Homework for Next Wednesday, September 5th AND Monday, September 10!

Hi Everyone! Great job in class!  After we have looked at everyone's stories and drawings, you have an understanding of the major goal of the first few weeks of the class!

EVERY animator's goal is to make every drawing count! Make every drawing tell highly interesting stories and communicate effectively!

• Clear drawings = clear communication!
• Clear communication = more accurate artwork created earlier!
• More accurate artwork = less guesswork in spotting mistakes!
• Less guesswork in spotting mistakes = more self-direction, and stronger artwork overall! =D

You are on your way people!

If you were absent, bring your artwork to class next Wednesday, or get with 2 other students to complete the in-class exercise we did.  If you bring proof of your completion of this exercise to me and your classmates are in agreement that you completed it, you will get full credit!  If not, we will look at your three drawings at the beginning of class, and then we will cover the next step of our projects!  Note: We also started a new workshop animation: Animating one of our characters turning their head in reaction to someone calling off-screen.

HOMEWORK:

Here are the two important milestones you need to meet:

By September 5th:  Continue refining your stories and select 1 story to adapt as your personal film!  The story you select we will take into pre-production! The other two stories we will adapt into future in-class exercises and portfolio content.

NOTE: By no means should you stop working on improving the other two stories. However, you should pick one story to focus the majority of your time on. For now approach your ideas in this ratio: 80%, 10%, 10%.

Bring all three stories to class on this day. I will photograph your index cards as records and proof of your hard work thus far.

Further develop the story you have chosen as your project. Create ALL of the storyboards you need for this project! You are allowed to do this on index cards alone for now, if you choose, or go into photoshop, or go into Toon Boom Storyboard pro.  Be aware that we will ALL begin building animatics the following week.  Bring your storyboards to class so we can review your story, and check for the same four elements we discussed today:

• storytelling, 
• cinematography, 
• staging, and 
• character performance

You should also bring preliminary character models and environment designs on this day. (Characters and environments should have test colors applied to them.)  I will look at all of this and will give you the go-ahead and either green light your story, or ask you to continue improving it!

By September 10th, I will ask you to bring a collection of your storyboards (black and white,  or scanned in, fully drawn) fully implemented into Toon Boom Storyboard Pro. I will post a review of Storyboard Pro to the blog in class on September 5th to aid you in your journey.   

By September 12th, you should have your first timed out draft of your animatic in storyboard pro, ready to show at the beginning of class! =D

As always, email me if you have questions.  Ask your classmates as well!  Good luck everyone! =D