Ilidrake

I won't be going any further with him but here he is with a body. Nothing fancy. Maybe I should finish him and offer him to the community

Took about 2 hours. Mainly just bored and felt like modeling something random so I whipped him out.

Great, great feedback I can see where all these things could be interesting. And helpful as heck. The rigging especially. Could be a simple model that needs to be rigged to be used in the next contest by all participants. Just a thought...

I like the idea Robcat! A good four hour animation piece would be nice and easy. Something everyone can jump on. I like the idea of themes as well. That's what this new one is really. 7 little pieces that can be knocked out quickly. Members of the forum vote on one and the next week we start entering them. I also have a few things in the closet I can donate as prizes. Although coming in first would be reward enough for me...and the learning experience.

Well the voting poll will remain open until next sunday so we've plenty of time to speak about the merits

I agree. Its about animating, nothing more, nothing less. I can see sound bite is winning thus far. Question with that is do we pick a sound clip or let the animator choose their own?

So the last contest wasn't a raging success but it was still fun to see all the entrants. And I know there are more people out there animating. So I want to do another contest. This time instead of choosing a theme I have listed 8 items for the community to vote on. Although 8 doesn't really count So I will run this poll until next Sunday and after that I will have the results and if we have a majority ruling I'll lay down some competition rules

More entries? Good question and one that we could debate forever. The better question is when will the next contest be and what will the topic be?

http://www.hash.com/vote Would the first place winner please message me with a link to their amazon wishlist? If you haven't done so, please add The Animator's Survival Guide to your wishlist and I will see that it arrives in your mailbox. http://www.amazon.com/Animators-Survival-K...+survival+kit#_ Congrats to the winners. If you would be so kind contact Jason at Hash and he'll see about getting those prizes to you.

Just an update for everyone. We haven't forgotten about you. Jason's been a little over worked and I'm just waiting for an email with the winners. After that it's congrats and prizes to be awarded.

After a lot of thought and debate I have given myself the green light to start this project. I wanted something short and doable within a six month time line. So with these thoughts in mind I have the following planned. A story that requires... -Only one character model. -Only two set models. -Only 5 prop models. And that's it. I have the story written already. It's based off of a longer script I have planned for the future. I wanted to do a small trailer like project but make the trailer a story in itself. So far the story would only be about 2 minutes long which I think is very much achievable. Keep in mind that this will not be my primary project. Woke Up Dead is still my main focus. I am simply using this as I recharging project if you will. So updates here may be far in between. At any rate keep tuned in...

So I am still here plugging away. A minimum of work done since my real job this month has been a real killer. On another note I actually came up with another story. So the question is do I continue trudging along or do I halt the project to tackle something a bit more doable. The new story I came up with is simply a 3 minute short, if that. Can I simply halt what I have so far and start something new? This has come up many times in the past, and not just to me but countless others. And this has been the death of what I believe to be many great ideas. So do I continue or stop to work on something that can be completed within 6 months? Do I come back later? I am eager to hear your opinions.

Started working on the butler today. Not sure where I will go with this one but here's what I got in an hour.

Thanks guys

I would like to say thanks to everyone who helped me run this little contest. It was a lot of fun to see these shorts created. Hopefully I can run another one.

http://www.hash.com/vote Voting ends Sunday 05/26/13 The entrants are finished!!! Click the link above to vote. We will run the voting for a week and then the winner will be announced!!! Good luck and thanks to everyone who entered!!!

Thanks largento. Really helpful. Needless to say it didn't take me as long as I thought to crack the set together. It's 100% modeled and ready to be used.

Okay it's official. I hate set design. It used to be one of my primary loves but now, not so much.

Okay. Getting things in order for Jason to set up the voting. If you entered a piece please message me with the following info: User Name here on the forums and what piece is yours. Thanks and good luck

So keeping with my whole new production pipeline I have begun working on one of the sets I'll be needing. The house interior where Latimer's family shall reside. I will be doing the spline model and Rodney will be the color coordinator for me (Yes Rodney I have began redesigning.... Keep your fingers crossed... This first render is a simple gray model. Hard to pick out the details eh? Don't worry. This is simple the first pass to get the dimensions correct and start seeing what works and doesn't.

Still waitin on jason. Have some patience he's a busy man.

This project has grown. I mean beyond what I thought it would be. It was originally a poem. Then a 3 minute short. Now an hour and 15 minute feature. It seems daunting. But anything worth doing usually is. And after a year I still have the drive to complete it. More so now than ever because as I create models and sets I get to really "see" the people I have written about. I can almost identify with each one at this point. And in reality there is a little of me in each one. To some degree or another. One thing slowing me down is direction. Thus I have stopped modeling and drawing and have been focusing on creating a production form where I can track every aspect of the film. One reason beyond the obvious for this was I noticed I was modeling things that aren't needed until further down the road. So now with my new spreadsheet ready I can break the script apart and create only the things needed for a current scene or act. And believe me, it's nice having a road map. But fear not, me and Rodney have not quit, I'm at work and I haven't even slowed down. I'm just getting some structure and foundation under my feet so that later, when Woke up Dead is finished and another project pops up, I will have the ground work layed and things will proceed smoother... ...and there will be other projects...I already have another script cooking in the brain. Lucky for me I can write the synopsis down for later. Cheers.

Tada!!!

Interesting. My main reason for hoping I could model the body was because I did not want to remodel the head. Well that has changed. Today while working I sketched out a new style for old franky. It's really out there but for some reason I really like it I'm going to start on it tomorrow and should have some update pics within the following week. But, like Cleo, I am learning that characters will change in apperance alot! So the next carnation may work and it may not. Either way it's all good. Keep your eyes peeled for updates. Rodney! Did you check out the map in my folder on the svn?

It's not quite there but it's getting closer. I'm going to follow through with this shape for now. Of course this isn't the final look (they never are) but it's more inline with what I envisioned. Quick update! Here's him with the legs and the start of one arm. For those wondering, those legs are borrowed from another model. Guess which. I think they fit him nicely