I thought some of you might like to know what a typical week is like for me as a student of Animation Mentor.

Sunday
Since homework is due at noon, this is kind of a day off for me. I typically post my homework late Saturday night and kind of write Sunday off since I'm not much of a morning person. Hell, I'm barely an afternoon person. But hey, I'm always up for watching some animation and what better way to spend Sunday than watching cartoons. =)

Monday
The week really begins. I log in and get a confirmation screen asking me if my homework has been posted and if I'm ready to continue. The first order of business is to watch the weekly news and see what is happening this week. Homework alerts, school news, and general info can be found here. The news is approximately five minutes long.

Then I move on to watching the current week's lecture. These are video lectures presented by instructors and mentors from the school as well as a variety of industry professionals from such places as Pixar, Dreamworks, Sony, ILM and more. The subjects range from basic animation techniques such as squash and stretch and overlapping action to the types of lessons we are learning in our second semester like body mechanics and some basic acting techniques. The weekly lectures can go from forty five minutes to an hour, sometimes a bit longer.

Along with the news and lecture I check to see if there are any other video tidbits like a tool tutorial or even a guest speaker. The guest speaker spots are always a special treat because you get to hear some wonderful stories and pick up some great tips from long time industry professionals.

I also check the assignment area to find out what I'll be working on for the week as well as take some time to brush up with some of my animation books. I'll also spend a bit of time perusing the other students posted homework and possibly posting critiques of my own. The whole school community has access to each other's work to post comments and offer suggestions. It really brings the class closer together as well as brings more eyes to the table to review the work and catch any problem areas.

Monday is sort of "paperwork" day.

Tuesday
This is when the real work begins. Before I even touch my computer I begin planning out my assigned scene. In the first semester there wasn't much planning, but as we are moving into longer and more complicated shots with more intricate models the planning stages are becoming increasingly more important.

Generally I spend Tuesdays planning my shots and doing my video capture (if necessary). I start with thumbnail ideas based on the week's assignment. I work out the story or gag or even just the simple actions.

I then use either my web cam or my camcorder to capture myself doing a variety of actions to work out my timing and possible poses. Now a key point to remember is that this video reference is not for "tracing" or to be used as the sole basis for movement and timing in the animation. We look at the reference to pick out the details like the twist of a foot or the shift in weight of the character. Plus we look for "key" moments that we can use as the basis for our main drawings, which we can later push to more extreme poses (you know, all animated like).

I then take my raw footage and review it and decide which actions look or feel best. Sometimes it's a straight shot but more often than not it is a cut and paste collage of bits from different shots.

Now, on the rare occasion that I do my video reference fully clothed, then I will also post it to my Public Review area in my workspace so other students can see my reference and perhaps get some ideas themselves. Again, the key here is sharing.

Wednesday
With everything in place footage wise it is now time for layout. I take my paper and pens and sit in front of the video footage and get my gesture drawings down. I draw the key drawings I will use and make notes on possible timing, arcs of motion, possible breakdown drawings, and generally spend my time setting the shot up on paper.

Wednesday evenings are also the time I am scheduled for my weekly live Q&A session with my mentor. Each mentor (or teacher if you will) is assigned 15 to 20 students to call their own. Each week we go into our own little videoconference room to chat and ask questions. Everything from current animation studio policies and behind the scenes job info as well as technical problems (such as parenting objects in Maya or gimbal lock) is discussed. Every student is encouraged to ask a question and when it's your turn your web cam is activated and you and your mentor are both on the screen at the same time for all the students to see so they can "eavesdrop" in on your back and forth with the mentor.

There is also a chat window on the side where the students not currently engaged with the mentor can talk back and forth.

Also during the week (typically between Monday and Wednesday) you get a personalized "e-critique" that the mentor tapes and posts into your workspace for you to watch at your convenience. The mentor will talk to you about last week's assignment you posted and offer tips and point out rough spots in their video presentation. Sometimes they are small changes and sometimes they will draw on their screen to make certain points.

All in all, the mentoring program is a runaway success.

Thursday and Friday
Now for the good stuff, although I do thoroughly enjoy the planning stages. I spend my days setting up the shot in "stepped mode", which means it is the rough blocking pass where the animation is a bit "jumpy". In stepped mode the character pops from key pose to key pose. It is a way to work on timing and to get a general overview of how the animation will look in it's final stage. It takes a bit of getting used to, but it is much easier to edit the scene in stepped mode early on with a few key poses than later on down the line with a ton of little tweaks and subtle nuances.

As I am becoming more comfortable with the tools, I find that these steps go much quicker. But that extra time allows me to do more polish and go for a better look and feel to my animation. Hell, I only recently did my first assignment where I felt like a real animator. It was the assignment where we were focusing on giving weight to the objects we were working with.

I tend to visit the Animation Mentor forums a lot during this time when I get stuck or need some technical advice. Not only are the students and mentors a fountain of information on the boards, but chances are someone out there is having the same exact problem as you.

Saturday
Ahh, the home stretch. If I need the extra time to work on an assignment I take Saturday to make sure all my work is ready for posting later that evening. I create my playblasts (simple, non-rendered animations to show the animation without all the hassle of lighting, textures, etc.) and prepare my sketches and workflow for uploading.

Once my work is uploaded my mentor, as well as my fellow students, are free to view the work and make their comments.

Typically one week's assignment will carry over into the next since when you do a scene in stepped mode, the next class might talk about arcs or overlapping action and then you take the next week to refine the scene with full frames and all the in-betweens. Now those weeks are time consuming since you have so many little adjustments and tweaks to get the scene to flow just right.

But at least you know going forward that you will not only receive the instruction you need to handle whatever comes down the pike homework wise, but you will have a support system in your mentor and fellow students to help you over any hurdles.