brought up. The answer is yes. Next quarter the meetings will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The question is, will it be like this quarter where we have been doing different things each meeting. I don't know. It depends on if people can meet both days. Usually, the meetings would be the same on both days, but since everyone came every meeting, we could move a little faster.
#4
Week 9, you'll be taking an animation assignment you have previously finished and doing it again, fixing the problems you had before and taking all the rest of what you learned this quarter and applying it to the redo.

Alrighty, I'll see you all on Tuesday! Enjoy the weekend!!!
~Chadio

Hey chad, you should update :D

SORRY EVERYBODY!

This week is about Anticipation. You'll be working on a spaceship animation that utilizes what you learned with the bouncing ball, Squash & Stretch and Timing, and anticipation. Anticipation is what lets the audience know what to expect. If a character was going to run from a standing position then suddenly was running, the audience would be thoroughly confused. To fix this, we put in the antic, the move to get ready to run. It's seen a lot in cartoons where the character lifts his leg and the arms go back behind them THEN the burst out running. ALSO! This is the first use of your X-Sheets. Do your layout, make sure you like your arcs, draw your keys then time it. Record the times on your X-Sheet and put in your breakdowns and time those. Continue to inbetween it. Here is the tutorial on the Space Ship <--

PEACE!
~Chadio

SHOOTING TUTORIAL

OK! SO! A tutorial on shooting your animation:

Open up Adobe Premier 6.5 from the START menu. It will come up with a prompt asking for settings...just press ok...it doesn't matter. Open the FILE menu and go down to CAPTURE > STOP MOTION. On this window there should be a "start" button and a "done" button. If these buttons are not showing, go to the STOP MOTION menu and click CAPTURE OPTIONS. Change the capture type to Manual Capture. Click "OK". You may either use your mouse or use the space bar. Click once, the script at the bottom of the window should turn red. This means you are ready to capture. Continue to click the button or space bar for your drawings. When you have finished, click done. Another window will pop up with your animation in it. Exit out of it and click "YES" because you DO want to save it. Make sure you know where you are saving the file. I choose the Desktop because it's the easiest to access. Minimize Premier and you may proceed to view your animation. WOOHOOOOO!
If you have any questions, let me know.
PEACE OUT!
~Chadio

Weekly Fun Stuff

I hope you all are checking out this blog each week. Keep an eye out for any updates as they could be the most amazing thing in the world.

So this week, we're hoping you guys will spend a bit of time and surf the web each bring and bring One (1) artist and One (1) animation you guys find to club each Thursday. This is just to get us all looking at other peoples work, which is always a good way to learn and improve. And it's fun. We get to learn what we each like and what others like as well.

This week, I showed you guys a couple of things:

Comlock.Net
You all should check this guy's stuff out. He's a frequent poster on AnimationForum.net and his work is really amazing.

Low Oxygen
A beautiful short from a guy down at Calarts. That link is also his art blog, something we encourage you guys to get and use.

We'll update a post that is just a link of art blogs/personal art sites we all come across and want to share. Same goes with animations we find.

-Lisa. Over and Out
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey all, this Chad.

This weeks animation is a continuation of the bouncing ball. You had Lisa's awesome lecture on spacing, timing and such. Try to incorporate that into this animation. Play with the ball. Experiment. What happens if I slow the movement down here, or speed it up here. Remember to PLAN OUT YOUR MOVEMENT before you start drawing the ball. That movement path is very important to keeping your animation smooth and consistent.

ALSO! Sketchbook pages. Do 2-3 pages of spheres. This exercise is to help you see that 2-D plane and see it as 3-D space. Remember to start light until you have the shape you want, then pin it down with the darker line, Colin, I'm watching you.

HAVE FUN!!
~Chadio

WELCOME ALL!

This is the beginning of Summer quarter in '09. I'm really excited about it and I hope everyone learns a lot from what we are about it do.

You heard me say this already, but I'd like to start by saying that everyone should start their own sketchblog and post on it as much as possible. We only get better with practice.
Next, our assignment as of right now is to draw 5 pages of spheres. Manipulate them as much as you can. Squish them, twist them, smash them, drip them, punch them, love them. Remember to draw the cross hairs to give it depth and to just start drawing loosely then once you get the form you want, pin it down with a solid line. NO SPACE LEFT ON THE PAPER!


ALSO! I'm going to the zoo on Saturday. I can get 5 people in for half price, which with tax is about $8.50. Let me know if you want to come. It's a good way to build up your drawing skills and get a head start on life drawing. Email me - thesageguy@gmail.com.

