New Age of Thought

The Cartoon

2012-02-15T21:06:00.002-05:00

Well One is a Muffin and the Other a Cupcake but don't take their sweet nature for kindness these 2 are the ultimate Jerks and they are looking to take over your kitchen... I call them, Captain Cupcake and Major Muffin!!!

End the Lockout!!

2011-10-30T03:28:00.001-04:00

Mane just end the lockout... Well whatever here is my Magic Mascot re-design!!!!

2011-10-29T21:00:00.002-04:00

Just finished watching Food Inc.... in a phrase go watch it. IT is highly informative and makes you wanna change the way things are. It didnt inspire me to change anything because I am already a Vegan/Vegetarian. It did however inspire me to draw a little mascot that I like to Call Veg-Head!!!

Happy Halloween

2011-10-29T08:18:00.002-04:00

Happy Halloween fuckers!!! ...Maybe that was to rough!!??!? Whatever I guess anyway this took about two day to do and I wanted to share it cus I like the way it came out!!!

DVD Cover!!!

2011-10-21T07:07:00.003-04:00

No words... Just look at it and you'll get it, I haven't relaxed on my work I have only shifted gears and focused on another aspect of it soooooooooo... leave me be and lemme work!!

Oh yea... by the way I wanted to show that you can make pink and chocolate look badASS!! :D!

Im done... now what??

2011-09-27T02:31:00.002-04:00

Well I have completed my studies at Animation Mentor!! The graduation will be in January on the 28th to be exact. I cant wait for that I can meet folks face to face and talk life and animation!! Now I will use this time to study and tighten up my demo reel that much more and then I will be searching for jobs immediately after words. Its gonna be a wild couple of months coming up.

2011-09-04T06:06:00.001-04:00

Well this beez my Title Card I wonder if I will be able to get away with my mascot though. Oh well we will see!! Oh yea Im literally in Week 10... WOOOOHOOOOO!!!

Turtles Again??? Damn right!!

2011-08-25T03:17:00.005-04:00

Ninja Ninja RAP!!! GO GO GO GO... aww that takes me back mane!

Go Ninja Go Ninja GO

Well they are almost done ready for the boom is all I have to say... a tad bit more coloring and I will release them!!

What a difference a year MAKES!!

2011-08-15T19:31:00.005-04:00

Well if you guys have been following me you should remember this... this was my first crack at trying to create a version of my beloved Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Looking at it a year later Its a bit too cartoony, which is why I shake my head because that is my safe haven that is where feel my most comfortable when I draw.And well this is this years edition... well I will be doing a full orthographic views with a definite action pose. The question is will I do the other 3... DUH!!! Well Enjoy!

Doodling while I work!!

2011-07-26T14:47:00.002-04:00

Well I find doodling while I wrok keeps my eyes fresh and keeps me focused in weird way. Anyway this is a paper I wrote out all my notes for my shot. The notes are of things that I need to fix or change. So it is something that started of as goal oriented and the fact that I doodled on top of it kept me goal oriented. Well here here is a pic of it.............

AYo!!!

2011-07-21T23:15:00.002-04:00

YOu have to go check out this site... www.8bitstrange.com its Hella Dope!! Simple looking characters but full of so much life the animation really brings them to life. Glad to say a fellow AMer brought them to life. :D :D

Im Back

2011-07-21T23:11:00.002-04:00

Well Im just about done with Animation Mentor...!!! In a good way I am finally finally finally... *sigh* FINALLY going to graduate. So in saying that I am getting more time to blog so in saying that. IM BACK!!!

2010-08-21T20:30:00.001-04:00

Check out my portfolio site @ www.sdotlong.artworkfolio.com... And yes I still keeping my mascot around as well, Trying to turn him into a staple!!

Refining and Re-Blocking!!!

