Body Mechanics Animation
This week, I had started the progress of my animations- specifically the action one. I want to start this as early as possible so I have time to finish up other tasks that won’t take as long. Doing so will allow me to give an equal amount of focus to all of my upcoming assignments. Below I have included research and plan work to further help me get a head start.
Research into expressions/body language
Below, I had a look into Youtube to look for the body language of a hyena for whenever he gets frustrated in the animation. This is something that was not readily available, and thus I had to improvise by looking at canine dog language- pretty far off, but time to use my artistic liberty! The video below was a really interesting watch and I found it quite informative about the different tail positions and what they may mean. I guessed that this would be rather similar to that of a hyena due to shape size relevancy. One that struck out to me the most was the slow wag, which often means that a dog is ‘anxious, less enthusiastic or insecure’. Although the emotion I wanted to portray was that of frustration and agitation, this wasn’t too far off, and as I will be having the same character snarl, I might be able to convey this with a mixture of expression and with the timing of the animation itself. I will further look into imagery and other sources to aid me with this investigation
First video:
Interpret Dog Tail Wags: How to Understand Dog’s Body Language – YouTube
Second Video:
Why Do Dogs Wag Their Tails? ( Dog Body Language Explained ) – YouTube
This video wasn’t as helpful as the last one, however, it did describe aggression through the body language of the tail as follows, ‘arching over the back, gone vertical, wagging violently’. Although the tail movement I plan to do doesn’t wag too violently or go vertical, it does emphasise that the character is frustrated and exhausted. This won’t be inherently factual regardless of these videos as I was unable to find any references to the Hyena in the first place- which isn’t even canid. Instead of focusing on the tail as much, I might look more into other features I might be able to get references of – such as the body language of the ears, face and eyes. This might make the animation more believable.
Visual research
Practising these expressions
Storyboard for animation
Image references from Youtube
During the early stages of my animation, I analysed a varied selection of youtube clips about fighting techniques and tournaments. I took screenshots of some poses that I liked the most, that were dynamic and gathered them into a folder. A lot of the screenshots were sourced from different people as I found it really difficult to find one video with the type of action I was going for, therefore had to improvise. I have linked these sources at the end of the page.
Final Animatic
My inspirations thus far…
For this assignment, one of my main inspirations was DreamWorks creation, Kung Fu Panda. Although a slightly different type of fighting, I felt that this movie was a fantastic reference and definitely a huge influencer towards my choice of action. I really enjoyed the animation overall and felt that it had a lot of expression and personality that ultimately made me love every single character in the movie. Even when they fight, there is amazing usage of anticipation and it is evident what the characters are thinking due to their body language and the scene setting. I absolutely love this and feel as though this is something I wish to incorporate into my animation. Despite deciding to animate using a side profile fixture, I definitely wish to use body language and expression to convey anticipation – this would make my animation really effective.
Alongside the movie, one thing that I really adore about this franchise, particularly the work of the Pipeline, is the concept art. Though it is very different in contrast to the final production, the concept art is probably what inspired me most in terms of the style. The main reasons that this movie is connected to my research is due to how I adore the portrayal of the anthropomorphic characters, how they emote and act, the fight anticipations and the concept art. This is something I am really passionate about, and wish to do something similar in my own animation. I will further continue looking into similar media that personifies animals in a way that almost makes them human.
Zootopia
Another movie that really inspired my journey so far was Zootopia, by Disney. This movie solely relies on its human personification of anthro-like animals, and this is the main thing that inspired me the most. I really love how all the different types of animals have their own characteristics. For example, one of the main characters, Nick Wilde is portrayed to initially be sly and cunning which is a common trait associated with foxes. Another example is how the bunnies in the movie have professions in carrot farming and the main character, Judy Hopps (fitting name, I know…) is very energetic, lively, yet also a strong thinker. It is very evident that when researching into these characters, and their personalities, that a lot of thought was put into them. Further, most of these traits have been based on their real-life animal counterparts, mainly sourced from wild instincts. Another thing I have noticed whilst observing this movie is that some of the personalities are derived from physical appearance too. A great example of this is with the wolves who are given the role of security guards due to their tough and bold physique. In summary, this movie is a great watch, and one of my huge influences in the industry thus far, both in general and for this topic.
