Small update

Hey guys, just updated my links list to include my fellow CN crew, well those who had sites or blogs I was able to find using Google. Check them out, it's a really talented crew.

It's been too long

It's amazing how fast time between posts seems to go, so I figured I need to update with something. So here are a few sketches of an idea I've been kicking around for awhile, it's a re-imagining of Robin Hood during the the early years of the gun in France (pre-musketeers so probably the 16th century). The Robin character may look familiar, he's made a few appearances on the blog way back in various incarnations.
Robin, found out at the age of 8 he's a descendant of the legendary Robin Hood decided to take on the mantle of the outlaw to once again help his fellow man. A bit of a fool, but a highly agile one. This would be Little John, the gruff blacksmith with a heart of gold. Won't even attempt to make one of those crude guns the run-of-the-mill blacksmiths have been going nuts over. Gerard, a distant relative of some rich lord who believes he's a hero of the people but is really an unlikeable pompous nitwit, and always trying to show up Robin and mostly failing.


I've started working on a new action series at Cartoon Network as a production assistant, and some of the prop guys introduced us to Google Sketchup. So after hours while waiting for Miyuki to get off work, I created this tudor-style inn to go along with the Robin Hood theme. Cool program, I suggest everyone try it out, especially since the basic version is free. If I end up using this for anything I'll draw over it and make it more organic and stylized before taking it to color, still a nice start though I think.

Dialog is done

Jilted Dialog - 3D from Matt Long on Vimeo.

Here is the final pass.

Dialog test update

Emotional Dialog Animation Stepped Keyes with breakdowns from Matt Long on Vimeo.

Here is the current state of my dialog test, animating it a little bit here and there during the week and spending a few more hours on weekends. The blink/eyes and mouth are just place holders so it will read for the time being. We'll see where it goes from here. Feel free to leave me any constructive criticism on it in the comments.

3D Animated dialog

Emotional dialog animation stepped keys from Matt Long on Vimeo.

Here is my first blocking pass of a 3D dialog I started working on, the dialog is "Are you trying to say you're jilting me?" Right now it's just stepped keys of the main poses with generic mouth shapes and expressions to convey the idea. I'm still changing the timing pretty much each time I view it after a long break, like making it have more contrast from beginning to end. It's still not quite there. I'm generally pretty happy with the phrasing, but need to break up the poses so it's more natural looking and ready for the overlapping animation when I add breakdowns. It sure does take a lot more tweaking than hand drawn 2D to not make CG look lifeless.

Sorry for disappearing!

It's been a while since I've updated, sorry to anybody who reads this and the 2 people who follow my blog currently (I feel honored to have repeat readers). I was in Japan for the new year and after that got lazy with the blog. So now I'm back in full force and will try update it at least once a week.

I just started as a production assistant for Transformers Animated at Cartoon Network for the next two months, no longer will I be working in recording as a part-time employee. Becoming a full-time employee though means I will not be able to spend my Monday and Friday afternoons with Mike and the crew at July Films. I'll miss my time there, I know there's so much more for me to learn and everyone was so talented and nice to be around. I hope to drop by from time to time to say hi and get feedback on my animation.

I'm currently working on a couple of things, one is too early to share, but here is a more up to date (but still old) version of Princess and Tiger getting excited.


Princess and Tiger animation from Matt Long on Vimeo.

Merry Christmas

Hope everybody has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Sorry for the bad digital photo, 16-field paper is too big for my scanner.