2010-07-21T17:29:00.002-04:00

Well Week 4 is coming to a close and I need to add my inbetweens and spline my animation to hand into Animation Mentor. Week three was a week of breakdowns and re-blocking just a tad bit. I was so happy to see my critique this week, My Mentor Allison Saunders was a huge help and pointed out several things to up the quality of my work. I feel confident I will turn out something awesome for my final piece... Oh and here is the video from last week.

Oh yea sorry I left the controls on this week by accident... :P

Blocking!!!

2010-07-12T11:41:00.003-04:00

Jus Blocking out my first pass here from week 2, so moving on to Week 3 to add re-block most likely and then add in the breakdowns so I can start to see my arcs better.

Just incase you wanted to know the definition of Blocking>>>>>>>>

Blocking - Laying down the main story-telling key poses of your scene. Not worrying about in-betweens or break-downs. The bones on which to build the scene. They will be in the general right place in time but even that will change as you refine and start to add the later elements i.e. Breakdowns and in-betweens.

Thumbnails Important

2010-07-06T23:28:00.003-04:00

Thumbnails!!!! OH yea!!

Design of my Scene

2010-07-06T23:08:00.001-04:00

Beginning of Semester 3, this is my scene

SPLICE!!

2010-06-04T15:02:00.004-04:00

Well Splice has released today and I am excited to see it so much so...On Deviantart.com they held a contest for people to create their own Splice character. Well I took the challenge and created this little number here... hope ya feeling it and I will prolly be check out this Movie soon hope you will too.

First Pass; Blocking!!!

2010-06-02T20:54:00.002-04:00

For all Non-Animators...Blocking is suppose to be poppy.

Well jus wanna sow what Im doin is all...

2010-06-02T20:46:00.003-04:00

Ok this was the beginning of a brand new workflow and I had to make sure I drew out all of my poses correctly and make sure they were solid, so here is my initial thought process/Key Drawings... Oh yea the basic Idea I was shooting for was for my character to do a butterfly kick, and his mood or attitude is that he is a brash full of himself character, anyway enjoy folks

2010-06-02T20:19:00.001-04:00

You what I have the hardest time chosing Leo over Raph because Raph is my afovrite Turtle because he is sooooo bad ass...But for right now I like the way this came out so move over Raph...Here comes Leo!!

Donnie

2010-05-28T01:20:00.003-04:00

Well here is everyone's favorite inventort he is better known amongst his bros as Don, Donnie but the TMTN creators initially named him Donatello... So enjoy Donnie, Don, Donatello.... I had fun coloring and drawing him and am proud to reveal him I hope you guys enjoy it.

Please be on the look out soon for Leonardo the leader...

HERE"S MIKEY...guys??

2010-05-20T15:40:00.003-04:00

Well I finally finished the Mikester the Mikenator...lol Mikey. Hope ya'll like him I go the last two on the way in a couple of days, Hard work and dedication folks.

I had to go back and tweak him a bit!!

2010-05-20T15:36:00.003-04:00

Had to go back and tweak him a lil, I kno all my real artist gonna recognize what I changed its small but there. ANyway Mikey is done Imma post him right after this joint here... Gimme a minute people.

Raphinator

2010-05-18T00:55:00.004-04:00

Wassup people I wanted to premiere on my blog What I have been working on. If you know me you kno I am a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles nut til the day I die. I have always loved the concept and the storyline of the green machine. So in light of hearing about the new movie probably in development now coming out in 2012, it inspired me to make my own realistic version of the turtles. So to start of this is the bad tempered one of the GRP; Raphael also my favorite...>>>>

Well he is the first finished completely so I decided to post him earlier then the other 3, but trust and believe the other 3 are on the way...

Ya'll be greasy and enjoy the pic

Oh Yea!!

2010-05-15T20:05:00.002-04:00

Almost done here wit the color well actually the coloring is finished I just need to shade them so they pop... So folks stay tuned for TMNT greatness... Well at least my versions on TMNT from Donnie to Raph. So hang on gimmie anotha two days and then I will post them with explanations and all.

