Body sketches – Talking with your hands
Talk with your hands. You’re a more interesting story-teller
What did you do Saturday night?
Tonight we had our Q&A with Shawn Kelly! He’s currently a lead animator at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) in San Fransisco and co-founded AM. He’s worked on many films that I absolutely loved including Day After Tomorrow, the three Star Wars prequels, Transformers, and Rango! He has an incredible filmography and is a passionate, energetic artist. Really enjoyed talking to him and hearing his insights 
I wanted to share his demo reel, but I couldn’t find one online. I guess, you know, you can read his IMDb and just watch Rango and Transformers to see his work 
Eager!
This is for the incoming AMers. I know you’ve already seen in the group, but I figured I add it to my blog. That way it’s easier to find later when we look back on old posts (so much content goes into the group!)
Today I went to Blick to get some new pencils and check out the store. ..I saw this button and totally had to share!
Studles (Stu doodles)
Today I sat in a couple different places and sketched stu based on the people around me. Again, there’s no particular emotion or theme in mind –just doodling to doodle
Stu and Tailor Spoofs
Waiting for my first official Q&A! in the meantime, I’ve been playing with Stu and Tailor! Put them in some familiar poses for fun
Stu Sketches!
Yesterday I downloaded the basic rigs given to us for AM: Tailor and Stu. I found it interesting that Stu has FK on one arm and IK on the other. I was looking for the switch but later learned the rig doesn’t have one. Odd, but makes sense; let’s people who haven’t used Maya to get used to the difference between IK and FK. I love the simplicity of the rigs — certainly will be fun to pose them!
I haven’t had my first Q & A yet, but I wanted to go ahead and play around with the new characters. I drew out Stu in different poses. No theme, just whatever came to mind to get my creativity flowing:
First Mentor
Found out my first mentor is Peer Lemmers — He’s currently working at Dreamworks and before that he worked at Tippet Studios, Reel FX, and Microsoft Rare. To name a couple of his contributions, he animated Po in Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Furious Five and several characters/pinatas in Viva Pinata: TIP …uh, awesome! Admirable work! The Kung Fu Panda action sequences really set the films apart from others, and I enjoy the bubbly, cutesy pinata animations in VP. I’ve played VP plenty…
Coffee Talk’s First Birthday!
Here’s my tribute to the anniversary of Coffee Talk and the Admissions Campus! They’ve got a great thing going, and it’s only the first year! For those you unfamiliar with AM, coffee talks are weekly sessions in which incoming AMers can meet other students and some of the staff. It’s similar to a Skype set-up so we can chat either in a chat box or through video. Great way to get comfortable with how AM works as well, since our sessions with Mentors and staff are done in the same set-up.
