Katie Canadas : Animator

This blog title's inspiration comes from a song by Cassadee Pope, while not my favorite song off her album (though a very catchy tune), I thought the title was fitting for this post!  I've updated my character animation demo reel to include my most recent dance animation!  It's always a fulfilling feeling updating my reel, anyway, hope you all enjoy it! Character Animation Demo Reel from Katie Canadas on Vimeo .

Tonight's blog title inspired by Lady Antebellum, love their (newish) song "Compass" it's such an upbeat song, it always puts me in a good mood!  And speaking of good moods, I'm happy to announce I have (finally) finished my FootLoose inspired dance animation!  I really enjoyed working on this piece and feel like while my patience and determination were tested, I learned so much and am seeing even more, which is a great feeling!  Already have my next animation lined up and am excited to start it!  Can't wait to see what I'll learn this time around!  Enjoy! Footloose Dance Final from Katie Canadas on Vimeo .

Today's blog title is coming to you courtesy of The Swon Brothers, it's their newest (and first) single and it gets stuck in my head so easily!  It's taken me two weeks to get around to writing this blog post.  Work has been so crazy and keeping me so busy that when I do have a spare moment, I'm so exhausted I can't even think straight (seriously, I almost fell asleep at my computer last week).  But finally, here it is!  Even if it is two weeks late! I recently went through and made another pass at refining my animation.  Trying to give the character more weight and make him feel like he has mass and isn't so floaty.  I also went through and checked my arcs as best I could (using the ever handy grease pencil in Maya 2014).  So here's the result!  Enjoy! Footloose Dance WIP#5 from Katie Canadas on Vimeo .

No music today!  Instead I'm writing this while watching The Incredibles, one of my all time favorite movies!  Anyway, I have finished my first round of splining on my Footloose dance animation!  Something that I thought would never happen, I've been so darn busy!  It still needs facial animation as well as some adjustments to the fingers.  And there are some areas where the timing is off (still haven't quite figured out a plan to remedy that yet).  Overall, I'm happy with my progress thus far, but I feel like I can actually see the improvement I've made just within this animation.  I feel like the latter half of the animation is so much stronger than the first half.  But I suppose improvement is good!  And I'm looking forward to polishing it and making it look even better than it is now!  Enjoy! Footloose Dance WIP#4 from Katie Canadas on Vimeo .

Today's blog title is one of my favorite songs by Jason Aldean, I saw him in concert a couple weeks back and am now even more obsessed with his music!  Love him!  Anyway, below is another update of my Footloose dance, this is by far the most challenging animation I've done.  I'm not sure if my ability to see more as an animator is greatly improving, causing me to be more knit picky or if it's the the subtlety of the animation itself that has me staring at the same twenty frames for literally hours.  There has definitely been a lot of frustration and determination happening these past couple of weeks, but hey, if it was easy it wouldn't be so fulfilling!  I see a ton of areas that still need to be polished, but I'm improving and learning, which is what's most important!  Enjoy! Footloose Dance WIP#3 from Katie Canadas on Vimeo .

No, I'm not posting this at 3AM!  It's just the current song playing by Matchbox Twenty!  Their music seriously never gets old, they'll always be one of my all time favorite bands.  Well, sadly I haven't finished splining my dance... not even close really, a silly thing called work keeps getting in my way.  But I wanted to post a quick update of what I have splined out so far!  I'm pretty happy with it, of course there are some problem areas to address, I see a bit of floating happening in some areas, but so far so good!  I can't wait to get my first pass of splining completed!  It's always exciting seeing the character come to life!  Enjoy! Footloose Dance WIP#2 from Katie Canadas on Vimeo .

Today's blog post title is inspired by Fall Out Boy, I'm not listening to the song, just felt it was applicable.  I've (finally) finished my first round of blocking for my new dance animation, it's an excerpt from the newer Footloose.  This was far more difficult than I thought it'd be, I had no idea blocking a dance would be so rigorous and tricky.  I had the hardest time focusing on major poses without losing detail I felt was critical (feet going up and down, jumping in the air, changing direction, etc.).  This whole time I kept thinking I was making this animation WAY too complicated and putting in data that was only going to be deleted later.  Finally, I realized this is the first dance animation I've done, I'm not going to be perfect or know everything this first time around.  I need to do what I think is right this time, so I know what works and what doesn't for next time.  This method may not be the most efficient, but it's all I know right n...