Animating Ice Bear From We Bare Bears!

I made a new Adobe Animate tutorial based on a walk cycle from "We Bare Bears" on Cartoon Network. This is a beginner four leg walk. If you've never done a walk cycle before I would practice with two leg characters first. Try it out!

Drawing Hands

Today I made a demo on how to draw cartoon hands. Drawing hands takes lots of practice, so dive in and level up!

Drawing Backgrounds

Today I want to highlight another youtuber that puts out some great drawing tutorials. Mark Crilley shows you how to draw characters and backgrounds with informative and entertaining commentary. Check out this video on drawing in one point perspective!

New Ideas!

I'm still drawing with supplies that are around the house. In this demo I'm using a couple of sharpie markers but if all you have is pencil and paper you can still do all kinds of great work! Stay creative, stay safe!

Keep Drawing!

Hi Everybody! I want to encourage you to keep drawing even if all you have is pencil and paper. Today I drew Snoopy and Charlie Brown. Check out the video below!

Everything is a Remix!

Today I want to highlight a great documentary about where we get our ideas from. Artists and directors from all walks of life are constantly taking in the world, interpreting it, re-imagining it, and creating new things from old things. Check this video out, it might be the most important thing you watch this year!

Stay Creative!

Hi everybody! I made a new video about why it's helpful to make art when you are stuck at home. Check it out!

Posting to Social Media

Hi everybody! Today I want to highlight BaM Animation again. If you are at home and have spare time, I want to encourage you to make something fun and share it on social media. This is a great video on how to make a looping animation (in Adobe Animate) for Instagram!

I'm also going to follow my own advice! Monday through Friday I'm going to post a drawing, animation, or possibly some other type of art to my new Instagram: misterh3d

The key to this type of project is to start small. My first post was a simple bouncing ball loop. I'm not going to do anything as complicated as the BaM guys until much further down the road. If you keep your goals small you can regularly create new art and its fun! Think of the most simple animation you can imagine. Maybe it's a jelly been with legs that jumps in the air. Maybe its arrow that flies into a target. Maybe you want to animate Pac man. Right now I'm learning Blender so its even more important to set small goals and keep things simple.

If you want to download all the Adobe apps that they use in the tutorial you can sign in with your ousd email at home! Go here.

It you want to try new software you can download Blender here (2d and 3d options). This is free software for life!

I'm also trying out Da Vinci Resolve for video editing. Download it here. It's totally free :)

Good luck and stay safe! I wish you all fun art making time!

Learning New Software

Because of the shelter in place order I have additional time. For some this leads to boredom. For me additional time means that I can learn new things, new software, new techniques. I can be creative and level up my own skills which often get neglected.

My goal this week was to learn how to animate in Blender. Most people use the software for 3D modeling and animation but it also has the capability to do 2D animation. I've been thinking about this for a while. Can Blender (which is totally free open source software) replace Adobe Animate? One week in I'm pretty impressed with what Blender can do.

Here is a screen shot of the Blender 2D interface:

And here is a an animated GIF of my project. This was really fun! I encourage you to download Blender and see what you can do. If folks want a tutorial I'd be happy to make one!

Big News 3/19!!!

Dear Students,

I have great news today! Adobe is going to allow you to use their apps from home! This is an amazing opportunity to be creative and learn new skills. You can use Photoshop, Animate, Premiere, InDesign or learn a new application. Follow the instructions below to download at home today.

1. Visit https://creativecloud.adobe.com and use your school credentials to sign in.

2. If prompted, select Company or School Account and then enter your password. Or provide your credentials in your school’s login screen.

3. From the Creative Cloud website, browse for and download your desired app. Click Apps on the top of the page to view all apps.

For more information on how to download or install apps, see Download and Install Creative Cloud apps.

Suggested Activities 3/18

Dear Students,

First, I want to wish you good health. Take care of yourself and family members in your home. Social distancing is extremely important right now so stay home as much as you can.

