Class 2: Session 11

When you're viewing, keep the following in mind -

Assignment: Transition 2 contrasting emotions in 100 frames (which equals roughly 4 seconds).

**Refined Version (as opposed to stepped blocking).**

Originally, I had him transition from there to mad, and then kick the thing and hurt his leg, with cuts to show the gumball stopping on the little slide, but I had to take out the camera movement and simplify it down to one mood transition. Kind of relaxed and expectant to pissed off.

My mentor liked the end pose of "What??!!" so that's what I went with, but the further I take the blocking the more I think that this is not the strongest acting choice for this animation, so I did an alternate ending showing him slapping the side of the machine, causing a gumball to fall out onto the ground. I don't know about you, but I like the alternate ending MUCH better, and it turns out, so did Victor. He said it was really solid animation - that both were very well doing.

At the last Q&A with Victor, his parting words were to keep pushing the refining stage, to just "sand off the edges" a little more, not have the hips hit so hard, ease into that kind of stuff... I know those kinds of things can be tweaked and tweaked til the cows come home, but it was relieving to hear only that kind of critique rather than "Kenshi, you have no sense of basic timing" - ya know?

It feels really good to end the class on a high note, especially after such a rocky beginning. There were times during Class 2 where I thought, "I just can't do this. Maybe this was a mistake." and I had to do some serious soul-searching, but frustration and disappointment are not strangers to me. They are part of the artistic process and provide a wonderful emotional contrast to later, when things started clicking. Good days, bad days - all part of the journey.