AM2 - Week 11 - the final stretch

Hi all,

here is the latest version of my assignment. I tried to integrate some more polish stuff and get nicer arcs in the arms. But I guess I have to invest more time. Anyway, check it out, it is not that long =)

CLICK ME

- Alex

The ugly duckling & me

All pictures are copyright a.film (c) 2006

Hi all,

finally, the first teaser and pictures of "The ugly duckling & me" are out to be shown to the public. Check out the a.film-website. You can watch a small Quicktime trailer here as well. AM colleagues told me that they found this link on 10secondsclub.

animoto joined the board of animators relatively late in the production which is why we were working for 'only' three months of it. That means that each of us animators had to animate around 1 minute of the whole movie (containing 1-3 characters per scene). Today I'm finishing my last scene for the movie and will continue with a different project after my holidays next week No feature work, currently, but it will be fun to do something completely new for a while, too.

I hope you like the pictures, I will keep you updated,

- Alex

Continuing on a mid-regular basis with the blog

Like a Yugoslavian proverb says: A good rest is half the work

Hi everyone,

I'm always astonished to see and hear who and what kind of people all over the world read this blog. I love that. It makes me continue these posts. If you would like to share your thoughts and ideas and maybe even wishes with me, shoot me an email to mail@alexmlehmann.com. I'd love to hear from you if this was/is helpful for you or you would like to know more about something in specific.

So, to clear things up. Since I am still working full-time on a regular basis and I will continue learning some stuff during the break. That also means: I will try to continue blogging here, too. There is so much knowledge out there in the world wide web that it would take years reading all that and listening to all the animation podcasts etc. But from time to time I will blog down what I am doing and maybe those links are interesting for you as well.

Having said that: shoot me an email with what you'd like to hear more about. And don't forget: there is nothing like the "real" thing (www.animationmentor.com). So, go there and sign up! It is worth every penny.

- Alex

AM week 10 - and finally taking a break

Hi all,

as you may have notived I haven't been blogging for almost two weeks now. You can find my newest assignment by clicking on the picture above. It is just 600kb big. For all of you with little time: sad to say, but I have to take a break before going on with my studies at animation mentor. This school is awesome, the best that happened to me so far, and I hope I can continue my study anytime soon.

Lately I've been working a lot. Like many of you do. I was given the chance to work on a small European feature film called "the ugly duckling and me" which will be coming out late August in Germany. It was a terrific experience and an honour to participate. Though we have been working on this for only three month I had a 60h+ workweek. Doing AM in the evening times and on the weekends my world consisted of nothing else but animation from the moment I got up from bed until I went to sleep again. So work and study ended up with more than 80-100h a week.

I have been working like this for the last 12 months, maybe even longer switching into a job while finishing my first study last year already. In those 12 months I had no time to hang out with my friends, make sports or even go to church. Now, after a strong reaction in my health I realised that this is not what it should be like.

I wish I had the money to study AM full-time straight ahead to the end. But I have to earn money to pay my bills and (luckily) I am also doing animation 10 hours a day. So, I am going to take a break trying to get some time to breathe again. This was a tough decision since I already signed up for the next term. It's also hard to see everyone go on and making progress while I will wait a while but I know that this is the right decision.

So? I just wanted to express my deepest thanks to all of you. You are all becoming great animators and I hope to work with many of you anytime soon. For now, I will take a break, let's see how long it will last. But you guys: keep on swimming! It is worth it. The first "real" acting shot I did I felt incredible happy.

If your body tells you you can't go on, take it seriously and don't be ashamed to take a rest. It is not the distance that kills you but the speed.

So, God bless you, your families and your study, hugz to all of you, there is nothing like AM out there! I may blog from time to time and tell you what I do. I will draw a lot and read books and articles on the web that I didn't have time for before for sure.

- Alex

... still working ...

AM2 - Week 08 Blocking

Hi all,

as promised I finished working on the blocking today, on Friday (video 1 MB approx). No work for me on the weekend - I promised the doc, so I get better (still fighting the flu). For now, check it out, and have fun with it.

- Alex

AM2 - Week 07 Assignment

Hi all,

being sick has one advantage: I have time to upload. The last days I was working a lot and when coming home falling back into bed because of a flu. Now I put myself on hold for three days, trying to get fine again in a rush with some pills and juices the doctor gave me. And now I have time to write some more stuff on the blog.

Well, the last weeks assignment was to finalize our shot. That was a tedious thing. Since I only find the time to animate on the weekend I loose the opportunity of "fresh eyes". That means that you should take at least 2-3 hours off doing something else (planning your new scene etc.) to get a fresh glimpse at your own work.

Then, and this is very important, watch it once - and once only - and write down everything that you know about the shot which does not work. Everything.
Don't watch it twice or more often - you will loose the advantage of having "fresh eyes". Well, the animation didn't turn out 100% imho. I like the second part of it but the beginning still sucks.

But I don't have time to redo it because I am already blocking on the next shot: a baseball player throwing a ball... (see picture). So, check my 1MB "final" version of the last assignment and I will try to upload my first blocking asap.

Have fun,

Alex