Character Animation Demo Reel

[lostfilez]

Cool, your best shots are definately the walk cycle, lip sync, and at the end w/ the kids running out and his reaction. Take out the stills. If you're finding out a lot of positions you are applying for are interested in drawing skills too, put together a flat art portfolio for yourself. Then send some samples along with your demo reel, or take in your portfolio if you get an interview somewhere. The "character animtion reel" is for character animation!! :p

Now on your animation, some of the stuff you have is a bit floaty and slow in parts. And your characters are way too symetrical. For example in the beginning, the little guys hands and arms almost mirror each other perfectly. For some motions it might work, but for the most part it's unnatural. A few more cycles would be good. Work on your timing, get some nice snappy quick animation like you had towards the end there. Hope this helps :D

[BadgerSundae]

I agree with a great deal of what lostfilez said, so I'll second his entire post.

The stills, while certainly high-quality, feel out of place on a reel designated for character animation. I think an employer could more conveniently and thoroughly review your sketches and drawings from static image files. Flipping through them at a few seconds apiece doesn't do them justice.

Regarding the animation... The walk cycle and lip-sync animations are of a higher caliber than some of the other shots in there, so you could probably bump those to the beginning. Other shots could probably use a bit more spit and polish. When the monster slaps the pinata, the acceleration of the pinata seems delayed or slow. Some of granny's animations feel awkward, particularly the lurch in her dazed, reeling spin around 00:43.

I think you've got a great start. Look forward to seeing any refinements you make.

[SirRon]

Hey, a fellow lab assistant! :) Except I'm just helping in the Maya classes not Photoshop.

I third the other comments said. Some animations seem slow, keep traditional art in portfolio. Not so sure on the grandma bit, I'd say it's the weakest compared to the rest of the work.

As for swapping the first and last shots.... I like the last shot where it is because it fits as an ending shot. Best work first makes sense, but best work as the last thing they see makes sense too. My advice would be to refine the first shot more.

Great job though.

[lostfilez]

...but best work as the last thing they see makes sense too...

True... but who says "they" will ever even get that far? They may watch 20 seconds, and just move on to the next reel. You should focus on the animation, since that's what you want to do. Now if you can have a reel with amazing animation, and a really nice flow, all the more power to you, but the editing should really be more of an afterthought. Now if you have 2 animators going for a job, one who is good, and a reel with really nice/fancy editing, and one who is great, but just put clips with straight cuts of their best work, well, guess who's probably going to get the job. Don't get me wrong, you should have a nice professional looking reel, but don't let the "flow" of the reel blind you as to what should and shouldn't be put in and where.

[SirRon]

... you should have a nice professional looking reel, but don't let the "flow" of the reel blind you as to what should and shouldn't be put in and where.

Oooh, well put.

[seankeeton]

Thanks everybody! That helps a lot.

I went ahead and put the shot with the kids running and the monster's reaction first. I also tweaked a few bits of animation here and there. I'll probably go ahead and take out the stills and when I get a moment replace some of the weaker shots with snappier animation.

Keep the great critique coming!

[seankeeton]

Man you're not kidding when you say "When the monster slaps the pinata, the acceleration of the pinata seems delayed or slow." I accidently put this up with an early version of that clip in there. Dang. I'll get the right one put up.

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