Well hello! I’m currently in Denmark!
Right after driving off the ferry.
So February was in the beginning a lot about packing, planning and getting my shit together. After getting really sick one week in the end of January I had to do everything I had planned really fast. Like a machine. You know? It kind of looked like this:
Packing
Fuel. Task list will be ... EXTERMINATED!
My mom helped me moving here! I have increddible parents. I didn’t ask for any help on this since I know I can basically take the train (5-6 hour trip) from where I live in Sweden. But she insisted she’d drive me since she wanted to see Viborg! And Robe’s parents also showed a lot of interest in helping me since they were interested in seeing where I’d study. I’m lucky to have such helpful parents! We made it to the ferry with one minute to spare early in the morning.
Slight heart attack from almost missing the ferry. 
My room!
When we arrived on friday the 15:th me and Robe had a nice dinner with mom at a place called Rindholm’s Kro. Very beautiful place with sweet people working there. Really good food and atmosphere.
On saturday I had to say goodbye to Robert. Even though 15 weeks will pass really fast and he will visit me once or twice, I got really really sad! It was hard to shake off!
I got in a better mood later because I met Talía and Dorte! 😀 I know them from tegakie/online and it was so nice to finally meet them in person. They are character animation students of the bachelor-programme . They showed me around the city, helped me buy heavy grocery stuff and invited me for tea, “lonely cake” and dinner! <3 Also got to meet their cute cat Tilde. Awwwwwww! Perfect way to start my stay here! I really appreciated it! Awesome, inspiring girls!
Licorice candy and lonely Cake! <3
First day at the course was really nice. The school staff took us out for lunch and showed us around the campus. Really inspiring environment with lots of creative stuff going on everywhere. First three weeks here were on introducing us all to Maya. All the students have very different background and profession (architects, tv-show-2D-animators, VFX). Some of us already know Maya fairly well but most never opened Maya before. For me, these weeks felt kind of basic since I have been using Maya all these years while working at Junebud. But I have to admit, it was really nice to get such a thorough and high paced recap of Maya. So much tools and shortcuts I had totally forgotten about. Now they are all fresh in my mind again!
Classroom.
I made sure to use these three weeks wisely, though. Among the other assignments and demos, everyone were asked to model their own character since it’s easier to learn the tools if you work on something you are dedicated to. I decided to make a pilot (Surprised?) and tried to push myself and learn new things about modeling and rigging. I feel like I actually learnt some new stuff. Especially about some rigging tools I forgot about – and can’t use – when making low poly game graphics these years.
Some of the inspiring stuff you'll find in the corridors. 
Been exploring the city a bit by heading out for morning walks and short runs. Kind of got lost in the small beautiful alleys when I was really looking for the lake in the city – which supposedly is very nice to run around. First wekend one of my new friends Daga, from Poland, showed me around the lake and we had a good run together. From where I live, 1 lap around the lake and back is about 9.5 km so it’s a perfect run in the morning before going to class.
Beautiful town!
The second week the whole class, the teacher and the coordinators went bowling together. Team building! The Norweigian Mikkel won the competition. That guy seems to be great at everything. (Generally, that goes for everyone in this class. I am amazed. And inspired!)
Me bowling. Wonder why I cropped this picture…
Haven’t worked a lot on the comic The Din in February. But it’s as expected since I spend 8-12 hours a day at school. I did however quickly model a super cute reference for Lorentz’ van. It’s based on the Volkswagen bus, and I even found a miniature toy to use as reference when modeling the reference. (That’s funny. A reference, for a reference, for a reference, for a reference to use as a… reference… referenceception.)
Lorentz' van.So, yeah – the first three weeks here haven’t been a lot of animation yet. This was totally expected and I actually liked this approach a lot. Not only because the teacher was really good at trying to teach everyone somthing new, not only the Maya beginners. But also because this gave me time to settle a bit, get to know my class mates and explore the city. After these three weeks the assignments and classes started to pile up. More on that later in the entry about March. 🙂
The pilot I modeled in class. Look at the video for a process-turntable-thing.
Here’s a short video on the first three weeks. I only included a short animation test (The ball, sack of flour and catapult were provided by our teacher) and my 3D model since most of the other assignments were really basic “getting to know Maya” stuff. The 3D model and rig are pretty much a lovely result of marrying the stuff I learnt at Junebud with the new things I learnt here. Like how to model more high res geometry suitable for bone, blend-shape and latice deformation. And how to rig a stretchy spine, legs and arms (that makes the scene explode).
Weeee! I am going to make a new, separate process video once I finished rigging and skinning this guy. And yes, I will make a slower turntable motion. 🙂
These are some of the things I have done in February:
- We had a fine dinner at Ola and Maria’s place. Have been craving to have that youghurt dessert again ever since…
- I ran 10 km in 55 minutes and 10 seconds! 10 seconds away from my goal but I’m very happy about this since I ran 10 km in 64 minutes about 6 months ago. Big improvement. 🙂
- Reached 30 pages of Chapter 1 of The Din
- Moved to Denmark
- Met Talía and Dorte
- Attended to the first two weeks of classes at the professional course – 3D Character Animation
- Worked on some concepts for mine and Robe’s game
- Modeled a 3D model of a pilot in class
- Almost finished rigging said model
- Went bowling with my classmates
- Was informed with the great news that I will become an aunt this late summer! Excited!
- Ate After Eight straws. Wow.
- Found some really great Danish butter. I’m hooked!
- Found some really awful Danish cheese…