First Assignment - First Mistake.

So there I am sitting there, in front of my computer. A bouncing ball hastily scribbled on my sketch pad that I made by watching someone's reference video. The ball lifted up in the air waiting to be dropped, just sitting there....waiting. BAM! I drop the ball - literally. I start laying down keys, the ball starts to move....in completely the wrong way. So I sit there, thinking...thinking real hard.

My QA is going to start soon, so I ease up on the thinking and log in. Today's QA is about planning your shot. Bret drops some very useful tricks regarding reference footage, planning, animating characters, etc. Then she drops some tips regarding our assignment and how she would go about it. BOOM! It hits me like a ton of bricks, I've been doing it all wrong or at least the difficult way! "Layers Fool!", I shout to myself, "Animate the damn thing in layers!". I've been trying to animate the darn thing straight-ahead with all the action at once and it ain't working for me. Flashbacks of our video lecture go through my mind like a runaway train as I flip through my notes. I can't believe I forgot that!

I made my first mistake when doing my first animation assignment. Will I ever forget this lesson? Probably not.