Elise Is Green but Also Really Nice and Stuff!

It's almost the long weekend!

This week was all Todd stuff at work. I did some more revisions on Demon Guy, he's looking
great. Then there were some prop revisions and some face-melting; overall it's been a
pretty chill week.

We did this super complicated test on Monday to find out our "personality colour". Mine is
green! I almost got blue, and I'm kind of sad I didn't, because blue people are apparently
really nice and stuff.

No big news with Earl this week, he's just up to his usual business (sitting still, being
green, etc.) We are both looking forward to Canada Day.

Mandy and the 12 Principles of Animation

The last few weeks we focused more on working on the Cancan Dance project, such as animating the characters and building up the props, which is a nice experience.

I’ve learned a saying after finishing the project, which is The more you’ve worked, the more you learn.

This project, helped me improve on the 12 principles of animation, specially squash and stretch, and anticipation, especially when I was working on the leg up and down pose.

The first time I worked on this project, I felt I was unfamiliar on working animation, but after all I felt it was easy and fun, and I was proficient in it.

Juhi Understands the Pipeline

After finishing up tasks for the Beethoven's Wig Can Can finale short, I went straight back into my projects on Todd. Now that I've gotten experience animating with rigs, it was easier to understand the procedure of designing and flashifying assets cleaned up and ready for animation. I'm enjoying seeing the returns on everything I take on. Every learning experience relates back to how the pipeline works in the studio and gaining a grasp on that I find is important not just during the job but for personal and school projects as well. 

Efficiency is key!

~Juhi Out~

Vincent Is Headed to the Movies

Last week was a really busy week. It was the final week to finish the scenes for Beethoven's wig. I was assigned a scene where the characters bow before the curtains close and a scene where characters drive their cars into the frame and then dance. For each scene I got to try out animating each of the different characters. They all had something unique to their design so that it didn't feel like they were variations of the same character.

Right now, I'm re-doing a scene from a while back with the Jock character. There are some changes that I'm making to the naming in the library and to the football that he's holding. It won't take too long to get done. Also, gonna see Finding Dory next week. Should be fun. :D

-Vincent

A Post From the Past, Elise Style.

Today was the busiest day yet!

Each of the interns got assigned a handful of scenes for the Can Can project. We had to finish
them by the end of this week. I totally misjudged my time and only had one and a half
scenes done on Thursday, with 2 more due the next day. So I came in super super early this
morning and worked nonstop all day. I haven't left my chair since 7:30 this morning, but I'm
happy to say that I got it all done! This week was a valuable and stressful lesson in time
management.

Not much else to report, studio-wise. We're going out for dinner tonight, which should be cool.
All I've eaten today is coffee, so I'm pretty stoked to get some actual food.

Earl is looking great. He's taller than his grow-light now. Below is a terribly-photoshopped

picture of him getting his dunk on. It's been a long day.

Juhi Animates

This week had been non-stop animate, animate, animate! and I loved each scene that I was put on. Working with different rigs of varying difficulties kept me focused, and it was a joy to practice character performance and convey emotions through the rigs. To bring life to the characters and seeing the short come along was definitely rewarding. At the end of the week, the whole studio went out for food and to celebrate Rich's birthday. I had a lot of fun and it was a great way to cap off the busy week!

~Juhi out~

Mandy Animates the Opening!

Obviously, this week we were focusing on the cancan dance animation, and my job was animating the shot in the first scene, which is the opening shot.

When I got this mission, I was a little bit embarrassed and under pressure, since I known a good opening is very important for the film to attract audiences. However, during the process, I can feel the feeling I had before was gone, and my skills have being improved day by day.

Vincent Says Happy Father's Day!

This week I worked on two more character concepts. One of them was a dancing Italian and the other was a dancing Frenchmen.

I've thought it over and I've decided it's time to make an art blog where I can put my stuff. I'm 20 right now and I'll be 21 in December. (three years ago I was 17). I'll make sure to include my middle name, Jon-hin because my last name is the most common Chinese last name. 21 is supposed to be the age of maturity, which sounds so obvious but this knowledge had to pass through history to get here.

