More Viking, and CTN

I have a curtain, now, and plenty of more keys laid down. In truth, a lot has happened since my last post: I have a new place to live, and now I have another Animator in the house. It's true she's a 2d animator, but damn, having someone with the proper knowledge just a shout down the hallway has WAY helped my productivity. We also enjoy nerding out over a particular slice of animation gold when we watch movies - a good environment to be immersed in.

So I'm heading to the CTN Animation Expo this weekend, due mostly to this wonderful new roommate, and we've both spent the past two weeks trying to finish up all our current projects to use in an impromptu Demo Reel. There will be fantastic networking opportunities at CTN, and I need to be able to just hand someone a dvd. Hopefully the viking piece will be done in time! We are taking a school bus thursday night, to arrive first thing in the morning on the first day, for maximum employment opportunities!

Wish me luck!

Viking update #2

And more progress is being made. Hit a roadblock with the poses near the end, and I'm switching to detailing and smoothing the beginning keys until I puzzle out how to finish the whole thing.

One of the biggest things I miss about being an animation student is having the luxury of students and teachers around you the whole time. It was supremely wonderful to have a useful critique every week, and now that I'm a graduate, I have to rely on my own network for outside opinions. And, really, that's the hard part for me. I have no confidence in my talents, and as such, I'm slow to show anyone my work, because they'll obviously hate it, and think me a terrible artist, etc, etc.

I understand that it's mostly silly, and that I need to get over it if I wish to be a better animator. Actually, writing this post has already helped, and upon finishing it, I'ma upload a playblast, and get some help.