A NEW PUPPET and an ANIMATION EDUCATION UPDATE

hey guys, shel here, i'd like you to meet the beginings of my first puppet..... i don't really know entirely who she is yet or what it is she needs to do but she is most definitely what came out when i sat down to make my own puppet to animate. i'm pretty sure that she has some super powers (or at least she thinks she does) but they haven't revealed themselves yet (maybe by the time she's been molded, armatured, foamed, painted and clothed this will become more clear).

one thing i'm planning on doing differently with her (than we have done with our past puppets) is to give her real cloth clothing, so that should be fun to play with.

in the mean time, i'm still intently pursuing my animation education. i decided to ask justin to teach me how to animate (which he kindly agreed to do). i had put this off until now because i wanted to feel it out on my own (of course i've been incredibly fortunate to have him helping me while i've been "feeling it out on my own" with all the tech stuff and good advice and support and info on the actual animation, but he was really good about not telling me what i should do or how i should do it--he knows me well!). our plan is that i will do one animation exercise that justin will assign and then one fun shot of my own, back and forth and eventually they will maybe start to integrate.

so now that i'm officially in the justin rasch school of animation my first exercise was to move an object across a straight line showing easing in and easing out. which i did and i got an A! this means i'm on to my own shot this weekend, and next week i'll do whatever he has up his sleeve for me next (i'm afraid, though, that it's going to be the dreaded bouncing ball excercise!).