Boxer

An amateur pugilist meets his match.

In 2018 I dedicated some time to take a module at iAnimate. The idea came from my love of the sport and how boxing is depicted on film.

I filmed myself shadow boxing, silly slips and weaves to plan out the idea.

I wanted to set the animation in an old, dirty basement gym. The style was intentionally borrowed from Ratatouille and the original Incredibles both directed by Brad Bird, who really captures realism in toon form.

The CFX was handled using nCloth, something which I've been using for the last few years and know it's quirks and limitations. The piece acted as a guinea pig for a set of tools I've been writing to automate the cfx rig setups and creation of custom nodes and finalling.

Lighting is an area I rarely touch. However with careful preparation, consulting the docs and experimenting it becomes an interesting challenge.

It was super refreshing to have a mentor who lives and breathes animation in Manuel Aparicio and to be part of a school that is spearheaded by such a dedicated and nurturing professional in Jason Ryan.