Cutting Room Floor Update #3 - Backgrounds and Animation

In this update I'll be showing you some of the backgrounds I have been working on along with some of the beginning stages of animation. I've been moving slower than I'd like lately and that's mostly because background creation isn't my favorite thing to do, nor is it really what I'm best at. Regardless, I've gotten most of the main backgrounds completed at this point, at least enough to start animating with. Below are some examples of how I have larger scenes that I can cut into.

I'm excited to say that I'm starting to piece the animation together now after so much time.  That meant remaking the intro I had made so long ago.  I was excited to do this for a few reasons, one being that I'm now animating my characters using the AE plugin, Duik.  This makes the animation process a hell of a lot easier for me, and also gives me better final results.  Below are the two versions; the top one is my older version and the second is my updated version.  As you can see the characters have a little more individual personality to their run cycles and they are a little less floppy (aside from Slim of course). Anyways that's it for now, stay tuned for more updates.

Into the Orange - A portrait for Nicole

Every time a new person is hired at the place I work they get a unique portrait based on their personality created by one of the artists here.  I tend to throw my hat in the ring every so often, but this time was special.  Normally I don't know the person very well but Nicole has worked on the video team as an intern for about a year and now she is full time. Needless to say we are pretty close.  She's a huge film buff and a lover of the color orange, so she told me to get my inspiration from old horror movie posters.  I had a lot of fun with this one and really liked how it came out in the end.

This is Nicole.

I started with a simple sketch.

And ended up here.

Closer shot for detail.

C.P. the place to be

Growing up in Toledo, Ohio there is one thing that almost everyone does each summer, and that's go to Cedar Point. It's one of our few claims to fame in this area and I'd be damned if I didn't celebrate it's majesty at least once a year. We didn't make it out until Halloweekends this year, but with my iPhone6 and GoPro in hand I managed to make a little video out of what was pretty much a perfect Cedar Point day.

Star Wars Uncut: The Empire Strikes Back is Finally Finished!!

A long time ago in a galaxy far away I submitted an animation to Star Wars Uncut: The Empire Strikes back as a fun way to make work for my reel and get better at character animation. I had seen the first uncut film, but hadn't known about it at the time to participate. So when the chance arose for me to add my name to the long list of fans I was sold. That was almost 2 years ago believe it or not, and just yesterday I received word that one of my animations made the final cut and would be in the film. Below you can see said animation for scene 337, "Something is wrong". To see the full film go to Star Wars Uncut or StarWars.com!



You can check out the full movie below, and if you want to check out my scene specifically go HERE.