Timing and Weight #2

Hello world!! Happy New Year!
Hope you had an amazing holiday!

So here it is the animation I worked on last year. I finished it last year but I hadn't had a chance to blog it. I just had a baby couple of months ago in August. Proud mama, I am!

Anyway, the animation is to demonstrate timing and weight.
The story was that they both were chased by zombies. I know that there should be a sense of urgency in the animation but my primary objective is to focus on timing & weight.

Check out the link: http://vimeo.com/78159569

Hope you like it!
Have a great 2015!
Thanks!

Timing and weight #1

New animation reel is coming soon. I aim to finish it at the end of the year.
The two characters above will be in my latest reel. 

The rig "Morpheus Rig" created by Josh Burton.
Stay tuned!

Acting in "How to train your dragon"

Hi guys,
I thought I would share my thought on the acting in "How to train your dragon".
I liked the movie and I thought it was refreshing to see a different animation style.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKiYuIsPxYk&feature=youtu.be&t=49s

Here is an example from a clip that I like (00:49 - 00:55). I feel the movie has shown very good acting there.
The action already gives a clear message - when the main character (the guy on the right) is trying to touch the dragon but he's looking away.

He knows the dragon is dangerous and probably he could die any moment. He wants to communicate with the dragon but he doesn't know anything about the dragon at all. He's willing to take risk not knowing what's going to happen to him.

The action is already strong, the line "It's Ok. I'm not gonna hurt you" probably not necessary anymore. Try playing it without sound and this piece of action is even better.
What do you think? Let me know your thoughts.

Thanks for reading :)

More acting studies

Hi all,

Sorry for the long absence, finally I have some free time to open my blogger.
I'd like to update you with my latest animation reel in 2013.

www.vimeo.com/fbako/animationreel2013

Scene 1 and 2 are my personal acting studies
If you stumble upon this page, please I appreciate your thoughts on acting in animation.

Thanks 

Task 2: characters

I played around with morpheus rig - it's quite neat!,  smooth blending between one expression to another! It allows you to customize your characters and I shaped these two boys.
Here you go, the 2 characters I'm going to work on.

Task 1: getting a rig

For my reel, this time I'm going to use the free rigs from 11 seconds club website.
It's called morpheus. You can download the rig from here http://www.joshburton.com/projects/morpheus.asp
The dialogue I picked was taken from a blockbuster film called Hot Fuzz, because I love those 2 boys - Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. They both are hilarious!
I'll post more pictures soon. :)
Cheers

Facial expressions studies

Image
I have been studying about facial expressions recently, based on FACS website and the "Artist's complete guide to facial expression" by Gary Faigin.
It is a very good book, I used this book as a referece couple of years ago for my final project! and I just got this book as a christmas present from a fellow animator.
The image above is just a guideline for me to remember. :)
I believe this book is also useful for tech animators/ artists - also to help you creating sophisticated rigs with few controllers. :-)
This is my resolution! Happy new year!

Cheers