Puppets

Over the last few months, making puppets has become a bit of an obsession of mine.
Here are the three I've completed.


All are aluminium block armatures (with lots of help from my dad with the fancy aluminium bits)
The clothes were made from recycled fabric & old clothes (charity shops, etc).
Aged & dyed fabric accordingly- as well as lined garments.
Patterns were drafted by myself.
Knitting was done on a miniature scale.

I've never enjoyed something so much & I want to do this for the rest of my life.

Next step is to learn how to cast & make silicone puppets.

Drive-by doodle dump-
Portfolio is coming soon.

Final animation drop offs. Met deadlines.
Will definitely go back and fix some of the major issues in the new year.

Quick stop-motion test, trying out my first puppet :D



I found that learning how to render things in Maya is somehow more confusing than actually animating in the software. So I might go back and re-render these when I come back to school in January.

First real animation done in Maya. It's a walk cycle using the default pre-rigged character at Sheridan:



Second animation in Maya. A thinking character, lip synced to a Carl Sagan quote (which seems to be a bit out of sync in this render...). Character is the Blake rig.



Finally, this is a biggy. The final reel with my action analysis animation.




I learned a lot through this action analysis project- definitely a LOT more than in my previous two years combined.

• tying down your animation is insanely important
• stupidly complex characters suck to animate (STOP WITH THE SEAMS)
  
• I need to design simpler characters
• clean up takes me forever
• flash really sucks for animating
• After Effects is really fun
• learn to budget time better
  

Overall I'm "okay" with the end result. I definitely want to go back and fix things before I add it to my portfolio.
But, at the end of the day, I got something done and handed in- that was ultimately the goal.

Now I'm off to pack and head home for the holidays.
Survived the first semester of year 3. HUZZAH.

This guy will have relevance soon. I just need to get him out of my head.

His name is tentatively Mr Magpie.

Because I couldn't sleep, I painted this.
I stayed up all night, every night, for a year- waiting to see if she still loved me. Spoiler: she didn't.

I'm going to pass out now.

Royah Wintur Fuurrrr

Every year we go to the Royal Winter Faire to draw the animals. Gosh I love the faire- It smells like a barn. I grew up on a farm, and every year I'm reminded of what hay and animal feces smells like.

This year I decided to set up camp with some llama friends & I actually got some drawings done.

My llama amigos were from a farm close to my house- I've driven by them a hundred times. Sure, it's like 30km away- but by the code of the farmer, it means we're practically neighbours.

I swear, every time I got into what I was drawing...
I'd look up and a llama would be staring at me with
their adorable, derpy eyes. Being not one who likes
to be startled, I reacted by jumping a foot off my
chair. It's not embarrassing. Stop judging me.

First llama study done with my Copics. First
time using Copic wide markers. They're delicious.

Their derp eyes reminded me of a zombie. A zombie with a
hunger that only artist blood can satisfy.

And that was the Royah Wintur Fuurrrr for 2011.
Spent the evening eating delicious & cheap Chinese food, raiding the Disney store for choice deals, & running to catch GO Train. It was fantastic.

I never really draw animals, so I decided to get some practice. These are a few weeks old, just finished them up tonight.

Concept art for the group film I'm working on. Trying to get this lineless style down- as well as follow the model sheets.

2hrs or so in Photoshop. Textures from the internet somewhere.

Quick drawings of the protagonist in our film. Based off the design by Perin McLean.

Okay, going to catch up with a bit of art here. I have a whole follow-up post for my previous post, but that will wait until another time.

I've been working on my 'Action Analysis'. Here is the first pass of the rough story reel:

(Scratchtrack voice of Squelette was provided by the lovely Jenna)

Workbook for the opening shot. Securing the fact that I never want to be a layout artist:

Heroes & Villains assignment for life drawing. This was hands down the most fun I've ever had with a life drawing assignment (yeah, the life drawing bit is bad- but they weren't for grades. The assignment was to work with life drawings to create characters).


Quick vent doodle because I was missing someone.

Cheers!
-Max

For Steve.

I've been using the same Macbook since 2006. It still works.
I still use it every day.

My iMac has become my main workstation. It works almost the same as when it came out of the box, over 3 years ago.

My second mp3 player was an iPod nano.
It was replaced by an iPod touch (Apple used to give students a free iPod when they bought a computer for school).

My phone was replaced with my first iPhone this summer. It has since replaced my iPod, as well as my camera.

It's not just a brand, it's a series of innovative products that just work. Work well. Right out of the box.
I will never use any other.

Never give me hassle, which in turn gives me more time to focus on my art.

Thank you, Mr. Jobs. Thank you for everything you contributed to the world. You will be missed.