Category Archives: Animation studio

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Assignment 2- animation strategies

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2d animations
I chose to do 2d animation as this is what I want to specialise in, I also really want to practice and I feel like this assignment will help me to learn.

I first started the process for my animations during the summer and I created these four animation animations, however when we started the assignment , I was focusing heavily on assignment one as 3d is more difficult for me, and I wanted to redo my animations to be better-

 

The original animations where of a simple character with bouncy hair and a dress, not too far from my newer design, I was originally doing a normal walk and a jump across something, but instead I am now doing a wall climb and an angry walk.I also had a character who I thought would be interesting to animate so i animated a sacred walk cycle as well, he is holding a candle which I thought would be good to show the motion in which he is swaying,this however was also scrapped.


chosen character for animations-

i chose this character that I had made previously for my animations as I thought her design would be interesting to try and animate because of her long hair and elf ears.

 

 

 


This is her design very simplified so I’ll be able to animate it easier.
also there will be bloomers/shorts under her dress so that I can show off the legs easier if I need to when I change the design.

(during the animation process I have slightly changed her dress)

 

Angry walk cycle process

 

for my walk I chose an angry one because I wanted to try and convey the characters personality,i also wanted to try doing this walk and a different angel rather than just from the side, so I went for a more front facing view leaning to the side as I had never tried to do it before.

for my angry walk cycle I tired looking at other walk cycles for inspiration and reference-

i was trying to focus on how the arms swing and how the body would rotate as she was swinging her arms, i also was trying to get the perspective of her legs right which the more front facing references helped with.

 

 

after gathering my inspiration and references I began to block out my animation ,followed then by me adding in my frames to make it clearer, then a cleanup where I put in the details of the character and the the colouring and shading, the shading helped make it clearer what legs and arms where moving further away from the camera.

 

this video shows my process-

throughout this process I would ask for criticism from friends and friends in the course, I got the feed back that sometimes the walking looked like running so I had to fix the legs a few times, I had to fix the right leg to be more outward to the right since the left leg was stepping to the far left.for this animation I was trying to focus on her clothes and making them very loose so you could clearly see the direction she was going and her pace.I had a few issues trying to get this animation right since this angle isn’t something Iv animated often before,however now that i have done it I feel as though I understand the process of attempting it again far better.

Final animation-

 

 


run cycle-

 

 

references and inspiration –

Looking at these animations I was trying to focus on the legs since for me when I attempt to animate a run I often have trouble with how the legs are supposed to be in order to make it look like a “run” and not just a very fast paced walk,I was also trying to pay attention to how the body rotates during a run and having the arms do a very exaggerated swing.

 

 

 

This YouTube video shows my process in how I created the animation, Again with blocking, then adding more frames, cleanup and colours.the hair in this animation was a little challenging since her hair is always down I had to try and figure out how it would move as she was running.

For my run I asked friends and if hers in the course for criticism and help on how to make it look better, I was told sometimes it was going to fast and I needed to ass a few more frames when the legs are fully apart in the sprint, I was also told to make  a few of the frames of a little more forward so it looks like she is going forward and doesn’t look stiff.Again with this animation I tried to focus on the way the clothes where moving and the pull back her speed would have on the loose close she was wearing.


final animation-

 

wall climb process-

references and inspiration-

Video showing my process-

I got advice from tutors for this animation,I was told to add more frames of her pausing as she pulls herself to the top so it looks like she’s struggling a bit more to pull her weight up.I also had to fix her size a few times as I have a bad habit of having the person get smaller as the animation goes on.

Finished walk climb-

overall I feel like I learnt a lot about animation and his to have a better process when it comes to getting started.This assignment has given me a better understanding of the way the body movies and the way it sways, If i where to do this project again I think I would leave myself with more time to do each animation, as I was very focused on assignment 1 as 3d is more challenging for me, I would also probably take my own references since finding references for the specific things I wanted to animate online could be challenging.I am pleased with my wall climbing animation as I have never attempted anything like that before.