Small Preview for ya!!!>>>>

2010-05-05T15:24:00.002-04:00

Man I saw this and was inspired, I mean thios guy is tumbling all over he place, lls. I am so inspired that I will be using it as reference for my next project at school. Thank goodness the picklist allows you to choose Parkouring. So Imma take advantage and try to put something really cool together...

Have a great day cus I kno I am

Peace!!!

2010-05-04T14:27:00.003-04:00

ELECTRIC PIN CUSHION

Well Folks here he...ummmm...it... is, Well Wateva this is the Mascot for New age of Thought. He is an Electric Pin Cushion, Why is he an electric pin cushion... two reason I am ADHD and I am a visual learner but also I can be random, so I put two random things together. The second reason is I feel like I am a Live Wire kinda guy who is ready to put his mark on the Game, that being the Animation Industry...

Signing Off

2010-05-02T16:29:00.003-04:00

Well I was bored so I decide to draw an eye for some reason the eyes are my favorite body part to draw, well then I drew some lips and then I started to squiggle some black lines around the eye and lips wit a flat marker... Lastly lls I put some color accents in to ummmm I dont know I just like the way it looked, So boredom+pen and pad= This >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

2010-05-02T02:42:00.003-04:00

Shit works out when you plan for to do just dat... Case and point I have had troubles with m,y last two animation and I realize that it is because my planning process is weak so, in Week 5 in Semester I have vowed not to allow my animation ideas to start off with weak planning ever again. I executed well this week so far, my blocking is feeling good and its all owed to my planning here is my planning...

Basically I wanted to animate Stewie Drunk as a skunk!!!

Prolly Wondering what I have been up too

2010-04-23T19:24:00.003-04:00

The Answer is Working Bruh!!

But here is something just give you a visual that I am trying to improve my skills... umm what are you doing are you grinding cus I know I am. I know I am not in the place I want to be in yet and that bothers me so I am doin the only thing I can do GRIND... Ya'll be good.

Working on a side project too...Lmao I have got so many

Still really enjoying Aniamtion Mentor

2010-03-23T19:41:00.002-04:00

Well this was week 11 at school bad it continues to get easier and harder all at the same time. This week week 12 will be the final week and we get to create our progress reels for Semester 1. I also wanted to say I really appreciate all the constructive criticism my my professor/mentor gave me it was priceless. So I just want to thank all of my classmates from Semester 1 and I hope to have class with you again really soon. Also by Tuesday of next week I will post all of my works as well so be on the look out for those.

Whew...

2010-03-11T09:39:00.001-05:00

THe pressure is off now all I have to worry about is studying my butt off for this animation and Working to save money and pay these bills for the loans from the past....IRONY!!! lol

Blocking

2010-02-26T20:48:00.003-05:00

Well I am in week ...umm...wait lemme check... Oh ok its week 8 in my first Semester and well things are going well and fast too, it is already coming up to the time where the next tuition payment is due and guess what folks I got it covered. Thank goodness I was really beginning to sweat there for a moment. lol Well upwards and onwards folks.

Thanks Animation Mentor

2010-02-15T13:44:00.002-05:00

Well I learned a good and solid lesson this week, I need to learn to give up control and just jump out of the window. There is a away of animating and I am not even talking about Pose to Pose or Straight ahead or even a mixture of the two, I am talking about allowing yourself to go over board and exaggerate your task and then if it is too much then tone it down. I have spent too much time ramping up the exaggeraton little by little, and I think it is becasue I want sooooo badly to be right the first time. I am more and more coming to terms with the fact that I am not a machine and thats not gonna happen.

And I love it...!!!

2010-02-08T18:40:00.003-05:00

I am absolutely loving my time at animation mentor I am currently in week 6 and this is overlapping week and from what I can tell it will be a barn burner lmao... Oh well here is picture I recently did, jus playing around.

More to come...

