Happy New Year!

The past four weeks have been extraordinarily eventful; winter break has come and gone, we have entered the year 2018, and I have put in a tremendous amount of time on my original work. I met with Mr. Vallone on the first Tuesday of break to discuss the steps I should take to produce a high quality animation. I had no idea where to start, but Mr. Vallone walked me through the initial steps and showed me the process that he usually uses when animating any character. The visit relieved some of my stress because I finally had a direction and a plan to reach my end goal.

The “break,” as I continually mention in quotes, was not necessarily your typical break because I spent the majority of my time working on my animation. In the end, I put in 34 hours on every piece of my original work, and quite honestly, I can’t imagine a better way to have spent my break this year. Becoming familiar with the controls and the Maya interface are basic things that any successful animator adapts as a second nature. It is really exciting to me that I was able to apply as much time as I did to my product because it allowed me to explore and learn many new things about my topic of study.

The Research Showcase is quickly approaching as well, and I spent all day yesterday assembling my display board. I am including my topic proposal, quote, mission statement, mentor bio, original work proposal, a description of animation, and several rendered images from my original work, including a diagram of the facial controls with labels that clarify each control. My official color scheme is an aqua blue with a light sea green and black and white for images and text. I am having fun preparing for the showcase, and I look forward to sharing my research and work!