Father's day is coming up soon. Love you dad! Love you mom!  

Elise Makes Ostriches Dance

I did a lot of animating this week. I was assigned to pose out a bunch of different characters for a dance sequence. It was very challenging! I handled 3 pirates that wouldn't dance in sync before being brought to my knees by an ostrich rig. Ostriches aren't really built for dance. I tried so hard to make it look not-weird. I hope it worked.

Someone (Joel possibly?) brought in a really neat character design book yesterday. Looking at
it was super inspiring! I should really do more character stuff in my spare time.

My child Earl is growing a 13th leaf, and I personally feel it's his best work yet. Erin put a
tiny plastic elephant in his pot a few hours ago. The two of them are getting along well so far.

Mandy Learns Flash

Time flies so fast. It is halfway of the internship. This week I was focusing on the Can Can Dance project, which is the same stuff as last week.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, I got to start animating the Can Can Dance. I think it is a great opportunity to improve my animation skills, especially like how to make the sound match the movement of the characters, and how to use Flash to create the Motion Tween.  It is important for me to learn Flash and acquire more knowledge of Flash, not only drawing animation on Flash, but also learning how to animate quickly and professionally. I remember the first time I got an animation test for a Co-op opportunity, and I failed. The reason is I don't know how to animate using Flash. Therefore, I realized I need to learn more about it to be a professional animator, so thanks Smiley Guys Studio for giving me this chance to learn and work.

Juhi Can!

After posing out more CAN CAN characters, I moved on to animating scenes this week. Working through the different stages of the pipeline is a definitely helpful learning experience for my own workflow. I hope to gain more practice and insight into the pre and post production of projects as well.  

~Juhi out~

Vincent and the Dancing Robot

I started on two new characters this week. Both from a new series, Beethoven's wig. One is a dancing robot and the other character's a bald guy, not Beethoven though. The Todd style 's better in my opinion. It's less 'plastic'. If you can't attach a character design to a real life person there's no point to it. Even really cartoony characters. There's something that's just scary about character designs that don't come from reality. Well, it's okay if they're really simple shapes I guess.

Pippa left the studio this week. It was her last week here. Didn't get to talk talk to her much but I wish her luck wherever she may go. Maybe our paths will cross one day. It's been a month here already. I worked on a lot of cool character's and concepts so far.

-Vincent

Elise Goes From Creepy to Cute!

Another busy week!

The interns got assigned to a new project this week. It's an animation for young kids, really cute and full of music! Switching between this adorable stuff and the Todd project has been crazy. I'm sure more seasoned animators are used to switching gears like this, but I'm pretty new at this and jumping from dick demons to big-eyed animals playing violins kind of gives me whiplash. The cutesy animals are pretty fun to animate though!

The studio people went out to lunch two days in a row! Yesterday we went to a pub and I ate a poutine as big as my head. We also played Dig Dug there, which I was not great at. I got to chat  a bit with Aaron, the new employee. He's a cool guy!

Earl got his first haircut this week. By which I mean I pulled the dead parts of his leaves off. Also some of his alive parts by mistake, because I am a bad hairdresser. All in all, he's looking pretty spiffy.

Juhi Celebrates Her Day of Birth!

This week seemed to zip by, but I retained a lot of good memories from it! We started on an exciting new project, and I've been having a lot of fun posing and drawing out the appropriate characters for an intense CAN CAN finale.

Along with the ice cream and lunch outings, puppy visits, and a birthday surprise I've grown even more attached to the studio and everyone's kindness here. Everyone emphasizes a good "work hard play hard" attitude so naturally I feel compelled to do the same!

~Juhi out~

Mandy Loves to Lunch!

We got a new project this week, which is about the Can Can song. I think this project is pretty easy, because all models have already been built in Flash, so we just need to set up character's poses and figure out the perspective of their legs and feet.