I'M EXCITED!
~Chadio

P.S. Some good places to get supplies are:
Dick Blick
Cartoon Supplies
Specifically for Animation pencils
Utrect

Fearless Leader

Chad,

Aren't you supposed to be like...posting things?

Hmm.


-Katie :D

Sarah Forrester

Student work, shes awesome at Animals. Good Inspiration


http://www.patterpaws.com/sketch.html

Starting Some Contests

Back when I started here, they had a monthly contest for Life Drawing and you could win a sketch book. I was thinking we should bring that back. And instead of a boring sketchbook from the school, we could let the winner choose their own design from here (I get a discount at all Barns and Noble's.)

I was also thinking of doing a monthly Themed drawing contest, the prize being the same. Where we'd pick a theme and you do a piece about that theme.

I just think it would be a good way to get people motivated to do more drawings and stuff.

Anyone in the school could enter, our club would just be hosting it and picking the winner each month.

Let me know what you guys think and stuff.

-Lisa

Jason Fish

Fish vs. Bowling Ball

I'll be editing this post soon to fully explain what this is, but for now, here's the model sheet for your fish. Practice, it's mostly a ball with fins. Enjoy!

YAY SNOWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

=) I LOVE SNOW.

Hey guys

Hi, guys,

So, after tomorrow I know a lot of people are going to be upset, or confused about what's going on in the Animation Department, and how we're going to move forward without Roby Gilbert as our academic director. I also know that alot of you are new-ish students and didn't know Roby very well. Regardless, you may be concerned, or maybe you just have some irks about the program that you'd like to get off your chest. Maybe you have suggestions for improvements, or want to stress something in particular that you think would help better your education.

Chad and I, in association with the Student Council, have set up this E-mail:

Animationstudentconcerns@gmail.com

Here, you can e-mail your concerns and suggestions to the Animation/GAD Student Council representatives, and help them prioritize the issues in our department. This isn't our attempt at "sticking it to the man"; we want to do everything we can to help the students organize their concerns in a way that will help the administration understand our voices.

Anything from "All these animation tables are broken!", to "I'm really sad about so and so...I wish it could be this way." are welcome. Even if you just want to vent, that's what it's there for.

You can write anonymously, and your information (e-mail address, name) will only be used to contact you if we organize a meeting and want to contact you about it. You will only be held responsible for what you write if it is threatening, grossly inapporpraite, or harmful to the cause (in which case we'll probably just block your e-mail and be done with it).

When we have enough informtion, we hope to organize a meeting of the department as students so we may come together and develope our priorities. From there, Student Council aims to organize meetings specifically designed to help advance the animation department, and resolve these concerns.

This is a new thing, so please test it out. If you have Animation friends with concerns, pass on the e-mail and this message.

Our goal is to make sure each student is heard; we're here listen.

-Katie

P.S. Please note that neither this effort, nor any student organization has any influence over how AIS deals with their faculty and employment issues. This is not a petition. We are not radicals. This is an openly student run effort that aims to aid the administration as they strive to better the school.

Remember kids

Every Saturday we're gonna meet in the Animation lab and watch movies, listen to music and animate. It's a good atmosphere to do your work in. Labs open at 10am, hope you can make it.

ALL HANDS MEETING!!!

Go to the All Hands Meeting instead of club on Thursday, today. IT'S IMPORTANT!! There are posters around school for it and I believe it's in 717/718. See you there.

Saturday Club!

It may not be in everyone's interest to go to campus on Saturdays, but its a heck of a lot more productive then sitting in your room watching law and order all day. The career path we have chosen demands a lot of constant practice and critique! So putting in a few extra hours in room 703
couldn't hurt.


If your going to come, bring a I-pod! (if you got one) I have little I-Pod Amplifier that I'll always bring so we can have a little atmosphere going while we hang out.

10:30- 4:30 Saturday is when the school opens and closes, Someone correct me if I'm wrong!

This Week

Hey all.
Beginning, either work on what you've been working on, or send me an email and I'll give you a personal assignment.
---
Intermediate, you're assignment is going to be a run cycle with Mr. Bean. This is going to be something where you figure out what works best, 4 drawings or 8 drawings.
---
Advanced, you're gonna be working on a weight test. and the weight is going to be light, not heavy. Next week is heavy.

OH! and just so you know, I heard a rumor about an all hands meeting this Tuesday, so go to that if it comes.

Enjoy the week.

Question to ALL

Someone from Anime club approached me and asked if any of us would like to submit any animations to be viewed at Sakura Con. They are hoping to have a booth representing AIS. This would be a great opportunity for a first goal where you have something to strive for more than just school and self-improvement, but to have your work displayed publicly. Let me know if you would like to do anything for that.

