Illustrated Sky

2 Person Dialogue

2011-06-01T22:18:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to move out of blocking. So far I've focused mainly on the last three shots. The first shot is a bit rough still and I haven't really finalized any of the acting decisions. Regardless, 2 weeks left on this one so it's crunch time!

Two Person Dialogue

2011-05-15T08:55:00.000-07:00

Lastly, here's the blocking for my current 2 person dialogue shot. I'll be working on this for the next 5 weeks or so. Thanks for stopping by!

Animation Mentor Update 2

2011-05-15T08:52:00.000-07:00

And here is the progression from blocking to final of my first dialogue shot for Animation Mentor. I really struggled through this one and it took a lot of brute force to get it to where it's at now. The lip sync still needs some work but for a first try, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

Animation Mentor Update

2011-05-15T08:49:00.000-07:00

Here (finally) is the final version of my space man acting shot for AM. I've also blocked in an alternate beginning sequence which is still a work in progress. Let me know what you think!

Animation Mentor Update

2011-01-31T17:33:00.001-08:00

Oh and here's the blocking for the shot I'm currently working on. I'll put the final up when I finish it this weekend.

A blast from the past

2011-01-31T17:25:00.000-08:00

I found this gem while searching through some old animations. Done in one night at a Halloween Animation Jam back in my good old days at Edinboro. Enjoy : D

Artwork from Work

2011-01-28T06:32:00.000-08:00

I got the ok to put up some of the artwork I've created for Work. Some of these were used and printed on garments, others were simply concepts that never flew. All were created on paper then recreated in illustrator for screenprint. More to come at a later date.

2010-12-17T12:08:00.000-08:00

Here's my final progress reel for the semester. I'll upload a better version later once it finally uploads to vimeo. Thanks for checking it out.

2010-12-12T09:51:00.000-08:00

Here's my final shot for this semester. I'm fairly happy with how it turned out. I didn't get to add everything that I wanted because of time limitations. In the future I may add some leaping piranhas. For now, I'm calling it done. It was a really great shot to work on as a final because it helped me deal with, not only an andvanced physical motion. but also a lot of technical issues with constraints and parenting. Hopefully you can't tell, but there's actually 3 different versions of the character used in this shot which I had to seamlessly meld. This was something that I'd never tried before but gave it a shot at the advice of my mentor. It ended up saving me a lot of hastle in the end but was still a bit of a trial to get the transitions working nicely. I'm glad the semester is over for now as I'm looking forward to a nice Christmas break. Stop back for more after the holiday season when I start my first acting class. Merry Christmas!

Final Shot2

2010-11-14T15:24:00.000-08:00

Here's a progression + final for my second shot this semester. I changed the ending several times. I'm still not super happy with it but I just ran out of time. I may go back later and try to make it look a little more natural but for now, I'm calling it done.

Class 3 Shot 2: Planning and Blocking

2010-10-30T22:23:00.000-07:00

Here's the planning and blocking for my second shot (no pun intended). Enjoy.

Class 3 shot 1: Planning and Progression

2010-10-30T22:18:00.001-07:00

Here's the planning and final of my first shot in class 3. It turned out ok I suppose. There's still a lot of things I'm not happy with, the main being the staging. I didn't want to mess with camera moves so this was the best I could manage with a static camera. However, it leaves much to be desired. Enjoy!

2010-10-19T08:25:00.000-07:00

You may have seen these before but here are 2 self portraits. Enjoy and Happy Halloween!

2010-09-17T05:39:00.000-07:00

So class 2 ended today. I really felt I improved a lot over this class. I wasn't too thrilled with my second shot. Since it was my fist time using a rig with a spine, I think it was a least a good exercise. My mentor covered a lot of ground especially emphasizing the importance of arcs, path of action, and strong posing. Now that I have a half decent workflow for the blocking and smoothing passes, my goal for next semester is to really focus on that final polish and my timing/spacing. Until then, here's my progress reel. Enjoy!

Animation Mentor Progress Reel: Class 2 from Skylar Surra on Vimeo.

Animation Mentor Week 8

2010-08-25T18:38:00.000-07:00

I'm going to spare anyone who stops by here and not post my last shot which turned out rather badly from the beginning. I am however very excited about the shot I started this past week. Here's the planning and blocking. More to come soon.

Ballie Turn: Final Progression

2010-08-25T18:30:00.001-07:00

Here's the final progression on the turn around shot. It still needs a bit of work, but overall I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Am has been so great and as you can see, our mentors really help us to nail the shot from beginning to polish. Enjoy!

Animation Mentor Update

2010-07-21T06:38:00.001-07:00

Here's the current shot I'm working on for Animation Mentor. It's just a simple 180 degree turn around. I created a video of the progression from blocking to smoothing. I still have one more week of polish to finish up. Enjoy.

2010-07-21T06:28:00.001-07:00

Here's a couple old watercolors I did a while back for an animation concept.

2010-06-17T21:40:00.000-07:00

Here's my progress reel from class 1. It was a ton of fun and I learned so much! I'll post some of the wip videos from this semester later this week and stay tuned in a couple weeks for class 2 work.

2010-05-12T08:05:00.000-07:00

Here's a little eye candy from a personal project I'm working on. Enjoy!

Animation Mentor Week 5

2010-05-08T20:48:00.000-07:00

Squash and Stretch as illustrated by a ball:

2010-05-01T12:29:00.000-07:00

Animation Mentor week 4: Weight + Timing/Spacing

2010-04-24T15:18:00.000-07:00

Weekly update from Animation Mentor. This week's assignment: Gesture drawings transferred into 3d rig and a simple ball bounce.

Animation Mentor! Week 2

2010-04-12T19:17:00.000-07:00

Week one was basically orientation and introductions. So, week 2 was fundamentals. We basically covered the 12 principles of animation. Here were my sketches and pose for our week 2 assignment. Next up a bouncing ball!

2010-02-24T18:33:00.000-08:00

2010-02-10T12:57:00.000-08:00

Subway Sketch Dump

2010-02-10T12:40:00.001-08:00

Fall's End in God's Country

2009-12-07T11:39:00.000-08:00

Reminiscing about the Pennsylvania country as fall comes to a close.

2009-10-13T09:52:00.000-07:00

An illustration I made to hang over my wife's cherished shrimp and snail aquarium.

2009-09-20T12:39:00.000-07:00

A Partially finished background for an animation that got scrapped.

2009-09-20T12:35:00.000-07:00

A couple of illustrations I did for Lord Ganesh Press

2009-04-21T11:06:00.000-07:00

Here's a couple older images.

2008-04-28T11:14:00.000-07:00

This was a fun image I made for a gallery show: "Pixel to Print" I was pretty happy with the end result, although I think it may be a little too busy.

The Sorcerer

2008-02-19T22:46:00.001-08:00

This is a digital illustration I did today for a drawing class.

2008-02-05T22:03:00.000-08:00

I did this quicky while at work today. I was inspired by the simple Disney animation backgrounds after reading "Dream Worlds" by Hans Bacher (which by the way is an amazing book on design, animation, and film theory). Enjoy.

Attitude

2008-01-29T23:30:00.000-08:00

This image was done using illustrator, painter X, and photoshop. It started out as a gesture drawing from a figure session and when from there. I really tried to grasp the attitude of the model.

An Oh So Holy Trio

2008-01-29T23:27:00.000-08:00

This was an illustration done for a juried "miniatures" show. In the show it was split into three pieces each of which was cut out and mounted on bristol board.

2008-01-08T17:33:00.000-08:00

This is a piece I put together for a presentation at a high school on digital illustration.

2007-11-07T21:05:00.000-08:00