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Well, they say there’s no rest for the Wicked and they’re right! With only 2 days off after that absolutely exhausting first term, we’re already starting Class 2 – Psychology of Body Mechanics! Argh! I need sleep! I’ll also get round to posting my Progress Reel (all my work) from Class 1… soon.

Anyway, about the class – this should be a pretty exciting one! We’re finally moving on to some more complex body mechanics exercises, looking at movement, weight, balance etc. whilst solidifying all the foundation principles we were taught last term.

From the curriculum page on the AM website:

Body mechanics is the place where most animators “go wrong.” If an animation does not have convincing mechanics, it does not look right even to the average untrained eye. For this reason, we spend two quarters on this important concept as once body mechanics is mastered, students have the confidence they need to tackle almost any situation their character gets into.

Students will focus on exercises with a simple character, which allows them to focus exclusively on the core concepts of body mechanics thus creating physical movements that are believable. Focusing on a simple character for these concepts will allow our students to make mistakes quicker and recover from them much faster. This allows them to soak up the concepts where they will be able to apply them more confidently next quarter to more complex characters.

Sounds exciting, right? Yeah! I know! Once again for this class, I’ve got Shaun Freeman as my mentor. This is great news as Shaun was a big, big help last term and I’m really looking forward to working with him again. The Q&As are fun and interesting and he’s always got great tips and advice in his eCritiques! Also, the Q&A times are ideal as I don’t have to get up at 4am to chat to people all over the world :)

LET’S DO THIS THING!