I understand that people are feeling stressed about the state of the world right now. Doing art or animation might not be the right thing for you in this moment. That's okay. Do activities that help you feel better. I am going to make suggestions for art/animation related activities because it makes me feel better to be creative. So please choose an assignment that interests you--but do it for yourself. Don't do it for me. You will not be graded on any of this, it is for your own personal enrichment. If you complete work please email it to me or put it in the dropbox. With your permission, I might post it to this blog.

-Mr. H

Animation 1 (1st and 6th period):

Go to the dropbox and watch the first video in Maya Unit 01. The videos are numbered so make sure you go in order. The first video is 01 - Channel Box 1 and 2.mp4

If you have not yet setup Maya go this page for instructions.

Animation 3 (2nd Period):

Please email me about your portfolio. You all have individual needs and I'd like to address them one on one. If you want to put your portfolio on pause for a week or two that's okay.

BaM Animation recently released a great video on character design. Definitely watch this when you have time and maybe think about some the key takeaways and do some drawing. Draw characters just for fun. Draw digitally or on paper with a trusty #2 pencil. It never fails you!

Video Link Here

Yearbook (3rd Period):

There is still work that can be done for the yearbook! We need candid photos. Text your friends and see if they have anything on their phones! Email all photos to peter.heckel@ousd.org. I'm still working on the software issue for those of you that want to work at home.

Animation 2 (4th Period):

I know that the films are on hold for now. I'm working on providing solutions for those of you that want to continue. For now, draw something that makes you happy. Think about making a one panel comic that might bring some laughter to a friend or family member. Or maybe you want to make a meme. Do you need access to digital tools? Email me and I'll give you some options.

Assignments 3/13

The following is a breakdown of assignments by period for Wednesday:

1st Period:

Everyone in class should be working on their GIF project. If you are stuck on something ask a fellow classmate for help. On Monday we will do a gallery walk and you will receive feedback from your peers. The project will be due next Friday.

2nd Period:

Please keep building your portfolio pieces. I'm seeing great work in class everyday. Keep up the amazing creative energy!

3rd Period:

Please turn in your pages to the dropbox. If you have time please also upload pages to Pixami.

4th Period:

I put two new videos explaining how to export from Animate and how to import into Premiere. Both videos are in the 4th period dropbox. 

I want to see finished animatics by Friday for each group. I want you to export your animation from Adobe Animate as a video. Then I want you to use Adobe Premiere to assemble the videos into a full sequence. I showed Jahir, Shang, Nikko, and Sachi how to do this. If you have questions ask them or look it up on google. There should be a video of the entire film (in animatic form) in the drop box no later than Friday.

If your group is done with the animatic video, go onto another task that you can work on. Do you need to draw new backgrounds in Adobe Animate? Maybe you want to set up your files so you are ready to go after final animatic approval. All projects should be setup as 4k files. The resolution is 3840x2160. Frame rate should be 24 fps. There is a preset for this on the opening pages of Adobe Animate.

Email me if you have questions.

6th Period:

Everyone in class should be working on their GIF project. If you are stuck on something ask a fellow classmate for help. On Monday we will do a gallery walk and you will receive feedback from your peers. The project will be due next Friday. Orlando and Amari, you two are close to done or already done. That means you both can do another mini-gif project. Think about a really simple idea. It should be something you can finish by next Friday.

Assignments 3/12

The following is a breakdown of assignments by period for Wednesday:

1st Period:

Everyone in class should be working on their GIF project. If you are stuck on something ask a fellow classmate for help. On Monday we will do a gallery walk and you will receive feedback from your peers. The project will be due next Friday.

2nd Period:

Please keep building your portfolio pieces. I'm seeing great work in class everyday. Keep up the amazing creative energy!

3rd Period:

I have just sent new RPL pictures to Jacob. I'll let Jacob decide if he should finish that page or hand it off to someone else. 

I want to see two or three new pages in the drop box and uploaded to Pixami by Friday. Jacob and Josselin can continue working on sports. Alex please continue to work on academy pages. Maggie please finish the yearbook staff page. Vera keep working on the assembly pages.

4th Period:

I want to see finished animatics by Friday for each group. I want you to export your animation from Adobe Animate as a video. Then I want you to use Adobe Premiere to assemble the videos into a full sequence. I showed Jahir, Shang, Nikko, and Sachi how to do this. If you have questions ask them or look it up on google. There should be a video of the entire film (in animatic form) in the drop box no later than Friday.

