Happy Holidays from Topix!

Congratulations to my fellow co-workers for pulling this off in such a short period of time! I think the turn around on this was about a month. Only three to four people worked on it and they did everything from modeling, rigging, animation and the texturing and lighting as well. Truly awesome stuff!

On using video reference

Whether you're a seasoned professional, an eager student or an aspiring junior animator such as myself, chances are you've asked yourself: do I need to shoot video reference? How and when to use video reference has been a popular debate in the animation world, and it doesn't have a straight forward answer. Here's my perspective... People often worry that using video reference will result in animation that feels rotoscoped, stiff or lacking in weight. This is certainly the case, if you rely too heavily on your reference which I am personally guilty of. Video reference is exactly that, reference! It's there to be referenced, not copied. For whatever reason live action does not produce believable animation if it is copied. Live action has to be exaggerated in order for it to look good for us animators. Another problem is that when we shoot reference of ourselves we never push our poses as much as we think we do. What I've found is that when shooting reference you need to push your poses much further than you think you need to, and then push them even more! And again, this reference is not meant to be copied. If all we did was copy live action then what would be the point in our medium at all? What we take from this reference are the key poses and what we study are important things such as weight shifts and balance. This is all something that I am still learning and I'm sure I will continue to learn for years to come. In the past I have been guilty of letting my reference do the thinking for me. For my next personal shot (animating to an audio clip from "Anchorman") I am really going to focus on creating a believable, dynamic piece that pushes my video reference to a new level. In the meantime, here is a fantastic comparison reel from the exceptionally talented Jeff Gabor. Many of you will have seen it before but for those who haven't, enjoy! This is a master at work.

A week at Topix

Just a few short days ago I completed my first week at Topix animation studio in Toronto. I really feel like my career has been given a big kick start now. The work is challenging and I am required to animate things that I have never animated before, but the harder it is the more I will learn right?
Best of all I know that the result of all this hard work will be a series of shots that will look fantastic on my reel! Studio work is also quite interesting. It's great to have a supervising animator on board all the time. Twice a day he will review my work and give me notes. It's like being paid to be at school. Best of all I know that he will be harsh because it needs to be good enough to satisfy the client.
As well as this I am also still doing some work at Chuck Gamage in Hamilton. With my busy schedule traveling to and from Toronto I can only work for them part time (or remotely from home) but I really want to gain all the experience that I can. I also decided to finally get a copy of The Animator's Survival Kit which I'm almost done reading. It really is a great read for any aspiring animator and I highly recommend it.
I'm also doing a personal shot on the side, although I don't expect it to be done for a few months with my busy schedule.
I would like to start posting about animation itself rather than just personal accounts of my life so hopefully I'll have time to start that soon...

The Journey Begins

The journey of my career begins next Monday. Out of the blue I was asked to come in for an interview at Topix animation studio in Toronto. I am by no means guaranteed a job but just being contacted for an interview is a big step in the right direction. It was a little over a year ago that I decided to dedicate myself to animation and give up on my dream to reach the highest levels of professional golf. It was a scary decision and one that I did not take lightly. There were no guarantees that I could become a good enough animator to make a career out of it. Afterall, it is a career that I never even considered until my fourth year at McMaster University. Now here I am twelve months after effectively quitting golf to pursue character animation and in a few days time I will walk into Topix with legitimate prospects of obtaining a job. I'll check back next week to let you know (whoever you are that reads my posts) what the outcome is.

I have a job...sort of

Starting this week I will be going in to Chuck Gammage Animation three days a week to work on an animated short. The studio will then use this short to try and bring in 3D work. I am no longer just as intern. As of this week I will actually be a lead animator! It sounds more glamorous than it is though. The only reason I am the "lead" is because I am the only person working on it. I will have one other person helping me build the sets and some models and Chuck will act as my supervising animator, but other than that it's just me. Hopefully this short will attract a lot of paid character animation work for me to sink my teeth into. The most important thing is the experience that this short will give me and how much it will boost my resume which is currently very weak.

Progression of a shot

I decided I wanted to post an example of how I approach an acting shot. I am still learning but I definitely think I'm improving. Not so long ago an acting shot of this length would have taken me be about 50hrs to complete. Now I have a more efficient workflow and I have cut that time in half. There is still a long way to go when it comes to my acting choices but I think my animation skills have improved significantly in the past three months. Anyway, here is a video demonstrating the steps I go through to complete a shot.

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.