Another reply from Broken Pixel...

Here's what Ashley had to say: 

"I'm glad to hear from people who are so enthusiastic about animating! I'm doing a lot of teaching between now and Christmas, but hopefully there might be some opportunities to do some work experience in the new year.  If you send me a reminder in January, I'll let you know what's happening at the studio. Good luck with the Red Bull competition, send me a link when it's done! It's hard to say how long any animation will take to complete, but I'd certainly get cracking soon as the deadline is looming... If it looks like you aren't going to fit all your ideas in in time, don't be afraid to re-write your treatment and be creative with your edit!"

It was great to have some knowledge of when I could potentially gain a work placement, hopefully in January, 

as this would be a really great insight in to the industry. I' am going to remember to remind Ashley about our correspondence for January when fingers cross I can gain a placement.

In the run up to the New year I can relentlessly improve my knowledge  and practise of animation.

From Ashley's other advice for the Red Bull competition I want to keep time very restricted and spend as little time I can producing a very good, quick, clean animation that delivers a simple and appealing messaging quickly.


Here's the progress that I'v
e made so far in creating another armature, this time working life size to make a semi-realistic pigeon.


I seeked out the best images online that depicted the pigeon's body in two poses:

This is a decent enough photo 

that displays the pigeon's width 

from a front view. We all know
what pigeons look like, but it's 
remarkable how you can forget
how to draw one, or in my case

actually make a life size moving 

model of one.

I've also researched 

diagrammatic reference to gain 

some idea of the pigeon's 

skeletal structure and the 

motion in which its wings fold.

And after drawing and getting a feel for
the pigeon's skeleton, I embarked on

producing a wire armature that was

as accurate to the above diagram as I

could produce:

So this is the armature that I've produced

so far (with folding wings!). I' am going

to take more time to strengthen the limbs

and leave the joints more open to bend,

as opposed to my previous Alfie the 

Astronaut that struggles to move so easily.