Sunday, March 18, 2007

OUCH!!! I'VE BEEN BIT!




Shel here. I finally forced myself to dive in and push some puppets around, I was really curious to see if it was something I would enjoy, but I was scared too….cuz……you know, it was scarey. I wouldn’t let Justin look till the very end, and when I needed help with Monkey Jam questions, he had to come and help me with his eyes closed (which he was very honorable about).

It’s our anniversary this weekend. (Eight yummy years.) We sent the kids away for the night and are very very much enjoying the focused just-plain-us time. We decided to spend an hour of this precious time on animatin’.....for me to stop avoiding trying it, and for Justin to finish up the test shot he started on Wednesday. Three hours later we both emerged pleased as punch (I’ll let Justin tell about his—but for the record I think it’s his best animation ever.....makes me go “Awww” and I’m not a really “awww-y” kind of girl).

This is mine.

I had imagined using the little girl puppet for my first try but Justin was using the Test Girl and I want to save Star Girl and Stunt Girl for the film (the puppet maker in me, very practically deciding I’d rather not have to make another puppet down the line should I blow a wrist or something on my test).

So I picked up the Test Skinny Tough Guy and helped him get in touch with his less tough side…..I really had a lot of fun with him.

Justin and I have big plans for a really big project (5 years from now) that includes taking two years off and going away somewhere (far away maybe?) and making the ½ hour short. And I was thinking that 5 years is a long time...in 5 years our boys will be 18 and if it’s enough time to turn them into men, then surely it’s long enough for me to learn how to animate….maybe? Both ideas are equally ambitious and will take some serious patience, love, time and attention but I have confidence most days for the boys, and now an excited hopefulness for me. Did I say I really really liked it!

8 comments:

Michael Granberry said...

Shel, that was awesome! And seein' as you have a dance background, I thought I should put this out there: I'm certainly not a dancer myself, but in my former life as a theatre actor/director I took years of modern dance knowing it could only help. I think those classes, more than anything else, have helped me in learning the "performance" side of animation, since it was all about being aware of how bodies move thru space, fighting or succumbing to gravity, etc.

Congratulations to you both on your 8 awesome years! When are we all gonna hang out??

handmadeheroes said...

hey michael.....thanks!! yup, i totally feel how dance experience helps.

sundays are usually good for us, if we can bring our daughter too. we'd love to see your set up and a hike sounds great.....maybe april fools day would be appropriate?!

Shelley Noble said...

Brava!! I laughed my ass off at the perfect pirouette, from this guy, Shel! You've got the natural knack for character movement like Justin. Very very cool.

If you both chose to spend time animating on your anniversary, then you got bit BAAAAddddd yo! (So sweet that Justin kept his eyes closed, Awww.)

Speaking of awww, I did see what Justin posted over at SMA boards this morning--killer. Just Killer. Showed it to Paul. He couldn't believe how great the animation was either.

You two are a major force of talent.

Adam said...

Haha.. that totally made me laugh.

Congrats on doing your first anim! It's really good!

Jeff Parrott said...

Awesome first animation. Pretty bold thing to animate right off the gates. Smart to pick something that you have a background in. Definitely makes you more critical I'd say. Awesome start though!

David said...

Grats on your first animation!

Love the hot track you had laid down by 50.

Craig Harris said...

!!!!
That was funny as hell...great job. I would love to see one of the guys in your neighborhood bust out like that in real life.

Keep it up!!

Anonymous said...

Man, you did way better on your first stopmo outing than I did! Having a total genius animator husband probably helps :)