Initially, I wanted to do a sword tricks animation, as tw0 swords are Nyx’s usual weapon of choice besides her magic. I realised as I was doing it that I didn’t have time and it would be better to stick to something simpler and do it well than something complex badly.
I got this far before deciding to go for a jump instead. This is an animation I’d like to go back to over the summer, maybe. It also wasn’t a waste of time as it allowed me practice with smear frames, which is something I’d like to experiment further with.
I used this account as reference –
@edenwilliamskarate I vibe with this. #sword #martialarts #karate #sportkarate #weapons
@edenwilliamskarate a lil sword action ⚔️ #martialarts #swordtiktok #sportkarate #karategirl #sword
As Nyx is athletic and has been doing things like jumping buildings for a long time, I started by looking for reference from parkourists. I found a few good refs on Youtube shorts.
These all helped me figure out general posing and jumping with confidence. It also helps that they slow down the video during the height of the jump, so I had a better idea of how a jump actually works.
I also gathered reference from Richard Williams’s book, which is included in my Pinterest board here
His book, along with multiple animated references within that board, helped to inform my animation.
I started with blocking out my animation, as I have previously done. I included my run cycle as height reference, and also because I planned to insert a few frames to give power behind her jump and also so I didn’t have to animate another run.
In hindsight, I should’ve left more room for the run up to be seen. Oh well, it’s something to keep in mind when framing future animations.
Here’s my blockout without the reference or secondary motion.
I sketched in hair and arms here.
Character Pass progress
I started lining not too long after this point. I actually made a progress video of some of the lining process.
Here’s the lined and sketch animation
Finished animation.
I think this animation really demonstrated my improvement, it’s got nice movement, a good flow and I think I improved a lot on consistency due to the errors I’d made previously. I’ll admit I forgot the smears in the second half of the animation, but I don’t think it looks too out of place. I think I’m finding a rhythm with animation, and that’s a really nice feeling. I’ve made massive improvements over the last year. I still have a lot to learn, there’s a little bit of snapping, the hair at the end could be refined, and I think I could make the jump feel more bouncy and stylised with some practice. In all though, I’m happy.