Monday, September 7, 2009

My entry for the 11 Second Club competiton - August 2009

I was waiting for the results of last month's competition to post this entry here. As some know, I entered last month's 11SC animation competition, and I have to say I felt different kind of feelings when I saw the results. To be honest, I was expecting a much better score, since I felt I improved a lot since my last entry.

Here is the animation I submitted:


As I said, I feel I'm improving as an animator, and the whole idea that my score was lower than my previous entry was really discouraging and disappointing. Discouraging basically.

However, checking all the entries on the competition, there is really a ton of good work! I can say that my entry (in my opinion) is better than some that got a better score, but again, I remembered that this is an art form, and as such, it's subjective to the poeple viewing your art. Some will like it, others will love it and a bunch others will hate it. So that helped me go through the mix of sensations I felt when I saw my 130th place (over 188).

What did I learn from all of this? First, that I improved! And I am improving, no matter what a score tells me. And I feel happy about it. Most of all, I feel proud of it. Second, I have some problems choosing my acting choices. I read somewhere than a huge part of an animation is not how you animate a shot, is what you decide to animate. Acting choices, especially in a competition like 11SC is very important. And I feel that I'm falling in very cliche poses. That's something I have to learn. But most importantly, I learned that my animations still feel floaty, weightless and somehow unnatural. And THAT is what I have to attack first.

Learning how to give weight into something that has no weight at all is not an easy task. But I also learned (some years ago in fact) that no task is impossible. So I'm currently working on it now.

I'd love to enter September competition, but I'm still not sure. I'm doing small tests for my demo reel (which I'll have to do in the next month and a half), walk cycles and stuff like that. Basic stuff actually. I have to learn those before getting into more complex things like acting. Anyways, if I decide to enter, score won't be a way of measure my progress as an animator.

EXITOS!

Kron.