If your group is done with the animatic video, go onto another task that you can work on. Do you need to draw new backgrounds in Adobe Animate? Maybe you want to set up your files so you are ready to go after final animatic approval. All projects should be setup as 4k files. The resolution is 3840x2160. Frame rate should be 24 fps. There is a preset for this on the opening pages of Adobe Animate.

Email me if you have questions.

6th Period:

Everyone in class should be working on their GIF project. If you are stuck on something ask a fellow classmate for help. On Monday we will do a gallery walk and you will receive feedback from your peers. The project will be due next Friday. Orlando and Amari, you two are close to done or already done. That means you both can do another mini-gif project. Think about a really simple idea. It should be something you can finish by next Friday.

Assignments 3/11

The following is a breakdown of assignments by period for Wednesday:

1st Period:

Everyone in class should be working on their GIF project. If you are stuck on something ask a fellow classmate for help. On Monday we will do a gallery walk and you will receive feedback from your peers. The project will be due next Friday.

2nd Period:

Please keep building your portfolio pieces. I'm seeing great work in class everyday. Keep up the amazing creative energy!

3rd Period:

I want to see two or three new pages in the drop box and uploaded to Pixami by Friday. Jacob and Josselin can continue working on sports. Alex please continue to work on academy pages. Maggie please finish the yearbook staff page. Vera keep working on the assembly pages.

4th Period:

I want to see finished animatics by Friday for each group. I want you to export your animation from Adobe Animate as a video. Then I want you to use Adobe Premiere to assemble the videos into a full sequence. I showed Jahir, Shang, Nikko, and Sachi how to do this. If you have questions ask them or look it up on google. There should be a video of the entire film (in animatic form) in the drop box no later than Friday.

6th Period:

Everyone in class should be working on their GIF project. If you are stuck on something ask a fellow classmate for help. On Monday we will do a gallery walk and you will receive feedback from your peers. The project will be due next Friday. Orlando and Amari, you two are close to done or already done. That means you both can do another mini-gif project. Think about a really simple idea. It should be something you can finish by next Friday.

Assignments 2-27 and 2-28

Hello Students,

I am at the CPA conference on Thursday and Friday this week. You can email me with any questions that you have and I will get back to you within a few hours. If you really get stuck in class please seek help from your peers.

1st Period
Complete animatic and begin work on your animation for the GIF project.

2nd Period
Keep working on your portfolio pieces. You want 5 strong drawings/paintings for the spring semester portfolio.

3rd Period
You should have finished academy pages by the end of the day on Friday. Email me with any questions.

4th Period
Keep working on the animatics for your films. Email me with questions.

6th Period
Complete animatic and begin work on your animation for the GIF project.

Update 2-6-20

Hello Students,

I apologize for the timing but I will be out again on academy business.

Today I am working with our pathway coach to write all the necessary documents for a new elective for next year. I will be available by email if you have urgent questions about your work. Here is a breakdown of the work I'd like you to do by period:

1st Period:

I will be available in the classroom from 9:00 to 9:30 to help with your writing assignments and answer questions.

2nd Period:

Keep working on portfolio pieces!

3rd Period:

Keep working on your pages for the yearbook. Please email me if you have questions.
 

4th Period:

Please keep working on your films. I will try and stop by to check in during 4th period.

6th Period:

Keep generating ideas for your GIF project. I will try and stop by in the last 20 minutes of class if possible.

Update 2/5/20

Hello Students,

I am at lower campus today doing academy interviews. Please continue working on your projects.

1st Period:

I've looked at some of the writing assignments and they look pretty good! Some of you have not turned in assignments. I cannot give credit or feedback unless you turn the assignments into the drop box. If you've completed your drawings for the first two assignments, I like you to think of a new idea for a GIF that doesn't have any speech. The project would be a character or object moving in the frame. Think of it like a very short action sequence. Here are some examples (the last one is a finished GIF to show the end result):

 

 

2nd Period:

Keep working on portfolio pieces! You will have to present your portfolio in May so make sure you are planning accordingly.

