This is a bit outdated, but until I actually get some new polished up shots it's what I have. Figured I'd post it here for now. Working on 2 new shots so I'll be making some updates to this soon.

Shot Block-in

Here is the aforementioned shot block in. I would love any feedback so please leave it in the comments if you have any. Thanks for stopping by!

Here's a quick cycle I did this morning. I'm planning on using this smug little guy in a more extensive shot. More to come soon.

I'm revisiting this blog to document the updating of my demo reel. Stay tuned: more animation to come!

2 Person Dialogue

I'm starting to move out of blocking. So far I've focused mainly on the last three shots. The first shot is a bit rough still and I haven't really finalized any of the acting decisions. Regardless, 2 weeks left on this one so it's crunch time!

Two Person Dialogue

Lastly, here's the blocking for my current 2 person dialogue shot. I'll be working on this for the next 5 weeks or so. Thanks for stopping by!

Animation Mentor Update 2

And here is the progression from blocking to final of my first dialogue shot for Animation Mentor. I really struggled through this one and it took a lot of brute force to get it to where it's at now. The lip sync still needs some work but for a first try, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

Animation Mentor Update

Here (finally) is the final version of my space man acting shot for AM. I've also blocked in an alternate beginning sequence which is still a work in progress. Let me know what you think!

Animation Mentor Update

Oh and here's the blocking for the shot I'm currently working on. I'll put the final up when I finish it this weekend.

A blast from the past

I found this gem while searching through some old animations. Done in one night at a Halloween Animation Jam back in my good old days at Edinboro. Enjoy : D

Artwork from Work

I got the ok to put up some of the artwork I've created for Work. Some of these were used and printed on garments, others were simply concepts that never flew. All were created on paper then recreated in illustrator for screenprint. More to come at a later date.

Here's my final progress reel for the semester. I'll upload a better version later once it finally uploads to vimeo. Thanks for checking it out.

Here's my final shot for this semester. I'm fairly happy with how it turned out. I didn't get to add everything that I wanted because of time limitations. In the future I may add some leaping piranhas. For now, I'm calling it done. It was a really great shot to work on as a final because it helped me deal with, not only an andvanced physical motion. but also a lot of technical issues with constraints and parenting. Hopefully you can't tell, but there's actually 3 different versions of the character used in this shot which I had to seamlessly meld. This was something that I'd never tried before but gave it a shot at the advice of my mentor. It ended up saving me a lot of hastle in the end but was still a bit of a trial to get the transitions working nicely. I'm glad the semester is over for now as I'm looking forward to a nice Christmas break. Stop back for more after the holiday season when I start my first acting class. Merry Christmas!

Final Shot2

Here's a progression + final for my second shot this semester. I changed the ending several times. I'm still not super happy with it but I just ran out of time. I may go back later and try to make it look a little more natural but for now, I'm calling it done.

Class 3 Shot 2: Planning and Blocking

Here's the planning and blocking for my second shot (no pun intended). Enjoy.

Class 3 shot 1: Planning and Progression

Here's the planning and final of my first shot in class 3. It turned out ok I suppose. There's still a lot of things I'm not happy with, the main being the staging. I didn't want to mess with camera moves so this was the best I could manage with a static camera. However, it leaves much to be desired. Enjoy!

You may have seen these before but here are 2 self portraits. Enjoy and Happy Halloween!

So class 2 ended today. I really felt I improved a lot over this class. I wasn't too thrilled with my second shot. Since it was my fist time using a rig with a spine, I think it was a least a good exercise. My mentor covered a lot of ground especially emphasizing the importance of arcs, path of action, and strong posing. Now that I have a half decent workflow for the blocking and smoothing passes, my goal for next semester is to really focus on that final polish and my timing/spacing. Until then, here's my progress reel. Enjoy!

Animation Mentor Progress Reel: Class 2 from Skylar Surra on Vimeo.

Animation Mentor Week 8

I'm going to spare anyone who stops by here and not post my last shot which turned out rather badly from the beginning. I am however very excited about the shot I started this past week. Here's the planning and blocking. More to come soon.

Ballie Turn: Final Progression

Here's the final progression on the turn around shot. It still needs a bit of work, but overall I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Am has been so great and as you can see, our mentors really help us to nail the shot from beginning to polish. Enjoy!