Survival Kit

2010-01-20T20:58:00.001-05:00

Just working on my key poses, no breakdowns, inbetweens no nothing just poses to pose blocking right here. Si I am treating my blog like a diary from now on. I will be posting constant updates from animation mentor and side work.

2010-01-18T11:46:00.002-05:00

These were two facebook avatars I posted on there because I wanted to be different but now I think it will continue because it is away to keep my skills sharp. So folks enjoy and be greasy or easy whateva be safe...lmao.

Animation B4 Animation Mentor

2010-01-17T00:27:00.002-05:00

Well I will just dump these here and when I graduate I can look back and jus laugh.

I was playing with the camera to see what ind of effect I could get...

Jus Raph flipping out of the sewer letting himself be seen...

I have to say this is the one I am most proud of even to you all you may think that his fingers are doing dsomething weird but that is only because I have not animated the swords yet still a WIP.

Well these are my last animation before animation mentor dug there hands into my brain... To be honest I have already learned the preparation is extremely important and looking back at these past works made me realize, I would have finished these a whole lot quicker is I had planned every move. instead of start and stopping...lol I wasted alot of time doin that.

ANIMATION MENTOR!!

2010-01-16T23:10:00.003-05:00

I am one hundred percent officially and Apprentice of Animation Mentor. We are getting ready to enter the third week and I absolutely love it, it is everything I have ever wanted from a school that teaches animation.

2009-10-07T00:56:00.002-04:00

Dude it has been to freakin long since the last time I posted something on here. Well I haven't been twiddling my thumbs I have been bust my brain tryna absorb as much information about animation as humanly possible in a short amount of time. I have been putting some lessons into practice and have gotten some good results but still feel like I need polishing.

SOOOOOO... with that said I left Westwood College with like 5 classes left til Graduation to attend a school that is trictly and 100 percently all animation. So your thinking im crazy whether the reasoning for that is I was so close or look at all the money I spent. I understand that thought process but I could care less because I wasnt being molded into an animator like I thought I would have been at Westwood College. I feel like their program focuses more on the Media arts then the Animation. Also of course its a bachelor degree program so they put you through all the Bull Shit Courses as well.

This move was just a good one for me and Now I can't wait to get to Animation Mentor and fully immerse myself in want I have a deep passion for... ANIMATION!!!!!

2009-03-24T13:14:00.002-04:00

Sweet Guns right well this from Jeff Lews Killer Bean Movie...

Well I felt like I needed help with my animation I had a couple of general concepts down but some solid principle foundations were something I didn't have a clear picture of. But after buying and watching Jeff Lew's Animation Principles I feel like I understand the principles that much more because watching part 3 of the video made me feel like I was watching and listening to him as I was sitting in his office. Like I was an intern peaking over his shoulders as he worked on an animation for something else. So this is a shout out to Jeff Lew and I thank you for the awesome lessons because they were very helpful also Killer Bean was hilarious.

Maturation of Animation

2009-03-14T17:33:00.002-04:00

Well folks I am moving in the right direction this is some pose to pose animation, basically an unpolished version. This is Leonardo jumping out of sewer and landing. Again this is only the beginning I will put some progressive shots up in a couple of days. Remember it is unpolished

I see the Light!!

2009-02-25T00:34:00.002-05:00

I makin my way out of this damn tunnel in more ways than one. I am almost done with this TMNT project I am aiming to be finished with it by at least April or the most May. Also I am looking at my final Semesters to end my college tour and earn my graduates degree with a BA in Media Arts and Animation; in my eyes mostly Animation. I am aiming to be done wit it in October 09, so My August term will be my last term. Feels good man oh yea I also wanted to give you guys an update of the TMNT set here ya GO.

WELL...!

2009-02-17T01:11:00.005-05:00

Aside from the recent tubercle I recnetly experienced I have been making strides with my ninja turtles project and well just take a look I do believe Raphael is looking pretty damn good. All I will say to finish up this post is don't mess with this guy because I mean come on how do you expect to beat him...hope you have a good answer.

