Monsters vs. Aliens Review

So I saw this movie last night with a bunch of kick ass CA majors and I thoroughly enjoyed it :)

The animation was top-notch, which I wouldn't expect anything less from Dreamworks, they've proven that they know what they're doing. The only issue that I had with the film were the characters themselves. The entire movie revolves around Susan/Ginormica, and the other monsters seem to just revolve around her. But I DO like how the main character is a girl, something Pixar hasn't done yet...

I LOVE INSECTASAURUS!!! It was definitely my favorite character; I seriously want a cuddly doll of it that roars. It's just too frickin adorable for words.

Peace Out,

Alex

Character Model Sheets (rough)

Here are my model sheets that I turned in for my character design. His name is Dale, and he is an anteater, a VERY unsocial anteater. They aren't as good as I would like them to be because of time and such, so I'll probably be resubmitting them at the end of the semester.

Lily Drawing

Here's a drawing of a lily that I did in high school, I just found it when I was going through some things in my dorm room :)

SONY Storyboarding

So today from 8:30am to 3:15pm (with a lunch break of an hour in the middle) a couple of Story Artists from SONY came to Ringling today and delivered a presentation to Computer Animation majors. It was frickin awesome! Although some of the information and terms they used was all new to me because the presentation was actually aimed more toward the juniors. At least I'll know some terms before we actually learn them in class :)

Anyway, they showed some of their storyboards for their animated films, along with live-action movies like Spider-Man 2, and had us watch some movie clips. The clips from movies included American Beauty, Jaws, Spider-Man 2, and a few others that I can't remember. The two guys basically analyzed the compositions of the shots in those films and described how they were done.

What I enjoyed most was when we watched two shorts from Ringling juniors in the audience, and the two SONY guys gave them advice on how to create a successful set-up for the character(s), any changes they should make to make the piece more... dynamic, for lack of a better word.

Where the Wild Things Are Trailer

OMG!! IT'S GONNA BE AMAZING!

Color Still Life

This is a still life I did in my color class using Caran D'ache Crayons. I cropped the edges a bit in this photo of it. It's being entered in the Best of Ringling show coming up here on campus, along with several other pieces of mine (one other being the "toys" color project I've previously posted.

I Love You, Man Trailer

I've heard from a bunch of my friends that this movie was hilarious and had some of the best one-liners ever

Ramblings

I can't wait for school to be over with because I'm starting to feel completely burnt out. I'm trying to get back into school mode, but its been a week since I got back from Spring Break and I'm still not feeling it. I also still feel tired all the time and am sleeping around 12 hours every day, but I guess that's to be expected when recovering from mono. I can't wait for that to be over so I can feel more like myself.

Other than that I'm doing good; I'm keeping up with my school work and turning everything in on-time and my work is "okay" quality. The things I'm turning in right now just aren't the best work I could be doing.

Up Trailer

In theatres May 21st, 2009
LOOKS SWEET AS ALL GET OUT!!

Watchmen and Wall-E Mashup Video

Character Designs

Some sketches from when I was designing my character, and at the top is the basic shape of my character from different views

Animation Sketchbook

Color Assignment

Assignment for my Observational Color class, we had to draw a still life with toys... I of course thought dirty and was the only one in all of Kaplan's classes that did sex toys instead ;) hehe

CD Experiments

CD Foldout

Assignment was to create a made-up band, songs, album title, music company, etc. Then we were to create a CD foldout using a color scheme of only black and white plus three other colors (orange, brown, teal)

This is mine:

The top left design is the cover, and the one below it in the bottom left is the back cover

Traditional Animatin I

Right now I don't have any good videos of some of the animations I've been doing in my TA (Traditional Animation) class. Right now they're only about a second or two in length, so by the end of the school year I plan to have them all looped and here on my blog for your convenience.

We've just gotten our animals for character designs tho, and here's what I have so far:

Here are a few drawings from watching giant anteaters on youtube

Different arm designs, exaggerating different parts

Random Pictures

Here are a few pictures I've taken just because I was bored back home in Minnesota

Alter-Ego Mask

We were required to create a mask out of a piece of basswood

Description: My alter ego doesn’t have a name, just a face. She began popping up in reflective surfaces like mirrors and the like when I was still just a child. As you can imagine, she scared the crap out of me because I plain old thought she was a witch. Luckily, over the years I’ve become accustomed to seeing her weathered face and bonnet-covered head so that I’m no longer afraid. I generally tend to be overly couscous and critical at times and my other self has become a voice of reason in my head, telling me to just relax. Her mantra seems to be “life is too short to be wasting it by (insert what I’m currently doing/working on).” I become consumed by my work at times that I’ll completely stress myself out, usually to the point that I won’t get any actual work done. Don’t be fooled by her appearance though, she may look the part of an old hag, but she’s really a teenager at heart. Her old visage just serves as a visual reminder of just how little time we all have to live. She’s a wild lady, always trying to get me to go out and enjoy myself, which I’m usually hesitant to do but eventually cave in. She is my alter ego, my second half.

Design:























Final Piece:

Mythical Chess Set Sculptures

I would have liked to spend more time on these and make then look better, but we got cut short on time for this project because we were also working on our boat project at the same time. Also, sorry for the crappy photographs, they're all I have.

Mythical Chess Set Drawings

Dragon - King
Gryphon - Queen
Phoenix - Bishop
Minotaur - Knight
Treefolk - Rook