RIGGING

RIGBENITO2 from adamconwayjuniorjesman on Vimeo.
It’s been a while since my last post so I am going to make this a Monster!-ish one to make up for it. The topic of this Post is Rigging. To any non Animator/3d Artists, this is the process of building a skeleton that determines how your character moves.  It’s simply making a computer generated skeleton underneath your 3D model.In stop motion animation its making an armature that allows animators to “give life to” the Object. Below are some examples from Studio Laikas latest project, Paranorman.


ParaNorman - Faces of ParaNorman from Grow Film Company on Vimeo.

SIMPLE VS COMPLICATED

Now, the thing I like more than anything is creating and writing stories, followed by animation……. Rigging, texturing, lighting, are my least favourite pastimes.  A good Rig should make an animators Job simpler. It should enable and empower an animator to put the character in all sorts of poses and situations without limitation. When we began making the Rig for Benito.... Adam gave me the following Link as something we could aspire to terms of flexibility......

I said man! THIS RIG IS BEASTLY!!!!.....unless we 1. Pay or 2. kidnap Mario or 3. Spend months figuring out how to Rig like this! I propose a different approach…….FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION.  Let’s Rig the character according to what we intend to do with him, rather than make a Rig for all seasons!
  

Ever since University, I have been rigging things according to this principal, some Artists (Apacapa Faridzuan) will probably disagree but I will try and argue my reasons why:

INSPIRATION FOR BENITO

When Adam showed me the sketches above of the Benito character, I thought whoa, its like a cuter version of Street Sharks!

That used to be one of my favourite shows when I was growing up! That along with Swat Kats. Not many Animators I know/ have spoken to seem to remember that show: so it was refreshing to hear Adam (3D Artist) say he liked those shows as much as I did. 

 I could go gallivanting down memory lane on all the awesome shows that existed in those times, but all I remember was that those shows had a lot of action animation! It seems like modern shows are dialogue heavy and very character driven (ego, persona-one man shows)

Swat Kats S01E03 Inglés from Jorge Apablaza on Vimeo.

Now of course Adams' sketches are a lot more rounded, they are not of the same vein as the aforementioned programmes and sway more towards young children's TV so  we had to create a story to suit the design. We thought the characters appeal is in his roundedness, although he could be dangerous (He is a shark! check the teeth) he is ultimately lovable, a pet. This made us think of the highly successful Simon's Cat.

HELLO AND WELCOME TO THE BENITO'S TRAVELS BLOG

Who is Benito?

Benito, full name Benito Romances Von Sharkspeare is an effervescent little 6 year old Dino-Shark. He is friendly, zestful, curious and and absolutely hates water because he cant swim. Little is known about his birth...except that he was found by Adam W Conway and Junior Jesman who have been developing and helping him grow. He does not know where he is from, but believes there are others like him in the world and so, he has decided to pack his bags and search for his kin. We hope you will join him on his adventures and journey as he searches for clues of his story...his history. 

So.....What is Benito's Travels?

Benito's travels is a comical, 3D animated web series of 45 second episodes following Benito, as he travels the globe in search of his family. The series hopes to highlight the cultural differences and similarities of world culture. Benito approaches everything in life with childlike wonder and enthusiasm and it is these qualities that form the basis for some humorous mishaps and events.
  

What will be on this Blog?

This blog will highlight the working process behind getting a character like this from the initial sketches to a fully realised 3D character, onto storyboards, design, lighting, rigging, animating and rendering him. We hope to be posting art and getting some feedback on the project as we are working on it. We want it to be a collaborative effort...memebers of the public with any suggestions, write comments or just send us an email to: benitostravels@gmail.com. From time to time, Benito will personally send post cards from different countries he visits, telling and showing us all how his adventures are going.

Dino Shark from adamconwayjuniorjesman on Vimeo.