Peoples in the park and city.
So every week in Animation Mentor, we have to do sketches that aren’t really life-drawings per se, but more ideas influenced by what we see around us. Last week was all about life around us and this is what I came up with!
Me looking at my past animations:
Sad face. Kind of E.T-ish
Me after my first Animation Mentor Live Q&A:
Happy face!
Yeee-ahh! Do you see those glamorous glasses? That fashionably chic hair – AKA a bun? That ultra-white Hollywood smile?
That’s right, my transformation is all because I had my first Q&A today with my mentor Anthony Wong! Or, as he allows me to call him – get ready – Anthony. YUP, first name basis with a Pixar animator. Next step, virtual high-five.
On top of that, I met some cool classmates! Most are in the US, making me one of the international students. WOAH. So that’s why I look like E.T in the first photo; I’m an illegal alien.
Can’t wait to start animating and hopefully when it’s good enough, I can share some of it with you guys! Happy face! AND GO QUEENSLAND MAROONS! đ
Marky Mark learns a lesson.
Ted (Seth MacFarlane, 2012) *WARNING â TERRIBLE PUNS*
Ted’s ballin’. DON’T FORGET IT. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
1. Ted himself is balllllllinâ! Thatâs what the rapper 50 Cent would say. That bear is brilliantly composited into the shot. Then Fiddy would invite Mark Wahlberg to his Candy Shop to tell him â
2. âYo Marky Mark, youâre bear-ly making eye contactâ. Seriously Mark, haaaavveee you met Bob Hoskins? He could make âeye-contactâ with a 2D Roger Rabbit, why canât you make eye contact with Ted? I mean, heâs right next to you on the cou- what? Whadda ya mean Tedâs not really there? Heâs a mo-capped CG character?! THATâS IMPAWSIBLE!
3. Ok, not to have a grizzly view on everything, but the sound is tinny and the plot is bear-ly there. Itâs one of those stories where you canât totally identify the obstacles. You start losing focus and thinking about whatâs for dessert. Pretty claw-ful right? If MacFarlane had just thought about building a paws-ible climax, I wouldnât be stuffed from my distracting brownie dessert; Iâd be all stitched up from paying attention to the jokes along the way.
âHey Stephanie, hit us with one more terrible teddy bear pun.â
Someone maul her. Make it stop. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Fur sure. What to do you want to hear?
Â
Where do I begin grovelling?
Yes, that’s right. My first mentor from Animation Mentor (Anthony Wong) works at Pixar. As my best friend would say, it’s “AMAZEBALLS!”
I know what you’re thinking:
“Shut up Steph. Stop bragging about it and just go die in a hole. A hole of hell, where all you do is slave away, animating all day. Learning from someone who works at Pixar. Who totally worked on Ratatouille (Brad Bird and Jan Pinkava, 2007)! Who is therefore AWESOME. So by association, some of his awesomeness rubs off on you. So you’re awesome. Go Steph!”
“But seriously, zip it, Zippy Longstockings.”
Awnnnhhh, thanks guys!
The Croods – Give Eep some angst by removing her mother.
The Croods (Chris Sanders, 2013)
1.To the visual effects department: all the simulations were beautiful. The dust clouds were fluffy and the fur had a beautifully âsheepskin runâ quality about it.
Deep, man, deep. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
2. Character designs = wonderful! This includes fanciful takes on what prehistoric animals could have been, Ă la flying turtles and land whales. Itâs actually a very clever ploy to suck in the audience so that our experience of a new world parallels that of the Croods so that we become Croods ourselves. Woah, analysis = deep.
3. Itâs rare to see an animated family with the parents both intact (The Incredibles is one) and I think thereâs a reason for it.
The crux of the movie revolves around a father-daughter struggle where the motherâs existence is superfluous. In fact, she hinders a potentially more angst-ridden relationship struggle for the daughter, like Hiccup in How to Train Your Dragon or the poster child for angst, Harry Potter.
