Bradypus tridactylus

Sloths are obviously aliens.

Aliens, yes, and aliens of the time-traveling sort; their time-suits allow them to explore three parallel universes and yet retain a singular consciousness (there are no surprises when a sloth bumps into itself in the future).

As the sloth probes the vastness of the universe, a supercomputer in its suit triangulates its location across the time-space continuum and projects the output onto a planet as a physical manifestation of the sloth. This projection preserves a link to linear time – preventing disaster should all three universes simultaneously unravel.

The sloths we know are but anchors in the sea of time. How poetic.

Such mathematical calculations are almost impossibly astronomical, however, and the effect is similar to playing a fancy new game on an old computer: severe lag and total lameness. That is why sloths on earth are so slow – why they are able to lounge about in utter and singular defiance of "survival of the fittest."

Pretty clever for looking so stupid.

(click the image to see it larger)

neck beard

Demo Reel October 2010

here's my latest demo reel.

Demo Reel Oct. 2010 from Jared Merrill on Vimeo.

mr. model

its been a while since i posted anything, so i'm posting this figure drawing to let you know i'm still alive. its pencil on paper, and i did it at a studio in Provo called the Bridge Academy. good place.

dino

my final for intro to 3d animation. CG dinosaurs may be old news, but it can be fun to beat a dead horse.

dino from Jared Merrill on Vimeo.

black jack

that he doesn't blink is a little creepy, but i had fun modeling and animating this talking grey head.

blendhead from Jared Merrill on Vimeo.

work from figure drawing this morning. special thanks to metcalf for proposing 'space' and 'space pig' themes for a non-competetive draw-off.

if you skinned a lion

this is what it would look like. sort of. this run cycle was an anatomical study of a cat's muscles, at least the basic groups. it feels jittery because it's just the key frames.

Untitled from Jared Merrill on Vimeo.

binky

this was my first shot at 3d animation. i havent learned to rig yet so the animation was done by rotating and translating the parts of the model. inspiration for the baby's little finger roll came from my roomate joe, who does it occasionally when presented an idea he finds pleasing.
"joe, its taco tuesday."
joe (while doing the finger roll) "ooh. excellent."

binky from Jared Merrill on Vimeo.

pinata rights activist

this rough little animation was for my illusion of life class. the idea was to show the character acting to a sound clip. sorry the image is so dark.

Untitled from Jared Merrill on Vimeo.