Animation Update

Hey guys, I just wanted to update you on how my project turned out in the eMagine Media Awards. I had recieved fourth place. I feel that I could have executed the project a lot better, and that I didn't deserve first place because there were minor details that I knew I needed to fix, but didn't fix them. I feel very disappointed because I wanted this project to look the best for my dad's friend who had passed away only a last week. I hope my next animation is more successful, and I execute my animation methods better. 

Final Post

Well, here it is, the finish line. This was one of the hardest projects of my high school career, and they are going to get harder. This project tested me mentally and phisically, but I made it through. My dad's friend with cancer only has around a day left to live, and is currently not conscience or eating, he was the real push for me with this project. In the begining, I was working really hard on my project for that initial cause, then in the middle I kind of forgot what I was initially doing the project for, which was when the frustration and sloppiness was bothering me the most. It wasn't until the end that I remembered what I was really doing this for, not to place at eMagine, not to win a Pixel (but that would be nice) but for my dad's friend, to show him, that he is not alone, that everyone is with him.

 

Drawing has never been my greatest skill, and I know what you're thinking right now, "she's an animator, but she can't draw!?" Yes I am currently working on my drawing skills, and they will improve over time, but the skills I have now are the only skills I had for that project. The begining part with the sun coming up, was one of my older Photoshop portraits I had done last year, and I drew the heaven scene in class one day, these were the prettiest scenes in the whole animation according to some, and I am really proud of that since my drawing skills are not all the way up to par. (Below is a picture of my storyboard, even though you may not understand what is going on in it, I do and I followed it pretty well for how many times it needed to be changed.) 

The only negative to how the project turned out was how I incorporated optical flares for a full minute of the animation instead of the classic hand drawn I had started with. Both my parents and my teacher said the same thing, but it was too late for me to change that much in my animation. 

I have shown my final animation to a lot of people, and have gotten nothing but positive comments towards it. This is the hardest animation project I have ever done, and I hope they keep getting harder and harder. 

Here is the link to my final animation: 

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=93TDgjgMkC4

Title Page

A few days ago I had made a quick title page for my animation, it didn't look too good. I feel that this maybe one of the hardest part of my animation because I have no song to go off of. I need to figure this out today, other than that my animation is done!

Reactions

Well, here it is, the final week to work on this animation project. I rendered out what I had so far on last weeks blog, and decided to share it with my friends and family and get their feed back, and it was phenomenal. My family members enjoyed it and one of them actually began crying because they thought it was so beautiful. I hope my hard work and efforts are shown in this project, I have put in a lot of hours on this, and hope to be rewarded for it.  It is currently making its way around my dad's friends family (Read Blog "My Purpose") and they are so thankful for the time and thought I have given to this project, for my dad's friend. I hope to hear my dad's friend's reaction to the animation. Thank you all for your support.

I can see the finish line!

Sorry it has been so long since I blogged last. We had yet another snow day, which put me behind. I have had a lot of difficulty the past few weeks, just trying to re storyboard certain scenes of my animation.The difficulty of this project is unbelievable, but it has been completely worth it. It is hard to believe that I really began this project a little over three months ago. I felt relief watching the whole thing (unedited) and actually began to cry at the end because of how hard I have worked on this. I know that my friends and family are proud of as well as the judges of our up coming competition, but I also hope my teacher sees how much effort and life I have given to my animation. I hope to inspire other animators. Thank you so much for your support.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkSluat7ur4&feature=youtu.be

Dragons Are Not Fun

Well, last time I checked in, I was having trouble with After Effects FX, and last Friday I think I may have completely overloaded the After Effects program with the size of the file. Once again today my original storyboard idea did not work out, so I had to go back and re story board a certain part of my animation. This project has become an obsessive hobby and I hope to make my animations look better and better. Here is the test render of my animation, I had to put it in a lower quality to have it render out properly. The last few frames have not been completely edited yet, but should be done tomorrow. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcUGoClU5uI&feature=youtu.be

Wait... A Minute!?

The first victory dance has just happened, I am now over a minute into my animation (and now even closer to 2 minutes!) It is coming along very well. I am still editing, but right on schedule. The use of optical flares will be the "main attraction" of my animation. I have actually just finished the dedication page at home just to get it out of the way. I hope you guys enjoy!