New Rigging Demo Reel

Here's my new rigging reel. I'll update it with rendered demonstrations of the characters in action once I update and polish my website. All of the rigs I worked on, along with the whole thesis campaign I powered through, this is a result of about 2 years worth of work.


Aaron Lenard - Spring 2012 Rigging Reel from Aaron Lenard on Vimeo.
"Happy Paradise" from the Sega Genesis game, "Streets of Rage 3"
Composed by Yuzo Koshiro

New Spring 2012 Animation Demo Reel

Check it out.


Spring 2012 Character Animation Reel from Aaron Lenard on Vimeo.
Left Foot, Right Foot (Instrumental) by: People Under the Stairs

Madcow

For the past few months, I've been working with Daniel Augsburger on his thesis film entitled "Madcow". I built the body rig while he worked on the face rig, while also animating a couple shots for the film. Recently I wanted to do a walk cycle that kinda fit the humor and overall attitude of Madcow's personality. While there's still some tweaks to be made, but it is off to a fun start.

Character Designer: Jerald Lewis II
Modeler: Danesh Taraporevala

http://madcowfilm.wordpress.com/


Madcow Walk Cycle from Aaron Lenard on Vimeo.

Still working on finding work.

So it's been about 5 months since I graduated from SCAD, and yet there's a lot to correct, tweak, restart, re-work, re-render, and finish within my overall portfolio. While the time I spent on my thesis film was an awesome, learning experience, (along with the time spent looking for potential employment) the same time is being put towards making better demo reels and an updated portfolio for the companies I'm interested in applying for.

So far my plan is to:

- tweak, and re-render my short film "Shift Plus" to release online to the public. This change will included, added shots to simplify the story, corrections in the models as well as their animations, and some subtle textures and render passes like Ambient Occlusion will be added.

- I'm currently working on Dan Augsburger's thesis film entitled "Madcow." and depending on how the film is released will depend on when I can add it to my demo reel.

- A rigging reel is in the works. It will be based off of 10+ rigs I have worked on during and after my studies at SCAD

-2 existing acting scenes in my existing character animation reel will be tweaked.

- I'm learning more ways to use the UDK engine to develop a stronger game animation reel, and 3 walk/run cycles will be added as well.

So hopefully this month will be a very productive one.

Meet Opal

Here is the second character from my film, Opal. I forgot to make the same presentation image I had for Garcian. Big thanks to Amanda Christensen for designing the character.

The Thesis is done, but more work ahead

The Thesis has officially been completed on time, and approved by SCAD (4 weeks ago). Now that I am back home in Cincinnati, I can continue developing more content, and eventually displaying that content on this site.

While I would like to showcase the short film, there is still more work to be done. While I turned it in to the school, my team and I want to continue working on it with the hopes of having it festival-ready starting in January. There are scenes to re-light, re-animate, and re-render.

I also want to formally thank everyone who worked on Shift +. I could not have finished this film if it wasn't for the excitement and the diligent work you all achieved to see this project through. I can't thank you enough....seriously I can't.

To give credit where it's due, here is the credits list so far of Shift +:

Music:
Jonathan Fobbs

2D Animation & Opal Character Design:
Amanda Christensen

Environment Layout Artist:
Dana Blockton

Prop Modelers:
Miho Tomimasu
Dan Field
Kris Vaughan
Harshit Desai
Jonathan Graef
Danesh Taraporevala

Graphic Designer:
Danielle Interdonato

Rigging Supervisor:
Evan Perry

Animators:
Jonathan Graef
Danielle Interdonato
Brianna McNamara
Rebecca S. Boensch
Ahren Wert
Daniel C. Augsburger
Eric Spivey
Jyreme Mcmillon

Special Thanks:
Jacques Khouri
Michael Gargiulo
Debra Moorshead
Jeremy Moorshead
Kyle Bingham
Andrea Stephens
Dana E. Corrigan

And here are some stills from the short film:

Rendering Shots for Shift +

Here is a link of a render collage I have been working on for my thesis film. Soon it will be done and evaluated...then re-worked, lol. The music was composed by Jonathan Fobbs, and the animators responisble for these particular scenes are Jon Graef, Rebecca Boensch, Danielle Interdonato, and me.