Animated Narratives Reflection

When I first began this module, I thought it could be really fun! I loved the idea of a group 3D animation and the thought of having all our characters moving together seemed cool. However, as I got further into this module, I found myself getting increasingly more stressed as time went on. 

The world building and character design aspect was really fun, especially seeing as how we could pick whatever style we wanted. It was when we started to get into the actual animating when things started going downhill.  Group members started to fall behind (myself included), and I could tell this was putting a downer on the group atmosphere.  

Despite this, I really enjoyed all the content that was covered in the class workshops. I was especially interested in learning about facial rigging in more depth as I had always been curious about it. 

If I could do this module again, I would definitely offer to do more work for the group and set a proper schedule to complete it. I would also like to spend more time on my animations as I feel like they were a little too stiff and rigid when compared to the rest of my group’s characters. 

 I felt awful at how I fell behind at first but thankfully I was able to catch up once others had just started animating.  Time management is definitely something that I will be working on fixing before next semester. 

Overall, this module was a mixed bag for me. I had fun learning new things about Blender and developing our ideas, but the actual animation and group work stressed me out beyond belief. I hope to continue refining my 3D skills over the summer and come back with a decent skill set.

 

First Year Reflection 

As I look back on my first year, I can safely say that I had a lot of fun despite being extremely stressed. 

I was a little worried when I first started as I thought the course would be mainly focused on 2D animation but I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of 3D work that we covered. I had a little experience with Blender prior to this course, but I was overwhelmed (in a good way) with the amount I learnt about the program in such a short amount of time.  Substance Painter was also something I was vaguely familiar with but had never delved into as much depth as we had covered in class. I enjoyed all of the 3D modules that we covered this year and look forward to more 3D projects in the coming year. 

I am a little worried about what we will cover next year since this year was so focused on 3D ,the next year might be heavily focused on 2D. I am planning to practise more 2D over the summer to help further my understanding of the medium.

Collaborative group work was an important aspect of this first year. Working alongside my peers taught me valuable skills whether they were interpersonal like; communication, patience and adaptability, or more technical like; how to achieve better lighting in Blender,  or how to properly utilise the graph editor. While not every group was smooth sailing, I like to think that these collaborative experiences not only helped expose me to different perspectives and ways of thinking but also made me grow as an animator. 

Before entering the course, I was quite worried that I wouldn’t be able to make any friends but thankfully I was able to meet some really cool people in this course who have really helped me out and made this year enjoyable. 

If I were to start this year over, I’d make an effort to fix my time management as I frequently found myself rushing to get my assignments handed in. This was quite frankly, extremely stressful and could definitely be avoided with some simple planning. This is something that I am going to fix before the next semester. 

In conclusion, my first year on this course was a transformative experience. I gained some valuable knowledge about animating & navigating in Blender. Each project challenged me to tackle problems that I was not familiar with and I am excited to see where this journey takes me in the future.