My first top 20 ribbon!

Last month I entered the 11second club's August competition and reached my highest ranking yet: 16th! My previous best was 42nd I believe. I really wanted to use the contest to gauge how much I have improved as an animator since my online workshop. I was really hoping to see a leap forward and thankfully I have. There are still lots of things to improve and I didn't really spend any time developing a story (I wanted to focus completely on my acting choices and creating solid animation) but I can see growth which is very exciting! You can see the animation in my latest demo reel.
I plan to enter the September competition as well because I think I will have time to do it. This time around I want to improve my level of animation and also spend a bit more time developing an interesting story. My goal is to reach the top 11 and improve upon my personal best.

Updated Reel

After completing my workshop and entering the 11second club this month (I had my best finish ever, 16th place!) I have updated my reel. I have several more projects on the go but I won't be updating my reel again for a little while.

It went by so fast!

Well there you have it. Fourteen weeks have come and gone in a blink! I learned so much during my time at iAnimate and I can't wait until I can go back and proceed with the next workshop. I have to thank everyone involved with the iAnimate community for providing such an amazing, affordable place to continue my animation education.
You cannot pursue animation on your own. For about a year I practiced at home and taught myself as much as I could but after a while you plateau. You need an experienced eye to continuously look at your work when you're trying to improve. If I had one critique of my mentor it's that I wanted him to be tougher! Sometimes I wanted him to just say "look, this whole part isn't working. Scrap it and start over." If I'm ever to start working in this industry I am likely to get feedback like this anyway. Its helps toughen your skin and it pushes you get better.
Right now I am hard at work at my newest 11second club entry. It was always my goal to enter the August contest to see if I've improved. My goal is a top 20 finish which would be a significant improvement from my last entry. The top 50 is much easier to crack than the top 20, so here's to hoping I got good enough!
I am also working on brushing up my final iAnimate assignment. Once these are officially complete I will put together a new demo reel. I'm aiming for the second week of September.
Until then...

Demo Reel

This is the first demo reel that I have ever sent out to a studio. It is short and sweet as I am only halfway through my current workshop. My next reel will include my final shots from ianimate workshop 3 as well as tweaks of my current work.

Jason Wellings Demo Reel from Jason Wellings on Vimeo.

iAnimate Summer Showcase

The latest ianimate student showcase is out! A lot of really great work again from my fellow students. Hopefully I can get one of my own shots on the next showcase after I complete my current workshop!

A month already?

So apparently a month has already passed since I started my ianimate workshop. I am loving is so far and I feel like I have grown so much as an animator. I have really taken advantage of the seemingly limitless resources that students are entitled to. There are hundreds of hours of lectures, demos and Q&A sessions with some of the top animators in the world today available for viewing. I have watched countless of them, expanding my knowledge every time I do. There is so much to learn as an animator and I feel like there is always room for growth. I have received positive feedback on my work thus far which is great validation. With 8 weeks to go I am excited to see what I will be able to produce for the remaining assignments. I will start to post my completed assignments toward the end of the workshop...until next time!

And so it begins!

Finally the week has arrived...iAnimate workshops are here! I have already downloaded all of the rigs and got all of the shelves and scripts running properly. I actually learned a lot just setting these up because I have never used custom shelves or scripts before. I can tell that it is going to make selecting parts of my character much easier and cleaner. I just received my first assignment and I am very excited to get started. The concept behind the assignment is simple but it will certainly test my skills. With no other animation to focus on for the next 14 weeks, and plenty of professional critiques to utilize, I am excited to see what I can accomplish.

11 Second Club April animation

iAnimate workshop

The iAnimate workshop that I have officially enrolled in is right around the corner! I received my first email from my instructor this week detailing what is expected of us in the first week. I can't wait to use their amazing character rigs and receive detailed criticism of my work from a professional in the industry. I know that it will help me to grow as an animator.

Top 50 Finish!

After all of the votes had been tallied by the software the results were posted and I found out that I placed 43rd in the March contest. There were 390 entries all together so I am very pleased to have placed in top 50 and received my first green ribbon. I know I have a lot to work on yet but this was validation for me that I AM improving. I am already hard at work on the audio clip for April. My goal is to crack into the top 25!
Side note: one month today until iAnimate begins!