The Blob... In Color!

I had a few spare minutes, so I splashed some color onto the blob sketch from a month or so back.



I hope to have a big update later next week, so stay tuned!

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Quick Forced Perspective Test

UPDATE: Along with cleaning up the animation a bit further, I went ahead and slapped some quick textures/colors on things and threw a few lights in the scene.



Click the image above to check it out, or the one below to see the original!



I wanted to try some forced perspective stuff out, so I whipped up a quick animation.



The file is pretty small, and you can click on the image to check it out.

Originally I just had the buildings get smaller in size towards the back of the shot, and when he jumped in the air, the building tops sort of framed him. Then I took it a step further and actually animated the buildings tilting in towards him as the camera rotated up. I'm not totally happy with the results, but I think it may have to do with how the buildings are moving.

It was a fun experiment, and one that I'll definitly give more thought to using in the future, but maybe in a more subtle way.

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Stick a fork in it!

I'm sure you're all tired of seeing the same animation again and again, but this should be the final one.



I could noodle on it for months, but I need to focus back on my AM short and get that all polished up, so I'm going to call this one good. I'm really proud of how it turned out in just 18 days, given that I was also working a full time job and doing the Animation Mentor stuff. Not only that, but I met some great new people, and learned a TON of stuff. So all in all it was an amazing experience.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Brand New Demo Reel!

UPDATE (02.06.08): Forget that tired old demo reel I had posted, as there is a new demo reel in town that's ready to shake things up. I remixed my demo reel, added in two new animations, and posted it up for all to see.



Here is one of the new animations that is now part of the reel:



Original post with original demo reel is below.


I uploaded my new demo reel tonight, and you can view it in its hi-res form in my 3D Artwork section or you can view the low-res version below.



Not the most amazing thing ever, but when you consider the fact, up until about a year ago, the only thing I had animated prior to this is the horrific wrestling scene documented in this post, I hope you can see that some progress has been made!

Take care.

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Happy Dog Test

Between returning to work, having a 5 week old son, and attending Animation Mentor, I have lots of free time, so I decided to kick out a quick dog test.



Having never worked with a dog rig before and only one two-plus legged rig at all, I was a little intimidated to say the least, so I decided to go easy on the first test. It's only three seconds long (almost 4) and doesn't involve any running or walking. That's next!

As always, the AM rig was a dream to work with, and now I really want to do something with the dog and a human character.

Click the image above, watch the crappy YouTube version below, or hit the link below that to see it.



Happy Dog Test

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Run, Bishop! Run!

EDIT: I tossed up a side view of the animation which you can see with the link at the bottom of the post, if you're into that kind of thing...



The model that Animation Mentor provides is named Bishop. Over the weekend I learned (with the help of the AM forums) how to convert the adult Bishop into a more child-like rig. This will help a great deal since my final short film at AM will feature a child.

Once I got him converted over to a child, I had to animate him, so I threw a baseball cap on his head, slapped a goofy smile on his face and made him run!

Click on the image to check it out.



The timing is a bit slow, but fixing that will be a snap. I can't wait to get started on my final short film. Right now we're in the planning stage (storyboards, animatics, layouts, etc), so it's still going to be after the first of the year before I begin animating the piece, but I'm really excited for all of you to see it!

Take care.

Side View of Kid Bishop Run

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Life In Prison

Someday I'll probably get wrongly accused of a crime that will get me sentenced to life in prison, and when I do... this guy will be my cellmate.



I'll let you figure out which one of the two I'm talking about!

Something for Sleep?

Or the low-res YouTube version:

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Reel to Real

Here is my latest demo reel!



Of course, it's in standard low-res YouTube format, but if you'd like to see the higher-res (9.83MB)version, you can click here!

It's pretty crazy to look at this thing and see just how much work I've put into becoming an Animator. With any luck, it just might happen some day!

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Say CHEESE!

Even if you don't want to, my animation now will, thanks to some fancy new lip sync that I added!



I need to adjust one more thing in the animation, and then it will get tossed into my demo reel! Feels good to have this one done, and now I get to move on to a two person dialogue shot. Should be fun!

Click the image or the link to see the lip sync goodness!

Lip Sync Goodness!

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Quick Little Mation

I had the week off from school, so this weekend I whipped this little sucker up.



Click the image or the link below to check it out!

Gun Drop Animation

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Demo Reel

I finished my demo reel tonight.



Click the image or the link below, and let me know what you think, or if you prefer the lower quality, but faster loading YouTube version, I've got that for you below as well.

Please Note: The stuttering in the YouTube video is not do to the animations themselves, but due to the fact that YouTube flat out rules. If you like your animations pop-free, click the link!

Thanks a heap!

Dave Johnson Demo Reel

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DIRT

This one took a while, and I'm pretty glad it's done, as it was quite a pain to draw each one of those machines.



I actually used to drive a front end loader like the one in the upper left hand corner, and now I'm drawing them for a living.

OH SWEET IRONY!

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Dog Walks Man

Just throwing things at the sketchbook today, and this one stuck.



Kind of hard to tell who is actually walking who here.

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Lars Umlaut

I really do have to get help for my newfound addiction to "Guitar Hero II."



I find myself having a blast playing songs that I don't even like. My only real beef with the game is that at times I don't feel like I'm playing a song, but more like I'm using a typewriter or some other mechanical device. Outside of that, I ask that each and every person who reads this gives the game a shot. I have seen it turn people who would never even play games into instant fans, and I think it will probably do the same for most (if not all) of you.

Now... I've got to go try and master "War Pigs" on medium.

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Kitty N' Fishy

Looks like cats and fish really can get along after all...



This happens to be especially true when the fish has tapped into the cat's brain and now has him under total mind control.

I have no idea what the goo in the end of the gun is...

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