Responses to Visiting Artists Fall 2012

Matthew Robbins
September 20, 2012
Event Planner

While this was a pretty succinct talk, I felt it was stronger because of it. There was very little fluff, and what he showed was both informative and interesting- not something we get with a lot of the VA's.
Some of the things that stood out to me:

-Really great tips on how to survive in the industry, especially the idea of if you want success, you have to be able to sell your idea.
- "Have the skills- don't say you can't." Basically, tell your inconfidence to shut the fuck up and get there.
-Never lose who you are- keep it personal and always be authentic. Even if it seems you'll be more successful by being mainstream, in the end you'll just get lost in the center of everyone else and your success will diminish.
- For Portfolio: Variety is a must, and the intro pieces need to knock them out.
-When someone asks for you to do something, study them as a person and ask them "visual" questions.
-Art is a business. Sell it.

All in all, a refreshing talk. This guy spoke it like it was, and it was nice to finally have a speaker that was visibly commercially successful, and wasn't speaking about their crazy studio ideas. There's a place for studio art, don't get me wrong, but as an animator, I want advice that will inform the more commercial aspect of art. That was exactly what this was, and I really appreciated it.




Elizabeth Condon
October 11, 2012
Painter

Man, what a different talk than Mr. Robbins'. First, so much longer. Maybe it wasn't crazy long, time wise, but it dragged on and on. Second, the problems I mentioned in my Robbins response on how I have a hard time taking career advice from fine artists definitely applies here. It's just a different world from I deal with. Still, her work was nice, especially the Chinese-inspired work. That being said, I really didn't like the doll stuff- it just seemed like a really loose concept surrounding mediocre paintings. Once she got abstract, I enjoyed her work. Still, as far as how I feel she impacted me professionally  the only thing I think I gained was the idea that travel is important for inspiration. Beyond that though, was a dud for me.

Update Nov. 13

It's been a while folks- got a lot to post about.

First, my website-

http://nickpflug.com

Second, my demo reel-

http://vimeo.com/53095391

Third, walk cycles I've been working on-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlSXUN4GcQE&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fdUNu43-FI&feature=youtu.be

Last, a total of all animation done as of right now-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T33mkPnllqI&feature=youtu.be

As far as my timeline goes-

My goal is to have all of this line animation completely finished a week from today. What this will allow me to do is 1.) ensure that I will have a screenable piece by the end of the semester, a recquirement set for me by Jill, and 2.) will allow me to spend the rest of the semester refining the animation and coloring it in. As far as the whole animation goes (not dealing with the semester) I want to have all animation refined and colored in by December 31.

Update Oct.23

 All right, I'm back on schedule. Backgrounds= finished. I'm halfway done with the still images of the characters that require little animation, and my aim is to have them all completed by thursday: a reasonable goal, to be sure. Things are moving briskly, and I'm loving the added detail I can achieve with the new HD settings.

Just gotta keep truckin'.

Update Oct. 18

As everyone knows, I was making all of my previous assets in SD, in 720x480. Thanks to the kick in the pants I got last class, I'm now creating all new assets in 2200x1238 (that will go in a 1920x1080 comp). I'll be finished recreating all of these backgrounds by the end of the day. Meanwhile, to sate your thirst for progress, here are 6 shots of rough, messy work-in-progress.

Update Oct. 11

BEHOLD. My example of how toonboom and aftereffects interact with each other. My goal is to get the simple scenes all done by not this coming Thursday, but the Tuesday after. This is mainly due to the realization of the amount of time it takes for me to create the assets in toonboom while maintaining the look of the photoshop documents.

Update Oct. 9

Here are my backgrounds for all my character animation! Enjoy!

Technically, I'm behind by a class due to having the stomach flu, but I know that by next thursday I'll have all of the simple still animations roughed out for my characters so I can start importing them into my comps. 

Update Oct. 2

As I push forward in my day by day schedule, I continue to be on time. While I may not have anything to show today really besides line-art, my aim to have every background ready by Thursday is totally in sight. I'm in a really good place, and will post the fruits of my work on Thursday.