To celebrate my new-look blog, I thought I'd try animating something new. Although I started trying 3D animation quite some time ago, I have never really animated a proper character. I have always been put off by the tedious modelling and rigging that needs to be done before a single key frame can be set. However, I was alerted to the LowMan rig, which is a simple character available for free, with which anyone can practice their animation. So this was done in Maya:
Although the animation isn't perfect, I am quite pleased with how this worked out. It took me a couple of hours to do as I had to figure out how the rig worked first. I might go back to it to refine the animation, but I think I will probably just try doing a different action. I'd like to point out that this return to 3D animation doesn't mean I have been neglecting my 2D stuff! Here are a couple of very quick drawings I made, based on two images of Tom the cat in Preston Blair's book.
I didn't bother making them look like Tom as I just wanted to concentrate on the gesture. After these I made a drawing of a depressed man:
He was just something I drew from my imagination. It's much harder to draw a convincing human figure from your imagination than it is to work from a reference subject. However, I feel that my ability to do this is improving significantly.Today I had an interview for a trainee camera operator and video editor job. It's not animation, but it would at least be a step in the right direction if I got it! Anyway, I think I impressed them because they want me back for a second interview.