Do it in pieces!!

2009-02-08T14:24:00.002-05:00

Well I was in the process of developing my project for school but instead of being able to finish the damn thing I caught two different snags.

Snag One

I imported way to many clips into the Trax Editor then it could handle thus it slowed the whole system down preventing from view the animation and everything

Snag Two

I do not know that much about mental ray as I previously thought, as a matter a fact I learned I know very little about the subject. For instance I tweaked the animation problem as much as I could then decided just render out what I had and just send it in that way maybe I'll get some kind of grade. Well to render something out you have to know how to render with mental ray which is completely different from Maya software renderer. I didn't realize that Mental ray needs to render only into files like png, jpeg etc. It can't render into a avi or mov file because if it gets and error in on one frame out of 981 frames then the whole thing is useless.

So looking back I will render out my sequences in parts and assemble them later in a 3rd party App. Also I won't overload the Trax Editor either. I will do that in pieces too.

Mental Ray

2009-02-06T01:50:00.005-05:00

Well I am not only working on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles homage project but I have skool work I am working on. Also I am working on a project with my friend Mikey calle S....e. lol Oh you thought I would tell you keep dreaming we don't have it patented yet so we don't want many people to know too much any who. This is my mental ray practice, actually the set is something I am using for my skool project. I will post that project on here probably like around Next Tuesday.

Ok Folks update for ya

2009-01-10T14:31:00.002-05:00

Well he isn't my favorite just for he simple fact that I think is strong and more skilled than my favorite, but I still like his character design and backstory plus he is the leader so here is the progression of a turtle named Leonardo.

Eureka!!

2008-12-19T13:43:00.003-05:00

Yes I did it, I have had a small victory, as I have stated before on this blog I am create a homage to the ninja turtles before I move on to any other project. Everything has been going sorta of smoothly, I created the meshes of the turtles, the shells, the pads, etc. But I ran into a bit of an issue when I was going to try and rig the Nunchaku Mikey would wield. I had no clue how to rig and animate it was fluidly as real nunchakus. So yesterday I trying something different and left those pesky dynamics out of it. I instead used the wire tool and clusters to binrg my rig to life now all I have to do is create some set driven keys an it will be complete.

Computer is Loaded full of new S#!T

2008-11-25T19:49:00.002-05:00

Well I will just tell you main reason why I am not on here with new artwork, I am learning

Maya 2009 (new features, ncloth, nparticles, fluids, hair and fur)

Anzovin; this is a rigging software to speed up workflow

Vue 7 Infinite

BodyPaint 3D

and tryna Master Zbrush 3.12

So try and understand why there isn't much new stuff popping up...soon tho real soon.

Wolverine

2008-11-08T22:54:00.002-05:00

Well on a lighter note I have started modeling Wolverine, that's right WOLVERINE!!! no hair or claws yet but soon people. Really soon my plan is to have this model done by the time Wolverine vs Hulk comes out on DVD. This is my goal because I will just borrow some sound from the DVD to add to this character I have created either way I will keep you posted.

Its Coming!! : O

2008-11-08T22:29:00.005-05:00

Wow I have never felt so excited and down all in one moment. Ok Maya 2009 is coming to my doorstep November 11th thats right guys the wait is over. But at the same time I have passed the time by going to 3d animation sites and talking to other people via forums. The main thing that I have noticed is that animation needs to be taught like a sport, you should be eating, sleeping, crapping animation. Unfortunately these "Accredited" schools do not make that possible since they are an accredited school and want to keep their accreditation they have to make Animation majors earn a bachelor's degree or in other words be well versed in other areas other than just in animation. This takes up so much time away from Animation, thus if you are a person like me you feel starved that you are not learning even the basics for the career. Your hard work and striving to acquire a bachelors degree makes you feels like you are wasting time... thats right you WASTE time on courses like contemporary literature, organizational behavior, Algebra and Film and Literature. Unfortunately for me I am 2 years into a 3 year program so I see it like keep learning as much animation on the side as you can but still work in school so you can get a bachelor's degree it will look good on my resume'. I should be getting two degrees when I finish all of this freakin work I put into everything.

