To start of the session we had to do some warming up exercises, I found it useful to loosen up and learn exercises that can improve your drawing skills. I particularly enjoyed the sack challenge as it was fascinating to see how inanimate objects can possess emotions.
12 basic principles of animation.
Disney animators Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas published ‘The illusion of Life’ where the twelve principles for animation were first introduced with the mission of creating animated characters that were more believable.
Squash and stretch
This principle If you squash or stretch the form its volume should remain the same, this keeps fluidity and makes the form appear alive and 3D. If your object is squashed it should shrink in height but grow in width, and the opposite for stretching.
Anticipation
To make sure the scene and character movements flow characters must have anticipation. They will anticipate their next movements, for example, in preparation to jump the character would bed their knees.
Staging
Staging makes sure that anything the directors want the audience to notice is made obvious, if there is something such as a facial expression or object of great significance then staging is used to make sure it is highlighted in the scene, this can be down with framing, camera and angles and other cinematic techniques.
Straight ahead action and pose to pose
These are two different approaches to the drawing character process. Where straight ahead action sequences are animated frame at a time, pose to pose begins with creating key character poses and then adding in the missing elements at a later stage. The straight-ahead technique is more fluid and preferable for realistic action scenes, pose to pose works best for a sequence where the set is of greater significance.
Follow through and overlapping action
This principle obeys the laws of physics and ensures that a character moves with authenticity. Overlapping action refers to when an action is being carried out the characters different body parts should move at different rates, for example, when a character runs their arms and legs will move at a different rate to their head. Follow through- parts of the animated body will not move with it, for example if you throw your arm out to the side your body will not follow.
Slow in slow out
This refers to how the animated character or item on screen should have varying speed as it moves. There are more frames used at the beginning and end of the movement with less in the middle to depict the change in speed.
Arc
This principle ensures fluidity in line and shape, the object or character should move with arcs and circular movements, this will create a more believable shape and line, like how we have joints rather than squared or straight lines as this will create a jarred robotic appearance.
Secondary Action
Secondary action is an action that the animated character does to strength their personality and presence on screen, however this should not distract from their primary action. An example of this is a character smoking while they talk or walking with their hands in their pockets.
Timing
Timing is the number of frames used in between action, the more drawings and frames used the smoother the transition, fewer frames will create a faster, sleeker action. This principle also ensures the timing of the object doesn’t disobey the laws of physics, a dense object would ball quickly where a light object such as a feather would take longer, floating to the ground. Timing can determine a character’s mood.
Exaggeration
Exaggeration is used to give your animation personality and determines its style. If you are depicting something to be close to real life then less exaggeration will be used, however if you want to create a more cartoonish object or character then you will use more exaggeration. You can exaggerate, actions, facial features etc. Fore example, a piece of paper blowing in the wind, not exaggerated would drift, however if you exaggerated it by making it dance with purpose and direction, the paper would no longer be just paper, it would have personality.
Solid drawing
When working with a 2D from, to make it appear 3D you will need to give it volume and weight, paying close attention to the laws of physics and making sure the character or object flows. It is important to vary the design features of characters to avoid making them lifeless and robotic, for example by designing two identical sides of a character, change an element of their features to give them character.
Appeal
Appeal is used to create memorable characters that peak the audience’s interests. You want the audience to connect with your character, making them seem more real, this can be done using exaggeration and character design. It is important for more than the protagonist to be appealing, your villain should also excel at this, give them charisma.
Character Design
Mr Crooks is an elderly dragon who has great wealth, he has been alive for hundreds of years so to fit in to the current world he runs a pawn shop where he sells treasures he has collected over the years. I gave him a slightly curved back to show his age. He is a fierce character with a good sense of humour who enjoys scaring humans by blowing steam out of his nose. I gave Mr Crooks has spikes and horns to make him appear dangerous, I made these pale green to represent greed and nature, his scales are red, orange and yellow, this is to make him appear warm, like their is fire inside of him. When he isn’t flying Mr Crooks uses a walking stick, this stick is made from animal bones and a bird head, this is to give the character a gothic element relating to how he would have behaved in his youth. He also wears a large ruby ring to show his great wealth. Dragons don’t think humans are very useful, but they make good dentists, in this scene Mr Crooks is getting a pair of dentures, I that the idea of a dragon having no real teeth humorous as they are renowned for being able to breathe fire and kill with their teeth.