My first Animation Reel

Jonas_g_97

https://syncsketch.com/sketch/ecaa3589764f/

What are your thoughts on it?
Can I use it like this for now or are there some animations I should definitely polish a bit more or remove?

I´m happy to hear your feedback

Rmunday

Unless going for that specific area keep your NSFW animations out of your reel. This is a very particular area very rarely suited to the jobs you will be going for. The diner lady's walk isn't actually bad at all but remove the nude version. 

With some tweaking of timings the quadruped walk cycle could also be a solid piece. The opening shot of the pirate lady opening the map, I would say to avoid the aforementioned NSFW rule by change the colour of her trousers. With the colour as they are it looks like she has no pants on at all.  

Then the pirate lady kicking the lever, I would say go back and adjust it. It is a nice idea however the kicking of the lever itself seems very weightless right now, have her put her foot onto it, lean into it with the body and then have it go down. Hold a pose for a moment where her foot it still on it but the rest of her weight carries down a bit before removing the foot to go back to idle. Right now it just briefly touches the lever then immediately removes after the lever is switched.

Your weakest piece is the creature roaring, it just feels very similar in the timings with no clearly defined poses and it feels pretty rigid. I get when a creature roars it is meant to be inducing fear and been scary so tensing up makes sense but right now that is not really coming across. Either work on it more or replace it. 

I hope this basis feedback helps! 

Jonas_g_97

Thanks for the detailed feedback!

I applied some of the feedback and here is the updated version:
https://syncsketch.com/sketch/d548f15db5eb/?offlineMode=1#730927/657491/f_363

-Changed trousers color of the pirate lady a bit
-Removed nude version of the waitress walk animation
-Removed my two weakest pieces
-Replaced them with turning wheel animation

tholmes3d

This feels like a better version of your reel. I'd be interested to see a version that goes map, waitress walk, quadruped walk, wheel. I don't feel that the quadruped walk is one of your stronger pieces so I wouldn't finish with it. it's nice to see you tackling different types on animation, but the timing on the feet especially makes the creature feel like it has a very labored walk. Also, by putting the quadruped walk in between the walk and the wheel, you avoid another jumpcut of two humans who are both center frame and facing the same general direction, so overall I think the reel will flow better.

Jonas_g_97

Edit: The linked video is no longer the Mar 13 version, it´s a new version of the reel since I just updated the video on myvideo instead of uploading a new reel to myvideo each time.

Thanks tholmes3d!

I changed the order like you suggested:

tholmes3d

That looks better to me. What do you think of your reel at this point? And do you plan to keep working on any of these pieces, or start new ones?

Jonas_g_97

I think it's quite decent
I think I could probably push it further by really retouching the animations but I think I will just keep it like this for now and work on new stuff

JKNori

So far, it's a good reel. If you really want to showcase your animation skills and make your reel stand out a little bit more, I'd say go for more ambitious action stuff, try and do action scenes. They can showcase your animation skills and may jump at the person who is considering you as an animator for a studio.

Make sure you watch other animator's reels and think about this:

- What makes them good?
- What are they showing?
- Why did they choose them?
- What are they doing to stand out?

Same with the "weaker" reels, you can learn a lot from watching a pretty weak reel. Again, think about the following stuff:

- What's wrong with this reel?
- What could I do to make the reel better?
- What stuff do I need to avoid doing to make my reel worse?

Jonas_g_97

Thank you for the tips!

I will try to learn from other reels.

I actually worked on a body mechanics shot since finishing my reel cause as you mentioned that is something currently missing in my reel.
I´m creating a new post for the body mechanics shot but here is the syncsketch link so you don´t have to search the new post if you want to check it out.
https://syncsketch.com/sketch/e482ff1d672f/

Jonas_g_97

Update
I added my new body mechanics shot and applied feedback to the turning wheel shot.
https://syncsketch.com/sketch/c5a4cd0b1a0a/
https://vimeo.com/315133280

tholmes3d

I'm glad to see you continue pushing on this.

First Shot: The main action here feels good. The ending is the weakest part for me because of how the momentum seems to stop. A common issue with animation is when you can see that it looks like the animator didn't feel like doing the work of having small foot steps and weight shifts, so they force the character to "stick the landing". This seems like one of those cases where the character doesn't look like they actually should land as steady as they do. Also, If you want to push your reel to the next level, take these shots from looking like exercises to looking like a piece of something bigger.  The main swinging action is obviously made for this shot, but the way she stops at the end makes it feel like she isn't a thinking, feeling human. Maybe she runs off-screen in a hurry, anything to help the shot tell a story.

Second shot: Watch her left shoulder here, it's a bit funky. Also consider framing the shot with the table at the bottom of the screen. The angle of the camera is nice, but the feet aren't helping the shot at all, so maybe cut them out. 

Third Shot: The walk is pretty good but the upper body/head looks super stiff. Work on loosening it up.

Fourth Shot: Your other work has progressed too much, this shot no longer holds up in terms of quality. I know it probably feels like you've cut a lot of stuff already, but your reel is getting stronger and stronger.

Fifth Shot: Nothing big sticks out at me. 


Keep up the good work! Can't wait to see what you add to this reel.