More Patient, than pissed, but still WORKING

2008-10-31T16:59:00.003-04:00

Well this robot I have previously posted is almost done I just wanted to show a progression and maybe somebodies thoughts. Yes I am still waiting for Maya 2009 to come in so I can start texturing everything I have in my project folder but patience has come over me with a quiet calm, so now I wait. Anyway scroll down and checkout the progression.

Pissed but Working

2008-10-28T17:40:00.002-04:00

Ok so I should have recieved Maya 2009 by now right so I can really begin to create some kind of workflow, with Maya 2009, Bodypaint 3D release 4 and Zbrush 3.12. Well my friend you would be wrong I because Maya 2009 has yet to arrive at my door step the second shipment doesn't get to journey ed's warehouse until FREAGGIN!!, November 9th, but I guess I should excerise patience but I just wanna get going already. I mean I dumb butt finished molding every single turtle on Zbrush but can't create a displacement map because I forgot to manipulate the UV to a working layout pelt. So I had to scrap and all those models and in Zbrush and begin actively waiting on Maya 2009 because it has a new feature that automatically makes a perfect pelt everytime so I gotta keep waiting but til them for you guys here it some other work I am bustin my butt on. So in the mean time between time check it it out >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

ZBRUSHING

2008-10-10T20:45:00.002-04:00

Well you know what, I haven't been able to upload all the cool stuff I have been trying to do because right now I can't do it because I am currently waiting for my software to arrive, that software being Maya 2009 and BodyPaint 3D release 4. But On the optimistic side of things I have finally gotten my upgrade for Zbrush. You see I had Zbrush 2 for a year before I got my upgrade and that was because Mac currently didn't support Zbrush 3. Well that time is over I have Zbrush 3 and it was for free and it is ridiculously awesome. I am currently working on it as I type I am waiting for a projection to finish. But now you will see me check in with work from there so hang there I have some new stuff up.

For Doc Chapelle

2008-09-25T00:57:00.002-04:00

Well here are the teeth I had to create for my model, see I got him saying Awwwww, so get that cavity back on that moler.

TO DO LIST

2008-09-23T15:44:00.002-04:00

I am waiting to go and buy Maya 2009 unlimited becasue write now all I ahve is Maya 8.5 two steps down from 09 so I can't do a couple of things on my to do list because I don't have that software namely cloth simulator. Anyway My to do list to finish the ninja turtles is pretty extensive, but my goal is to have them ready for my demo reel.

My to do list:

Red, blue, purple, orange and maybe White or Black (white or black??)

utility belts

weapons (already did this)

Knee pads and Elbow pads

wristbands

Oh yeah I am also creating an environment too.

2008-09-17T22:45:00.002-04:00

Well Along with creating the brothers of the TMNT family I want them to be fighting something so I have been designing a robot, a bi-pedal robot to be exact and it is coming along great well in my opinion it is... take a look for yourself and you be the judge. This is one of my first models I have created where I didn't model it from a blueprint this is all from my skull. Again give me your best shot and critique this thing.

Other Brothers

2008-09-16T16:51:00.004-04:00

Like I said I am creating the whole turtle group, I mean if I am creating one brother I might as well give you the other three so here you go Mikey, Donny, and Leo. And no they are not the same turtle either I created each from scratch, using the "Create Polygon Tool." Trust me they are different just take a deeper look.

New 2 the Blog World

2008-09-16T16:42:00.002-04:00

Well I am new to this so please bare with me, As I have said I am training to be an animator so I will be showing works that i plan to do, have done or are in a WIP (Work In Progress)