Now I can have a satisfying movie experience AND ignore Hitler! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I can prove it â squint one eye, raise your thumb and whenever the mother â Ugga â comes on screen, cover her face and block your ears. Wow, the movie continues seamlessly! I honestly think sheâs just a baby carrier. How insulting. And on another note, even though I was entertained while watching it, I would have much preferred The Croods to have been the Aardman claymation – Crood Awakening – John Cleese set out for it to be. Hello, Iâm a 90s kid, and I will watch anything reminiscent of the cavemen TV series Gogs!
Awnnnnnnhhhh yeah, I’m in!
After passing a wonderlic test and essay questions, I’ve been accepted into Animation Mentor, the online school of animation and VFX! The teachers are all working professionals from studios like Pixar, Moving Picture Company, Dreamworks, Industrial Light and Magic and all the amazing studios in between!
My course will be Animation Fundamentals, where over the course of a year, I’ll relearn what I know needs work with my animation (the basics). Classes are small and conducted completely online. It’s a pretty awesome opportunity. Big thanks to my stepfather John for this leg up in my life!
Who knew pretending to be Greek could be so easy?
Clash of the Titans (Louis Leterrier, 2010)
Sexy kraken. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
1. What went right: the seamless fusion of the wings to the Pegasi (my plural for Pegasus), the subtly convincing, venom veins (woo, alliteration!) on Perseusâ arm and the kraken. Kraken = money scene. Brilliantly designed creature.
2. What went wrong: unoriginality. A lot of reviews rip on the CG but I think itâs the writersâ/directorâs fault the plot makes any VFX flaws stick out like a sore thumb. However, I do have to say, why didnât they design original effects? Why did they choose to pick Hades to materialise like a dementor? He could have entered in a much more evil Lindsay Lohan kind of way. And why is Medusa so humanoid? The design has been seen before, letâs think for ourselves people!
3. My remarks throughout the whole movie:
Hades needs sex-ifying. Get Draco to slap some tan on him. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
âHey, isnât that Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) playing Hades?â
âHey, isnât that Mr Tough Danish Bond villain (Mads Mikkelsen) playing Mr Tough Greek captain guy?â
âHey, isnât that the captain from 300 (Vincent Regan) playing a Greek king?â
âHey, isnât that Dr Jekyll from League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Jason Flemyng) playing Greek Dr Jekyll?â
The biggest problem I had (besides bad storyboarding and writing) is this jumble of characters ripped from other roles. Itâs like they grabbed every actor who resembles one cast character in another movie, slapped fake tan and eyeliner on them and BOOM! – youâre Greek. Do we have no faith in choosing other actors for a role they havenât played before?
Mate, I’m true-blue Greek, swear on Mum’s Vegemite pavlova. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
And on a more important note, I loved the mismatching accents. I REFUSE to watch a tale about Greek mythology UNLESS it stars actors who keep their Downton Abbey English, their Taken Scottish and their rinky-dink Australian accents. True blue blokes.
Hey boys and girls! Strap in. Itâs time for a movie review!
The 3-Point Belt Review will be my attempt at being sooper edumacated about whatâs hot and whatâs not in VFX. Basically, each film only gets 3 observed points. Only 3. Because I donât like long movie reviews. Iâm generation Y. Me need instant gratification NOW! [Slams fists down]. Letâs cut to the cheese people.
Independence Day (Roland Emmerich, 1996):
Hugo (Martin Scorsese, 2011)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Robert Zemeckis, 1988)
E.T (Steven Spielberg, 1982)
Ben-Hur âŚ..errr, I mean Argo (Ben Affleck, 2012):
Ben-Hur (William Wyler, 1959) was a bit scratched and around the cool rowing scene, it became unwatchable. So we watched Argo instead, and –
Pumbaa: It’s like my buddy Timon always says: you got to put your behind in your past.
Timon: No, no no. Amateur. Sit down before you hurt yourself. It’s “You got to put your past behind you.”
So that’s what I’ve done….kind of. I spruced up the website a little, put in some old stuff (like some artworks from high school, some past animations and some compositing exercises) and added a dash of new stuff (like the black background – WOW!). So yub-a-dub-dub, thanks for the grub, and enjoy!
My 2012 compositing/animation showreel.
Stephanie Tomoana – 2012 Reel from Stephanie Tomoana on Vimeo.
Stephanie Tomoana 