The minor project has been tough to say the least. I took time over the summer after getting feedback to think about the film I wanted to make and how I could make changes to it in my best interest when coming to 3D work. I took a bit of a risk and decided that I wanted to make a more achievable story for myself, rather than have 2 dogs and a lot of set models. So I ended up spending most of my time exploring Ryan's character and what I could do with him, because I was happy with the designs and his characteristics. He's based on a real dog- which is part of what I love about him. There's so many stories that can be told around Ryan, all of them amusing, but none of them seemed to work out. I can't say for sure why that is, but after discussions with Alan- it's been said it's time to let this project go. I had fun with it while I could and really enjoyed getting to hang out with Ryan again, this won't be the last of him, I can guarantee that much because he has thousands of great stories to tell and the stories I came up with, I really enjoyed. 

2020 in itself made this a lot harder than it needed to be, not being able to go into the Uni and catch Alan or other students for a conversation every now and then has definitely had an impact on everyone. Those small conversations on a whim are often what helps make things move in a more positive direction, so the way everything is functioning right now is not ideal, everyone is suffering in different ways. 

I feel I really didn't achieve much in this project due to the complications with my story and all the time that feels, honestly, wasted on trying to salvage something I loved. But regardless of how hard it is to let it go, and how hard it's been to produce all these stories and animatics, I'm still happy with all my stories. They just didn't work in terms of what was needed for the course. Had I have settled on a story, or stuck with the one I originally set out to do, I'd have a lot more artwork to show, finalised props, sets in the works, etc. I wish I had more to show, than just a bunch of storyboards.

One thing I can walk away from this project with, proudly, is the fact that I have created a fully modelled dog in Maya. I'm so happy with how it turned out, I learned how to make compromises from 2D to 3D (from orthograph to model) to make the character look their best in Maya. I want to continue with this character along the lines, and get him fully rigged and moving because he has great potential in my eyes. I couldn't have made it this far without Tom helping me make it all make sense along the way, and Alan fixing all my technical faults and showing me how to do things properly. 

All I can say is I hope that major goes more smoothly than this.