3rd Period:

I'm sorry to be gone so much this week. I hope you can continue to work in my absence. Please email me if you have questions.
 

4th Period:

Please keep working on your films. Email me with questions.

6th Period:

Keep generating ideas for your GIF project. I've given plenty of examples. Make sure you are turning in your ideas to the Dropbox so I can give you credit and feedback for your work. Email me with questions.

Assignments: 2-4-20

Dear Students,

Unfortunately, I am still sick today. Please continue to work to the best of your ability. If you have an urgent question, email me and I will try and respond promptly. Here are specific instructions for each class:

1st Period:

Here is a second writing assignment. While you work on this comic, remember that the drawing doesn't need to be finished. It can look like a rough draft. The important thing is the idea and not a polished drawing. Click on the link below:

Writing Assignment #2

2nd Period:

Please keep working on your portfolio.

3rd Period:

Continue working on your pages to turn in at the end of this week. It is vital that you keep up the pace.

4th Period:

Please keep working on your thumbnail sized storyboards or your animatic.

6th Period:

Write down or draw a new idea for a GIF. The drawing or writing doesn't need to be polished or finished. Just try and get the idea down on paper. If you have time write or draw 2 or 3 ideas. The more ideas you have to choose from the better.

 

Assignments: Monday 2-3-2020

Hello Students,

I am sick today and will not be at school. Use this time to work on your projects as you normally would. Here are some specific instructions for each class period:

1st Period:

I'd like you to try a writing exercise today to get started on generating ideas for your GIF project. There is no pressure here. We are going to generate ideas all week long so you have lots of options to choose from when you decide on what your GIF project is going to be. Click on the link below to access the instructions for the assignment. Turn in your rough draft to the drop box today before you leave.

Imitation Assignment 

2nd Period:

Please continue working on your projects. I hope to be back tomorrow to have one on one meetings about goals.

3rd Period: 

Start working on your three new pages for this week. Do your best work even though I am not there to answer questions. If you get stuck, try and ask a fellow classmate for help.

4th Period:

All groups should be working on thumbnail size storyboards or animatics. Remember right now you are trying to make sure that the story is clear and anyone can understand whats happening. The only way to know if you work is clear is to show it to another student.

6th Period:

Today is day one of your GIF project. This week you should be in the idea stage. This means you should not be doing any animation. You can write down your ideas or draw your ideas but animation will begin later this week or next week.

Here is an example:

First I made this drawing. I drew it five or six times until I got all the details right. One I liked the way it looked then I went to the animation phase of the project.

 

Here is the finished GIF. Always check with me before you start any animation. Getting feedback is extremely important in the creative process.

My advice would be to generate five or six different ideas before you decide on a final choice for your GIF. Once again you can write or draw, whichever you prefer. If you draw try and pick the moment that best illustrates what's happening in the story. Turn in your ideas to the Dropbox before you leave today!

 

Assignments: Wednesday 1/29/20

Dear students,

I will be at Albany High School today observing classes. Albany has a block schedule (similar to our new schedule for next year) and I want to see how teachers use the time effectively. I will be back tomorrow!

Animation 1:
Please work on your January calendar assignments. Don't forget to turn in your work when you finish it! You have two days left before we start working on your GIF project!

Animation 2:
You should be working on thumbnail storyboards for your film. If your thumbnails are done, you can work on background and character designs. I will be back tomorrow to review your work and answer questions.

Animation 3:
Please work on your portfolio. Also, please be sure to turn in your work from weeks 19, 20, and 21!

Yearbook:
Your 3 pages are due tomorrow. Keep working!

Assignments Thursday 1-16-2020

Animation 1:

Please work on your January calendar assignments. Don't forget to turn in your work when you finish it!

Animation 2:

Please do a 1st or 2nd revision of your story. You may also write a new story if you feel like last week's stories are not quite right. Turn in your work to the dropbox: 4th-Last, First-1-16-2020

Animation 3:

Please work on your portfolio! Y'all are doing great stuff!

Yearbook:
Your 3 pages are due tomorrow! Andy will be there to answer technical questions. I'll see you Friday!