What has been the most challenging aspect of getting work done on this project so far? How are you addressing this challenge?
Technology in general is presenting a challenge for me. I have been really, really, really unlucky with my technical devices as of late, so at the start of this I was prepared to face challenges in that area should they arise, and well, they've arisen. Right now my main problem is that toon boom crashes every time I open it on my computer, for some reason, and I have no idea how to fix it. I've tried deleting it and reinstalling it, but that hasn't been working. I've tried downloading some temporary programs to use until I can fix this issue, but those aren't giving me much help either, and my video files are full of watermarks and in general are not very good, hence why I don't have anything new up right now...yet. 

I've been working on still frames in the meantime, but for now it's looking like I ought to just use the toon boom program at school so I can get the rough animation out of the way first. Also, for some reason my wireless card(or something) just won't connect to any of the school's wifi anymore. I got a wire to plug into the phone jack in my dorm, so I finally have internet there again, but I am still limited to that and very specific locations of the school for wifi, and it makes it a pain to do work in class if I can't connect to the internet. That issue isn't really that big of a deal, though, because it's not too hard for me to work around it, so I'm doing what I can. I at least took the precaution of backing up my computer on an external driveway in case my computer explodes, which would not surprise me.

2.19.2013

Bruxism had a strong sense of design. She used textures, sharp angled lines, and washed out reds and blues. There was enough fluidity in the animation to get the feeling across; her sharp movements fit the art style. The idea was entirely metaphorical but she conveyed it quite clearly, and as a artist it is definitely relatable. The idea is still flexible enough to be relatable to non-artists as well; it is a good representation of anxiety and the fear of being judged. The pacing was effective and overall had a nice flow. The only part I found to be a little slow was the part where she was grinding her teeth. I understand that it's sort of the point, but I feel like that shot could stand to be a couple beats shorter.

Finished two stills and a walk cycle.




Walk cycle herpaderpinderp

002. -- 2.12.2013

I would hope people would find this very very funny, or at least some kind of reaction. I want the audience to sympathize with Bos, but only enough to be able to laugh at her, too. I'd be disappointed if there were no reaction at all, and no laughs, or if people didn't understand what was going on, because then I'll have failed to tell the story in the correct way. The kind of review I'd like to see for this is that it's funny and well animated, above all things, but not one without the other. I can't appreciate a funny piece with terrible animation as much, and if it's unfunny the animation quality won't really matter to your audience if they're falling asleep.

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Shots I've completed for this week.

shot005


shot007


shot018 - bos falling


001. -- 2.05.2013

What is your relationship to the main character? What experience of yours inspired you to create him/her?
Luce and Bos are based on my cats Lucifer and Bosley. When we moved we could only keep one cat in the house, so Bos became an outside cat. One day over the summer, I let Lucifer outside(well, took him outside because he's afraid of everything.) and he liked it a lot; so we started letting him out during the day. This turned out to be a really bad decision because Lucifer is well...rude, and kept lounging on our neighbor's porch and bothering them even though they hate cats. We stopped letting him out after that, but now every time the front door opens he attempts to bolt for it, and every once in a while he does get out...until I catch him, anyway.

Work completed this week:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/38450530/shot001.swf - done.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/38450530/shot004keys.swf -just a few messy keys.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/38450530/shot007keys.swf - keys and some inbetweens.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/38450530/shot008.swf - Luce needs a little animation, but Bos's is complete.
These aren't all in the order of my shot calendar, whoops. There are a couple shots I needed to skip because I don't have voices recorded yet, only a scratch track; I have the voice actor I need, so I'll do that ASAP.

001. -- 1.29.2013

What did your calender say would be done today by 9am? If this counts as week 1, the first three shots, a journal entry, and a blog set up.

How did you arrive at the "result"? My blog is a little late on the set up because I'm an idiot blogger was giving me issues. I've been messing around with a few programs to get a feel for whatever would be best for me to do this with and I'm leaning towards toonboom. I don't quite have anything to show yet as far as shots go but I'm aiming for at least two or three done by the end of the afternoon.

What's the plan for next week? Do double the work this week, and catch up in the areas needed.

I'm admittedly nervous about this project. From registering for classes late I'm starting out a little behind and I'm really afraid of this project not turning out the way I'd like. I'm pretty new to digital animation, I'll probably be teaching myself new things as I work on it. I'm pretty confident with my decision of how I'd like this to be animated, but I'm a little stuck on how I could color it, which is something I don't need to worry about this second, but something I need to experiment with.