As this movie is primarily in 3D, which I’m not doing for my action animation, I have also decided to look into some of the concept art as well as storyboards/animatics from this production. Again, similar to Kung Fu Panda, I adore the personalities incorporated into the characters, how they are portrayed- almost like humans, almost not. However, the 3D aspect isn’t something that has inspired me for this project, unlike the concept art that has been created prior. The concept art itself is very charming, cute and clever with the portrayal of these animals. Ultimately, I wish to get to a similar style for my ability in 2D animation as some of these artworks are shown below. They are full of character, have amazing examples of expression and body language, which I aspire for in my own work.
Some examples of my favourite expressions and character designs
Storyboard vs. final animation – a very interesting watch!
ZOOTOPIA – StoryBoard Side by Side – YouTube
BNA: Brand New Animal
I chose this animation mostly based on its style. The style itself is dynamic, and I am a big fan of the designs and animation of the world. The animation itself is very fluent, expressive and takes the surrounding characters into consideration. An example of what I mean by this would be whenever a character emits a strong emotion in the anime, say anger, they will be drawn with smoother, more dynamic animation, bold backgrounds and the perspective itself will be complementary. These are all important to the result of the animation, and using these scenes sparingly, although it might not seem it at first, makes the emotion in these scenes far more impactful. It also makes for a good build-up of anticipation.
Unlike the other two, the characters in this production sway more towards being human than the animal for most of the time. Regardless, I love the style of this anime and how they reflect animal traits on their characters- despite being mostly human in appearance. An example of this is how the main character is a half tanuki, and this is evident with the markings on her face, her ears and tail. Not only that but this is strongly reflected in how she acts during the series. Overall, she displays a charismatic, exciting and positive demeanour. According to skdesu.com, ‘They are portrayed in tales as being pranksters, cheerful and friendly’, and this is very true to the series. This is a reoccurring theme with all of the characters in this universe.
One of my favourite scenes:
BNA | Clip: Pitches Be Crazy | Netflix Anime – YouTube
Additional tasks/progress
In addition to my animation, I also got started on my final room layout this week. I took the original idea from my block out and transferred this concept into Unreal engine. The room itself is constructed using wall models, with some cylinder shapes for the telescope room. At the moment, I am finalising the textures in the room and adding the rest of the models made by myself and my other team members. Realistically, I should be able to get the majority of this done in the next couple of weeks, and then I will move on to lighting and proofing if needed- it will give me plenty of time to fix any possible issues I may have with the scene.
References
How to Dodge Punches – Weave and Slip Boxing Technique Drills! – YouTube
2020 Knockouts of the Year | FIGHT HIGHLIGHTS – YouTube
Art of Zootopia (part 1) (characterdesignreferences.com)
Tanuki – The Japanese raccoon dog | Suki Desu (skdesu.com)
The Art of Kung Fu Panda | Kung Fu Panda Wiki | Fandom
Image References
a2fa1c7b0acd3afa4c18d7f4b71bfbe8.jpg (508×640) (pinimg.com)
main-qimg-8735753892b550bc418f268a685d6733 (739×415) (quoracdn.net)
images (280×180) (gstatic.com)
spotted-hyena-open-mouth-picture-id171345035 (612×408) (istockphoto.com)
6041663293_c0c4ce425b_b.jpg (1024×768) (staticflickr.com)
spotted-hyena-picture-id465048714 (408×612) (istockphoto.com)
9172728535_80c61cedd5_b.jpg (1024×819) (staticflickr.com)
p061vpg9.jpg (1200×675) (bbci.co.uk)
10091285-hyena-showing-powerful-jaws.jpg (450×344) (123rf.com)
ba6c3081b7570a3052f491bd9c0b89d5.jpg (800×533) (pinimg.com)
cf04058ad8ebf839b4cb48e365fa823d.jpg (600×800) (pinimg.com)
fe1c4cc807b63c4733993d26c1cb66fc.jpg (366×488) (pinimg.com)
wild-lion-roaring.jpg (1280×1161) (wallpapersshare.com)
the-angry-lion-for-desktop-wallpaper-preview.jpg (728×410) (wallpaperflare.com)
360_F_162344221_U7xL4Z04oqFUwRT70mR8l79Y4CEcTwso.jpg (522×360) (ftcdn.net)
images (219×230) (gstatic.com)
animal-hero-roar.jpg (1020×580) (sdzwildlifeexplorers.org)