Last Semester!

And suddenly we're in the home stretch.

It's been a really awesome ride at Ringling. I know I've learned tons, and I'm mostly happy with the things I've accomplished here. Thesis and the job hunt are the final big hurdles, and I am optimistic that I'll cross the finish line just fine.

This semester I'll be taking digital painting, a great opportunity for me to develop my concept portfolio alongside my animation portfolio. I'm going to guess that I'll be hired into animation, however... I don't know if my concept art abilities are quite up to competing with the legions of illustrators out there.

I'm also feeling like I have a bit of wiggle-room this semester to get some life-things back in order. I'm trying to exercise, and my lower back is currently really sore from Tuesday's Capoeira class. I'm studying Islam and film as side courses. I'm doing occasional RPing with friends (though I've relinquished my DM/GM role for now). I'm exploring indie games, such as The Path by Tale of Tales.

To summarize, things feel balanced and unless I'm grossly underestimating the path ahead of me, the worst of the work load is behind me.

Cheers to 2010! Happy trails.

Thesis Progress

Hallo everybody,

I thought I'd share my thesis progress. I'm currently at the 2nd / 3rd pass animation stage, looking to do some revisions over break.



Edit: apparently it's bad procedure to post the WIP until it's a final product... so says the great CA dept. :/ sorry folks

If I had the time...

So many things I'd theoretically love to do!

I occasionally muse about all the projects I'd like to do if I weren't already tied to thesis and other responsibilities. For example, I've always liked the idea of making my own clothing... probably baggy stuff made of brown canvas with lots of flaps and buckles.

Recently, I've been imagining how cool it would be to take a low-poly character through the full concept/ development process. Make a bunch of silhouettes, rough sketch pages, then make a character sheet with turnarounds, prop designs, etc. Maybe do some color studies, even some related environment work. Then, go ahead and model the character in Maya and do some nice texture maps. The way I see it, if presented well, such a packet would stand on its own really well for a concept/ modeling portfolio.

That being said, I'll have to finish this animation before I can begin working seriously on anything like that. I'm excited about this film, but as I said earlier this month, I've been so deep into the process for so long that I'm a bit fatigued. It's a distance race, and I need to try to stay focused.

((I might still be playing Ragnarok after labs close... shhhhhhhh.))