This week, we had two group lunches, one at a sushi bar, and the other one at a sports bar.  Both had delicious food, and a nice environment. I really like having lunch with others, because it helps people get to know each other, and makes me feel like we're in a family.

Pippa Wraps Up Her Internship!

My last week on internship with Smiley Guy Studios is just flying by. I’ve had the chance to help Karen with an expenses tracking document for one of the previous productions, The Nations, which I worked on throughout the week. I also got to lead the Vampire Steve / Beethoven’s Wig meeting this week - it was my first time actually getting to use the meeting notes I’ve prepared.

Vampire Steve is on hold until the end of June, because we’ve got a short deadline to meet for Beethoven’s Wig. I also got to work on some invoice approvals for a few projects.

I also spent a lot of time this week organizing hard drives with Joel G, and filing them in a google spreadsheet. I love google drive. It’s the best organizational tool I’ve ever tried. I’ve made so many spreadsheet checklists. They’re amazing.

I spent a portion of my day on the phone to hotel companies to chase up receipts that weren’t in the file for the expenses report, as well as the city of Toronto regarding parking permits for moving trucks and trailers. I also started going over the DOOD to confirm the dates on the DOOD match those on actors’ contracts.

Yesterday, I got a Toronto Public Library card. Today was my last day as a Smiley Guy intern. Tomorrow is Graduation. And next week, I’ll be back at Smiley Guy as an actual production coordinator and staying until at least the end of June.

I’ve learned so much in my time here; I’m pretty sure Smiley Guy Studios is the best possible place to intern.

And as the college chapter of my life draws to a close (accidental pun, I assure you) - I can’t wait to find out what’s next for me!

                                                             *Real Pippa is on the left, cartoon Pippa is on the right ;)

An Old Vincent Post

This week I'm working on two of my concepts from last week and also working on two new ones. I'm going to watch X-men with my friends this weekend. I'm excited.

Wow, It's been a month already. I've really learned a lot so far. This month has gone by in a flash. haha

I've been making a serious effort to plan things in my life recently. All of the events of my past I have on a time line in my head as well as goals for the future. That way I can tell exactly when I'm not on track and then immediately snap back on track after realizing this.

-Vincent

Callie Says Goodbye!

There was absolutely no one at school today so I missed second period to come down to co op early. I brought a card and chocolates and I am happy to say that a few hours later most of the chocolates are gone. Yum yum. Wowie. I am done co op. It's so crazy to think that I won't be subwaying to Ossington every other day at lunch time next year. What will I do with myself!!??? Today Sam helped me put the finalized credits on my film, and now I am copying everything from my intern folder onto a USB. Then a few people are going to watch my film. It's very scary because I've worked on it the entire year so it's a lot of effort with not a whole lot of result. Like not visible result I mean. The film was my overall project at smiley guy but I have definitely learned so so much than you can see just in the film. I'm not totally sure that makes sense. Oh well, what can I say I'm nervous. Exams are coming up. Anyhoo I must go now. I am signing off for the last time :(((( I promise to come back and visit! Have a good summer xoxox

You're a Wizard Pippa...

And that’s a wrap on Epic Studios! Or at least it will be. On my part of it. As far as I know.

Monday, I worked on the deal memos for both Todd and Vampire Steve some more, as well as caught up on my long overdue blog posts. I also worked on the Vampire Steve meeting notes, but the meeting ended up being postponed to another day. I ended up spending Monday afternoon sorting and organizing the boxes of cables outside of the lunch room for Karen. It took me a few hours, and my hands were filthy from all the dust on the cords by the end of it, but I managed to get everything organized before the day was done.

Tuesday took me back to the set, where we were at our final location for Epic Studios. I was on lock-up most of the time. I learned a lot on set, and I think I can safely say I’m a great deal more partial to the animation pipeline. I like to be busy, to be moving and working, and there’s a little too much hurry up and wait on set. It was a positive experience though, and the lessons I learned on the set will carry over into other aspects of my career.

