Eye transition progress photos and evaluation of effect

Below is my visual documentation in regard to my eye transition idea being finalised. I decided that using the background of my main animation and lowering the opacity would provide a good guide to where I would draw. This plan worked out reasonably well and I was able to learn a few things from importing these layers into After effects. For example, I learnt that I can import separate documents and somewhat merge them into one composition. As a beginner, this is something I was not aware of before and therefore, it made the journey of making this a lot easier! Drawing the eyes themselves were pretty easy as I decided to create three different layers on photoshop and used the opacity option as an alternative to onion skins. As they would appear at the end of the animation, I decided not to invest too much time perfecting them, as they would only get roughly 3-4 seconds of screen time.

Moreover, some of the difficulties I had faced with this task was more with timing and placement in After Effects. I didn’t want the eyes to show up too soon or too late, therefore it took a while to find a balance. Not only that, but because I included a fade into black transition in the end, this made it even more complicated. My goal was to have the eyes gradually fade in opacity, but slightly slower than the fade out. This would mean that it would give the illusion that they’re bright and threatening. The fade out itself was mainly for ambience and effect so this wasn’t an indicator of the time of day. This clarifies why my character doesn’t feature his luminescent qualities.

If I had more time on this, I probably would have made the animation of the eyes more smooth, as they only have three drawings worth in total. Perhaps, I would’ve been more creative and make the transition end by zooming into one of the eyeballs? In future, I will maybe try to manage my time more efficiently. Or alternatively, have a better balance between written and practical work as I believe I swayed more into research and background knowledge rather than going ahead with my animation. These points definitely give me a lot to think about.

Although there are a few things that I would fix, I do think that I didn’t do too badly. I feel as though the simplicity in the eye animation aids rather well in portraying the mood and the fear felt as the character flees into the bushes. My next goal after this is to begin thinking about sound effects and foley art as this is something I would like to try!