Has it Been Long Enough?

I am SO thrilled (and relieved) to be back at AM! I withdrew last April after my dad was diagnosed with a rare type of tumor. He underwent a long and complicated surgery on September 10th, and thankfully everything went extremely well. He's recovering at home now, and life is slowly getting back to normal. It was up in the air for a long time whether I'd be coming back to AM, because things like this tend to throw life and finances for a loop. This whole thing made me realize that nothing should stop you from trying to reach a goal, no matter how difficult the obstacle you have to overcome.

I really owe a huge thank you to the AM staff for their support and understanding. It's truly a blessing to have a school that treats you like flesh and blood. It's ironic that I felt the traditional campus life was so impersonal, and then I come to an online school that treats everyone like family. Go AM!

Session 201- Turn Reference

Tuesday night was my first Q&A with Jason Martinsen, and it was a blast. He's super outgoing, and very funny. He got us all thinking about our career plans, and also gave us some good advice for Class 2. To summarize: focus on body mechanics, not stories or personality, and keep shots simple and short. :)

I chose a model turn, because it will be a completely different turn than the "surprised" turn I did last time, and it also gives me a chance to go back to the walk. Walks were definitely my struggling point of Class 1, something I need to conquer before I move on to acting. Check out the reference!




A little personality, but a better choice than 12 weeks ago, when I created a whole back story for the Ballie turn. It ended up not reading like I wanted it to, because I wanted to do too much with a limited character. Lesson learned: Ballie has no arms.

On the fifteenth of May, in the Jungle of Nool, in the heat of the day, in the cool of the pool...

As a great way to start off spring term, I finally saw Horton today! I will say that is was AWESOME, and not just because my new mentor Jason Martinsen worked on it. :) What's also awesome is the number of AM names I saw in the credits! So so cool to see the names of graduates going by, big CONGRATS to everyone who worked on it.



Without giving anything away, Jojo was my favorite character, and I absolutely loved the scene in the observatory. I would love have been able to get my hands on one of the Who rigs, their faces look like so much fun to animate. The whole movie looked fun to animate! I also loved the textures they used, I really wanted to touch that clover! They kept up the whimsical look of Dr. Seuss in the environment, but made it look like you could actually touch the elephant's skin, or the feathers. Awesome!

In other Caroline Animation News, I'm back to AM! Hooray!!! I am so refreshed and ready to start! It's time for Body Mechanics, Part II. It's great to be back and see everyone again, and I'm looking forward to seeing what my old classmates are up to in Class 3!

On a personal and more somber note, my dad was diagnosed with cancer about a week and a half ago. There is a fairly large tumor located in his abdomen, very close to his aorta, but not affecting any major organs. The doctors are now thinking its benign, which is new and great news. However, there is still a small chance that they won't be able to remove it, so please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. It's been a tough time, but the only thing to do in these situations is to stay positive. We've had a lot of good news, and so much support from friends and family. I'm especially blessed, because I just recently moved back to my hometown. And I go to this great online school, so I don't need to worry about missing classes. :) My dad is staying very positive too, even finding a little humor in it here and there. As hard as situations like these are, they really bring out the best in people. You laugh harder, cry when you feel the need, and really treasure your time with family.

Let's end it where I began, back in the Jungle of Nool...

I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful, one hundred percent.

Oscars!

Very happy that Ratatouille won the Oscar for best Animated Film last night. Even happier that Peter & the Wolf won for best short! It's incredible. If anyone knows where to find it on DVD for the US, let me know. I'm very curious what materials they used to make their characters, and what their dimensions are. How did they get the wolf's lip to curl like that? Many questions.


Working on some little animations of my own, I don't want to get rusty while I'm on leave! I'll be posting a thing or two soon. :)

edit: I had embedded the video to Peter and the Wolf, but it's been since taken off Youtube again, so I removed it. If they don't want it up on the net, it's understandable. I just wish they would release a US DVD!

LOA :(

I made a really tough decision today. I have bronchitis, and I've fallen way behind in the last 2 weeks. This week we have to do video reference for a pole jump, and I just can't do it. :( Sucks, sucks, sucks. I don't want to leave AM for 8 weeks. But I also don't want to turn in work late, or let my work suffer because I'm not learning as well as I should be. Sucks. I'm really going to miss it, and being a Peer Buddy, and everything. Spring seems so far away! The light at the end of the tunnel is that they're holding my funds, so I WILL be back. But I will miss it until then. :(

WHOOOSH!

That is what I heard as Week 2 flew by. Thankfully blocking my turn was more simple than I expected, and I got some AWESOME feedback to help improve it. Right now my concern is that the surprise isn't reading, so I'll really be focusing on that this week. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

In other news, I got a promotion! And I moved! Hence, the WHOOOSH. :)

Week 2!

Despite my technical difficulties, Class 2 is going great! I had a few hours this afternoon, so I put in some much needed work on a couple shots from Class 1. My zombie is looking much better, if I do say so myself. :)