Maybe the next time I’m on the set can be for something I wrote or developed. That’s one of my goals for the future, anyway.

Today, I revised and updated the notes for Vampire Steve, but the meeting was postponed once again. Hopefully we’ll be able to have that on Monday. I also got to work on some contract stuff for Karen, dealing with both ACTRA contracts and bank agreements. It’s amazing to see how much legal paperwork is actually needed for something even as short as a web series.

I’m really excited for next week, because I’ll actually be around for the weekly development meeting. And sometime during the week, I’m finally going to get a library card. Also my internship is done on Thursday and I have no idea where life is going to take me next.

Hopefully the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. At some point in the future, anyway.

Elise and the Joys of Raising a Plant!

This week started pretty busy, but it's kind of slowed down now.

I had a bunch of assignments earlier this week. A new shot involving Demon Guy was added to the animatic, and it required a new build, so I roughed that out. After that there was a bunch of prop stuff, and then I got to do some hand-drawn keyframes of a guy's face melting off, which was awesome. A pretty successful week, all in all. At this point everything on my to-do list is either done or awaiting review, so I've been messing around in Photoshop and listening to 80s music to kill time. (sorry boss!)

A bunch of us in the studio went for ice cream today! Super delicious, and it's fun to hang out with the coworkers! I was gonna order lemon ice cream but I panicked and went for vanilla instead. Still good though!

Aside from studio stuff, I'm almost all moved in to my apartment now! My old roomies came by for a visit. They brought me a horrible toy truck to add to my growing collection of horrible toy trucks.

Earl's new leaf is looking great, and he's hard at work growing another one. This means he has 12 whole leaves now, so he's basically an adult. Erin and I are unsure what to do about his dead bits, we might have to amputate him in the near future. Stay tuned.

Juhi Likes Melting Faces Off

A month had already passed! It's incredible how time flies but I also feel like I've been working here for much longer. I'm continuing with tweaking props and getting them ready for animation. A fun task I was handed this week was taking reference photos of real people and designing them to fit the Todd style. I even got a chance to design a background character (getting their face melted off haha) and I indulged by designing myself in the Todd style. Although they may not be final, it definitely feels rewarding and I can't wait till they're animated!

~Juhi out~

Mandy is Developing her Skills!

This week we did not have as many meetings as last week.

Mostly, what we have done this week was revised the props which we did before.  Compared with the second week, I think my jobs are getting heavier, which makes me feel challenged and excited.

Joel gave me two empty flash file this week, one is working on the character called Coty Hetler, and another one is “Shadows in the Dark”. For these missions, I need to draw a rough of the characters, and build it up. It is sort of more different than last week. Before what I worked on was half finished stuff, while now I am building all of the angle of character, including their emotions and poses.

In the coming weeks, I hope I could try other work positions, such as post production and pre- production. I like working on more challenging work, because it can help me develop my skills and improve my knowledge.

Callie, the Human Popsicle

It is shorts season which is fabulous but the air conditioning in the studio is infinitely better than in my school, meaning that I turn into a Callie Popsicle after an hour. Next time I will bring a sweater. Slash I will only need to bring a sweater twice because oh my god, next week is my last week at Smiley Guy. That’s insanity, I cant believe it. On Tuesday of this week Joel was busy so I couldn’t go downstairs to work on special effects with him and instead I worked on prop builds again for Vampire Steve. That was pretty cool because it was like a memory test on all the stuff I learned earlier in the year about Flash. Turns out I actually remember how to use it. Yay!! So I built a cellphone, a clip board and a pen.

Today, Thursday, Joel was busy again (some looming deadline), so I sat at my desk and drew a lot. That was a nice treat actually. I am just not sure if I will end up adding special effects because I do not have Joel to help and also the computer I was working on was removed because it was needed for a new project. If I don’t get to add special effects, I will be a little disappointed because I saw how cool they could make something, but I will also be okay. See you next week! :)