Animation Party!

This Saturday I'm hoping to have an animation party. Basically a day where we can all get together and animate while watching great animations. I'll see if we can get pizza there too. If I can't get the school to pay for it, are you guys willing to chip in for some eats? hope you guys can make it. I'll be there at 10am when it opens.

Party Saturday?!?

Was it just me or did I remember hearing something... somewhere about saturday and pizza..

OMG

The video of the week is The tootsie Pop Commercial...LoL

Winter 09 Week 2

Ok, so some weird things happened on Tuesday and I apologize that there was so much confusion. Anyway, this is what's goin' on this week.

Beginners: You're going to be doing the Space Ship animation. Here's the link to the complete instructions on that....LINK
---
Intermediate: You guys get to draw Mr. Bean again!!! This is gonna be a tough one and it might take a few tries to get it right. Here's the layout:


1) You'll want to figure out the direction you want Mr. Bean to walk.
2) Mr. Bean is walking in perspective, thus he needs to get bigger as he comes toward the screen. Make a 3D box in which he will be doing that walking.
3) Draw Mr. Bean at the far side of the box facing the direction you want him to go.
4) Draw in his foot prints to map out his walk. This is tricky. You may find out after animating him that his stride is wrong. THIS IS OKAY! This is how you learn. Do the plan again. One suggestion is once you get the key poses down, shoot it to see if it works, then you won't have to worry about changing all of those inbetweens.
5) ANIMATE!!!!! Each step will take 8 drawings, just like the normal walk did, so go ahead and review that to help you with posing.

Don't forget to put your horizon line on a separate piece of paper. This is gonna be a 2 week project. We'll critique them next meeting, then you'll be able to make changes to make it better.
---
Advanced Group: Study a real life emotion from a movie or Youtube video and animate the bust of a simple character, the chest and up. Mr. Bean is always a good standby. Look for the details that the person gives off and try putting it into your animation. This demands reference, no freestyling it.

Everybody have fun, I can't wait to see your stuff.

Acting Club

Hey everybody, there's a new club out this quarter that is extremely beneficial to Animators. It's called "The Exaggerates". It's an acting club and it meets on Wednesdays at 4:30 in room 700. They're going to be doing some really awesome stuff, so go check it out.

www.Artvogt.com

This guys little portfolio has some nice illustrations too. I mostly like his little aardvark creature.

Claire Wendling

Here is a copy of Claire Wendling's Art book. It's a great asset for everyone as her art is AMAZING!

Download HERE

Cool info!

We've got some cool plan for this quarter. On week 7 we're going to be doing a group-ish project. Everyone in the club will be doing an animation on the same subject with free reign of execution, but you'll get more information about that later. Also, week 8 we're going to have Amy Williams come in for Acting days both Tuesday and Thursday. This is something truly important to the animation field. Acting helps you understand how something moves, and once you understand it, it's SO much easier to animate it. You won't want to miss this. Then week 9 we'll be meeting in the viewing room next to the library in the North Campus to watch our group projects on the big-ger screen. Gonna be a PARTA~AY. I hope you'll be as excited about this as I am. Anyway, that's the heads up. Have fun animating.
~Chadius

First Meeting of 2009

Welcome to the first meetings of 2009 everybody.

For the beginners we'll be starting with the Bouncing Ball. Go to the link and you'll see the layout and other instructions. HAVE FUN!

For the ones we had start last quarter, here's your stuff.
This is Mr. Bean. You will be using him in a lot of your animations so get to know him well. He will be the easiest character you will ever animate. Notice his basic shapes and use them when animating. The cross hairs he has help to make him look 3D, so I would suggest using those on EVERYTHING!



I tried to put the walk in as many ways as I could to help with your understanding. Mr. Bean will be walking in place, so make sure his head stays on the same lateral plane moving up and down. At the top are the individual drawings you will be doing, there are only 8 for this one. Remember to do keys first, and tweens next.

To the Advanced group! We will also be using Mr. Bean! Welcome back to the old days. He will be running through an obstacle course with at least 3 object he must interact with to get to where he wants to go. Use swings, ladders, balls and walls or whatever else you want him to bump into. Challenge yourself.

Everybody, enjoy yourselves.
~Chad, el Presidente

OMIGOODNESS!!!!

HEY ALL! Welcome to 2009 and the new school year. I just wanted everyone to remember that we are meeting both Tuesdays AND Thursdays from 4:30 to 5:30. I hope to see you all there.
~Mr. President