Class 3 Summary and Progress Reel

Ok so I didn't make a single post about class 3 (Advanced Body Mechanics) of Animation Mentor because I was so busy! I had Dreamworks animator Drew Adams as my mentor and he was great! He gave me a lot of notes and really long critiques to make my shots better. We had the choice to pick a theme for the term and I chose the circus theme (I don't know why since I already spent 2 years on a clown related short film for school but anyway, I did). I decided to go for cartoony styled shots this term because I wanted to see if I could do it and I'd really like to be good at that style of animation. It was a little difficult and I definitely felt pretty lost at the start of both of my shots because I wasn't sure I could make up movement that wasn't happening in my reference. We could do either two or three shots this term, and I ended up with two because my second shot ended up being way longer than it was supposed to and I was having a hard time with it. My mentor said he really liked the idea and thought it'd be good for my reel so he really wanted to spend the time with me polishing it up and making it the best it could be. I was really frustrated getting through that second shot (the cannon), especially because I was animating things I had never animated before, but I'm happy I stuck with it because I ended up being happy with the way it turned out. So here's my current progress reel starting with my latest class 3 shots. Enjoy!