When Fall Hits, It's Always Complicated

I honestly don't know what it is about this time of year but everything, and I mean everything about my life just wants to hit a wall and stay there till temperatures get back to normal. I'd equate it to depression, and in the past I believed it was because it has all the same traits; But this year has me very confused. I know I'm not depressed because to put it quite simply, I'm not. I can't even wrap my head around what this is, but it's seriously messing with a mojo I was gaining back in a major way.

Adding to the complication, this situation has me feeling guilty about the lack of progress on Really Bad Movie. 2 weeks ago I would work for hours, now I just pick at what I need to be doing like the carcass of a post-meal Thanksgiving turkey.

Needless to say, since the animation test below, I don't have much work to show for myself and in my mind and in my bones I know this means trouble if I do not act immediately. This weekend I will focus on getting my head back on straight. This can not stand and I need to get back to work soon.

Shaking Off the Rust

It's been a few weeks since I've updated, I know. At least this time my disappearance has been for pre-production reasons. Since finishing the first pass animatic about 3 weeks ago, I've been taking some time to A) Try out, develop and continue honing some new techniques, and B) shake off the rust that's accumulated over the last couple years in which I have been damn near close to inactive.

This is what I consider the fun time, all out trial and error. I touched upon it in my last post with that 10 second video of the scary, disembodied head of Professor Waxington: Now I get to use what I learned from those series of tests and apply them to actual character animation. This is all on a practice level of course, as I have not gotten my cast together to record just yet. (Though I was fortunate enough to have one of my cast members offer their services by way of crappy quality recording session on my MacBook Pro. Thank you Carlos!) Nor have I gotten my crew together to start animating. Before I can do either I have to figure out exactly what I want this show to look like. What to do, what not to do, and how to do it, will be much easier to explain to those involved once I get a clear understanding of what it is that I want this to be.

The video clip below has been how I've spent the day. It's not without it's issues, I know. (And yes the background I used is from the show "Archer". I in no way intend to use it beyond this test footage, nor do I claim to have had anything to do with it's creation.) All in all it's a very solid first attempt, and man does it have me excited to try out more things!

Again, it's not a finished piece, it's just a test. A very sexy test if you ask me!