Tigobo School Adventures: Pt. 2 + School Starts!

Welp, the summer's now over and school has started once again! It's crazy how fast time flies--I still can't believe I'm a junior now! But I'm incredibly excited to get started, and to keep updating this blog with cool stuff from both my summer adventures and future school projects.

Below is some of the figure work I did while at Tigobo School. I really loved being able to draw figures from inside the gallery--what was really nice about it was that the gallery viewed outside onto a street corner that provided me plenty of inspiration for characters and stories. And the best part? The people couldn't see us inside the gallery really well, so there was no artist/subject awkwardness that usually comes with drawing from life.

Recognize this guy? He's the man that inspired the character from my previous post on the blog. I absolutely loved his mannerisms--they reminded me a bit of Po from Kung Fu Panda, which was pretty cool.

Marker Portraits

Like said, one of the best things about the space at Tigobo was that it faced a street corner where plenty of people would come by. In particular, I really loved drawing this couple(?), because of the range of emotions the woman expressed throughout her conversation with the man. Originally, it had started off as a simple chat, but soon the woman ended up crying, the man having to comfort her before they could continue talking.

Some of my friends from Tigobo (Top: Sully; Bottom: Cedric), posing for a 10 min gesture.

Lastly, one of my awesome teachers, Reno, posing for 10-15 min gestures.

Tigobo School Adventures: Part 1

Hey Everyone!

In my last post I mentioned that I attended Tigobo's Intensive Collective Workshop for one month. While there, I studied storyboarding and visual development under the guidance of Reno Armanet and Flavie Darchen, as well as various guest artists. It was a really great experience, and as I post sketches, I'll be sharing more about my great experience with the school! :)

Below are some drawings from an assignment I did in the beginning of the workshop. The exercise was to draw people from the street who passed by the school, and to base a character around one of the life drawings. It was a cool experience for me, since most of the time I'd found it hard to find a place to do sketches of people where I wouldn't be disturbed by the environment around me (disruptions such as people coming up to me, asking questions about whether I'm drawing or not, asking whether I could draw their dog, etc.)

The person who I based this character on reminded me of Silent Bob from The Clerks (a movie I still have yet to see, but know the characters fairly well). I'll post the drawings I did of the guy later on after I get some figure work compiled together. Also, if anyone happens to know a good name for this guy, feel free to shout it out--the only names I can come up with are Joe, Stan, Frank, etc.

Run/ Walk Cycles & Summer Update

Hey Everyone!

It's been a while since I've updated (I feel like I say that for every post, but it's true!) Summer's been pretty busy--I've been animating as much as I can, as well as traveling. Lately I've been trying to get better at cycles...walk cycles, run cycles, flight cycles, etc. Below is a basic walk cycle using David O'Reilly's Taxi Fish rig, as well as a basic run cycle using my simple poly character from last sophomore year.

Taxi Fish Walk Cycle from Rachel Doda on Vimeo.

Simple Poly Run Cycle from Rachel Doda on Vimeo.

I have some really cool news, too: turns out I was accepted to Tigobo School's Intensive Collective Workshop for the summer! I'll be studying Visual Development and Scriptwriting for the month of July. And the coolest part? It's going to take place in Los Angeles, CA--in the heart of Downtown (in a safe street, though, for all you worry-worts out there).

I'm also participating in my favorite story artist's, Leo Matsuda's, Skill Share Class. He's teaching the Art of Storyboarding, and the project's theme is a story from your life. Check it out through the link below, and you'll be able to take the class for $10.00 instead of $20.00 (plus it gives me some credit, too). Happy Boarding!

Skill Share: Leo Matsuda's Learn the Art of Storyboarding

Pups, Portfolio, and Poetry...OH MY!

Geez o'pete, it's been forever since I last posted. But now that summer's here and that Operation: Sophomore Year has been successfully completed, I thought I'd give a tiny dump of work and business I did this last semester.

First off, here's an animatic that I did for my Concept II class. I really liked the teacher I had this semester--definitely full of spunk and enthusiasm (especially for the early mornings). I'm actually going to have him next semester for both my CA and Concept III class--with all luck I won't be too sick of him by the end of the semester. But enough about that--in the animatic below, we had to explore an editing and film concept (mine was parallelism). It was strange not having a strict protagonist/villain in my mind when creating this, but it was really cool being able to focus on the transitions and the two dogs separate lives. And despite the changes I would make now, I thought the process turned out to be a lot of fun.




Coeval Canines from Rachel Doda on Vimeo.

I also managed to get a Story Portfolio together this semester and go through the process of applying for internships. It was tough trying to juggle both projects for classes and meeting deadlines for the internship applications, as well as extracurricular events and activities. And while I didn't get an internship this summer, I was happy that I managed to learn more about the process and hear from recruiters (I even had my portfolio informally reviewed by one of them)! Anyway, below is a link to my story portfolio--feel free to check it out! It even has some stuff that I haven't posted to the blog!

http://dodaport.blogspot.com/

Lastly, here's something a bit different. The semester before last I participated in a poetry workshop for fun. While a ton of projects/prompts were assigned, the class gave me a chance to be able to write for myself. During the class, I wrote a poem about the beach and the sea, which turned into being more about fate and relationships (pfft, like most poems aren't about that anyway, haha!). I'll admit that I felt kind of corny writing it, but it seemed to strike a cord with my classmates. Below is the final version...for now.

Parting

Fate is like the waves,

Pushing and pulling us;

Rising and breaking—a cycle

Bringing us together,

And farther apart.

The shells in the sand—

These are our moments collecting into

An insurmountable mass;

Forming a land of lost times,

Molding into mountains,

Of indistinguishable instances

When we’ve had to hello, and goodbye

Without meaning it.

Like anchors

Cast into the sea, we planned on

Sinking to where the beasts lie sleeping;

Staying stagnant, never moving.

Though the waters continued to whirl around us,

Though the boats tried to reel us in,

Though the moon marched in place from above,

We rusted,

Became one with those who live

Under the undertow.

For once, we wanted to feel like the center;

For once, we let time move through us.

-Rachel Doda

Valentine's Day

Just wanted to wish everyone a "beary" special Valentine's Day!

Animation Quadfecta!

Animation Quadfecta! from Rachel Doda on Vimeo.

Here's what I've been working on for the past month--it's a compilation of four animation exercises using Ringling College's Artie Rig.

The exercises are as follows:

1. Point (00:04)
2. Walk (00:06)
3. Start/Stop (00:09)
4. Turn/Take (00:12)

Out of all the exercises, I'd say the Turn/Take was my favorite. C:

Enjoy!

Rats!

rdoda rodent animatic final redo pass hd from Rachel Doda on Vimeo.


Another animatic from last semester's Concept I class (rougher than the last one, but still pretty good).

Enjoy!