I finally got my Bachelor in Character Animation!

[InkwellClock]

I finally got my Bachelor in Character Animation a few days ago.
I would never have wanted to become an animator if it hadn't been for Newgrounds and the Clock Crew, so thanks a whole bunch for inspiring me!

As part of my final exam I was to make a short animated film together with 3 other students. I was director and animator on the film which consists of 3d-animated characters projected onto photos of handcrafted sets.
I am very proud of this film and so would love to share it with you guys. I really hope you'll like it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8EYYH7uB3Y&list=UU50iz5aJP46T5n7gGgGMBTQ&index=1&feature=plcp

[DickTree]

That's great man. And that short film was amazing.

[Kaijuclock]

I dug it, but I have to ask. If he was flying with just the one wing flapping, wouldn't he just fly in a circle?

[AbsintheClock]

Good work. Hope it leads to a good career.

[RobClock]

That was absolutely fantastic. Great work!

[InkwellClock]

Thanks a bunch guys!
You're probably right about that Gir. We did put a lot of thought into the flying-shots but I guess we overlooked that fact.

[EnglishClock]

That was rad. Nice work

[AstronautClock]

great animation!

[pop-tart]

That is excellent.

Congrats, man

[zl]

[patriotclock]

Congrats bro

[Asshatclock]

congrats, love your stuff

[Kombucha]

Congratulations! Very cool animation.

[Sinister Clock]

Hey congrats man! I'm working on my BA at Bournemouth for computer animation.

The film was great, I loved the static images, it made the atmosphere just right. There are a few problems, for starters you should've doubled your texture resolution at least; if I can see individual pixels then something's going wrong. The rigging could've been a lot better I think, when he raised his eyebrows it looked very robotronic and I could see the edges of faces; I don't know if your course focused on that much, but there's a lot of room for improvement there. Now I'm guessing you did your ending at the end, there were a few bits which looked rushed and rough, and the bit where they both took off straight looked super terrible. In the future you may want to do your beginning, then the end and then the middle; You need to get people hooked on the middle and remember the ending, since the end is what people remember. A bit of it felt a bit unoriginal, like using plague doctors as the villains and the whole thing with the one wing on two people thing, but it wasn't too bad. With that said, I did really love it, especially since there were just three of you. The story was brilliant and very well executed, the overall feel was great, I loved the character and setting designs and I hope you do well in your career!

[ProqagandaClock]

Well I like it alot but, cmon pretty gay story with all the "Oh my, someone who's just as big as misfit as I am!". Atleast they could share like, interests in botany or books before they get down with it.

Apart from that small complaint it's superb and I'll never be able to do anything like it so good job.

[Sinister Clock]

I'd really like to get into an education path on that subject, do you have any suggestions?

You don't need no University, you got us.

Where are you looking for unis? Have you got a big portfolio with lots of life drawing in it? What type of course are you interested in? 2D, 3D, traditional, CGI, illustration, animation, maths/programming stuff, arty stuff, character animation or any combination? I think you're American so maybe Cal Arts? That place is the best but super hard to get into. There are quite a lot of really good unis in France for some reason.

[InkwellClock]

Thanks a lot for all the positive feedback guys:)

Also thanks for the critique Sinister, I agree with you on several of your points. It's been a valuable learning experience to make this film though I feel we would have been able to iron out some of the things you mentioned If we had been atleast 2 more people on our team, but alas.

Propaganda, I totally get your point, but we weren't allowed to make the film longer than 5 minutes so we didn't have the time to go that much into detail about their relationship.

Ribs, if you're prepared to go to Europe you could apply at The Animation Workshop. They teach their students a shitload of valuable things. Not only animation but also storyboarding, character design 3d modelling, texturing, rigging and a ton of other things. All the teachers are or have been in the actual indistry so they really know their stuff.

[Sinister Clock]

I wanted to do 2D stuff at well but after being introduced to 3D on this course, I absolutely love it.

Definitely try Cal Arts, you lose nothing if you're rejected, make sure you spend a considerable amount of time and effort on your portfolio, literally the most important thing, no-one cares about formal education since all that matters is the outcome to your art. If you don't have a good portfolio then you are not getting in to anywhere worth going. My course did require me to do a foundation year, as do most arty courses but you can get away with just a strong portfolio. I do definitely recommend a  good foundation course though, some BAs may have it built in, which can make it loads easier to get into some courses as long as you pass (which is stupid easy). You should have a basic knowledge and sill in all forms of art before you do animation, it all intersects and helps you out when in the industry.

Try to do a lot of life drawing, this is pretty important and the main thing they look out for. Do it every day, moving things are good practice to draw since you're not just copying what you see, you're getting a mental 3D model in your head which you can move and rotate, then just draw that. A guy who is an amazing drawer taught me that, it comes from Picasso.

They like to see a wide range of work, especially if it shows that you experiment. Include plays, live action films, hand drawn animation, sculptures, WIP stuff, flash stuff, paintings, some written stuff is nice, and make sure to include plenty of life drawing stuff. Obviously only include the best stuff, the life drawings should have had hours spent drawing and days spent refining, polishing and beautifying. The same for the rest of your stuff, don't put any crap or average stuff in there.

Make sure to have all your stuff nice and neat in a big A1 folder. Presentation will likely help you out but it's the content which counts.

The interview itself shouldn't be a problem providing you know what you're talking about. Make sure you're face to face with them, if you just send your portfolio in then you will not get in unless you are a god. Also you probably won't get your portfolio back without a shit load of effort. Research the course before hand obviously, they might make you do some tests like life drawing from a model or a maths test. Think about who influences you, why you chose the course, what do you want out of it and what are your future plans/projects; this'll help you in life and the interview. It also helps if you're sociable to the interviewer, obviously; I had a little chat with one of mine about Grim Fandango, just don't force it. I don't think many of the places I went to could even look at my digital portfolio, so make sure your physical portfolio is the main, or only thing, which stands up on it's own and you can talk about every piece, how you made it, what you learnt, what you were trying to accomplish, etc...

You really need to research the Unis yourself. To be honest, the only thing I really looked at was the student's work and show reels, as the outcome is the only thing which matters, like your portfolio; if they don't have a video of students' work then don't go there, it's shit. I don't know much about unis in the USA, apart from the crippling debt, so do your research. However, Im fairly certain Cal Arts is like the best in the world or something and is super hard to get into, so you get in there and maybe you can be super successful; again, I don't know much of your unis.

Over here the deadline has just passed for applying to unis, I'm guessing it's the same over there, so take this time to do a shit load  of art every single day. The more you do the more it helps your entire life, the less you do, the worse you'll be. Take a step outside of your comfort zone, really experiment and explore art and yourself; don't get stuck just drawing silly face or dragon balls or whatever.

This is all really general advice, in the end it's up to you to improve yourself to be the best artist you can be. And do your research, it's pretty important. Remember to draw from life every day, not from pictures. Just remembered, anatomy and surface muscles are super helpful to study for life drawing.

If you don't mind me asking, how old are you and where are you at right now with art? Do you have a portfolio ready?

[F U Clock]

Congrats Bro-town University!

[Kombucha]

I'm twenty-five. I do not have a portfolio, I should start compiling one.

Yes. Soon, if you can.