Final

Final from Erica Wester on Vimeo.

Mehhhh.... the timing's not right in some places.  But I guess that reflects MY poor timing for shooting it.  IRONYYYY?

Progress 1

Progress 1 from Erica Wester on Vimeo.
 
SOOOOOO MANYYYY LEGGGGSSSSSS.

Elements

Elements from Erica Wester on Vimeo.

Walk Cycle with Character

Walk Cycle with Charactter from Erica Wester on Vimeo.

Metamorphosis Remix, "The Metamorphosis of Some Things and Stuff"

Metamorphosis Remix, "The Metamorphosis of Some Things and Stuff" from Erica Wester on Vimeo.
Hope this works.  I'm not about to wait 2 damn hours for vimeo to convert these things.  So I just pasted the link location into the embed code for one of my other videos.  It's not a bad idea IN THEORY... but then again so is communism. 

Walking Heavy

Walking Heavy from Erica Wester on Vimeo.

Walking Female

Walking Female from Erica Wester on Vimeo.

Walking Male

Walking Male from Erica Wester on Vimeo.

Visual Research 1

I'll admit, these were taken haphazardly (and regular hazardly!) while driving.  While my reasoning for this was actually because I didn't get the chance to go out and take any photos, I actually started taking cel-phone-driving-pictures a few years ago, because I see a lot of interesting compositions while I'm driving.  So... it kind of worked out I guess.  I got some interesting shots I think, just driving from the school to my apartment.

 Not sure what happened here.  The image is all warped and bubbly.... it might've been 'cause I wasn't holding the phone still, but it seems more likely that it would've just been blurry if that were the case.  Whatever is going on there, it's sorta trippy.   

 There's a stop light up ahead that makes a nice red dot right on the vanishing point. 

Hammer time!

Weight: Three Objects

Redid it!

Weight: Three Objects REDO from Erica Wester on Vimeo.

Original:

Untitled from Erica Wester on Vimeo.

Incremental 2

A few of my favorite sketches from the model session.

Bouncing Ball

Untitled from Erica Wester on Vimeo.

Ball Under Layer

I didn't necessarily follow these as concisely as I probably should've. 

Pendulum

Pendelum from Erica Wester on Vimeo.

Incremental #1

The first few poses were a bit frustrating from the angle I was at, because the model was basically moving towards me....  I was hesitant to start moving her further to the left on the page, because that wouldn't be accurate to how she was moving through space at my angle.  But it ended up working out relatively okay, I think.  I just told myself to get over it and keep going!
I also have a much huger deal of respect for models now.... she held great poses and she held them well.

Incremental Sample #1

I prrrroooobably haven't been doing as many incremental drawings in the morguebook as I should.  But I draw them in my notes for other classes all the time, so I've been cutting out chunks of my notes and pasting them into my morguebook.  It's not a full walk cycle, but I thought it looked fun at least.
Beneath it are just some arbitrary notes about character. 

Metamorphosis!

If you don't want to see it evolve, just hold down B.

Metamorphosis from Erica Wester on Vimeo.
Overall, this was pretty fun.  I feel like the moving through space parts could've been smoother.... plus with the 'favorite place locally', I ended up going outside and over my balcony, which kind of gave me some slightly wanky perspective.  I typically didn't spend much time on them, because I tend to think of scenery as background, and I tend to draw/color more impressionistic backgrounds.  So it just looks like a bunch of messy lines.
The 'favorite place growing up' movement was kind of interesting, because this past weekend, I went back home to visit, and coincidentally, I ended up at aforementioned favorite place.  The whole arcade was entirely moved around, remodeled, different games, no prize redemption table, no clerks to be seen....  but, interestingly enough, the DDR machine was in the same exact spot.  (It was a newer version of the game though), but it was kind of comforting to see that it hadn't moved, despite the rest of the environment having changed. 
The actual metamorphosis was really fun.  I think I could've (and probably should've) gone a little crazier with it, or at least put a few more frames in there, because most of it goes by pretty fast (there's some fish in there, for instance, and I thought they were totally cool when they first showed up, but they left just as quickly as they came!)
I'm still relatively satisfied with how it turned out.  It was interesting to see what kind of things came out of it, because I've never animated something unplanned before. 

KCAI ANIM: Hunting and Gathering Project, PART 1

Favorite Place Growing Up. 
This is the view (well, maybe if you're really tall) as you enter the HI-VI Arcade at Ameristar Casino in St. Charles.  Most kids in middle school are more interested in loitering at the mall, but I spent my Friday or Saturday nights at the HI-VI with all the other kids who, I assume, were dropped off by their gambler parents.  I was reeeeeaaallly big into DDR.  And I hate to be that hipster who says "I liked it before it was cool".... but I did.  I started playing like, back in 2000 or 2001.  
Anyway, now that I'm off my soap box, I used to hang out at this arcade with a bunch of hardcore DDR nerds and... it's one of those experiences that's hard to explain in words, but there was a competitive yet friendly aura about the place.  Regardless of your skill level, you came in, you cashed out everything in your name for some tokens, and you took turns having the time of your life on this retarded-looking flashy metal box for 7 hours or so.  There was this weird connection to the game, to the players... it's hard to describe, but it's that feeling of being part of something.  I know it's not exclusive to arcade junkies... it's something universal that you can feel with any sport or hobby you're passionate about.

Favorite Place Locally.
I've lived here for about a week.  I don't yet have a favorite place locally.  So I chose what (I think) is sort of ironic but not entirely out of the specifications of "locally" -- my bedroom at my apartment.
NOOOOO it's not some artistic statement about being homesick (As a matter of fact, my room here doesn't resemble my room back home at all).  It's just a comfort zone thing.