It's official. I am now a professional animator. Man, it feels great to say that. In mid March, I start work at Cryptic Studios! I'll be working on Marvel Universe Online for the PC and Xbox360. Yeah! It's a MMORPG with the characters from Marvel Comics and I'm so excited to be a part of it. I probably won't be able to talk about the project much because I'll be sworn to secrecy. Hot damn! I'm so excited!

Cryptic has two games for the PC on the market at the moment called City of Heroes and the expansion called City of Villians. As the names suggest you can choose to be a hero or a villian in a city filled with both. I've played the game a couple of times as a hero, solving crimes and beating up baddies. The reason I've only played a couple of time is because these games are damn addicting. I totally lost track of time while trying to level up my character and give him new powers. I know that if I had continued, my AM work would have suffered. Luckily it was only a 15 day trial version that has since expired. Phew!

Anyway, wish me luck on my new adventure! Man, what a year.....just turned 30, got a dream job, and I'm marrying a beautiful woman. Of course that list is in reverse order of importance.

Posted by Danny Southard at 11:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

This week they talked about phrasing. This is the area that I think I need the most help in. The lecture gave me some good information on how to plan the phrasing of a shot as early as the thumbnail stage. I have always been disappointed with the phrasing of my shots and I think it's because I don't plan everything out before hand. Planning it out at an early stage allows you to explore different possibilities relatively easily. For my next shot, I'm going to spend more time planning and resist the temptation to push ahead.

Speaking of bad phrasing, here is the final version of my begging shot. I may have a revision next week, so it might not be finished. We'll see. Next week I start on my first dialogue shot! Plus I get a new character! I'm really excited.

Posted by Danny Southard at 11:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (21) | TrackBacks (0)

This week was all about secondary action. These are actions or gestures that support the main action. In other words, secondary actions are mannerisms or subtle actions that show the characters personality or emotional state. An example ----> A man fidgets with his hands while he delivers a line of dialogue to show he's nervous. The most important thing about secondary actions is that they cannot distract from the main action. Once they do, it kills the shot because the audience doesn't know what to look at. Another important thing is that the mannerisms must fit the character and the mood. Actually there were a lot of important points brought up in the lecture, but I can't remember them all. That's why I've got plenty of notes.

Here is the polished version of my shot. If I have time next week, I might try to improve on some areas. Next week we start on our first dialogue shot! I can't wait!!!!!!

Posted by Danny Southard at 12:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)