Tommy and I visited the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits this past weekend; he brought along his camera and I hauled out the dusty sketchbook. It's been a terribly long time since I went to the Page Museum to sketch skeletons, and I'm afraid I'm rather rusty. I used to be able to scribble out a sabertooth cat or the famous mammoth in pen, but this time I found myself erasing and re-erasing with my mechanical pencil. No way I could have pulled it off with a Prismacolor either, it would have made a smudgy mess!
The ribcage always bogs me down, so many interlocking bones, it's hard to keep straight which one goes in front of which, and what lines signify bones, and which signify the spaces between bones!
The pelvis is another mystery; the shape is not easily simplified into a sphere or box (although in the case of the cat I suppose it could be a rectangular shape, but with the sloths, forget it).
In any case, it was good to get out of the house and see how much skill I have left with a pencil. I was actually pleasantly surprised; I expected a lot worse. :)
As for those of you who had been wondering what happened with the wolf playblast... I did take it pretty far a few weeks after I posted that blocked out version, and it's been sitting on my hard drive ever since. I added the secondary character and fleshed out the scenery a bit, played with some lights, and generally made it presentable.
I know people say that the demo reel should highlight the animation ONLY, and lighting/backgrounds only serve to distract from the animation and makes it look like you're covering up a lack of skill. I suppose I could kill the lighting/BG for the purpose of including on a demo reel, but I did have fun creating the scene.
Check it out here!
3 comments:
That's a very coool looking skeleton drawing!! I don't think you get rusty at all, think you have improved!! You are just being too hard on yourself!! :)
Oooo La Brea tar pits! I've been meaning to go there for the longest time to go sketching...maybe Ill be able to make some time, someday.
Your animation looks really cool! Yeah I've heard the same thing about not lighting an animation demo reel, but the great environment you've added really adds to the wolf's/world's believability. I like your staging too. How we first go to the squirrel, then we see the wolf looming in the background, stalking his prey. Oooo tention...gotta love it!
hi erica, great idea going to the tar pits, i've never been, just one of the many fun LA things that i haven't been able to take advantage of since i moved here. i really like your wolf animation as well, i also love the mix you have of the realistic wolf and the cute bunny who is a little more cartoony.
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