character animation reel

[PuGs]

Hey i think its a great first reel!

the one thing that kinda bugs me is the tippy toe its too slow and mono spaced.
Well done i really like the Ace Dialog scene.

[matthewsimkins]

cheers PuGs. I think I will look at putting the tip toe clip into a context or at least make him walk somewhere. That way I can add some extra animation rather than the boring cycle. Thanks for highlighting it.

[xfgsergweg]

Nice job! I would consider cutting out the first girl. Her constantly waving hair is really distracting also it looks like she has hair plugs. Also the dialogue for that shrimp on the barby part was a bit late always hit your mouth shape atleast a frame or two before the sound happens. keep it up :)

[xazard]

Yeah man, I agree with RogerA a girl kind of screws up the pictures, at least I'd definately wouldn't put it in the beginning...

[FunkyCowie]

Another vote for removing the girl from the front... sorry

The character sitting on the chair puts his thumb through the chair next to him... BBBIIIiigggg no no ;)

[matthewsimkins]

thanks for all your feedback. Looks like i'm going to have to get rid of 'Daisy' the blue afro girl.

The reason she is there is because her dialogue is actually part of the song. So if i removed her there would still be a girl talking at the beginning. I just thought it added a level of integration with the music. (obviously changing the music is the answer but I like the track and there's some mutual promotion going on as well).

Do you think if I changed her from a 'hair/cloth distraction' into a more simple version it would work? I admit its a pretty lengthy intro, about a 3rd of the reel actually!

My other option would be to put some of her animaton later in the reel (you see the problem is my printed DVD discs and box covers all feature her!)

cheers

P.S about the thumb... yes it does penetrate the chair when he grabs the paper but not when he shifts his weight to the right, i made sure he moved it out to clutch the chair. (i thought the initial penetration wouldn't matter as the 'final' chair would be rounded and deform as his thumb squeezes down underneath the paper. thoughts?

[anmKevin]

I actually like the opening animation, but losing the hair (well, not losing, but changing) is a very good idea because it is distracting. It doesn't even look too good the way it is.

Also, the model doesn't look a lot like a child. It's something about the body. You'd benefit from sketching it out more or looking at more reference material. I'm assuming you modeled it of course.

The sneak walk is pretty good, but I think the head moves too much. Try acting it out and note what your body is doing. When you try to be stealthy like that you actually tense up making for very little overlapping action.

I realize your models are quite simple, but the mouths bug me on some of them. The ones with the dialogue from Anger Managment and Meet the Parents. They're basically like Jim Hensen puppets in their mouth movements and would greatly benefit from some blend shapes or something.

[BigMouth]

I'd have to agree with other comments about the girl.

I think you did a fairly good job animating her facial expressions and lip sync. It's good stuff, don't get me wrong. But it doesn't quite "fit." Unless you're looking for a lip syncing job position, I wouldn't make that particular piece the forefront of your demo reel. I'd definately suggest to leave it on your website, because it is pretty good stuff.

The other animations are pretty good. You have a lot of potential and at this point I think you could probably get a junior animator position somewhere, but don't let that stop you from improving further.

[matthewsimkins]

thanks again for the replies. The rig i use for animation at the mo is called Lowman (http://lichiman.aniguild.com/?s=lowman). Hes a script based rig that you can customise before animating. He's got a flappy jim henson jaw which doesnt really lend itself to lip syncing but I believe you should be able to animate the character saying the dialogue with his actions first before worrying about the lips.

I think I will just do a poly hairstlye for the girl... this will draw the attention away from the hair and also reduce the render time by about 90%!

she's not supposed to be a really young girl full stop as she is in a music video that i am making and the song is kind of a love/breakup song. So i wanted her to be a bit ambiguous in terms of her age. Cute but sexual.

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