Thursday, March 27, 2014

Crawl


As you know I love animation and for those who know me a bit better they also know that I love pixel art (I guess now you do too!).

When those two worlds collide in an awesome way like with the game "Crawl" by Barney Cumming and David LLoyd, I can only giggle in delight.

I highly recommend you check out the TIGForum thread about the development of the game. The attention to detail is really nice despite the limitations of the style, all the way down to smear frames. The FX animation is a lot of fun to watch as well.



Even menu animations show how much fun the developers are having with this project.







There's also a neat tutorial on how the developer approaches the animation process, which is layered and simplified in order to speed up his workflow:


As well as quick post regarding his key poses and inbetweens:



And here's the trailer for the game:



Monday, March 24, 2014

Getting a job in Games.

Head over to gamesanimator.com for a great list of things to keep in mind when applying for a job.

Step 5 is super important! It's really not just about being able to animate well:

Step 5.
Getting in is just the beginning, staying in is harder.
What many schools won’t tell you is that getting in is just the first step in your career, the key to having a career is staying in and getting progressively stronger as a developer as you gain experience. Here are some quick tips that I’ve learnt along the way to keep you in the game:
- Be great at character animation under pressure. This one comes with experience, but don’t be afraid to jump in at the deep end and prove yourself.
- Be prepared for iteration. Don’t get precious about your work.
- Test your stuff in-game as quickly and as much as possible.
- Be prepared to wear different hats and dip into other disciplines.
- Be proactive, a team player and a problem solver. Game development is a team sport.
- Take ownership of your work/job. Try to pick projects/studios that interest you and that you will be invested in.
- Don’t be a jerk.
- Keep improving your craft beyond just animating at work. Keep up to date with the industry, tools and techniques, even if you’re not in a cutting edge studio.

Milt Kahl drawings




Always a good reminder to check out Andres Deja's "Deja View" blog. This time around he posted awesome Milt Kahl drawings!

Lost footage from 'Lord of the Rings' animated film



More info here and two clips. Cool to see, haven't watched the movie in a long time though. Curious what I think of it now.

Frozen- Shot Progression

Saturday, March 1, 2014