Thursday, July 29, 2010

Life at Big Jump

Big Jump has been amazing, and its sad to think there is only 2 weeks left until I gotta leave. When I first got here, they had just moved into the building maybe 6 days earlier, so they set me down with a gorgeous cintiq and pretty much had me stay put until they wrapped up their comps install and getting the last of the stuff from the Merivale location (for those familiar with Ottawa, they were in the CTV building that caught fire earlier this year)

The location is so interesting! Its situated on the path to the Ottawa International Airport, so every day you can hear these huge planes fly over us! Also located close to T&T supermarket which I visit far too often for my waists to appreciate. But the food is so yummy...(being deprived of Chinese food at school...I love this place!)

Things are relatively quiet, as they are waiting to get into production. Having just finished Ben Bear, everyone is probably pooped. Once in a while some storyboard artists pop in, but mostly just the directors. Its interesting to see the difference work environment in comparison to corporate/government. So I sit here at my lil desk and doodle away, watching as this studio settles in (coffee machines, vending machines, new comps and new tablets/cintiz installed)

Then there was the earthquake in June. I think it was the 23? That was scary! We usually get a lot of rumbles here and there, from passing trucks, garbage trucks and planes overhead. So when the rumble started, I just thought it was that. But it kept going, and everything was shaking, dust coming off the ceiling! Initially thought an airplane crashed or something, but thankfully ..just an earthquake!

Remember what they taught in school kids! When an earthquake hits, duck under the table!

Summer's almost over!

I really do suck as updates but stuff is coming up! Spent most of my summer cooping at Big Jump Production, an Ottawa based studio who just completed S4 of The Secret World of Benjamin Bear, airing this fall! Its been awesome here, so great that they've granted me an extension here into August!

I don't have too much to show, since Flash is still so new to me. Practiced a few storyboards from the Ben Bear scripts, which makes it so much less scary. Also created and rigged a character in flash for animation:



It is surprisingly scary how long it took to rig her up, and even then not all parts could've been used for animation. Good thing though: Clean up is done~!

I have also uploaded a portfolio website to http://www.chanimated.com/


I'm not too happy with the layout at the moment but fixing it isn't a priority. Currently focusing on creating a proper demo reel and media player, or I might just cheat and use Vimeo/Youtube (which do you suggest?)

So much still to update on, and will try to do so over the next few weeks! As for those who are still waiting on Oddysea being uploaded, I'm procrastinating and you can kick me if you wish.