The Illusion of Life

So in the Animation Program at BYU there's a class for sophomores to take called "The Illusion of Life". It basically allows for exploration into any four of eight or so different fields of animation while keeping a single story/set of characters in mind. It's pretty awesome, but WAY intense-- at least 20 pages of research and reference are expected for any assignment. It's great though because it really helps to get you in the mindset that the pros are in-- always learning, always exploring.

So here is my character line-up:

Some storyboards from the story:






I got to explore anatomy for one of my characters and for a horse. Here are a couple of images from that assignment:



And here is the pencil test featuring Joss, the main character of the story:

Joss from Aaron Ludwig on Vimeo.

Rats!

Some quick sketches of different rats for a storyboarding project.

Mag

Character concept for storyboarding final.

More Stuff (told ya)

So I am in the most awesome class imaginable-- it's a Maya class taught by Barry Zundel where we work on one character the whole semester-- modeling, texturing, rigging, animating, the works. I feel like I'm in a bit over my head (because everyone else in the class is a junior or senior), but I'm learning an incredible amount. That's a good thing, right?

Here is the layout for my character: Rupert, a cuddly stegosaurus.



I just finished the model (and I hope I did okay-- I'm not really sure how everything should be done at this stage so that everything that follows will work well).







But I'll definitely keep y'all posted on how Rupert comes to life over the course of the semester!

Welcome to the Program

Yeah, I haven't posted in forever because I've been more busy than I thought possible. The Animation Program is a blast! I've got some awesome classes from some incredible teachers. I'll post more in the next few days, but here is my character design for Kelly's Intro to Storyboarding class.



His name is Sheldon. He's a reindeer that can't fly.... and he likes to make toys (thus making him an outcast of sorts among reindeer).

Learning Flash

This is a test from my first run through of character animation in Adobe Flash. It's an incredibly intimidating program, but now that I'm learning it (a tiny tiny bit), it's been a blast.


I'm hoping to turn this into a minute-or-so-long "commercial". (there will be more than walking involved. Promise!)

Only the Good Sketchbooks Die Young

Time for a sketch dump.

This is my wife and the cute little guy she babysits.


Quick anatomy study (on my own. Really!).



The legendary Uncle Bruce (and some cousins).


Wiffle Ball home-run derby


The fam.



And lastly, some character designs for an upcoming project o' mine.

Crochety Old Man Man

Using his cane, super-suspenders, and his ability to walk fifteen miles in the snow uphill both ways, Crochety Old Man Man fights off the evil forces of young people today and their inherent laziness.
This is for the Y Not Art Blog, a group blog I was just invited to join. You should check it out!

A Day No Sketchbooks Would Die...

It's always fun to see other bloggers posting a eulogy to sketchbooks they have "killed"... but my weapon of choice-- a three-ring binder that I fill with punched printer paper-- happens to be immortal. Sure, it lacks personality, but it's cheap and durable (I used that line in a personal ad once...).
Anyway, I recently came to the end of a chunk of pages that had been sitting in there since about Christmastime, so I decided to clear it out and post some of the less vomit-inducing material.

We'll start with some character design: my wife is writing a children's book about a little girl who likes ballet. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Lena Ballerina!




I decided to use her for an assignment for my Intro to Maya class. The lo-res model didn't turn out so good (freakiest thing I've ever seen, actually). But I liked the orthographic views I whipped up here:


Nothing says Christmas like some reindeer sketches. Yes, these were from actual reindeer. No, I'm not always honest.


The rest are pretty random. I need to clean up my linework a lot, but I think I'm getting the hang of this sketchbook thang.

Joss

It's been a month, and the wait is over. I've finally gotten my lazy derrier out of my chair-ier to post something.

This is an extremely rough character design for another personal project of mine that's been in the works for a few years now, actually (although it's only now starting to make its way to paper). Her name is Joss; she's an apprentice to a wizard of sorts (and she has a very big hat). Anyway, I'm still just a beginner on so many fronts (proportions, line quality, different styles, etc etc etc), but I'm sure I'll improve with time (oh, yeah, and hard work too). Let me know what you think!