Grad film trailer and poster

I'm back! After months of being trapped in my school's animation studio finishing my thesis film, I am almost done with school for good. It feels great, except for the part where I don't get to sleep very often because I'm still finishing this project.

I'll probably do a puppet/ environment post later, and I will also try to go over some things I learned in my last year of school.

I'm still not 100% sure about the poster (specially the handwriting), but I've been meeting my deadlines and getting work done, so that's a plus.

Wish me luck!
STEVE HOLT \o/!!!

Unfortunately - Trailer from Karla on Vimeo.

Bring Nature Closer to Home

Hey Vancouver! Stop trying to carry wild animals into your homes, that's just silly!
You know what's a good way to bring nature closer to home? Build a park and a sense of community in your neighborhood!

Related: Very Vancouver
Character Designs

Toilet Training

Working on this project was awfully frustrating. This was my original idea for a grad thesis film, and I'm really glad I got it out of the way before my senior year. My original purpose was to explore character in inanimate objects (that didn't go very well) and to go crazy with Particular. I did get to play with particular a lot more than I had to previously, but still, I didn't get as far as I would've liked to.
At least it's done. Ish. I guess?

Trabajar en este proyecto fue increíblemente frustrante. Ésta fue mi primera idea para un proyecto de tesis, y la verdad estoy bastante contenta de haber intentado hacer esto antes de mi último año. Mi idea original era explorar la idea de personalidad en objetos inanimados, una tarea en la que fallé horriblemente. También quería experimentar más con Particular, y sí tuve oportunidad de jugar y probar cosas que no había hecho antes, pero no tanto como hubiera querido. Al menos está medio hecho, creo.

Related: Toilet Training - Tests and Development

Coffee (Motion Graphics)

This is my final project for my motion graphics class. I think this was the class I enjoyed the most this semester. I feel like I learned a lot, although I don't think I applied this knowledge to my work very well. I also got to play around with Particular and Mocha, and those experiences were pretty excellent. I'll be taking Special Effects next semester, and working with special effects in Houdini and Particular in After Effects is something I'm very interested in. I feel so much more comfortable with After Effects now!

For this assignment, I wanted to create an infographic about the production of coffee. I'm satisfied with the overall feel, but I still think there are some timing issues that could be fixed.

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Este ha sido mi proyecto final para mi clase de motion graphics. A pesar de que siento que fue mi mejor clase este semestre, y que aprendí muchísimo, no creo haber aprendido a aplicar lo que aprendí en mi trabajo del todo. Igual, me pareció una clase excelente porque empecé a experimentar con Particular y Mocha, que son cosas que me llamaban mucho la atención. Voy a tomar una clase de efectos especiales el semestre que viene, y ojalá pueda combinar estas cosas con Houdini. Lo mejor de esta clase es que creo que ya le perdí todo el miedo a After Effects <3


Para este proyecto quería enfocarme en hacer una infografía de la producción del café. Me gusta el tono que tiene y todo, pero creo que todavía hay varias cosas que podría trabajar. 

Credits:
Voice over: Cassandra Sanders Background
Music: Ojala Que Llueva Café en el Campo - Juan Luis Guerra
Film Footage: The Journey of The Coffee Bean (Watch it here: youtu.be/xD-pLgLgZGo)

The Canada Line Project

The Canada Line Project consists of four 10 second films my classmates in Experimental Animation and I worked on for a couple of months this semester. This was commissioned by the Canada Line subway company, and will be aired from the middle of January to February in all the screens of all the Canada Line stations. So, if you're in the Vancouver area during that time, make sure you take the subway and check out all four films! The films will be aired individually during four weeks. This has been my first experience with public art - exciting!

The sad thing? We weren't allowed to add sound - I really wish we had worked with sound!

The class was divided into three different groups to work on the first three films. We had to develop ideas and pitch them to our benefactors - a public art consultor and a representative from the Canada Line company. I was very lucky to work with a group of talented people on the third film "Parade". Eventually, we organized a set of people to work on the final film "Coda". After seeing what the other two groups created, I must say this project was very successful. You'd have to see them all together, but I'll save that for later. These are the films I worked on:





Coda - Third Test from Karla on Vimeo.


Here are some WIP clips, and tests of the characters I animated. It was exciting to animate paper cutouts; this is something I might do for my grad project. Also, I'm very happy I got to work in so many aspects of production - from storyboards and animatics  to compositing and cleanup.

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Este proyecto fue una comisión de cuatro cortos de 10 segundos por Canada Line, una compañía local de trenes subterráneos. Ha sido parte de mi clase de Animación Experimental, y trabajé con varios de mis compañeros para crear dos de las cuatro partes. Este proyecto va a ser mostrado al público en todas las pantallas de las estaciones de Canada Line en Vancouver. Así que si van a estar por estos lados entre Enero y Febrero, ¡presten atención cuando estén en el subte!
Esta ha sido mi primera experiencia con arte público, y a fin de cuentas ha sido una experiencia positiva. Para desarrollar el proyecto, la clase se dividió en tres grupos para trabajar en los primeros tres cortos. Desarrollamos una serie de ideas que presentamos a una representante de la compañía y una consultora de arte público. Después de storyboards, animatics, y aprobación, empezamos a trabajar. Yo trabajé en las partes 3 y 4 (postearé las 1 y 2 el año que viene). 


Fue bastante satisfactorio poder trabajar en tantas etapas de producción. Desde hacer un pitch hasta limpiar en post producción. Aparte, este proyecto me permitió trabajar animando papel cortado, que es algo que no había hecho "formalmente" y me ha gustado muchísimo.

Credits:
Parade
Preproduction work by: Laura Nisbet, Tor Aunet, Nick Byrne, Lou Papa, Brian Iankovs, and Karla Monterrosa
Characters and animation by: Emily Kao, Laura Nisbet, Tor Aunet, Lou Papa, Brian Iankovs, and Karla Monterrosa
Set by: Rose Luo, Emilie Van Os-Schmidt, Nick Byrne and David O'Brien

Coda
Preproduction work by: Laura Nisbet, Emilie Van Os-Schmidt, and Karla Monterrosa
Animation and characters by: Laura Nisbet, Brian Iankovs, Lou Papa, Tor Aunet, Jennifer Chiang, Cody Shaw, Emily Kao and Karla Monterrosa.
Set by: Rose Luo, Emilie Van Os-Schmidt, Nick Byrne and David O'Brien

Job Interview

Part of a project I was working on for Experimental Animation. This was part of a set of (failed) experiments, and might or might not be finished later. I think I had a pretty good story in mind, so I'll keep it (it involved KITTENS, okay?). Food for thought, I guess?

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Esto fue parte de un proceso de investigación/experimentos para una clase de Animación Experimental. Quizá lo termine después, ya que estaba bastante feliz con la idea original para la historia (involucra GATITOS, por favor). Supongo que es una idea que puedo tener guardada para después.

¡Oh, los proyectos que nunca ven la luz!

ECUAD Bumper

First assignment for Motion Graphics class. I’m quite satisfied with this, although I’m not very happy with the floaty animation/ frankensteined music/ awful frame rate messes.

Part of Our Lives

Voice over by Lou Papa, who doesn't really use that much hair product.

Part of Our Lives Development

Character development for THIS animation. Based on my classmate Lou, for 2D Animation II.

Guinea Pig Development

Character development for a Drawing for Animation class.
She was supposed to be a guinea pig princess on a quest to save Peru, but she looks more like a pet, really. I want to revamp her and make her a legit savior princess!