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Spooky new game!

Posted in Uncategorized on August 22nd, 2010 by annamations

Another game finished, I SPY Spooky Mansion, for the Wii, by american publisher Scholastic. Similarly to the first I SPY game we made, this one also involves solving riddles, earning clues and playing brain-teasing games making the most of the wii motion controller. But with a spooky mansion setting and thanks to the team, it looks even better. You can see the trailer here.
My involvement was animating a part of the riddles (specifically in the kitchen, dining room, study, laboratory), planning and animating mini games and being in charge of setting up and animating the main character and cut scenes. I really enjoyed working on this, and being trusted with a lot of responsibilities and problem solving along with bringing Skelly to life. I will be putting together a clip of some of the best bits - although it may be a bit of a spoiler for those that want to play the game..!

Nat Geo Frog Mascot

Posted in Uncategorized on July 10th, 2010 by annamations

The first National Geographic game by Gusto Games is out, and you can see the trailer here.

I was in charge for most front end animation bits and the cute tree frog mascot. I probably sound like a biased proud mother, but he is possibly the best aspect of the game - definitely the most fun to work on. I had to work closely with the modeller and help out with the rigging, and using a latest flow chart like addition to our animation exporter I was able to have more control over the flow and timing of different animation actions, thus making the programmer’s life easier.

You can view a teaser trailer that we made at the start of the NatGeo Quiz: Wild Life project to show the look of part of the game: ‘Stat Attax’. This is the part of the game where the frog has the most involvement is as he interacts with the cards and even pretends to give you advice. Half way through the project we decided to make the one frog into four, so each team will have their own mascot according to their colour - and quite conveniently, frogs come in a lot of bright and brilliant colours and patterns. This was achieved by using the same character model and rig, but different textures, and different morphs, poses and actions when they are all together on the team selection screen.

Busy bee!

Posted in character design, 2D , storyboards/concept on February 16th, 2010 by annamations

Yes, it has been a while since I have shared anything - mainly because I have been waiting for the latest game to be released so I can show off some recent work. Until then, here are the concepts for a personal project I have been working on with some animator friends and the trailer test we created in our spare time.

  bee characters
bee characters

Animation done by Darran and Hadrien, compositing by Hadrien, art and character concepts by me. Music by Argyro Christodoulides.

Baseball Pitching Animation Exercise

Posted in 3D, animation exercises on January 26th, 2009 by annamations

(No sound) 

Short animation exercise I did during my probation period at Gusto Games, about a year ago. Using 3ds Max and MAX rig by Peter Starostin which can be found at http://www.3dluvr.com/clisk3d/

Props (glove, hat, ball) and quickie environment modeled and textured by myself. Was a good exercise to get to learn the software and get into sports animation. Roughly 2-3 weeks work.

Robot Dance Finale

Posted in games, 3D on December 30th, 2008 by annamations

So finally here it is, a first sample from the Ultimate I Spy game. The game, made by Gusto Games, is published by Elastic (the games-involvement name for well-known american publishers Scholastic) and includes 10 levels of object finding riddles and minigames. Although primarily aimed at children I feel that it visually makes full advantage of the Wii graphics capacity and can be addictive and enjoyed by anyone. It was definitely great fun to work on. 

This clip is a rendered version of the final payoff animation of the front end machine when all levels are completed - sorry to ruin the surprise finale..! It was particularly requested to be made longer and faster - hence the repetition and somewhat awkward music tempo - I’m not really fond of the music track but this is what we had to work with. Looking back at it now I can see a lot of room for improvement, but still it was great to animate the only rigged and complicated character of the game. 

My involvement in the particular sequence was animating the robot and camera. Modelling and texturing of the environment done by Lucy Axworthy, modelling, lighting and rigging the robot done by James Roadley-Battin. This rendered version of the sequence is slightly different from what it look in game, with the robots eyes flashing and the lighting done programmatically.

More clips from my involvement in the game coming soon!

Ultimate I Spy released in the US

Posted in , 3D on November 10th, 2008 by annamations

Finally I can show and tell about the game I’ve been working on since January. Unfortunately only american audiences get to play it - for the moment - but you can have a peek here:

http://www.ispyvideogames.com/

(another trailer under About tab and image stills under Features)

I will be puting together clips and images of work I was involved in and posting it online as soon as I get it OKayed

:)

Random sketches

Posted in 2D on April 30th, 2008 by annamations

Unfortunately I can’t be puting up any images of the game I’m working on as junior artist /animator since it is all confidential. But I can promise I am enjoying it lots and looking forward to the game being released to see if non-biased people like it as much. Although that means we only get to work on this until August and then move on to something probably sports related.

So here is a few pages I scanned recently from my sketchbooks, ranging from recent stuff to few months old.

Life Drawing

Posted in Uncategorized, life drawing, 2D on February 15th, 2008 by annamations

Some life drawing I scanned recently - about a year old. A definite improvement from previous years especially with quick sketches, and much more enjoyable and chilled sessions. Finally I could let go and not care if each sketch is a portfolio piece or not. Hope find somewhere to do some more sessions soon! 

Website is done!

Posted in Uncategorized on November 15th, 2007 by annamations

Thank you for visiting my space of bloggings and work in progress. My personal website is finally up and running, visit it here: www.annamations.com

You can see my showreel and short film / tv shows involvement under animation, life drawing, sketches, paintings etc in the gallery and find out more about me under resume. And if you care for some animation news and inspirational work you can find them under links. All feedback is always welcome!

Coming up: Working on more animation exercises in Maya to improve my folio of work - and to keep from rusting - there are some great rigs available free online to play with. Oh, and lots of recent random sketches and life drawing - which I just need to finish scanning and photoshoping, annoying when stuff is A3 and your scanner is A4…

Showreel Sep 2007

Posted in , 3D, character design, 2D , short films on October 3rd, 2007 by annamations

My animation showreel, featuring scenes from mainly three short films (Squeaky Clean - MA Final Major, Petrified - BA Final Major, Dreamcatching - MA Group Project). For concept and character design you will have to watch it to the end. Music - Akilah by Turiya Mareya Latin Jazz Ensemble.